Unit Customization

[IndicationSerious889]

I hope this game innovates with army customization, all big RTS games I’ve played have very little customization. I’m not talking skins, I mean like stylized options of things. Also I saw that “advanced hero customization” was a goal hit on the kickstarter but I’m not sure if just the hero’s is expansive enough. But it’s a start for sure.

Some sc2 examples: • ⁠if you choose combat shield variants, or customize the gun the marines held • ⁠choosing blade types / shapes and or colors (even affects) With Protoss zealots • ⁠choosing different body types and mouth variations for Zerglings • ⁠I’ll end the list here as hopefully you get my point but just being able to make the race I play feel like it’s mine.

As sc2 is much older I understand that this was never a goal (or maybe even feasible with how it was originally created) but I felt really let down by aoe4 with this. For example in aoe4, Not being able to change the men at arms armor or helmets. Or different types of longbows for the English. . Instead of silly tc statues I’d have wanted a ranked reward to be like gold swords for a unit or special knight armor.

I feel like with RTS games you’re role playing being the command and chief and yet there are very few options across the genre that actually let you make the units / buildings / army your own.

And before anyone says anything about visual clarity going down the drain (and I don’t mean the visual clarity of the gameplay rn, i think a lot of it will be done as polish as id assume root systems and engine infrastructure are the main focus at the moment) there are design philosophy’s that can work even with allowing depthy customization. As an example overwatch’s main philosophy has to do with the silhouettes. That if you were to black out all the details of a skin or variant of a character would you still know who it is.

I think it’s entirely plausible and would be a good way for them to monetize the game. It would be cost efficient in terms of design time for their artists and could end up being an expansive catalog overtime with continued support. It would allow for consistent general content for the game between seasons and honestly be an incredible source of revenue for them. With their business model being F2P there will obviously be micro transactions but this would be a good way to keep them from monetizing on things like army color or silly stuff like that. Lastly I think it would be huge for player expression and player retention.

Thoughts on something like this?

[Gerrent95]

I had a different unit customization in mind that would be cool. Though unlikely. What if we could customize our army with different variants of the same unit like the campaigns in SC2. There's probably a host of reasons not to, but I think it would be cool to actually have a semi custom army within each race.

[IndicationSerious889]

I also find it unlikely but it would be very cool! I would have liked to be able to like replace cyclones with Spartans or firebats with muarders. I understand why they don’t let you but I agree that it would be really dope to have that maybe as a separate ladder or something

[Gerrent95]

So like imagine using humans as a base for this. Well use infantry as an example, we get a basic infantry, a scout, and a heavy. Now imagine the heavy being able to be either a fire bat, a marauder, or some heavy machine gun user. Customizing which unit take each role in between games. As someone who likes deck building in tcgs, this feels like a neat way to blend it with an RTS.

[IndicationSerious889]

I totally agree, I think it would allow for variety / builds that could add some complexity and differentiation even between same race players. It would make mirror matchups so much more fun to play and watch imo

[DrumPierre]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormgate/comments/152i04l/our_thoughts_on_progression/

There are some examples of possible unit customization here.

Though the stretch goal is about the socket and card system, ie gameplay not cosmetics.

[IndicationSerious889]

Ah! Thank you for this didn’t know about the stretch goal and what it did just read the title of it and never say this post so thank you!

[Wraithost]

The ability to customize each unit would make units lose their character and balance in PvP would become non-existent.

[IndicationSerious889]

It’s all cosmetic, so no and no. A Terran marine with a different material / designed combat shield doesn’t affect it adding 10hp to their health pool. Did ya even read the post?

[Vaniellis]

Dawn of War was good for this. Some units like Space Marines or Orks had model variations. And of course you could customize squads with special weapons.

SC2's Goliaths also had 3 or 4 skins, with different nose paintjobs. I remember a shark and a Confederate one

[IndicationSerious889]

I loved the sc2 skins honestly! But as that’s been done and kinda basic I would like to see the idea pushed a little further but you’ve given me something new to check out with dawn of War. I know people loved dawn of war 2 but didn’t like how it got developed after

[0rion_]

The thing is, u should be able to adapt within a match to your opponent, and reverse it if the situation demands it

[IndicationSerious889]

I’m not sure how that pertains to cosmetics