I had this idea once to make a networked RTS where you could play either as a commander, or as a unit. If playing as commander, the game would look just like your average RTS, but you could put up "job ads" in the lobby from in-game. To play as unit, you'd have to reply to a job ad, and be accepted by the commander; you would then populate one of the commander's units, and you'd play the game in a 3d view. The commander might also give you soldiers you can command yourself.

With this, though, I see a few problems:
1) The programming involved would be extremely tricky, since so many players would have to be synced in a realtime action game;
2) There would have to be a well-designed mechanism to maintain a reasonable balance between commanders and players (say, 1:10 to 1:20). A reward system would be necessary, which is hard to get secure in such a networked thing, and it must be attractive enough to be a unit (to avoid everybody to play as commander), but not too much so (otherwise there'd be no commanders at all).
3) If a unit player leaves the game, his unit must somehow be secured so that the commander doesn't lose it; just removing it would be unfair for the commander, moving it back to the base would open an easy door for cheating. The best solution would probably be to instantly turn it into a robot unit and warn the commander.

Another option might be to have only unit players, but the one with the most "experience" (most kills, highest score, ...) would not only control his own unit (3D screen), but could also go into commander mode (RTS screen), enabling an autopilot for his unit. This would still leave number 1 on the list as a problem.

I'm game for it.

(Oh, and on that off-topic topic: Project Reality for BF2 rocks)

Got a question - how would you solve the transistion between space and ground battlefield?

I haven't thought about it that much, but one idea is to use special spaceport/space elevator structures built on the ground to transfer units. They would act something like a teleporter in Warcraft3: you'd walk units into one side and then they'd appear on the other. Of course some vehicles could travel between the two on their own (they could have a enter/leave atmosphere action or something).

The more I think about this game idea though, the more it seems like it could easily get bogged down in micromanagement. The real trick would be getting the feeling of controlling two different fronts of the battlefield without making it unplayable in the process.

What about tabbed inteface?
Perhaps it might actually work if the tab would show at least minimap for the thing that isn't currently visible.

Agreed. The more of the area around you that you can see in an RTS, the better. Splitting the screen would cut down on the visible range far too much.

Well the question was more like the transistion of camera between two battlefields. In space I'd definately go the Homeworld way - absolute freedom of movement of units and camera (you focused it on some object and it kept following it, until you changed the focus).

I thought that from orbit you would be able to focus the planet and then zoom with the scroller to the surface - the question is how to make this possible with keeping some proportions of game objects and keeping planets reasonably small when rendering from space.

Hey and the micromanagement could be easily cutted down. You'll have to just send units where you want, have one key for some special action, and few others like docking key for fighters.

Also the macromanagemnet could be easily stripped - you just ask your fleet command to send you more units and in some time reinforcements will jump in (well for some reasonable fee).

Well I was thinking about something like universe which would live and where the player would be a commander of a space fleet. The universe would be AI controlled and the player would be able to change it in some way by his deeds. He'll be also able to ask for reinforcements as I mentioned. The idea was to focus only on tactical combat and simplify the the management as possible.

I also thought about the ground battlefield and I came up with the spherical battlefield concept: you'd be able to focus on the planet, rotate the camera as you wish and zoom in/out which would allow you to see units currently on the surface. From orbit you'd see only large structures and be able to attack them with your vessels (orbital bombardment) with greater zoom the unit icons would pop up and further maybe even the actual units.

The only thing is how to make it really simple and easy to program, plus optimized - that from orbit you'll see only sphere composed of 1000 polys and as you zoom the surface and terrain will appear.

I'd prefer a FPS style thing where I can command troops to help me out with my voice. Thats the ultimate invisible UI.

Matt: in that case you should play RTS's like Sim City not the war ones.

Even if it's Real Time STRATEGY that still doesn't necessarily mean warfare.

Bun Bun and his army of Black Ops Elves vs The Satanic Kittens!
Although the Kittens are indesructible, the Elves can throw milk and neutralize them. Their goal is to neutralize all the kittens and transport them back to the cabin.

The Satanic Kittens' goal is to escape the cabin and kill all the Elves. Bun Bun can survive, but none of his elves!

Of course, Pete Abrams would have to approve, since all the characters were created by him in his online comic, Sluggy Freelance, which I recommend to everyone. Check it out at www.sluggy.com