History Main / ConstructAdditionalPylons

**** The weirdest is in ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'', where in one mission you are warping the units in, [[spoiler:despite this being the galaxy's last stand against the zerg]]

* ''PlantsVsZombies'' has Sunflowers (and for night stages, Sun-Shrooms), which do nothing but produce Sun, which is required to buy plants for attacking or blocking. It's not unusual to have more than a third of the field completely covered in Sunflowers on more advanced stages.

[[HowUnscientific Highly unrealistic]] and often not even addressed, this is still necessary to some fans. The feeling of building and managing a city in wartime is oft preferable as a fighting experience than going through with tactics and strategy. While this may sound ironic it has the benefit that if one takes the time to master for example the most common base trait, mass production, it will almost always lead to at least mildly entertaining results in online play as all but the most rudimentary strategy and tactics are stripped away as your troops [[ZergRush flood across]] unprotected, downright pathetic enemy borders, rendering formations, cost-consciousness and even paying attention to the area splat of your ''NUKES'' utterly superfluous. The task at this point for many a mighty general, a vital strategy and logistical tactic: waypoint specification. A great many varieties of AppliedPhlebotinum are invoked as justification, generally some way of ultra-fast manufacturing or teleporting assets onto the field. This is such a staple of RealTimeStrategy that games lacking it are sometimes categorized as being in a different genre altogether - specifically, Real Time Tactics.

**** The weirdest is in ''StarcraftII'', where in one mission you are warping the units in, [[spoiler:despite this being the galaxy's last stand against the zerg]]

* In ''Game/{{Z}}'' you can't construct factories. You can rebuild a destroyed bridge and construct defensive guns, though. Building units is justified as it takes pretty long and they're mostly robots. You can also put a robot inside an abandoned vehicle or gun.

* In ''TotalAnnihilation'' all sides start out with a Commander. The Commander builds factories that build construction units that build more factories and power plants and defenses. While there is no arbitrary limit on the size of your base, you are restricted to building mobile units from factories only. Unlike many other RTS games, resource collection is preformed by stationary buildings. Resource management is an important strategy, as the player who can control more of the metal deposits can get the upper hand.

* Arbitrary restrictions on placement of buildings, usually called the control radius or somesuch. TropeCodifier ''DuneII'' could justify it by restricting your construction to rock, instead of building your houses on sand. The planet Arrakis [[{{Understatement}} has a lot of sand]]. Most games don't have such justifications. Increasing this radius is part of why ''{{StarCraft}}'' tells you to construct those [[TropeNamer additional pylons]].

* ''Blitzkrieg'', a WWII [=RTS=] that NeedsMoreLove, lacked bases or resources of any kind. You have all your units at the start, and if you lose them they're gone. (Except for infantry, who can be resupplied as long as one member of the squad is still alive.) Sometimes you would get extra units in the form of 'reinforcements' arriving, but that was it.
* In [[{{ptitlevi7ufn19}} Z]] you can't construct factories. You can rebuild a destroyed bridge and construct defensive guns, though. Building units is justified as it takes pretty long and they're mostly robots. You can also put a robot inside an abandoned vehicle or gun.
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<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

* Having fixed defenses, like turreted cannons for base defense or silo-based [=SAMs=].

* ''Ground Control'' has the player select their units at the beginning of each level, and then fly them in from orbital {{Drop Ship}}s. Buildings and units are never constructed.

* ''PlantsVsZombies'' has Sunflowers, which do nothing but produce Sun, which is required to buy plants for attacking or blocking. It's not unusual to have more than a third of the field completely covered in Sunflowers on more advanced stages.

* In [[{{Z (video game)}} Z]] you can't construct factories. You can rebuild a destroyed bridge and construct defensive guns, though. Building units is justified as it takes pretty long and they're mostly robots. You can also put a robot inside an abandoned vehicle or gun.

* The TropeNamer is ''{{Starcraft}}'', which tells you [[MostAnnoyingSound incessantly]] that "You must construct additional pylons" in order to build more Protoss buildings/units. Said pylons also provide power to nearby buildings, and as such act as a control radius for the Protoss. However, if they are destroyed, buildings in the radius not covered by other pylons go offline. The game justifies the control radius for the Zerg by requiring them to build on the Creep, an area of purple biomass "carpet". Their supply cap is "control", provided by the Overlord air units. Terrans rely on Supply Depots to extend the unit cap (and ad-hoc walls), but can plonk their buildings down pretty much anywhere there's room, and can relocate buildings through slowly moving them through the air.

** Its sequel, however, does throw in some unit construction. In this case, the only structures are pre-built on the map, some of which can be garrisoned, or portable defense and sensor devices, moved about by transports. Victory points can be held with ground units; holding them adds to the requisition point income. Said points are used to purchase units, which are loaded on the off-map DropShip, or to buy upgrades for the ship itself. The DropShip hauls in the requested units and drops them at the designated LZs, which become de-facto bases. The resource management comes from the space on the LZ, the "income tax" taken when the number of units on the field grows, and the time it takes for the drop ship to make round trips; some upgrades can expand the cargo bay or increase the speed.

The best games tend to be the ones that do something interesting with the concept, such as ''{{Battlezone}}'', where the hunt for "bio-metal" and its originators drives the plot, and ''TotalAnnihilation'', where the ability to build armies out of nowhere is not an incongruity but the basis of the story and gameplay mechanics. If one constructor can build another constructor, then those two can build four, those eight, those sixteen...

* In ''Lego Rock Raiders'', you are only allowed to teleport in 9 [[WorkerUnit Rock Raiders]] before you have to construct a Support Station. After that, you get nine additional worker spaces for each Support Station constructed.

* ''DawnOfWar'' also has most of these gameplay elements. 'It also does away with traditional resource gathering (mostly -- you still build field generators). The resource you must gather is ''controlled territory''. The more of the map you hold, the quicker your requisition points come in.

* Arbitrary restrictions on placement of buildings, usually called the control radius or somesuch. (TropeCodifier ''DuneII'' could justify it by restricting your construction to rock, instead of building your houses on sand. The planet Arrakis [[{{Understatement}} has a lot of sand]]. Most games don't have such justifcations.)

* Having to build houses or similar buildings with the sole purpose of increasing the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit up to a certain limit (the TropeNamer pylons also do that)

**** The weirdest is in ''StarcraftII'', where in one mission you are warping the units in [[spoiler:despite there being nowhere to warp them from '''period''']]

* Arbitrary restrictions on placement of buildings, usually called the control radius or somesuch. (TropeCodifier ''DuneII'' could justify it by restricting your construction to rock, instead of building your houses on sand. The planet Arrakis [[{{Understatement}} has a lot of sand. Most games don't have such justifcations.)

[[HowUnscientific Highly unrealistic]] and often not even addressed, this is still necessary to some fans. The feeling of building and managing a city in wartime is oft preferable as a fighting experience than going through with tactics and strategy. While this may sound ironic it has the benefit that if one takes the time to master for example the most common base trait, mass production, it will almost always lead to at least mildly entertaining results in online play as all but the most rudimentary strategy and tactics are stripped away as your troops flood across unprotected downright pathetic enemy borders, rendering formations, cost-consciousness and even paying attention to the area splat of your ''NUKES'' utterly superfluous. The task at this point for many a mighty general, a vital strategy and logistical tactic: waypoint specification. A great many varieties of AppliedPhlebotinum are invoked as justification, generally some way of ultra-fast manufacturing or teleporting assets onto the field. This is such a staple of RealTimeStrategy that games lacking it are sometimes categorized as being in a different genre altogether - specifically, Real Time Tactics.

* Arbitrary restrictions on placement of buildings, usually called the control radius or somesuch.

**** The weirdest is in StarcraftII, where in one mission you are warping the units in [[spoiler:despite there being nowhere to warp them from '''period''']]

* For the FourX-based ''RiseOfNations'', you build whole cities and infrastructure instead of normal bases: the cities expand your territory, your infrastructure increases your resource revenue, the resource increase only applies to farms, mines and lumber fields built within a certain radius of your city, you can only build within your own land. However, building a state is really the point; the game is really aiming at "{{RTS}}-style ''{{Civilisation}}'' than ''CommandAndConquer''-style war. The EasyLogistics of battle are averted as your units suffer attrition damage when inside enemy turf, which is nullified if you keep a Supply Wagon nearby. The fact that nothing enters your military production buildings is still kinda strange though (helicopters ''never'' land, for instance).

* ''DawnOfWar'' also has most of these gameplay elements. This is could be seen as {{egregious}} since [[{{Warhammer 40000}} the table-top game it is based on]] does not have base building of this kind either in the game itself or in the background fiction. All the factions should either land their forces on the field using flyers, or simply teleport them in. For example, Space Marines do not need "monasteries" on the ground to receive troops that are delivered by drop pod anyway (it hits the roof and is swallowed by the building), nor do they need a landing platform with the Adeptus Mechanicus symbol on it to receive vehicles that are delivered by [[DropShip Thunderhawk]] (it only needs some flat ground to land on). This is especially silly given that if you order a Marine squad to enter the "Orbital Relay" building or order a Dreadnought from it, these units will appear at the desired location through a drop pod that ''doesn't'' need a building to receive it. On the other hand, ''DawnOfWar'' does away with traditional resource gathering (mostly -- you still build field generators). The resource you must gather is ''controlled territory''. The more of the map you hold, the quicker your requisition points come in.
** The buildings are also very rarely actually built - the Marines, Orks, Battle Sisters and Guard airdrop their buildings, and then need their builder units to unpack and install them. The Eldar and Dark Eldar create their buildings out of 'Wraithbone', and the Chaos Marines summon their buildings from the Warp. The Necrons know where their buildings are in the ground and reactivate them in an archaeological style. The Tau build their buildings - and even they use super-advanced construction robots to justify the speed.
** The sequel meanwhile, ''Dawn of War II'', near completely averts this. In multiplayer, you have one building that teleports/drops/grows units. Resources are gathered by the above-mentioned control point method. In the campaign, you simply choose which three squads will accompany your commander on a given mission. No resources, no base building. Nothing but you, your three squads, and the xenos.

[[HowUnscientific Highly unrealistic]] and often not even addressed, this is still necessary to some fans. The feeling of building and managing a city in wartime is oft preferable as a fighting experience than going through with tactics and strategy. While this may sound ironic it has the benefit that if one takes the time to master for example the most common base trait, mass production, it will almost always lead to at least mildly entertaining results in online play as all but the most rudimentary strategy and tactics are stripped away as your troops flood across unprotected downright pathetic enemy borders, rendering formations, cost-consciousness and even paying attention to the area splat of your ''NUKES'' utterly superfluous. The task at this point for many a mighty general, a vital strategy and logistical tactic: waypoint specification. A great many varieties of AppliedPhlebotinum are invoked as justification, generally some way of ultra-fast manufacturing or teleporting assets onto the field. This is such a staple of RealTimeStrategy that games lacking it are sometimes categorized as being in a different genre altogether - specifically, RealTimeTactics.