It's something that I was always going to have to do, but it's time to talk about balance.
I have just about finished all the coding associated with gameplay mechanics, and am about to start, in earnest, the aesthetic feel of the mod (which I have talked about before, although some things have changed, ye shall see!).
It's been apparent for a while that balancing this mod will be quite difficult, and there most likely never be a possible configuration that something this diverse can be completely balanced. But damn it, I'm going to try.
And in this post, I'll just dump down ideas I have for that.
The first sort of balance method is using what I shall call "Move to Range Calculations". This is very simple, and most likely inaccurate in most cases. However, it can work for some cases, particular with specific unit counters. If a unit can beat an equivalent cost of its intended counter, then something should probably be done.
The way it works is you have an imaginary battlefield, with the equivalent cost of two units arranged on either side. The battlefield is as wide as the longest ranged weapon's range. The shorter ranged unit (or units) move towards the longer ranged the unit, with the longer ranged unit firing as fast as it can.
This is obviously very simple, and doesn't work for things like artillery, which miss moving targets, and doesn't account for anything like novel maneuvers or anything like that. It also doesn't work for support units that do no damage. It becomes more complex, although not impossible, for weapons that scatter and have a blast radius.
It does work for very simple things, though, for instance HAT vs Rush AT Infantry. The calculation shows that the HAT would kill one Rush AT Infantry before being killed by the other five. Definitely, a hard counter. It also shows that in HAT vs Rush Light Tank, the HAT would win after being reduced to 330 HP.
Obvious disreprencies occur if, say, Rush AT Infantry were found to be beating equivalent costs of Turtle Anti-Infantry Infantry, or Stealth Advanced Anti-Infantry Infantry.
Anyway, this method's major weaknesses are obvious, and its major strength is that it can be done entirely in the head, without the need for firing up the game.
Of course, unit match-ups are only a small part of balance. All the unit match-ups could be balanced, and yet some team would be better than another, as things like ease of resource collection, ramping up eco, strategic concerns etc.
For instance, while a HAT will win most armoured disputes, it is strategically weak as it cannot relocate to deploy its considerable firepower. Hence the best way to determine balance, if the most costly, is by actually playing lots of games, and then examining how various units and abilities change the game, probably while watching replays. You don't want to mistake one player's incompetence for their units being underpowered.
Once you have identified the unit that is balanced or unbalanced, you can go about the problem is several ways. It's obviously not going to be every aspect of the unit that is unbalanced, so you have to identify what it is causing it. The unit will be too fast, too powerful, too tough, or maybe too cheap and plentiful.
The various was of going about that are quite varied. If a weapon is too powerful drop its power, or increase its reload time. Maybe give it a pre-attack delay. Shortening the range could also work.
One of the things that will most likely crop up during playtesting is the three team's income will probably not be balanced. So it needs changing. Turtle is very easy, as I can change the number of collectors spawned, the speed at which they travel, how much money they pick up per trip... That's about it. But quite a lot can be changed. With Rush, it is slightly more complex, as I can simply change the amount of money each building gives you. However, a significant portion of the Rush economy is map dependant.
So, once I've made a map, with that, I can control how many buildings in total are on the map, how many buildings are in a cluster (important, as 10 buildings in two clusters are more defensible than ten buildings in 4), where the buildings are located in relation to choke points etc. All of this, I'll figure out when I go over map design.
With Stealth, it goes a little backwards. Normally, one would be able to change how much of a unit's price they get in return. However, for this, it means that a Stealth vs Stealth game would occasionally run down to almost nothing (scratch occasionally). So with Stealth, to make their economy "worse", you make everything on the Stealth Faction more expensive, and to make their economy better, you make everything on the Stealth Faction less expensive.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Whole Unit, Building, Tech, and Faction Listing
I'm going to write this up so basically I can have this document anywhere, and update it accordingly. Eventually, it will be full of unit icons, building icons etc. along with complete unit profiles. This will also be a permanent link in the sidebar, so anyone can find it quickly and easily. It will also eventually have good formatting and contents.
Weapons Key:
R: Range. How far the weapon can shoot
MR: Minimum Range. If this isn't there, then there is no minimum range.
D: Damage. How much damage the weapon can shoot
L: reLoad time. How long it takes for the weapon to reload a magazine. (milliseconds) If no clipsize and clip reload time is mentioned, this is its rate of fire.
C: Clipsize. How many shots it fires per magazine.
Q: The rate of fire for shots within a magazine.
P: Pre-attack delay: How long it takes for a weapon to fire an already loaded shot. If it isn't referenced, the pre-attack delay is 0, as in it shoots immediately once it's pointed in that direction.
M: Hits all moving vehicles. The weapon is either guided or hitscan. Well, rather, it has the same chance to hit, moving doesn't affect its chance of hitting. Generally, missiles.
MI: Hits all moving targets. The weapon is hitscan. See above
S: Scatters when targetting infantry. Weapons can definitely be M and S.
SG: Scatters in General. Usually for artillery.
AI: This weapon is good against Infantry. A note on all ineffectivities: If a weapon is not 'good' against a particular sort of target, it does 20% damage. The exception is AA, where if a weapon is not AA, then it cannot target aircraft at all. Aircraft on the ground are heavily effected by AT weapons. If a weapon is solely anti-infantry, it only does 1% against other targets
AT: This weapon is good against Vehicles and parked aircraft..
AF: This weapon is good against buildings.
AA: This weapon is good against and can target flying aircraft. Also means that this cannot target ground units
B: Blast. This weapon has an area of effect
E: EMP, which shuts down vehicles and buildings that have been struck by it, but do no damage.
G: Kills Garrisoned troops per shot.
A: Limited ammo that the unit has to return to base for.
It will not contain any of the thoughts behind the units etc., but simply their cost, function, pre-requisites and other things you need to know while playing the game. It will be fairly similar to what you will see as tooltips while mousing over icons. We shall start with the most traditional of teams, Turtle:
Turtle Faction:
Turtle Buildings:
Uh... A note on Turtle Buildings. Every single one of their buildings can be garrisoned. Infantry placed inside a Turtle Building will heal at a rate of 10 HP/second. Vehicles need to be sent to a vehicle bay or vehicle factory.
Turtle Aircraft
Turtle Support Abilities:
Rush Buildings:
All Rush upgrades cost 4 command points, and enable upgrades in units. Refer to the unit description for a more detailed description.
Stealth Buildings:
Stealth do not have buildings in the normal sense. Rather, they have MCVs, which can deploy into buildings. However, while they are deployed, they still count as vehicles for the purposes of being shot at (so they have vehicle-armour). They are, however, uncrushable in either state. Also, they can disguise while packed up, and are stealthed while deployed. While deployed, they should be able to listen in on enemy commands in an area around them. Also, you can only have one of each MCV.
All Stealth Infantry can stealth.
All Stealth Vehicles can disguise.
Stealth Drones:
Stealth Drones fly, and are also stealthed.
Civilian Structure:
Notes: Can garrison up to 5 infantry who can shoot out.
Civilian Bunker:
Notes: Can garrison up to 5 infantry who can shoot out, and are immune to garrison clearing effects.
Hope you cats have fun playing this once all the graphics and sound is finished. I'll probably release a "beta" version once I finish the graphics, and work on the sounds while getting feedback.
Proposed Change List:
- HAT Constructor renamed to the HAT CSV (Heavy Assault Tank Construction Support Variant) and given the ability to repair vehicles. Or some other ability, as the other constructor has an ability of some sort. (Cancelled)
- Turtle different turrets removed (done)
- Turtle buildings can now store one HAT variant, and can heal it (done)
- Turtle factory 'service depot' removed (done)
- Added Turtle Defence Fortification (done)
- Turtle AAHAT given the AA turret's weapon.
- Turtle AAHAT price increase.
Will write up railgun code when I have free time. The last few weeks have just been overloaded with stuff.
- MCV Health Increase to 1000 HP
- Adding two more stealth support abilities, and then splitting them up across the three Stealth MCVs, rather than having them all on the tertiary, for a more consistent function of MCVs.
So... templist
- Satellite scan (detects stealth and gives sight range) Reload time 2:00 for Primary MCV (done)
- Heal Wave (heals all units and buildings in area) Reload time 2:00 for Primary MCV (done)
-EMP Wave (shuts down all vehicles and buildings in an area for 10 seconds) Reload time 2:00 for Secondary MCV (done)
- Satellite Targetting (increases range of effected units) Reload time 2:00 for Secondary MCV (done)
- ????
- Satellite Anti-Armour Fire (increases damage taken by a single target) Reload time 10 seconds for Tertiary MCV
Weapons Key:
R: Range. How far the weapon can shoot
MR: Minimum Range. If this isn't there, then there is no minimum range.
D: Damage. How much damage the weapon can shoot
L: reLoad time. How long it takes for the weapon to reload a magazine. (milliseconds) If no clipsize and clip reload time is mentioned, this is its rate of fire.
C: Clipsize. How many shots it fires per magazine.
Q: The rate of fire for shots within a magazine.
P: Pre-attack delay: How long it takes for a weapon to fire an already loaded shot. If it isn't referenced, the pre-attack delay is 0, as in it shoots immediately once it's pointed in that direction.
M: Hits all moving vehicles. The weapon is either guided or hitscan. Well, rather, it has the same chance to hit, moving doesn't affect its chance of hitting. Generally, missiles.
MI: Hits all moving targets. The weapon is hitscan. See above
S: Scatters when targetting infantry. Weapons can definitely be M and S.
SG: Scatters in General. Usually for artillery.
AI: This weapon is good against Infantry. A note on all ineffectivities: If a weapon is not 'good' against a particular sort of target, it does 20% damage. The exception is AA, where if a weapon is not AA, then it cannot target aircraft at all. Aircraft on the ground are heavily effected by AT weapons. If a weapon is solely anti-infantry, it only does 1% against other targets
AT: This weapon is good against Vehicles and parked aircraft..
AF: This weapon is good against buildings.
AA: This weapon is good against and can target flying aircraft. Also means that this cannot target ground units
B: Blast. This weapon has an area of effect
E: EMP, which shuts down vehicles and buildings that have been struck by it, but do no damage.
G: Kills Garrisoned troops per shot.
A: Limited ammo that the unit has to return to base for.
It will not contain any of the thoughts behind the units etc., but simply their cost, function, pre-requisites and other things you need to know while playing the game. It will be fairly similar to what you will see as tooltips while mousing over icons. We shall start with the most traditional of teams, Turtle:
Turtle Faction:
Turtle Buildings:
Uh... A note on Turtle Buildings. Every single one of their buildings can be garrisoned. Infantry placed inside a Turtle Building will heal at a rate of 10 HP/second. Vehicles need to be sent to a vehicle bay or vehicle factory.
Turtle Command Centre:Turtle Infantry:
Price: $2000
HP: 5000
Power: +10
Prerequisites: None
Notes: You start off with this building. Like all Turtle buildings, it can hold up to five infantry. Because of its massive amount of health, it makes a decent point to put a front-line. It is also required to have both RADAR and use Support Abilities.
Turtle Power Plant:
Price: $500
HP: 1000
Power: +20
Prerequisites: Turtle Command Centre
Notes: This gives you power to do stuff with. Also works as a makeshift bunker, although low HP makes it not a particularly good defence structure.
Turtle ROB:
Price: $2000
HP: 1000
Power: -5
Prerequisites: Turtle Power Plant
Notes: This is a Resource Operations Base that gathers money depending on how far the ROB is from a supply point. Obviously its low HP and high cost means that this is a very important building to defend.
Turtle SDT:
Price: $200
HP: 1000
Power: -20
Prerequisites: Turtle ROB
Notes: This has a large stealth detection radius. You can only build one of this. It is also your basis for various research options. Once again, take care of it.
Turtle Railgun:
Price: $5000
HP: 5000
Power: -20
Weapons: None, sort of
Prerequisites: Turtle SDT
Notes: This is the Turtle Superweapon. It has quite a lot of hitpoints, but bad guys will also more likely concentrate on this before a command centre. With a 3 minute load times dealing massive damage to units, but less to structures, this is obviously useful for taking out enemy forces rather than bases.
Turtle Infantry Command:
Price: $1000
HP: 1000
Power: -5
Prerequisites: None
Notes: This builds infantry units, is relatively cheap, so can be useful as a make-shift bunker. However, the enemy may concentrate a decent amount of firepower towards this, since infantry are useful.
Turtle Defence Structure:
Price: $500
HP: 2000
Power: 0
Prerequisites: Turtle Barracks
Notes: This is a simple building that works as a garrison. It can be upgraded to have various guns on top, which take up an additional take up power. The weapons are Anti Ground (R250D80L1000MIAT), which takes up 5 power, Anti-Air (R400D50L4000C4Q1500AAMB), which also takes up 5 power, and Anti-Fortification (R1500MR450D300SBAIATAF), which requires a Turtle Factory and takes up 15 power. The respective costs are $500, $500, and $1000
Turtle Factory:
Price: $2000
HP: 2000
Power: -10
Prerequisites: Turtle Barracks
Notes: This produces Turtle Vehicles! Not much else to say, really.
Turtle Airfield:
Price: $2000
HP: 2000
Power: -10
Prerequisites: Turtle Factory
Notes: This produces Turtle Aircraft (well, the TUBA). It can store two aircraft, and that's about it.
Turtle Basic Anti-Infantry Infantry:Turtle Vehicles
Price: $200
HP: 100
Weapon: R225D6L200MIAI
Notes: Not much to say. Standard infantry movement. This is the longest ranged basic anti infantry infantry. Er... 30 DPS. Can be upgraded to be simply ineffective vs vehicles, as opposed to entirely useless.
Turtle Basic Anti-Tank Infantry:
Price: $400
HP: 100
Weapon: R250D60C3Q100L5700ATAFMS
Notes: Long ranged AT soldier who applies damage over the first 300 milliseconds of firing for 6 seconds total. 30 DPS! Can be upgraded to be able to switch to an alternate R150D100L6000AIMBG weapon
Turtle Basic Anti-Air Infantry:
Price: $400
HP: 100
Weapon: R300D80L4000AAM
Notes: Stock standard AA infantry. 20 DPS vs aircraft!
Turtle Advanced Anti-Fortifcation Infantry:
Price: $800
HP: 100
Weapon: R375D300L13500P1500AIATAFSGB
Prerequisites: Turtle Factory
Notes: Is good vs stuff staying still. Not so good against moving stuff. Can be upgraded to be able to switch between and Incendiary Weapon and EMP Weapon.
Turtle Advanced Armour-Neutralising Infantry:
Price: $1000
HP: 100
Weapon: R150MIE
Prerequisites: Turtle SDT
Notes: Neutralises up to one target! Can be upgraded to a R250MIE weapon
Turtle Heavy Assault Tank:
Price: $1200
HP: 600
Weapon: R250D500L10000ATSMI
Notes: This vehicle is quite slow and has a slow turn and turret turn rate. This means it is rather vulnerable to flanking. However, it has a massive amount of frontload, so is very good at taking out taking out enemy tanks. Against singular enemy units, this is probably the best, but cannot face off against an equivalent cost of anti-tank infantry. Can be upgraded to also have a R150D5L100AIMI machine gun on top, or an upgrade to self-repair.
Turtle AA Heavy Assault Tank:
Price: $1000
HP: 600
Weapon: R300D50C4Q1000L6000AAM
Notes: A very generic AA vehicle. Mostly for support actual HATs. Same choice as above.
Turtle HAT Constructor
Price: $1000
HP: 600
Notes: This unit can build all Turtle Buildings, and also benefits from the upgrades mentioned above.
Turtle Super-Heavy IFV:
Price: $4500
HP: 5000
Pre-requisites: Turtle SDT
Notes: This is a massively slow vehicle with no weapons of it own, rather it carries a bunker atop it that up to five infantry can be mounted in. It is large enough to crush smaller vehicles. It moves as quickly as an infantryman. It should self-repair.
Turtle Super-Heavy Railgun Carrier
Price: $5000
HP: 5000
Weapons: R300MR100D80L100ATAFMI
Notes: Another massive slow vehicle that has a smaller version of the railgun on it. Basically another game-ender.
Turtle Aircraft
Turtle Ubiquitous Bomber Aircraft:Turtle Upgrades:
Price: $1500
HP: 200
Weapons: R350D5L100AAMI + R320D500L4000A2ATAFM
Notes: This is a relatively fast aircraft that is better for support than for scouting, as it has almost no sight range. It also uses its MG for AA fighter purposes and its cannons for AG purposes.
Turtle Powered Ordinary Weapon:
Price: $500
Notes: Is a weapons upgrade for Turtle Basic Anti-Infantry Infantry, and is mutually exclusive with the Turtle AGES.
Turtle Anti-Garrison Energy Shot:
Price: $500
Notes: Is a weapons upgrade for the Turtle BAT Infantry, and is mutually exclusive with the Turtle POW.
Turtle HAT Self-Repair:
Price: $1000
Notes: This upgrade gives all HAT variants self-repair. Mutually exclusive with HAT Defencive MG.
Turtle HAT Defencive MG:
Price: $1000
Notes: This upgrade gives all HAT variants a defencive MG. Mutually exclusive with HAT Self-Repair.
Turtle AAF Ammunition:
Price: $1000
Notes: This upgrade gives Turtle Advanced Anti-Fortifcation Infantry additional ammunition types. Mutually exclusive with Turtle AN Field Modulator.
Turtle AN Field Modulator:
Price: $1000
Notes: This upgrade increases the range of the Turtle Armour Neutralising Infantry. Mutually exclusive with Turtle AAF Ammunition.
Turtle Building Armour:
Price: $1500
Notes: This upgrade increases the health of all Turtle buildings by 20%. Mutually exclusive with Turtle Aircraft Armour.
Turtle Aircraft Armour:
Price: $1500
Notes: This upgrade increases the health of all Turtle Aircraft by 50%. Mutually exclusive with Turtle Building Armour.
Turtle Support Abilities:
Note, prices are not anywhere near finalised, nor are the reload times, so those are not listed. Their general effect has been finalised, as has the tree path.Rush:
Turtle Scout Aircraft:
Points Cost: 2
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: None
Notes: A fast, lightly armoured scout aircraft flies over. The scout aircraft is the standard fast aircraft with additional cameras and other recon equipment attached.
Turtle LBFB:
Points Cost: 3
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle Scout Aircraft
Notes: (Light Bomb Fast Bomber) A scout aircraft with a small explosive device that is effective against all targets.
Turtle MBFB:
Points Cost: 3
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle LBFB
Notes: (Medium Bomb Fast Bomber) A scout aircraft with a medium sized explosive device that is effective against all targets.
Turtle EMPBFB:
Points Cost: 4
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle LBFB
Notes: (ElectroMagnetic Pulse Bomb Fast Bomber) A scout aircraft with a wide scale EMP device that can shut down large numbers of tank and vehicles.
Turtle IBFB:
Points Cost: 4
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle EMPBFB
Notes:(Incendiary Bomb Fast Bomber) A scout aircraft with a wide scale Incendiary device that burns infantry.
Turtle LBSB:
Points Cost: 3
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: None
Notes:(Light Bomb Slow Bomber) A heavy aircraft that drops a light explosive device, same as before.
Turtle MBSB:
Points Cost: 4
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle LBSB
Notes: (Medium Bomb Slow Bomber) Pretty self-explanatory.
Turtle SBSB:
Points Cost: 5
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle MBSB
Notes:(Super Bomb Slow Bomber) A slow bomber with a really big bomb, really good for striking an opponent's staging grounds.
Turtle AFBSB:
Points Cost: 4
Reload Time:
Prerequisites: Turtle MBSB
Notes:(Anti-Fortification Bomb Slow Bomber) A slow bomber with a bomb that does massive damage to a small area. Good for taking out buildings. Not quite enough to take out a super-heavy or command centre.
Rush Buildings:
Rush Building Hub:Rush Infantry:
Price: $500
HP: 500
Notes: The building hub can be upgraded into any other single Rush Building, at the cost of $2000 and one minute.
Rush Infantry Command:
Price: $2500 (only useful for a Stealth player destroying the building.)
HP: 3000
Notes: This builds all infantry, and Rush Constructor Transports. That's about it, really.
Rush Vehicle Command:
Price: $2500 (See above)
HP: 3000
Notes: This builds all vehicles, and Rush Constructor Transports.
Rush Air Command:
Price: $2500 (See above)
HP: 3000
Notes: This builds all aircraft, and Rush Constructor Transports.
Rush Support Structure:
Price: $2500 (See above)
HP: 3000
Notes: This grants the Rush player the ability to use the minimap, and also heals friendly units around it.
Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry:Rush Vehicles:
Price: $100
HP: 100
Weapons: R125D5L100AIMI
Notes: This can be upgraded to have a R75D10L100AIMIG flamethrower for $50.
Rush Anti-Tank Infantry:
Price: $200
HP: 100
Weapons: R150D200L5000ATAFMS
Notes: This can be upgraded to have a R300MR100D200L8500P1500AIATAFSGB for $50.
Rush Anti-AirInfantry
Price: $200
HP: 100
Weapons: R300D80L4000AAM
Notes: This can be sidegraded to have a R300D20L1000AAMI for $0. This just in, it isn't a straight upgrade. More on that in another post.
Rush Light Tank:Rush Aircraft:
Price: $600
HP: 350
Weapons: R150D30L1000ATMIS
Notes: This unit has a high top speed. It can be upgraded to have a R200D300L10000ATMIS weapon. It can also have its engines upgraded.
Rush IFV:
Price: $600
HP: 350
Notes: It means Infantry Fighting Vehicle. It can be upgraded to have an R100EMI weapon, and also go faster for $100. It can hold two infantry who can shoot out.
Rush Constructor Transport:
Price: $500
HP: 350
Notes: This can build Rush Building hubs. It can also transport 5 infantry, who may not shoot out. It can have its engines upgraded.
Rush Medium Tank:
Price: $800
HP: 450
Weapons: R200D200L5000ATMIS
Notes: The medium tank is probably the most upgradable thing in the Rush arsenal. It can be upgraded to have a R200D150L5000AIBMIS weapon. It can also be upgraded to have a laser targetter, which increase the amount of damage your units do to a particular target by double. And lastly, you can upgrade it to have self-repair.
Rush Guppy Transport:Rush Upgrades:
Price: $1000
HP: 200
Notes: This can carry up to five infantry who cannot shoot out. It can be upgraded to have additional armour, and also increased engine power.
Rush Guppy Gunship:
Price: $1500
HP: 200
Weapons: R200D5L100AIMI R200D40C8Q100L7200ATMS
Notes: A gunship with AT missiles and an AI machinegun. It can be upgraded to have a pellet drop cannon R50D60C20Q100L30000ATAFBSG
All Rush upgrades cost 4 command points, and enable upgrades in units. Refer to the unit description for a more detailed description.
Rush Anti-Infantry Unlock:Stealth
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry
Rush Anti-Tank Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Anti-Tank Infantry
Rush Anti-Air Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Anti-Air Infantry
Rush Light Vehicle Engine Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a locomotor upgrade for Rush Light Vehicle Chassis.
Rush IFV Armour Neutraliser Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush IFVs
Rush Light Tank Assault Gun Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Light Tanks.
Rush Medium Tank HE Rounds Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Medium Tanks.
Rush Medium Tank Laser Targetter Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Medium Tanks.
Rush Medium Tank Regenerative Armour Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a self-healing behaviour upgrade for Rush Medium Tanks.
Rush Aircraft Engine Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a locomotor upgrade for Rush Aircraft.
Rush Guppy Transport Armour Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks an armour upgrade for Rush Guppy Transports.
Rush Guppy Gunship Annihilator Cannon Unlock:
Notes: Unlocks a weapon upgrade for Rush Guppy Gunships.
Stealth Buildings:
Stealth do not have buildings in the normal sense. Rather, they have MCVs, which can deploy into buildings. However, while they are deployed, they still count as vehicles for the purposes of being shot at (so they have vehicle-armour). They are, however, uncrushable in either state. Also, they can disguise while packed up, and are stealthed while deployed. While deployed, they should be able to listen in on enemy commands in an area around them. Also, you can only have one of each MCV.
Stealth Primary MCV:Stealth Infantry:
Price: $2000
HP: 800
Notes: Is an MCV. This produces infantry while deployed.
Stealth Secondary MCV:
Price: $2000
HP: 800
Notes: Is an MCV. This produces vehicles while deployed.
Stealth Tertiary MCV:
Price: $2000
HP: 800
Notes: Is an MCV. This produces drones while deployed, and also allows the use of Stealth Support Satellite abilities.
All Stealth Infantry can stealth.
Stealth Basic Anti-Infantry Infantry:Stealth Vehicles:
Price: $200
HP: 100
Weapons: R175D20L500AIMI
Notes: Nothing at all to be said really.
Stealth Basic Anti-Tank Infantry:
Price: $400
HP: 100
Weapons: R200D210L6000ATMS
Notes: Again, very basic, other than the ability to stealth.
Stealth Basic Anti-Air Infantry:
Price: $400
HP: 100
Weapons: R300D80L4000AAM
Notes: Hahaha. Stealth Basic Infantry are so basic! Don't worry, it gets interesting from here on out! At least for the infantry!
Stealth Advanced Anti-Infantry:
Price: $1000
HP: 100
Weapons: R300D150L3000P3000AIMIG
Notes: This can switch to binoculars, and can use them to observe an area or unit. Using these high-tech binoculars, the Advanced Anti-Infantry Infantry can also detect stealth in that area as well as its own, doubling the coverage, but also able to find Stealth units without endangering itself. Also, it can climb cliffs, something that every map designer for this mod should be aware of.
Stealth Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry:
Price: $1200
Weapons: R150D10L80AIMI R300D500L15000P500ATMS
Notes: This needs to switch from one weapon to the other (the AI weapon is default). It can also climb cliffs.
Stealth Advanced Anti-Fortification Infantry:
Price: $1200
Weapons: R150D10L80AIMI
Notes: This unit can not only climb cliffs, but also plant bombs that do 3000 damage in an area of about 80. It can have up to 9 of these bombs in place at once, and must be alive to detonate them.
All Stealth Vehicles can disguise.
Stealth Anti-Infantry Transport:
Price: $1200
Weapons: R175D5L100AIMI
Notes: This can transport up to 5 infantry who cannot shoot out.
Stealth Anti-Tank Vehicle:
Price: $1200
Weapons: R300D500L15000P500ATMS
Notes: No notes for this vehicle.
Stealth Anti-Air Vehicle:
Price: $1000
Weapons: R450D160L8000AAM
Notes: No notes for this vehicle.
Stealth Anti-Fortification Vehicle:
Price: $1500
Weapons: R450MR150D100C20Q100L60000AIATAFSGB
Notes: You need to force this unit to fire on a location, it won't fire on its own.
Stealth Drones:
Stealth Drones fly, and are also stealthed.
Stealth AT Drone:Stealth Support Satellite Abilities:
Price: $1500
Weapons: R300D500L15000P500ATMS
Notes: Drones are pretty boring, TBH.
Stealth AA Drone:
Price: $1000
Weapons: R450D160L8000AAM
Notes: See above
Satellite Target Assist:And there you have it. One last thing:
Cooldown: 2:00
Notes: Increases friendly unit's range by 100%.
Satellite Magnetic Resonance Wave:
Cooldown: 2:00
Notes: Heals all units in radius up to full health.
Satellite Magnetic Resonance Wave Overdrive:
Cooldown: 2:00
Notes: Shuts down all vehicles and buildings in the area.
Satellite Explosive Magnifier:
Cooldown: 2:00
Notes: Halves the effectiveness of armour of units and buildings in the area.
Civilian Structure:
Notes: Can garrison up to 5 infantry who can shoot out.
Civilian Bunker:
Notes: Can garrison up to 5 infantry who can shoot out, and are immune to garrison clearing effects.
Hope you cats have fun playing this once all the graphics and sound is finished. I'll probably release a "beta" version once I finish the graphics, and work on the sounds while getting feedback.
Proposed Change List:
- HAT Constructor renamed to the HAT CSV (Heavy Assault Tank Construction Support Variant) and given the ability to repair vehicles. Or some other ability, as the other constructor has an ability of some sort. (Cancelled)
- Turtle different turrets removed (done)
- Turtle buildings can now store one HAT variant, and can heal it (done)
- Turtle factory 'service depot' removed (done)
- Added Turtle Defence Fortification (done)
- Turtle AAHAT given the AA turret's weapon.
- Turtle AAHAT price increase.
Will write up railgun code when I have free time. The last few weeks have just been overloaded with stuff.
- MCV Health Increase to 1000 HP
- Adding two more stealth support abilities, and then splitting them up across the three Stealth MCVs, rather than having them all on the tertiary, for a more consistent function of MCVs.
So... templist
- Satellite scan (detects stealth and gives sight range) Reload time 2:00 for Primary MCV (done)
- Heal Wave (heals all units and buildings in area) Reload time 2:00 for Primary MCV (done)
-EMP Wave (shuts down all vehicles and buildings in an area for 10 seconds) Reload time 2:00 for Secondary MCV (done)
- Satellite Targetting (increases range of effected units) Reload time 2:00 for Secondary MCV (done)
- ????
- Satellite Anti-Armour Fire (increases damage taken by a single target) Reload time 10 seconds for Tertiary MCV
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Hero units, or the lack thereof.
A few people have asked me about hero units, and whether they would be in my mod at all. After all, most RTS games have heroes of various sorts. They range from the slightly better units (Act of War, campaign only), to fairly fleshed out beings complete with experience, gear, and special abilities akin to an RPG (like Warcraft 3), and most of them falling somewhere in between.
There are no units in this mod that you can only have one of (barring Stealth MCVs, although they're hardly 'heroes'). Probably the most similar to heroes are Stealth Advanced infantry, although you can have many of them in a game. What is meant by advanced?
Well, I use the term "Basic Infantry" to refer to any infantry that you can build right after building a barracks or other infantry recruitment centre, money depending. So Advanced infantry are infantry that have pre-requisites other than a barracks and money.
Both Turtle and Stealth have Advanced Infantry in the normal sense. Turtle's Advanced Infantry require a particular building to build, and Stealth Advanced Infantry require an unlock to build each. Rush's advanced infantry are upgrades of their basic infantry, and also require unlocks to get.
Advanced infantry are not necessarily better than basic infantry. They simply fill different roles. All teams have basic infantry that fulfil basic combat roles (obviously). All three teams have anti-infantry, anti-tank, and anti-air infantry. Anti-tank infantry also double as early game anti-fortification, although they do not outrange defence structures.
Advanced Infantry sometimes fill the same roles, but in different ways (not 'just better'), but also tend to fill less standard ones. So... Here's a run down of advanced infantry.
Turtle Advanced Infantry:
Advanced Anti-Fortification Infantry:
Requires: Turtle Vehicle Procurement Facility
Description: Turtle Anti-Fortification Infantry are artillery infantry. While they do less damage to buildings and tanks, they frontload a lot more, and have increased range. This allows them to target defencive structures and fortifications without risk. The increased frontload also means that first strike capability is more important than normal.
Turtle AF infantry can also be upgraded to be more versatile also. The additional ammunition upgrade gives them EMP rounds and Incendiary rounds in addition to their standard rounds. The EMP round does have a wide area effect, but doesn't disable for very long, so it's mostly a stop-gap, and isn't as effective as dedicated EMP weapons. However, being hit by an EMP might make the enemy stand still long enough for them to be hit by more artillery.
The incendiary round is a good weapon to use to protect your tanks from hordes of anti-tank infantry, and has a wide area of effect, so is probably the more useful of the two extra ammunition types.
Turtle Advanced Armour Neutralising Infantry:
Requires: Turtle Stealth Detection Tower
Description: Turtle Armour Neutralising Infantry can't actually kill enemies. However, it can effectively neutralise enemy vehicles to be picked off by support. Really, this ability is quite useful. It allows slower turtle vehicles catch up to enemies, and also mitigates the efficiency of hit and run attacks.
One of the more hilarious uses I have found for it is mounting them in super-heavy IFVs, and then having them lock down enemy vehicles and then crushing the enemy vehicles with the super-heavies.
Its upgrade increases its range to match that of anti-tank infantry. While the AF infantry increase their versatility, AN infantry just get a straight upgrade. The range increase means that the armour neutralising infantry can start shooting at opposing HATs at the same time they are being shot at, rather than significantly after (probably never, since they die).
This infantry, while non-lethal, has quite a lot of uses. Be creative.
Rush Advanced Infantry:
Rush advanced infantry are simply upgraded versions of their basic brethren. So for this list, I have forgone typing "Advanced" in front of everything.
Anti-Infantry Infantry:
Requires: Rush Anti-Infantry Flamethrower Unlock
Description: Taking this upgrade for a Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry replaces their gun with a flamethrower. The flamer has shorter range than the assault rifle, but puts out damage much faster. Essentially, it takes the Rush basic anti-infantry weapon, and makes it more of what it is.
It can also clear garrisons from buildings. This unlock is highly useful when used with an IFV, as it closes the distance, and also provides protection when attempting to take out a building garrison.
Anti-Tank Infantry:
Requires: Rush Anti-Tank Artillery Unlock
Description: Taking this upgrade for a Rush Anti-Tank Infantry replaces their missile launcher with an artillery weapon similar to the Turtle AF infantry, although shorter ranged and less powerful.
The difference between the two is that the Rush one is much cheaper and easier to crank out, and once the unlock has been acquired, there is nothing stopping the user from upgrading any anti-tank infantry. However, it is slightly worse, so you need more for the same task.
Once again, this is very useful with an IFV.
Anti-Air Infantry:
Requires: Rush Anti-Air Flak Unlock
Description: This upgrade maintains the same DPS and range as the unupgraded version, but does less frontload. The projectile travels faster too, so it's better for responding to an air raid, but the lowered front-load is worse for a planned attack (for instance, attacking a turtle ROB). This is probably the slightest change in role for the Rush upgrades.
Stealth Advanced Infantry:
Stealth advanced infantry, as I stated before, are the most similar to heroes. They are quite a departure from other infantry in that they are expensive, and actually inefficient. They tend to be a little softer in their counters. Also, they can all climb cliffs. Pretty cool, eh?
Advanced Anti-Infantry Infantry:
Requires: Advanced Anti-Infantry Unlock
Description: The Stealth Advanced Anti-Infantry is a sniper. It doesn't exactly infringe on the basic anti-infantry infantry's role. While it kills infantry in one shot, it does so at a much slower rate than Stealth Basic Anti-Infantry (about half as quickly). However, it does it from a longer range.
Secondly, it can snipe people out of garrisons. This means that it is very useful in a Stealth vs Rush game, as it can eliminate Rush's money sources.
Thirdly, it can observe an area indefinitely. This allows it to spot greater distances than normal, and also stealth detect in that area. This makes it the most mobile and versatile stealth detection available in the mod. This makes it very important for Stealth Mirror matches.
Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry:
Requires: Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry Unlock
Description: The Stealth Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry is a special ops soldier carrying a heavy AT rocket launcher, and a submachine gun. While it is a soft-counter to infantry, the equivalent cost of basic anti-infantry infantry can do it faster and at longer range.
It is, however, quite good against vehicles. Maintaining the same DPS as basic anti-tank infantry, they frontload more, so are much better for ambushes. Their ability to climb cliffs also makes them more able to escape from tanks that survive an ambush.
Advanced Anti-Fortification Infantry:
Requires: Yeah... You know.
Description: Unlike the other two anti-fortification infantry, this one plants bombs in the fashion of C&C commandos. Like them, however, they are not just good against fortifications, but things staying still. Once again, it has the same SMG as the Advanced Anti-Tank, making it another decent all-round infantry, although very expensive for what it does. It is generally good for giving a wake-up call to enemy players who have forgotten which army you are playing, especially since they can have up to nine bombs placed at any one time.
Bombs can also be placed on vehicles, although you have to be careful if you don't want your infantry crushed by heavier vehicles. This may have some obvious applications, like sticking it to a construction vehicle while it's building an expansion, and then letting it drive back into a base before causing damage.
The additional mobility gained through using advanced infantry may well be worth it, especially if the bad guys have stepped up patrols at choke points.
Indeed, all the advanced infantry are very useful, and generally are good as supporting units, although are generally not the units to spam or build lots of, which is my intention.
There are no units in this mod that you can only have one of (barring Stealth MCVs, although they're hardly 'heroes'). Probably the most similar to heroes are Stealth Advanced infantry, although you can have many of them in a game. What is meant by advanced?
Well, I use the term "Basic Infantry" to refer to any infantry that you can build right after building a barracks or other infantry recruitment centre, money depending. So Advanced infantry are infantry that have pre-requisites other than a barracks and money.
Both Turtle and Stealth have Advanced Infantry in the normal sense. Turtle's Advanced Infantry require a particular building to build, and Stealth Advanced Infantry require an unlock to build each. Rush's advanced infantry are upgrades of their basic infantry, and also require unlocks to get.
Advanced infantry are not necessarily better than basic infantry. They simply fill different roles. All teams have basic infantry that fulfil basic combat roles (obviously). All three teams have anti-infantry, anti-tank, and anti-air infantry. Anti-tank infantry also double as early game anti-fortification, although they do not outrange defence structures.
Advanced Infantry sometimes fill the same roles, but in different ways (not 'just better'), but also tend to fill less standard ones. So... Here's a run down of advanced infantry.
Turtle Advanced Infantry:
Advanced Anti-Fortification Infantry:
Requires: Turtle Vehicle Procurement Facility
Description: Turtle Anti-Fortification Infantry are artillery infantry. While they do less damage to buildings and tanks, they frontload a lot more, and have increased range. This allows them to target defencive structures and fortifications without risk. The increased frontload also means that first strike capability is more important than normal.
Turtle AF infantry can also be upgraded to be more versatile also. The additional ammunition upgrade gives them EMP rounds and Incendiary rounds in addition to their standard rounds. The EMP round does have a wide area effect, but doesn't disable for very long, so it's mostly a stop-gap, and isn't as effective as dedicated EMP weapons. However, being hit by an EMP might make the enemy stand still long enough for them to be hit by more artillery.
The incendiary round is a good weapon to use to protect your tanks from hordes of anti-tank infantry, and has a wide area of effect, so is probably the more useful of the two extra ammunition types.
Turtle Advanced Armour Neutralising Infantry:
Requires: Turtle Stealth Detection Tower
Description: Turtle Armour Neutralising Infantry can't actually kill enemies. However, it can effectively neutralise enemy vehicles to be picked off by support. Really, this ability is quite useful. It allows slower turtle vehicles catch up to enemies, and also mitigates the efficiency of hit and run attacks.
One of the more hilarious uses I have found for it is mounting them in super-heavy IFVs, and then having them lock down enemy vehicles and then crushing the enemy vehicles with the super-heavies.
Its upgrade increases its range to match that of anti-tank infantry. While the AF infantry increase their versatility, AN infantry just get a straight upgrade. The range increase means that the armour neutralising infantry can start shooting at opposing HATs at the same time they are being shot at, rather than significantly after (probably never, since they die).
This infantry, while non-lethal, has quite a lot of uses. Be creative.
Rush Advanced Infantry:
Rush advanced infantry are simply upgraded versions of their basic brethren. So for this list, I have forgone typing "Advanced" in front of everything.
Anti-Infantry Infantry:
Requires: Rush Anti-Infantry Flamethrower Unlock
Description: Taking this upgrade for a Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry replaces their gun with a flamethrower. The flamer has shorter range than the assault rifle, but puts out damage much faster. Essentially, it takes the Rush basic anti-infantry weapon, and makes it more of what it is.
It can also clear garrisons from buildings. This unlock is highly useful when used with an IFV, as it closes the distance, and also provides protection when attempting to take out a building garrison.
Anti-Tank Infantry:
Requires: Rush Anti-Tank Artillery Unlock
Description: Taking this upgrade for a Rush Anti-Tank Infantry replaces their missile launcher with an artillery weapon similar to the Turtle AF infantry, although shorter ranged and less powerful.
The difference between the two is that the Rush one is much cheaper and easier to crank out, and once the unlock has been acquired, there is nothing stopping the user from upgrading any anti-tank infantry. However, it is slightly worse, so you need more for the same task.
Once again, this is very useful with an IFV.
Anti-Air Infantry:
Requires: Rush Anti-Air Flak Unlock
Description: This upgrade maintains the same DPS and range as the unupgraded version, but does less frontload. The projectile travels faster too, so it's better for responding to an air raid, but the lowered front-load is worse for a planned attack (for instance, attacking a turtle ROB). This is probably the slightest change in role for the Rush upgrades.
Stealth Advanced Infantry:
Stealth advanced infantry, as I stated before, are the most similar to heroes. They are quite a departure from other infantry in that they are expensive, and actually inefficient. They tend to be a little softer in their counters. Also, they can all climb cliffs. Pretty cool, eh?
Advanced Anti-Infantry Infantry:
Requires: Advanced Anti-Infantry Unlock
Description: The Stealth Advanced Anti-Infantry is a sniper. It doesn't exactly infringe on the basic anti-infantry infantry's role. While it kills infantry in one shot, it does so at a much slower rate than Stealth Basic Anti-Infantry (about half as quickly). However, it does it from a longer range.
Secondly, it can snipe people out of garrisons. This means that it is very useful in a Stealth vs Rush game, as it can eliminate Rush's money sources.
Thirdly, it can observe an area indefinitely. This allows it to spot greater distances than normal, and also stealth detect in that area. This makes it the most mobile and versatile stealth detection available in the mod. This makes it very important for Stealth Mirror matches.
Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry:
Requires: Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry Unlock
Description: The Stealth Advanced Anti-Tank Infantry is a special ops soldier carrying a heavy AT rocket launcher, and a submachine gun. While it is a soft-counter to infantry, the equivalent cost of basic anti-infantry infantry can do it faster and at longer range.
It is, however, quite good against vehicles. Maintaining the same DPS as basic anti-tank infantry, they frontload more, so are much better for ambushes. Their ability to climb cliffs also makes them more able to escape from tanks that survive an ambush.
Advanced Anti-Fortification Infantry:
Requires: Yeah... You know.
Description: Unlike the other two anti-fortification infantry, this one plants bombs in the fashion of C&C commandos. Like them, however, they are not just good against fortifications, but things staying still. Once again, it has the same SMG as the Advanced Anti-Tank, making it another decent all-round infantry, although very expensive for what it does. It is generally good for giving a wake-up call to enemy players who have forgotten which army you are playing, especially since they can have up to nine bombs placed at any one time.
Bombs can also be placed on vehicles, although you have to be careful if you don't want your infantry crushed by heavier vehicles. This may have some obvious applications, like sticking it to a construction vehicle while it's building an expansion, and then letting it drive back into a base before causing damage.
The additional mobility gained through using advanced infantry may well be worth it, especially if the bad guys have stepped up patrols at choke points.
Indeed, all the advanced infantry are very useful, and generally are good as supporting units, although are generally not the units to spam or build lots of, which is my intention.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Stuff
It's that time again, for the two people in the world that care. Recently, I've been cranking out icons, at the rate of about one or two a night. The difficulty in making them will ramp up when I start making the non-icon ones for Rush, and I still mostly have to code the majority of Stealth stuff. Mechanically, the remainder of coding should be simple enough, and re-hashed from previous weapons and the like.
I haven't really decided on an style for Stealth icons. Possibly screen-shot icons, in the vein of Command and Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3, although I personally don't like the look of those. Maybe a more serious picture, compared to the cartoony imagery of the Rush faction. A mugshot for the infantry. I don't know. I'll find out when I get there.
Hmm... It seems like more of my designs for units seem to come out of bizarro world. Asymmetry seems to promote that. Certainly a lot to think on. This is a relatively short post. I am way too tired.
Hmm... The stealth build mechanic is giving me problems, but on the upside, their other stuff seems to work just fine. Cool.
I haven't really decided on an style for Stealth icons. Possibly screen-shot icons, in the vein of Command and Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3, although I personally don't like the look of those. Maybe a more serious picture, compared to the cartoony imagery of the Rush faction. A mugshot for the infantry. I don't know. I'll find out when I get there.
Hmm... It seems like more of my designs for units seem to come out of bizarro world. Asymmetry seems to promote that. Certainly a lot to think on. This is a relatively short post. I am way too tired.
Hmm... The stealth build mechanic is giving me problems, but on the upside, their other stuff seems to work just fine. Cool.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Feel and Aesthetics
It's been a bit of a week.
I've decided to avoid texturing until I can clean up my textures a bit (and models). :P Also, Empire: Total War has been a slight crimp in progress (considering I've been doing this for 2 months now).
That doesn't mean I have stopped working on the mod entirely, it just means that those particulars (which are the most visually effective) are going to be the same for a little bit yet.
I have been thinking a fair bit about how my mod will 'feel', and how it will look. When I look at other C&C Generals mods, they tend to follow the aesthetics of Generals. That is, everything is rather close to the real world with maybe some high-tech weapons and the like. The icons tend to be pictures of things, rather than anything informative. This is a particular problem for me, as I would like everything to be as readable as possible.
One of the points where this is most apparent is the difference between anti-tank infantry and anti-air infantry. Both of these function in a similar fashion (rockets), so pictures are most likely to be confusing for a player who is unfamiliar with the team, or the mod in general. Hence, I have gone down the information route. Rather than make the icons to be representative of the unit, the icons will represent the function of the unit. For instance:
The turtle image for Anti-Infantry is very readable. You know that whatever this unit this is, you use it for fighting men! Not aircraft, not tanks, not babies, men!
Hovering your mouse over the icon will give you a description with the unit's name, cost, time to build and a short description (usually reinforcing its role, but also how it differs in its role to similar units). In the case of Turtle buildings, their power consumption or production is also listed.
Of course, not all the icons will be easily readable. Some things are not really easy to describe in the form of pictographs, so a little in-joke ends up there instead. For instance, the Turtle's Superweapon, the Railgun, has this icon:
Anyway, I did think about some sort of anti-everything icon, like the NO symbol over earth or God or something.
Rush will have more toony icons, representing the unit. One of the reasons for this is so I can have a bit of fun drawing silly looking people with Kalashnikov and RPG parodies. The other reason is that Rush is a slightly more complex team compared to the more standard Turtle team, and is more "the competitive players' team" in that its primary goals are large numbers of units, lots of micro and map control. Hence, I expect players playing Rush know a little about what is going on after one game (especially since they have very few units, in which you may get all of them in a game).
The upgrade icons will be done closer to the turtle icons, although some of them may be more about aesthetics rather than function. The flamethrower will have a flame icon, where-as the anti-tank unlock will have the anti-fortification symbol.
In terms of units and buildings, I want each team to be distinctive from the other teams in the mod, as well as from other mods and vanilla Generals. Also, everything will be smaller. Infantry and buildable buildings will be scaled more than tanks (civilian buildings stay the same, but hopefully the infantry will look like they can fit through doors).
Airfields will definitely drop inside so they are not such a chore to make.
Anyway, that's all I can think of for now, sorry for the late post, and hopefully I will have more stuff to write about next week.
I've decided to avoid texturing until I can clean up my textures a bit (and models). :P Also, Empire: Total War has been a slight crimp in progress (considering I've been doing this for 2 months now).
That doesn't mean I have stopped working on the mod entirely, it just means that those particulars (which are the most visually effective) are going to be the same for a little bit yet.
I have been thinking a fair bit about how my mod will 'feel', and how it will look. When I look at other C&C Generals mods, they tend to follow the aesthetics of Generals. That is, everything is rather close to the real world with maybe some high-tech weapons and the like. The icons tend to be pictures of things, rather than anything informative. This is a particular problem for me, as I would like everything to be as readable as possible.
One of the points where this is most apparent is the difference between anti-tank infantry and anti-air infantry. Both of these function in a similar fashion (rockets), so pictures are most likely to be confusing for a player who is unfamiliar with the team, or the mod in general. Hence, I have gone down the information route. Rather than make the icons to be representative of the unit, the icons will represent the function of the unit. For instance:
The turtle image for Anti-Infantry is very readable. You know that whatever this unit this is, you use it for fighting men! Not aircraft, not tanks, not babies, men!
Hovering your mouse over the icon will give you a description with the unit's name, cost, time to build and a short description (usually reinforcing its role, but also how it differs in its role to similar units). In the case of Turtle buildings, their power consumption or production is also listed.
Of course, not all the icons will be easily readable. Some things are not really easy to describe in the form of pictographs, so a little in-joke ends up there instead. For instance, the Turtle's Superweapon, the Railgun, has this icon:
Anyway, I did think about some sort of anti-everything icon, like the NO symbol over earth or God or something.
Rush will have more toony icons, representing the unit. One of the reasons for this is so I can have a bit of fun drawing silly looking people with Kalashnikov and RPG parodies. The other reason is that Rush is a slightly more complex team compared to the more standard Turtle team, and is more "the competitive players' team" in that its primary goals are large numbers of units, lots of micro and map control. Hence, I expect players playing Rush know a little about what is going on after one game (especially since they have very few units, in which you may get all of them in a game).
The upgrade icons will be done closer to the turtle icons, although some of them may be more about aesthetics rather than function. The flamethrower will have a flame icon, where-as the anti-tank unlock will have the anti-fortification symbol.
In terms of units and buildings, I want each team to be distinctive from the other teams in the mod, as well as from other mods and vanilla Generals. Also, everything will be smaller. Infantry and buildable buildings will be scaled more than tanks (civilian buildings stay the same, but hopefully the infantry will look like they can fit through doors).
Airfields will definitely drop inside so they are not such a chore to make.
Anyway, that's all I can think of for now, sorry for the late post, and hopefully I will have more stuff to write about next week.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Models and stuff!
So, I started working on making models yesterday (not as hard as I thought, but texturing is definitely a lot more work). Obviously, I have a lot to learn at this point about doing that sort of thing.
As far as the coding has gone thus far, I have done almost all of the code for Rush, and very nearly that for turtle (so, aesthetic stuff mostly remaining). Stealth, I only just started.
Over the course of making the mod, various new things come to mind. For instance, I realised that all three teams apply their upgrades similarly. Once the upgrade is bought, all units have the upgrade. If you have read any of the rest of the blog, you'll realise I am trying to make these teams as different as I possibly can while still being recognisable and playable.
So, I have now changed Rush and Stealth's unit upgrade mechanics.
Rush: Rush have a total of 12 unlocks, in which a player may choose four over the course of a game.
Each of those 12 unlocks enables an upgrade in one or more units (the same upgrade). These upgrades are permanent, so no going back. This shouldn't be a problem for any Rush player, as their units are as expendable as they are cheap and plentiful. I have tried to make the upgrades change the usage of the units in question as much as possible, so they facilitate strategic and tactical changes in all players once they figure out which unlocks the Rush player has acquired.
A good example is a Rush vs Rush mirror battle, where civilian buildings are constantly changing hands (or being destroyed). One Rush player gets the Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry unlock, which gives the Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry a flamethrower. This increase DPS and allows the infantry to clear garrisons, but shortens range to the point where it would lose to an infantryman without the upgrade.
The other Rush player would counter this by increasing the number of troops in his front line buildings (perhaps, there are several ways of countering this strategy), and also taking the Rush Anti-Tank unlock, which changes the Anti-Tank Infantry into an artillery unit (totally unable to hit moving targets, but long range and high frontload). Thus, if the first Rush player ever does capture a building, the artillery Rush player can use his artillery infantry to deny his opponent that income, and also start demolishing his opponent's income with artillery fire, adopting a scorched earth tactic.
Similarly, if you discover your opponent has taken the artillery upgrade, take the speed upgrade for all light vehicles. And so-on.
Obviously, if you take the first upgrade you also have the element of surprise (and also being proactive about strategy is helpful, it's not helpful to stand around and wait for things to happen). Keeping your cards close to your chest has strategic benefits. If you gain an advantage early game, you may want to take the counter to the counter of your original unlock, or not to throw your opponent off. Information warfare is very important.
Stealth: Stealth apply their upgrades differently again. All stealth upgrades are granted when you have a Tertiary MCV Deployed. Not to all the units, rather, special abilities are unlocked that allow you to grant bonuses to all units in an area (a buff I guess). The bonus is only temporary, however, they can change the course of a battle.
All the abilities are tied to the same timer, so you can only have one active for 10 seconds or so per minute. However, they definitely do provide a quick fix, or perhaps even as part of a greater strategy. e.g. Increasing a targets suceptibility to damage before ambushing it, using a range increase just before firing artillery from some distant unfindable spot, or AT rockets and the like. Gaining the upper-hand over Turtle long ranged infantry for hilarious effect if you manage to eek out a Tertiary MCV early game.
Of course, an opponent can see you using that ability, and thus can feel just a little safer for 50 seconds, or press your lack of advantage. They will also know that you have a Tertiary MCV somewhere one the field, and may step up AA precautions as a result.
Blargh! One of the things I haven't learned is save regularly. Damn crashes, destroying everything I create! For the 2 people who may care, I'll upload later in the week.
As far as the coding has gone thus far, I have done almost all of the code for Rush, and very nearly that for turtle (so, aesthetic stuff mostly remaining). Stealth, I only just started.
Over the course of making the mod, various new things come to mind. For instance, I realised that all three teams apply their upgrades similarly. Once the upgrade is bought, all units have the upgrade. If you have read any of the rest of the blog, you'll realise I am trying to make these teams as different as I possibly can while still being recognisable and playable.
So, I have now changed Rush and Stealth's unit upgrade mechanics.
Rush: Rush have a total of 12 unlocks, in which a player may choose four over the course of a game.
Each of those 12 unlocks enables an upgrade in one or more units (the same upgrade). These upgrades are permanent, so no going back. This shouldn't be a problem for any Rush player, as their units are as expendable as they are cheap and plentiful. I have tried to make the upgrades change the usage of the units in question as much as possible, so they facilitate strategic and tactical changes in all players once they figure out which unlocks the Rush player has acquired.
A good example is a Rush vs Rush mirror battle, where civilian buildings are constantly changing hands (or being destroyed). One Rush player gets the Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry unlock, which gives the Rush Anti-Infantry Infantry a flamethrower. This increase DPS and allows the infantry to clear garrisons, but shortens range to the point where it would lose to an infantryman without the upgrade.
The other Rush player would counter this by increasing the number of troops in his front line buildings (perhaps, there are several ways of countering this strategy), and also taking the Rush Anti-Tank unlock, which changes the Anti-Tank Infantry into an artillery unit (totally unable to hit moving targets, but long range and high frontload). Thus, if the first Rush player ever does capture a building, the artillery Rush player can use his artillery infantry to deny his opponent that income, and also start demolishing his opponent's income with artillery fire, adopting a scorched earth tactic.
Similarly, if you discover your opponent has taken the artillery upgrade, take the speed upgrade for all light vehicles. And so-on.
Obviously, if you take the first upgrade you also have the element of surprise (and also being proactive about strategy is helpful, it's not helpful to stand around and wait for things to happen). Keeping your cards close to your chest has strategic benefits. If you gain an advantage early game, you may want to take the counter to the counter of your original unlock, or not to throw your opponent off. Information warfare is very important.
Stealth: Stealth apply their upgrades differently again. All stealth upgrades are granted when you have a Tertiary MCV Deployed. Not to all the units, rather, special abilities are unlocked that allow you to grant bonuses to all units in an area (a buff I guess). The bonus is only temporary, however, they can change the course of a battle.
All the abilities are tied to the same timer, so you can only have one active for 10 seconds or so per minute. However, they definitely do provide a quick fix, or perhaps even as part of a greater strategy. e.g. Increasing a targets suceptibility to damage before ambushing it, using a range increase just before firing artillery from some distant unfindable spot, or AT rockets and the like. Gaining the upper-hand over Turtle long ranged infantry for hilarious effect if you manage to eek out a Tertiary MCV early game.
Of course, an opponent can see you using that ability, and thus can feel just a little safer for 50 seconds, or press your lack of advantage. They will also know that you have a Tertiary MCV somewhere one the field, and may step up AA precautions as a result.
Blargh! One of the things I haven't learned is save regularly. Damn crashes, destroying everything I create! For the 2 people who may care, I'll upload later in the week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)