About month I'm working on prototype of real-time strategy game. I've started it for some game jam as a clone of classic RTS game (Age of Empires, Warcraft) and idea quickly transformed to something different.

Classical RTS games were developed when there were limitations of computer power. Additionally it's very hard to model the real war in all it's complexity and diversity. And also there is a question of scale. I.e. in Age of Empires you fight with states, but on map it's just a neighbor villages level.

Moreover classical RTS games lack of tactics. The problem was partially solved in Warhammer: Shadow of Horned Rat, Dark Omen and Total War games that grew from them. These games have introduced tactics but there were no base building and economy. Total War games got turn-based strategic map, and still Total war has very weak political/diplomatic system. Turn-based strategies (and of course it's started with Civilization) managed to model elements that RTS games lacked: trading, diplomacy, culture.

So, I want to make a "classic" RTS game with base-building, but fuse in it new elements: tactics, economy, trading, religion, innovations, culture, climate.

It's experimental project where I want to test how different things work together. I've started the it using Python and SDL2 for graphics. And if in next several months I'll get satisfactory results, I'll migrate to C++. It will be 2d and will have primitive graphics. I can't do good graphics and I want to make emphasis on mechanics.