Your dream RTS

[zeroAPM]

If you had the resources and personnel to make a RTS to your exact specifications and no market pressures, how would you make it? With what kind of mechanics and/or lore?
Guessed that from a community of RTS players there shouldn't be a shortage of ideas

[Aulex]

Sup com with better/super efficient engine, super-realistic looking graphics, day night cycles. weather(doesn't affect gameplay), dynamic terrain, perfect balance

[Frozen_byte]

Supreme Commander is pretty neat just add these things:
More Efficient, Physic-Realistic Engine
Day Night cycle
dynamic Weather
Temperature
Coriolis force
Gravitation
Terraforming
(everything has an effect on Physics)

Add 2 new dimensions: Orbital fights, below-ground fights

Better "Intel" System, With automated guessing what Units approach (speed/volume/signature/etc)


I'm that interested in best graphics, anyway it's a nice to have feature.

Oh and the most important: Linux Support x)

[Voodoo]

Add 2 new dimensions: Orbital fights, below-ground fights

That reminds me on the game Metal Fatigue from 2000 -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Fati ... eo_game%29

[TaShadan]

Armies of Exigo had below ground fights.

[Gerfand]

Add 2 new dimensions: Orbital fights, below-ground fights

We have EaW that have this mechanic... but its a very poor game.

[Gerfand]

My Dream RTS would be to take TA/FA and Homeworld to make a TA-like Space RTS!

[nine2]

Not sure all of these belong in the same game:

Heightmap affects battle mechanics. eg: units on mountain means you should be able to shoot further. Driving up hill should be slow. Shooting whilst moving should be less accurate. All put together means 10 tanks sitting on a hill would mince 10 tanks coming to kill them. This would make unit movement tonnes more strategic and less about remembering or noticing something. It would make map control way more interesting too, would give you something to fight for besides mex: the highground.

Better unit movement physics eg: Land units can get airborne if driving too fast. They land and slide into each other which damages them, then crash into a factory which damages it. Different surfaces have different traction, affected by weather.

Dynamic units eg: UI allows you to set unit speed, so you can choose between careful speed and fast. Different options for shield (size/hp/powerCost). Different options for t3 arty (accuracy / reload time). Different options for overcharge (damage / reload time). Slick ui to set settings for one unit, for groups of units, for all units of a type, for similar but not same units.

Ability to delegate tasks to an AI assistant eg: "Use these tanks to kill that stuff", "Reclaim all that stuff using these engies", "spend 10% of my eco expanding my eco", "increase my air production until i'm using all of my power". "Scout for me". Hmm, maybe this could have been a nice feature for SCU's.

Engineers can raise/lower heightmap. Which would make fortifying your base more interesting. The GC can't even walk to your base anymore.

Flowing rivers that can be dammed, then the dam can be broken, creating an inland tsunami, destroying all tanks that aren't amphibious. You start by using your engies to build the concrete damn then mass up auroras. When you blow the dam it sends the water into their base, killing some of their units but also sweeping your own auroras quickly passed the point defense, into their base, where they start killing things.

Flowing lava that can be redirected by changing heightmap. Nuking the volcano to trigger it.

Avalanches where you can blow the cliff, crushing some units, blocking the path at the critical moment.

Customizable units where you can decide the design: what guns will it have? engine? etc. So you adjust the speed, dps, abilities and cost of the unit, then mass produce it. But first you have to upgrade your factories to be able to build it. If you find a wreck of a unit with a gun you don't know about it, you can capture it, research it, then use it. This is totally a different game now

Transports that work.

[pittlebelge]

Supcom as a basis but with a few more feature :

Flanking damage : +25% from the flank, +50% from the back. So geometry of engagement and mobility becomes more critical.

Vision range and radar affected by terrain : can't see through a mountain.

Speed varies with slopes.

Area command from PA, this is a great feature.

Idle engies becomes automated engies, with a little UI to set their focus (reclaim, assist and repair all in a triangle as in Iwar 2 for power management) and the possibility to set super priority beacon on fact or reclaim field.

Formation drag and drop from the total war series instead of our simple 2 settings.

Somehow i was able to read the terrain height easily TA, I'd like that back.

More unit differentiation based upon mobility : I'd like to see some units that can't turn or get up a slope but are otherwise very good.
More unit differentiation base upon turret angle : unit that cant shoot forward, up or down or even right (horse archer in mount and blade).

[rkrempel]

Aw, don't get me started...
(too late)

Mouse wheel zoom (as in FA)

Real physics (as in FA)

Complex build/move cues (as in FA)

Designable unit/structure schematics (bit like Warzone2100 but better looking models)

More damage types (e.g arty hurts infantry and buildings but does shit to bunkers and armored targets)

More armor types (a bunker and a tank are very different things)

Range to target affects accuracy (thus no definite "out of range" range)

Definable/programmable unit behavior (define formations, assign individual target preferences)

Campaign map properties carry over into the campaign scenarios (as in Rise of Nations/Legends)

If technology evolves in-game, fluid unit upgrades (as in Rise of Nations)

Command 1000s of units

Play with 1000s of players in the same persistent universe (MMO style)

Realistic range vs unit speed vs the rest of the game (tanks can shoot shit up to 1km away these days - that's a *full*minute* of their movement; might not work, because real wars are like <5% action and >95% doing nothing, but I'd at least like to try)