In this stormgate alpha update video we cover a short announcement about stormgate's alpha testing stage. More invite have now been sent out to many of those who had signed up for the stormgate alpha testing. The large majority of people will still need to wait until stormgate is fully publicly released to be able to get their hands on stormgate, but that is certainly a testiment to how popular stormgate is with so many people eager to help during its development cycles.

662 Farm Man Official - Stormgate 9/26/23

I've been playing Age of Empires IV for a while, and I've noticed macro games feel quite similar to how the Swarmhost era felt back in the Heart of the Swarm days. Macro games in Age of Empires IV revolve heavily around insane amounts of static defense, and a stream of never-ending units. With swarmhosts, it was the free locusts and static defense that caused the issue; in Age 4, in addition to the strongest static defense I've ever seen in any RTS and unkillable walls, due to how the economy and queue system works you're permanently maxed out at 200 supply. This has created multiple issues even in pro-gamer level. To put things into perspective, the last S-Tier tournament featured multiple 1+ hour long games (with a few going up to 2 or even 3 hours!). The average length game for the tournament was close to an hour, which may not be necessarily bad by itself but it certainly is when nothing happens during half of that period - viewer numbers speak by themselves. If it's an issue in pro level, imagine for us that are not as strong at playing the game, and who have to deal with a defensive style that is much easier to play as than against. I've left multiple games at the 30 minute mark because I knew the game would go on for at least one hour, sometimes I don't have that much time to play. I think the late-game needs to be dynamic, and somehow disincentivize stalemates by undermining the heavy defender's advantadge. Current StarCraft2 meta, except for a minority of TvZ games, has it right in my opinion. Lategame is really hard to play, you have to micro multiple units and failing to do so properly (better than your opponent) can result in a loss, sometimes even regardless of economic advantadge. Age of Empires lategame is the easiest part of the game to play, it's very forgiving to take wrong engagements and micro (besides some siege targeting) isn't required. In my opinion: * Static defense needs to be really weak (I would go as far as saying that it should not exist at all, but I know I'm in the very minority there). Static defense is something you get *besides your pop cap,* it should be something that, supported with your army, gives you an slight edge in a defensive position. It shouldn't be something that can defend on it's own a huge amount of enemy units (Going back with the Age 4 references, a single Keep that costs 800 resources can defend an army worth 10k resources) * There should not be a soft-supply block system for army. I've noticed Stormgate wants to address the entry barrier to get into RTS games, and I know getting supply-blocked is very annoying and may feel like a chore. There are multiple ways to go around that, but I feel the soft-supply block mechanic that some new RTS are implementing is not the way to go (For those who don't know, these games will allow you to queue units and those will be "ready" to pop-out of their buildings immediately once you have supply, as opposed to having to wait the full train time). * There should be something to do in the map. I've read that Stormgate may implement creeps, I think that would be an excellent idea to deal with stalemates and overly-passive play. Any kind of fight that involves both players microing their armies is fun. Activiy has to be incentivized, since by default defensive play is by far the strongest (and most boring) option.

16 r/Ok-Tie-2660 9/26/23

There was a recent post written by someone who thinks that there should be no static defense in the game because AoE has castles that can only be killed be siege units. This is a flawed take. In BW each race has a an immobile splash unit (tanks, reavers, lurkers) that can be combined with static defense structures to discourage the attacker from attacking that territory from that angle. Which leaves the opponent with two options, attack different territory or claim more territory yourself. ​ BW is a methodical game with linear economies involving territory control with intermittent penetrations of that control through drops, mutalisks, arbiters, guardians, and inherently risky run-byes. SC2 is a fiesta of chaos where warp-ins, nydus worms, baneling's scructure damage, battlecruiser teleport, disruptor, ignite afterburners, creep speed and sight, render all bases perpetually vulnerable to instantaneous destruction, regardless of static defense or map control. This creates a "more exciting" counter attack meta that is the strategic equivalent of mutually assured destruction. ​ There is a place for base-races, for sieging entrenched positions, and even a place for dropping nuclear bombs down on your enemy from orbit. But the status quo should be competing for territory and investing in static defense at critical times in critical places with the caveat that those resources have been spent on something that is completely useless literally everywhere else on the map. ​ In BW drops are risky and vulnerable. In SC2 they're fast and essentially free. Terran can doomdrop the entire army knowing he can just boost them away. Protoss can warp in an entire army from one empty prism, and zerg can vomit out an entire army from one expendable nydus wyrm. ​ And on top of everything else, static defense structure are all fundamentally weaker, and some are more expensive in SC2. So not only are they worse at protecting an area, the possible coverage of an area is smaller. ​ Mobility is the most powerful attribute in an RTS. And when each race has multiple ways of bypassing defenses with effectively no risk, then defending ceases to be a valid strategy, only attacking more, quicker, and sooner than your opponent can. Which is far from diverse gameplay, if you ask me.

2 r/OliverUnseth1 9/26/23

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27 NoctusDF 9/26/23

The DragonGate STORM GATE 2023 tour rolled on as the promotion presented it's latest show on September 16th at the Kyoto KBS Hall.

Nice.

322 r/Draethar 9/12/23

You've run into this problem before - perhaps in an RTS, or perhaps in another matchmaking-competitive game that only allows emotes to communicate. You have a thrilling match against a cunning opponent, and despite *losing* you are grinning ear to ear at the end of the match. You send a friend request - but no answer. You shrug and queue up again, the name of your opponent already fading from memory.. On the other end of the line a player has just had a hard-won match, snatching a last-second victory from the jaws of defeat. They receive a friend request from the opponent - but last time this happened, they got called slurs. So why answer this time? They shrug and queue up again, the name of their opponent already fading from memory... --- Communication in competitive games carries with it the risk of sore losers, and that risk poisons the well of social interaction. But to make a truly social RTS, there needs to be some impetus to make friends rather than treating the MMR as an automated enemy dispenser. Enter: FRENEMIES. At the loading and defeat screens, you are shown your win/loss record against that opponent. After the match, if your W/L is tied or negative, you can add them as a Frenemy. Frenemy players are bumped to the top of your matchmaking priority, provided you still qualify to face them. In addition, once you are both mutual frenemies, you are prompted to become Friends if you both agree. Such a system would help elevate MMR opponents from nameless NPCs to real humans with whom you can form a lasting connection - even if you have no interest in becoming *friends*, you can still make fond memories. What say you? Would such a system improve your matchmaking experience?

109 r/Cheapskate-DM 9/21/23

Dragongate held its STORM GATE 2023 event on September 7th at the famed Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan in front of over 1300 fans. The main event saw YAMATO,...