vonsmyth

As an old time gamer I think that the RTS was in some ways it's own worst enemy. Games have always tied to the technology of their mode of play, in minatures and board games turn based play was the only way to make a game flow forward in time. Once computers allowed the game to move forward without any input by either player it introduced the possibility of the other player being replaced by the computer itself and removed they need for turns. Removing the other players is the rub. Now the computer must simulate a flexible and intelligent player based on a handful of program loops and timetables. So it is not very hard to outsmart and it will never be creative. Game programs have to be souped up to make them hard to beat but nothing sucks the fun out of a game like playing against a cheater. Now your back to only playing against real players but most RTS games then become little more than contests of who has the better equipment/connection. He who lags loses. The only truly fair game pretty much has to be turn based and the idea of real time thrown out or time has to be in the hands of a third party that enforces the same clock on all players. Computers made games more plentiful and visually appealing but they didn't really do much to make them better games.