>>717649836
>Significantly higher effort artstyle,

The initial build was another top down sprite artwork game like Warcraft 2, but it got mocked for being ugly, and another RTS used pre-processed sprites built from 3D models so that's what SC went with. Dominion was using faked trailers, and was horribly delayed, and the game ended up being shit. but it played a role in shaping SC.

One result of this is that the game's engine and logic treats the entire game as top down, but the game's visuals are presented as an isometric angle. The result in some weird quirks that look like they shouldn't work but do.