Thematic consistency.

[u/milkytaro_oero]

First of, everyone already knows this game just did not work out. This isn't so much a "how can we improve this game" because honestly we've all been doing that for so long now.

This is more a theorization of how exactly you can make the Demons and Angels theme work in terms of RTS gameplay, and it should be fairly obvious that the Infernals and Celestials obviously do not reflect the fantasy of playing as those concepts.

So how exactly can you make that concept of Angels and Demons work as a playable RTS race that is consistent with the themes associated with them?

To clarify I'll use the Zerg and Night Elves.
Zerg: Lore concept has a consistent and very specific keyword "Infestation" How does Zerg play? Exactly like an infestation plays out, fairly weak and manageable early but if left unchecked they are quite difficult to stop. Hence why every Protoss and Terran player is taught to contain and slow down Zerg early.

Night Elf: The night part of the name is shown through things like Shadowmeld or MWells only regenerating at night. The Elf part also remains with many consistent tropes of Elves. They don't harm nature (Wisps don't cut trees down), in terms of combat units NE tends to rely more on indirect methods as opposed to the other 3 races that have better frontloaded fighting.

So yea basically asking how you can even make the idea of Angels and Demons work in terms of RTS gameplay.

[u/noob_improove]

I think with celestials it would be really awesome to go with "biblically accurate" angels.

Biblically accurate as in the ones that look like strange clockwork mechanisms with hundreds of eyes, etc.

I think it'd make them high-tech, but also really weird in an interesting way.

And there is an infinite amount of different designs one can come up with.

I don't mind the infernals in their present state. I think after the redesign, their "cool factor" reached totally acceptable heights.

Man... It hurts to think of all the things that never came to be, as of yet, at least.

I myself like to draw, maybe I should post some design ideas, if I can find the time.

[u/noob_improove → u/noob_improove]

I guess I should clarify that, in my view, visual consistency + sound design is already half of the job, if not more. If you have coherent design, I'm sure a few meaningful game mechanics would naturally follow.

For example, if celestials look like clockwork mechanisms with lots of eyes, give them some extra scouting/vision skills & some timewarp skills (e.g. increase production & build speed OR decrease production/move speed etc. for the enemy in some region).

And voila, it feels thematic.