Perhaps I’m off my rocker here, and please feel free to tell me that I am, but I’d like to see an ability added with the new expansions of Sins to allow multiple players to have control of a single force.  This is something I’ve seen played with in custom maps for Starcraft and the original C&C Red Alert, as well as partly implemented with Homeworld 2 and a few other RTS games I’ve played, but never to the extent I’d like to see.  (btw, I’m sorry that this is a long post)

My basic argument is that there are so many options and items to keep an eye on in Sins that any given player generally focuses on a few things to concentrate on and lets the rest slide.  For example, when sending fleets on multi-prong attacks, micromanaging the fleets for maximum effect is generally not possible.  Also the number of fleets that someone can keep track of in an attack while also managing planet upgrades, ship building, defense fleets/structures, etc. is limited by their experience with the game and their speed with the game’s interface.  Finally, when a player is knocked out of a game, the game may still go on for hours leaving this friend with nothing to do but watch.  Why not reincorporate them into their teammate’s forces and let the fun continue for everyone?  Finally, when one player is very good, this can help level the playing field.  Two players can get behind a single force against one player who has his/her own force.  The two players will be able to split up the responsibilities while the better single player will have more to keep track of at any given time.

I propose a style of game, Combined Control Multiplayer, which allows multiple players to get behind a single empire and/or for multiple players to share control of multiple empires.  There should be options for either a hierarchal type control, where one player ‘owns’ the empire and delegates forces, planets, structures, fleets, research option control, etc. to their teammates or complete combined control where all forces belong equally to multiple players.  The second option would work best when multiple players are in the same room or have voice-chat ability while the first would be good when a player wants to be able to delegate certain tasks specifically.

I believe this type of game would integrate quite well into the current interface of sins with only a few modifications.  The diplomacy screen would need to have an extra area for overall combined control options (who control is shared with, and whether that control is complete or hierarchal, and whether things like building and researching which require funding are shared), there may need to be a button available while a planet, fleet, ship, building, research screen, etc. are selected which allows the current owner of that item to share control or assign control easily to another player.  When an ally selects the ship, he/she should have a similar option to request control which gives the owner a ping on the ship and the ability to respond yes or no quickly.  This should also have a ‘lock’ option so a player who is currently in command of a fleet can lock out shared control unless they are overridden (the lock serves to prevent accidental commands to be given to an item you mean to be controlled by your friend).  When building ships (frigates, cap ships, etc.) there could be an option for rallying to a previously created fleet (the ship will automatically belong to that fleet and player and will travel to join that fleet once built).  Each fleet could have a name and a simple pop-up menu can allow for selecting a player’s name (if assigning to a player, but not a fleet) or to assign to a specific fleet.  Finally, a sub-fleet option would very handy.  I love being able to select one main ship to control the movements of all associated ships, but I’d also like the ability to select another ship which is a part of the same fleet which then allows me to control a sub-fleet of the main fleet.  This would be handy if I wanted to have several different strike groups inside one main fleet or if I want all my long range craft to be able to be quickly selected but independently controlled from the main fleet for all but entire fleet maneuvers.  Currently this requires making groups or having multiple fleets which I have to independently control.  With the addition of combined control, different strike groups could be controlled by different players while the main fleet is controlled by yet another player, making for an interesting dynamic to the game.

Anyway, it’s something that I’d love to see.  Everyone, please give additional comments and let’s see if we can get something like this implemented by the developers of this amazing game!