Do RTS games need fixed tech levels?

Here’s your typical RTS match: skirmish for a while with your level one troops. Eventually, one or both of you research some improved units, and branch out a bit, choosing units and counters. If the game continues, you tech up some more, and reach your next tier/level of units.

With this traditional ordering, each level of unit becomes rarer than the previous, since there’s the chance that the game won’t reach any level beyond the first. The casual player might get mighty sick of space marines, but not get nearly enough mecha-spacezilla.

The traditional RTS’s tech order is like a pyramid: tons of level one, a narrower level 2, and so on, and the top level is rare and pointy.

Does an RTS need this shape? Could an RTS offer up its “tiers” a la carte, any researchable at any time? Or could the research areas be arranged like a ring, which could be entered at any point, and research could continue in either direction?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 6:37 am and is filed under Game Discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

transiit

You know, years ago, I played Battletech. While it had too many rules and eventually bored me ("ok, now roll to see if your partial cover adds any benefit"), you could pretty much join in a match at any level you wanted, and it gave people a chance to be creative (they may have had the balance better back then, but even when someone tried to do a campaign with superior firepower, there was still the option of forgoing 'mechs and tying up their heavy stuff with a bunch of hovercrafts)

I guess it felt more like strategy, and less like grind. It was up to the players to agree on some level of challenge for themselves and budget accordingly.

I'm reminded of the old game "Syndicate" (you know, without the "Cooper team" code) They seemed to get it pretty close.

diary of an indie game developer

Do RTS games need fixed tech levels?