The Glade 4.0

http://www.nucleardawnthegame.com/

This has me intrigued. One of the things that drew me to Planetside was the sense of scale - the feeling that I was part of something bigger. A game like this will most certainly 'it me giddy bitz in that respect.

I'm not sure how much of the community here plays FPS games, but those of you that enjoyed Planetside may get a kick out of this sort of thing. The strategy element's there; it's just clearer who's in charge.

I'd always wondered what a game like this would be like. Armored Core 5 is supposed to have a similar versus mode, where one player acts as the team's Operator and relays tactical info. In this game, however, I find myself wondering if it'll still capture that sense of scale when one is playing as a member of an RTS commander's army. Dawn of War II comes to mind. Just viewing those battles from overhead is entertaining and awe-inspiring to watch (for me, at least).

Another concern of mine is the efficacy (if I'm using that word properly) of having one's RTS units composed entirely of human players. What's to stop them from ignoring leader-man entirely? I'd almost say that any game that tries to pull this sort of combination off needs to have some bot units for a commander to control from above, so that they aren't helpless if their team refuses to follow orders from the guy with a tactical overview. Perhaps some sort of beefy dakka-bringer that would take a bit of work to put down, despite having its combat be AI-controlled. That way, players can't farm kills off easy-to-kill bot players instead of each other, and hte commander still has his enforcer for when the players refuse to get **** done.

Allegiance did this, but with a space sim. It's got a very small, tight-knit, but enthusiastic community.

I think this kind of thing is generally doomed to be a niche audience, because the average gamer doesn't want to take orders and let somebody else call the shots.

Which makes the entire notion of computer RPGs entertaining, when you think about it.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Savage is another game that does this.

May indeed be a "niche" game, but it's really great when you've got about a dozen gamers who want to play an FPS and two who want to play an RTS instead. It's a lot easier to let someone else call the shots when it's one of your friends, for one thing; and once everyone on the team realizes that they do better when they take his advice (assuming he's any good), it gets downright fun.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Hrm. I've actually played both of those. Allegiance seemed a bit too complex for me, but it might just be my fear of space flight simulators. Savage's combat felt clunky and silly - it was people jousting with faster characters, or just molesting newbies with the summoned demons. It just lacked a lot of what could have made it more interesting. A game like Savage requres a more RPG-esque combat approach, methinks.