There are not that many games associated with the First World War and for some reasons I can understand why. The general lack of sweeping, manoeuvre warfare for the bulk of the conflict. The lack of well-documented horror (the trenches were bad, but the Holocaust was pure evil). The lack of Americans for the bulk of it!

All of these points and more add up to make for a fairly underused genre. I couldn't help but ask myself after a night of Internetting, 'what would the races of a WWI RTS be, and what advantages/disadvantages would they have?' I think it would make for an interesting conversation, as there are a wealth of gamers from all backgrounds on the escapist forums.

I'm thinking British, French, Germans, Austro-Hungarians(more a civ than a race), Italians, Russians and Turks to start? Other important players can be covered too like the Bulgarians, the Greeks, Romanians, the Serbs and more. Who else? Oh yeah, Americans ;)

What I had in mind for the topic was something along the lines of Unique Units, Strengths and Weaknesses, but there are many more factors.

To start:

Germany - Infantry Nation. UU - Stormtroopers.
Strengths - Strongest infantry.
Weaknesses - Expensive units.

Germany had one of the largest armies in Europe by a sizeable margin and had trained a powerful force prior to 1914. Strict militarism before and throughout the war maintained a consistent level of quality in the German Army. Despite having a larger population than Britain and France individually, it was checked by their union. After years of deadlock, the Stormtroopers were a product of the Eastern Front and proved very effective in the West after Russia fell, rapidly capturing the trenches which held to previous efforts. Armed with Flaemthrowers, rifles and light artillery in some cases, they relied on speed to sweep into France once more and threaten Paris. Exhaustion and lack of strategic objectives led to German defeat and after a series of Allied victories, political and military collapse.

The mechanics of the game are a debate for elsewhere, really all I wanted to see were other peoples' opinions on races for the game.

Will post more of my own, but now, sleep :D

It should just be already known across the gaming world that WWI is a topic that is more than extremely difficult to make INTERESTING. Trench warfare; it was slow, it was brutal, its not a very good mode t base a game (RTS, FPS, or anything) around.

I've always wanted a WWI game. Unfortunately for me, it would be boring and slow as a turtle buried under a ten-foot brick of cement. Five rounds a second is not very exciting. Maybe a minigame in which you stave of disease and dodge piss in the trenches would keep it interesting.

I want to start by saying that WW1 is a fairly terrible setting for an RTS considering that, if the war were followed closely enough, there result is simple horrible bloodshed on both sides without any significant change in the lines.

Another difficulty is simply that the various sides had similar armaments and doctrines. The result is thee only difference between the sides (unless you take a few dozen steps back) is in the logo.

If I ignore all of this, here is what I would consider.

Russia:
Poorly trained, incredibly cheap units.
Strength - numbers
Weakness - poor accuracy, assumption that they will lose any even numbers fight.

Germany
Average infantry in general
Largest artillery weapons (more expensive but most devestating)
Weak long ranged combat potential
Strong short ranged units (Storm troopers and the like)
Strength - firepower and close quarters prowess
Weakness - Relatively weak defensively, poorly suited to medium ranged combat

France
Average infantry
Quality machine gun units
Cheapest armor/vehicle support
Highly inaccurate artillery
Strengths - strong defensively throughout
Weakness - Weak defensively against end game armor. Armor support is readily obtained but easily destroyed (a step away from history obviously as the French tanks were likely the best of the war).

Great Britain
Average infantry
Quality snipers
Fastest firing/accurate artillery
Strengths - Great Britain enjoys fire superiority in all long ranged engagements
Weakness - relatively weak on both the attack and defense in a direct sense. Long ranged components are best used to disrupt attacks and support an assault.

United States
Low quality infantry in general
Little armor support
Above average morale and defense
Strengths - excellent defensive army and reasonably sustains more damage than the rest before collapsing
Weakness - lack of any specilization means they have no distinct advantage in attack or defense and would likely serve as supporting elements in an assault.

There is Rise of Nations if you play in the industrial age. Its actually quite good.

Syphonz:
It should just be already known across the gaming world that WWI is a topic that is more than extremely difficult to make INTERESTING. Trench warfare; it was slow, it was brutal, its not a very good mode t base a game (RTS, FPS, or anything) around.

Pretty much this. It could make a good rts with a lot of base defences and structures to draw on (so long as you don't worry too much about historical accuracy). However balancing out the offensive with the defensive is probably the hard part if you want to retain the feel.

Australia - Sub Faction for Commonwealth Forces

Fewer units in general, but more expensive with higher HP than others to demonstrate how defensive and hard to kill they were.
At Australia's beating military heart is a rich tradition of marksmanship so Aussie units would have slightly increased attack range.

Unique Units

-Australian Lighthorsemen (My great grandad was one, he was in the charge of beersheeba)
-Diggers (very defensive unit)
-Heavy Camel Infantry (as in get from A to B on a camel, not fight)
-Bush tracker (scout unit)

Canadian Stormtroopers should be a special unit for the British. (since Canada wa under British command until the battle of Vimy ridge) I think that would make for an interesting special unit choice.

Ocelot GT:
(My great grandad was one, he was in the charge of beersheeba)

That is fucking awesome. I know my Great Grandad fought with the Aussies in the Mid East (he was part of the Assyrian Levies, a local cavalry unit).

I reckon the ANZACs were active enough to entitle them to there own faction (as I'll admit were the Canadians) But as a sub-faction, it might work. And, while I know a lot of Americans would argue this, but I reckon the Americans shouldn't be entitled to there own faction. They didn't arrive till 1918, and often fell under the command of British, French and even a couple Australian commanders. Instead they should be a bonus unit in later tech trees.

The Brits and French should also get Imperial units like Africans and Indians, as they had such units which fought very well and should be remembered. I can't think of a German equivalent.

As it's been said time and time again, a WW1 game, for the most part, would be incredibly boring.

Did you all forget the Flying Circus? Germany had the overall best Air Force in the world! What about the Hungarians? Bulgaria? The Ottoman Turks?

Jekken6:
As it's been said time and time again, a WW1 game, for the most part, would be incredibly boring.

This.

Mr.Black:

Jekken6:
As it's been said time and time again, a WW1 game, for the most part, would be incredibly boring.

This.

Also this.

A WW1 game would be something I want to play as well, but how long would 'going over the top' last before it got boring. Especially when it's supposed to symbolize the futility of war. granted it would feel futile trying to do it but also boring and annoying, rather then a tear jerker like in Blackadder and in real life.

World war 1 was a war that was designed to be won in the first 20 days. The germans had it all worked out. They issued rifles to the unmobilized troops, and between trains and the rifles, they could get their armies to paris before the french got the letters to mobilize.

Plan didn't hold out though.

The rest of it was playing a never ending game of firearms half life mod.

Also, WW1 is famous for the colonial powers sacrificing their subjugated peoples to the trenches; the french fighting to the last tunisian, for example. Kinda racist.

Jekken6:
As it's been said time and time again, a WW1 game, for the most part, would be incredibly boring.

I would hardly call the Red Baron games boring.

It could work, working out strategy's to move your lines fowards while defending your own would be fun.