Strategy Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 443

No roads have been built to Town C, so it does not have access to the resources of
Tow ns A and B until a link ing road is built.
This is the approach taken by Civilization III . Of course, it's still not an entirely
accurate solution—materials are assumed to travel instantaneously along the roads.
(It's interesting to note, though, that previous iterations of the Civilization series did
implement trade caravans, but Civilization III removed that feature to improve
gameplay.)
INFLUENCE MAPS
Another option is to assume that any unit within a certain distance from a supply
depot can receive supplies from that depot even if no unobstructed route actually
exists. This is a variation of the decentralized distribution of Age of Empires . Every
supply depot magically transmits supplies to units within its circle of influence, but
units that move beyond the range of any depot don't get them. Designers often call
this influence of objects on the terrain around them an influence map. They usually
accomplish this by having the software track regions of influence on a map that it
maintains internally. Most games that use influence maps include some means of
displaying the areas of influence, either continuously or at the player's option.
Two out of the three races in StarCraft use an influence map to indicate where their
influence has spread (although the core mechanics use these maps only to deter-
mine where structures may be constructed and not to provide supplies to mobile
units). For example, the Protoss power beacons, which provide power to the Protoss
factories, have a limited radius of power distribution. When the player wants to
construct a new factory, the game displays the influence map by color-shading the
landscape, showing the areas where the factory may be built .
The Game World
The choice of setting for your strategy game is a vital consideration because
different players prefer different fantasies. Dress up the underlying gameplay in
a different setting and it can feel like a totally different game. You can transplant
the core mechanics of a strategy game into many different settings; it's practically
a universal game construction kit. Will your game be set in history? The contempo-
rary world? The future (as you anticipate it)? Or a fantasy world of your
imagination?
In spite of the ease with which strategy game mechanics can be reused in a new
setting, you will need to keep some important distinctions in mind.
Historical Settings
Military strategy games, perennial favorites, tend to be set in the past—either an
accurately portrayed past or one in the realms of mythology. People who play