ts Dev.Blog 5- OMFG NOT DA LAZARS RAWR! (11/28/2011)

[Wallywood]

Hey guys, I know your thinking Wally where was last weeks blog? Well last week APB 2.1 was released and with thanksgiving and all it was hella busy around here.

So I thought it best to skip a week. Well this week I'm back and have some more info and cool stuff for you guys. So lets get to it.

 

Someone asked about Vehicle veterancy upgrades so lets start with that.

 

[][] Armor/health upgrade

 

GDI

 

*Wolverine- Reveals Stealth

 

*Amphibious APC- (none)

 

*Titan- Reveals Stealth

 

*Hover MRLS- Self heals

 

*Disrupter- Explodes on death

 

*Juggernaut- Bigger splash

 

*Mobile Sensor Array- (none)

 

*Mammoth MK.II- Self heals

 

*Harvester- Faster harvesting

 

*Moblie Emp- (none)

 

GDI Flying

 

*Orca Fighter- Radar invis.

 

*Orca Bomber- Radar invis.

 

*Orca Transport- (none)

 

Nod

 

*Buggy- Run over inf.

 

*Attack Cycle- Self heals

 

*Artillery- Bigger splash

 

*Subterranean APC- (none)

 

*Stealth Tank- Explodes on death

 

*Tick Tank- Double fire / Deployed Mini gun

 

*Cyborg Reaper- Run over inf.

 

*Moblie Repair Vehicle- faster repairing / Self Repair

 

*Devil's Tongue- Self heals

 

*Moblie Stealth Generator- (none)

 

*Harvester- Faster harvesting

 

Nod Flying

 

*Banshee- Radar invis.

 

*Harpy- Missile Upgrade

 

*Note anything above is subject to change.

 

 

GDI Upgrade Center

 

Mick has been on fire lately and modeling like a mad man. Check out this awesome building hes done

 

You'll notice that he has included all three upgrade attachments so we can pick and choose which ones show up for which ever map we want. Also the Upgrade Center will be a fairly large structure and will hold the PT where you can get Ion Cannon beacons.

 

Spice has been very busy lately but he did manage to do a little bit more work to the GDI service depot. So check this out

 

Also, We have finished the Pod Cast Q&A hosted by Lord Kane with special guest One_Winged_Angel and BaneofSarrows. But due to problems during the recording and also due the length of the recording we are still editing it for the public. So hopefully we'll have that ready soon.

 

Most of the team has been very busy with real life prioritizes but I assure you things are getting done. See you next week.

[Guest Generalcamo]

Why don't you give the tick tank it's machine gun as well for the veteran upgrade?

 

For the mobile stealth gen, you could make it stealth while moving.

[Wallywood]

Why don't you give the tick tank it's machine gun as well for the veteran upgrade?

 

For the mobile stealth gen, you could make it stealth while moving.

I had forgot to put that part in about the tick tank. Deployed he will get his mini gun. But the part about the MSG makes no sense at all. The only way it would be able to earn vet. points is by running people over. For balance sake we might make it stealth while moving anyway.

[Guest Retaliation]

A lot of repeated veterancy bonuses. Unsure how I feel about that. Some of the upgrades don't make much sense for the unit though.

 

Titan- Reveals Stealth <- a bit odd considering that nod's mainline combat unit gets a firepower upgrade while the Titan gets what is essentially a light scout upgrade.

 

Disrupter- Explodes on death <- Is actually more of a potential gameplay problem than anything else and I have the same problem with the stealth tank, veterancy is supposed to reward survival while this supports the death of the unit.

 

Attack Cycle- Self heals <- such a low health unit probably doesn't need a self heal upgrade. Getting hit with such a fast (IDK if it will actually be, just seems to be the tib saga way to implement attack bikes) unit is the way it survives not tanking. Instead a much more useful upgrade would be to double the clip size if possible. Would improve the alpha strike power such units rely on with their hit and run game style.

[Wallywood]

Titan- Reveals Stealth <- a bit odd considering that nod's mainline combat unit gets a firepower upgrade while the Titan gets what is essentially a light scout upgrade.

 

Disrupter- Explodes on death <- Is actually more of a potential gameplay problem than anything else and I have the same problem with the stealth tank, veterancy is supposed to reward survival while this supports the death of the unit.

 

Attack Cycle- Self heals <- such a low health unit probably doesn't need a self heal upgrade. Getting hit with such a fast (IDK if it will actually be, just seems to be the tib saga way to implement attack bikes) unit is the way it survives not tanking. Instead a much more useful upgrade would be to double the clip size if possible. Would improve the alpha strike power such units rely on with their hit and run game style.

Just so you know these are what they did in Tiberian Sun already. The revealing of stealth units may be put in to a secondary fire that turns on the lights attached to the units to reveal any stealthed units around.

[Guest Retaliation]

Really? Shows what I know :tongue:.

[Guest ditto_g]

This blog is awful! Terrible! Disgusting!

 

Can't wait for the next one.

[Guest Nod9977]

I think infantry upgraded is cool and useful,but the vehicle upgraded just weird.Explodes on death is no sense for stealth tank.

Just give it more move speed or faster rof or bigger splash something helpful.About mobile sensor array,bigger scan area will be helpful, too.

 

Banshee and Orca have same upgraded,it's not fun.How about a stealth banshee?A TS mod called Twisted Insurrection makes

banshee stealthed when they upgraded.I think it will more like nod's style.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Nod9977

[Wallywood]

Explodes on death is no sense for stealth tank.

It is helpful and again that what it did in Tiberian Sun/Fire Storm.

 

About mobile sensor array,bigger scan area will be helpful, too.

Again, the only way you earn Vet points is by killing or in the Harvesters case dumping Tiberian. The MSA doesn't need vet points.

 

Banshee and Orca have same upgraded,it's not fun.How about a stealth banshee?A TS mod called Twisted Insurrection makes

banshee stealthed when they upgraded.I think it will more like nod's style.

No...that would be way too OP

[Guest Leonis]

Shiz died so quickly in Tiberian Sun, I don't think I've ever had too many chances to use promoted units. So, all these upgrades are new to me even if they were in the original games.

[Guest APB_ICE]

*Disrupter- Explodes on death

I don't see how this would be beneficial with such a slow, large-profile unit. Perhaps getting a faster, wider sonic-beam or something like that would be better-suited.

 

*Mammoth MK.II- Self heals

Shouldn't the Mammoth Mk. II partially self-heal by default, as it did in TS? Or at least get it with the veteran upgrade? Or will the Mk. II get full self-healing with the elite upgrade?

 

*Orca Bomber- Radar invis.

This is good for the light aircraft and the Banshee, but maybe the Orca Bomber would be better-suited to getting larger splash or more bombs, something along those lines.

 

GDI Upgrade Center

 

Mick has been on fire lately and modeling like a mad man. Check out this awesome building he's done.

 

 

Sweet. :emot-dance:

 

Spice has been very busy lately but he did manage to do a little bit more work to the GDI service depot. So check this out

 

That's coming along very nicely!

Edited November 29, 2011 by APB_ICE

[Guest Retaliation]

What kind of on death explosion are we talking about anyway?

[Guest Mei Terumi]

Guessing the MK:II will have greater self health then as a rank upgrade?

[Wallywood]

Exploding on Death gives your unit one last attack on the unit or units that just took you out. Think about how many times you've been around a unit that just died and the first thing you do is attack the drive. Well if you have a fully promoted vehicle that gets killed, any low healthed vehicles or inf. around could be taken out by that blast. Meaning you won't have to fight anything.

 

Shouldn't the Mammoth Mk. II partially self-heal by default, as it did in TS? Or at least with the veteran upgrade? Or will the Mk. II get full self-healing with the elite upgrade?

because of how powerful this unit already is. Seems like a good fully promoted feature.

 

This is good for the light aircraft and the Banshee, but maybe the Orca Bomber would be better-suited to getting larger splash or more bombs, something along those lines.

Even though the Orca bomber is bigger then the Orca fighter, Being Radar invisible would be a great feature for this unit. The bombs are already going to be great against mostly everything and considering the way this engine handles splash through walls makes this a harder thing to balance. We don't want to have bombs weak to began with just to give them an upgrade that would have made sense for the standard unit.

[Guest Nod00]

O gosh please say you will make the bomber and banshee fly like planes using unseen BHP / TT trickery.

I can imagine seeing a banshee or bomber sitting still vertically above their targets... =/

[Guest r315r4z0r]

O gosh please say you will make the bomber and banshee fly like planes using unseen BHP / TT trickery.

I can imagine seeing a banshee or bomber sitting still vertically above their targets... =/

I approve of this message. Mostly for the Banshee though. Banshee really shouldn't be able to fly backwards since it has a static propultion system built into its back. As for the Orca bomber though, It should remain a VTOL but be given a much longer reload time per magazine. That way if you chose to sit and hover over an enemy target, you will spend more time reloading than attacking and that will make you open and vulnerable to attack. It should be better to keep moving.

 

Also, I foresee a problem with the devil's tongue upgrade. I really think that needs to be looked at. Granted the DT is already hard to be effective with against other units, it will become extreamly exploitable if it can heal itself. A player would just need to hop underground when they are about to die and then stay there until they are healed before resurfacing again.

Edited November 29, 2011 by r315r4z0r

[Guest Leonis]

Also, I foresee a problem with the devil's tongue upgrade. I really think that needs to be looked at. Granted the DT is already hard to be effective with against other units, it will become extreamly exploitable if it can heal itself. A player would just need to hop underground when they are about to die and then stay there until they are healed before resurfacing again.

 

It depends on how long it takes for it to get to full HP. Also, if a DT can last that long, I think it deserves to be a pest.

[Raptor29aa]

I do have a question about APC and sub-APC. I know they don't have any weapons so an elite status would almost never be reached...

But I am proposing that if a player somehow runs over enough inf to make it to elite that they'd be given a little speed boost?

 

As for the mkII... running back to base for repairs is quite annoying and self heal would be nice... but if you feel it must be an elite status thing then ok.

 

Also wouldn't it be better if the mobile repair vehicle self healed it's HP instead of faster healing rate (I mean it would make a row of tick tanks hard to kill... yet I suppose that's the goal anyways).

 

Other than the three items listed above I approve of your ideas and say go for it.

[Enduar]

While on paper the usefulness of having a final blast take out the surround enemies might be good, for GDI with their large, slow moving vehicles, you're far more likely to hit a friendly than hitting one of the Nod units which are much more focused on controlling engagement range and avoiding getting in close.

 

If this goes through I can see a lot of people intentionally avoiding rank ups so that they aren't a liability to their team-mates, on GDI.

 

Other than that, I don't see any cannons shooting rainbows so there's not much to complain about, and most of the odd stuff like slow assault-focused vehicles gaining scouting perks has been mentioned.

 

While sticking true to TS is nice in some aspects, the gameplay and balance of these games are entirely different. I really would suggest NOT going straight by the book in regards to rank ups and give units like the Titan and Stealth Tank more sensible veterancy upgrades like more firepower or speed. Why not give some of them incendiary or armor piercing capabilities more in-line with the respective infantry upgrades, or perhaps increasing blast radius?

 

At any rate, it's just a little backward giving HP Regen to light scout vehicles, and scout perks to heavy assault ones.

 

Anyway, can't wait for whatever "witty" (mocking, disrespectful, childish) comment I get under my name in big red letters for this blog.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Enduar

[Guest Dukat863]

*Harvester- Faster harvesting

How it will get promotion, since it doesn't have a gun? Driving over infantry, or like in ar? Edited November 29, 2011 by Dukat863

[Wallywood]

Nod00, on 28 November 2011 - 09:43 PM, said:

 

O gosh please say you will make the bomber and banshee fly like planes using unseen BHP / TT trickery.

I can imagine seeing a banshee or bomber sitting still vertically above their targets... =/

 

 

 

I approve of this message. Mostly for the Banshee though. Banshee really shouldn't be able to fly backwards since it has a static propultion system built into its back. As for the Orca bomber though, It should remain a VTOL but be given a much longer reload time per magazine. That way if you chose to sit and hover over an enemy target, you will spend more time reloading than attacking and that will make you open and vulnerable to attack. It should be better to keep moving.

I would love to make that happen. But until the bugs get worked out of that style of flight, I don't see that happening . But I'll see if I can get Dtrngd to work some magic to get it more like a flyer and less of a VTOL.

 

 

r315r4z0r, on 28 November 2011 - 10:23 PM, said:

 

Also, I foresee a problem with the devil's tongue upgrade. I really think that needs to be looked at. Granted the DT is already hard to be effective with against other units, it will become extreamly exploitable if it can heal itself. A player would just need to hop underground when they are about to die and then stay there until they are healed before resurfacing again.

 

 

It depends on how long it takes for it to get to full HP. Also, if a DT can last that long, I think it deserves to be a pest.

I agree if a DT can get fully ranked. Then he deserves to be a pain in the ass. Besides it will be adjusted with balance. So if it becomes too much of an issue it might be changed.

 

 

I do have a question about APC and sub-APC. I know they don't have any weapons so an elite status would almost never be reached...

But I am proposing that if a player somehow runs over enough inf to make it to elite that they'd be given a little speed boost?

I wish we could do speed boost for units with rank ups but we're not sure if we can make that work :/

Also wouldn't it be better if the mobile repair vehicle self healed it's HP instead of faster healing rate (I mean it would make a row of tick tanks hard to kill... yet I suppose that's the goal anyways).

Hmmm that might work. Since Repairing is how the unit it self gets it's EXP. I'll add that in

 

While on paper the usefulness of having a final blast take out the surround enemies might be good, for GDI with their large, slow moving vehicles, you're far more likely to hit a friendly than hitting one of the Nod units which are much more focused on controlling engagement range and avoiding getting in close.

If this goes through I can see a lot of people intentionally avoiding rank ups so that they aren't a liability to their team-mates, on GDI.

It wouldn't be a friendly fire blast.

Other than that, I don't see any cannons shooting rainbows so there's not much to complain about, and most of the odd stuff like slow assault-focused vehicles gaining scouting perks has been mentioned.

You didn't SEE it last time, and that didn't stop you from making a 6 page bitch fest

At any rate, it's just a little backward giving HP Regen to light scout vehicles, and scout perks to heavy assault ones.

To get this way the unit would have to do ALOT of hit run passes. I see no issue with rewarding a hit-and-run unit with the ability to stand up and fight if he get full promotion.

Anyway, can't wait for whatever "witty" (mocking, disrespectful, childish) comment I get under my name in big red letters for this blog.

Also that wasn't me at all. But I don't disagree with it.

 

How it will get promotion, since it doesn't have a gun? Driving over infantry, or like in ar?

Again, the only way you earn Vet points is by killing or in the Harvesters case dumping Tiberian. The MSA doesn't need vet points.

Guess you didn't read that part.

[Guest trarian]

Will we see this upgrade information, in some kind of way, appear when you move our cursor over the unit we want to buy in the purchase terminal (if you even let the purchase terminal as a purchase terminal), Because there are that many differences (which I like), newbies could get confused and sometimes it is usable to check out which tank should work against what kind of enemy.

[Wallywood]

Will we see this upgrade information, in some kind of way, appear when you move our cursor over the unit we want to buy in the purchase terminal (if you even let the purchase terminal as a purchase terminal), Because there are that many differences (which I like), newbies could get confused and sometimes it is usable to check out which tank should work against what kind of enemy.

If we can, we will try to have some way to tell you what your perks are.

[Guest Nod00]

can firing a weapon cause the person firing it to move forward? add a charge time like the shock troopers to the bomber weapons and only way to drop bombs is to hold it down... side effect being it makes you move forward? I have no idea about limitations...

 

ALSO, for the record, IM 100% for SCOUT UNITs / LIGHT UNITS getting self heal. It allows them to take a hit, heal, return, take another hit... rinse and repeat.

 

I cant wait to see how much team work its going to take for Nod to take down the mkII. I seriously hope it will be able to 1 man an entire base. If you think it shouldnt please consider the fact that its godly expensive, really really slow, and doesnt heal unless upgraded. Add the fact that Nod has mobile repair units, Banshees (can unload all its ammo on a MKII without taking lethal damage), and it has substantial amount of time to rinse and repeat. In addition, the stealth tank fills that same role. So i guess this rant is to make sure it get the limit of 1, armor and firepower it deserves.

 

Is there any plans for Hunter Seekers? I absolutely think they are the most useless thing ever and think they shouldnt be added to the mod. Any thoughts on this?

Edited November 29, 2011 by Nod00

[Wallywood]

can firing a weapon cause the person firing it to move forward? add a charge time like the shock troopers to the bomber weapons and only way to drop bombs is to hold it down... side effect being it makes you move forward? I have no idea about limitations...

It still really really buggy right now. The best bet for us is to leave it as a VTOL.

 

As for the MKII there will only be one on the battle field at a time. It is going to be a pretty powerful unit yes and if left alone it could probably take out an entire base. I'm also thinking about making it a two manned vehicle one man works the chain gun one man drives and works the rail guns with the SAMs being AI, this would really make team work a must to be able to get the full range of the unit. Other things like Vehicle kill scripts have been talked about adding to the feet to prevent in game ramming, but seeing how most the base defenses are going to be rigged as vehicles we'll have to see how that plays out.

 

And yes Hunter seekers will be in game. They will be bought at the tech centers and used like remote controlled mini demo trucks.

[Guest Pushwall]

Other things like Vehicle kill scripts have been talked about adding to the feet to prevent in game ramming, but seeing how most the base defenses are going to be rigged as vehicles we'll have to see how that plays out.

 

I doubt the slow-ass MKII will be able to get close enough to a base defense to "stomp" it without dying to both the defense and the people protecting it. If that happens, Nod probably deserves to lose whatever the defense was. As long as there aren't any actual defenseless buildings (SAMs aside) that count as vehicles (like APB's Ore Silos) it should be fine.

[Guest credulo]

The entire idea is good, but needs some working on manage what to place in the correct vehicle. Even being a hard TS/FS player since 7 years old, I really didn't knew that Vet. Titans could reveal stealth stuff... Well, if it is true, we do not need to follow that... Look, the Titan is the most armored GDI unit, losing just for the Mammoth MK II... If that is the characteristic of the vehicle itself, we should improve it work at the front, the stealth reveal could be a good idea, but I think giving that to the Wolverines and/or to the HMRLS would fit nicier.

 

For the Disruptor, I've got an idea - maybe giving a better damage to the units that would be affected from the sonic waves while it goes to it target, or just increasing damage/armor... Because... well, I don't see people rushing like crasy with those heavy vehicles towards a enemy cluster of units to make that extreme damage...

 

 

See ya guys.

 

 

 

PS: I would like to demand some more respect to Enduar. He may not know me, but since a long time I have read his ideas through the old Reborn forum. I don't recomend ignoring him, guys... also let's keep it cool... no need of all that drama.

[Guest CYBERMAN]

This is perfection. I love where the mod is going, and how it is taking shape.

[Bfranx]

Wow, wish we could update every week... D:

[Guest r315r4z0r]

The thing I dislike about large text blarb posts in this thread in particular is that it makes it hard to know which posts to ignore due to them being about as relevant as slave labor in the East.

 

ANYWHO

 

You mentioned something about the MSG. How exactly are you planning on having it work? I actually rather liked its original style of having to be deployed before generating a stealth field. I don't like the concept of Nod being able to move a rush team under the cover of a moving stealth field. The field should be used to hold positions on the field rather than cover troop advancement. That's what the stealth tank is for.

 

Also, that sorta goes for the MSA as well. That should also be imobile when in use. I feel that it would make the game more strategic/tactical if such powerful support vehicles where forced to stay still.

 

 

Oh, and for the most part I like some of the martydom attributes to ranked up Nod vehicles. I didn't at first but the more I think about it the more it seems to suit them. Granted they wont always be near an enemy to damage when destroyed, they still have that "if I go down, I'm taking you with me" approach to them. Also stealth tanks and smaller light armor vehicles like the recon bike are more likely to come in close range to GDI units. That's why I think it makes sense for at least the Stealth tank to have that exploding ability. That's pretty much as terrorist/hit-and-run as it gets.