Real-Time Strategy Games - Too Many Clicks?

simoniker writes "A new Gamasutra article asks provocatively in its synopsis: 'Could games like Civilization benefit from putting their interfaces on a diet? Can a player control too many objects at once in a strategy game?' Are RTS titles too UI-intensive? The author notes: 'Even for a Civ addict like me, the game isn't much fun after about 1800. Too many clicks. I counted the clicks, mouse movements, and keystrokes that it took me to get through one move of Civilization III in the year 1848. Many hours later, when that turn was done, I'd counted 422 mouse clicks, 352 mouse movements, 290 key presses, 23 wheel scrolls, and 18 screen pans to scroll the screen.'"

Let's get something straight.

[Digitus1337]

Civilization is not a Real Time Strategy game, it is a 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate) Turn Based Strategy game. Turn Based games like Civ do tend to have a lot more micro-management than RTS titles, but either does require quite a bit of mouse work. That said, is there any viable alternative?

Civ != RTS

[batmn42]

Civ is a prime example of a game that is NOT real-time strategy. It is a turn-based strategy game.

Just FYI. I do agree that there are too many clicks in RTS games like Starcraft, Warcraft, and even Rise of Nations.

Check out supreme commander

[imbaczek]

SupCom [supremecommander.com] for all those Total Annihilation lovers, where you can issue orders and forget about the units doing them, because you know they'll get executed.

This game will remove the arcade out of RTS. Check out the trailer [google.com] or the E3 presentation [google.com].

To be fair to the author...

[Flaming Babies]

...he didn't call Civilization III a RTS game.

His comment was:
Overclick isn't limited to Civilization. Real-time strategy games will leave you with even worse carpal tunnel.
There are no mentions in the rest of the article about Real-time.
It's just a poor title for the summary.