Strategy Game Tropes

A list of tropes related to Strategy Games.

• A Commander Is You
  Describing the different types of factions that appear in strategy games.
• After Action Report
  A type of Fan Fiction for strategy games that involves a blow-by-blow description of a mission and / or campaign.
• Anti-Air
  An attack, weapon, munition, ability, etc. that is really effective against flying enemies.
• Anti-Cavalry
  An attack, weapon, munition, ability, etc. that is really effective against mounted enemies.
• All Swords Are the Same
  All weapons of a specific type will look and play exactly the same.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit
  Arbitrary requirement that stops you from having too many characters in a party or unit.
• Area of Effect
  Attacks that hit a wide area, rather than a specific target.
• Armor-Piercing Attack
  An attack, weapon, or munition that rips through the armor or special shield that your enemies wear.
• Baseless Mission
  A mission that does not provide you with a base in strategy games where bases are generally required.
• Civil Warcraft
  A contrived battle where you fight your own side.
• Colour Coded Armies
  Units are colour coded so the player can tell their units from the enemy's.
• Construct Additional Pylons
  In Real Time Strategy games, having to build a base to churn out units right on the battlefield.
• Command and Conquer Economy
  Nothing ever gets built unless the player specifically orders it.
• Cosmetically Different Sides
  Although both sides in a battle may be from vastly different technologies, their statistics and attacks will be exactly the same.
• Crippling Overspecialization
  Units are so specialized that they are completely useless against units that fall outside their specialty.
• Damage Is Fire
  Whenever a structure is damaged, it's shown as being on fire.
• Defog of War
  Lessens the obscurity of Fog of War.
• Dual Mode Unit
  A unit that has two different functions that can be switched between.
• Easy Logistics
  You don't need to worry about feeding your troops or keeping up supplies - that all happens automatically.
• Enemy Exchange Program
  Capture an enemy base, and churn out your own enemy units!
• Faction Calculus
  Describing the different dynamics of a strategy game depending on the number of factions involved.
• Firewood Resources
  Wood is always shown in bundles.
• Fog of War
  You can only see the parts of the map where you have units.
• Garrisonable Structures
  Structures that allow units to take cover.
• Geo Effects
  Terrain affects tactics.
• Hero Must Survive
  One of your units is a NPC that must not be allowed to die.
• Hold the Line
  A mission where you have to prevent the enemy completing their objective before time runs out.
• Instant Militia
  An option to convert your workers into basic fighters.
• Magic Tool
  A universal hand tool whose user can magically fix any machine or structure simply by waving it at the target from close range.
• Non-Entity General
  The player is a general or commander in a strategy game who may not actually even exist.
• Protection Mission
  Protect a stationary object from enemy attack.
• Reinventing the Wheel
  You need to purchase "upgrades" to capabilities in each campaign, even if your forces already had it in the last one.
• Ridiculously-Fast Construction
  All buildings can be produced and military units trained in a ridiculously short amount of time.
• Risk Style Map
  A map which shows you delineated areas so you can choose which campaigns to wage.
• Separate but Identical
  Some sub-factions are said to be different in composition, outlook etc., but really only differ in their color palette.
• Some Dexterity Required
  In the real-time variety, being able to issue commands to your units more efficiently gives you an edge.
• Splash Damage Abuse
  Abusing an attack's Splash Damage or Area of Effect to get enhanced performance.
• Stop Poking Me
  Clicking too often on a unit will make them insult or nag you.
• Starting Units
  In strategy games, you sometimes have units at the start that you can't train or create more of.
• Strong Flesh Weak Steel
  It's easier to destroy something made of armored steel, like a tank, than to destroy an ostensibly flesh and blood character.
• Support Power
  The player receives support from things that are not included on the in-game map.
• Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors
  Strategy games divide your units into three types, each of which is strong and weak against each of the other types.
• Tech Tree
  Strategy games let you research new abilities for your units.
• Unblockable Attack
  An attack that always deals damage and can't be blocked, but can be dodged or interrupted.
• Units Not to Scale
  Infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings.
• Video Game Time
  Fake use of a time scale means that empires rise and fall in the time it takes to take the trash out.
• Weather of War
  Weather drastically affects units.
• Worker Unit
  A non-combatant unit dedicated to constructing buildings or gathering resources.
• You Have Researched Breathing
  Where you have to spend time researching things that should be patently obvious.
• You Require More Vespene Gas
  Strategy games make you gather resources.
  • Not Playing Fair with Resources
    AI players in are able to acquire resources faster than the player or don't need any resources at all.
  • Refining Resources
    You need to use "basic" resources to create "advanced" ones.
  • No Recycling
    You can't scavenge debris for usable materials.
• Zerg Rush
  Sending waves upon waves of cheap, weak units in order to overwhelm a more tech-aware enemy with sheer numbers.