If you're an RTS veteran, you've heard the promise Ashes of the Singularity makes - that you can command hundreds, or even thousands of unit - and you've heard it enough times to know that it often winds up being untrue, or simply unfun. I haven't actually played it yet to know whether it will actually be a good time, but I can say that thanks to a handful of smart design ideas, it looks like it has a real chance at delivering on the promise of making practical use of massive armadas.

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The Army tool is the primary reason for this. From a nicely zoomed out perspective, hundreds of units can be lassoed together and then thrown into an army in much the same way you'd ordinarily assign a control group in any other RTS. The difference is that Armies essentially behave like one unit, handling all necessary micromanagement on its own. Beam-equipped anti-armor units identify the nearest, lowest hit-point armored enemies and focus them down, more lightly armed units avoid targeting foes their weapons are ineffective against when there's a better target available, and support units move to repair damaged allies anywhere in the army automatically, even if they're outside their normal radius for doing so.I saw it all happening amidst a swarm of ground forces that Stardock CEO Brad Wardell had selected to attack an enemy position in an attempt to break their supply line. Ashes of the Singularity is going for Supreme Commander in terms of scope and size, but the structure and flow of its matches are much more like the territory-based skirmishes of Company of Heroes or Dawn of War. Massive maps are divided into upwards of 20 or 30 regions, and controlling them contributes to your streaming economy of metal and radioactive materials. This keeps the focus on strategic positioning as opposed to micromanaging individual battles.Ashes also gives you key bits of intel that other RTS games usually don't.Like Company of Heroes, you can look at a minimap and see where your foe has expanded to. In addition though, it provides you with a "Player Power" rating which gives you an idea of the current military and economic power of your opponent relative to yours. With these two bits of info, you can divine whether your enemy is focusing on expansion, fast tech rushing, or readying for a massive offensive push. It's another way in which Ashes emphasizes strategic decision making over practiced build orders and high-APM micromanagement.Ashes of the Singularity is headed into its first beta test today, and is available on Steam Early Access.