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95-488: American Conquest is a real-time strategy video game developed by GSC Game World and published by CDV Software Entertainment . It is set between the 15th and the early 19th centuries in the American continents. There is also an expansion pack produced for American Conquest , called American Conquest: Fight Back and a gold edition, which has both the original and expansion pack bundled together. The latest installment in

190-468: A god game , where the player assumes a god-like role of creation. The genre recognized today as "real-time strategy" emerged from an extended period of evolution and refinement. Games sometimes perceived as ancestors of the real-time strategy genre were never marketed or designed as such. As a result, designating "early real-time strategy" titles is problematic because such games are being held up to modern standards. The genre initially evolved separately in

285-464: A split-screen two-player mode where both players are in action simultaneously and there are no pauses while decisions are taken, forcing players to think quickly while on the move. In Herzog Zwei , though the player only controls one unit, the manner of control foreshadowed the point-and-click mechanic of later games. Scott Sharkey of 1UP argues that it introduced much of the genre conventions, including unit construction and resource management, with

380-432: A European power where garrisoned units receive a bonus in its defense. Another feature of American Conquest is the morale factor. Military units would suffer from low morale if the unit is in the vicinity of a mass slaughter of his side and may flee the battlefield. Officers, standard bearers and military drummers are used to create military formations and to increase morale of the troops. The campaign mode covers most of

475-511: A dual-layer map; three-layer (orbit-surface-underground) maps were introduced in Metal Fatigue . In addition, units could even be transported to entirely separate maps, with each map having its own window in the user interface. Three Kingdoms: Fate of the Dragon (2001) offered a simpler model: the main map contains locations that expand into their own maps. In these examples, however, the gameplay

570-425: A fairly active community on GameRanger and forums up until 2015. The Hawks Group recreated a vast database of historical battles that can be played in multiplayer by up to 7 players at the same time, sharing armies or fighting in co-op. It can still be downloaded at their original website or on ModDB. The Mod features over 200 new units and around 20 new buildings that range from a faction's Barracks to fortifications in

665-583: A game combining both turn-based game and real-time-strategy is The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II which allows players, in a 'War of the Ring' game, to play a turn-based strategy game, but also battle each other in real time. A second criticism of the RTS genre is the importance of skill over strategy in real-time strategy games. The manual dexterity and ability to multitask and divide one's attention

760-620: A hit in Europe and Russia. In the United Kingdom, American Conquest sold roughly 20,000 units during the first half of 2003. Kristan Reed of GamesIndustry.biz wrote that these were "not figures that spell H.I.T." American Conquest: Fight Back is a stand-alone expansion pack for American Conquest . It features five new nations: Germany, Russia , Haida , Portugal and the Netherlands , and 50 new units. In addition to new campaigns featuring

855-459: A key gameplay consideration, a significant example being StarCraft , while other titles have no such unit cap. Micromanagement deals with a player's constant need to manage and maintain individual units and resources on a fine scale. On the other hand, macromanagement refers to a player's management of economic expansion and large-scale strategic maneuvering, allowing the player time to think and consider possible solutions. Micromanagement involves

950-448: A military force. Command & Conquer (1995), as well as Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996), became the most popular early RTS games. These two games contended with Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness after its release in late 1995. Total Annihilation , released by Cavedog Entertainment in 1997, introduced 3D units and terrain and focused on huge battles that emphasized macromanagement over micromanagement . It featured

1045-426: A mobile game published by Supercell , is a good example of a game which modified the RTS format into a simpler mobile experience. While often classified in the broader Strategy game genre, Clash of Clans still possesses many of the classic RTS elements, such as a "perspective of god", control over buildings and mobile units, and resource management. It also introduces and simplifies specific elements of an RTS to fit

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1140-594: A physics engine is Ensemble Studios' Age of Empires III , released on October 18, 2005, which used the Havok Game Dynamics SDK to power its real-time physics. Company of Heroes is another real-time strategy game that uses realistically modeled physics as a part of gameplay, including fully destructible environments . RTS World tournaments have been held for both StarCraft and Warcraft III since their 1998 and 2002 releases. The games have been so successful that some players have earned over $ 200,000 at

1235-585: A scenario. While the difference between playing for the European factions and the Native Americans are discernible in terms of military strategy, the basics are the same. The usual chain of activities involve building dwellings for peasant workforce and to gather resources like wood , food , and gold , stone , coal and iron from mines which the player will have to construct at designated areas. Generally, wood and stone are used to construct buildings whereas

1330-651: A set of troops across various enemy-filled levels. TechnoSoft 's Herzog (1988) is regarded as a precursor to the real-time strategy genre, being the predecessor to Herzog Zwei and somewhat similar in nature, though primitive in comparison. IGN cites Herzog Zwei , released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1989 as "arguably the first RTS game ever", and it is often cited as "the first real-time strategy game" according to Ars Technica . It combines traditional strategy gameplay with fully real-time, fast-paced, arcade -style action gameplay , featuring

1425-547: A strategic control-point system, in which control over strategic points yields construction/reinforcement points. Ground Control (2000) was the first such game to replace individual units with "squads". Others are moving away from the traditional real-time strategy game model with the addition of other genre elements. One example is Sins of a Solar Empire (2008), released by Ironclad Games , which mixes elements of grand-scale stellar empire building games like Master of Orion with real-time strategy elements. Another example

1520-424: A strategy map and a battle map (in full real-time) and the player can at any point in time seamlessly zoom in and out in between both. A third common criticism is that real-time gameplay often degenerates into " rushes " where the players try to gain the advantage and subsequently defeat the opponent as quickly in the game as possible, preferably before the opposition is capable of successfully reacting. For example,

1615-481: A streamlined interface that would influence many RTS games in later years. Age of Empires , released by Ensemble Studios in 1997, tried to put a game in a slower pace, combining elements of Civilization with the real-time strategy concept by introducing ages of technologies. In 1998, Blizzard released the game StarCraft , which became an international phenomenon and is still played in large professional leagues to this day. Collectively, all of these games defined

1710-465: A traditional RTS experience. In a typical real-time strategy game, the screen is divided into a map area displaying the game world and terrain, units, and buildings, and an interface overlay containing command and production controls and often a "radar" or "minimap" overview of the entire map. The player is usually given an isometric perspective of the world, or a free-roaming camera from an aerial viewpoint for modern 3D games. Players mainly scroll

1805-552: A tree. The expedition returned without him to Coro. In the framework of the Celebration of the 492 years of the founding of Maracaibo , the funeral remains and cenotaphs of Ambrosio Alfinger, which were in the municipality of Chinácota, department of the north of Santander of the Republic of Colombia and were transferred to be buried at El Cuadrado Grafen von Luxburg Fursten zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinzen von Schoenaich-Carolath Cemetery,

1900-400: Is commonly the main focus of the RTS games, but other titles of the genre place higher gameplay significance to how units are used in combat ( Z: Steel Soldiers for example, awards credits for territory captured rather than gathered resources), the extreme example of which are games of the real-time tactical genre. Some titles impose a ceiling on the number simultaneous troops, which becomes

1995-517: Is indie game Achron (2011), which incorporates time travel as a game mechanic, allowing a player to send units forward or backward in time. Multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBA) have originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy games, however this fusion of real-time strategy, role-playing , and action games has lost many traditional RTS elements. These type of games moved away from constructing additional structures, base management, army building, and controlling additional units. Map and

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2090-626: Is often considered the most important aspect to succeeding at the RTS genre. According to Troy Dunniway, former Westwood developer who has also worked on Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars : "A player controls hundreds of units, dozens of buildings and many different events that are all happening simultaneously. There is only one player, and he can only pay attention to one thing at a time. Expert players can quickly flip between many different tasks, while casual gamers have more problems with this." Real-time strategy games have been criticized for an overabundance of tactical considerations when compared to

2185-475: Is that success involves not just fast clicking, but also the ability to make sound decisions under time pressure. The "clickfest" argument is also often voiced alongside a "button babysitting" criticism, which pointed out that a great deal of game time is spent either waiting and watching for the next time a production button could be clicked, or rapidly alternating between different units and buildings, clicking their respective button. Some titles attempt to merge

2280-485: Is that they too often have the same strategy: produce faster than you consume. He also states that building and managing armies is the conventional definition of real-time strategy, and that it is unfair to make comparisons with other genres. In an article for GameSpy , Mark Walker criticizes real-time strategy games for their lack of combat tactics, suggesting real-time tactics games as a more suitable substitute. He also says that developers need to begin looking outside

2375-611: The Bloons Tower Defense series (2007-2021), and more have (varyingly) adapted the RTS format in the same manner as Clash of Clans , and in turn developed a style of RTS unique to the mobile game industry. Beginning in the early-mid 2010s, the expansion of the Indie game market on game developer Valve Corporation 's gaming distribution service, Steam , allowed RTS game developers to produce smaller-scale and increasingly accessible Indie-RTS games. These RTS games often are more true to

2470-738: The Warcraft III World Championships . In addition, hundreds of StarCraft II tournaments are held yearly, as it is becoming an increasingly popular branch of e-sports . Notable tournaments include MLG , GSL , and Dreamhack . RTS tournaments are especially popular in South Korea . Ambrosius Ehinger Ambrosius Ehinger , also ( Ambrosio Alfínger in Spanish ) Dalfinger, Thalfinger , (ca. 1500 in Thalfingen near Ulm – 31 May 1533 near Chinácota in modern-day Colombia)

2565-500: The PC platform. Real-time strategy games made for video game consoles have been consistently criticized due to their control schemes, as the PC's keyboard and mouse are considered to be superior to a console's gamepad for the genre. Thus, RTS games for home consoles have been met with mixed success. Scott Sharkey of 1UP notes that Herzog Zwei had already "offered a nearly perfect solution to

2660-507: The Spanish conquest of Yucatán . A total conversion mod for the game was released in 2006, with patches and different versions released up until 2009, called European Warfare: Napoleonica that transferred the player back to 19th Century war-torn Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. The project was undertaken by Gexozoid (helped by the Hawks group and other associates) in 2007 and since then had

2755-461: The ZX Spectrum , and Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum in 1987. In North America, the oldest game retrospectively classified as real-time strategy by several sources is The Ancient Art of War (1984), designed by Dave and Barry Murry of Evryware, followed by The Ancient Art of War at Sea in 1987. In Japan, the earliest is Bokosuka Wars (1983), an early strategy RPG (or "simulation RPG");

2850-411: The real-time tactics (RTT) template, have moved toward an increased focus on tactics while downplaying traditional resource management, in which designated units collect the resources used for producing further units or buildings. Titles like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (2004), Star Wars: Empire at War (2006), and Company of Heroes (2006) replace the traditional resource gathering model with

2945-443: The "nostalgia" of classic RTS games. Rusted Warfare (2017), is an indie-mobile release which is a good example of a traditional-style RTS which utilizes assets from the unreleased Hard Vacuum (1993) to create a "revived" RTS experience. Hard Vacuum was intended to include "resource gathering from mineral deposits", "base building", and "a wide range of fighting with units". Rusted Warfare and other traditional RTS titles utilized

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3040-457: The 360° 3D environment. Furthermore, Machines , which was also released in 1999 and featured a nearly 100% 3D environment, attempted to combine the RTS genre with a first-person shooter (FPS) genre although it was not a particularly successful title. These games were followed by a short period of interest in experimental strategy games such as Allegiance (2000). Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds

3135-552: The 3D environment. This led to a number of unique gameplay elements, which were mostly obscured by the lack of computing power available in 2007, at the release date. Japanese game developers Nippon Ichi and Vanillaware worked together on Grim Grimoire , a PlayStation 2 title released in 2007, which features hand-drawn animated 2D graphics. From 2010, real-time strategy games more commonly incorporated physics engines , such as Havok , in order to increase realism experienced in gameplay. A modern real-time strategy game that uses

3230-565: The American Civil War in which each side is player controlled. Real-time strategy In a real-time strategy game, each participant positions structures and maneuvers multiple units under their indirect control to secure areas of the map and destroy their opponents' assets. In a typical RTS game, it is possible to create additional units and structures generally limited by a requirement to expend accumulated resources . These resources are in turn garnered by controlling special points on

3325-550: The Ancients ( DotA ), a Warcraft III mod from 2003, and its standalone sequel Dota 2 (2013), as well as League of Legends (2009), and Heroes of the Storm (2015), are the typical representatives of the new strategy subgenre. Former game journalist Luke Smith called DotA "the ultimate RTS". The popularization of the smartphone in the 2010s led to a new market for Video games to expand to and develop. Innovation on

3420-750: The Mayas, the Germans, the Haida and the Russians, a new 'battlefield' game mode is available. The German campaign briefly chronicles the expedition of Ambrosius Ehinger and Georg Hohermuth whereas the Russian campaign concerns the Alaskan campaign under Alexander Baranov . The new Haida campaign is from the Haida point of view of the Russian expedition . The Mayas campaign covers details from

3515-504: The United Kingdom, Japan, and North America, afterward gradually merging into a unified worldwide tradition. Tim Barry in May 1981 described in InfoWorld a multiplayer, real-time strategy space game that ran ("and probably still is") on an IBM System/370 Model 168 at a large San Francisco Bay Area company. He stated that it had "far better support than many of the application programs used in

3610-464: The War of 1812. However, due to the lack of buildings and workers, neither can be played in skirmish or multiplayer. The units from the battle can be accessed in a non-multiplayer by writing "qwe" in the chat and pressing P on the keyboard, an editor window will pop up on the right from which the players can choose own player colors and can spawn any unit in the game. The game also brings a host of new features to

3705-457: The Worlds (1998), Warzone 2100 (1999), Machines (1999), Homeworld (1999), and Dark Reign 2 (2000) were among the first completely 3D real-time strategy titles. Homeworld featured a 3D environment in space, therefore allowing movement in every direction, a feature which its semi-sequel, Homeworld Cataclysm (2000) continued to build upon adding features such as waypoints. Homeworld 2 , released in 2003, streamlined movement in

3800-666: The alleged gold country to the west. They crossed the Oca mountains, came over to Valledupar , along the Cesar River , and finally to the Zapatosa marsh. There the expedition rested about three months, then continued south, where they met fierce resistance from the indigenous tribes. They turned east, along the Lebrija River . During this expedition they were forced to eat their horses and dogs, and lost most of their indigenous allies, many dying from

3895-529: The amount of strategic gameplay found in such games. According to Chris Taylor , lead designer of Supreme Commander : "[My first attempt at visualizing RTSs in a fresh and interesting new way] was my realizing that although we call this genre 'Real-Time Strategy,' it should have been called 'Real-Time Tactics' with a dash of strategy thrown in." (Taylor then posits his own game as having surpassed this mold by including additional elements of broader strategic scope.) In general terms, military strategy refers to

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3990-412: The business", with a published manual and regular schedule. Comparing its complexity to Dallas , Barry recalled that "when the game was restored at 5 P.M., a lot of regular work stopped". Ars Technica traces the genre's roots back to Utopia (1981), citing it as the "birth of a genre", with a "real-time element" that was "virtually unheard of", thus making it "arguably the earliest ancestor of

4085-408: The cliffside, even in the case when the attacker is a missile-armed helicopter. Homeworld , Warzone 2100 and Machines (all released in 1999) advanced the use of fully 3D environments in real-time strategy titles. In the case of Homeworld , the game is set in space, offering a uniquely exploitable 3D environment in which all units can move vertically in addition to the horizontal plane. However,

4180-520: The cold as they crossed the mountains. As they made their way home, they were attacked by the Chitareros on May 27, 1533. Ehinger and Captain Esteban Martín fled into a low-lying ravine, where they were pinned down by Indians shooting arrows. Ehinger received a poisoned arrow in the neck. Despite the attentions of Augustine's father Vicente de Requejada, Ehinger died on May 31, 1533, and was buried under

4275-840: The control and destruction of bases being an important aspect of the game, as were the economic/production aspects of those bases. Herzog Zwei is credited by 1UP as a landmark that defined the genre and as "the progenitor of all modern real-time strategy games." Chuck Sperry cited Herzog Zwei as an influence on Dune II . Notable as well are early games like Mega-Lo-Mania by Sensible Software (1991) and Supremacy (also called Overlord – 1990). Although these two lacked direct control of military units, they both offered considerable control of resource management and economic systems. In addition, Mega Lo Mania has advanced technology trees that determine offensive and defensive prowess. Another early game, Carrier Command (1988) by Realtime Games , involved real-time responses to events in

4370-512: The defense of any base and garrisoned troops will open fire on encroaching enemy units or wild animals. The common economic and scientific buildings in American Conquest may also be garrisoned by either peasants or by regulars of the army. Similarly, an attacking army may also capture these garrisoned buildings by sending units into them and defeat its defenders in unseen hand-to-hand combat. Players may also construct log cabins if playing for

4465-610: The element of classic PC-gaming nostalgia in order to drive the game-playing experience. Traditional RTS games released in the late 2010s - early 2020s were developed with a focus on coupling the traditional-style gameplay with uniquely styled, or hyper-realistic graphics. These RTS games are often Indie-RTS games, but released on a multitude of platforms. Some RTS releases like Halo Wars 2 (2017), Steel Division 2 (2019), Company of Heroes 3 (2023), and Last Train Home (2023) are examples of modern RTS games that are focused on providing

4560-442: The first 3D units and terrain in real-time strategy games. The Age of Empires focus on historical setting and age advancement was refined further by its sequel, Age of Empires II: Age of Kings , and by Stainless Steel Studios ' Empire Earth in 2001. GSC Game World 's Cossacks series brought population caps into the tens of thousands. Dungeon Keeper (1997), Populous: The Beginning (1998), Jeff Wayne's The War of

4655-719: The form of manned cannon towers and breastworks much like in Cossacks. 12 fully playable nations include: France, England, Poland, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Confederacy of Rhine, Sweden and the USA. American Conquest: Divided Nation is the second stand-alone expansion to American Conquest . It was released in France in January 2006 and the rest of the world in February. It

4750-448: The game revolves around the player leading an army across a battlefield against enemy forces in real-time while recruiting/spawning soldiers along the way, for which it is considered by Ray Barnholt of 1UP to be an early prototype real-time strategy game. Another early title with real-time strategy elements is Sega 's Gain Ground (1988), a strategy- action game that involved directing

4845-464: The game, requiring management of resources and control of vehicles. Another early game, SimAnt (1991) by Maxis , had resource gathering, and controlling an attacking army by having them follow a lead unit. However, it was with the release of Dune II (1992) from Westwood Studios that real-time strategy became recognized as a distinct genre of video games. Although real-time strategy games have an extensive history, some titles have served to define

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4940-646: The game, such as horse artillery , field fortifications , tents, and generals. Players can experience battles entirely new to the RTS Genre, from the Battle of the Alamo to Battle of Gettysburg . Hawks' Divided Nation, another mod project by the Hawks Group emerged which aimed at making the game more realistic by removing building, workers and the other two nations and replacing sounds as well as adding maps based on real battles in

5035-513: The genre for new ideas in order for strategy games to continue to be successful in the future. This criticism has ushered into a couple of hybrid designs that try to resolve the issues. The games of the Total War series have a combination of a (turn-based) strategy map with a (real-time) battle map, allowing the player to concentrate on one or the other. The games of the Hegemony series also combine

5130-602: The genre received positive reception. The Pikmin series, which began in 2001 for the GameCube , became a million-seller. Similarly, Halo Wars , which was released in 2009 for the Xbox 360 , generated generally positive reviews, achieved an 82% critic average on aggregate web sites, and sold over 1 million copies. According to IGN , the gameplay lacks the traditional RTS concepts of limited resources and resource gathering and lacks multiple buildings. Total Annihilation (1997)

5225-498: The genre, providing the de facto benchmark against which new real-time strategy games are measured . The real-time strategy genre has been relatively stable since 1995. Additions to the genre's concept in newer games tend to emphasize more of the basic RTS elements (higher unit caps, more unit types, larger maps, etc.). Rather than innovations to the game concept, new games generally focus on refining aspects of successful predecessors. Cavedog's Total Annihilation from 1997 introduced

5320-632: The lake after the valiant cacique Mara of the Coquivacoa, who had died in the fighting. The city was renamed Maracaibo after the Spanish took possession. Ehinger came down with malaria and decided to recuperate in the relatively civilized comforts of Hispaniola , so he handed temporary authority over to Federmann on July 30, 1530. Upon his return, Ehinger, with 40 horse and 130-foot soldiers and an innumerable number of allied indigenous fighters, set off from Coro on September 1, 1531, on his second expedition to

5415-403: The magazine's annual Game Contest, the author described it as a "single-player game of real-time action and strategic decision making". The magazine described it as "a real-time space strategy game". The game has elements of resource management and wargaming . In the United Kingdom, the earliest real-time strategy games are Stonkers by John Gibson, published in 1983 by Imagine Software for

5510-628: The main structures for each team are still present, and destroying enemy main structure will secure victory as the ultimate victory condition. Unlike in RTS, a player has control over the only one single powerful unit, called "hero" or "champion", who advances in level, learns new abilities, and grows in power over the course of a match. Players can find various friendly and enemy units on the map at any given time assisting each team, however, these units are computer-controlled and players usually don't have direct control over their movement and creation ; instead, they march forward along set paths. Defense of

5605-667: The major European powers' conquest in North America which includes the Spanish , the British and the French as well as the counter-campaigns narrated from the viewpoint of the Native Americans who fought against them. GSC Game World designed American Conquest to attract the United States computer game market, which had been unreceptive to its earlier game Cossacks: European Wars ,

5700-455: The map or possessing certain types of units and structures devoted to this purpose. More specifically, the typical game in the RTS genre features resource-gathering , base-building, in-game technological development, and indirect control of units. The tasks a player must perform to win an RTS game can be very demanding, and complex user interfaces have evolved for them. Some features have been borrowed from desktop environments ; for example,

5795-640: The mobile format with "idle" resource gathering and defenses, as well as reducing the number of resource types, unit types, and building types to make the game more accessible to new users. In an interview between game journalist Bryant Francis and Clash of Clans developer Stuart McGaw, McGaw attributed Clash of Clan ' s design to "a focus on simplicity and accessibility", something that "anyone could pick up and play", while also retaining "the strategy DNA", that gives players "lots of options" while remaining "clear to understand".  Multiple other mobile games, such as Boom Beach (2014), Plague Inc. (2012),

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5890-424: The mouse to move units, and gathering resources, and as such served as the prototype for later real-time strategy games. According to its co-designer and lead programmer, Joe Bostic, a "benefit over Herzog Zwei is that we had the advantage of a mouse and keyboard. This greatly facilitated precise player control, which enabled the player to give orders to individual units. The mouse, and the direct control it allowed,

5985-402: The near-industry-wide switch to full 3D was very gradual and most real-time strategy titles, including the first sequels to Command & Conquer , initially used isometric 3D graphics made by pre-rendered 3D tiles. Only in later years did these games begin to use true 3D graphics and gameplay, making it possible to rotate the view of the battlefield in real-time. Spring is a good example of

6080-484: The new colony “Little Venice” (Klein-Venedig). Almost immediately Ehinger replaced González de Leyva with Nicolaus Federmann . In August 1529 Ehinger made his first expedition to Lake Maracaibo , which was bitterly opposed by the indigenous people, the Coquivacoa . After winning a series of bloody battles, he founded the settlement at Maracaibo on September 8, 1529. Ehinger named the city Neu Nürnberg (New Nuremberg) and

6175-540: The oldest "2D Real-Time Strategy". Barton also cites Cytron Masters (1982), saying it was "one of the first (if not the first) real-time strategy games [sic]." On the other hand, Scott Sharkey of 1UP argues that, while Cytron Masters "attempted real time strategy", it was "much more tactical than strategic" due to "the inability to construct units or manage resources". Byte in December 1982 published as an Apple II type-in program Cosmic Conquest . The winner of

6270-403: The only way for them to win or lose is militarily makes them unlikely to respond to gestures of diplomacy. The result is that the winner of a real-time strategy game is too often the best tactician rather than the best strategist. Troy Goodfellow counters this by saying that the problem is not that real-time strategy games are lacking in strategy (he says attrition is a form of strategy), rather it

6365-492: The original Command & Conquer gave birth to the now-common "tank rush" tactic, where the game outcome is often decided very early on by one player gaining an initial advantage in resources and producing large amounts of a relatively powerful but still quite cheap unit—which is thrown at the opposition before they have had time to establish defenses or production. Although this strategy has been criticized for encouraging overwhelming force over strategy and tactics, defenders of

6460-402: The others are primarily used for creating and maintaining the army. Food may be harvested from either a mill or by hunting wild animals with specialized units like the trapper or the buccaneer unit. Wood is gathered by conventional means. Further, the cost of buildings, soldiers and cannons would inflate with each successive one built. Peasants are also now trained from dwellings and not from

6555-438: The player to build an army (ranging from small squads of no more than two units to literally hundreds of units) and using them to either defend themselves from a virtual form of Human wave attack or to eliminate enemies who possess bases with unit production capacities of their own. Occasionally, RTS games will have a preset number of units for the player to control and do not allow building of additional ones. Resource gathering

6650-596: The popular perception of the genre and expectations of the genre more than others, in particular the games released between 1992 and 1998 by Westwood Studios and Blizzard Entertainment . Drawing influence from Herzog Zwei , Populous , Eye of the Beholder , and the Macintosh user interface , Westwood's Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992) featured all the core concepts and mechanics of modern real-time strategy games that are still used today, such as using

6745-416: The popularity of turn-based strategy computer games. In the past, a common criticism was to regard real-time strategy games as "cheap imitations" of turn-based strategy games, arguing that real-time strategy games had a tendency to devolve into "click-fests" in which the player who was faster with the mouse generally won, because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate. The common retort

6840-488: The problem by giving the player direct control of a single powerful unit and near autonomy for everything else," and is surprised "that more console RTS games aren't designed with this kind of interface in mind from the ground up, rather than imitating" PC control schemes "that just doesn't work very well with a controller". Some handheld consoles like Napoleon on the GBA uses a similar solution. However, several console titles in

6935-661: The real-time strategy and first-person shooter genres in Battlezone (1998), while in 2002 Rage Games Limited attempted this with the Hostile Waters games. Later variants have included Natural Selection (2002) , a game modification based on the Half-Life engine, and the free software Tremulous / Unvanquished . Savage: The Battle for Newerth (2003) combined the RPG and RTS elements in an online game. Some games, borrowing from

7030-517: The real-time strategy genre". According to Ars Technica, Utopia was a turn-based strategy game with hybrid elements that ran "in real-time but events happened on a regular turn-based cycle." According to Brett Weiss, Utopia is often cited as "the first real-time strategy game." According to Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice, Utopia "helped set the template" for the genre, but has "more in common with SimCity than it does with Dune II and later RTS games." Allgame listed War of Nerves (1979) as

7125-402: The screen and issue commands with the mouse, and may also use keyboard shortcuts. Gameplay generally consists of the player being positioned somewhere in the map with a few units or a building that is capable of building other units/buildings. Often, but not always, the player must build specific structures to unlock more advanced units in the tech tree . Often, but not always, RTS games require

7220-581: The series is American Conquest: Divided Nation . All three titles are available together as the American Conquest Chronicles . American Conquest ' s basic gameplay mechanics and economic factors are shared with the earlier GSC Game World title Cossacks: European Wars and its add-ons. As in Cossacks , American Conquest allows the building of a base with which the player will conduct military and economic activities to prepare for victory in

7315-723: The short name El Cuadrado Luxburg-Carolath in Maracaibo, Zulia State of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The transfer was executed under the name of "OUR DECEASED LIVE-AMBROCIO ALFINGER". This project was carried out jointly by the Colombian Catholic Church and the Grafen von Luxburg Fursten zu Carolath-Beuthen und Prinzen von Schoenaich-Carolath Foundation. During the celebration of the Ecclesiastical Act in memory of

7410-663: The souls of those who died during the conquest and colonization of the American continent, as an act of reconciliation between the native natives and the Europeans, the mass was held for the first time in history in the Basilica of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá, and later the funeral and cenotaphic ecclesiastical relics of Ambrosio Alfinger were taken to their resting place in El Cuadrado Luxburg-Carolath Cemetery. The corresponding funeral protocols were carried out according to

7505-561: The strategy argue that they're simply taking advantage of the strategies utilized, and some argue that it is a realistic representation of warfare. One of the most infamous versions of a rush is the "Zergling rush" from the real-time strategy game StarCraft , where the Zerg player would morph one of their starting workers (or the first one produced) into a spawning pool immediately and use all of their resources to produce Zerglings, attacking once they have enough to overwhelm any early defense; in fact,

7600-469: The technique of "clicking and dragging" to create a box that selects all units under a given area. Though some video game genres share conceptual and gameplay similarities with the RTS template, recognized genres are generally not subsumed as RTS games. For instance, city-building games , construction and management simulations , and games of real-time tactics are generally not considered real-time strategy per se. This would only apply to anything considered

7695-458: The term "zerging" has become synonymous with rushing. Some games have since introduced designs that do not easily lend themselves to rushes. For example, the Hegemony series made supply and (seasonal) resource management an integral part of its gameplay, thus limiting rapid expansion. Despite Herzog Zwei , a console game , laying the foundations for the real-time strategy genre, RTS games never gained popularity on consoles like they did on

7790-448: The town center, the latter now having the role as a scientific upgrade building. American Conquest differs from Cossacks in that peasants are needed in the direct creation of military units. If no peasants are sent into forts, stables or fortresses, no units may be trained. Upgrades which would boost the fighting capability as well as the training time of the army are also conducted at those buildings. Forts and fortresses are central to

7885-483: The traditional RTS format accelerated throughout the early 2010s as RTS games were released on the App store . With the new format specific to Mobile devices , mobile RTS games were often simpler than their desktop counterparts. The simplification of the RTS formula coupled with the adoption of the smartphone during this period allowed for mobile RTS games to be more accessible than traditional RTS games. Clash of Clans (2012),

7980-472: The traditional RTS formula, with the player having the "perspective of god" and managing units and resources. Such Indie-RTS Games released in this period were often subject to Porting , and often made it to mobile devices. A few of these Indie-RTS games are Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator (2017), the Machines at War series (2007-2012), and Bad North (2018). Oftentimes, modern RTS games attempt to capture

8075-526: The transformation from semi-3D to full-3D game simulations. It is an open-source project, which aims to give a Total Annihilation game-play experience in three dimensions. The most ambitious use of full 3D graphics was realized in Supreme Commander , where all projectiles, units and terrain were simulated in real time, taking full advantage of the UI's zoom feature, which allowed cartographic style navigation of

8170-474: The two systems: for example, the role-playing game Fallout uses turn-based combat and real-time gameplay, while the real-time strategy games Homeworld , Rise of Nations , and the games of the Total War and Hegemony series allow the player to pause the game and issue orders. Additionally, the Total War series has a combination of a turn-based strategy map with a real-time battle map. Another example of

8265-628: The use of a broad arsenal of weapons including diplomatic, informational, military, and economic resources, whereas military tactics is more concerned with short-term goals such as winning an individual battle. In the context of strategy video games, however, the difference is often reduced to the more limited criteria of either a presence or absence of base building and unit production. In an article for Gamasutra , Nathan Toronto criticizes real-time strategy games for too often having only one valid means of victory — attrition — comparing them unfavorably to real-time tactics games. Players' awareness that

8360-462: The use of combat tactics involved in the present, whereas macromanagement considers the greater scale of the game in an attempt to predict the future. A debate has emerged between fans of real-time strategy (RTS) and turn-based strategy (TBS) (and related genres) based on the merits of the real-time and turn-based systems. Because of their generally faster-paced nature (and in some cases a smaller learning curve), real-time strategy games have surpassed

8455-677: Was a German conquistador and the first governor of the Welser concession, also known as “Little Venice” (Klein-Venedig) , in northern South America, now Venezuela. Ehinger was a factor in Madrid for the Welser banking family when they began planning for the colonization of Klein-Venedig. The Welsers appointed him as the first governor, and sent as his deputy the Spaniard Luis González de Leyva. They arrived in Coro in 1529 with 281 colonists and called

8550-415: Was another full 3D game, but had limited camera views. The move from 2D to 3D has been criticized in some cases. Issues with controlling the camera and placement of objects have been cited as problems. A few games have experimented with diversifying map design, which continues to be largely two-dimensional even in 3D engines. Earth 2150 (2000) allowed units to tunnel underground, effectively creating

8645-407: Was critical in making the RTS genre possible.” The success of Dune II encouraged several games that became influential in their own right. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) achieved great prominence upon its release, owing in part to its use of a fantasy setting and also to its depiction of a wide variety of buildings (such as farms) which approximated a full fictitious society and not just

8740-591: Was developed by Revolution Strategy and features four new nations in three new War periods: The Union , The Confederacy , The Republic of Texas and Mexico , in the American Civil War , Texas Revolution and a single battle in the War of 1812 and more than 120 new units. Old factions are not present in the game but the United States of America can be played against the British Empire in the Battle of New Orleans in

8835-471: Was essentially identical regardless of the map layer in question. Dragonshard (2005) emphasized its dual-layer maps by placing one of the game's two main resources in each map, making exploration and control of both maps fundamentally valuable. Relatively few genres have emerged from or in competition with real-time strategy games, although real-time tactics (RTT), a superficially similar genre, emerged around 1995. In 1998, Activision attempted to combine

8930-411: Was notable for being one of the few completely non-linear RTS games ever. It is only in approximately 2002 that 3D real-time strategy became the standard, with both Warcraft III (2002) and Ensemble Studio's Age of Mythology (2002) being built on a full 3D game engine. Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns introduced classic wargame elements, such as supply lines to the genre. Battle Realms (2001)

9025-526: Was the first real-time strategy game to utilize true 3D units, terrain, and physics in both rendering and in gameplay. For instance, the missiles in Total Annihilation travel in real time in simulated 3D space, and they can miss their target by passing over or under it. Similarly, missile-armed units in Earth 2150 are at a serious disadvantage when the opponent is on high ground because the missiles often hit

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