• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 16:42
CEST 22:42
KST 05:42
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Evil Geniuses - shutting down12ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier5Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins1[$1250] International ShieldBattery League55Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.167
StarCraft 2
General
REPORT: StarCraft 2: Remastered In Development How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR? No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted Evil Geniuses - shutting down
Tourneys
ScienceCraft (October 24-25) - Live Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WORTEX Challenger Series — Open SC2 LAN in Budapes
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 548 Shining Bright The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train
Brood War
General
Starcraft player cRuZa Passed away. Young Players Tournament Announced by SOOP SCHNAIL now supports Remastered BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL22] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4 [$1250] International ShieldBattery League
Strategy
50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Armies of Exigo - YesYes? Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Artificial Intelligence Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion!
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
How Much Genes Contribute to…
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10191 users

[rts design] scouting ideas

Blogs > Grumbels
Post a Reply
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7032 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
Netherlands7032 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
Netherlands7032 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 12h 18m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
JuggernautJason120
EmSc Tv 28
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 16141
ProTech150
Dewaltoss 145
soO 21
Dota 2
syndereN511
monkeys_forever337
canceldota59
League of Legends
Doublelift2833
JimRising 642
Heroes of the Storm
Grubby3671
Liquid`Hasu461
Other Games
FrodaN1622
shahzam412
mouzStarbuck307
B2W.Neo232
KnowMe231
RotterdaM211
C9.Mang0140
UpATreeSC87
Trikslyr60
ToD19
PPMD7
CosmosSc2 5
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1388
StarCraft 2
EmSc Tv 28
EmSc2Tv 28
angryscii 26
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Adnapsc2 20
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 30
• FirePhoenix15
• iopq 7
• Michael_bg 7
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos3430
• Nemesis3042
• Scarra957
Other Games
• imaqtpie856
• Shiphtur557
• WagamamaTV312
Upcoming Events
FEL
12h 18m
Patches Events
16h 18m
AI Arena Tournament
20h 18m
FEL
1d 13h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 13h
Replay Cast
2 days
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
3 days
ByuN vs Lambo
MaxPax vs Bunny
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
[ Show More ]
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
5 days
SHIN vs GuMiho
Clem vs Classic
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Epic.LAN
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-10-22
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Acropolis #5 - GSC
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.