• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:57
CEST 01:57
KST 08:57
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Season 1 - Final Week6[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0
Community News
Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed14Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll8Team TLMC #5 - Submission extension3Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced7
StarCraft 2
General
Who will win EWC 2025? RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings Server Blocker Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll
Tourneys
FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo)
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome
Brood War
General
Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Soulkey Muta Micro Map? [ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2025 ACS Season 2 Qualifier Cosmonarchy Pro Showmatches CSL Xiamen International Invitational
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project The PlayStation 5
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread We are Ready to Testify: Emergence Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Korean Music Discussion Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 686 users

[rts design] scouting ideas

Blogs > Grumbels
Post a Reply
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7031 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-09 20:22:08
August 09 2012 17:21 GMT
#1
(Kind of a random blog post about some theoretical idea I had)

One thing to admire about FPS games is the sound design; you can get important information about your opponent's whereabouts and actions by listening carefully to all the ambient sound. It's hard to implement something like that in an RTS because there is too much going on to have a lot of global sound effects, so environmental sound and the like have to be local - but you can only have them in places you already have vision of, so it's pointless. Maybe for an RTS that's different from SC2 it could work well, but I'm not sure.

I thought a potentially interesting way to replicate this would be that units can leave some sort of trail behind - like footprints or tire marks. A basic implementation might have all ground units leave subtle, but specific tracks behind that will last for around five minutes. If you have vision of these tracks you can follow them or you can just infer army positioning based on guessing, so situations might arise that require a talent for analysis. (think Aragorn in LotR ^^ )

The downside is obviously that it might interfere with visual clarity and also that it could make keeping track of enemy army movement trivial, but I don't think the latter needs to happen as it can be somewhat prevented by things like backtracking; so a good player can quite literally cover his tracks. - And the game can be designed around this anyway.

I don't know if a concept like this would fit Starcraft 2 very well, but in any case, it's more of a hypothetical idea for a new RTS and it seems 'obvious enough' (as in, someone probably thought of it before) that I'm curious if it was ever implemented in any other RTS game and if it was successful.

***
Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it.
JoelE
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States112 Posts
August 09 2012 18:08 GMT
#2
The tracks are really interesting ideas. Warcraft 3 had tracks in snow and from siege units, but they didn't last that long and it was much less of a positional rts because of town portals. If tracks were in starcraft, im picturing like a terran heat signature upgrade, it could open some really interesting mechanics. Especially if you could gauge the size/composition of the army that made the tracks.
http://www.firecaster.com
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7031 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-09 20:53:04
August 09 2012 19:14 GMT
#3
On August 10 2012 03:08 JoelE wrote:
The tracks are really interesting ideas. Warcraft 3 had tracks in snow and from siege units, but they didn't last that long and it was much less of a positional rts because of town portals. If tracks were in starcraft, im picturing like a terran heat signature upgrade, it could open some really interesting mechanics. Especially if you could gauge the size/composition of the army that made the tracks.

Yes, along those lines. If there are at least a few signatures to differentiate between units then you should roughly be able to infer what type of army you're dealing with. I had a fun thought that if someone would be particular skilled at this, then if he were to play an FFA and scout the aftermath of an army exchange, he could tell exactly which two players fought and who was victorious. (again, like Aragorn :p ) As for a more realistic scenario, I had Brood War in mind where for instance it could help you predict lurker traps, vulture harassment, flanks or tank positioning
Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it.
Faent
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Canada94 Posts
August 09 2012 20:03 GMT
#4
This is a really cool idea. I think you are right in saying it might not fit with SC2, but honestly the more intuition a game relies on, the cooler it'll be IMO :D
Overpowered
Profile Joined January 2011
Czech Republic764 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-09 20:49:08
August 09 2012 20:47 GMT
#5
New Company of Heroes 2 (RTS) will have some kind of system, which is working with snow a lot - trails and tracks included (until new snow drops ofc) + different units have different reactions to the cold, some can even freeze etc. If you havent heard of it check it out, I think you will find it interesting.
Just another gold Protoss...
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7031 Posts
August 09 2012 21:49 GMT
#6
It does seem interesting. They have a line of sight system where you're actually hidden from sight if you hide behind a wall, you have snow that impacts movement speed and leaves behind trails and you can use smoke grenades to further impact line of sight. I don't have that much experience with the game though.
Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 10h 3m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 235
Nathanias 163
JuggernautJason65
CosmosSc2 63
Livibee 42
StarCraft: Brood War
ZZZero.O 93
Dota 2
monkeys_forever972
NeuroSwarm130
canceldota29
League of Legends
Grubby4692
Trikslyr66
Counter-Strike
oskar256
Super Smash Bros
AZ_Axe123
Other Games
tarik_tv22691
summit1g13174
shahzam588
C9.Mang0236
ViBE163
Skadoodle160
PPMD47
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1739
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 59
• RyuSc2 50
• sitaska42
• musti20045 29
• davetesta28
• IndyKCrew
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21341
Other Games
• imaqtpie2119
Upcoming Events
CranKy Ducklings
10h 3m
Epic.LAN
12h 3m
CSO Contender
17h 3m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 10h
Online Event
1d 16h
Esports World Cup
3 days
ByuN vs Astrea
Lambo vs HeRoMaRinE
Clem vs TBD
Solar vs Zoun
SHIN vs Reynor
Maru vs TriGGeR
herO vs Lancer
Cure vs ShoWTimE
Esports World Cup
4 days
Esports World Cup
5 days
Esports World Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

JPL Season 2
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

BSL 2v2 Season 3
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
CSL Xiamen Invitational
CSL Xiamen Invitational: ShowMatche
Championship of Russia 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25

Upcoming

2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
Underdog Cup #2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.