Imperial Age ImperialAge Progress Topic

[dblaney1]

Hey I am opening this thread so we can have a topic to discuss changes being worked on and to take feedback on ways to improve ImperialAge. Right now we are testing a new model we are working on for the GDI Merkava IV. It has a full articulating suspension.

Here is a link to the album of screenshots of the Merkava. I am having trouble embeding photo in this thread. I will upload them to another site soon and add some pics to this thread as well.

 

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO7DvnPxrmZ8qK1tHgwrfHk-p5HIioAZTn_hora5gtRt8nyxGffDU6uxp67AZEKxQ?key=X2lkWXc1dUxnNkxiYm9QdmRHNmw1Njc4V1J3N01n

Edited July 15, 2016 by dblaney1

[Raap]

The link doesn't work.

[dblaney1]

The link doesn't work.

How about now.

[Raap]

It works now.

 

As for feedback, I'm not sure what the model is based on, but if you aimed to make the model fit with Renegade assets then I think you did a good job of making it aesthetically consistent with the original assets of Renegade.

 

Your level terrain on the other hand, could really use a texture pass. The UVW scaling alone is quite poor, and likely the texture files are low in resolution, even for Renegade. Especially UVW scaling should never be a problem since it has no impact on performance.

[dblaney1]

Making a much better/higher res texture for the terrain. We will work on the uvw scaling as well.

Edited July 15, 2016 by dblaney1

[Raap]

Don't shy away from 1024x1024 resolutions for most terrain materials and 2048x2048 for materials that see heavy tiled usage (however, keep it realistic, a barrel prop doesn't need a high resolution texture for example).

 

Something you'll want to apply to all your terrain (from grass to buildings) is a "noise filter" to remedy some of the tiled appearances. You add it to materials in 3DS. If you need to know the details just ask (I'm sure you know how it works though).

Edited July 16, 2016 by Raap

[Testament]

All the vehicles you make are downright sexy. I really dig this Merkav and am excited to play a big game of this mod. Any plans to make the Abrams prettier or add a Leopard?

[dblaney1]

We actually just redid the abrams from scratch. I will post a screenshot soon.

[MPRA2]

You guys BETTER use that model that Abrams Kaskins made for his other mod....... as for the Merkava, it looks a bit like the 105mm Bradley except on a "lower riding" chassis. Looks good though. I just really hope the mod gets a stable playerbase where its not 1v1, 3v2, 5v4, you get the point.... despite every unit having a counter, it really balances gameplay too much..... and most unit counters can be easily destroyed or killed by the units it counters. Small games tend to be unbalanced as hell, mainly due to the fact, not a lot of people are tactical about ther attacks, and since teamwork is nonexistant in the world of C&C, uh

....... yeah... it makes things difficult...... especially when i try defending the base agains a 120mm Tick Tank, or a 36 inch mammoth...... it cant be done.. Dont get me started on the railgun titans tho.... and yes, i've tried flipping them..... its hard as balls to do it..... just out of sheer boredom, me and mask played a round on the Ultra AOW server.... since nobody was on any server besides rencorner at the time, i was using a light tank, and later a basic bitch stealth tank to flip pver a titan, yeah it started flipping..... but the damn thing is a weeble wobble..... i dunno if its because of them using the previous version of IA, but i remember clearly it was simple to tip over the Weeble Railgun...

[ganein14]

It shouldn't be possible to flip them (the titans) intentionally at all if you ask me. Cause all you'd need to do is hit it hard enough with a fast enough moving vehicle and boom, problem solved.

[FRAYDO]

Well if it isn't dblaney! Good to see you!

[dblaney1]

It shouldn't be possible to flip them (the titans) intentionally at all if you ask me. Cause all you'd need to do is hit it hard enough with a fast enough moving vehicle and boom, problem solved.

You can usually stop a titan from flipping if you walk towards the tank trying to knock you over. Its actually pretty difficult to flip a titan on flat ground. It has really good armor. Its one of the drawbacks of using it but the positives far outweigh this one Achilles heal. (pun intended). Also keep in mind that some of this is just how the renegade engine works with tall vehicles. It actually used to be like 10 times easier to flip them. They are quite stable compared to before.

 

I was just thinking though and I might code up a deploy key that makes it dig its claws on the back of its legs into the ground but doing so makes it immobile. It might be a good compromise. Could probably add a slight rof increase and recoil reduction as well. That would be especially useful for the 120mm shell version.

 

You guys BETTER use that model that Abrams Kaskins made for his other mod....... as for the Merkava, it looks a bit like the 105mm Bradley except on a "lower riding" chassis. Looks good though. I just really hope the mod gets a stable playerbase where its not 1v1, 3v2, 5v4, you get the point.... despite every unit having a counter, it really balances gameplay too much..... and most unit counters can be easily destroyed or killed by the units it counters. Small games tend to be unbalanced as hell, mainly due to the fact, not a lot of people are tactical about ther attacks, and since teamwork is nonexistant in the world of C&C, uh

....... yeah... it makes things difficult...... especially when i try defending the base agains a 120mm Tick Tank, or a 36 inch mammoth...... it cant be done.. Dont get me started on the railgun titans tho.... and yes, i've tried flipping them..... its hard as balls to do it..... just out of sheer boredom, me and mask played a round on the Ultra AOW server.... since nobody was on any server besides rencorner at the time, i was using a light tank, and later a basic bitch stealth tank to flip pver a titan, yeah it started flipping..... but the damn thing is a weeble wobble..... i dunno if its because of them using the previous version of IA, but i remember clearly it was simple to tip over the Weeble Railgun...

The new abrams tank is on the server now. The 36inch mammoth is no longer as powerful against structures (a technician can outrep it) but received a buff against tanks to compensate. Its turret however now rotates slower than it used to. Edited July 18, 2016 by dblaney1

[MPRA2]

Its a start where it doesnt 4 shot buildings anymore. I mean, the nod super heavy tank is shit against everything because the turrets are pretty much Battleship style, to get the max damage, you gotta broadside a tank., yeah the turrets are AI controlled, which means they have god accuracy, but the weapons are a tiny bit weak...i could probably destroy one with the AMX or an orca if I'm lucky enough. If anything Nod's super unit should be an anti tank vehicle, since GDI has tons of anti building and anti tank armor like the 36 inch, titans, mammoth tanks, the abrams tanks are decent now.... the AMX, and the MRLS. Nod has deployable AT units, and the tick tanks which are just rediculous if you ask me.... Honestly, there should just be 1 tick tank.... No lasers or 4 barrelled guns..... just 1 tick tank, with a 105mm rifled gun, with a smaller anti infantry chaingun. The Su tank destroyers are.... ok at times... but not good enough to be a real threat if its a 1v1 or 1v2. Maybe add chemical tanks to nod, giving them a bonus against vehicles and buildings like the tib troopers from KW. Maybe give nod a T-62/72 or T-80, as those tanks were one of the well known soviet tanks, post WWII.I mean, hell..... give Nod an early prototype of a T-90.... those buggers are the Hinds of tanks...

I'd also say, give Nod some more.... efficient AT vehicles so they could easier combat those heavier vehicles that GDI tends to spam.... I'm not saying that you can just go up and buy a tank for $1800 or $2600 and 1v1 a 36 mammoth or titan with no problems whatsoever.... You'd need to be skilled, have some cover with you, and repair in order to win that battle, without you losing your tank. Most of the time, you end up getting utterly wrecked if you dint use the infrared with the black hand lancers. But then, GDI could have a repair vehicle to just ruin your day... Or, try to limit uber units to 1 or 2 per team, just to balance it out a bit.... because GDI does have far superior uber unitd, while not has the tick tank and the copious amounts of nuclear V2 launchers that are their ranged artillery units..... Honestly, this is my opinion. I really do enjoy Imperial Age, but... when I'm on a very small team, or pretty much by myself, I cant counter anything or even defend myself, which really frustrates me when I constantly get taken to the cleaners despite my best efforts..... some of the infantry like raveshaw and pic sydney, kinda ruin tank combat too..... their weapons are just flat out OP against most vehicles..granted I havent actually "Played" IA in a few days, and I havent gone through all thr units, but.... there are quite a bit of balancing that could be done, so that single players, or teams of 2-5 dont feel so damn hopeless against players like Cereal_killer, mask012, etc.

Ps.... please nerf the weeble wobbles......... Make them easily tippable when in a moving state, and add in a deployable system like what you mentioned, give them a buff to range, but have them immobile.

Edited July 19, 2016 by MPRA2

[Ciscog33k]

You can't have every unit having equal stats, it would take the fun and strategy our of IA. When I started playing IA a few months ago (maybe more now?) I thought certain tanks were hellishly overpowered, but as I continued to play I started to learn the ins and outs of how to counter most types of attacks.

 

The big takeaway here is, Imperial Age =/= Renegade; it's a game unto itself, and needs to be assessed as such.

 

Right now, I'm mostly happy with the balance.

 

As for playing low count matches, and getting roflstomped, there's not much you can do about it; tell more people about IA, and get them playing.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Ciscog33k

[Jerad2142]

Cool! Adding a tree house I see!