[HN Gopher] OpenRA - Classic strategy games rebuilt for the mode...
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       OpenRA - Classic strategy games rebuilt for the modern era
        
       Author : tosh
       Score  : 580 points
       Date   : 2025-01-25 18:55 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.openra.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.openra.net)
        
       | nadermx wrote:
       | I play this often. If you play multi-player these build orders
       | help
       | 
       | https://forum.openra.net/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=21563
        
         | tra3 wrote:
         | Nice. Me and my son play coop against the bots and can never
         | win. Maybe this will help.
        
         | petercooper wrote:
         | Great resource. This is my main problem with the game. It's so
         | formulaic in the early stages and you really have to play to
         | the meta to stand a chance of surviving past about ten minutes.
         | Strategy doesn't really come into it unless you survive beyond
         | a certain point.
        
       | kingo55 wrote:
       | I love how faithful this is to the original games but at the same
       | time they've modernised the gameplay so that it doesn't feel it's
       | age.
       | 
       | When you go back and play the originals (even Red Alert
       | remastered) the modernised gameplay added by Open RA becomes very
       | apparent. I can't go back to the originals now.
        
         | goosedragons wrote:
         | Feel the same way with OpenRCT2. I could have sworn the
         | original games had controls for speeding up and slowing down
         | park time but nope. Going back to Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 I
         | just can't play it at 1x speed anymore. OpenRCT2 just has some
         | nice little fixed.
        
           | bondarchuk wrote:
           | That was so nice about the og though, you have to wait so you
           | just spend the time building some technically useless but
           | nice looking stuff. Fast forward kind of ruins that.
        
         | hnlmorg wrote:
         | To be honest, I always found Westwood strategy games to be very
         | one dimensional compared to other strategy games even in its
         | own era.
         | 
         | I never understood why people loved them so much. Perhaps it
         | was _because_ of their simplicity thus allowing for more
         | mainstream appeal?
         | 
         | Im sure I'll get downvoted by the Red Alert fans with their
         | rose tinted glasses for saying this because a lot of people
         | forget just how basic those games were. But I played a hell of
         | a lot of strategy games back then (it was my favourite genre)
         | and Westwood did some of the most simplistic games in the
         | genre.
         | 
         | Where Westwood excelled at was the presentation more than the
         | game play. Great music, FMV in the later games, etc.
         | 
         | Anyhow, I might check out this OpenRA project if they've
         | tweaked the mechanics.
        
           | intalentive wrote:
           | C&C Generals is up there with StarCraft in terms of gameplay.
           | And yes the RA music is some of the best ever game music. I
           | still blast Hell March from time to time.
        
             | hnlmorg wrote:
             | That's from 2003 though. It is one of the last games in the
             | series and was made after Westwood Studios had been
             | disbanded and staff finally merged fully into EA LA.
             | Westwood didn't even exist as a subsidiary of EA by that
             | point.
             | 
             | Whereas StarCraft was released in 1998. Which, if we are to
             | use your examples, would make C&C 5 years behind StarCraft
             | in terms of game play. Which is a hell of a long time given
             | how games were evolving in the 90s and early 00s
        
               | skhr0680 wrote:
               | Dustin Browder was hired by Blizzard to direct StarCraft
               | 2 after directing Generals. That's about as big of an
               | endorsement that I can think of.
        
           | Nales wrote:
           | I think this is the same reason why people preferred a "Call
           | of Duty" over "Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory"
           | when playing a multiplayer FPS. You do not necessarily want
           | to invest a lot of time to enjoy something.
           | 
           | On a personal note, I really enjoyed "Dune 2000" and
           | "Emperor: Battle for Dune" but I have never really been a
           | huge fan of the "Age of Empire" series. Recently I tried
           | "Impossible Creatures" and it was frustrating. I suppose for
           | I am a very casual RTS player. Each to their own.
        
             | jszymborski wrote:
             | As someone who loved both C&C games and Impossible
             | Creatures growing up and has played them recently, it
             | mostly boils down to the flavour and soul of the game for
             | me personally.
             | 
             | It feels really cool to escape into these worlds, each unit
             | and building feels alive and unique.
             | 
             | They're mechanically not the best games, but that's never
             | gotten in the way of the fun factor for me :)
        
           | sgarland wrote:
           | No, they are. RA2 and AoE2 came out within a year of each
           | other, and it isn't even a contest. RA2 is fun, but it's so
           | much simpler, and games are so much shorter.
           | 
           | I still like RA2 quite a bit, but it's not in the same league
           | as others.
        
             | Aeolun wrote:
             | > I still like RA2 quite a bit, but it's not in the same
             | league as others.
             | 
             | While I agree with the statement as written, what I take
             | away from it is the polar opposite. RA2 is (to me) the best
             | RTS ever created.
        
               | sgarland wrote:
               | No judgement - I like them both. What is it about RA2
               | that you prefer to others? Also, YR or original?
        
               | mft_ wrote:
               | (Not the previous poster but) for me wth RA2 there's a
               | slickness to the gameplay, the mechanics, the controls,
               | and the graphics. I've tried to get on with RA several
               | times (via OpenRA) but it never quite clicks for me - it
               | feels old and clunky in comparison.
        
               | semi-extrinsic wrote:
               | Have you tried Beyond All Reason? It's a modern take on
               | Total Annihilation, known for having a lot of "player
               | comforts" that reduce the need for micro.
        
               | mft_ wrote:
               | I haven't, but downloading now - thanks.
               | 
               | I've been intermittently grinding Mindustry recently...
        
           | markus_zhang wrote:
           | For me the RA satisfies my Cold War warfare fantasy.
        
           | bee_rider wrote:
           | I only played a little bit of Red Alert 2. And quite a bit of
           | StarCraft, although non-competitively.
           | 
           | The complexity difference was sort of interesting I think. I
           | recall there was a lot more... stuff the units could do.
           | Basic infantry for one side could lay down, take cover behind
           | sand bags (maybe?), garrison in NPC buildings. Gain
           | experience and level up. And these are just the most basic
           | dudes.
           | 
           | It is neat stuff that makes the game feel good to pick up and
           | play. But designed in complexity in a game can get in the way
           | of developing emergent complexity. I think this is
           | particularly noticeable in an RTS, where there's already a
           | lot going on.
           | 
           | StarCraft Marines only really have like one thing they can do
           | (stim), otherwise it's just positioning. This promotes the
           | whole emergent "micro" gameplay skill. Which isn't to say
           | micro doesn't exist in C&C (I have no idea what competitive
           | play looks like there), but there are a lot of alternatives
           | (Deploy them? Let them go prone?).
        
             | rvba wrote:
             | I knew a guy who was high level RA player and he said that
             | the high level game mostly revolved around 2 types of
             | units: tanks and dogs - where you would send the dogs to
             | bait out first shot and then your tanks to finish the job.
             | 
             | What Starcraft 1 does very well and what many other games
             | cannot really emulate is the dynamics of units - that the
             | battles can happen across the whole map - because few units
             | are often still significant enough. There is obviously the
             | whole "death ball" concept too - but Starcraft Brood War is
             | full of mechanics that actually go against the death ball -
             | for example siege tanks, or psionic storm that just
             | annihilate clumped units. This never existed in Westwood
             | games, what meant that most games were mostly just sitting
             | in one place and building 50 tanks.
             | 
             | The whole "you can garrison marines in a building" thing in
             | RA2 was nice.. but at the end again it was static defense.
        
           | wolpoli wrote:
           | I felt that Westwood's strategy games were built around their
           | single-player campaign experience. As a result, their story,
           | FMV, and gameplay were designed to support that focus. The
           | simplity meant that players could get into the game easily.
           | 
           | However, this also meant that the gameplay wasn't well-suited
           | for deep strategy or multiplayer, which was what RTS ended up
           | being about down the road.
        
           | doctorpangloss wrote:
           | Well the best thing to come out of the RTS engines were the
           | custom maps in SC1, SC2, WC3 anyway.
           | 
           | Which is to say that so much money has been spent on those
           | designers, whether at Blizzard or Westwood, or later in the
           | near billion dollars that has been handed out to former
           | Blizzard people starting their own thing. And then, some guy
           | Tya in his bedroom in China designed better games.
           | 
           | They should be credited for building communities first and
           | foremost. It wasn't ever really about the games.
        
           | twixfel wrote:
           | The games did suck (somewhat) arguably but I loved them
           | because I was young enough that I wouldn't have even known
           | what you were talking about if you said the game was "1D" and
           | the lore and world building was cool. I really liked/like the
           | Tiberium stuff, especially the ultra grim TS. Shame C&C3 kind
           | of undid all the grimness. I first played Command and Conquer
           | on the Sega Saturn aged 6 that I had just got for my
           | birthday, so there is huge nostalgia for me.
        
           | josefx wrote:
           | What timeframe are you looking at? Dune II was more or less
           | considered the game that established the modern RTS format.
           | C&C is mostly a refinement on the same gameplay loop (down to
           | the spice/tiberium/ore harvesters).
           | 
           | What I remember is a bigger scale for the fights, C&C let you
           | control dozens of units at a time, Warcraft I and II let you
           | control maybe 4 or 6 at a time. The unit cap was larger and
           | you didn't have to spend half of it on resource gathering.
        
           | cess11 wrote:
           | Like I mentioned elsewhere, they were like Quake but as RTS.
           | Easy to get into, fairly hard to master, extremely intense
           | once initial contact with the enemy has been established.
           | 
           | Yes, they're simple, factions don't differ as much as in
           | Starcraft where they demand very different strategies and
           | tactics, and there isn't as much power in 'microing'. One
           | element that matters quite a bit is there's a hurdle to
           | establishing a new base, it's not just to send away a cheap,
           | fast unit, instead you need to spend a chunk on a slow
           | special unit. This means that rushing a base has more impact
           | in the early to mid game, and sometimes that's how you can
           | stop an enemy attacking your base.
        
         | vunderba wrote:
         | I'm like that for Doom. I grew up playing id Software games
         | (Wolfenstein 3D, Catacomb Abyss, Doom, etc). The Brutal Doom
         | mod completely ruined the vanilla experience for me. It's just
         | scatalogically absurd and dialed up the shock value to eleven.
         | Great fun.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutal_Doom
        
         | MortyWaves wrote:
         | What differences do you notice? The remastered has some
         | terrible code behind its UI, you can just feel it.
         | 
         | Menu hangs on start for up to 10 seconds for no apparent
         | reason, people leaving the game during the "connecting to
         | server" stage seems to make everyone else wait indefinitely
         | usually forcing them to quit.
         | 
         | On the multiplayer screen, tab between "Join" and all the other
         | tab buttons and notice how each one moves a few pixels.
         | 
         | Then the obscene inefficiencies overall. Sitting at the main
         | menu not even moving my mouse gets the CPU hot enough to make
         | the fans loud. During gameplay a 4v4 multiplayer match turns
         | into one big lag fest about 15 minutes in.
        
       | deadlyllama wrote:
       | Does it play the single player mode cutscenes though? My PC was
       | underpowered when I was playing Red Alert. Full screen, full
       | motion video still seemed pretty amazing back then. "Hitler is..
       | out of ze way"
        
         | dfex wrote:
         | If you have the original CDs, then yes, you can import all the
         | cutscene media files (FMV, music etc.) during the install phase
         | and it will play them just like the original, but they aren't
         | included in the download for obvious reasons.
        
       | cpressland wrote:
       | I'd love a project like this, but for Red Alert 2. It works great
       | on my Steam Deck but often stutters on larger battles. A modern,
       | native, Linux port would be amazing.
        
         | kingo55 wrote:
         | There have been plans to bring RA2 to OpenRA for some time now.
         | I second this.
         | 
         | It'd be nice to also see support for Tiberian Sun and the C&C
         | Remastered collection.
        
           | cpressland wrote:
           | Any sources? I'd be keen to see if I can help out, even if
           | only financially.
        
             | kingo55 wrote:
             | It was posted below: https://github.com/OpenRA/ra2
             | 
             | It works, but it's not an official release yet. Fwiw I
             | haven't played this myself.
        
         | 999900000999 wrote:
         | https://github.com/OpenRA/ra2
         | 
         | Works great on Linux
        
           | cpressland wrote:
           | I have seen this in the past, but I figured it was mostly
           | abandonware given the lack of recent commits. I'll install it
           | and check it out though, thanks for the suggestion.
        
         | HelloUsername wrote:
         | This might interest you (RA2 in the webbrowser)
         | https://game.chronodivide.com/
        
       | kingo55 wrote:
       | Based on this open source project, modders have created an
       | expanded universe encapsulating RA, RA2, Tiberian Sun, Tiberian
       | Dawn and other lore into Combined Arms mod:
       | 
       | https://www.moddb.com/mods/command-conquer-combined-arms
       | 
       | Worth a look for a new fan made entry into the C&C universe. The
       | scale of the mod is huge...
        
         | ozarker wrote:
         | Woah this looks awesome, thanks for sharing!
        
         | blackeyeblitzar wrote:
         | And you don't need the original game to play this, it appears?
        
           | veidelis wrote:
           | That's right.
        
         | tetha wrote:
         | Oh that first level caught me off-guard in a good way.
         | 
         | Like, at first they fixed that weird error condition how you
         | could detonate the tech lab Einstein is in, which broke a
         | trigger and failed the mission. Now you just blow it up,
         | Einstein is there and you can go from there.
         | 
         | And then I continued with the normal motions of this mission
         | and... no, not gonna spoil it. That was a great introduction of
         | new content to the mission. And the second mission does it in a
         | similar way. Hah!
        
         | piyiotisk wrote:
         | Thanks my favourite is tiberian sun and I was looking to find a
         | way to play it on mac. I think with this I might be able to do
         | it
        
           | 1727706962 wrote:
           | I've just finished both campaigns (and moving on to
           | Firestorm!) on my M1 Macbook by running the game through
           | https://www.portingkit.com/ .
           | 
           | It guides you through installation and wraps the game in Wine
           | and other layers as its own .Application for running on arm
           | or intel macs. Porting Kit has bespoke configurations for
           | compatible games.
           | 
           | Also see https://github.com/Kegworks-App/Kegworks (formerly
           | Wineskin, the upstream tech leveraged by Porting Kit without
           | the bespoke angle) which i've used for various modern games
           | to great effect.
        
         | sandreas wrote:
         | I wonder if they did implement C&C funpark command line easter
         | egg (Dinosaur levels) and the Shift-Speaker-click Ant missions
         | from C&C 2 mission packs :-)
        
         | unixhero wrote:
         | This is huuuge. Thanks a lot for mentioning it.
        
       | scott_w wrote:
       | It's not clear from the website but I've always been curious if
       | these engines have community built assets that negate the need
       | for real game assets. It would be really nice to sidestep the
       | need to buy the games altogether (legally of course!)
        
         | ellg wrote:
         | In this case, EA released all the classic c&c games for free so
         | its pretty easy to snag all the assets. I think the OpenRA
         | launcher even has an option to download them for you.
         | 
         | There are 3rd party mods with their own assets too though, its
         | a pretty neat engine.
        
           | cess11 wrote:
           | Yes, it pulls them automatically, which is really nice.
        
           | TuringNYC wrote:
           | >> In this case, EA released all the classic c&c games for
           | free
           | 
           | Bless EA. I was wondering how this happened. I have wonderful
           | memories of playing these games in the early 1990s and it has
           | been doubly wonderful playing them now, with my children, in
           | LAN mode.
        
       | oaththrowaway wrote:
       | My favorite RTS game of all time. Love the port. Run my own
       | server for my friends group and it works great
        
         | hypercube33 wrote:
         | have they fixed the awful pathfinding bugs - especially the
         | Tiberian Dawn ones make it play worse than the official dos one
         | imo.
        
       | wink wrote:
       | I know people (rightfully) loved them for the gameplay (I was
       | more of a WC2 and SC player), but _my_ favourites were the videos
       | in RA3 with Tim Curry et al. It was just the right type of corny
        
         | endlessvoid94 wrote:
         | And Lando!
        
       | BrouteMinou wrote:
       | One of the best RTS out there. I go there every night to get my
       | ass kicked once or twice before bed.
       | 
       | I highly recommend it.
        
         | dfex wrote:
         | And I thought it was just me.
         | 
         | I didn't get my first win until I chose Turtle AI with 40%
         | handicap. After many months of "honing" my skills, I am now
         | about 50/50 against Rush AI on equal standings, but I still
         | have to play larger maps so that there is some lag before they
         | can reach my base.
        
           | vanviegen wrote:
           | Just wait until you try playing online. That'll be an
           | interesting experience.. ;-)
        
       | hagendaasalpine wrote:
       | I can recommend the RTS OpenHV, built on the OpenRA engine.
       | https://www.openhv.net/
        
         | tra3 wrote:
         | I checked the link but I can't find anything on how it's
         | different from the base game. What do you like about it?
        
           | paulryanrogers wrote:
           | From what I've read HV originally aimed to add things like
           | supply lines, terrain heights, deformable terrain, and
           | "player created landscapes". Since the original was cancelled
           | and many of its ideas implemented elsewhere, this newer fan
           | effort may not appear as innovative as the OG could've been.
        
       | HelloUsername wrote:
       | Previous discussions:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28511076
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37553193
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31197091
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7730555
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26533422
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42823667
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23120677
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23342320
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14065021
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Thanks! Macroexpanded:
         | 
         |  _OpenRA - Classic strategy games rebuilt for the modern era_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37553193 - Sept 2023 (169
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _OpenRA: Open-source RTS game engine for games such as Command
         | and Conquer_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31197091 -
         | April 2022 (80 comments)
         | 
         |  _OpenRA: Red Alert, Command and Conquer, Dune 2000, Rebuilt
         | for the Modern Era_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28511076 - Sept 2021 (199
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _OpenRA Release 20210321 (and new website)_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26533422 - March 2021 (10
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _OpenRA: An open, cross platform and expandable implementation
         | of Command &Conquer_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23342320 - May 2020 (3
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _OpenRA: AI Development Guidelines (2018)_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23120677 - May 2020 (4
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _OpenRA: Classic strategy games, rebuilt for the modern era,
         | open source_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14065021 -
         | April 2017 (1 comment)
         | 
         |  _Show HN: OpenRA - RTS project that recreates Command and
         | Conquer games_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7730555 -
         | May 2014 (40 comments)
        
       | Ygg2 wrote:
       | Heh. I still see they are using my localization library. Not
       | much, but it does give me a small heart warming tug.
        
       | cess11 wrote:
       | To me multiplayer RA is like the Quake 1 of RTS, it's fast,
       | chaotic and exciting, and OpenRA makes it trivial to get running,
       | with some balancing and quality of life adjustments compared to
       | the original.
       | 
       | It would be awesome if someone managed to figure out something
       | similar for Populous: The Beginning, which is a fantastic solo
       | RTS and arguably even more chaotic than RA so multiplayer isn't
       | as cleanly skill based as is common in the RTS genre. I can run
       | it through Wine but it's always a bit messy to install on a new
       | machine.
        
       | cheeseomlit wrote:
       | I would absolutely love to see the same sort of project for aoe2.
       | There's OpenAge, but it seems like they're still pretty far from
       | something playable.
        
         | Cristan wrote:
         | Maybe 0 A.D.? https://play0ad.com/ Its's closer to AOE1 in
         | terms of historical period, but gameplay should be close
         | enough.
        
           | mtlynch wrote:
           | I think 0 A.D. is a super cool project, but I found it pretty
           | hard to learn.
           | 
           | It made me appreciate how delicate a task it is to teach the
           | player the mechanics of a game like AoE and how good a job
           | AoE did at that. I felt like 0 A.D. isn't approachable in the
           | same way.
        
       | sapphicsnail wrote:
       | Are there any newish RTSs that are active? It seems like there's
       | way more users for older ones.
        
         | timidger wrote:
         | Beyond All Reason
        
           | mdaniel wrote:
           | someone submitted it
           | <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42826983> if anyone
           | wants to discuss it separately
        
           | killerstorm wrote:
           | Best RTS for me, by far.
           | 
           | 10x more playable than SC2.
        
             | bloomingkales wrote:
             | Why? SC2 is too physically exhausting for me. I like
             | strategy, but I don't like how it makes me micro at all.
        
               | killerstorm wrote:
               | Yeah, in SC2 I could not micro units at all.
               | 
               | In BAR micro feels quite good:
               | 
               | * the game pace is overall a bit slower
               | 
               | * projectile weapons actually take time to land
               | 
               | * many quality of life features, in particular, ability
               | to give a whole group of units an order to get to
               | specific positions by 'drawing' where you want them to be
               | 
               | * a lot more options for static defense play
               | 
               | * different options - surround, ranged attacks, kiting,
               | AoE weapons vs evasion
        
         | Kerbiter wrote:
         | Rusted Warfare Sanctuary Tempest Rising
        
         | butler14 wrote:
         | Doesn't exactly answer your question, but I am hoping zerospace
         | is the 'next big thing' / thing to reinvigorate the genre
         | 
         | Recent steam demo is super, super fun
         | 
         | It's a shame aoe3 didn't manage to pull over the sizable aoe2
         | audience and build upon it. That is basically the only major
         | rts release in years. And it is really good but it was never
         | going to be aoe2 and that's not good enough for that hardcore
         | player base.
        
       | warthog wrote:
       | The site gets blocked by Phantom wallet extension for your
       | information
        
         | m4thfr34k wrote:
         | First time I've ever seen this. Came to the comments to see if
         | anyone else experienced that. I don't see openra in the
         | blocklist but perhaps I need to look again.
         | 
         | https://github.com/phantom/blocklist
        
       | readyplayernull wrote:
       | I've been playing Open X-Com + The X-Com Files, pretty addicting.
        
       | Kerbiter wrote:
       | I thought constant reposts of the same thing are not allowed on
       | HN.
        
         | prepend wrote:
         | First time I've seen it despite being on HN for many years.
         | Looks like last time was 2023, so seems non-constant to me.
        
           | Narishma wrote:
           | I feel like it gets posted at least yearly.
        
             | Gormo wrote:
             | So about the same rate as those New Year's celebrations
             | we're constantly having.
        
       | andrewstuart wrote:
       | I loved the Command and Conquer games and played them for vast
       | amounts of time.
       | 
       | Don't seem to be able to play or replay any such real time
       | strategy games now. Don't know what changed.
        
         | nprateem wrote:
         | You did I expect. I find it so much more difficult to play
         | games now I know i won't live forever and times a-wasting.
        
       | ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 wrote:
       | If I remember correctly, people used to mod RA and other C&C
       | games to have custom models, like Tanya nude and such. I wonder
       | if this was born from that.
        
       | gatane wrote:
       | The OST of this game is amazing. Make sure to download the
       | official CD data from the freeware release, they are a blast.
        
       | Havoc wrote:
       | For those interested in CC games see also upcoming tempest rising
       | game. Doesn't say as much but it's clearly a copy. Half CC half
       | Tiberian sun vibes
        
       | ghostpepper wrote:
       | Now do generals
        
       | The28thDuck wrote:
       | This looks cool but intimidating - is this something that is
       | accessible to beginners?
        
         | self_awareness wrote:
         | "Learning" is always accessible for beginners.
        
       | shabgzer wrote:
       | Great effort, love to see that the game preserved in this way.
       | 
       | However, for me, the nostalgia wore off quickly. I no longer have
       | the feeling of immersion I used to have when I was younger; I've
       | become numb to the magic. What I see is pathfinding, a graphics
       | engine, a sound player...
        
         | tomw1808 wrote:
         | It's because you need more tesla coils, brrzzing.
         | 
         | Jokes aside, after reading a few of the official tounament
         | strategies, its where the magic disappeared for me - its so
         | much weight towards rushing over the enemy that wins every
         | time, it kinda lost its bliss.
         | 
         | Still, sometimes its fun to just play with some like-minded
         | friends in a multiplayer game
        
       | MortyWaves wrote:
       | I really wish they'd use the HD graphics from the remastered
       | version on Steam.
        
       | bloomingkales wrote:
       | Can I suggest something? Integrate this with some TTS and LLM so
       | I can say "send my tanks north", that rough command should
       | translate. I'm not a game dev, so it'll take me forever to even
       | figure out where in the code to do this interception, but it's a
       | dream of mine.
        
         | worldsayshi wrote:
         | Shouldn't be too hard to implement. The only hurdle would be
         | that you need the user to host or pay for the TTS and LLM
         | usage. So you need to ask the users for API key or add some
         | payment solution.
        
           | bzzzt wrote:
           | Would you really need a complicated LLM just to bark some
           | instructions to a game? There is a finite way of expressing
           | instructions to the game, you don't want to get into a
           | discussion about what 'my tanks' means in the middle of the
           | action. Siri could do this in 2011 and later versions work
           | fine on device without connectivity.
        
             | hirako2000 wrote:
             | Mechanics in real time strategy games are integral parts of
             | it though.
        
             | worldsayshi wrote:
             | I would love to see the code of an on device implementation
             | that could accomplish a similar task. Pre LLM I have never
             | seen an app that can take a variety of voice commands and
             | execute on them with a good user experience. Are there any
             | good open source implementations that can run without
             | depending on proprietary calls to the device?
             | 
             | In fact I still haven't seen speech-to-command being
             | implemented well in an end user app regardless of
             | technology. Maybe I have looked at the wrong apps. I
             | haven't used Siri to any large extent. Google home seems
             | very gimmicky.
             | 
             | I recently tried doing a small bit of STT and I was
             | underwhelmed by the quality I get on device. I used
             | Whisper. It was bad enough that I concluded that I'd
             | probably need to call to a hosted service instead.
             | 
             | And even if the TTS works really well, for most use cases
             | you'll need to have an LLM reinterpret what your saying
             | into commands.
        
         | remram wrote:
         | Pointing at where you want to go/who you want to attack/which
         | thing you want to build is much less clunky in practice...
         | 
         | I remember a game like you describe:
         | https://store.steampowered.com/app/319740/There_Came_an_Echo...
         | (from 2015, so speech recognition wasn't that good)
        
         | vunderba wrote:
         | I'll assume you meant speech recognition and not TTS. I'm also
         | assuming you intended for the LLM to act as the intent
         | classifier which isn't totally unreasonable although it may be
         | a bit overkill.
         | 
         | Given the precision you'd need to set the target
         | unit(s)/coordinates/waypoints - I just can't see this being
         | very useful.
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt8XYV-IKxY
         | 
         | A fun use of voice recognition I've seen before (Skyrim had it
         | for shouts) is using your voice to cast spells though.
         | 
         |  _EDIT: Also forgot to mention, at one point I had a utility
         | that you could map voice commands to keyboard shortcuts which I
         | used in Microsoft Flight Simulator for commands like setting
         | trim, adjusting fuel-air mixture, deploying flaps, etc._
        
           | bloomingkales wrote:
           | Yes my mistake. We're talking about a feature for a game, so
           | useful, you know, what is useful? I want to walk around my
           | room like a General and shout orders.
        
             | vunderba wrote:
             | Sure I get you - I think it'd be a fun gimmick. But the
             | reality is you'd be a general where all of your
             | subordinates are half-deaf and constantly misinterpreting
             | your orders.
             | 
             | Good premise for an Abbott and Costello skit though.
        
         | toast0 wrote:
         | You might want to try Odama on gamecube. Sort of an RTS with
         | voice commands and pinball.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odama
        
       | iamsanteri wrote:
       | I've been playing OpenRA for over a year now. After all the
       | hardcore triple-A games this is the one I've settled on. Maybe
       | because I played it as a kid when it came out. It's pretty
       | balanced and the community is awesome. Despite it being very
       | unforgiving at start, as you get up to speed it becomes amazingly
       | deep and competitive. So much fun!
        
       | tomw1808 wrote:
       | I love this.
       | 
       | Not that I play it often, however, I guess its the memories.
       | 
       | I remember when RA was released and I was glued to my screen, at
       | home or at lan parties. Multi player or Skirmish, always
       | fantastic way to kill some time with quality game play.
       | 
       | This and blobby volley :)
       | 
       | I love that they fixed so many of the shortcomings of the
       | original gameplay in OpenRA. It's really fun to play.
        
       | bobheadmaker wrote:
       | Ahh... that's nostalgia coming back
        
       | pylua wrote:
       | Thanks for sharing this. I'm really excited to see scrin here!
        
       | nprateem wrote:
       | Something about the RA aesthetic always looked a bit cartoonish
       | to me. All the other titles had better graphics. I was never sure
       | what it was...
        
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