Thanks for all the replies everyone, I love reading them and it really helps me get ideas for the game.
@ Bizar Guy: Yes, I have thought a lot about making the maps all different, because I really don't want them all to look the same like they did in Firewall. Agent Dink made some great suggestions, like coloring the motherboard and adding different components.
What you see in the screenshots are randomly generated maps, I worked hard to make them random, yet still have some structure. However, each map in the campaign will be different, not randomly generated. These maps will also be able to be played skirmish-style; the randomly generated map will just be an option, and is all I have done so far.
As for other components, I will be adding CPU's, bios chips, video cards, other pci cards, and memory sticks in the slots. In the battles, you will have to protect certain parts of the computers, like the CPU. So a lot of the battle will revolve around a certain point, or a couple of them.
Framerate: Yes, the bad framerate is mostly due to fraps. But it is also due to shadow shading on my craptop. If I turn off shadow shading, I get a constant 60 fps, unless I build tons of units, then it drops to like 50. If I turn shadow shading on, then it drops to like 30 fps. However, if you turn off shadow shading, there are still soft drop-shadows, so it still looks like, just not as awesome.
A pro at RTS's? Well, I have played a lot recently, but a year ago, I had never played a single well-known RTS game. I have just learned a lot and gotten my own ideas.
@Bongadoo: No problem, I'm willing to help people out if they ask nicely
The building animations took me longer to think of than to actually make them work, haha. I tried to make them as simple as possible. I made a zappy texture, and made 4 copies of it, each one is just rotated 90 degrees. Then I fade it 10 times and save those images. Then I use the image as a detail map on the object and use the faded ones as the building nears the end. I did detail mapping because it isn't too taxing, as long as there aren't too many objects with it at once, and it doesn't require a seperate mesh or more polygons.
@ Agent Dink: Great ideas. I had thought of the different color motherboards and some other components, but hadn't thought of the Bios, thanks a lot for that. I was trying to think of important parts of the board to protect, and that's a good one.
Progress Update:
I finally got done mowing the lawn, so here is what I have gotten done tonight:
-Created faded edges of the map, looks much smoother now
-Implimented the power system. Building power supply bases increases your maximum power, building other bases and units take up power. My little power bar looks pretty cool so far, I'll post it when I get a chance for more screenshots. I'll try uploading one now, but it might be too slow...
[edit]
Okay, it worked alright, so here's an updated screenshot:
[edit] Screenshot removed: see below for updated screenshots
Xander Moser - Bolt Software - Firewall
