User blog:Ranger-X/Watching Vs. Playing
Which is more fun? Watching someone else (especially someone with more skill than I have) play War Commander or playing the game myself? Sadly, it is the former and here is why. When I say War Commander, I mean the old Facebook game I used to play years ago. I am not talking about the Rogue Assault mobile version, which I believe is superior. I am going to compare War Commander to my favorite real time strategy game (made in 2003): Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour. I will build a table comparing the two. Also note that I will not count spending money or gold to speed up production or repairs, because I consider that cheating.
| War Commander | Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour | |
|---|---|---|
| Base Setup | Slow and gradual, can take hours, days or even weeks to complete a base. | Can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, depending on tech level. |
| Building Style | Dozer system, dozer creates only one building at a time, includes upgrades, production buildings are unique. | Dozer system, more than one Dozer can be used, upgrades are part of building's command set, multiples of most buildings allowed (except Strategy and Internet Centers). |
| Unit Production | Units produced one at a time, many units can be queued in a row, limited by platoon and storage capacities, some units are unique. | Units produced one at a time at factories, multiple factories of the same kind can create many units of the same type simultaneously, build times reduced when more than one factory exists, no capacity limit, only heroes are unique. |
| Repairs | Damaged units can take anywhere from a few seconds to hours or even a day. |
Damaged units can be repaired in seconds up to a minute at their factory, as long as the units are not destroyed. Some buildings (like Speaker Towers) also make repairs. |
| Command Center | Upgradable, unique, can be equipped with special turrets starting at level 7, holds most of the resources of any building (except thorium). |
Only some can be upgraded (depending on faction), more than one can exist, grants special powers to player, builds Dozers. |
| Special Weapons | Diverse set of missiles that can be launched during battles, must be purchased with resources, can be upgraded, can be countered with anti-air, special ops bonuses to help players with offense and defense. |
Each faction has a unique super weapon, all players are prompted when one is built, reload time is 4-6 minutes (depending on weapon type), some weapons run on power, can not be countered, most special powers require Generals points, some require special buildings. |
| Tech progression | standard units in early versions (e.g., 2012) can be unlocked with enough resources, most units are exclusive to monthly special events and must be earned. |
most units are available without winning battles, better units require tech buildings, some require Generals Points to be unlocked. |
| Upgrades | Diverse set of upgrades can be researched at a Workshop, all upgrades can take anywhere from minutes to even days, many upgrades can be equipped to one unit and are exchangeable, some upgrades can be earned only through monthly special events. |
Limited set of upgrades per building, some units have special upgrades (e.g., USA vehicles spawn drones), all upgrades can take seconds to minutes to be purchased, permanently added to relevant units, automatically applied to newly built units. |
| Battlefields | World map has 200 sectors, each sector holds thousands of bases. Secial colors mark bases as allies, neutral, enemies, or special event bases. Sector jumping done only once per week (disabled during special events), platoons must appear on sector map and move to adjacent hexagons to attack enemy, resource deposits can be captured for bonuses, travel time varies depending distance, finding desired bases and deposits can be frustrating and confusing, player bases can be moved anywhere. |
Skirmish and multiplayer maps can hold up to eight players, supply docks hold limited amount of resources (forcing players to think ahead and earn secondary income), capturable tech buildings, unit movement can be slow (depending on unit type), transport helicopters and Tunnel Networks provide faster travel, player bases are stationary but buildings can be created anywhere. |
| Player battles | Units must be placed in platoons and spawn on sector map to attack enemies, timed battles last seven minutes each, battle ends when all units in a platoon are destroyed and forced to retreat for repairs or battle timer reaches zero, player wins match by destroying Command Center in standard rogue and player bases, fortress bases must be completely destroyed, up to six platoons can attack a base. |
Traditional RTS battle rules apply, battle ends when all buildings are destroyed, campaigns require special objectives to complete the mission. |
| Mod-friendly code? | Players may not modify the game's code because it is considered cheating (and a banable offense), only the programmers are allowed to change the data. |
With software applications like Final Big Editor, mods can be created from original content, Mod Database is the best website to find and download derivative works. Mods include stat changes, new factions and new campaign missions. |
About earning new technologies. The only Command & Conquer games that play closest to War Commander are C&C 4 Tiberian Twilight and Tiberium Alliances. In C&C 4, players start at level 1 and can max out their tech trees at level 20. In Tiberium Alliances, you earn research points by destroying rogue bases and spend those points on better tech. Unlike War Commander, you can earn new technologies at your own pace. In WC, you need to wait until the next special event (or more recently, Shadow Ops) to earn new tech. I prefer the former case where you can earn technology on your own. The table I made sums up which games I have more fun playing. War Commander is one of those games that I enjoy watching other people play for entertainment since I lack the time and skill to master the game sadly. For the fast-paced RTS games (like Command & Conquer), I prefer to play the game myself and I sometimes watch videos to get new ideas.