# are there bots to help RTS gamers work with legit info in the game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 7, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-bots-to-help-rts-gamers-work-with-legit-info-in-the-game/538678 "2010-05-07T20:53:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-bots-to-help-rts-gamers-work-with-legit-info-in-the-game/538678/21 "2010-05-09T17:00:20Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > the strategic option to drop worker production and compromise your long-term productivity in order to boost your army size in the short-term, adds depth to the game. Not to mention that tying income rate to gatherers creates a soft underbelly to be raided/protected, or those gatherers can be pulled out to fight for a quick but risky boost to combat power, or those gatherers can be sent afield to remote harvest to cope with resource starvation. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the gatherer model itself, the problems are more in the implementation. Starcraft 1 is a ready example of the worst possible system: you wound up having to issue multiple gathering-focused commands every 10-20 seconds _for the entire game_ just to get the basic task done of “make me money”. That is exactly the sort of tedious busywork that RTS UIs should be trying to eliminate and probably the root source of your complaint. SC2 has exactly the same core gathering model as SC1 with all the same gameplay ramifications. Despite that, it’s far less painful because of basic UI functionality like multiple building selection and smart worker rally points that have them go straight to harvesting. You’re still giving a gathering command every 10 seconds, but at least you’re only giving ONE instead of two to eight. It’s still one too many for my tastes but it’s at least an improvement. The key difference is that solving tedious busywork is something that can be done to the entire game, not just gathering. Cure the disease, not the symptom. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-bots-to-help-rts-gamers-work-with-legit-info-in-the-game/538678/22 "2010-05-09T17:01:05Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > You say “depth,” I say “micromanagement”… > > But you could still maintain that kind of depth without needing worker units. Production sliders, for example. but there were a lot of strategies centered around those worker units. targeting the civvies tended to deal a very visible psychological effect on the enemy as opposed to dealing the same amount of financial damage to military units. you can gauge the quality of the enemy commander by the way they handle, for example, a couple of siege tanks dropped right in the middle of their peon line. the inexperienced ones usually overcompensate by going nuts on security and thus throw away the game right there and then. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-bots-to-help-rts-gamers-work-with-legit-info-in-the-game/538678/23 "2010-05-09T18:08:51Z")
You can still add tactical flavor to the resource gathering part of the game WITHOUT needing individual gathering units. You could have a system like the Kohan games, with one builder unit that caps resource nodes. You still have to defend the node, because if the enemy destroys the cap you quit earning resources. And Blizzard’s model of having somewhat versatile worker units is fine, but I personally don’t find it very interesting. I think it’s more a function of the fact that Blizzard RTSs are more geared towards offensive play, making a good offense the best defense (the Zerg rush is SO not my style). Defensive buildings in Starcraft and Warcraft are either too expensive or too ineffective to be viable (though I have seen people in Warcraft 3 multiplayer blanket a portion of the map with arrow towers just for shits and giggles). ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-bots-to-help-rts-gamers-work-with-legit-info-in-the-game/538678/24 "2010-05-10T16:13:42Z")
i guess i just like access to the enemies’ production sliders even when i don’t have enough to take the base itself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-bots-to-help-rts-gamers-work-with-legit-info-in-the-game/538678.md?page=1)