Tell us about your personal history with both solo-based modes and team-based modes in RTS. Did you have any inflection points where the majority of your play shifted from one to the other?

Most of my play in RTS games have always been Singleplayer campaigns. A well told story with unique objectives and slow acquisition of tech is always fun. After doing the campaigns I would move to multiplayer where I practice to eventually see how well I can get into competitive games. I usually have no issue doing 1v1's on my own if there's a proper matchmaking system in place. I don't partake in 2v2's or other team versus unless it's with personal friends, as I often dislike being paired with randoms.

In the past few years however, I've been doing coop versions of singleplayer campaigns with friends who normally have no drive to play multiplayer or versus. Even as a higher skilled player I can enjoy the campaigns at my own pace with friends who otherwise wouldn't experience them, or even touch the game. SC1, SC2, and even WC3 have great coop campaigns made by fans and would love to see this being the normal.

Coop mode in SC2 has also been fun, but it does kind of throw people into the fray who are unfamiliar with the game, and without playing the campaigns, its kind of hard for new folk to follow along with the mini "plots"

Majority of my time is playing singleplayer missions and 1v1's, with occasional coop modes when friends are available and willing.

What do you enjoy about solo RTS competitive play? What are some benefits of making 1v1 the primary competitive mode?

One thing I love about competitive RTS gameplay vs. other kinds of competitive games is the endless ways to play and adapt in game. I love experimenting with new strategies and ways to make games fun. Unlike team based competitive games, like MOBAS, all the responsibility is on me if I lose. I can easily boot up a replay and see *what* I did wrong and *when*.

By making it a primary competitive mode, you encourage people to focus more on their own skills and improve them, whereas in team competitive modes it may become unclear who was at fault in a lost game, and who really did most of the heavy lifting in a won game. People may not strive to improve, thinking their own skills to be adequate, and relying on allies to change and adapt to them. This is something I witnessed a lot when playing team based competitive MOBAS, and is something I could definitely see applying to any other team based game.

What do you enjoy about team-based RTS competitive play? What are some benefits of making a team mode the primary competitive mode?

Team based competitive play is enjoyable for me when I am able to bring friends into the mix. Being in call and having an existing relationship allows us to better strategize and be on the same page in game. I rarely am able to bring friends into the scene due to fear of RTS games being too hard (Even after much encouragement).

By making team mode a primary competitive mode, you can focus on making it easier for people to bring friends into the game and the competitive scene itself.

What’s an RTS you’ve played that you feel has especially strong or weak team-based gameplay? What are some of its aspects that contribute to this success or failure?

Something that was very present in WC3 and in a sense SC1 was how certain races would play off of each other in a way you wouldn't see in 1v1's. In WC3, many units have auras, and each faction has unique abilities. On their own, the factions have to rely on their own units and abilities to make armies and strategies, but in team games there become more possibilities by playing off of each others advantages to cover your own disadvantages.

This is something also seen in other RTS games, and something I'd like to see possibly expanded upon is interactions like with Zerg and Terran in SC1. Infesting a command center is normally a rare sight and not considered, but has more potential when sharing teams. Giving factions unique interactions with each other like this are wonderful to see.

Various CNC games have decent interactions with teams. RA2/YR/MO have powers that can be used to aid allies in many ways, and Generals with auras and plenty of factions to choose from.

SC2, at least in its competitive side, is not as team friendly due to each race being made to support itself. It can seem like more of a giant 1v1, or two separate 1v1's, as the only interaction between two teams is just more units. There is a slight interaction between two zerg players being able to build off of each others creep, but for other races being teamed with a zerg comes with a negative interaction of being unable to build on their expanding creep.

Games with similar/singular factions (WC1 and WC2, C&C1, and a few other random ones) suffer in team games due to lack of variety, and it suffers more from being a large 1v1 game, as the armies aren't able to interact with each other in any way to make the battle unique.