Hi, I was just thinking about a way to easy the burden of micro-management. Optional AI middle management (MM) I am going to give a few examples to get the idea across. Tiberium Wars: The game starts and the MM suggests building a structure. It does this by showing a pic of the building in the corner of the screen and fills the build area on the map. Options Yes/No/Wait/MoveBuilding(with cursor), the MM will then carry out the task. You loose a harvester- MM suggests building a harvester. It does this by displaying a harvester pic in the corner of your screen. Your commands - Wait/No/Yes. Many of your tanks are destroyed in battle- The MM suggests building more tanks and possible another harvester to cope with cost. Same options again. You have lots of money- MM suggests building towers and advanced structures. Other Options: Attack Strength in currency Defense Strength in currency % Of tanks/artillery/soldiers in attack/defense. Yes/Wait/No to action if no order given in X seconds. Right click anywhere on map: Options: Defend position -> Create outpost -> Create base MM: Use aircraft? Build more vehicles? Right click on base: List tick boxes for each type of building which this base should have. Right click on resource: Off-limits/Collect here/defend resource Special utilities ($$): Gather intel: The MM counts the number of enemy units and gives more advice. I think this is technically feasible as AI already does this as the enemy. You would of course be able to reduce/increase the MM help. This system would allow more focus on battle tactics with less button pressing and soldier queuing. Building bases can be very repetitive and lends itself to automation imo. All of the standard controls would still be available. What do you think? [Edited by - RivieraKid on August 12, 2007 9:09:35 AM]

So it basically plays the game for you without actually controlling it then?

It's a great idea. I was under the impression that RTS were supposed to be about strategy, not about who can click/use hotkeys the fastest as it is in most games today. Part of strategy is knowing when to delegate tasks like that and when to do do them yourself. Things that help you focus on the game play and not on replacing lost units/buildings is a good thing.

Quote:Original post by TheKrust
I would agree with above, but then again what else does the player have to do during his down time. Stratagy (as sad as it is) takes up probably %10 of the gameplay in a typical RTS. Plus, one of the great things about an RTS is building a city from your own image, if the computer did it for you... where's the fun in that?

well it would give you a suggestion. Hotkey to the location, check it out, move it a bit, hit return then hotkey back to your last location. If you are more concerned with time you just hit YES and bob's your mothers brothers.

In the main menu you could have several different build strategies.

1.Barracks
Refinery
War factory

2.Refinery
War factory
Barracks

Then all your need do is select the number and away it goes.

Personally i'm tired of base building and unit crunching. I would much rather say to my base 'attack here' and it would behave as one automatic well oiled machine which is how commanders irl operate.

Another thread talks about supply lines and how they would make an already figity game more figity. There is no reason this can't be automated with a few key variables included.

With less micro-management comes more time to examine the battlefield to create the ultimate offensive appose to selecting all your tanks on the map and double clicking inside the enemy base.

Yes to bigger maps, longer battles and less micro management. Supreme Commander got 2 of these but it was still very fiddly (or so my friend tells me).

I've had this running before on one of those major RTS projects. It played really nice. Was just more feature than we could support at release (need art & hud assets).

It's really easy actually. Modern RTS games already have 100% of that logic implemented for the AI opponents. All you need to do is attach an AI brain to the player's faction as well and just gate it's actions through the player and/or turn off various components.

It was cool actually to have all those components be user toggle-able. So you could have the AI do all or some of your economy, base building, unit production, super-weapons, etc.

I figured it'd be a nice feature for nubs to help them compete against good players. Could be a different handi-cap system. I'll use AI for base building and economy, against you who has no AI assistance. Generally the AI can manage money better than a player, it's just not as good tactically.

-me

I've planned to have something along those lines in my RTS, if I ever finish it, although not quite the same. But being aided by AI seems a cool idea, as long as there is enough left for you to do. For instance you could manage far more troops on several fronts. Just taking an existing RTS and adding this would make it a little dull IMO.