The Prisoner's Dilemma and RTS Balancing (Red Alert 3) | Game Design Analysis

The Golden Balls video clip:    • golden balls. the weirdest split or s...  

Intro - 0:00
Transitive Balancing - 1:23
Intransitive Balancing - 5:48
Exploiting Prisoner's Dilemma - 13:30
A Proposal - 16:16

Welcome to another C&C game design analysis video! Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 offers a perfectly unique competitive experience, but also presents a perfectly quirky issue with multiplayer gameplay balance: Online ladder statistics seem to indicate that all three factions inside this Real-Time Strategy game (Allies, Soviet, Empire of Rising Sun) have close-to-equal usage and win rates, especially among higher-skilled pros. It's been a constant debate whether C&C: RA3 really is as balanced as many believe.
In today's video, I will analyze RA3's balance (especially the OP Allied faction) using game design principles / game economy theories, including transitive (cost & benefit) mechanics, intransitive counter systems (between units & build orders), as well as Nash Equilibrium (when player choices fit into a Prisoner's Dilemma scenario, and an optimal strategy exists that limits their opponent's options), and reveal how each factor is specifically applied to the RTS genre. (ft. Cryo Rush, Turret Base Push, Cryocopter, Vindicator, tons of cheese)

The following music was used for this media project:
Dama-May by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Music: Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8328-space-...
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com

Corruption by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Music: Waltz Primordial (feat. Alexander Nakarada) by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/7929-waltz-...
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com