In games of this genre, you can find both very large-scale strategies, and strategies based on a scrupulous attention to each particular unit. All of these things are set relative to the game design and the desire to convey some essence of what's going on.

Dust Front holds a kind of middle ground, where the number of units doesn't compete with Total Annihilation-like RTS's, but also doesn't fall into the depths of tactics like "Company of Heroes" or wargames.

In terms of its approach to scale of battles, the game can be compared to the C&C 3 Tiberium Wars.
Next I'll explain why.

There are about four sizes in total: infantry units, where soldiers are assembled into one unit, light vehicles of small sizes, medium sized vehicles and super heavy vehicles of large sizes.

Of course, there can be small exceptions, such as heavy infantry, which look a bit bigger than regular soldiers, but smaller than a light vehicle. Or some super units can be even bigger than large super heavy tanks. But the trend is four-stage one way or another.

Here they are, from left to right.

The game tries to show the ratio of average soldier to a tank in a more or less realistic way. That is, you can estimate that a infantryman dressed in a large suite would fit into a tank with slightly less massive clothes. In StarCraft 2, for example, the ratio is conditional and follows the convenience of readability, sacrificing the naturalness from which the marine is drawn in scale only in cutscenes.

Yes, Dust Front doesn't blindly follow any particular strategy, but combines many well-known mechanics from different RTS games. The explicit army limit, not typical in Westwood games, in my game serves many purposes, from a trivial limitation, to a signal to the player to attack and choose the composition of units more wisely. This army limit is called "Supply".

On a global map, it's a resource that operates under different rules, unlike RTS mode.

The essence of the supply limit is quite floating and the limit can depend on various factors.
Here are some dry numbers.

Maximum base limit, that's 400, with a cheapest infantry squad (riflemen), takes 3 supply. That's not much, is it? But you can raise it with the help of "warehouses" by another hundred on top and it will be 500. At the same time you can add 150 of limit of strike group on top that came to the mission from the global map, the limit of this army are not counted. So, in total, the riflemen, on one map can be placed about 216, visually it is 648 soldiers or, in the case of an extended squad, which costs the same amount of supplies, but holds 6 people, already 1296. In the realities of the game this is excessive.

Supply Buildings. "Warehouses" on the left and "Supply Depot" on the right.

The army limit, by the way, is now divided into permanent and reserve. Permanent, it is classic and familiar to all. Reserve, it is the same, but can expand the limit of army over the maximum limit and run out, because of which you need to spend the mined resources to restock warehouses with new supply cells. But I will not describe its differences and work in detail yet.

So, infantry seems to be a lot, but what about vehicles? Basically, there are 5 infantry squad's per tank, since its supply cost is 15.

The tank shoots at a mysterious target behind the screen.

The ratio of the number of units is pretty serious. It turns out that even fifty tanks cannot be built in the most sterile conditions. But in fact, in the game even 10 vehicles is a very serious tank army in the context of RTS mode. And there are even lighter vehicles that require less supply.

Tanks turn around locally, have 2 "hemispheres" of armor, don't instantly turn their turret, and can drive in reverse, which automatically puts them in the unit section for micro control. From this, the infantry/technique ratio comes into view.

With great responsibility comes firepower as well. Even a heavy machine gun won't do much to a tank, and a tank's cannon weaponry quickly destroys other vehicles and large targets.

This is quite similar to the concept of vehicles in C&C3 Tiberium Wars, which had a lot of infantry, and vehicles were quite strong, but had a bunch of "realistic" complications and less amount. In short, semi-realistic is basically one of the main differences between Dust Front and, for example, Starcraft 2.

The heavy dreadnought breaks the pillar placed in his path.

Higher in rank are the super heavy vehicles. These are the largest regular units. They are usually very expensive, but can turn the tide of an entire battle, hence the cost. For example, the vehicle in the gif above costs 50 supply units, that's 4 tanks or 16 squads of infantry, but the impact on the battlefield can be quite different depending on the situation.

It is actually larger than any massed vehicles and in turn is even more clumsy and can crush infantry.

It's also worth noting that supply is often also a unit's power. That is, the more expensive it is, the more value it usually has on the battlefield, which simplifies calculations on the global map and removes entities in an already quite complex game.

A great value is also given to base building in the game.
Connection of factories into combines. Assembly of vehicles becomes significantly cheaper.

Buildings are divided along similar lines: small, medium, large, but they're all bigger than a medium-sized tank, and large buildings are bigger than super-heavy vehicles. That is, the size of the buildings also tries to be like something you can believe in.

With many of the macro mechanics tied to quick loss recovery and cheapening the war of attrition, and because of the size of the buildings, bases take up a lot of space, though there aren't many buildings placed, it forces you to better control the flanks, build turrets or order more units for patrol. But everything in sort of balance, ofc.

The game never pretended to be "They are Billions", but you can't call it tactical either. It contains both elements of large-scale strategies and strategies with a tactical bias. In the game you can both constantly flood the enemy with new units and save them, and make them an improvised elite that will go with you through the whole game (or not).

I've tried to draw analogies and describe some of the game design features. After all, it should either be fun or look nice.

That's all for now.