What would you call the TA-SC-PA subgenre?

Well I'd argue that each game aimed for the largest scale achievable in the given generation of hardware. The 'vision' behind them was the same. Create a game about large army's of robots blowing each other up

Remember as well that although at release TA only had a 200 unit cap (which was high for the time coming from Warcraft 2 (!) with is 60 or so unit limit) it got quickly extended to 250 units, then it was de-restricted opening up to the engine cap of 5000 units per player..... For a game engine designed (by Jon) in the mid 90's that was pretty forward looking. Also TA had some truly huge maps.

Sup com carried on in the same vein, and PA has taken it even further. I agree that the scale of TA, SupCom and PA isn't the same, however I'd argue they were all shooting for a similar goal- the main difference was what was achievable at the time. Also people are quick to underestimate TA, there is a reason it has endured so long one way or another

So 'Massive [Contemporary] Scale Robot Real Time Strategy'? MSRRTS? Hardly catchy, but accurate.
Something along the lines of 'MoBA' or '4x' might sell it more?

Remove the robot. Robots are unimportant. You could do a medieval game that plays the same and it would be the same genre.
MSRTS.

How might we replace some words and get vowels into the acronym?

uhm the answer is kinda here guys : https://forums.uberent.com/threads/...l-the-ta-sc-pa-genre.61106/page-2#post-948075

I don't know why this is dragging on.

Because Simulated Projectile RTS is a technical definition which says little about the robot-focused post-nuclear total war which characterizes the genre. Lore and setting are important, as without them anything can happen in gameplay.

really? name one simulated projectile RTS without nukes. name one without machines as the actors. name one without... uhhhh.. war???

That's EXACTLY what a genre is, technical definition of the Game's GAMEPLAY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genres

Mike

Does the Total War series count? Projectiles miss in that. The RTS pool is a bit shallow nowadays, since Blizzard still use basically the same system from like 12 years ago.

And visual and narrative differences have nothing to do with gameplay?

Yes, because it's all interchangeable as I've already explained.

Mike

So why do I not have an Orcish berserker smashing robots up?!

The gameplay is influenced by a vision of the end product, which means visual and narrative elements.
I mean hell, what was the Kickstarter trailer?!

How is that relevant?

Also note my Edit above.

Mike

Because it's a visual-narrative element that conflicts with the visual-narrative elements of the TA/SC/PA genre. You say it's all interchangeable and the only thing which is important is gameplay. I say visual-narrative elements guide gameplay.

Except that's not the case.

Here's an exercise for you, Pick a setting.

Mike

Candy Kingdom!

Okay, now as per the Wikipedia definition of a Video Game Genre, are there ANY Genres that you could NOT use the Candy Kingdom as a setting for? Be sure to elaborate.

Mike

Probably not.
Ok I agree.
Genre comes first and thus initially independent from setting and narrative.
I say initially because they may later influence gameplay - but probably not to such a degree that they will completely alter the game's genre.

Thank you for the clear argument.

So are we going with 'Streaming-Economy Simulated-Projectile Massive-Scale RTS'?

Ya I'm just gunna keep calling it an RTS, which is what it is.

NO YOU AREN'T ALLOWED, THIS THREAD IS PRESCRIPTIVE!
QUESTION MY JUDGEMENT AND THE SPANISH INQUISITION WILL RIDE AT DAWN.

Sure dude. It's an RTS. Like a frog is an amphibian.

Another thing I think is important to consider is how "recognizable" the terminology is. Those of use that have played TA, SupCom or PA can all understand how important the simulated nature of the games are to the gameplay itself, but to an outsider with no experience of it first hand it's a lot harder for them to grasp what it means. It's part of the reason why I listed The Larger scale BEFORE the Simulated nature of the Engine when I listed out my Main points about these games.

Also it's worth remembering that the simulated nature of these games extends beyond the projectiles and applies just as much to the units and other "rules" that govern the gameplay.

Mike