Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:10 am Post subject:
DaFool's Idea for a how an RTS Game should be done
Subject description: Seeing as how so many people are taling about 'ought' now....
Design Document
No Man's Land-A WW1 based game
No base building, no resource gathering, all RTS
Each side begins the battle with a field HQ. Next to each HQ are several support buildings; a Stock Pile for general supplies and a Magazine for munitions. This and only this is your base. From each base is a road that leads off map. There a series telephone (or telegraph) wires that line the road and they too lead off map. This is you supply line and communications. Trucks arrive every so often bringing in supplies, war material, and when ordered, reinforcements. If the road is blocked by the enemy your supplies may be captured en route, and if the wires are cut, no communication can be established, and not only will you not receive supplies, but you will be unable to order additional troops. It is integral to protect your lines of supplies and communications as you won’t be able to survive without them. You begin each battle with a large amount of basic infantry and additional reinforcements must be requested and arrive from off screen.
There is no base construction in the traditional sense, however there are engineers who excel at maintenance base and will repair it using the supplies from the stock pile. They are able to repair sabotaged communications lines. Other forms of defense are created by the soldiers themselves, that is the digging of trenches and other such earth works. You are able to select areas of land to be dug out as trenches, and order groups of soldier to go about the task. While your original base is very centralized, you will have the option to decentralize but building support buildings closer to your lines of defense. For example you will want a Magazine but artillery batteries and near your trenches. Buildings will need to be manned, so a soldier must be ordered to work a structure. He will then work at that structure, ferrying supplies from your main base to the forward structure in order to keep it well stocked. Ideally variables will be set up so you can control how much each base has.
Each object requires a little bit of upkeep. Soldiers come with enough rations to last them the battle but only carry so much ammunition. Thus they will need to restock on bullets after they have done so much fighting. They will have to abandon their position and travel back to the Magazine in order get the bullets they need. If you build a forward Magazine near your trenches, this will decease the distance they need to travel and your defensive lines will not be weakened nearly as much. Some units that are high in ammo usage will be able to have runners work for them ferrying supplies from the nearest ammo depot back to the gun (machine gunner for example).
The equipment soldiers come with a fairly standard, but there shall be room for a few upgrades, varying from bayonets to gas masks. Weapons can be ordered for your troops such as machine guns, artillery, grenades, etc. These upgrades will not magically appear on the units but will arrive via a supply truck and from your HQ diffuse throughout your army. Some things like Artillery and Machine Guns will have to be assigned soldiers and deployed somewhere.
The player shall have access to support from aircraft and off map artillery. The player will not be able to directly control the aircraft but will be able to call in for air strikes, support, etc. This requires an intact line of communication. The only air unit that the player shall directly control is a spotter balloon. Artillery can be ordered to fire anywhere, but balloons add certainty of where enemies are. Traditional capturable buildings do not exist, but additional supply lines may be captured in the form of railway. The player is also able to disrupt rail but severing the tracks.
There shall be a wide variety of units available to use, from basic soldiers to armor cars, to artillery pieces, and everything shall have plenty of option on how to use them. Artillery will be able to fire various forms of ammo (shells, gas, etc) and soldiers have an almost universal range of use, from manning equipment, to being runners, diggers, fighters, and shall have a wide range of weapons to which equip (rifles, grenades, flamethrowers).
You shall have a complex system of points which allows you to order new equipment and soldiers. One set of points shall be man power and shall be determined by points you get over time, with factors such as number of soldiers lost. Equipment shall have a similar equation, with factors like what the enemy has (for example the news of the enemy obtaining mustard gas shall give you bonus points). The goal of these equations is to allow for the players to have freedom in what the employ on the battle field but not giving them an unlimited number of soldiers to endlessly throw at the enemy, and to also keep the game fair as it goes on.
Ideally, units will be as realistic as possibly, doing this such as taking cover and dieing from only a few bullets. This will force the player to think smartly about the use of his troops and not to mindlessly rush them to the enemy as expandable. Attacks will be able to succeed not by pure number but by grand strategy. Flanking the enemy, out maneuvering them, battering them with artillery before an attack, use of air support, etc etc. With all these elements in place, the game shall be a showcase of the player’s ability to manage an army and skillfully defeat the enemy though strategy.
EDIT: I forgot to mention victory scenarios, which is the point of a battle! Nonetheless, here's what I see: 1)Attrition. Simply kill and destroy everything. Simply enough, right? 2)Destroy the HQ. Would be pretty much killing you on the battlefield, so would mark the end, atleast for you. 3)Forcing a surrender. Not simply having your enemy ragequit on you, but rathering being able to surround him, enclose him, and cut him off from supplies, effectivly taking away his ability to resist. Starving soldiers with no ammo can't fight, and you'll become thr proud new owner of a bunch of POWs. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. Last edited by DaFool on Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:34 am; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
I'd rather fill my sidebar with tons of units than have tons of upgrades for each unit. For example the infantry, I think it's easier just to purchase either a flamethrower guy or a light infantry soldier, than train a "base" soldier which you later have to choose what to upgrade/train to. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
That could be a possibility, but if there are to be any upgrades, they shall be in the method I have stated. You also wouldn't be training soldiers, but requesting reinforcements. These guys would march in from off screen on your line of supply, or even be trained in granted you have captured railway. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
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DaFool's Idea for a how an RTS Game should be done
