Total War - from one title to another the only change in gameplay are 3d models of units and Castles. No fresh RTS with good gameplay (RA3 is awfull) You're right, RPG elements in RTS became rather popular after C&C:Generals, but that's just because of the title itself. Detached window for skills - not a feature, but mostly a game design solution. As for the feature Warcraft 3 gameplay had RPG elements in it. Other earlier games with less fancy names had RPG in them. I don't get it. Why "of course, I didn't play"? You can play it immediately after pre-order (https://store.unigine.com/products/category/oilrush/). The laws of the genre are pretty much the same. Sometimes you need to combine several genres to make a cool game. You see it as an RTS, although Oil Rush is a mix of genres - and that makes it unique. My point is, when you play a game with such 'genremix' in them - you can understand what is it about. When you see someone playing - you can estimate what you see basing on what you've played already (from knowing some RPG game) - and that will make wrong impression. Remember GTA3? People who liked gta, gta2 - cried about introducing 3d. FPS and TPS fans said that the game looked awful as a shooter-game. Same for first Tower Defence game or Minecraft - need to play. New approach. Not for RTS, but for gameplay - no name for this genre yet!
