Unreal Universe: What if... Unreal was an RTS?

[Neon_Knight]

For a long time I thought the lore of the franchise could lend well to a specific kind of game genre: Real-Time Strategy. So I thought... how would Unreal play if it was an RTS?

I'm putting all of my ideas about this in this page in the Unreal Wiki (still WIP, human side complete, Skaarj in the works, Necris in planning stages): https://unreal.fandom.com/wiki/User:Pum ... l_Universe

For those who don't want to read, here's the resume:

Unreal Universe is (should be) an RTS ambiented in the Unreal universe, which uses settings, characters, and other assets from, well, the Unreal Universe.

Why an RTS?
The Unrealverse has a lot of lore which gets lost in the mid of the firefights present in the FPS genre, and even more in the Arena FPS subgenre. So much lore... so what about putting it to good use? There are plenty of events in the game about mass-scale wars and invasions and so on. These events could be replicated more easily with an RTS than with a RPG, for example.

In UU, players can take control of one of three races. The main objective is to wipe the enemy base ASAP. There's a catch, though: the main units and technologies for each race are just basic enough to destroy just a tower.

Enter the Subraces. By building a special structure, each race can access to one out of three possible subraces (Humans call them Factions, Skaarj call them Clans, and Necris call them Castes), each of which has military and economic specializations. Subraces are race-dependant, so don't expect Necris armies using Axon vehicles in the same player army. Each of these Subraces have a leader. There are also the Superraces, late-game tiered units and technologies meant to destroy the player's enemies.

Alongside playable units, each Subrace and Superrace has a Leader, a Hero unit with unique abilities, usually a well-known character from the Universe. Each Leader has an extra resource called "Energy" (the cost being expressed as Energy Unit, EU), and a bunch of commands and skills at their disposal which consume these skills.

Every RTS has resources and UU is no exception. Available resources are Population Units (PU) which dictate the maximum of units of that population at a specific moment. PUs can be increased with a specific building (houses for Humans, huts for Skaarj, and bases for Necris), each of them adding 10 to the Population Unit total.

Resources which can be collected are Tarydium Mines (represented by green fields of crystals), Geyser Gas (represented by Geysers), and Food (represented by local animals, harvesting fields and food trees). We're referring to the costs of these resources with TU, GU and FU.

Playable races and factions

Humans: Can build and repair own buildings and build everywhere. Have average durability and speed. (Equivalents: Every Terran/Human faction in every RTS) - Subfactions: Axon, Izanagi, Liandri. Superleader: Malcolm (NEG)
- Axon: Specialized in vehicles and heavy units. +20% armor of all units and buildings. Leader: Gorge.
- Izanagi: Specialized in Covert Ops and Special/Support units. All units and buildings can use Cloaking. Leader: Kensai.
- Liandri: Specialized in Robots and cheap/expendable units. -20% resource cost and training cost for all units and buildings. -20% HP of all units and buildings. Leader: Xan.

Skaarj: Can build everywhere, buildings inflict damage to nearby enemy units, military buildings can attack units at range (double as towers), Skaarj military foot units self-regenerate. (Equivalent: Orcs in Warcraft 3). Tribe Hut raises in level with XP collected from killing enemy units or destroying enemy buildings. - Subfactions: Iron Skull, Red Claw, Black Fist. Superleader: Skaarj Queen.
- Iron Skull: Specialized in Skaarj Warriors. +10% melee attack of all units and watchtower buildings, +5% regeneration factor of all Skaarj foot units. Leader: ClanLord.
- Red Claw: Specialized in non-Skaarj units. +10% armor on all units including Nali Slaves, -10% research speed. Leader: Baetal.
- Black Fist: Specialized in vehicles, robotic and big monster units. -10% unit training resource cost, -10% research resource cost. Leader: Mekkor.

Necris: Can build only in specific areas which they can extend with Nanoblack. Can also infect other Human and Skaarj buildings with Nanoblack tubes. (Equivalent: Zerg in Starcraft, Undead in Warcraft 3) - Subfactions: Blademaiden, Assassin, Cultist. Superleader: Akasha.
- Blademaiden: Specialized in foot units. +10% melee attack of all units, +10% research speed. Leader: Visse.
- Assassin: Specialized in heavy foot units and specialized tech. +10% training speed, +10% attack, -10% training cost. Leader: Loque.
- Cultist: Specialized in vehicles and economy techs. +10 gathering rate of worker units, +10 vehicle armor. Leader: Necroth.

P.S.: NO, USkaarj isn't going to cut it.

[TankBeef]

If Unreal was RTS, instead of Unreal Tournament we would have World of Unreal MMORPG. No thanks.

[OjitroC]

If one is going to use the lore of the Unreal franchise then surely a place has to be found for Krall and Brutes (which play an important role as subordinated species used by the Skaarj)?

What about Mercs who play a more central role in Unreal lore than Necris?

Pedantic note - do Skaarj build huts? I can't really think of any in Unreal but there are plenty of sophisticated Skaarj structures.

I'm sorry but Unreal as an RTS doesn't excite me though I'm sure that the schema you've set out would work well enough.

[UnrealGGecko]

Maybe something similar to this?

[Neon_Knight]

If Unreal was RTS, instead of Unreal Tournament we would have World of Unreal MMORPG. No thanks.

LMAO, so Unreal is forbidden from ever having any kind of spinoff or another kind of game that isn't either AFPS or UT99 clone? I don't agree at all with that point of view.

If one is going to use the lore of the Unreal franchise then surely a place has to be found for Krall and Brutes (which play an important role as subordinated species used by the Skaarj)?

What about Mercs who play a more central role in Unreal lore than Necris?

I've placed these three units in the Skaarj tree, under Red Claw (which is based on non-Skaarj units) precisely for that reason.

Pedantic note - do Skaarj build huts? I can't really think of any in Unreal but there are plenty of sophisticated Skaarj structures.

I needed to think in a structure similar to the depot and that was the best name I could come up with. If there's anything else that can be used for the "population limit increasing building" I'm all ears.

[TankBeef]

LMAO, so Unreal is forbidden from ever having any kind of spinoff or another kind of game that isn't either AFPS or UT99 clone? I don't agree at all with that point of view.

That, my friend, is a strawman fallacy. I did not say it is forbidden. Unreal can be whatever it wants to be. Me playing it, that is a different story.
About MMORPGS, I tried Tera once (based on Unreal Engine btw, don't remember what version), for like two weeks. Got tired of the constant grinding and stupid quests. Right now, I don't feel the motivation to play anything from that genre again. But...you never know.

[OjitroC]

Pedantic note - do Skaarj build huts? I can't really think of any in Unreal but there are plenty of sophisticated Skaarj structures.

I needed to think in a structure similar to the depot and that was the best name I could come up with. If there's anything else that can be used for the "population limit increasing building" I'm all ears.

Skaarj buildings are said to resemble their space ships so need a name reflecting that? What about pods or modules (synonyms for space ship)?

So the Mercs would be employed by the Skaarj rather than being subordinated by them? Couldn't rely on them to any great extent given their tendency to put their own interests first (perhaps build this in to the schema?).

[Neon_Knight]

Well, it's a similar situation than Age of Empires III and the Saloon units, mercenaries bought with gold, in this case mercenaries bought with resources.

Pods are indeed a good name, yeah. As well as modules.

[Que]

there's an RPG mod for UT99 if you're interested.
http://unrealtournament.99.free.fr/utfi ... archMode=f

[Neon_Knight]

I'm trying to come with ideas for the Necris, so I went to the inspiration place to beat all the other inspiration places...

So far, some of the ideas I've gathered for that race are:
- Build in Nanoblack (like the Zerg from Starcraft and the Undead from Warcraft), this area would be named "Nanocreep".
- At least two subfactions where the main strategy is "overwhelm the enemy with lots of weak units" (the Necris themselves seem to lend themselves well to that style).
- At least one tech or bonus that allows the Necris to infect Human and Skaarj buildings (NECRIFIED SKAARJ!)
- How to extend the Nanocreep.
- One of the factions focusing on female units using swords and blades
- An unit that plants mines of different kinds and uses a Sniper Rifle
- An unit that releases smaller attackers
- Where to place the Necris vehicles from UT3

there's an RPG mod for UT99 if you're interested.
http://unrealtournament.99.free.fr/utfi ... archMode=f

My idea was about a Real-Time Strategy game (Age of Empires, Starcraft, Warcraft III...), not a Role-Playing Game.

[OjitroC]

Well, it's a similar situation than Age of Empires III and the Saloon units, mercenaries bought with gold, in this case mercenaries bought with resources.

So any other race or faction can bribe them to desert Red Claw - a factor in game play in that Red Claw have to keep them supplied with resources in order to retain their 'loyalty' (services) and other races/factions can decide if is it worthwhile to obtain the services of the Mercs?

[Neon_Knight]

That may happen a lot outside of RTS logic, but in RTS it's another thing.

I would have implemented Mercenaries as their own faction if they had enough buildings and units.

And now that I think of it, indeed, you're right, the alternative could be them existing as a neutral faction in some maps, like the Native tribes in AoEIII. Problem is then, another unit or tech to take their place in the Red Claw tech tree.

[OjitroC]

Problem is then, another unit or tech to take their place in the Red Claw tech tree.

Well you have the Big Man as an earlier genetically engineered version of the Brute.

As a unit there is the Slith - a feral creature from the Skaarj homeworld, who do have a social structure based on groups - they don't construct buildings though rather inhabiting bodies of liquid (water, noxious liquids) so they would/could inhabit those kinds of habitats in and around the buildings/structures of other 'units'. There are at least three different types of Slith (differentiated by the environments they inhabit). The big problem is that Sliths don't appear to have a relationship with the Skaarj - they are not subservient to them nor employed by them - although possibly having been orginally introduced to Na Pali by the Skaarj.

An alternative is to have a unit of Skaarj (of what ever kind) in Red Claw in order to direct/monitor/control the other subordinate units - basically the Brutes, being unintelligent, need to be told what to do by controllng Skaarj and the Krall need some form of Skaarj overall control.

Another alternative is martial Nali Slaves - persuaded to ally themselves to the Skaarj or genetically modified to do so - if the Skaarj can produce Brutes, why not modify the behaviour of Nali - there's no lore in Unreal for that but martial Nali do exist in the broader Unreal Universe (in the Nali Chronicles I think?).

Last but not least - Skaarj Hybrids perhaps?

Actually, just thought - what about the Izarian? They were conquered by the Skaarj and so are allied to and used by the Skaarj. There are (or can be) more than one type of Izarian warrior (light, medium, heavy or armoured) - no idea about their social structure or about what kind of structures they inhabit - they do have a reasonable level of technological sophistication.

[Neon_Knight]

HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT THE IZARIANS!? Yeah, they'll do better, plus they were tools of the Skaarj in at least one game. They definitely fit in, plus prior to the huge content cut in Unreal II there were going to be medium and armored Izarian classes, so the stuff is already there.

Behemoths are already in the Red Claw tree as an upgrade for Brutes. The chain for the Brutes go Lesser Brute -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Brute tech) Brute -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Behemoth tech) Behemoth. Same for the Krall (Lesser Krall -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Krall tech) Krall -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Elite Krall tech) Elite Krall) and Mercenaries (Lesser Mercenary -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Mercenary tech) Mercenary -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Elite Mercenary tech) Elite Mercenary) The Elites and Behemoths are considered late-game units in the Red Claw tree. So an Izarian chain could go Lesser Izarian -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Izarian tech) Izarian -> (resources + main building level up + Upgrade to Armored Izarian tech) Armored Izarian.

The Slith look more like neutral units fought for resources like the neutral creeps scattered across maps in Warcraft III. Same with the Gasbags, Mantas and Flys and other creeps. Not sure about Tentacles, though. EDIT: OH, WAIT! Food is mentioned as one of the map's resources those creatures could be hunted for food!

Oh, yeah, the Skaarj Hybrids could find their use in the technology-inclined Black Fist clan.

Updating, thank you for your feedback Ojitroc!

[OjitroC]

The Slith look more like neutral units fought for resources like the neutral creeps scattered across maps in Warcraft III. Same with the Gasbags, Mantas and Flys and other creeps. Not sure about Tentacles, though. EDIT: OH, WAIT! Food is mentioned as one of the map's resources those creatures could be hunted for food!

Perhaps you can bring in Nali Cows and Rabbits here (if you haven't already) as farmed/managed sources of food and hence a valuable resource?