The Everyday Guide to Real Time Strategy
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Introduction
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The modern RTS sure ain't what it used to be! There's so much going on here that its hard to follow, even played back in slow motion - and yet, Dawn of War's interface let's you effortlessly control all this craziness as easily as pointing and clicking. Pause the action at any time and you'll be presented with a tableaux frozen action worthy of a dozen superhero comics. Everything's in 3D these days, even new games that could just as easily as been flat artwork. Huge leaps in the power of graphics cards have seen even arcane strategy games trying to aspire to the levels of Hollywood productions, relying more on characterisation, animation, and high end visual effects. Some RTS's are far more visceral and intense as First Person Shooters ever were.

Custom modifications, or just simply mods, are alterations made to the original game by the more technically savvy end of the player base. Usually, a mod is just a new set of graphics and sounds, but keeping the fundamental engine and game mechanics intact. Often, games will be renovated to look some someone's favourite piece of pop culture: Star Wars or Star Trek say, or be converted to look and sound like another game. The most common form of modding is mapping. Although sometimes you just might find extra custom weapons and units added to the game. If there's a mission editor included in the package, you can almost guarantee some backyard campaigns built around long winded pieces of fan fiction will be arriving within the year.

Sometimes, if the modding community is really unhappy with the original game's balance or some aspect of its design, they'll go out of their way to tweak numbers or even change basic game mechanics into what it "should have" been. Game developers will occasionally release officially sanctioned modding tools after a release. Sometimes, this might even go as far as releasing a Software Development Kit (SDK) that the modding community will fall upon like hungry wolves, before some of the brighter sparks head off and write their own custom tools to do the same (if not better).

All good shooter fans know how great mods can be. Much of the PC's shooter conventions have in fact been pioneered by players themselves. For example, AI Bots, teams with specialised classes, rocket jumping, capture the flag and others appeared first in custom mods, but we now take for granted - and expect - to be present in any new title. Games such as Counter--Strike and Team Fortress began as pioneering custom mods before their ideas were incorporated into commercial games.

RTS games are no different. Custom maps, custom units, single player campaigns, AI's that play like humans, graphic and sound changes and sometimes, even entirely new game types and rules all appear in many RTS titles, especially those with large followings and access to modding tools and expertise. They sport custom modifications that spice up play no end, and many developers have twigged to the perks of modified life after their game's initial release. Not all of these mods are necessarily balanced for fair play, and nearly all of them break rules that developers, bound by commercial concerns, ratings and QA issues could not contemplate. Custom mods push boundaries, break things and generally push the medium forward. Mods are unrestrained by the demands of QA, ratings systems, finance or minimum specs. They're fabulous for anyone keen to "Sandbox" their game on the side. Aside from social multiplayer, there's doodling around in the shed, too.

Modding and customisation is still one of the great perks that keeps PC gaming ahead of the pack.

Now, on to the rest of the stuff!