I used to enjoy Starcraft and Starcraft II before giving up on them about ten years ago. However, over the past year or so, I've noticed a number of attempts to breathe new life into the real-time strategy genre through new games: Battle Aces, Stormgate, etc. I'm not sure if we're finally seeing another renaissance, but it brings me back to the age-old question regarding RTS: How important should execution be?
I think the obvious answer is that everyone can agree that it matters at least a little bit. That’s what makes it a real-time strategy game, and how much matters is where people will argue endlessly. But I wonder if you could design a race in the game that had less execution without making it too balanced or unfair. Basically, what if this “low-input” race tested different skills no better or worse than others, but also had an inherent flaw that it couldn’t rely on execution as much as other races?
I started imagining a race that would essentially be an empire with a huge and powerful army but hampered by sheer size and maybe a bit of bureaucracy. What if there was a race whose units could be accumulated more easily and were also stronger individually, but had some limitations that prevented the player from being able to control them more precisely?
For example, there may be a limit to the number of actions that can be performed in a given period of time. This could be like playing the role of a commander who can only oversee the broader operations of their force and must leave the details to subordinates.
Perhaps the limit could be longer (like 700 actions every 5 minutes?), so there might be times when you can control your forces more directly, but you end up sacrificing the ability to react more quickly after a minute or two. You have to choose when you can be effective, knowing that you'll be more vulnerable at other times, or you can choose to play at a steady pace.
Another possible way to mimic slow pacing and complex command sequences would be to actually create a purposeful input lag. This could simulate you giving orders from above and it taking time to reach the lowest levels of the army. Maybe it has to do with controlling your forces, or maybe upgrading or switching unit compositions takes longer.
In all of these cases, the idea is that this race can be efficient and can be difficult to play in its own right, but it doesn't rely as heavily on physics implementation. At the same time, it would allow other players and races who want to use their honed micro and macro skills to beat this race if they try to attack hard at vulnerable moments. I don't know if something like this can work, but I think there's a way to strike a reasonable and interesting compromise between those who want high APM and real-time tactics and those who want to be methodical strategists.
