I've had this Idea for a little while now, feel free to contribute. RTS games typically require you to mine/harvest materials for your economy. These materials are finite, eventually depleting, leaving you to go fight for more resources. TA/SupCom introduces a different system where you can infinitely collect from a resource as long as you controlled it. Another aspect of most games is a soft unit cap that can be overcome by building a 'support' building. Again, TA/SupCom deviate from this by making the units require constant 'supply' as long as they are active. This means that having a better economy means having a larger army. A skilled player will use these aspects to their advantage and attack the enemy 'supply/economy' to limit their opponents growth. What I have never seen in an RTS game is a 'global economy'. In a global economy, all sides using the resources from the economy drive up the demand for the resource, usually driving up the cost of units requiring said resource for everyone(themselves included). Also, any unit collecting a resource and selling it back to the economy increases the supply, usually driving the cost down. This means that every player has to keep an eye on the economy and plan their purchases. As for the soft unit cap, Units that would require a constant supply of energy to be maintained would need to 'purchase' energy from the economy. If the player does not have the resources to purchase the energy necessary, then they would need to 'shut down' some units to lower the maintenance cost. This would lead to some interesting gameplay elements. If player1 wants to attack player2, but player2 has high-energy shields, then player1 could drive the cost of energy up so that player2 has to choose between keeping the shield running, or shutting down some of is army/factories. Another strategy would be that players would need to choose between increasing their buying power and selling resources, thus increasing the supply for his enemies...or having a large supply but less buying power. Criticism/Opinions/Ideas welcome
In a situation where no international trade is established, a global economy doesn't exist. Doesn't matter how high the demand in country A is the price won't go up in country B if there is no trade between the country's. And since trade is not included in this game (I assume), the global economy system, while being an awesome suggestion, is going to be a bit silly.
I don't believe that is, technically speaking, not true. In a finite resource system then a global economy exists intrinsically. There is supply somewhere on the map and I have a demand for it, but so does my enemy. If I take that resource, then the 'increased price' the other player has to pay is production to build an army to take over my access to that supply or secure another supply. To more directly answer your concern though, consider this. There need not be any direct trade between players. The global economy[GE] would be like a server, and the players would be clients. always connected to the server, but not each other. Excess resources would be automatically traded to the GE. This would add a different aspect to the game. In most RTS games, you just collect as much as you can and use it when you need it(though you should always be using it immediately if possible). But now, with the GE in effect, if you over-collect then you are essentially lowering the cost of that resource to anyone who needs it and can purchase it. I appreciate your input. I admit that my idea would be difficult to introduce.
I'm assuming the global trade in this game will primarily consist of laser-blasts and plasma shells/superheated-lead/superheated-tungsten Edit: The issue isn't that there's price in the game... there's no "price" for units.. there's simply raw costs in materials/mass/metal and energy (which is technically matter, and vice versa). So in other words, more competition for resources doesn't drive up the individual costs for units, as a tank today will still require the same exact materials as that same tank will require tomorrow. What "might" make sense is that each planet/planetoid has a finite amount of resources to be mined, but that will depend on how Uber Entertainment decides to tackle this problem/feature. As someone else proposed, this would lead to interesting issues -- such as destroying asteroids (which otherwise could be used as bases) for the purposes of resource gathering, or even potentially something like Dead Space's "planet crackers".
My Thoughts exactly, you couldn't setup some kind of global economy without trading. To add to that because units are Built and not Purchased, they will always require the amount of resources. On top of that how much you mined/harvested has ZERO bearing on anything aside from by many resources YOU have. Just because I'm mining/harvesting more mass than my opponent shouldn't have any effect on anyone's Economy. Mike
Ya'll are correct. This system would require that units have an assigned 'materials cost' and materials be purchased. Also, if one has access to said materials then why purchase them. In war one does not sell resources required by the war effort. (/thread) I have been known to not think these things through before, looks like not much has changed. haha Well, back to reading the logistics post. Thanks for the input guys.
Nah, no prob. It's an idea that would certainly make sense in a different context, or maybe even in a PA-metagame. E.g., if through a mod (or through some unlockable stretch-goal) people could make 'galaxies' consisting of multiple star systems, maybe it would be possible to incorporate an "global economy" of some sort through this. Established allies could 'sell' units for discounts, or jack up the prices... and these units could be extreme-teleported (maybe in a manner similar to how SupCom brings the commander on-screen at the beginning of the game... leveling the surroundings) for the purchaser.... .... okay, probably a mod.
Sins has an example of a bit of a global economy system. You can trade resources and control the market by putting resources into it and buying resources out of it, etc. Now I feel the need to go play Sins, I bought Rebellion and haven't played it much... Anyway, I'm not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for though.
