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For Venen, where can I find screenshots from RTSs with better graphics? I typically don't play a large volume of games so it's quite possible I'm out of the loop with respect to what other studios are able to do but I've found the graphics, at least on 'ultra', to be very impressive - certainly no less impressive than the best that CoH and DoW2 had to offer and neither game approaches the number of units on screen at once that you regularly find in SC2.
Second, why would you want to zoom out? Such a feature drastically changes how the game is played. Starcraft is a very intimate real time strategy, to simply state that zooming out should be a required method of control shows little understanding of the genre.
I've had the settings on ultra for everything since the beginning and I don't see how it comes to close most other RTS's out there, including CoH and especially DoW2. Honestly not sure how you're suggesting the graphics there are better. I certainly would suggest that they don't compare to Supreme Commander 1(or even 2 for that matter, where the graphics were arguably worse). Goes without saying they wouldn't compare with Napoleon Total War or Empire, though granted those are different genres, it still suggests there's room for improvement.
You don't even need to compare RTS's, though. There are plenty of examples of superior graphics out there that don't necessarily run on an RTS engine. While I'm sure it's a challenge to program specifically for RTS gameplay while still maintaining stability in situations where you have a massive number of units on the screen all doing different things, this still looks like something out of 2004.
I'm just saying it looks dated, and it shows. They have kept this game in development for what, maybe 4-5 years? It's no doubt that with a dev cycle that long it's going to show. The problem lies in the fact that when they upgraded the graphics(I think it was 2 years ago) and art, they really didn't do so on a large enough scale.
With regard to the zoom-out feature, I fail to see how it would "drastically" change how the game is played. I am not suggesting that it be 100 percent required any less than it is required in SupCom(with the caveat being that the maps are obviously going to be smaller). All it does is move you around the map in terms of actual gameplay mechanics. If anything, asking what purpose it would serve shows a lack of understanding of the RTS genre. It's a far more accurate way of getting precisely the view you need at any time and being able to zone into an area on a whim. It takes more time to click or pan around than it does to use the scroll-wheel if you're looking to get an exact view of where you want the camera to be in order to control your units, regardless of how fast you are.
While Unit selection-bound keys are a step in the right direction, you're still going to be at a net loss in terms of camera control and being able to see things on both a macro and micro level with mouse-pointer precision(on the fly even while controlling units, no less) such as in SupCom. While StarCraft is undoubtedly a more "intimate" RTS with regard to tactics, build orders, and general management(as upposed to the zerg-fest that Supcom admittedly was), it stands to lose nothing from this feature, and stands to gain ease of use of the camera and better views at any time of the battlefield.
It's simply one of those horrible design decisions by Blizz that just made me think "Why in the world would they leave that out in 2010?". I realize I may be in the minority and prefer to be efficient/fast with my camera, not to mention be capable of attaining a massively higher number of perspectives on the field.
Fortunately, this feature might be somewhat implementable with the editor. That still doesn't quite forgive the aforementioned /facepalm, however.