A rendition to Hobbes...

Fine; point taken. Edit my post to remove the work fiction. It's still a poorly written shitty game with a shitty plot. Like most games, really. 1984 is a literary masterpiece. Assasin's Creed...is just another game beating the Knights Templar to death. I mean, they were executed by Philip IV long...LONG ago. Leave them rest in peice already.

 

I wasn't saying you were wrong, it is a shitty game.
Just making sure we don't make absolute generalisations.
Because that's never a good idea.

 

I don't agree with you one bit here Chris. I've seen successful rushes, I've seen rushes that have lost us the game. There's no simple way to win. If by rushing you mean, moving across the map and get refineries and destroy enemy stuff and make new bases, then that's just what the game is about. If there was no "rushing" and competition about locations and refinery points and enemy commander, then there would be nothing left about what makes Empires in the first place. If you only have one way to play a game, like you said, the fun way, then would it be fun to play it if every round was the same kind of fun way you like to play it? Every game would be like playing emp_money, which plays very well, and balanced if you don't research artillery tanks, but every round on emp_money is just the same shit over and over again. Fun, maybe, but after 5 times it gets boring and after 10 times its so annoying you don't want to play anymore. Imagine playing that 100-1000 times like I have.

There's no need to make Empires like Battlefield and every other boring and predictable game that has no other point than running into one specified direction, dying and repeating until you get bored. If you like other games better, then you have the choice of playing other games... don't you? That is what I do, if I'm not in the mood for playing Empires.

Only things in Empires that are not good are the learning curve for new players, ignorance of some old players, general player stupidity, bugs and performance.

 

emp_money is boring because it is a crappy map.

I didn't say give both teams limitless res and remove all map layouts and buildings and building mechanics.

Considering I can't play even 2 rounds of empires most of the time because it's such a heap of shit without perfectly balanced teams and commanders, I would say 5 rounds before quitting would be an improvement.

I find it odd that you dislike predictable games when I can usually tell which team is going to win by pressing tab once the game starts.

 

This game is fiction too mang, and the storyline has been used a billion times.

 

But there's like 3 maps in empires which would be improved by being removed

 

I disagree that "simply pushing across the map" should be the only way to win an Empires game.
Never take ninja-rushing out.
Having the game play out the same way all the time is plain boring.

 

To you the player, it's just tank battles and trying to push, flank, move around, defend....support...etc. That's all the same.

To the commander, it's going to be a lot of the same, no matter what. Unless the commander boom tanks because they're bored.

Ninja-ing a game either ends it prematurely, takes a stalemate and finishes it, or take a game being won by one team and totally invalidates their work and ends it leaving a sour taste in their mouth.

RTSes don't have a ninja option. There's no easy way for a commando to win a AOE game...why should it be in emp? Emp is about teamwork, not singular skill.

 

I fail to see how forcing people to come up with ways to fight effectively in a large scale battle can be more boring than allowing them to default to simply 'drive up to the CV with tanks and shoot it a lot'.

There is literally no variety in ninja rushing, all you do is drive past everything and shoot the comm, or drive past everything and drop infantry to shoot the comm, but the strategy is the same. Ignore everything else, drive in a straight line, attack the comm by parking next to it and shooting repeatedly.

Anything is more interesting than that. Whatever happened to feints and flanks, sword and shield tactics, fortifying one direction so you can defend it with fewer people and attack the other with more, using tanks to support infantry as they push through an area, deciding whether or not to secure ground or keep pushing before the enemy can rally once you take their barracks.

Rushing/ninjaing completely invalidates those if it is a valid way to win.

 

teamwork only works when people work in a team though, and no one in empires ever does

 

Although if nobody ever did nobody would ever rush, they don't work if only one player does it.

 

The team deserves to get ninja'd if they didn't notice a rax or a squad hide engie pass by. And about this non ninja-ing in other "rts" games, what about building a rax or other unit spawning buildings beside someone elses base in other rts, I've seen it done billions of times, unless if your definition of ninja is different. Might I add that in Empires all the units are not at your command, so in the end it's about singular skill, in rts non of your units disobey your commands.

 

In 1.07 days, teamwork was common. You had a tightknit community. Clans were more prevalent. You build the game to encourage teamwork and not work without it, and people will do it. I mean, this is the source engine. You get VOIP pretty much for free. Teamwork ain't hard.

 

I would say you'd have more success building the game so that teamwork stems from self interest, as in you will end up in groups with mixed weapons and roles simply by having everyone do what suits them best. But yes, if a problem requires group effort to solve, you can adjust the game so that it happens. Coordination can't always be guaranteed, but working in groups can, and that's all you need. Coordination is a pleasant extra you get if people feel like it, but to get that more you'd need to change human nature.

 

I hate to keep looking to an existing game, but BF2's VOIP system was a great idea; you can voice chat with your squad only. If you're the squad leader, you can voice chat with your squad AND the commander. Likewise, the commander can voice chat with squad leaders. Add to that functionality the ability to broadcast voice to ALL players for the comm and it's great stuff.

Also, fostering good healthy clans can do a lot; Nebajoth, myself and some other CW people would end up in squads when pubbing and have tons of fun. There was real coordination that happened...and I want that to happen in a game again.

 

could this be implemented in the current engine?

 

Not so much out of reach as difficult to reach.