RTS Game Theory: Multitasking
Real Time Strategy games get their appeal from, well, the real time tactics. The thrill and suspense of split-decision making and constant action as you face off against the AI or other players make real time strategy games different from the other strategy games in the genre; it adds a whole other level of complexity in of itself. In this RTS Game Theory section, we are going to look at Multitasking.
You may have tried an RTS for the first time and as you were learning the ropes for what building is what, you get attacked with a large force from an enemy. You go to move your army and…wait…you have one soldier just standing idly to face the threat. You were so focused on the economy, you forgot about your military. We have all been there. This frustration of everything going on at once can easily lead to frustration and quitting RTS games all together. Let’s break it down to an organized, manageable problem.
The most common way to manage multitasking is to split the game into two major sections: economy and military. Think of it like supply and demand or if you want to be a battle tactician guru, the logistics of warfare. Economy is your supply and your military units are the demand. There are other modes to playing RTS games, but the standard is to conquer your enemy and to do that, you need an army. In order to field an army, you need food. Let’s start with your economy.
Economy:
Civilizations or races (depending on the RTS game) may have special ways to gather resources, but we are just looking at the general game theory here. We will look at how to manage resources in a later post. Your economy is the backbone of your success in RTS as it fuels the army you create to start taking over the map. Economy consists of workers, resources, and buildings.
Workers:
-Workers are units that have very little combat power and are used to collect resources and build buildings. Despite their lack of power, they are VERY important! Without workers, you can’t collect resources or build; it’s game over for you. Workers are trained in your main starting building (Town Hall, Command Center, Nexus, etc). They are NOT free! You need to collect resources to train more workers to collect more resources to train more workers…you get the picture. This is why it is crucial you protect them and it is a very punishing tactic to get rid of your opponent’s workers!
Resources:
-Depending on the game, resources available will be different(gold, wood, gas, etc.). These resources are used to: make more workers, build buildings, research upgrades, and train military units. There will be some near your starting base to get you started and also all around the map. Some games like Starcraft 2 have static maps where the resources are in the same spot every time you play the map and other games like Age of Empires 4 will have a generative map which spawn resources in different places every time you play the map. Generative maps create variety in gameplay at the cost of having some really horrible spawns or bad “seeds”. This can create an unfair advantage if one player has more resources closer to them than another. Static maps are perfectly balanced, but limits variety each time you play a map. Workers collect these resources and drop them off to specific buildings(called drop off sites) and/or the town center. Some RTS games don’t have “drop off sites”. The workers assigned to a certain resource will automatically start collecting them. Resources have a limited amount to be collected (otherwise you only need one gold mine for example) and once depleted, you need to search out for more which are further away; this means a higher risk of getting your workers attacked! When building these drop off sites, place them as close to the resource as possible!!! This decreases the amount of time lost from workers walking to the drop off site and back to the resource. For resources that disappear like trees in Age of Empires, keep placing new drop off sites)lumber camps) next to the treeline. If you don’t your workers will be walking further and further distances as the tree line disappears.
-Everything costs resources (just like life…sad). The cost of buildings, researching upgrades, and training units or workers will have their cost somewhere on the display image. Assign workers to resources you need to build, upgrade, or train. For example, if you want to train more workers that cost food, gather more food, not wood. Rearranging workers to collect needed resources is a big strategy in itself. I will go over this in detail in a later post.
Buildings:
-Buildings are used to train, upgrade, or collect resources. Drop off sites, as already mentioned, are where workers drop off their resources. These can be specific to a resource(ex. lumber camp for wood), or it can be a general drop off that will collect everything. Make sure you build the right one!! Research buildings (ex. blacksmith) hold upgrades for your military and sometimes economy. These upgrades can improve your armor, attack, etc. of your military units or increase the gathering rate of workers. Military buildings (ex. barracks) will train specific military units and their upgrades.
Military:
Your military is the demand aspect of these two categories. Your military is needed to win the game (unless something like a Wonder can be built). Deciding how much of your resources to invest in offense (building units, upgrading technology) and defense (constructing fortifications or defensive units) is crucial to winning the game. Efficiently managing your economy and unit production is a key component of military game theory. You need to decide which units to produce, when to produce them, and how to maintain a steady stream of resources to support your military endeavors. We will look into this deeper in a later post. For now, let’s look at: Fog of War, Risk Assessment, Timing and Positioning
Fog of War(FoW):
-Fog of War is in all RTS games. The purpose of Fog of War is to hide your opponent's actions and where resources are located. It adds mystery, educated guess work, and scouting. Intelligence gathering is a massive aspect to winning a game. Knowing what your opponent is building and producing allows you to counter their plays. uncertainty. You make decisions based on the information you have, and your opponent does the same. The one who knows more is at a tactical advantage. This is where you should be scouting with either a “scout” unit or some units.
Risk Assessment:
-Decisions must take into account potential risks and rewards. Attacking an opponent can yield valuable territory or weaken their economy, but it exposes your forces to counterattacks. Conversely, turtling (excessive defense) can limit your expansion but make you more secure. Which do you choose? Depends on the situation and your civilization or race. Some civilizations or races are better at defense, while others are better at offense. Use this to your advantage.
-RTS games have a bonus system when it comes to damage. This is known as a “Rock-Paper-Scissors” system. A beats B which beats C which beats A to create a balanced system. It's not always as easy as this and can include more than three things, but this is the gist. For example, in Age of Empires, in the same number of units: spearmen beat horses, horses beat archers, archers beat spearmen. In risk assessment, not only do you need to look at numbers, but you need to look at army compositions. Will my army consisting of only archers beat my enemy’s army of horses? No. When you are scouting, you can see what buildings are being built and what units are already trained, to help you build the counter of those units.
Timing and Positioning:
-Managing military unit timing and positioning are the key to success. Knowing when to engage, how to flank your opponent, and when to retreat are essential concepts. Your success often depends on being in the right place at the right time.
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