Real Time Strategy Games and Crystals

[idleautarch]

Star Craft, Command and Conquer and Star Wars Battlegrounds all have one thing in common: crystals. What is with the crystals? How useful are crystals in real life? We maybe use some diamonds for drills, and..what else? Why do these games all make such a big deal about some coloured rocks? As far as I know almost all the radioactive elements are metals, and even then why would you need it for everything you do? I don't need plutonium to build a house or to shoot a gun. As far as I can tell all your soldiers are the regular Big Men with Guns. All crystals do in reality is sit there and look pretty, and if they wanted to achieve that they could of just added the option of building women.
I can understand one game having some stupid crystal idea, but a majority of these (rts) games have some arbitrary resource that makes no sense at all, and its usually a crystal. So what's with that?

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I could see adding crystal as a resource in a sword and sorcery type game, but not a morern or sci-fi game--unless you need the crystals for their light refracting properties...

 

[Tomoyo]

Crystals are cool (especially amethysts) and generally look magical. A crystal can also be seen as not changing in shape easily, so it can be seen as a pillar for a world, or something that holds the world together.

There's also something symbolic about a floating crystal, perfectly balanced.

I like crystals.

 

[Thrawn]

If you had been paying attention, you'd know why. In C&C, the 'crystals' are called Tiberium, and have a whole bunch of properties which make them really useful. In Starcraft, they're called minerals, not crystals. I can't remember crystals in sw:battlegrounds, but considering it's just an aoe2 clone, it would've been something that was used.

RTS games don't really use crystals as such, rpg games do however. I think you're confusing the two.

 

[Silverflame]

RTS games don't really use crystals as such, rpg games do however. I think you're confusing the two.

He's right you know.

 

[idleautarch]

RPG games do, also, but although I know why (the reason given) in C&C and Star Wars, still, why bother making up ad hoc explanations to some silly resource? Why not pick something that makes sense (like in Civ3 you get aluminum, not 'Gezbahr Energy Matrices').

 

[MikeH]

Quartz crystals are pretty widely used in the real world, in digital clocks and watches, for example, I'm sure a better scientist than me could point out other uses too. It's not just RTSes and RPGs though, HoMM3 used crystals to create green and gold dragons. I'm not sure if they're necessary for real life green and gold dragons.

 

[Thrawn]

RTS games do not use crystals as you think of them. The graphics the developers use just makes them look like crystals, but they are not. They are minerals, which is different.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

Quartz crystals are pretty widely used in the real world, in digital clocks and watches, for example, I'm sure a better scientist than me could point out other uses too. It's not just RTSes and RPGs though, HoMM3 used crystals to create green and gold dragons. I'm not sure if they're necessary for real life green and gold dragons.

They also used crystals for some buildings and for Behemoths...

 

[Perfection]

That's what makes Total Annihilation so awesome, they don't need no sissy crystals, just cold hard metal!

 

[crystal]

Wow, a whole thread about me. Don't you know that poster-spesific threads are forbidden? (maybe I should have selected some other forum name)

 

[Bacon King]

On Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, if your talking about the green and purple "crystals", they actually serve a purpose. The purple ones aren't crystals, its ore, used to make armor and stuff (similar to AoE's stone). The Green ones are Nova, which is used for currency. (I.E. basically Gold in AoE)

 

[Gnarfflinger]

Wow, a whole thread about me. Don't you know that poster-spesific threads are forbidden? (maybe I should have selected some other forum name)

And I thought we were talking about those shiny, somewhat tansparent rocks...

 

[Xi 12]

Wow, a whole thread about me. Don't you know that poster-spesific threads are forbidden? (maybe I should have selected some other forum name)

How did you get into so many video games? Do you know someone from the inside? You must tell me.

 

[Dabomb18359]

Well maybe one reason why C&C, Starcraft, and Galactic Battlegrounds (maybe C&C no more) have "crystals" or minerals, is because they are all supposed to be in the future... And Starcraft has aliens, so imagine the possibilites they don't care about using non-realistic crystals...

 

[crystal]

How did you get into so many video games? Do you know someone from the inside? You must tell me.

Watch out or I'll report you people to the moderators!

 

[Dabomb18359]

Watch out or I'll report you people to the moderators!

For what. You quoted nothing other than what you did yourself.

 

[crystal]

For what. You quoted nothing other than what you did yourself.

It reads in this thread. Read more carefully.

 

[Silverflame]

There's an "s" in the topic title so I don't think it counts.

 

[Dell19]

The s is for the spam...