Starcraft vs. Total Annihilation (Nostalgia time GO!)

[Crandaeolon]

I'm going to pretend you didn't just call TA 'casual'. I'll assume that you meant 'singleplayer'.

You don't have to pretend; that's exactly what I did. CASUAL. IMO TA was also the better game in casual multiplayer, but not in competitive.

I'll explain briefly. Starcraft is fast and overwhelming, TA is more sedately paced. And in case someone makes the claim that slower speed means a more strategic game, I'd answer that while there is correlation, causation has not been demonstrated. Obviously, the rules and strategies of chess stay the same whether or not a timer is used. The time element merely applies pressure. SC thus distinguishes player skill better = good for competition.

TA is more of a strategic game. You have to focus on the overall picture. SC is tactical, even twitch-based. It's all about who can click the fastest and can work their hotkeys.

Again, a time element does nothing to affect a game's strategic complexity. Don't make that mistake. All that a time element does, is distinguish faster thinkers from slower ones = good for competition. You'd no doubt meet SC players who use their micro skills to make up for a lack of their strategic skills, but that creates just another tier of players. The best ones make full use of both.

TA's resources aren't 'infinite'. In fact, I consider TA's system far more realistic than SC's.

First of all, realism has no relevance to how good and / or competitive a game is. Are chess or go realistic games by any measure?

That out of the way, resources in TA are infinite in the manner that they don't run out. In SC they do; that promotes expansion and aggression and also introduces another time element which makes the game better paced = good for competition.

TA's factions were quite well balanced. There was no 'uber-unit', no unbeatable strategy.

As far as I remember, the Flash rush was so powerful that it completely dominated at least two tournaments and the ladder at some point. Quote from wargrounds.com warguide:

3.3: Flash Rushing

Face it, the ominous ordeal of the Flash Rusher is a strategy, although it is not highly regarded as an acceptable one. The tactic is simple: start out with a ton of resources and build a ton of Flash tanks, then rush your opponent's base. If you start out with low resources then your top priorities should be tied:

1) Get resources
2) Build Flashes.

Flash rushing can accomplish a win very quickly, but that is all it can do. The Flash Rusher misses out on many important aspects in the game, as well as about 70 units to play with too. I try my best to avoid rushers in general, and obviously do not practice rushing myself. However, if I were on a ladder, the Flash Rush would be a great tactic to rack up the wins and to learn how to defend against too.

This is typical scrub talk. If a game is well balanced, you don't need to "avoid playing with rushers" or "regard a strategy an acceptable one." A competitively minded player is certainly not concerned about "missing out on many important aspects of the game" - he just aims for the most efficient way to win.

The sides were DIFFERENT.

The differences were mostly cosmetic apart from very few key units which got used over and over. Also, when TA was at its most competitive point, the sides had the least amount of differences.

Finally, Starcraft has withstood the test of time for more than 10 years in competitive gaming. TA has not. Proof can't get much harder than that.