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Bloodly posted:They were. On an ordinary desktop screen or a basic TV, they would be. Hell, one of the issues with the freeware and current large screen sizes is the small maps get kinda screwy in display. This is basically what I meant. I booted up RA1 awhile ago on a 4k monitor, and literally laughed at how ridiculous it was.
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Dec 21, 2018 14:31
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Bloodly posted:"Sierra adventure design. Save early, save often, save in multiple slots. Because the game is out to get you and will if you're not super careful." That hasn't quite been discredited yet back in 1995. Part of the thing was also that Sierra games were actually pretty drat short if you knew what you were doing. Like... I think the unfairness was intentional content padding. Compare that to some games that will last you an age even if you do everything right and don't have to constantly reload, you could probably finish most Sierra games in a couple of hours.
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Dec 21, 2018 14:42
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Jobbo_Fett posted:Nod Map Dissection #02
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Dec 22, 2018 03:57
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Nod Map Dissection #03 Nod Mission 07A scb07ea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOiEGlpFaXE  Aside from the lovely tiberium field locations, I like the look of this map.  GDI gets a lot of different teams, with the dual Medium Tank groups probably being the worst of the bunch to deal with, unless you invest in a bunch of rocket soldiers.  Destroying the comms center eliminates A-10 call-ins, makes sense. Every building aside from the watch towers and the silos have the hunt trigger... except the barracks. Was this an oversight?  E2's are grenadiers and E3's are rocket soldiers. Destroying the village outside the GDI base is required, but the one in the bottom right can be ignored. Nod Mission 07B scb07eb Uses the same briefing as 07A  I'm conflicted on this map. I like the general look and movement throughout it but the Tiberium available looks annoying to deal with. Forcing the player to go through the GDI base to get to the civilians is an odd decision, imo.  GDI gets a lot of stuff once again.  Ok, so the AUTO trigger is tied to the Guard Towers. The map is strange in that, if the player moves into the atk triggers, it gives the GDI side some units, but if they move into the dely/delz zones, it kills the yyyy and zzzz triggers, respectively. The win condition is killing the civilians, although it seems that only between 50% to 75% of them have that trigger applied to them. Nod Mission 07C scb07ec  Nod Mission 08A scb08ea  The one I played in the LP Nod Mission 08B scb08eb No change in briefing  Nothing to really say about the map, other than its got better Tiberium field placement, and a blossom tree. Zoning out the AI for its income is easier.  Plenty of toys for GDI again  Oddly, the AI is set to not replace its helipads (Same applies to the A version). Oh and see those two boats at the bottom of the map? Gotta kill those too!
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Dec 22, 2018 04:47
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Bloodly posted:They were. On an ordinary desktop screen or a basic TV, they would be. Hell, one of the issues with the freeware and current large screen sizes is the small maps get kinda screwy in display. Yeah, I remember the sprites being a lot more distinct and interesting when they weren't smushed down into a tiny little thing. They were still chunky, but you could tell the difference between say a grenadier and a minigunner a lot easier.
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Dec 22, 2018 04:52
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Ahh the NOD mission 7a/b briefing. Just a few scientists poking around Seth says. If one takes the a or b path it really shows that Seth is really trying to get you to fail now by flat out lying about GDI strength in the area. And yeah, the map design for some of these missions is surprisingly complex and pretty nice looking. Really like how in NOD 7b the whole area north of the village is just covered in Tiberium. Really gives a sense of just how much of problem it is becoming. Just a shame that Tiberium patches near your base were so sparse/long distance on most of them though.
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Dec 22, 2018 05:21
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This really brings back memories. Thanks for running the thread!
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Dec 22, 2018 06:48
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Skye Robot posted:This really brings back memories. I need this sort of post in my life after I try to play a Covert Ops mission right before going to bed and then I have to beat it but its loving dumb as rocks so this happens 
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Dec 22, 2018 07:55
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we appreciate your sacrifice
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Dec 22, 2018 07:57
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Radio Free Kobold posted:we appreciate your sacrifice You know what the worst of it is? Its not the fact that you start with no base and have to build in a rather confined spot Its not the fact that the AI hunts down your harvesters if they go to the fields that aren't next to your base (and their base) Its not the fact that the AI gets A-10s against you because lore reasons Its not the fact that the AI will bust out a nuke after 2 hours for no god drat reason and with no warning Its not the fact that the AIs located on some mountain fortress that takes forever to get to and almost necessitates cheesing Its the fact that I can't loving unlock A-10s for myself until all the SAM sites are destroyed and the god drat AI has one in the far corner that you cannot get to without destroying his whole base anyways. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Dec 22, 2018 08:05
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Jobbo_Fett posted:You know what the worst of it is? Get this fucker a probation for spoiling parts that weren't already shown
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Dec 22, 2018 08:10
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Love the LP, and I thought wasting an hour for a seemingly simple mission was long. Wait, are you going to upload the entire mission video? Szurumbur fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Dec 22, 2018 |
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Dec 22, 2018 08:11
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Wow, I knew that the Covert Operations expansion missions were pretty BS, but that is a whole other level of horribleness. And yet, I have a feeling that there is probably even worse missions too.
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Dec 22, 2018 08:15
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Jobbo_Fett posted:I need this sort of post in my life after I try to play a Covert Ops mission right before going to bed and then I have to beat it but its loving dumb as rocks so this happens Holy poo poo, thank you for your sacrifice Jobbo.
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Dec 22, 2018 08:21
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PurpleXVI posted:Holy poo poo, thank you for your sacrifice Jobbo. 
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Dec 22, 2018 11:07
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I never played covert ops but have heard no opinions other than "goddamn these levels are bullshit" I have, however, reinstalled Red Alert so I can play along with the LP when we get to it and share in the pain/fun. I have fond memories of the game, but that was a long time ago. Does anyone know how the efficiency score is calculated? Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Dec 22, 2018 |
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Dec 22, 2018 12:22
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Crazy Achmed posted:Does anyone know how the efficiency score is calculated? Here is my post on it from a few pages back. UED Special Ops posted:From what I have read and seen, the score screen stats are slightly different for GDI and NOD. For GDI and NOD, leadership is based on your ratio of units built(including units you started with) compared to units lost. Not losing a single unit would be 100% leadership, but good luck with that outside of certain no production missions. Still unsure of what exactly goes into NOD efficiency but that seems to be the best guess, at least from what I found.
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Dec 22, 2018 13:13
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Szurumbur posted:Get this fucker a probation for spoiling parts that weren't already shown I love these forums
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Dec 22, 2018 13:59
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Covert Operations - Blackout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxqyr7mCF7c Covert Ops - Blackout  UNKNOWN Author's note: Very few missions will give any information regarding location.  Cold opens will be the standard for the expansion. Location: Unknown, Unknown Objective: Destroy the nearby Nod power plant facility so that an MCV can set up a base in the area, then eliminate all Nod forces. Briefing: We need to establish a base in this area. Unfortunately, so does Nod. They have already put up Obelisks to guard the only way in. We need you to cut the power to the Obelisks before our MCV arrives. With the MCV, set up a base and eliminate the Nod forces.  N/A  N/A Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Dec 24, 2018 |
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Dec 22, 2018 20:24
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In my headcanon the difference in effectivity of the A10s is because Col. Morelly hates the commander personally. Possibly because you misgendered her or because you are a creepy nerd. The Blackops missions seem to have a different commander.
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Dec 22, 2018 20:39
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That first Nod buggy that attacked your base, likely the only reason it moved the way it did was the waypoints set on its Teamtype in the script. Moved along the waypoints, and then went into "free" AI after reaching the location the mission designer guessed you'd be building your base at.
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Dec 22, 2018 21:03
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Jobbo_Fett posted:... and the god drat AI has one in the far corner that you cannot get to without destroying his whole base anyways. How dare you, that SAM site is a thing of true beauty. Almost drove a friend to tears. Skye Robot fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Dec 22, 2018 |
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Dec 22, 2018 21:09
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This was one of my favorite maps. Not entirely sure why anymore, maybe it was the open nature of it. Ironically, then, I tended to put my MCV across the first bridge to protect it. You can build sandbags across the bridges to expand your base.
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Dec 22, 2018 21:17
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Nod Map Dissection #04 Nod Mission 10A scb10ea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edNTtIYKYYY In this version of Mission 10, we are tasked with assassinating Wong Hu Chan. Presumably, his photo is used in the background during Kane's briefing. Name: Dr. Wong Hu Chan Aliases: None Affiliation: GDI Occupation: Doctor Voiced/Played by: Unknown A Doctor currently leading the team developing the Ion Cannon for the Global Defense Initiative. Assassinated by Nod forces. Author's note: Doctor Wong Hu Chan is never mentioned after this video, to my knowledge.  I actually really like the look of this map, and would've probably preferred getting this one as opposed to the Mammoth Tank production facility one of 10B fame. There's a lot of civilian buildings and there's enough space between everybody to make the small skirmishes feel tense by the end of it, depending on how well you perform. Looking into it, it seems the AI gets $4000 to spend, and theoretically could produce a refinery, although there's not much to harvest anywhere.  Nothing too exciting. I imagine the Commando would do very well here.  If you're fast enough you could probably kill both those yyyy/zzzz triggers, but the only thing to be aware of is the trigger that spawns a chinook, and where it will land. Nod Mission 10B scb10eb  There's a trigger in this one where if you move into the civilian village, a guy named Dwight is spawned. If you kill him, more civilians appear. Nod Mission 11A scb11ea No change in briefing  Did you think this was the level I played on? Me too! It's not.  Lots of teams, but little to talk about.  Same as above. There is a trigger to give the GDI side a transport with 5 grenadiers to fly into the base and attack. Nod Mission 11B scb11eb  You can't sneak into the right side of the GDI base because there's a trigger that sends troops to that side. Nod Mission 13A scb13ea  GDI gets two transport helicopters dropping units in the top left. Still don't understand this one. Nod Mission 13B scb13eb No change in briefing.  This doesn't seem so bad.  4 is the waypoint where your 2nd MCV is to go. Killing the AGT, GT, and Comms Center south of 4 causes the MCV to spawn.  The comms center controls the A-10s. Nod Mission 13C scb13ec No change in briefing.  This one looks like a pain. 3 blossom trees and nothing to really start with in the top right.  The allies get a transport helicopter to the top left for... reasons. Presumably you are to attack the top base first, then move your way down.  Destroying the Comms center in the middle left spawns an MCV, which moves to waypoint 13. There's no space to build a base and this looks like you'd be pulling teeth.
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Dec 22, 2018 22:26
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Am I stupid or did I see a Nod Chinook swoop into their base at around 22:30? Also, what's the "exchange rate" for repairing units vs rebuilding them? Like if you had a Mammoth Tank(assuming it didn't self-regenerate), busted down to its last sliver of health. How big a percentage of its total build price and build time would you be blowing to fully repair it?
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Dec 22, 2018 22:26
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NOD Campaign Locations Changes given if selected B or C option, where available, will be reflected next to A's information. Unless it's a different country. Nod Mission 02A Egypt (1st Visit) Population: 56,386,000 Expendability: 75% Capital: Cairo Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 18% Net Worth: $39.2 Billion Point of Conflict: Al-Alamyn (OPTION B: Al-Kharijah) Military Strength: Formidable Military Resistance: 82% Nod Mission 03B Sudan Population: 28,305,000 Expendability: 50% Capital: Khartoum Government: Military Govt Corruptability: 52% Net Worth: $12.1 Billion Point of Conflict: Kafia-Kingi (OPTION A: Al-Ubayyid) Military Strength: Respectable Military Resistance: 72% Nod Mission 04A Chad Population: 5,238,000 Expendability: 80% Capital: N'Djamena Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 85% Net Worth: $1 Billion Point of Conflict: Oum Hadjer (OPTION B: Mao) Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 35% Nod Mission 05 Mauritania Population: 2,059,000 Expendability: 50% Capital: Nouakchott Government: Islamic Republic Govt Corruptability: 48% Net Worth: $1 Billion Point of Conflict: Tidjikdja Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 24% Nod Mission 06A Ivory Coast Population: 13,497,000 Expendability: 33% Capital: Yamoussoukro Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 28% Net Worth: $10 Billion Point of Conflict: Abidjan Military Strength: Reasonable Military Resistance: 67% Nod Mission 06B Benin Population: 4,997,000 Expendability: 75% Capital: Porto-Novo Government: Democracy Govt Corruptability: 17% Net Worth: $1.7 Billion Point of Conflict: Porto-Novo Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 80% Nod Mission 06C Nigeria Population: 88,500,000 Expendability: 60% Capital: Abuja Government: In Transition Govt Corruptability: 93% Net Worth: $28 Billion Point of Conflict: Abuja Military Strength: Reasonable Military Resistance: 50% Nod Mission 07A Gabon Population: 1,106,000 Expendability: 5% Capital: Libreville Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 84% Net Worth: $5.3 Billion Point of Conflict: Koula-Moutou Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 22% Nod Mission 07B Cameroon Population: 12,658,000 Expendability: 55% Capital: Yaounde Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 48% Net Worth: $11.6 Billion Point of Conflict: Bertoua Military Strength: Reasonable Military Resistance: 62% Nod Mission 07C Central African Republic Population: 3,029,000 Expendability: 65% Capital: Bangui Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 41% Net Worth: $1.3 Billion Point of Conflict: Bangassou Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 49% Nod Mission 08B Zaire Population: 39,084,000 Expendability: 72% Capital: Kinshasa Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 74% Net Worth: $6.6 Billion Point of Conflict: Kinshasa (OPTION A: Lodja) Military Strength: Reasonable Military Resistance: 54% Nod Mission 09 Egypt Population: 23,154,000 Expendability: 45% Capital: Cairo Government: Democracy Govt Corruptability: 3% Net Worth: $39.2 Billion Point of Conflict: Luxor Military Strength: Reasonable Military Resistance: 100% Nod Mission 10A Angola Population: 8,902,000 Expendability: 45% Capital: Luando Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 63% Net Worth: $8.3 Billion Point of Conflict: Caiundo Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 66% Nod Mission 10B Tanzania Population: 27,791,000 Expendability: 55% Capital: Dar-Es-Salaam Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 27% Net Worth: $6.9 Billion Point of Conflict: Mzuzu Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 68% Nod Mission 11A Namibia Population: 1,874,000 Expendability: 5% Capital: Windhoek Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 65% Net Worth: $2 Billion Point of Conflict: Keetmanshoop Military Strength: Insignificant Military Resistance: 74% Nod Mission 11B Mozambique Population: 15,469,000 Expendability: 65% Capital: Maputo Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 52% Net Worth: $1.7 Billion Point of Conflict: Xai-Xai Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 84% Nod Mission 12 Botswania Population: 1,300,000 Expendability: 2% Capital: Gabarone Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 12% Net Worth: $3.1 Billion Point of Conflict: Ghanzi Military Strength: Laughable Military Resistance: 92% Nod Mission 13 South Africa Population: 41,68,000 Expendability: 10% Capital: Cape Town Government: Republic Govt Corruptability: 8% Net Worth: $104 Billion Point of Conflict: Cape Town Military Strength: Formidable Military Resistance: 100%
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Dec 22, 2018 22:56
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PurpleXVI posted:Am I stupid or did I see a Nod Chinook swoop into their base at around 22:30? That's exactly what happened, yeah. As for the repairing thing quote:(Unless the Rules.ini file is lying, these are the following stats for the Repair facility
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Dec 22, 2018 23:00
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so between mission 2 and 9 the population of egypt has dropped by half
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Dec 22, 2018 23:02
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Prav posted:so between mission 2 and 9 the population of egypt has dropped by half Yup!
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Dec 22, 2018 23:05
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Is it a typo or is it cutting commentary on the costs of war and/or tiberium poisoning? You decide!
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Dec 22, 2018 23:08
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Depending on whether or not you count refugees and internally displaced persons hunted by their own government as deserters and traitors as still "inhabiting" a country or not, Syria has suffered a similar drop in population(22 million inhabitants at the start of the siege of Daraa, now 21.5 million left alive of which 6 million internally displaced and 5 million refugees abroad). If the supercharged UN that GDI owes it's existence to has an equally empowered refugee policy, it would stand to reason that they'd evacuate those internally displaced persons out of the country if there's a big Nod vs GDI war going on. Edit In happier news: I found a playlist of There's A Home, I Am's studio album. Asehujiko fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Dec 23, 2018 |
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Dec 23, 2018 01:48
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Hmm, that first Covert Operations mission, minus the Temple of NOD surprise, actually seemed pretty reasonable, probably one of the few that are like that. Then again, having an airstrike from near the start probably helped, although I have no idea why less A-10s were available later on. Maybe actually losing some to SAM Sites decreases the number used in the strike? And yeah, the reason why the AI will always nuke/Ion Cannon an Advanced Guard Tower/Obelisk of Light is because those buildings have the highest threat rating to the AI in the game, and it will always target whatever has the highest threat rating if possible. I also would not worry to much about the whole canon and whatnot of this expansion, I am pretty sure that Westwood really just made them as extra missions and didn't really worry about actually placing them too much in the overall timeline. Interesting at how different the final NOD mission variants are though. 13c looks like a nightmare to play, lucky dodge on that one. Also interesting to see at how sparse Tiberium fields are on most of the maps, although this often cuts both ways and the AI base(s) often had poor fields as well at least.
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Dec 23, 2018 02:05
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I remember playing Nod 13C as a kid. One play-through, a single mini gunner was standing on the bridge leading to the north GDI base for most of the play-through, and I attacked that one last. A huge mass of medium and mammoth tanks built up behind that guy, so when I eventually took him out they all rushed my main base at once.
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Dec 23, 2018 03:42
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GDI Campaign Locations Changes given if selected B or C option, where available, will be reflected next to A's information. Unless it's a different country. GDI Mission 02 Estonia Population: 1,607,000 Geographic Area: 17,413 square miles Capital: Tallinn Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: Negligible Point of Conflict: Parnu Military Power: Local Militia GDI Mission 03 Latvia Population: 2,728,000 Geographic Area: 24,900 square miles Capital: Riga Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: Negligible Point of Conflict: Jelgava Military Power: Local Militia GDI Mission 04B Poland Population: 38,385,000 Geographic Area: 120,727 square miles Capital: Warsaw Government: Democratic State Gross Domestic Product: $162.7 Billion Point of Conflict: Gdansk (OPTION C: Byelistok) Military Power: Free Standing Army GDI Mission 04A Belarus Population: 10,373,000 Geographic Area: 80,134 square miles Capital: Minsk Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: Negligible Point of Conflict: Bobyrusk Military Power: State Militia GDI Mission 05A Germany Population: 80,387,000 Geographic Area: 137,838 square miles Capital: Berlin Government: Federal Republic Gross Domestic Product: $1.131 Trillion Point of Conflict: Dresden (OPTION B: Hanover) Military Power: National Power GDI Mission 05C Ukraine Population: 51,994,000 Geographic Area: 233,100 square miles Capital: Kiev Government: Constitutional Republic Gross Domestic Product: $47.6 Billion Point of Conflict: Ivano-Frankovsk Military Power: State Militia Option C and D are identical, apart from map used. GDI Mission 06 Czech Republic Population: 10,400,000 Geographic Area: 30,449 square miles Capital: Prague Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: $120 Billion Point of Conflict: Ostrava Military Power: National Guard GDI Mission 07 has the same information. GDI Mission 08A Austria Population: 7,867,000 Geographic Area: 32,377 square miles Capital: Vienna Government: Democracy Gross Domestic Product: $164 Billion Point of Conflict: Jelgava Military Power: National Guard GDI Mission 08B Slovakia Population: 5,300,000 Geographic Area: 18,932 square miles Capital: Bratislava Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: Negligible Point of Conflict: Bratislava Military Power: Local Militia GDI Mission 09 Hungary Population: 10,333,000 Geographic Area: 35,919 square miles Capital: Budapest Government: Democracy Gross Domestic Product: $60.1 Billion Point of Conflict: Budapest Military Power: National Guard GDI Mission 10A Slovenia Population: 1,974,000 Geographic Area: 7,819 square miles Capital: Ljubljana Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: $21 Billion Point of Conflict: Trieste Military Power: State Militia GDI Mission 10B Romania Population: 23,169,000 Geographic Area: 91,699 square miles Capital: Bucharest Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: $71.9 Billion Point of Conflict: Arad Military Power: National Guard GDI Mission 11 Greece Population: 10,064,000 Geographic Area: 51,146 square miles Capital: Athens Government: Parliamentary Republic Gross Domestic Product: $77 Billion Point of Conflict: Corinth Military Power: Free Standing Army GDI Mission 12A Albania Population: 3,285,000 Geographic Area: 11,100 square miles Capital: Tirana Government: Democracy Gross Domestic Product: $4 Billion Point of Conflict: Shkoder Military Power: National Guard GDI Mission 12B Bulgaria Population: 8,868,000 Geographic Area: 44,365 square miles Capital: Sofia Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: $47.3 Billion Point of Conflict: Sofia Military Power: National Guard GDI Mission 13 Yugoslavia Population: 10,337,000 Geographic Area: 39,449 square miles Capital: Belgrade Government: Republic Gross Domestic Product: $120 Billion Point of Conflict: Nis Military Power: Free Standing Army GDI Mission 14 has the same information as the above. GDI Mission 15 Bosnia/Herzogovina Population: 4,365,000 Geographic Area: 19,741 square miles Capital: Sarajevo Government: In Transition Gross Domestic Product: $14 Billion Point of Conflict: ? Military Power: ?
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Dec 23, 2018 04:07
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Covert Operations - Hell's Fury https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rYI2tPg4e8 Covert Ops - Hell's Fury UNKNOWN Location: Unknown, Unknown Objective: Clear the immediate area so that an MCV can be sent in with reinforcements, then build a base and wipe out the Nod forces in the area. Briefing: Nod is attempting to rebuild their Temple with its Nuclear missile. Establish a base and wait for contact with Agent Delphi. He will show you the best way to their base. Use everything at your disposal to stop the Brotherhood. Author's note: The question here is, are the Nod forces here attempting to rebuild the Temple of Nod from/in Bosnia/Herzogovina, the Temple of Nod in Blackout, or an altogether different Temple of Nod?  Name: [REDACTED] Aliases: DELPHI Affiliation: GDI Occupation: Spy Voiced/Played by: [REDACTED] A GDI Operative, he helped locate Kane's bio-chemical research lab. Also provided information during Operation "Hell's Fury". N/A Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Dec 24, 2018 |
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Dec 23, 2018 05:28
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Ok, wow, that looked like a nightmare of a mission and just total BS from beginning to end. Seriously, NOD had this place better defended then the Sarajevo HQ by miles. Where to even start with this miserable mission? Well, from the start the whole allowing the AI to just endlessly spam flame troops is a major issue and is just cheap difficulty for the sake of being cheap. Double so the commando team and attack bike spam, that just looked incredibly unfun to keep dealing with. As for air strikes, yeah, unless there is a special trigger to give you one, the only time they will show up is when all SAM Sites are down, aka, usually 30 seconds from ending the map. There is no reason not to just give em early this map, the utterly insane amount of SAM Sites would keep them from doing anything anyway, might as well give the player something. Now, as for the nuke "surprise", that is a king dick move, especially since the strike came a good 10 minutes faster then the one on the final GDI mission. And of course the AI getting unlimited nukes is very dumb. Plus, stashing the Temple away in some mountain fortress like that, come on. As for the Obelisks, they should be able to fry Humvees. Obelisks deal 200 special(whatever that means, maybe ignoring or not being impacted much by armor type?) damage and a Humvee has 150 HP and is a light armor type. By all counts it should have been taken out, so no clue what is going on there. Now, for the GDI base location, it is a textbook horrible place to set up shop, but you won't know that until 20ish minutes in. And as you said, by then you have spent so much time on the mission, that one might as well just try to finish it out. Plus, with how AI triggers are, who knows, maybe setting up on the highground would just cause the AI attack waves to start up early. As for the NOD bases, well, that upper left base was probably the greatest amount of BS I have seen yet from C&C1. Seriously Westwood, 5 SAM Sites, 5 Obelisks and even two flame tanks as a kicker? There is difficulty and there is whatever Hell this is. Weird how crazy the AI went though when they lost their Construction Yard, I have never seen that behavior before, might have been trigger related? And speaking of crazy, Agent DELPHI going nuts like that was pretty funny. Shame that he was probably doing 0 damage to the Turret thanks to its heavy armor class. At least he was trying. Oh, and I checked, there is no hotkey for selling or repairing buildings, have to do it manually. You are right, the MLRS is a piece of crap for attacking bases. Stat-wise the MLRS has 6 range, 4 sight, 100 HP with light armor and deals 75 high explosive damage, so it is actually less effective against heavy armor, and all wrapped up in an 800 credit price tag. For comparison, a NOD Turret has a range of 6, 5 sight, 200 HP with heavy armor and deals 40 armor-piercing damage, so it is less effective vs light and no armor units. And all for 600 credits. So one on one with no repairs a MLRS will always lose vs a basic Turret. Fun. As for the end of the mission, I have no idea why Westwood would give you a single transport chopper when you build a helipad. With all of the SAM Sites everywhere, the thing is totally useless for just about everything. Maybe in an early version of the map you had to use it to pick up Agent DELPHI, but it got cut? That, or it is a just a cruel joke from Westwood. All in all, this was a horrible mission and using cheese/AI tricks, etc almost seems mandatory for it and probably the others coming up. Once again, good luck on this expansion, Westwood doesn't seem to be pulling their punches anymore. UED Special Ops fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Dec 23, 2018 |
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Dec 23, 2018 07:53
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Yeah, that mission is total bullshit. "Special" damage type is only used by the obelisk and does full damage to everything regardless of armour type. The warhead/armour damage reduction was shown off heaps in this mission - I wasn't joking about GDI's static defenses being garbage against heavy armour (tanks). You really need to have a medium tank or some rocket soldiers stationed permanently next to your (advanced) guard towers. I forget if you mentioned it in the video but yes, the advanced comms centre does obsolete the regular comms centre, so if you build it you should sell the regular old comms centre immediately. Looking at this map, I get the feeling you are supposed to get a few squads up ASAP of tanks with infantry or humvee backup to escort your harvesters (gotta mix armour-piercing with small arms attacks to deal with either vehicles or infantry), then expand your control over the lower map before assaulting the Nod bases one by one. At least, that would be a decent mission but it's totally undermined by the rain of nukes, 5,000,000 obelisks guarding the construction yard, and lovely pathfinding to the temple. This seems like a good time to talk about the resource-gathering philosophy of C&C and how it's totally at odds to the modern Starcraft school of RTS. In the latter, resources are all clustered in your base so your static base defences can protect your base, your harvesters and your army-under-construction before you march out and try to blow your opponent up. Expansion bases are a similar beast, where you set up defensive camps next to more resources. Age of Empires is kind of similar to this too. TD comes right off the back of Dune 2, which was very specifically about forcing the player to deal with resources being relatively far away from their base and in dangerous locations, and it cribs the same ideas. In stark contrast to Starcraft where works are brittle, quick and somewhat expendable, C&C harvesters are slow, tough and crippling to replace (expensive and ties up your army production for a long time too).
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Dec 23, 2018 10:59
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I kinda prefer harvesters. It's just more fun and rewarding to watch them head out and bring back resources, especially in Dune where you can eventually get carryalls to speed it up. Sitting around and waiting for long periods of time because the maps have way too little and/or it doesn't regrow fast enough is not fun however. 
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Dec 23, 2018 13:14
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I was always disappointed that you couldn't send Harvesters to munch on enemy's buildings, since their sprites look like they have huge jaws. At the Coverts Ops look like a waste of time, at least in the campaing you could look forward to some FMV with some fun characters, not so here.
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Dec 23, 2018 13:34
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oh, Hell's Fury looked like it was bullshit. That's cute. Wait until you see the next one 
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Dec 23, 2018 14:50
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