Games and I: Part 2

(Warning: Real Time Strategy gaming terminologies used)

The Dawn Of Strategy

The first Command and Conquer started sometime in the early mid 90s, followed closely after by Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. These are the next evolution of the game made by Westwood Studios, Dune 2. Command and Conquer (C&C; also called Tiberian Dawn) was made by Westwood Studios itself, whilst Warcraft is made by the studio that is practically a household name for gamers today, Blizzard Entertainment. Warcraft was soon followed by its sequel Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, whilst C&C is followed by the expansion Covert Ops and much later the spin off C&C: Redalert.

When I first got my hands on C&C it was late in my primary school years, and as is usually the case, the PC at home would not suffice, so I had to play it at this shop that my brother found out, which allowed us to game for some reason. For free at that. I missed Warcraft almost completely, and only got my hands on Warcraft 2. In short these early eras of RTS was a small though significant footnote in my gaming history. I did nothing but got myself acquainted further with the evolving dynamics of the genre.

When I was in Form 2 (14 years old) and studying in Ipoh and far away from home, the seeds of a booming cybercafe mania has been planted at the area near my school. There, I played Command and Conquer: RedAlert.

The miraculous achievement of cyber cafes there, for me at least, was that they networked the computers together (still something new for me and most of the people I know at that time). While I grinded away at RedAlert in solo skirmish and missions, there was now the option to fight, against a human opponent. I would have liked to brag on specifically how I rose to become well reknowned in the field of RedAlert, but frankly I can barely recall much details. I know in general though that I displayed a certain level of aptitude towards the game which was evident only among a select few of us. What is certain however is that even at this so early in the stages of RTS gameplay, the notion of beating your opponents by outclicking him in building battle tanks has emerged. The idiocy of the tank rush has begun.

By the time I was finally challenged by one of the 'better' players, many other lesser players have begun playing and adopting the use of tank rushes. It came to no surprise then that such tactic, which so heavily favors the Russian faction of the game would be my opponents choice, as is my leaning for naval combat and the Allied factions superiority became the basis for my opponent choosing a combat area without any seas for me to employ my powerful naval units. I decided to play along, and refused to choose Russians instead.

Everyone watching and us playing would have opted for a titanic clash of battle tanks. It never happened. Using a few tanks with imfantry support, I attacked fast and early, keeping him on his toes, which of course he wasnt worried. Already he had a bigger tank force and had multiple Tesla coil defenses at his base, which he easily used to beat my raids. It did not matter as I was just seeting up the tone of his expectations. When I finally did attack, it came not in the form of tanks but attack helicopters. With only one SAM defense, there was little he could do to stop me.

Taking out his key production in one swoop, all the while maintaning the offense did the trick. In truth he had sufficient tanks to wipe me out still, but so demoralized as he was, he resigned. That was my first truly memorable victory, and it is still something I keenly recall.

The next few years saw some improvements in RTS gaming, and by the time C&C 2:Tiberian Sun came out we ended that with a big bang of a 3 on 3 team game, which my side won; significantly while my overwhelming deception trick was not at all used, the idea of fast early raids with just 'weak' infantry enabled us to control the pacing of the game and ultimately won us the fight.

Most significant though, of the RTS of this time, was Starcraft. Made by Blizzard, Starcraft represent a new style of RTS where the opposing faction are diversely different from one another, down to the very infrastructure of their respective developments. This key issue balances out further by having limited unit cap, and the having strong counters to almost every weapon type. Starcraft was a game that could not be won by simple tank rush tactics.

I approached Starcraft in a typical manner; first to study it via singleplayer mechanics, then trying whatever method I can exploit over the generic and somewhat dull system of resourcing-researching-reaping the fields with uber units. The zergling rush, was in a sense almost a tank rush except it could never really win extended games on its own. Rather, the rush had stronger psychological effects, in which it severely supresses an enemy very early in the game, a hallmark of my style by then. The Nydus canal exploit, Protoss Recall ability, Nuking, Marine rushes, and all that soon began to be a regular item on the menu. The first most especially enabled me to achieve a crushing defeat on a fellow Zerg player.

I loved Starcraft, and the Broodwar expansion even more. But Starcraft was also the seed in which began to spawn in the future a trend that I personally do not like. Very soon, probably pioneered by Koreans or Chinese, Starcraft began to be less of a game of wits and more of a test of formula. Gamers would thus memorize and practice a formula in establishing themselves, and define themselves by being better and fast over others in implementing said formula. Innovation slackened and routine crept up.

Once a solid formula was set, and it became a contest of who had better finger reflexes to implement these the fastest, my ultimate bane, twitch gaming, has finally invaded the realm of strategy.

At around this time, I began exploring other RTS, especially ones where innovation and creativity is most paramount to succeeding. These games were almost infinitely slower than Starcraft, so to speak, but also requires more thought and patience to accomplish its given goals.

Two of note would be Mech Commander and the very game that begun my space odyssey: Homeworld.