Top 10 Breakthrough PC Games

[Final-Fan]

Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Uh....the Terran equivalent to a Carrier is the Battle Cruiser.  I don't really see how there's any question of that.  Yes, they do completely different functions, but again, they basically compliment each other for being so opposite of each other.  One is a giant ship that fires large bursts of charged energy while the other sends out individual smaller ships to attack.  But its been shown time and again that a fleet of Battle Cruisers can take on a fleet of Carriers with good micromanagement.  As for the reconnaissance unit, the Terrans get the Science Vessal...and Turrets, Ghosts AND scanning from their Command Center.  In that regard, yes, it isn't a direct correlation...its rather unbalanced seeing as how much detection and reconnaissance ability the Terrans get .  As for the Zerg, they simply get the Scourge and Overlords.  But they're suppose to be the fastest race so they supposedly make up for it.

And again, I'm NOT saying that the units are basically the same.  I don't know how many times I have to say this.  I've said it every time now.  The units in Starcraft all have their unique roles that makes them unique.  But it is obvious how they were also created with the idea of trying to keep to the standards of the genre such as having a light infantry unit, a heavy infantry unit, a light armor, a heavy armor, etc.  They also have a few unique units in there (like Templars, Archons, Queens or cloaked reconnaissance units).  You need to realize, I'm NOT downplaying their unique characteristics.  Yes, a Zelot can overtake up to 4 zerglings by itself or be very effective against Marines with Leg Upgrades.  But you do need to understand, they still are both light infantry units.

On the same token, most other RTS games have the same exact setup of units countering other units.  And I feel many people just don't give them credit or even look very far into their gameplay because they simply 'aren't Starcraft'.  There's no denying that Starcraft was one of the first RTS games to balance the gameplay, but as I already said, that's because they limited the races down to 3.  Now we have tons of RTS games out where there's any number of races, from 4 (Company of Heroes/Dawn of War/Age of Mythology) up to 14 (Age of Empires series).  But I think its pretty petty to just say Age of Empires loses points just because they branched out and tried to add more races and scope to the genre.  And with the latest incarnation, they even added tons of unique units and abilities to each race.

In any event, if you really want to say Starcraft is the king of RTS because it seems to have the most unique features with each unit, then other RTS games like Age of Mythology or Company of Heroes has already surpassed it.  But I'm sure you're also meaning kind of what I'm meaning, unique units that compliment each other in a balance. 

But they're not all that "equivalent" IMO.  The reason micro can make BCs take on Carriers is because Carriers spend a good second or more launching their fighters; I haven't played competitively but I'd guess a Protoss player would be foolish to allow himself to be sucked into such a thing.  Carriers are good at taking on multiple targets, which BCs aren't; I'd have to check the stats to be sure but I'm pretty sure a Carrier does way more DPS -- BCs only have the advantage of range, especially with the Yamato (and, yes, they can shoot instantly for better micro).  They're only the same in that they're each the apex of their respective race's fleet; other than that, very different. 

Sci. vessels are way more expensive than Observers and can't cloak, AND the Protoss get turrets and Dark Templars (vs. turrets and Ghosts that aren't naturally cloaked, and the Protoss turrets can shoot the Ghosts), leaving comsats as the only real Terran advantage -- you're totally misrepresenting that situation IMO.  (Yes, I know Sci. vessels get to do a bunch of cool stuff, but still.)

I'm not disputing that many people fail to give other RTSes a fair shake; I'm just disputing what I see as you misrepresenting StarCraft in turn.