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What would be the perfect RTS for you? Is it one already made or is it a mod? What timezone is it set it and what are the mechanics it uses?

The perfect RTS for me would be a Company of Heroes styled game (capture points, defensive bonuses ect.) but set in the medieval times. You'd battle with squads of swordsmen and pin down troops with arrows (epic CoH mod perhaps...).

What do you think of my idea, is it anything similar to yours?

Well, the perfect RTS for me already exists : It's Battle for Middle Earth I
Come to think of it, it is a bit like what you're talking about : Fighting uses squads of the same type soldiers but you can actually combine 2 different types of squad to adapt to the enemy's tactics, unlike what's in CoH. Plus it also has the satisfying system of "generals powers" under the form of spells.
The only bad thing about it is how the spots for fortresses are defined by the game, so you can't build anywhere you want. And even though they fixed that in BFME II, they also removed the squad combining system :(

Oh, I'd like to add no magic or fantasy, pure Medieval time action

Dawn of War 2 style but must have building production aswell, there must be entire worlds to conquer and must be divided into dozens of areas not only a few. When you capture an area you should be able to upgrade it with cities and such and will watch over it, story must be unpredictable, imagine you conquer a world completely and start your conquest on another; then your homeworld come under surprise attack then you have to decide on what to do with your units in 3 worlds... Detailed as much as possible, shortly.

Easy, CoH like gameplay + DoW2's RTS/RPG hybrid elements + C&C style construction and sidebar. Add in some tacticool Generals support powers too, and if you feel like it, pre-battle tech tree customisation.

On top of that, survival horror elements.

Those of you who loved playing on randomly generated Tiberian Sun maps with mutants enabled know what I'm talking about.
You just managed to scounge the money together for a barrack, and are making some light infantry.
Suddenly, you hear a familiar sound.
The sound of enemy infantry firing at something, hidden deep in the shroud.
And you hear the sound of Floaters attacking.
And it's getting closer.
And you don't even have base defenses.
Edited by Ixonoclast, 26 July 2011 - 19:19.

TheDR, on 26 Jul 2011, 20:08, said:

You mean, like Medieval: Total War? D:

CJ, on 26 Jul 2011, 20:28, said:

No, because that doesn't play like CoH D:

TheDR, on 26 Jul 2011, 20:54, said:

But...But...Medieval Warfare didn't work like that!

My perfect RTS...Hmm, I actually had an idea that I played a little with. Essentially, 3 factions, Orcs, Humans, Elves. Orcs are viking based, huge armor, brute strength, mammoths, Jætter (Giants for you english speaking folks), stuff like that. Humans are steampunk, imagine The Empire from Warhammer Fantasy. Elves are based on a mix of Japanese samurai and the ancient Chinese military. Which, if you don't know, means Repeating Crossbows, Hand-Cannons, Land-Mines (seriously, they had that), Nest-Of-Bees (Ancient Rocket Artillery Battery).

The game would then be a small-scale Total War like game. Except customisation would be insane, with stuff being unlocked as you play online. Humans Horsemen for instance, start out with normal, fast horses, they can then upgrade to lightly armored horses that go a little slower, then heavily armored warhorses. And finally Mechanical Steam-horses that are rather slow and pretty unstable but heavily armored and packs alot of momentum. In essence. the game would be based around a rather small (20-30ish in medium sized battles) very personalized armies fighting out. Alot of different play-modes would be available, one is where you lay initial plans before combat (observe the enemy force, order units to flank, attack or open fire when enemy forces crosses a certain "border" for instance).

There are two that would be perfect for me.

The first formula is basically what drew me to Shockwave. Units more or less realistic and modern, perhaps a small amount of time in the future but plausible. For example, Auroras and PDLs; both unexisting technologies yet based off current weaponry. Medium to fast gameplay that doesn't revolve purely around camping nor should rushing be the only strategy in the game.

The second is basically Z. Z is completely unique (CoH is IMO an extremely weak rip-off that shows exactly how it should NOT be) and wouldn't require much updating other than removing some small exploits, rebalancing, remapping and making the graphics look a little nicer, granted the original was made by the Bitmap Brothers so it looks great but even so it's a 1996 game.

I consider Stronghold to be a category of its own and I can't really think of anything I'd change very much tbh.
Edited by Chyros, 26 July 2011 - 19:58.

Chyros, on 26 Jul 2011, 21:57, said:

pretty much this.

Generals (with decent mods), Z and Stronghold are great examples for (near) perfect RTS games

You can't put everything awesome into one single RTS. You can't put support powers in Stronghold. (did anyone play Stronghold Crusaders Extreme? ). And as games like Z prove, you don't need base building or ressources. Generals works fine with a really simple ressource system, Stronghold uses a rather complex one.

My Perfect RTS is a collection of a few decent RTS games that differ in gameplay and timeline/universe.

... and a decent RTS is one that features lots of content, good balance, and interesting gameplay.
Edited by Stalker, 26 July 2011 - 21:08.

I prefer AoE2's resource system, between the middle of one resource (C&C) and a lot (Stronghold). Stronghold does have a more solid unit counter than C&C, which I dig very much. Doesn't need too much factions, 3 sides w/ or w/o subsides would be fine (Zero Hour).

And of course mod-ability.

World in conflict space battles, that magnitude of brilliance would probably be too much for the gaming world to handle.
Edited by Pav:3d, 26 July 2011 - 21:43.

Tough question. Really tough, in fact.

I'd say, a Steampunk-esque game, with a balance of units and RPG heroes OH WAIT RISE OF LEGENDS.
I'd say a medieval castle building game, with a balance of economy and warfare (Stronghold, and hopefully Stronghold 3).

I honestly can't think of what would be perfect. I still play the original Stronghold from time to time, and I play Rise of legends from time to time. They'd both certainly be in my top ten.

Empire at War space battles were also pretty fun to play.

Well, I guess I can't really think of what would appeal to me. But there are near-perfect (in my opinon) RTS' out there, and some brilliant ones.

DoW1 was basically the perfect game for me. More units would have been welcome but that was addressed with mods. The campaign could have been better though, and longer.

AoE2 balance and gameplay with the scale of Rise of Nations.

Soft counters only, hard counters are stupid.

Alias, on 27 Jul 2011, 5:32, said:

Pretty much this. Or a sci-fi variation of the above.

Alias, on 27 Jul 2011, 5:32, said:

HUSKARLSPAMHUSKARLSPAMHUSKARLSPAM!

Still, it's suprisingly balanced for a game with this many factions. Although they're all essentially the same faction with varying units.

SquigPie, on 27 Jul 2011, 11:47, said:

say hello to my army of british longbowmen with trebuchet range

Pff, with enough huskarls that range is pointless.

I don't personally have a specific type of RTS, though my favorite RTS games would have to be C&C Zero Hour and Starcraft 2. I can't exactly describe why I like them (fast paced maybe?) but I do. I like CoH: Tales of Valor as well, but not as much because the gameplay is really long-winded.

Just my opinion though.

stepping the genres and balances aside, I'd like to see a RTS that easy to learn and enjoyable by newcomers, yet can be micro extensive to expert players.

not a boring build system that makes you grow molds when build your base/army or ina a too extended fighting. it's also interesting to see different and distinct mechanics for each factions.

the resource system should not be too complex, RTS should more combat oriented than economic management (there's sims games for that). the resource gathering better limited on the start area and more on contested area to make you "go outside and play", while this were supported by steady secondary economy that cannot being exploited too much.

hero/commander system like in Warcraft3 or DoW is a good idea, but it's too "click-fest" sometimes and you need to remember each hero's hotkeys to be used effectively (this is why I think mapped hotkeys like in RA3 is really nice).

I also wonder if there's a customizable squad system which allows you to decide the squad members. note it's separated from "ctrl+number" team assigning and it have special benefits forming them into squad (somehow like DoW/CoH).

oh yeah, the environments. I like how the environments affects the gameplay in some RTS. like the trees (in older CNCs they blocks your tank forces, or to hide your Mirage Tanks), the Terrorist can use cars in Generals, cover/trench system like in several games, etc.

one more thing and I think should be noted, no eye-raping blooms! I hope these bloom things just a trend today, not for ever.

n5p29, on 29 July 2011 - 16:52, said:

So far you're giving an almost perfect description of Z - I wonder, did you play Z? If not, and you like retro gaming, you might want to give it a try .

Chyros, on 29 July 2011 - 17:33, said:

never heard

*opens wiki and YT*

hmm... that's a cool one, but the build system not my preference, I also don't see any sign of resource gathering. /:
maybe this is why I like C&C

n5p29, on 29 July 2011 - 18:20, said:

You don't build, and there is no resource gathering. You capture territories with factories in them, and make your units there. The amount of territories you have determines how fast you manufacture units, meaning that you need to play very aggressive.

yeah, I know what you mean. and yeah it's interesting, it really reminds me of RTS version of Advance Wars. I'm looking at it right now.
what I mean, it's way different to "my perfect RTS". because I enjoy building bases and gathering resources.