Do we need fog of war?

Diodor · 2001-12-21T15:11:18

I used to think so, (and it made some interesting gameplay in Total Annihilation, where it was extremely important, because many units could fire at much longer ranges that they could see, requiring cooperation with other forces). But after playing Z, a RTS with no fog of war whatsoever, I changed my mind. In Z keeping an eye on everything the enemy did and instantly reacting to each of his moves was paramount to winning. Fog of war on the other hand reduces the contact between players severely. As a consequence, the level of interactivity drops a lot as well, making peon pumping / base building gameplay a necessity. True, most RTS games provide options to scout the enemy positions, but I find these operations pointless at game start and quite a hassle after. Having informations about an enemy is largely the exception, not the rule. As for games where the map is unknown at game start and needs exploring, they irritate me to no end. I propose that RTS games give up on fog of war and instead give a few options for hiding troops (commando troops, expensive cloaking shields, moving troops at slower paces to keep them hidden, special terrain types that allow hiding). But make sure that most of the information is available to everybody and the unknown element is the exception.

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Diodor November 24, 2001 12:13 PM

50 comments, last by Diodor 23 years ago

Gaiiden

5,720

December 21, 2001 11:51 AM

good man

Drew Sikora
Executive Producer
GameDev.net

Diodor

Author

517

December 21, 2001 03:04 PM

quote:
Hmm... I gues then that Z would be a lot like chess in that regard huh? Even still, I know what you're saying but to me simply building armies and sending them out to fight with no tactics is no fun. I saw your tactics vs. strategy post and realize that Z is without tactics. I guess some people like it that way. You make your game and I'll make mine So long as you realize that a strategy-only game caters to a select audience. I've never heard of Z. Can you gimme link?

Not really without tactics, Z was a very fast paced small scale RTS, and micromanaging units was as important as keeping an eye on the hole picture.

Aparently it is not longer avaiable on the abandonware sites since it is still sold :
http://www.vie.co.uk./public/products_fast.pl/PRODUCT_Z_PC/whitelabeldefaultnew/1103590177

And here're some strategy guides : http://www.vie.co.uk./public/products_fast.pl/PRODUCT_Z_PC/whitelabeldefaultnew/1103590177
http://www.ping.be/~twuyts/xdown/z.zip

Edited by - Diodor on December 21, 2001 4:11:18 PM

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Do we need fog of war?

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Do we need fog of war?

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