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Real-time strategy ('''RTS''') is a Genre of Computer Games characterised by being a real-time wargame ("strategic") in which one exerts direct control over individual units, and resource gathering, base building and technology development are integral gameplay aspects. A common mistake is the belief that any strategic games played out in real time is a "real-time strategy" game, which is not the case since RTS is a particular and specific genre. RTS titles are rather than turn-by-turn. While the word " Strategy " originally referred to higher-level warplanning (armies, campaigns and entire wars) in RTS games individual units or persons are given orders; also integral to the gameplay of RTS games is production-economic aspects (resource gathering, manufacture and positioning of buildings, production of units, etc), and though combat confrontation is a significant part of RTS gameplay this is most often heavily stylised and relatively little emphasis is placed on realism or the detailed aspects of military tactics (compare with Real-time Tactics ). HISTORY 1983 – 1992: the beginning The genre of games that is today recognised as "RTS" is the result of an extended period of evolution and refinement. Pinning down the "first RTS" is problematic because we tend to judge titles by their similarity to recent games, and trying to pin down the "first" RTS game before the genre was established and recognised as such is attempting to shoehorn something into a later classification when the games that can be considered ancestors to the RTS genre were never marketed under that label nor designed to meet the modern criteria (in short are not "proper" RTS games as recognised today). The genre initially evolved separately in the UK and North America, then gradually created a unified worldwide tradition. As a result of all these tidal forces different interpretations of history can spark heated debate. In the UK, we can trace the RTS genre's beginning to '') list Intellivision Utopia by Don Daglow (1982) as the first RTS (altough it was turn based), but what we currently think of as RTS play is a secondary component of the game and it is more properly classified as the first Sim Game or God Game . None of these games would today be recognised as proper RTS titles since they are lacking crucial RTS gameplay components --especially base building and "true" resource gathering-- but they do feature territorial expansion and base conquering for increased troop inflow. '' are perhaps the earliest examples of relatively full-featured RTS games. RTS became recognized as a genre with the release of '' Dune II '' from Westwood Studios in 1992 , a release that can be argued to have initiated "the golden age of RTS games." Its success encouraged the development of such games as '' Stronghold '' ( 1993 ), '' Warcraft '' ( 1994 ), '' Command & Conquer '' ( 1995 ), '' Total Annihilation '' ( 1997 ), '' Age Of Empires '' ( 1997 ), and '' StarCraft '' ( 1998 ); a core group or RTS games today more or less recognised as "standard" (see next section). 1992 – 1998: defining the popular perception of RTS games '' (1992) - the game that defined the RTS genre]]Though RTS games as showed above have an extensive history, some titles more than others have served to define the popular perception of the RTS genre and expectations of RTS titles, and the games released between 1992 and 1998 by (the now-defunct) ''. While Westwood laid the foundation and provided the prototype for RTS games with ''Dune II'', Blizzard Entertainment, between '' (1998) provided the ''de facto'' standard measure against which all new RTS games are still measured. 1998 - present: Refinement of gameplay and ongoing transition to 3D graphics It is interesting to note that the genre has remained content- and feature-wise principally stable since 1995: the additions to the concept in newer games tend to be quantitative (more units, larger maps, 3D terrain etc) rather than qualitative (innovations to the game concept), and new games generally focuses on refining aspects of successful predecessors. As the paragon example of gameplay refinement, '' series' search for novelty took the genre in a different direction, bringing population caps into the tens of thousands. Big Huge Games ' '' Rise Of Nations '' (2003) attempted the integration of many of the core concepts of Turn-based and Real-time Strategy games. RTS has been one of the genres most resistant to being taken over by 3D, with '''' ( 2003 ) being the first successful 3D RTS titles. Though separated in time by four years few if any other 3D RTS games between these years acheived significant popularity. Fully 3D-graphical RTS games were attempted several times before this but due to persistent issues, especially with camera control and too-short viewing distances, until recently never did become the norm. As of 2006 most high-budget RTS titles released tend to be in full 3D but with constrained camera angles to decrease user interface complexity. Also, relatively few genres have emerged from or in competition with RTS. Real-time Tactical Games , a superficially similar genre (also see below), emerged around 1995 but probably arising more from hardware affordances than as a reaction to RTS. In 1998 Activision tried to combine the RTS and First-person Shooter genres in '' Battlezone '', which was critically acclaimed but beyond a sequel and the '' Hostile Waters '' ( Rage Games Limited , 2002) games, spawned few followers. The future RTS games continue to undergo refinement in tactics, while a few forays into other genres continue to be attempted. The upcoming '''' allows you to take control of a hero unit for a specified amount of time, allowing you to tip a battle in your favor by directly controlling the hero from first-person view. '' Company Of Heroes '' will attempt to combine fully destructible environments and a powerful physics engine with tactical warfare while easing many micromanagement issues in previous games. This will allow for a new approach to warfare in RTS games. '' Supreme Commander '', due for release in 2007 , will attempt to combine tactical warfare over a huge scale never before seen in an RTS. As has been the trend over the past 10 years, these games are merely refining RTS gameplay instead of completely revolutionizing the genre. GAMEPLAY Because of the generally faster-paced nature (and in some cases a smaller learning curve), RTS games have surpassed the popularity of conventional Turn-based Strategy computer games. In the past some traditional strategy gamers regarded RTS games as "cheap imitations" of turn-based games, arguing that RTS games had a tendency to devolve into "clickfests", in which the player who was faster with the Mouse generally won, because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate. Real-time strategy enthusiasts counter that Micromanagement involves not just fast clicking but also the ability to make sound tactical decisions under time pressure. It is noteworthy, however, that due to the games being shorter because of the faster pace of the game and absence of turn switching pauses, RTS games are far more suitable for Internet play than turn-based games; this is undoubtedly an important reason for their popularity. Furthermore, turn-based games are often more taxing on the attention of casual gamers, as each game generally takes much longer to play. Correspondingly, though late in emerging, Massively Multiplayer Online Real-time Strategy (MMORTS) games combine aspects of Massively Multiplayer with real-time strategy. However, MMORTS's have not become popular and many people claim that it is virtually impossible to create an MMORTS without giving up traditional RTS gameplay. '' (1997), Core base.]] The more recent generations of RTS games usually have features which reduce the importance of fast mousework, enabling the player to focus more on overall strategy. For example, queuing allows the player to put in an order for multiple units at a single building instead of requiring the player to return to that building to order the next unit built whenever a unit ordered earlier is completed. The ability to set waypoints allows the player to give multiple movement commands to a unit at once. Most games also give each unit strengths and weaknesses, discouraging players from easily defeating an opponent with simple " Rush " tactics or "swarm" tactics in favour of more balanced armies. As a principle all RTS games follow the same pattern: # Build up your base and forces (your economy). # Acquire more resources. # Attack the enemy, attempting to deprive him of resources and destroy his infrastructure. However, some games do not allow the player to create new units, or build bases. Some of these games include '' Myth '' and '' Ground Control ''. These games are purely tactical, forcing the player to play only with the units he or she is given. Due to their fundamentally different gameplay these are defined as "real-time Tactical" (RTT) games". Note real time tactical games are NOT real time strategy games, though these are often confused and RTT titles are frequently called RTS games. '' (2002), Humans fighting orcs]] Most RTS games also feature single-player campaigns -- a series of missions where a human player plays against the computer with a defined scenario and objectives, usually within the context of a background story. Often each mission has a different style of play, sometimes dramatically so. It has become something like to a tradition for single-player campaigns to include at least one mission with no base construction or resource-gathering; typically at the start of these missions the player is given a number of combat units, occasionally with a "hero" unit. These units must be used to complete the mission in a level which is usually mazelike; often additional units can be gained as reinforcements or rescued as the mission progresses. These missions eliminate the resource-gathering, or "macromanagement", as it's called, and focus solely on micromanagement. Also, different titles place different emphasis on the macro- and micro aspects and, thus, RTS gameplay orientation seems to be diverging into at least two main camps: micro-management and macro-management games. Micro-management games Micro-management games allow an army and base to be built, but they limit the size of the army (sometimes, rather severely). The purpose of this is to create more of a tactical atmosphere, and to prevent one side from simply cranking out units and throwing them at the enemy until he collapses. By limiting the size of the army, the game requires the player to intelligently utilize his "partially" limited troops. This is more similar to the purely tactical ''Myth''-style games. Good examples of this type of game are '' Warcraft III '', where further units require more ''upkeep'', and '' Battle Realms '', allows only a maximum of 40 units. To simplify the control, however, the player can combine individual units into groups. This is even more found in the game ArenaWars , where every player only has 1000 credits to build units. If the unit dies the credits are refunded. Macro-management games '' (2003), Hiigaran Carrier]] On the other end are the macro-management games. These games have more of a focus on economic production and large-scale strategic maneuvering, and include games such as , '''', where there is no population limit on units and there is no limit on how many units may be controlled at once. GRAPHICS '' (1996)]] As the category grew, some real-time wargames attempted to break away from the 2D board-like view of ''''. A notable recent RTS game for breaking away from the trend is Phenomic 's '' Spellforce - The Order Of Dawn '', which incorporates the choice of a third person view of the main hero for you to control. '' (2003)]] As companies are striving to come close to cinematic level of visual quality, the improvements in graphics accelerate. In '' from Creative Assembly heralds the current state of real-time wargame graphics. Another two notable games were released in '' and '' Age Of Empires III ''. Both games featured realistic physics (''Age of Empires III'' uses the '' Havok '' physics engine), realistically destructible buildings and ever more stunning graphics. FUTURE GAMES Future games are likely to further enhance the realism of RTS games in various ways:
Some future releases:
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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