AllThingsRealTime IRL - The afterMath Crossover with

In this very special episode, the boys are joined by special guests from the Supply Cap podcast - afterMath Theory and afterMath Albino - see the second half of this episode on their channel: • All Things RTS with @A... . And subscribe to them HERE: / @aftermathesports

[@XayadSC]

finally the banana story is publically available on the internet for all to see

[@stevenjaconette]

44:51 This is a really key point imo. A lot of the basic units are not interactive enough yet, you just have to kite or get kited. I never thought I'd pine for Stim, but Stim at least makes Terran have to weigh when to use it.

[@AllThingsRealTime]

The contrast between Exo Stim (which is called Quickdraw Hustle - for those who haven't kept up) and Marine Stim is really interesting. Stim is obviously powerful, but also has clear punishments for over-use, which prevents endless kiting, without medivacs at least. Quickdraw Hustle is so much less interactive because there's no drawback, there's no timing to it, there's no flash. I also dislike it because it's a bit of a "win more" mechanic, in the mirror, for example, whoever hits first gets a big advantage, and can't run their own exos away, because the opponent has increased movespeed. Would love to see QH reworked - thanks for your comment, H x

[@Blodir_]

U guys are missing the point. You just need a well executed RTS. There's a lot of space to explore there without being reduced to a "clone". I think aoe4 is actually a good example of this. It is a legit traditional RTS, but it has plenty of unique features for each faction, the landmark system, etc. The only problem with aoe4 is that it was badly executed in every way imaginable. Despite kinda sucking balls it still has a relatively large playerbase to this day, because the traditional RTS formula works (that's what got the genre popular in the first place).

[@Blodir_]

And yeah completely disagree with "RTS aren't profitable". Remember that recent hero shooter with like 100m+ budget and sub stormgate playerbase? If you make a bad game it's not gonna be profitable. Besides, I'm fairly certain microsoft has made some coin from aoe4 (while being mid at best) and certainly from the n-th aoe2 re-release (that's why they are re-releasing all the age titles, they make good money)

[@AllThingsRealTime]

@@Blodir_ No, i don't think it's quite that simple. The problem with the "well executed RTS" is that it's a very vague and generic bar to pass. Different people like different kind of features in RTSes and there are compromises to be made between the various playerbases. Even stuff that one might think is just technical improvement(such as pathing) has more nuance than one would expect (BW being such a beloved game with a terrible pathing comes to mind). As for the profitability argument, the general talk was more extended than just new installments in already existing series: While aoe4 sold very well, and certantly had some innovation, it's really the closest game we've ever had to aoe2. In fact you can take the same series and notice just how many titles and spin offs that were diverse were actually made between aoe2 and aoe4 that didn't see much success (aoe3 comes to mind). The recent success of age of mythology retold proves that there's still a market for those games, but i wouldn't call anything i saw in them particularly innovative. In respect to new and upcoming titles, the scenario looks even worse. There have been a LOT of rtses trying to break into the market in the last 10 years and i can't recall one that actually had nearly the same level of success as the mainstream series. From grey goo to supcom, from igp to bar and on, i've seen a lot of innovation, but not a lot of money and or playerbase. To be fair to your argument, i do think that's possible to make rtses that are technically profitable(sell more than they cost) and i should have been cleared that i meant profitable in comparison to other genres, since i was thinking about the returns on investments of RTSes compared to MOBAs or shooters. As a final remark, there are certaintly games of very popular genres with a LOT of money into them that spectacularly fail, concord being an excellent example. But there are also games in those same genres that actually see widespread success, such as deadlock. I don't see the same success promoting good gameplay in the rts market, at least not a comparable scale. If you are interested in dicussing this further feel free to hit me with a dm, you know i love discussing rtses with you, and if you want we make even make it an episode! Lorimbo

[@Dyncommon]

We getting paid yet?

[@AllThingsRealTime]

Not a single cent