Breda, The Netherlands – August 19, 2026 – Building a base is fun. Commanding an army is fun. Managing an economy is fun. Doing all three at once while your base is under attack, your refinery needs attention, your production queues are empty and half your army is waiting for orders? That can be a different story.
Independent developer Tense Games is tackling that problem in its upcoming PC real-time strategy game Fractured Alliance with a new set of optional automation tools designed to reduce repetitive micromanagement without taking strategic control away from the player.
The current system introduces four independent automation toggles covering base construction, defensive construction, army production and combat. Players can enable or disable each system individually, allowing them to decide which parts of their war machine they want to manage personally and which they are happy to delegate.
“We grew up playing classic RTS games like Command & Conquer, but the way many of us play games has changed,” said Thomas van den Essenburg, Founder of Tense Games. “Not everyone wants to constantly jump between ten different things happening across the battlefield anymore. Sometimes you just want to build a massive army, watch the tanks roll in and focus on the decisions you actually enjoy making.”
Four Ways to Put the Computer to Work
The current implementation of Fractured Alliance includes four optional automation systems:
- Automated Base Construction – Allows the computer to handle essential economic and technology infrastructure, including power plants, refineries and technology buildings.
- Automated Defense Construction – Delegates construction of defensive structures such as walls, turrets and bunkers.
- Automated Army Production – Allows unit production to continue automatically, producing ground and air forces without requiring the player to constantly manage production queues.
- Automated Combat – Allows produced units to group into a sufficiently large force before automatically advancing toward the enemy base and engaging hostile forces.
The systems can be mixed and matched. A player who loves commanding armies but dislikes managing production queues could automate their economy and unit production while retaining complete control over combat. Another player could personally design and defend their base while allowing offensive forces to assemble and attack automatically.
Players who prefer the traditional RTS experience can simply leave the automation features disabled and retain manual control. In multiplayer people can also set the lobby to dissalow automation.
Reducing Busywork, Not Strategy
The goal behind the system is not to remove strategy from Fractured Alliance, but to give players more control over where they spend their attention.
As an RTS match grows, so does the number of tasks competing for that attention. What begins with a handful of buildings and units can eventually become multiple production facilities, defensive lines, resource operations and armies fighting across different parts of the map.
For experienced players, managing all of those systems simultaneously can be part of the challenge. For others, it can become an obstacle between them and the parts of real-time strategy they enjoy most.
Modern games have increasingly adopted quality-of-life features that reduce repetitive actions, and Tense Games believes RTS games can benefit from the same philosophy without abandoning the genre's strategic roots.
“We don't want automation to replace the player,” added van den Essenburg. “We want it to work more like an assistant. You decide what you want to control. If building your base is your favorite part, build it yourself. If you want to spend your time commanding armies, let the computer take care of some of the infrastructure. And if you want to control absolutely everything, you can.”
Making RTS More Approachable Without Removing Depth
Fractured Alliance draws heavily on the classic base-building RTS formula, including the style of strategy games that made franchises such as Command & Conquer popular.
At the same time, Tense Games is exploring ways to modernize that formula for both returning RTS veterans and players accustomed to contemporary quality-of-life features.
The automation system is currently being tested and refined as part of the game's ongoing development, and individual behaviors may change based on testing and player feedback.
Fractured Alliance is currently in active development for PC. Further development updates will be announced in the coming months.
About Fractured Alliance
Fractured Alliance is an upcoming PC real-time strategy game focused on base building, large-scale warfare, faction-driven conflict and modernized RTS systems. Inspired by the classic era of real-time strategy, the game combines familiar genre foundations with modern presentation and quality-of-life features.
About Tense Games
Tense Games is an independent game development studio based in Breda, The Netherlands, focused on building ambitious strategy experiences for PC audiences worldwide.
Press Contact:
Thomas van den Essenburg
Thomas@TenseGames.nl
www.TenseGames.nl
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2583660/Fractured_Alliance/