Complex strategy games

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about turn-based strategy games that provide the players with very complex strategic options.

Personally, I enjoy playing strategy games as they allow me to experiment around with different approaches to win the game. In general, strategy games can be separated into two different groups: real-time strategy (RTS) and turn-based strategy (TBS) games. The former kind of strategy games simulates a continuous flow of time and thus the player is also required to react in time during a battle. In StarCraft2, for example, the player has not only to prepare a well mixed army, but also to control the movement of the units in real-time. The latter kind of strategy games removes the continuous flow of time by segmenting the gameplay into turns. During the own turn, the player can move the own units, attack enemies, order new infrastructure, and/or start new research projects. In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, for instance, the player controls a small team of soldiers who can move for a certain distance or attack an enemy during a turn. Once all actions are used, the player can not do anything else except for ending the turn and following the opponent’s actions.

In contrast to the gameplay of TBS games, the gameplay of RTS games does not follow a long-term strategy. Instead, RTS players execute a certain tactic and adjust the tactic based on the reaction of the opponents. In the end, the gameplay of RTS games is mostly determined by the rock, paper, scissors concept as each unit has some strengths and some weaknesses. The gameplay of TBS, however, evolves around a long-term strategy and requires the players to think ahead in order to win the game. In addition, TBS games can also evolve around a so-called „grand strategy“ that provides the players with an overall goal they have to pursue throughout the whole gameplay. Every decision during the gameplay has to contribute to the grand strategy even though the decisions are not beneficial for the player’s current position.

During the gameplay of an RTS game, the players have to outmaneuver the enemies by creating an army that exploits the weaknesses of the opponent’s army. Additionally, RTS players have to adjust their strategy once they discovered the tactic of their opponents. Although this requires a good decision-making, the strategic options in the game are not very complex. In contrast to the RTS games, the TBS games can provide the players with a lot of different strategic options to win the game. In Civilization V, for instance, the player is able to win the game by fulfilling one of many victory conditions. The player can win the game by dominating all the enemies, by researching a spacecraft and leaving Earth, or by reaching a certain diplomatic influence. All these different victory conditions require a different playstyle and a focus on different resources in the game. In the end, the strategic options of TBS games can be very complex and sometimes even overwhelm the players.

Personally, I really enjoy playing very complex games as they allow me to try out various tactics and to find new ways to triumph over my opponents. However, those complex games do have also a downside as the high amount of strategic options is hard to understand during the initial hours of playing the game. Players easily can feel overwhelmed by all the different choices and might even not be aware of all the strategic options in the game. In addition, players have not only to learn the controls of the game but also to develop an understanding for all the resources and the dependencies between the resources. In the end, the initial hours of playing such a game challenge the players with a very steep learning curve which can sometimes even be discouraging to the players. On other hand, as soon as the players have developed an understanding, they feel really rewarded by the high amount of strategic options.

In conclusion, grand strategy TBS games encode a high amount of knowledge that has to be learned in order to successfully play the game. As soon as the players have developed an understanding for the game mechanics, they will thoroughly enjoy the gameplay. However, achieving this understanding is a hard challenge.