|
I also like the soviet flamethrower units even though they are ridiculously fragile (if one guy dies in group it starts a chain reaction that kills every single one) but they are just so bad-rear end.
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 19:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 22:30 |
|
|
Parenthesis posted:I feel You're right, I was just being lazy and eyeballed whichever Scandinavian country it looked closest too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 19:50
|
|
would be more appropriate in this specific case, unless there is a nugget of RA1 lore I have missed.
|
Alhazred posted:I also like the soviet flamethrower units even though they are ridiculously fragile (if one guy dies in group it starts a chain reaction that kills every single one) but they are just so bad-rear end. If you watch any vid with the flamethrower troopers in thrm youll realize one thing. They are much slower in Red Alert, and that sucks (for the Soviets)
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 21:14
|
|
|
Jobbo_Fett posted:If you watch any vid with the flamethrower troopers in thrm youll realize one thing. Hah, I actually thought that wile watching the video last night. "I don't remember flame troopers being that slow..." Of course, last time I actually played RA1 was...like 18 years ago. Probably around the time I got the Tiberian Sun/Firestorm combo pack.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 21:19
|
|
|
Allied Mission 08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CmY2DIRd4A Allied Mission 08  The Chronosphere is being tested on larger subjects, such as the USS Philadelphia in the cutscene*. Stavros is once again stunned by ongoing developments. *May not have actually been the USS Philadelphia*   According to the map, somewhere in the area of Stuttgart.  Location: Stuttgart, Germany (Approx.) Objective: Defend the Chronosphere from Soviet attacks. Briefing: Our latest technology, the Chronosphere, is housed in this research station. The timer represents the appointed time for the completion of a vital experiment. The Soviets have learned of this and are moving in. Protect the Chronosphere and the Advanced Tech research center. Make sure the base is fully powered at the appointed time. If not, all will be lost! Author's note: The first pure defense mission, and I feel like it does a very good job at it.   Name: General Von Esling Aliases: None Affiliation: Allies Occupation: Commander of the Allied forces in Europe Voiced/Played by: Arthur Roberts A seemingly no-nonsense leader who is willing to try unorthodox means if it means completing his goals. Von Esling has a renewed belief that Soviet aggression has only made the Allies that much stronger.  Name: Nikos Stavros Aliases: None Affiliation: Allies Occupation: Commander within the Allied forces Voiced/Played by: Barry Kramer A stickler for the rules, and unwilling to use outside help. Stunned at the loss of his home country of Greece. Stunned when learning about the Iron Curtain's true purpose. Stunned when he sees the Chronosphere experiment on the USS Philadelphia.  Name: Albert Einstein Aliases: None Affiliation: Allies Occupation: Professor, Scientist, Murderer, Creator of the Chronosphere Voiced/Played by: John Milford A professor and scientist, Einstein travels through time to "eliminate" Adolf Hitler. Instrumental in the creation of the Chronosphere, as well as revealing the true purpose of the Iron Curtain project.   ADVANCED POWER PLANT ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Provides power for base structures This large, high-yield structure handles the energy strains of some later, more power intensive structures and defenses. Author's Note: Takes as much space as two power plants, but costs less, while still providing twice the power output as a regular powerplant. So, yeah, these are worth building now.  CONCRETE BARRIER ARMOR: Heavy PURPOSE: Passive defense More effective than the Sandbag Barrier, Concrete Walls are not crushable and block tank ordnance. Author's Note: Concrete Barriers are the only barriers that can't be driven over, but that hardly means anything when you don't see much in the way of engineer rushes.  GAP GENERATOR* ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Creates shroud The Gap Generator allows the Allies to hide associated base from enemy sight. Any enemies scouting the area will only reveal around themselves. The Shroud will immediately close up once the invading unit is destroyed or leaves the area. Author's Note: Useful for hiding your forces from prying eyes, they effectively generate FoW in a radius around the building, but require power to keep the area concealed. The Chronosphere and Tech Center will be talked about at a later time, mainly because they don't do anything this episode. Rules InI checks: The Advanced Power Plant costs 500, has 700 health, and provides 200 power. The Regular Power Plant costs 300, has 400 health, and provides 100 power. 1 Gap Generator requires 60 power. 1 AA Gun requires 50 power. 1 Turret requires 40 power. 1 [CAMO] Pillbox requires 15 power.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 06:39
|
|
|
I was like wondering what's the point of having 4 gap generators beside the Chronosphere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 07:43
|
|
|
Huh, thought that this mission was slightly later, but here we are, the Chronosphere Defense. This is probably the 2nd most notable mission to me in the Allied campaign(the most notable, oh I have words for that one) and is a fantastic defense mission. It is incredibly well done for the time and has quite a few twists to how things work. First off, the mission starts off strong. The Soviets hitting your power right off the bat with Badger Bomber para-bombs puts a power crunch on your base and slows down your infantry production for defense. However, I am pretty sure that the Soviet base doesn't come online until you deploy your Command Center, but the landers and airstrikes happen regardless of if the Soviet base is on, so you have a soft timer to get to the base before Heavy and later Mammoth Tanks get dropped off and crush your infantry. Fighting past the Soviet blockade is pretty tough, but all you really need is your Mine Layers and MCV, or whatever it is called in RA, to get past. However, either you got incredibly lucky with the Para-Bomb strike or something is different in this version of RA, as I remember most of the base's power plants getting knocked out, not just one. Weird. Anyway, once you are up and running, having to keep the lights on at the end of timer is a nice twist to the bog standard wait out the timer mission-type, and means you need to actively keep your base well defended all the way though. You have an insane amount of starting cash and tons of ore, so getting several Ore Trucks out and mining is a good idea. The four places where the Soviets can attack keep you on your toes, especially the western entrance, which you can easily forget about until some Flame Throwers and Heavy Tanks are wiping out your power. This is where the Mine Layer comes into its own. When I played this map, I was constantly mining every pass into the base, with multiple Mine Layers always moving around, and as shown in the mission, this can pay off big time, as three mines can bring a Mammoth Tank down to a next to no health. Plus taking out V2s before they get in range is always nice. And as an added bonus, the Mine Layer I am pretty sure has an insanely low threat priority to the AI, so they just tend to ignore it if anything else of yours is nearby. No idea what is up with that Radar Dome though. I was never able to figure that one out. Now, since it was talked about in the video, I'll clear up a few things with the Chronosphere. It can in fact transport ships, but only another body of water is a valid target destination and the game won't let you drop it off on land. Same goes for vehicles, no dropping them in water or trees/cliffs. You can target and move a APC filled with infantry but... well, just remember what Einstein said about crew loss on the transported ship... As for not letting the player play with the Chronosphere, its mainly a plot thing. They are working on making the crew loss problem less of an issue, so it would be kinda a bad idea for them to just use it in the battle. That, and there is pretty much nothing for the player to do with it anyway on this mission. With that all said, I think I know why that Badger Bomber was doing loops at the end. It was probably trying to drop of infantry at the spot you build two power plants at, and since that would be an invalid spot for them, it got stuck endlessly trying and failing to drop the troops off. And as a small but very nice touch, when the timer drops to two minutes, it turns red, making sure the player knows that time is almost up. And as for Stavros, poor guy seems to only have two emotions, stunned, near catatonic silence, and sudden rage. Didn't remember him being such a non character like that. So yeah, this was a great mission that has very smooth pacing and a few twists to the standard defense mission formula. Good work RA, you made a defense mission exciting.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 08:31
|
|
|
In that cutscene those are clearly gap generators at either side of the ship but they say it's the chronosphere, something doesn't add up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 08:41
|
|
|
BiggestOrangeTree posted:In that cutscene those are clearly gap generators at either side of the ship but they say it's the chronosphere, something doesn't add up. It's probably why the experiment didn't work so well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 08:45
|
|
|
BiggestOrangeTree posted:In that cutscene those are clearly gap generators at either side of the ship but they say it's the chronosphere, something doesn't add up. Giant tuning forks are versatile pieces of equipment and have a great deal of uses!
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 11:37
|
|
|
So this was the one giving me flashbacks, I remember it being super tense with unrelenting waves of soviet tanks and airstrikes constantly keeping the base a hair's breadth from collapse. It's a great showcase for the V2 rocket, being able to first-strike allied defenses from long range and largely before the defender can do anything to stop it. Does anyone know if the AI actually cares about gap generators/fog of war at all? I replayed this mission this afternoon and first time round lost within a single minute, before my MCV got to the base - I'm not even sure why, an airstrike or something must have hit the chronosphere while I wasn't looking. I ended up just deploying at the MCV's starting location and setting up a squad of tanks with a few AA guns, the AI seemed a little confused about whether to attack the chronosphere base or my remote construction yard. I'm starting to get into a rhythm of: 1. Deploy MCV 2. Barracks, build a few squads of rocket soldiers for defense vs tanks and air 3. Refinery x2 4. War factory, pump medium tanks 5. Build some static defences and maybe a repair bay 6. Queue up Hell March and CRUSH EVERYTHING Personally I think the medium tank's gun sounded better in TD and I miss it 
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 13:57
|
|
|
FoolyCharged posted:I think guard dogs are in both factions I've still got page 9&10 to browse but no, not true - (at least as of the PSX version) - Guard Dogs were a soviet only build, that came from the kennel. Kennels only produced good boys who caught nasty spies. Aces High posted:I've been watching a fair amount of RA MP on youtube and I gotta say those units are super cheesy, so there's lots of ragequits if you get caught off guard and they are used successfully You should link to some good videos of RAMP then!
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 14:08
|
|
|
tithin posted:I've still got page 9&10 to browse but no, not true - (at least as of the PSX version) - Guard Dogs were a soviet only build, that came from the kennel. Kennels only produced good boys who caught nasty spies. Or don't at least until both campaigns are over so there's no unit/building spoilers.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 14:10
|
|
|
Crazy Achmed posted:Does anyone know if the AI actually cares about gap generators/fog of war at all? As far as I know, the AI really doesn't care too much about either. It knows pretty much exactly where all of your units are at all times so you can't really hide what you are building/training under a Gap Generator. However, it still needs to actually see the unit/building to fire on it, so they might prevent the AI from just firing V2s from max range if their target was covered by a Gap Generator shroud. Not 100% sure on that one though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 14:18
|
|
|
BiggestOrangeTree posted:In that cutscene those are clearly gap generators at either side of the ship but they say it's the chronosphere, something doesn't add up. They do say they mqke the ship disappear entirely for a brief moment, and gap generators do that indirectly. Clearly the video feed was borked by the advanced technology!
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 15:14
|
|
|
Einstein: We lost a few men *Camera cuts to somewhere in the Caribbean, in the background a large banner proclaims some kind of special on drinks at the beach side bar *A wormhole opens up and several allied soldiers fall out of the wormhole into their seats, huge smiles all around *Oh and they've got those straw hats now, don't ask me how I'm just a script *Camera cuts back to allied command Stavros: ... *looks mournful and stunned*
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 15:53
|
|
|
Can you use the Chronosphere to drop tanks in the water (or ships onto land) and destroy them?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 16:57
|
|
|
Radio Free Kobold posted:Can you use the Chronosphere to drop tanks in the water (or ships onto land) and destroy them? Not in RA1.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 17:10
|
|
|
Regarding that radar dome as far as I know it was just there for flavour. In the rules.ini theres a section for teams and their respective colours, iirc brown is Germany, and green is France. So that would explain why your engineer repaired it instead of capturing it, it was an AI ally building.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 18:32
|
|
|
Uh... clearly we're the Allies, not sure what this Germany or France business is...
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 18:37
|
|
|
Jobbo_Fett posted:Uh... clearly we're the Allies, not sure what this Germany or France business is... e: nevermind BiggestOrangeTree fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Jan 26, 2019 |
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 19:59
|
|
|
I like how the victory cutscene clearly shows some soldiers getting transported by the Chronosphere, even though the intro to the mission hinted that those dudes would probably die 
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 20:02
|
|
|
BiggestOrangeTree posted:Now I wonder if their SPOILER REMOVED exist in single player, or is this spoilers territory? That's multiplayer only. Trizophenie fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Jan 26, 2019 |
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 20:06
|
|
|
Nikos is great. That's a pretty good reaction to your coworkers pulling off the Philadelphia Experiment and then being like "Anyway on to stuff"
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 20:18
|
|
|
I love the little glance eisling gives stavros when hes reaching for the remote. "Oh he's doing it again."
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 20:41
|
|
|
BiggestOrangeTree posted:Now I wonder if their CUT THE SPOILER TEXT exist in single player, or is this spoilers territory? Last warning
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 20:47
|
|
|
DeathChicken posted:Nikos is great. That's a pretty good reaction to your coworkers pulling off the Philadelphia Experiment and then being like "Anyway on to stuff" I think my problem with Stavros is that we've only seen him display two emotions: Frustration and Astonished.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 21:08
|
|
|
Jobbo_Fett posted:I think my problem with Stavros is that we've only seen him display two emotions: Frustration and Astonished. I want to believe that's how he is in his personal life, too. Imagine Stavros ordering a pizza.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 21:13
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:I want to believe that's how he is in his personal life, too. Imagine Stavros ordering a pizza. Pizzaguy: Sir, would you like to participate in our two-for-one deal? Stavros: ...Two pizzas for the price... of one?  Pizzaguy: Awww poo poo he's doing it again.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 21:21
|
|
|
DeathChicken posted:Nikos is great. That's a pretty good reaction to your coworkers pulling off the Philadelphia Experiment and then being like "Anyway on to stuff" Yeah, Von Esling really doesn't get phased much by anything and is almost the polar opposite of Stavros. Soviets invade and almost all of Greece and Germany has been taken and he is all "Well you stopped a tank convoy, so good show there." The Soviets are working on a device to make something invincible, "Huh, we don't know if it is on-line yet, but lets go smash it commander." Nothing ever more then slightly surprises this guy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 12:11
|
|
|
In stark contrast is Einstein's character. I've always thought it was odd how in the intro he's super focused, shows anger at his assistant and then goes stone-cold killer during his jaunt to the past. Compare this to his appearances in the other cutscenes where he's all "ha ha, I am very friendly and absent-minded, oh look at that soviet superweapon, incredible!" Given the horrors that Stalin is perpetrating, I'm really surprised that Einstein isn't similarly angry and focused on taking him down with mad superscience as well. Makes me wonder if there was a canon reason for this (it's all an act, RA is a parallel universe created by the original time travel incident, the new past has altered Einstein's memory, etc.) or whether Westwood simply didn't think about it before everything was already filmed.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 12:44
|
|
|
I'm guessing that with Hitler... out of the way, we're seeing an Einstein that didn't see the rise of Nazis and so was less jaded by now? Or he's just getting kind of eccentric in his old age. I don't know, I thought it was kind of weird when I was playing this as a kid and I'm not sure if I ever decided on it being intentional or not. I think it is. As quant as Westwood's FMV is, they're pretty adept at building a world and writing a story. They did more than Tiberium Dawn, after all.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 13:10
|
|
|
I've always thought Einstein was a bit of a stereotypical absentminded professor type, but with a dark edge due to this being an all-out war. Like he doesn't care AT ALL that a bunch of people died on board the ship they tried and failed to teleport, but he makes sure to mention that you should protect the scientists in the research building because they're important for research, not because they're living beings. He'd probably be an evil mad scientist viewed through any lens other than "is working for The Good Guys".
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 13:36
|
|
|
Hmm, never really thought of the disconnect between Einstein at the intro of the game, and how he acts in the cutscenes after. Heck, even when you control him on the battlefield in mission 1 for all of 30 seconds, he still sounds non-serious. Furthermore, if Einstein has all of his memories from both our timeline and the RA one, that raises even more questions that I doubt Westwood really thought of. But yeah, I took it as him being laser focused on science to defeat the Soviets, given that this whole new WW2, or whatever it will be called, happened because of his changing the past and killing Hitler before his rise to power. And if he has this knowledge, well, being a bit detached from the human element of things would make some sense.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 14:15
|
|
|
Another Einstein-related change - his time travel tech! As Jobbo mentioned in the last video, you can't move people with the Chronosphere. So did he decide to try to prevent paradox or just a return of Hitler by not developing that original version again? Or if he doesn't have the memories, maybe this time he doesn't have the motivation to come up with it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 15:18
|
|
|
Just go back in time and kill Stalin too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 15:20
|
|
|
It doesn't really make much sense. Vehicles can be transported even though their crew is supposed to be in danger because of the effects, also the tests were on boats but you can't transport boats. Maybe land vehicles are AI-controlled?
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 15:21
|
|
|
Well, maybe the whole issue is up-scaling and intent. The Chronosphere that can transport units is quite different then what Einstein used to time assassinate Hitler. Heck, maybe with the timeline changed, the device used to time travel might have just also disappeared as it would not have been built in a Hitlerless timeline. In any case, the experiments being done in the mission was to make it safe (or at least safer) to transport larger things and keep the crews from disappearing/being fused into the vehicle/boat. And you can use the Chronosphere on ships.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 15:29
|
|
|
UED Special Ops posted:Well, maybe the whole issue is up-scaling and intent. The Chronosphere that can transport units is quite different then what Einstein used to time assassinate Hitler. Heck, maybe with the timeline changed, the device used to time travel might have just also disappeared as it would not have been built in a Hitlerless timeline. In any case, the experiments being done in the mission was to make it safe (or at least safer) to transport larger things and keep the crews from disappearing/being fused into the vehicle/boat. And you can use the Chronosphere on ships. Really? I thought Jobbo said you can't. Maybe he just said they can't be transported to land and I misunderstood.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 15:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 22:30 |
|
|
Zanzibar Ham posted:Really? I thought Jobbo said you can't. Maybe he just said they can't be transported to land and I misunderstood. Yeah, since he was talking about about what the in-game Chronosphere does, he wasn't sure about boats being transported, but they can be. I have some other things to say about the Chronosphere but will wait until we see it in action first, as I would be getting deep into spoiler territory then.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 16:01
|
|