Command & Conquer

Westwood took on the genre a second time and worked mostly on the interface. What was done one unit at a time in Dune II is done here with a drag box: a group is selected, the group is given a shared order, and the assembled squad is bound to a number key on the keyboard. Construction moved into a sidebar with icons and a queue, so the base keeps growing while the player's attention is on the fighting. The economy stayed built around a single resource: harvesters collect tiberium, haul it to the refinery, the refinery gives credits, and the credits go back into structures and troops.

A match was designed to be played against a person over a modem or a network, and this is where the history of strategy games as a competitive pursuit begins, where not only the plan counts but also how fast your hands carry it out. The two sides differ in more than looks: each has its own set of vehicles and its own way of fighting, and the next mission is chosen on a world map. Between missions there are video sequences with live actors, shot as news reports and mission briefings, and in the mid-nineties this was a common way to tie missions into one story.