Strategy Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 428

You might want to consider variants of these common orders, such as
Retreat, a movement towards safety that leaves the unit more vulnerable while
moving but goes more quickly than ordinary movement.
Dash, a rapid forward movement in which the unit does not attempt to attack
enemies it encounters but tries to get to its destination as quickly as possible.
Patrol , a cyclic movement between two or more designated points, allowing
units to defend more territory than the hold command permits.
Figure 14.2 is from StarCraft showing, at the lower right of the screen, a menu of
mouse-clickable icons that correspond to five of these commands. They are, from
top to bottom and left to right, dash , stop , attack , patrol , and hold . The remaining
visible icon invokes a special capability of the currently selected unit.
FIGURE 14.2
The StarCraft screen,
with a menu of orders
at the lower right
Specialized units have their own special orders, of course: building for construction
units, heal or repair for medical or repair units, picking up and dropping off troops
or supplies for transport units, and so on. The next section discusses specialized units.