Back, and More RTS Concepts...

I've been incredibly busy, not the least of which has been doing the con writing for SiliCon 2008. Look for your Progress Reports in the mail, and the program book if you make it there.

Anyways, wanted to thank tabuxfix for letting me onto his website and various ideas, which are very nifty. Added him to my blog roll and wanted to say "Hi!".

So, more ideas on my RTS game idea#1 (#2 is coming soon...)-

Humans-

One of the big things about humans is that we tend to build stuff and we like a roof over our heads. And, that's where humans start. When the game starts, the first things that come through the teleport portal is a base core, and a Commander. Human equipment is hexagonal in it's design-and facilities are "docked" to each other and to the base core. One of our game conceits is that you have to have a side that is accessible to the "outside" to let vehicles deploy. But, you can move the bigger factory blocks around-you can undock them from where they are, they sprout tracks (or legs, maybe), and move....very slowly, but faster than building a new factory bit. The only exception is the air factory-all of our aircraft are VTOL-capable.

The base module and some of the secondary modules will mount weapons (that you can upgrade), and the game has four level of weapon upgrades for each unit. A specific turret module can be built independently, as well as a sensor module. These can be mounted and attached to a resource pool location (which lets these weapons fire a bit faster and repair their own damage a bit faster), or placed where you want them.

Oh, and Human units have a specific "scavenging" unit that dismantles enemy units to take the parts back home-to build things that work better than their enemies.

Martian-

Martians are like crabs. They bring their homes (their walkers) with them, everywhere they go. And, they really don't have a base...more like a "place to work". Transport vehicles haul materials to a central point, and a specific builder...pretty much dances and creates a unit. This central location can be destroyed if either side pretty much runs their ground units across the central glyph/location.

Resources are also hauled to the walkers, which uses the resources to grow, build modules to increase capabilities, and build secondary systems and modules. They can even build turrets that move very slowly, then settle in and engage hostile targets, both in the air and the ground.

Venusians-

Venusian forces really only build three (four?) kinds of units-troopers (basic soldiers), builders (basic building units), and a Scaffold. By combining the three, you can build base facilities and larger units and vehicles. Of course, you can build a finished unit rather than build the basic three and then collect them into a single unit...but, when it's destroyed, then units break up into their component troopers and builders.

Venusians tend to be sneaky and stealthy and fast. They are not going to be the fastest unit in the game (this is when the Mercurian units show up), but they have speed.

Think China Has A Problem? No, It's Worse.

Steve Den Beste has been commenting about the problems China has been having with it's preparation for the Olympics. Problems from Tibetian independence, food contamination, etc, etc...and it will only get worse.

Let's start out with the fact that China is being pressured to lower it's digital wall of censorship, since major sponsors such as various corporations and similar agencies are demanding more access to the Internet during the Olympics. And, there will be thousands and thousands of people out there with digital cameras. And access to the Internet...and cheap access to blogging software and Livejournal and YouTube...

A major whoopsie (a term of art meaning anything from "we got caught beating some Tibetian monks on tape" to "Tianamen Square Part 2") will probably be on the Internet in all forms and ways within a day or two.

China is getting very paranoid about access, especially by "foreign" guests. Lately, the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco is only giving one month visas for non-US nationals applying for a visa. And, for only a single entry and if you've been there before. Oh, and you have to have permanent residency in the United States to get a visa. If you haven't been to China before...you have to go back to your home country to get a visa.

I think that China is really worried that they are going to have thousands of people that going to be there, with easy access to communications to the outside. Especially with all the trouble going on with China. The first major incident...will be messy. Every time something goes wrong, it will get out of the country fast. And, you can bet that everybody that has a bone to pick with China is going to be picking away (I'm almost surprised that Taiwan isn't pushing "we have higher quality stuff and it's cleaner" in the media-or that's more for the trade magazines.)

This year's Olympics is going to be interesting. A big enough scandal might make the upcoming recession worse (honestly, it should have started by now, or when the major lending problems happened with people buying houses that are Way Too Much), with people moving away from China products because of a general sort of "we don't like China" movement.

I'm watching this news, it will be interesting...