hidden, I think we may have a misunderstanding here, I am not for making anything simple, I was just pointing out that and RTS vs a TBS is very simplistic by comparison. The way I have been interperting your part of the discussion, is that you can have a game just as complex as a TBS, you used GC2 as an example(at least for the diplo side of things) and that all you really needed to do was slow down the game. I most likely have misinterperted your point.
The way and RTS must be made( with very little room for change, unless the game is not an RTS) is this, simple. The entire point of an RTS is to play in one sitting, no more then that. It may be played in more then one sitting, but it isnt designed to.
I grasp the fact that SoaSE is not an RTS in the traditional sense, but an RT4x or whatever they claim it is. The fact remains that it is played in Real-Time, with management of an entire empire at your finger tips( it is SupComm a dozen times over, or at least it could be), this means that you *must* be able to manage planetary develpoment/economics(this includes the orbital factor as well since the majority of info I have gathered points to a Homeworldesk style of play), Fleet Creation/maintinance(sp), Diplomacy, reasearch, reasource management( this includes production/defense and usage), and a few other things that I haven't been able to recall at this point in time. All of that must be done in this game and do to its nature, in Real-Time.
What my whole point has been, has been simply that if a development team is to be able to integrate all of the neccassary content, then it will either have to be very shallow in depth or done in sush a manner that the player will not be overwhelmed. While putting in a game speed button to either reduce or increase the speed of which time elapses in a game, that should not be seen a vaiable and correct device for making the load on a player lighter. What I mean by that is a player should not have to reduce the game speed simply to play the game.
That is why in my other reply's, I gave viable options such as couriers ships and multi-stage diplomatic levels. They not only offer semi-realistic solution to an important question, how do you have a relatively indepth diplomatic structure( or any other structure for that matter) while still keeping it simple and not overwhelming? Time from the earth to mars on any good day, takes several minutes due to travel time( not sure on any specifics). Given that, having instantaneous communication isn't realistic at all, however this is a game. The solution is simple. For game purposes, have a multi-layed diplomacy setting that is somewhat indepth but nothing to commplicated. This is to be done with courier ships for designated structure built ingame( or somethign similar). In addition, have public/private chat channel availible amongst the players so that rivalries and hte like may be fostered and unofficiall treatise proposed. Note only official treatise have any direct bearing on the gameplay.
Ridinghood - You will be able to esbalish routes, although to what degree I am not sure, but there won't be any special minerals and the like other then the standard stuff used by the diffeerent factions.
To Recap, I don't believe that an RTS *has* to be simple for it to be a high quality product( less indepth then a TBS, absolutely, but not simple), it just has must be done in such a way that to play the game you are forced to adjust the games speed to compensate for the amount of volume. Mabye in a single player game if you want to as a matter of personnal preference, but in a multiplayer match, it is just out of the question. For one person to slow the entire gaem down to keep up hindering all the other players is not something that should even be a possability, let alone if all the players need to. So, it is not ok for a group of devs to put in a game-speed adjuster thinking that now everything will be ok as hiddenranbir thinks is acceptible( again, I may have misunderstood your point), because its not. The only way I would think a game-speed adjuster is ok, is if the game can be played on its default setting with no problems and the player(mind, someone who understands the game) is keeping up fine. That is ok, put a time-modifier and let them fiddle, but by no meanes is a time-modfier a solution for to much information at one time.
Hiddenranbir - IG2 - The multiplayer battles I fought were in Real-Time and when I would come out of one, there would at time be fleets of ships attacking systems that had nothign near them before, so they stayed real time.
Lharrs
