I am a really big fan of base building in RTS games, which is why I never liked Starcraft. Bases in Starcraft feel like they have such little rhyme or reason. They are messy and ugly. I always build a ton of bases in games like Tiberian Sun, that, while gameplay wise, are a waste of time and money, feel fun to build and fun to defend and destroy. I think a really cool strategy game idea would be a logistics themed game. One where building more realistic bases all over a map is a strategy so that they can supply and support each other. Maybe you start out with a FOB and you need to expand into guerilla held territory, but you need to build COPs and Logistics centers to keep your troops supplied and protected.
I always hated in Starcraft how clicks per second is a means to measure how effective some one is at the game. I really want to see a game where tactics and unit composition matter, where a platoon of mechanized infantry face off against like a BTR platoon and, using strategy, you pull through. Have each squad with a realistic composition of like a Squad leader, 2 team leaders, a radio man, 2 squad weapons, a crew served weapon, 2 anti tank units, a combat life saver, and 2 rifle men. I think something with that depth, but with a more coherant interface than like Shockforce, and with pausable real time combat would be awesome. Like Arma but an RTS.
What games would you want to see?
I want a VR shooter that actually uses the tech interestingly. Give me sections of Zero G with full 6dof. Give me quirky weapons with panels you slide open when they overheat and barrels that twist to change firing mode. Give me abilities that I could only use with a virtual pair of hands, like slingshotting grenades without dropping my primary or reaching into things to grab loot. And make the gunplay feel like Pavlov because it’s the best.
Easy enough, right? 😅
Edit: also use eye tracking to make the horror better
use eye tracking to make the horror better
Imagine a VR game with monsters that always stay in your periphery.
Exactly! Creatures that peek around corners and slide back away when you look toward them, monsters that follow your eyesight to dodge attacks, etc.
It could be great!!
I’ve recently noticed that the tactical shooter genre has kinda fallen out of favor. Games like ghost recon, socom navy seals etc. Aren’t being made anymore. I think it’s a shame that some genres go dormant for a while.
But more than that, I just want to see developers take more risks again. Indie games have been the exception here, but I remember there being so many unique games in the early 2000’s.
Ready or Not is a thing and quite popular, although I haven’t tried it myself. As far as I know, it’s the closest to the old SWAT games and not exactly a low-budget Indie title. Similarly, covering the military side of things, there’s Six Days in Fallujah, which is considerably more aggressive and action-heavy than the titles of old, but similarly punishing.
And, although not as thoroughly fleshed out as Ready or Not, and not multiplayer, Black One : Blood Brothers looks interesting enough to follow. It’s basically the bones of the first Ghost Recon with modern assets. I’ve not played it yet but it’s in my library.
I’ve played 8.2 hours of BO:BB according to Steam, and it feels much closer to the OG Ghost Recon ( +Desert Siege and Island Thunder)… BUT right now the AI is pretty mediocre (and often breaks entirely and enemies just sort of stand there), and the shooting doesn’t feel as good as Ready or Not.
Incursion: Red River is a singleplayer + co-op extraction shooter that feels very Ghost Recon.
i really like the idea of civilization… but its so freakin scripted it feels like im playin someone elses story.
totk is almost a masterpiece, i would not hate more of that kind of game play/world experience.
Bring back versus puzzle games. Puyo Puyo is more or less the only surviving IP today, and even that is only barely on life support now that Sega has banished it to Apple Arcade exclusivity.
The whole damn genre lies in ruins now and I miss it so much. Someone, anyone, make a new game please.
Beekeeping simulator!
I feel like a rogue-like version of the civilization genre could work.
What I mean is:
- short games that you can finish in one evening without rushing
- random events and stuff that drastically change your builds without being able to do the same strat all the time
The latter is needed because the former means you would play many more games. So they have to feel different.
To make games shorter you would probably have to remove any tactical combat. Maybe just say “attack here” and the game automatically sends troops for you, battle it out and shows you the result, in a few seconds. Maybe you can see the battle itself but not play it. Not having to move units on the map should also make the IA play faster and thus reduce waiting time between turns significantly.
To compensate for the lack of depth in combat, city building, building your economy, and random events would have to be made more interesting. Without introducing micro-management that would make the games more tedious and thus take longer.
To make games feel different with randomness, a fantasy setting seems ideal, like in age of wonders. Tons of fun stuff can happen when magic is involved. Focus on telling a story.
Basically I love the fantasy 4X genre but I find the games too long for the wrong reasons (too much micro-management and tedium). Bringing in ideas from the modern rogue-like genre could help fix those issues.
Check out mindustry! Although it doesn’t quite have that tactical itch as Arma, it is 100% based around logistics and building up unit production. There is a multiplayer PvP mode, as well as 2 PvE campaigns
3D minesweeper
There’s Mines3D on android, although the graphics are still 2d and it’s a pain to play.
Like a sim game or Planet Sweeper?
Nah, just minesweeper. But instead of north south east west, there’s also behind and in front. And all the corners.
I haven’t played it yet, but if you have a VR headset then Minesweeper Peak VR seems to be exactly what you’re looking for.
There’s also Mine3D which plays in your browser and is a rotatable cube of mines.
Doesn’t have a release date yet but you might like Empire Eternal, kinda like new Empire Earth.
Fucking wishlisted
holy shit, fucking MICROPROSE is still around!? LETSGOOOOOOOO
I think a really cool strategy game idea would be a logistics themed game
Have you tried Factorio? The demo is free, basically the full game just with an 8 hour time limit. for reference I have over 1k hours in it.
The demo is free, basically the full game just with an 8 hour time limit
I wonder if that was the scientifically curated time to get people hooked and addicted. By the way, is that limit of 8 hours total playtime, or like 8 hours per session?
I believe it’s 8 hours within a save. But you can just start a new game.
Stopping the save timer should be relatively easy. Not that I’d know anything about that
More minecraft open source clones. or a modded community version of mc that works without microsoft. The game belongs to the community and I think we should take it back from the corporation.
Minetest, which is apparently now Luanti? I guess I missed the memo.
Voxel based game engine that has a very excellent Minecraft clone called (drum roll)
Mineclone(EDIT) : VoxeLibre, guess i missed that memo too.I will have to test VoxeLibre and see how it compares to Luanti and Minecraft.
VoxeLibre is a game that can be installed in Luanti engine. It will make sense once you open Luanti since the first thing it prompts you to do is install a game from its game library. VoxeLibre is one of the first listed.
More? Aren’t there already like 10 or more?
Most of them are cash grabs or cheap knock offs. I want more voxel games that are built with passion that can stop microsofts monopoly. An alternative I think would be cool is the community modding microsoft out of minecraft with special accounts that do not rely on microsoft. Luanti aka Minetest looks promising as an alternative.
check out Supreme Commander, it’s a game from the erra of good RTSes, and I think has some of the features you’re taking about, e.g. beforehand of multiple bases, automation… you can do things like produce x units, send them to this area, have them start doing this patrol, etc. You can pause the game, to make these orders too. My favorite gimmick though, is that the map is zoomable, from a classic here’s your dudes and tanks view, up into a strategic view with icons representing everything. This also opens up the ability to have units be different sizes. vehicles are appropriately larger than infantry, and you can have giant mechs to which other units are literally ants.
SupCom will never displace TA.
Something new that isn’t some remake of a game.
If you want pausable combat and a logistics focus, the Hearts of Iron games might be interesting to you. They’re pseudo-real-time in that things happen on an counter that ticks forward once per in-game hour of the day (so the results of two units fighting, a diplomatic message being sent, construction on a building), but you can speed up, slow down, or pause however you wish. If you want to zip along at a few seconds of real time per day in game, cool. Want to slow things down to a few seconds per in game hour instead? Also fine. Need to pause while you read a description? Also fine.
one thing i’d be interested in: is it possible to make a fun 4X-style game that challenges the very premises of 4X (which are mostly patterned after the models of expansion we’re familiar with in the West)?
I think it would probably become “2X” in that case, given the “exploit” and “exterminate” parts. :P
Against the Storm is sort of a citybuilder/ 4X hybrid, that’s all about a bunch of fantasy species (humans, beavers, lizards, foxes, and harpies) working together to reclaim the world from this (un)natural blight.
The Bustling World is an RPG/ Citybuilder/ 4X hybrid that looks pretty interesting, but is not out yet.
I can’t really think of a 4X that leans towards the Grand Strategy side, that isn’t pretty combat-heavy. Distant Worlds: Universe can be played without focusing on combat, but it’s definitely still there.
Against the Storm is the game I was trying to think of for this, thanks for sharing it!
Any ideas? I’ve wondered the same, don’t really vibe with the 4X pattern but I like the slow snowball
