Posing this question mostly as a thought exercise, but also because I think it has some merit when it comes to making FAF more palatable and/or attractive to potential players.
Why aren't pre-built units the norm?
I'm going to bring StarCraft II into this discussion, but only in terms of overall game progress. When SC2: Legacy of the Void launched, the amount of workers a player started with was doubled from 6 to 12. Mineral and gas field values were also lowered, but we'll ignore that since these two games have vastly different economic systems.
The worker count change was done for mainly one reason, to reduce the downtime at the start of a match and shorten the early game. This arguably made matches shorter, more action packed, and more entertaining to watch.
Could pre-built units as the norm do the same for FAF?
Casts
I pretty much always skip the first several minutes of a game when I'm watching a cast on Youtube unless I'm looking at someone's build specifically. I wouldn't be surprised to learn others do the same. It's possible the slow start of FAF games turns people off from trying the game, or watching casts to learn about the game.
Barrier of Entry
It's pretty easy to make a mistake and cause yourself to stall energy, mass, or both if you're a new player and don't know a starting build. Sure, it shouldn't take long to figure out a build that at least keeps you from stalling, but it's just another barrier of entry to new players coming into a fairly unique RTS.
That's my 2 cents, I'd love to hear what other's think about it.
For reference, here is what the current pre-built units setting gives a player:
- 1 land factory
- 4 pgens
- 4 mexes