In general, players tend want to build an intricate base that's laid out just so, or maximize their build order to get those Banshees out in as few seconds as possible. Games like Age of Empires, StarCraft 2, and Supreme Commander have intricate and comprehensive systems of Preparatory actions that provide a high degree of control of economic outcomes. These are the actions that players really seem to tend to enjoy on average. Supreme Commander has a bevy of intricate Preparatory interactions, such as building adjacency bonuses These are incremental actions, with a long payoff few of them reach their peak performance within a small time period. You're spending time and mental energy towards the goal of making something happen. You're preparing to pull out your deathball, your super-unit or superweapon. You're building up towards being able push out your army, or to fend off the enemy's big attack. For these, benefits are often not immediate and may take minutes of careful management to build up to a payoff or better game position. They're the player preparing for something to happen.īuilding up your economy (training workers, building Refineries) or manufacturing base (building production structures), researching tech/upgrades, and building out your army are preparatory actions. Preparatory Actions are exactly what they sound like. Most strategy game design leads players to focus intensely on the first category of action. You're gearing up for the 'real' fight later on Resource harvesting and building production structures are examples of Preparatory actions.
'll take a look at each category separately, using examples across a range of games, and then talk about how these relate to one another, and where I feel existing game design could do a better job of providing a more rewarding experience.
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