Blog 23- Content Overload

[Wallywood]

Hey everyone, I know it has been a while since our last blog but that is because we have been very hard at work. We have been planning for a big patch coming soon with tons of new stuff, so lets get this showcase started.

 

GDI Reinforcements

 

The Enforcer

The Enforce will be joining GDI to even up the teams. It is no secret that GDI is lacking a good mid tier anti-vehicle unit, so we have decided to fix this issue with an early version of a Zone Trooper type unit. A soldier in a well fitted power suit welding an awesome portable Ion blaster. Having trouble picturing it? Think, Confessor and Cyborg combine.

This unit is still being worked on so we will have pictures of him in an upcoming update.

 

The Mobile EMP Tank

This unit is coming along faster then we thought it would. With A4R91N joining the team as a texture artist. He has taken this tank head on, and has been doing a fantastic job. BUT he has requested us not to show it off until he is happy with it. So this one will have to wait for the next update.

 

The Juggernaut

This is the unit that everyone has been waiting for. And with a little more TLC could be seen as soon as the next patch.

 

Maps

 

Teamwolf has been on a map overhauling spree. With changes coming to balance,cosmetics, and overall gameplay. Also in the process has decided to bring a few maps back from the dead like TS_ICE and TS_Dustland, along with a few others.

 

DarkAngel has decided to work on a city/urban style map . The name is still pending but if this map follows even close to Enduar's concepts then this thing is going to be epic.

 

Aircraftkiller is taking on an urban style route as well and completely re-do the old C&C_Metro and bringing it into the TSR universe.

 

GDI gates are going to be getting updated to Fabians long gate that was used in field 2

 

Nod Cham. Spy

 

Lets be honest, this unit is just plain bad. With the health of an elderly woman and a knife that couldn't even cut butter, we have decided to give this unit a nice overhaul. The unit will still take on the role of a spy BUT he will be given a sabotage beacon that if successfully deployed will temporarily be able to power down a building. This beacon will have a deploy time and in the process cause you to destealth while giving off a faint beeping sound to help give away your position, so you better be sneaky.The beacon will keep the building offline until the beacon dies out on its own or is destroyed by a weapon or repair tool. His health/armor will be staying the same but his price will be going up to about 500 credits. Along with keeping his knife for defense, he will be given his very own Spy pistol that does almost twice the damage of the normal pistol BUT takes twice as long to fire.So I wouldn't try to fight GDI in a head to head battle with him. The sabotage beacon idea is still being worked on so it may not see the next patch, But have decided to try out the idea about letting him steal freshly made GDI vehicles. So GDI make sure you have those MSA's up and running.

 

Spy Pistol

 

Sabotage Beacon

 

Veterancy and Balance system

 

OWA and myself have been working very hard on balance lately. Focusing a lot on the new Armor.ini. These changes should shape up TSR balance to a whole new level. Finally being able to tweak individual units without effecting more then one. Example: Now if we need to adjust the stealth tank it won't effect the titan and Tick Tank. We have graphed up a chart with 71 different armors and 40 different warheads. So it's safe to say things are about to get interesting.

 

Veterancy is also getting a bit of an overhaul as we prepare for the long awaited Vehicle Veterancy System. We have decided that each unit should get some sort of visible upgrade along with its weapon upgrade. So for example: If a Ghost Stalker gets fully promoted it will receive a Red Railgun effect that will deal more damage. Many of these unit's weapons already get a damage or rate of fire increase but now it will just become more visual.

 

Moonsense has been kicking major butt in rigging and has gotten our proper veteran and elite chevrons in game.

 

No more weapon place holders

 

Did I mention that Moonsense has been kicking major butt in rigging? well if you didn't read it the first time he has been a rigging machine! No more disk for the toxin Grenade and no more medical cases for the engineers.

 

Engie Hacktops

 

Toxin Grenade

 

 

The Power of Scripting

 

Ion Storms seem to be a bit on the biased side right now, hindering mostly Nod units. So we are planning on fixing that with Ion Storms 2.0. We have been hashing out ideas about how to have both teams effected evenly. With Jerad's help we can even make air units forced to land and HMRLS to no longer hover during Ion Storms. Now, I know your thinking this sounds horrible but what if there was an announcement telling you when to expect the storm so you can get ready for it? So ingame you may hear Cabal or EVA say "Warning! 2 minutes until Ion Storm arrives." These changes along with new emitters could really bring Ion Storms to life. Tell us what you think...

 

Random Weather Scripts are going to be added into maps to add more of a real life feel. So on desert maps you may see dust storms, Ice maps will have random snow flurries and some maps may even get thunderstorms.

 

Visceroids can now spawn randomly if a player dies in tiberian.

 

Gates can now be destroy-able

 

General Camo has been working on Air units falling out of the sky when shot down

 

Missing Assets Resurface

 

We have also managed to recover a few old assets that could come in handy as map props or even working units.

 

Light Towers could be coming into a few future maps

 

The Nod Montauk The GDI Kodiak

 

TSR Face Lift

 

A4R91N has also been working on a some HD weapon texture updates here is an example of his work.

 

Side by side comparison

OLD NEW

 

AircraftKiller YOU! the big head just YOU....are a talented dude. ACK has stepped up and decided to revamp a lot of the TSR vehicle models and textures. He started with the Titan... and well I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

The model update

 

The Texture Update

 

Proper light renders

 

*Note keep in mind that it will not look this good on the Renegade engine BUT who says it won't look even better in UDK or on another engine

 

A cheap plug

 

Beyond The Path is back in production and will be releasing Episode 4 soon, so keep an eye out

 

[Shnappz]

Those texutres on the Titans... wow... just wow... i would actually pay for Aircraftkiller to tutor me on texturing!!!

 

Looking really cool, can't wait to see all this implemented.

 

Also Viceroids!!! That is awesome...

[madrox8]

soooooo much awesome stuff comeing!!!! im so pumped

[FekLeyrTarg]

Wow, all that sounds like fun. I'm so looking forward to this update.

 

Talking about Visceroids: Will they act more like in Renegade or more like in Tiberian Sun? And is a new model planned for it or will you use the Renegade-model for now?

[Wallywood]

Wow, all that sounds like fun. I'm so looking forward to this update.

 

Talking about Visceroids: Will they act more like in Renegade or more like in Tiberian Sun? And is a new model planned for it or will you use the Renegade-model for now?

We plan on making new models for Visceroid, but we may use the Renegade one as a place holder. As for the way it acts, we hope to have it randomly spawn when a unit dies in Tiberium and it will act as a hostal AI to both teams. Also since there are no Tiberium based weapons, it will only probably happen if someone does die in a Tiberium Field.

[AZ-Stalker]

Also since there are no Tiberium based weapons, it will only probably happen if someone does die in a Tiberium Field.

Would coordinated mass free infantry suicides in tiberium fields right beside enemy bases end up as a profitble strategy then?

 

Loving the loads of new content. Great work everyone!

[NodGuy]

Awesome blog is AWESOME!

[VERTi60]

Literary one of the best blogs in a long time, cudos for everyone who made it possible, great work on the new content.

[Mighty BOB!]

 

Also since there are no Tiberium based weapons, it will only probably happen if someone does die in a Tiberium Field.

Would coordinated mass free infantry suicides in tiberium fields right beside enemy bases end up as a profitble strategy then?

 

Could be.

[Jerad2142]

Love the atmosphere of the map seen in the picture with the GDI gate.

[Wallywood]

Love the atmosphere of the map seen in the picture with the GDI gate.

That is Fabians map of Field 2. We are going to give a it a little work maybe a re-name and should be adding it back onto the servers soon

[Bfranx]

I really don't like the idea of a new unit, but everything else is awesome.

[Jerad2142]

Also, I still say JMG_Security_Camera_Behavior would work better for your light tower than an animation and a turret script.

[Timeaua]

nice work! The new titan looks awesome and im glad that we get the juggernaut, the briefcase and the toxic granade into the game!

[Pyryle]

Nice blog! I can't wait for the new stuff to be integrated.

 

I really don't like the idea of a new unit, but everything else is awesome.

Which new unit are you referring to? The Enforcer?

[moonsense715]

Also, I still say JMG_Security_Camera_Behavior would work better for your light tower than an animation and a turret script.

Does it lock on targets when spotted one? If so then it should work.

[Bfranx]

Nice blog! I can't wait for the new stuff to be integrated.

 

I really don't like the idea of a new unit, but everything else is awesome.

Which new unit are you referring to? The Enforcer?

 

Yes.

[GeneralCamo]

Any particular reason why you do not like the new unit?

[Jerad2142]

 

Also, I still say JMG_Security_Camera_Behavior would work better for your light tower than an animation and a turret script.

Does it lock on targets when spotted one? If so then it should work.

 

Locks on and follows the target yes, it even has an option to play a sound while locked on as well as send a custom message when a unit has been spotted (its basically a remake of RMV_Camera_Behavior with more settings).

[Wallywood]

 

 

Also, I still say JMG_Security_Camera_Behavior would work better for your light tower than an animation and a turret script.

Does it lock on targets when spotted one? If so then it should work.

 

Locks on and follows the target yes, it even has an option to play a sound while locked on as well as send a custom message when a unit has been spotted (its basically a remake of RMV_Camera_Behavior with more settings).

 

Then I am all for that then

[Bfranx]

Any particular reason why you do not like the new unit?

Because Nod wouldn't have more anti-vehicle infantry than GDI if the game didn't include so many obscure units from TS.

 

Rather than add a new unit that is completely out of place (being from an entirely different game in the franchise), you could remove some of the units from the Nod roster and make both sides equal in terms of anti-vehicle infantry.

[TeamWolf]

 

Any particular reason why you do not like the new unit?

Because Nod wouldn't have more anti-vehicle infantry than GDI if the game didn't include so many obscure units from TS.

 

Rather than add a new unit that is completely out of place (being from an entirely different game in the franchise), you could remove some of the units from the Nod roster and make both sides equal in terms of anti-vehicle infantry.

 

 

Since this is more based around Firestorm (before and after) I feel the new unit it quite fitting. We tried for over a year to get the Disk Thrower to be GDI's early game anti-vehicle infantry but it didn't work. If we start removing infantry the gameplay will most likely get watered down due to how each infantry is designed and being redesigned to have their each unique intended roles.

[Bfranx]

 

 

Any particular reason why you do not like the new unit?

Because Nod wouldn't have more anti-vehicle infantry than GDI if the game didn't include so many obscure units from TS.

 

Rather than add a new unit that is completely out of place (being from an entirely different game in the franchise), you could remove some of the units from the Nod roster and make both sides equal in terms of anti-vehicle infantry.

 

Since this is more based around Firestorm (before and after) I feel the new unit it quite fitting. We tried for over a year to get the Disk Thrower to be GDI's early game anti-vehicle infantry but it didn't work. If we start removing infantry the gameplay will most likely get watered down due to how each infantry is designed and being redesigned to have their each unique intended roles.

 

I don't know that it would be watered down, but I'm not really sure what roles each unit is being assigned. For now, I still think that it might be better to remove units rather than add them.

[Garrus09]

Removing units would add to the.. "War Factory died I guess this match is over guys.." Which Reborn surprisingly doesn't have at this moment. Reborn can lose a structure and the fighting still be intense all the way to the end. The problem is GDI doesn't have a ranged answer to armor with their infantry.

[Wallywood]

 

 

 

Any particular reason why you do not like the new unit?

Because Nod wouldn't have more anti-vehicle infantry than GDI if the game didn't include so many obscure units from TS.

 

Rather than add a new unit that is completely out of place (being from an entirely different game in the franchise), you could remove some of the units from the Nod roster and make both sides equal in terms of anti-vehicle infantry.

 

Since this is more based around Firestorm (before and after) I feel the new unit it quite fitting. We tried for over a year to get the Disk Thrower to be GDI's early game anti-vehicle infantry but it didn't work. If we start removing infantry the gameplay will most likely get watered down due to how each infantry is designed and being redesigned to have their each unique intended roles.

 

I don't know that it would be watered down, but I'm not really sure what roles each unit is being assigned. For now, I still think that it might be better to remove units rather than add them.

 

Garrus said it best...losing a WF would be pretty much a kill whore fest. Try hitting a Buggy or a Bike with a disk, its not an easy task. You have to plan for all types of situations in this style of gameplay. I hope for your own games sake you have thought this out as well.

[Bfranx]

 

 

 

 

Any particular reason why you do not like the new unit?

Because Nod wouldn't have more anti-vehicle infantry than GDI if the game didn't include so many obscure units from TS.

 

Rather than add a new unit that is completely out of place (being from an entirely different game in the franchise), you could remove some of the units from the Nod roster and make both sides equal in terms of anti-vehicle infantry.

 

Since this is more based around Firestorm (before and after) I feel the new unit it quite fitting. We tried for over a year to get the Disk Thrower to be GDI's early game anti-vehicle infantry but it didn't work. If we start removing infantry the gameplay will most likely get watered down due to how each infantry is designed and being redesigned to have their each unique intended roles.

 

I don't know that it would be watered down, but I'm not really sure what roles each unit is being assigned. For now, I still think that it might be better to remove units rather than add them.

 

Garrus said it best...losing a War Factory would be pretty much a kill whore fest. Try hitting a Buggy or a Bike with a disk, its not an easy task. You have to plan for all types of situations in this style of gameplay. I hope for your own games sake you have thought this out as well.

 

Well in the case of my game both teams have the Rocket Soldier, so anti-vehicle infantry is taken care of.

 

I can see where you're coming from, but couldn't you just increase the speed of the disk? It's not like any of the infantry have a tracking projectile, so it's obvious that speed is a key factor in being able to hit a moving target.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Bfranx

[forg0ten1]

Far out

[Wallywood]

 

Well in the case of my game both teams have the Rocket Soldier, so anti-vehicle infantry is taken care of.

 

I can see where you're coming from, but couldn't you just increase the speed of the disk? It's not like any of the infantry have a tracking projectile, so it's obvious that speed is a key factor in being able to hit a moving target.

 

So can you still buy Rocket Soldiers when the BAR/HON is destroyed? With your roster, the answer to that question could be a problem by itself.

 

If I remember correctly...you have 7 Nod guys

 

Flamer- Anti inf.

Chem.Sprayer- Anti inf.

Tech- Non combat

Engie- Non combat

Commndo- Anti inf.

Mini gunner- Anti inf. (default)

Rocket Soldier.- Anti veh.

 

Two spray and prays (that they don't get ran over) Two Non combat units, four Anti. inf, one anti. Veh

 

6 GDI Guys

 

Grenadier- Anti inf..

Tech- Non combat

Engie- Non combat

Commndo- Anti inf.

Mini gunner- Anti inf. (default)

 

Rocket Soldier.- Anti. veh.

 

Again, Two spray and prays units, Two Non combat units, three Anti. inf, one anti. Veh

 

Not to be rude but...your running some big risk here.

 

Mirrored teams- Fans like both teams to feel different and sides to feel unique

Boredom- See above

BAR/HON Becoming not important at all - Rocket Soldiers are the only real anti veh. if they stay after the BAR/HON is lost then whats the point of defending it.

BAR/HON Becoming too important - And if they don't stay after the building is taken down then the kill whoring will began with no real way to defend.

No room to expand- What if you wanted to add building related tech? With only 6/7 guys that doesn't leave much room to expand.

Balance- With no mid range units, the ability to counter units becomes very slim. What good are flamers and Chem. Sprayers if you can't get close enough to use them?

 

We at TSR believe in healthy balance between Low,Mid, and High range units. Where each unit has a unique feel and purpose on the battlefield, and where we can expand past the RTS game that we are based off without becoming unrealistic to TS/FS universe.

 

Sorry to get so off subject.

[VERTi60]

Right now GDI relies heavily on vehicles, most of the battles are won by vehicles. From infantry stand point GDI really lacks a good anti armor unit except Stalker ofc. Disk throwers never really worked against armor even in the RTS, they were mere grenadier units and used most in first campaign missions. I think they should, along with rocket soldiers considered to be low tier armor fighters and still available when Bar/HoN dies. While RS is still doing better job apparently fighting vehicles, then again disks are now better against infantry since the RS nerf.

 

So what options do we have to boost the GDI's lack for armor fighters? Either we remove the Nod Confessor and nerf the Cyborg's cannon so both sides will have to rely on low tier armor fighters, or simply introduce new unit. I think the later is better as the first option is a step back and doesn't add anything better to the game.

[Garrus09]

Far out

He returns!

 

The "adding more to the game" felt way better than "take away"