An aspect of gaming that I have been wondering about for a while now, is how real-time strategy games have been categorized and developed. The main point of my thread of thought was Real-Time “Strategy” versus Real-Time “Tactics”. I believe there should be a big distinction between the two, as most games that do not incorporate long term strategy are still labeled as an RTS and vice versa.
“Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked.”
This quote draws a distinction between strategy and tactics and their relationship from a military perspective which I feel could be applied to other domains as well such as economics. I guess you could view strategy as a meta-tactic or a super tactic. Many tactics contribute towards the goals stipulated by the strategy.
This aspect to the RTS game genre has become more prominent since I played Dawn of War 2 and more recently World In Conflict which have a dominating focus on small scale tactics within the battle arena which are more tactically orientated. The goals are pre-stipulated by the game and you simply need to execute tactics to support that goal. That being the tactical side of it, the opposite side being the strategic, with games such Supreme Commander and Sins of a Solar Empire. Both of these games require a broader perspective before making long term decisions if the players plans on succeeding. The tactical side however requires more intimate knowledge of the small scale scenario to make decisions in terms of advancement and manipulating the lay of the terrain (for example). Another major aspect to Real-Time War games is resource management. RTT scenario resources should be static and “pre-allocated” in that the strategic plan has allocated as much resources as it can allow without compromising other tactical scenarios within the strategic scenario. World In Conflict’s resource management structure is so far the most ideal in terms of RTT games in my opinion. Essentially allocated by a commander, finite, and no way to indefinitely gather more. Strategic games need to have resource collection/management that is dynamic and subject to a global economy of sorts, with collection as well as allocation and spending.
I guess to bring a point to my thoughts here, I would prefer if a new genre was introduced to gaming called Real-Time Tactics (RTT) to distinguish between the game styles. As a side note to that, I wish there were more RTS games out there. The games classified as RTS out there are great, but sometimes they lack the depth that I would personally prefer.
Just a mini gripe there.. I have no doubt that there is a myriad of opinions out there on the matter..
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