Mezmerize

Hmm, we need more players to hold more discussion. Renlist took down IA, and actually, I think IA might have taken all of our APB players. Though it has been the Holiday season, meaning people are busy. But still... APB is a ghost town now. It wasn't like this a few months ago1 What happened?

So this shaitan guy, what, he runs RenCorner? He's the guy who keeps shutting Interim Apex down because........ something? Lets face it, it's because he got mad that people liked playing it over vanilla Renegade, and turns out it wasn't just a fad - week after week IA held the highest player count. People liked it. So shaitan bitched. Bitched hard. Even after some legit demands were met (no more free copy of base Renegade game while using W3D Hub IA install, that one and only TRUE issue was fixed) the bitching continued. And here we are. For shame, shaitan. Don't hide in PM. Spill it. What's your problem? Specifically? Say it now for the record because so far, it only seems like simple butthurt. So go ahead and disprove this.

I've never had a problem using the Heavy Tank versus the Medium. Out of all of these suggestions, letting the turret turn all the way around is the only one I'd endorse. Shocks & Kovs are powerful versus tanks and buildings, their field presence allows Soviet to blow a lot of shit up. When playing Allies, you gotta be the underdog, that's what the whole faction is. As a Captain, if you aim well you can mow down a lot of infantry fast. The Captain is the go to solution for shocks & kovs, hell for all soldier classes basically.

I really liked Starcraft Remastered, the zoom in function and the new unit graphics were AWESOME! Re playing the StarCraft & Brood War campaigns has never been more awesome. SO for C&C Remastered? Hell yeah! Those Petroglyph guys along with EA should basically do something similar to what Blizzard did, and I'd buy it.

Cruiser just needs it's texture modified so it's not obvious that the thing is scaled down. Destroyer needs an actual texture. It's incredible how the freaking Chrono Tank and the airplanes/fighter jets have actually been implemented in Renegade. The Chrono Tank is expensive as hell but it is a useful tank destroyer/base defense harasser/AA and it's even decent against infantry. The only unit left is the Attack Dog, which I've presented a decent idea for how to implement. We also need the Naval Transport to carry vehicles. My idea for this is that it can only transport 1 vehicle unit. It can carry any vehicle EXCEPT for the following: Mammoth Tank, MAD Tank, Demo Truck. So, it can transport 4 infantry as well as one vehicle. Would be fun to use on Coastal Influence. Then the support powers. Spy Satellite I could see being used as an overhead map with all enemy troop positions tracked in real time. Since we already have an overhead map with the Chrono Tank, which does show enemy unit's positions occasionally, the overhead map thing is doable, to my knowledge. The Badger cargoplane/bomber could be neat, of course tied to the Airfield. Purchase a bombing run, which is a flare, perhaps? Plant flare, and the Parabombs commence. I was thinking, for paratroopers, in the airfield building, have special terminal that has overhead map, you and up to 4 others can use the terminal to load into a cargo plane off map, like your characters get teleported instantly into a cargo plane off map, for a fee, and you are now riding passenger in the Badger cargo plane, and you can exit the plane at anytime (press E) and you deploy parachute automatically (which Renegade does support) make sure you exit the plane before it leaves the map. Or it could be flare bought, and rifle soldier bots being delivered. Chronosphere superweapon - make a new hotkey for allied vehicles in extended options, that can only be utilized if the map has the chronosphere super weapon enabled. I figure it has a timer and a cost to use. While inside of a vehicle, if the timer has transpired and you have sufficient credits, press the hotkey to bring up overhead map to teleport. It's like the chrono tank except unlimited range. Demo Trucks & MAD tanks cannot be teleported. Unlike in original Red Alert, your tank does not teleport back to it's origin spot after 1 minute or so. Also, maybe prevent Supply Trucks/APCs from teleporting if there are any passengers inside of them, if you think teleporting in an APC fully loaded with soldiers is OP. Iron Curtain superweapon - make a new hotkey for soviet vehicles in extended options, that can only be utilized if the map has Iron Curtain super weapon enabled. I figure it has a timer and cost to use. While inside of a vehicle, if the timer has transpired and you have sufficient credits, press the hotkey to make your tank invulnerable for 45 or so seconds. Demo Trucks & MAD Tanks cannot be made invulnerable. Yah this mod is great. Only other thing I can think of is add more bot players to flesh out the bases, like in Interim Apex, there are bot players patrolling your base.

Naw, the shotgunners are not over powered IMO.

The new boat models are a great step in the right direction. I'd say the new Gunboat model is perfect, no further work needed as it looks fantastic to me. The Destroyer needs to be re textured, but the model itself looks good. The cruiser I realize is a downsized model, the original being like 4 times the size you see in game. If possible, edit it's texture so that all those now miniaturized details on it, like the orange life saver rings mounted on the sides, the windows etc, all those miniaturized details: remove them all, and no one will think twice while glancing at the cruiser.

I love Hostile Waters and Siege, especially now. Hostile Waters is a showcase map for Navy and Air, and it's awesome. I recommend Chinooks be added (to both teams) if they aren't already. Allies have the cruiser, the mammoth tank of the sea. Allies get in formation with a massive fleet to curbstomp the Soviets who are busy practicing flying MiGs, lol. Soviets need to use more attack/missile submarines to keep the superior allied navy fleet at bay, while chipping away at the Allied base's AA guns, so they can send in MiG strikes/Chinook raids. Siege is epic with 20+ players, Chrono Tanks teleporting around flanking soviet armor, rocket infantry occupying the castle walls forcing rifle soldiers to get in the castle and kill them, spies stealing people's airplanes, lol, WE NEED A GUARD DOG OR TWO TO PATROL THE AIRFIELD AND WAR FACTORY! My only gripe is the castle wall cannon's destruction animation is silly, lol, with the cannon flying straight up in the air like that. Raap, I like your maps, they seem to play very nicely now, Siege being the perfect Big Team Battle map, Hostile Waters being the perfect Big Team Battle Navy/Air map.

Oi! UNIVERSE AT WAR MY MAN! After Empire at War was a hit, they tried making a brand new intellectual property with universe at War Earth Assault. I fucking LOVE THAT GAME! Just wish they had more time to better optimize the game engine, and didn't get screwed over by Games for Windows LIVE. If Petroglyph didn't bother with the console ports and the cross platform play, and if Games for Windows live never existed, Universe at War would have been a StarCraft 2 killer! Seriously, I fucking LOVE the Hierarchy faction. Google Universe At War, it had so much go damn potential it's a shame it was messed up.

I was wondering where all the players went. Past two months APB was seeing good healthy activity. Now it's dead, and JUST when the new navy units were introduced. :( What happened? Where did everyone go? I guess it is Christmas time so people are gonna be busy with family and friends. But even Interim Apex has taken a hit, that server used to have 30 plus guys every day all day for a while.

@cooldude: You said "Terribly unbalanced gameplay compared to 'normal' Renegade" which basically translates to "I got owned by a $6000 dollar tank (THE MOST POWERFUL TANK IN THE GAME) at point blank direct hit and now I'm frustrated...." .... come on man. Try a little harder before chalking up your newbishness to "game has TERRIBLY UNBALANCED gameplay." This is the problem with the guys on MPF complaining about this mod - they try the mod out, get owned by expensive tanks, then rage quit, then claim balance is terrible and never look back, when really, they themselves are terrible at learning new things. And now they've pulled the server from RenList. They are in the minority here, unable to adapt to new gameplay, and frustrated that everyone else is able to, and enjoying it. For shame. You also said: "Whole IA community is rabid and will attack at any indication of not enjoying incredibly unbalanced gameplay" which basically translates to "After getting owned by that tank, I let loose my ill-founded frustration rants, and I got told off...." No offense, but.... you can't deny this truth. Anyways, just keep trying and you'll get the hang of it. Remember: tanks have directional armor, and time to kill is down, due to many powerful weapons.

Damn, no more follow up on this? I really think my suggestion is the most logical. Also, Raap, spies have NEVER triggered mines. At least as far as I can remember. So the Attack Dog can be very useful, but with the build caps in place, they cannot be abused.

Dogs could be a cool addition to the meta game, plus it is a unit from RA1. Model a simple Kennel, and add it as part of the Soviet Barracks, like where those barrels are outside of it, left side. So you shoot at the kennel? You're technically shooting at the barracks. When Barracks dies, so does the Kennel's functionality. You go up to the kennel, and its a switch, like in Interim Apex where you go up to the helicopter pad, and it has switches for the various choppers you can buy. So you go up to and aim at the kennel, and a target box appears saying "Purchase Attack Dog $200". Press E to purchase, and an AI controlled Attack Dog spawns, along with green help text explaining how to control the dog, "Press E to have him follow you, press E again to have him guard area." Now you'll need some AI pathfinding routes setup in all maps. I figure, the Dog AI acts just like the bot soldiers you can buy in Interim Apex. When following you, they move at full speed, attacking any enemies they encounter. When not following you, they move at walk speed, patrolling the area where they were told to stay, but going back to run speed and attacking any enemies that come near. They can detect spies, will attack them on sight. In Interim Apex, guard bots will talk when enemies are nearby. For the Dog, have him bark and growl when enemies (including spies) are near. The purpose of the dog is to protect against spies, thieves and other enemy infiltrators. Depending on the map size, you can only buy a certain amount of Dogs. On small maps like Metro, limit 2. Big maps like Keep off the Grass and the one with the AA gun truck, limit 3 or 4. Just enough to have a dog be guarding important structures. So for example, you buy the dog, go up to him, press E to have him follow you, then bring him inside the war factory near the vehicle creation bay. Press E to have him guard that area. You just helped your team by safeguarding against spies. While your team buys vehicles, the Dog will start barking loudly, growling menacingly and run towards who you thought was a teammate, and then attack him, hopefully killing him before he steals a tank. In theory this could be very useful. On Metro, you can bring the dog with you into the alley ways and have him help you kill an enemy soldier. Good dog. The dog's "weapon" should kill standard soldiers in 2 "hits," 2 lunges. So, dog runs up to enemy soldier while enemy soldier is shooting it, dog takes damage but still makes it, Bite attack, second later, 2nd bite attack, and the enemy soldier is dead. If the dog gets lucky and bites the head, headshot damage multiplier should apply. If the enemy soldier gets lucky and has good aim and manages to shoot the dog in the head, he should be able to fend off one Dog with only suffering one bite. Basically: with quick reflexes, a Rifle Soldier should be able to gun down a dog that he sees coming a mile away. But in close quarters the Dog has the advantage. Say the Dog is guarding the War Factory interior? As soon as an enemy soldier rounds a corner, the dog will pounce him without much effort, the soldier doesn't have enough time to shoot back. As for player controlled dogs? Meh. I like the whole AI idea better. As for Apocalypse Rising playable dogs being troublesome to balance? Maybe axe that feature altogether, and instead, regulate Dogs as limited AI companions just like my idea here. What do you think? Playing as a spy, you'd have to be much more careful, and learn the sight range of the AI dogs. Wait till the dog is alone, then silence pistol headshot kill it before it notices you. The AI could be adjusted so that it is not omniscient, although I'm not sure how well you can fine tune the AI's guard logic. Is it possible to sneak up behind an AI player? Does the AI player only see whats in front of it? In Interim Apex, I've seen the AI react to enemy shooting. A coordinated team could distract the dogs by full frontal assault, luring the dog outside of the building, to allow the spy to sneak in. Possibilities would be cool.