Ashes of the Singularity II News

[p]What if every unit you created in an RTS game was automatically put into the equivalent of a ‘control group’? Let’s call that automatic group an ‘Army’.[/p][p]And what if that Army was a core way you issued orders to your units? You select the Army, much in the same way you’d select a single unit, and tell it to go somewhere. The Army takes care of getting all of the individual vehicles, soldiers, etc. to a location near where you asked the army to go. It has a desired ‘formation’ in mind, so it’ll try to position each unit in a location that works with both the terrain, and, the formation.[/p][p]If that Army encounters a hostile force, it has a degree of autonomy with which to defend itself. Units within the Army reposition themselves, under some constraints, to help out other units that fall under attack. So you don’t need to manually issue attack orders to fight a target that’s close, but, just out of weapons range. This makes your army capable of modest self-defense if you’re not focusing solely on it, but you can (and should!) still manually move units to tactically advantageous positions to get better odds of winning.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]An Army Encounters Hostiles on Two Sides and Engages[/p][p]So those are the basics of Armies, but how do they actually play out?[/p][p]When the game starts, you (normally) have at least one army already; a recon army. You can choose to reinforce that army with additional units, or, create new armies as you see fit for different purposes. In practice, players often have a sort of recon / scout army full of mostly faster units, and a ‘frontline’ army filled with most of their heavy hitters, highly durable units, etc. Aerial armies, defensive armies, etc. also come into play, but you can create a lot of highly-specific armies, or a few more general ones. If you decide you need to split an army, or merge some together, you can do that at any point as well. That’s especially handy if you accidentally put the wrong units in an army, or, just decide you need to retreat some units out of a battle while the main army presses forward.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Splitting a Unit Out of an Army as it Moves[/p][p]Other gameplay and control features make using Armies even easier. You can reinforce an existing army with more units, and when you do this, the units will automatically be recruited as a member of that army, AND move to rally with that army (wherever it is). This largely eliminates the need to setup production rally points, having to constantly re-select and re-group units into groups, etc. Constructing production buildings closer to your armies allows you to reinforce them faster as well. Check out Dev Journal 5 for a breakdown on how that works! Placing production buildings in key, frontline locations is a major part of winning battles of attrition, as you’ll be able to quickly replace any lost units.[/p][p]A lot of the micromanagement needed to produce tons of units, and get them where you need to go, has some slick automation. This leaves you free to focus on your economy, strategy, and any ongoing battles![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Reinforcing an Existing Army with Additional Units[/p][p]We’re working on tools to make Armies even more functional. Want an army that maintains a specific composition of 5 recon units, no more, no less? We hope to allow that automation such that the army will request reinforcements whenever they lose a unit. Handy when you have a purpose-built army that you need to maintain, but for which you don’t want to manage unit production (or accidentally over-recruit!).[/p][p]While Armies existed in Ashes of the Singularity 1, a lot of the ideas we’ve discussed didn’t quite have the impact that was hoped. In Ashes 2, we hope to fully realize those aspirations, turning Armies into a core gameplay element, and embracing them in our quest for massive, epic battles![/p]

[p]If you’re new to the Ashes of the Singularity RTS universe, let’s start with a primer:[/p][p]Ashes of the Singularity is a real-time strategy game set in the near future in which players fight for control of worlds. The scale of the maps tend to be very large and are broken up into regions. Controlling a region gives the player access to the resources within which can be extracted to be used in the war effort. Each side starts with a central base that if destroyed, causes them to lose the game.[/p][p]Resources are consumed as they are used rather than up-front, meaning a player can order the production of units and buildings without having to stockpile the full amount. Instead, the skill is in trying to spend the same amount of resources per turn as you are extracting, making economic skill become one of the factors towards victory.[/p][p]Because of the scale of the game, the pacing tends to be somewhat slower than has traditionally been seen in the genre. Unit composition and placement matter most and, in fact, units do not have special abilities that are activated by the player. This is a game about conquering territory through military and economic strategy. Fast reflexes (actions per minute) do not play into it.[/p][p]Now, if you love RTS games like I do, you probably wonder how this game compares to other games of the genre. I’ve seen Ashes of the Singularity I compared to Supreme Commander (or Total Annihilation) a lot. This is mostly because of the scale and the “streaming” economy. This makes me a little sad because it means that the streaming economy mechanic didn’t become the main way resource management in RTS games were handled.[/p][p]In my opinion, from a fun point of view, I much prefer not having to wait to build a barracks or queue up units until I have saved up enough resources. Having resources spent as they are consumed is probably the biggest reason Supreme Commander (and Ashes of the Singularity) don’t require a high APM and I really wish more games adopted that innovation. Until then, we’ll just have to keep polishing our statue of Chris Taylor.[/p][p]Below I will put the broad strokes of the RTS family in a table. If you disagree or if miss something, please add it in the comments below. Note: this chart is ridiculously over-simplified.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]I’d like to add more rows to this, but it’s a challenge since we don’t want to get into the minutia. C&C is particularly tough because it depends on which iteration. This isn’t really meant as a feature comparison, but rather a way of seeing the different “families”. I really should have Dawn of War here instead of Company of Heroes, but I felt, given the thousands of hours I put into CoH, I owed it to that game even though Dawn of War came first. I also feel like Northgard deserves an entry. Of course there are new games that have picked up the torch like Tempest Rising, which comes from the C&C family, and Stormgate, which comes from the StarCraft family.[/p][p]Other shoutouts would be Homeworld, Majesty, AI War: Fleet Command, Kohan, and Myth. I list these in terms of being progenitors of RTS mechanics. You could argue that WarCraft 3 is different enough from Warcraft 2 to deserve its own spot, and Warcraft itself is progenitor of StarCraft. It’s just turtles all the way down. And who will be first to mention I didn’t list Dune or Powermonger? Powermonger the FIRST RTS. There, I said it![/p][p]Anyway, post your thoughts and I’ll do a newer, better version of this. The hard part (for me) is coming up with 1 or 2 word descriptions without trivializing the feature.[/p]

[p]Join the AMA Event[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The developers at Oxide are live on Discord to answer your questions about the creation of Ashes of the Singularity II, the sequel to the massive RTS.[/p][p][/p][h2]📍 Ashes of the Singularity Discord[/h2][h2]🗓️ Happening now - 4:30 PM EST[/h2]

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[h2]The United Earth Force – Discipline and Steel[/h2][p]Previously, we spoke about the environment as the grand stage. It’s the backdrop where the player directs an epic performance of conquest and survival. Every stage needs its first actor, and in the Ashes 2 universe that role belongs to humanity’s last line of defense and the foundation of our world design.[/p][p]The United Earth Force (UEF) are the disciplined, determined human soldiers from across the globe whose identity is grounded in our near future and forged in the fires of desperation. From a visual perspective, the UEF are our anchor. Their design language is grounded in the recognizable forms of this century’s military and that serves as a bridge between our world and the future-fiction of the game. The UEF vehicles rumble on treads, wheels, and jet engines we are familiar with, and emphasize strength and survivability over speed or grace. We think of them as tough turtles on the battlefield; slow to move, but nearly impossible to crack.[/p][p][/p][p]UEF shape & color language[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Actor Visual Language:[/h2][p]The art team here has worked to ensure that each faction represents their standing and philosophy in this universe through visual language. Each faction has its own materials, shaders, and animation styles and all must coexist in the same lighting, at the same camera distances, and on the same environmental stage. For the UEF we focused on macro readability: blocky silhouettes, low reflectivity, and consistent dirt and wear masks that make them pop against terrain without feeling sterile. Metal and polymer armor panels are rough, distressed, and scuffed from years of use. Their mid-tone greys are punctuated by a muted color palette which directly mirrors a practicality that reinforces their humanity.[/p][p]The UEF’s design challenges us to balance realism with readability. In massive battles, hundreds of these units can fill the screen, so we have to rely on strong silhouettes and consistent material types to help players parse the chaos. At a distance, they read as solid blocks of determination; up close, they tell a story of a force stretched thin but unbroken. The UEF are the stubborn present, holding on against future extinction with grit and steel.[/p][p][/p][p]Ashes 2 unit (actor) aesthetic pillars[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Curtain Call:[/h2][p]In an RTS, clarity is king. But clarity doesn’t have to mean simplicity. Through careful shape language, material definition, and motion, we’ve built a world where players can feel the difference between factions — not just see it. The UEF represent the unyielding strength of humanity, scarred and stubborn yet resolute. Their machines may creak and smoke, but they endure. As the first faction to take the stage, they remind us what it means to fight not for glory but for survival. And as always, the player / director, decides how this story will unfold.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]Future Entry Teaser:[/h3][p]In our next art focused dev journal we will shift from grit and grime to gleaming precision and explore the Post-Human Coalition, a faction that has left the human body behind in pursuit of digital immortality…[/p]