Command and Conquer Economy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In most civilisation- and city-building games, nothing ever gets built unless the player specifically orders it. While it is simpler to depict the resource management in this way, it is very unrealistic to, for example, have to build "state" stables and "state" smithies in order to recruit knights in a medieval-themed game, or have to specifically order a resource extraction operation rather than have an autonomous agent do it in response to increased demand.

 

{{examples}}

 

* In the ''[[Civilization]]'' games, no city will build any improvements or units or develop their own surroundings unless the player or the player-appointed AI specifically orders it. This is particularly notable in the later iterations of the series, and the related game ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'', where the player can declare their nation to be operating under free market economics. Presumably justified by the idea that there's a lot of economic activity separate from the government projects that are presented to the player. Also, in ''Alpha Centauri'', one can set a base to operate under a Governor, and define things a governor can and can not do, allowing the AI to run each base according to the priorities you set and you to intervene when necessary.

* ''[[Star Ruler]]'' both uses and averts this. While you need to manually order the construction of ships, you can set Governors to automatically build structures on the planets you colonise.

 

 

* As the [[Trope Namer|title]] says, ''[[Command & Conquer]].'' Granted, these are invariably military buildings, and you're typically the first military presence to enter the area.

* Used in ''[[Rise of Legends]]'', but somewhat handwaved as a matter of desperation, not careful and brilliant planning. The heroes aren't making a slow-and-steady push to grind their enemies down, they're running (and often flying) like mad to important sites to outmaneuver their enemies there, and have to build up anything they need from what's available instead of dragging a gargantuan army plus supply lines after them. Each mission map is technically a whole province with multiple cities, so they're also trying to establish a command economy that works just enough to keep them supplied and leaves the province sufficient once they're gone. Men thus come from the cities you build up, and mechanical (or magical) units are built in factories (or conjured on the spot) to save from having to transport an army of slow, heavy equipment all over.

* ''[[Warcraft]]'' games have the player assigning peasants to their tasks and building farms and lumber mills as well as more military kinds of facility.

* Partially averted in the ''[[Settlers]]'' series. The player decides what buildings should be built where, and what enemy building should be attacked but from that point on your peasants/soldiers just take care of it. Additionally, once you've built something like a woodcutter, sawmill, farm, etc, it will cheerfully continue to run itself as long as your economy can provide it the necessary resources.

* ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' and its successor ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' have this as a central part of the setting as well as a core gameplay mechanic. Thanks to nanotech, a single construction unit can build an exponentially-growing base and army limited only by local resources.

* In ''Outpost 2'', you get to build structures and vehicles, something the citizens of the base will not do on their own. You also get to build structure kits, satellites, launch vehicles, and interstellar starship parts, all of which have to do with the story.

 

 

* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' uses this, but it makes sense because the leader of the fortress would most likely be pissed if his dwarves were tunneling like crazy without his permission. {{spoiler|And considering what [[Sealed Evil in a Can|said dwarves might find...]]}}

** The third-party utility Dwarf Foreman was created to avert this trope for manufacturing, automatically dispatching work orders to create more of an item should your stocks fall below a certain amount.

 

 

* The Sims in ''[[The Sims]]''. Without player guidance, they cannot buy furniture, get jobs, get married, etc. (Some non-player Sims will get jobs or marriages on their own in ''The Sims 3'', but they'll still only have the furniture that came with their house, and the Sims in the active family still won't.) They can still do basic actions such as cook, sleep, use the toilet, and so on if free will is turned on, but in the first two games (and even the third to a lesser extent) they tend to be rather stupid about it. Turn free will off and they'll just stand in place until they starve if not explicitly told to do otherwise.

*** Obviously, ''SimCountry'' has a [[wikipedia:Social market economy|social market economy]]. They don't get electric bills but they get taxes.

*** Granted you still need knowledge society energy if you want the nicer structures to benefit your power production.

* ''[[City Life]]''. You must manually plop every single house, work place, service and utility building. And by "services", Monte Cristo means malls, supermarkets, hospitals, schools, parks, police and fire stations, community centers, ''and even leisure businesses''. (Sounds awfully like ''Societies'', but the social class system makes it better than it sounds).

 

 

 

* The Koei line of ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' video games (as in, the ones named for the series, not [[Dynasty Warriors]]), you are a warlord that has to manage an ever-growing series of cities; fortunately, you can create districts and delegate your officers to do most of the micro-managing.

* Averted to some degree in the Amiga game ''Global Effect'': While you had to micromanage most things like power and sewage and such, the game would build residential areas on its own as demand increased. Sadly, this was actually ''detrimental'', as not only did it take energy (the standard resource you use for everything) from your own supply (thereby keeping you from completing more essential constructions), but it built them completely at random next to anything else you've built. So if you built a long sewage pipe leading waste far away from your planned residential zone, to keep people from getting sick? Surprise, now you have people living right in the middle of the sewage-plant area, or halfway along the pipe in the middle of nowhere. And they want you to provide power and water and roads. Presumably you could change this in the options menu, but due to a genius in the game's design, ''accessing the options cost more energy''.

 

 

* ''[[Erfworld]]'', being based on turn-based strategy games, uses this extensively. Everything in the world is geared towards war; although there are mines and farms, they are only supplemental to the much greater funds received from fighting.

 

 

* Italy before XI century had a feudal economy without the concept of market: the lord built farms and workshops with his own resources, assigned serfs to work the land and do artisan jobs, and got almost all the profit to spend in further building or military campaigning.

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Strategy Game Tropes]]