Ahem...
I humbly redirect you to my sound thread:
http://www.bgforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4871
"It would be great if, the furthur out you zoomed, the quieter the battle sounds became."
This is a low budget way to mute the sounds somewhat, to give them more variety, and enhance the zoomed out view at the same time, and I chose it because it seems the easiest to do with the biggest payoff. If you want to go farther you could have the sounds grow softer if they were not shown on the screen as stated above. This is an excellent idea. If one wanted to go even farther, you could have stereo panning, i.e., big battle on right side of screen = sound panned slightly right. Finally, one could save 100% volume for when zoomed in completely, thus adding that 'in your face, you are there' aspect when zoomed in, to feel like you are down there on the ground with the troops. These 4 ideas require no additional sounds to be recorded yet would make the soundscape dynamic, it's a way to 'fake' having more sounds than you really have.
Heck, may as well shoot my wad while I'm here. Idea 5: have the battle sounds play back randomly at 102% - 98% of their speed. (That may need to be 101% - 99%, I'm pulling numbers out of my *** here.) The idea is to vary the pitch and duration ever so slightly to break up that 'rat-a-tat tat tat' 'rat-a-tat tat tat' vibe where every sound plays back exactly the same. Once again, no new sounds needed.
Finally, I don't care about voices in game, I think the way it's implemented is perfect, you only hear a voice when something big happens. You *could* have travel sounds, that is, I tell a unit to go somewhere, you hear a short revving of an engine or something. That would give the player an audio cue that he gave a move order. Total Annihilation got this right: avoid voices at all costs, they will eventually wear on you. Unless you're Blizzard.
(edit) One last thing. There are dozens of guys on these boards that can tell you the exact armor thickness of the CP-SP 44-B 'Flying Eagle' Composite Plexiglass Salad Bar Sneeze Protector, off the top of their heads. But a little thing like 'the sound' or a tiny detail like 'the graphics', and suddenly it's like 'it's OK! who cares? Just get the dispense rate right for the TP6000 'Stalking Puma' Stealth Toilet Paper Dispenser!'. I really feel like the kid who just wants it to go bang and zoom so he can pretend there is a war happening. So, devs, if this kind of stuff is low on your priority list, lemme know, because I really feel like a voice in the wilderness here.(/edit)
Oof! Glad I got that off my chest!
DeanCo--