Okay first things first we need to establish some basics to make sure everyone is on the same page.

1. We've agreed this will be a strategy game and an RTS, so I'm assuming no turn based?

2. The language will be c++ and the program will be written from scratch.

3. Will we use opengl or directx?

4. Windows or Unix?

5. We are going to need a version control system (aka CVS) for something this big or else we're bound to run into issues and rolling back becomes a pain in the ass.

6. We're going to have to agree to a universal programming standard, which would include variable/funtion/class naming conventions.

7. We will have to maintain a loose documentation of the code and classes so that we all know and agree what a certain class does.

8. To manage the project's progress we will also have to establish milestones (not date milestones) so that we know what we're striving for.

9. Lastly, who is joining in on this and for what? This is what I know so far.
- Programming: Angeleon and Thirlan
---Network: ?
---Graphics engine: ?
---Game engine: ?

- Art: ?

If we want to do this for educational purposes then we probably should keep it small and have everyone do many things but we shouldn't raise our hopes too high in that case . We also shouldn't spend much time with game design until we have a basic engine, because frankly it gets in the way and more importantly none of us have any experience at all. So I think it would be foolish to make master plans only to find out that getting the most basic engine up will take about 3 months.

Some of this sounds like a lot of extra work and I hear you but you'll never see this project even get close to finishing if we don't stay organized as the beast grows. Also a good rule of thumb is stay pessimistic.