Command & Conquer V (or Generals 2) in production

Sweet.

There are mods, indie games, and then there's Renegade X. You'd think they'd be satisfied with just updating and rebalancing the game into the modern era with the Unreal 3 engine, but these guys TOTALLY went out of their way with this one. New music, new weapons, improved balance, a brand new mission which I've played and totally kicks ass, new voicework FROM THE ORIGINAL GUY THAT VOICED HAVOC - yeah, it's pretty epic.

A few things to note though...

-It doesn't look like the game is going to have a fully fleshed out campaign, at least not anytime soon. The one singleplayer level is actually a demo for their final product, which is going to be multiplayer-only and will actually cost money.

-You can now sprint. However it's limited by a sprint meter, which also gets drained by jumping, so quake-style jumping probably won't work too well here.

-Your health does NOT regenerate in this game, not even the vehicles armor. So get ready for some old school backtracking if you're low on life, or ditching your ride if it's running low.

-That little point above is made up for by the fact that the AI is pretty much hopeless. While they're ok at target recognition, they're hillariously bad at pathfinding and knowing when to retreat or press the advantage. Definately not a strong point, but to be fair AI coding isn't the easiest task in the world either.

-You're now restricted to carrying three weapons only: a pistol (which is always on you), and two additional weapons. No more hyperspace arsenal like in the last game.

-A LOT of the weapons have been rebalanced. The minigun now acts like it should and not like the basic rifle with a bigger clip, the flamethrower now has considerable range and does serious damage to infantry, and guns now have recoil - no more sniping with your trusty chaingun over ridiculous distances.

-The game's still got a whole lot of kinks to iron out. Your HUD tends to disappear randomly at times, aiming is a little off when it comes to vehicles, graphics tend to pop in and out at times... its obvious that this thing still has some ways to go in terms of stability.

-And last, but not least... the Ion Cannon. Why... WHY can't something so beautifully destructive exist in real life? WHY?!?!!?!

edited 29th Jan '12 7:19:46 PM by SgtRicko

It could be, but it's illegal to put WM Gs in orbit. I think an Ion canon counts.

Wait, Is a mod, and I need to pay for it??? o.O

Uh, no, Black Dawn is free, I think.

I suppose it depends on how you want to define a "WMD" and "orbit". An ion cannon does not fit the standard definition of WMD used by the UN to my knowledge (as it's not classified as nuclear, radiological, chemical, or biological), nor is the weapon in orbit, merely the mirror.

Umm, no. The Ion Cannon is DEFINATELY a satellite in orbit, all GDI ever builds on the ground is the comms center to call in the strikes. You're thinking about the USA Particle Cannon from Generals, that one uses satellite mirrors to bounce the beam around.

Ah, my bad. Still, the first part stands.

I found this little gem on one of the C&C fansites recently:

Battlefield 3: Operation Red Alert

It's obiviously an edited Battlefield 3 video made to look like it's a mod, but still the idea is inspiring. It also shows that if someone is up to the task, the Frostbite 2 engine could be used to make a decent RTS-FPS hybrid. Too bad they haven't released any sort of Modding SDK for BF 3 yet.

Well there's some good news and bad news.

First off, the bad: it looks like they actually did scrap the idea behind Generals 2 itself for the time being. As you may have heard, it is now being turned into a Free-to-Play game, and it's primary focus will be multiplayer. Therefore, no more singleplayer campaign.

Now, the good. The lack of a campaign might change, depending on the fanbase and requests. Also - this is the awesome part - they're planning on adding in the Red Alert and Tiberium universe through gradual updates, similar to World of Tanks and it's nation's tech trees. Finally, all of us who've had that USA-GDI-Allies vs GLA-Nod-Soviets fantasy can see it come true!

Methinks they're overreaching, and have a good chance of ending up falling flat on their faces in the most embarrassing and/or disastrous way possible.

I think the problem with that is that the Generals universe is considerably more based in real life than the rest of the C&C games, which is part of its appeal. Facing the Generals factions against the extreme sci-fi technology of Red Alert and Tiberium would... basically just be a curbstomp. RA vs. Tiberium might be interesting, but even that has problems.

My fear already with Generals 2, right from when the first trailer came out, was that it was going to end up being too immersed in science fiction. Recent news isn't helping that at all.

I just want an updated rerelease of Zero Hour with better graphics. :I

Ditto. Maybe with some balance changes and a new 'plot'.

Hey, the Generals single player campaign was great! There were plenty of cool levels in there, and I really liked Zero Hour's General Challenges.

What balance changes are you thinking of? I don't remember much being too bad, but then again it's been a while since I booted up Generals.

Air General and King Raptors. Unless your playing China or a side that has no missile based anti air, he's going to rip you a new one. Don't even get me started on Auroa bombers.

I felt that the Nuke General was the only real offender, what with having cheap nuke-equipped Mi Gs. A few of those could level a whole base, not to mention the improved Nuclear Missile superweapon.

Ever play a mod that adds a Demolitions General general challenge (Shockwave is one such mod)? He is fucking brutal. Of course, it doesn't help that the map doesn't put you in a particularly defensible position, and the mod gives him REALLY long range artillery (TOPOL-M launchers).

I always figured that the Infantry and Demolitions generals were omitted from (vanilla) generals challenge for being too powerful.

edited 24th Aug '12 11:18:03 PM by Balmung

I really love his Combat Chinooks and King Raptors. So no, I wouldn't touch him. I'd probably give a moderate boost to all of the USA's units across the board and make Chinese units cheaper. And probably nerf the infantry general's minigunners. Seriously, a USA player is pretty much helpless against those overpowered death machines until he gets Pathfinders.

edited 24th Aug '12 11:04:59 PM by CPFMfan

Play the Shockwave Mod. I think that one put him in there and of course there are new units and balance changes but it should make the challenge easier. I tried fighting Iron Side once on a custom map and I got murdered. Than again, I was limited to Standard USA so I couldn't use my favorite strat.

edited 24th Aug '12 11:03:46 PM by mega-dark

That was the EXACT mod I referenced. The Demolitions General challenge is MUCH harder than any other.

I say the Superweapons General is the one that needs balance, if only because it gleefuly encourages a pure "turtling + unstoppable airstrikes + superweapon spam" style throughout the match that is frustrating to break. You have no idea how much torment I went through before I finally broke through the airtight "constantly very frequent succession of A-10 airstrikes, Comanche raids, Aurora Alpha bombing, and souped-up Particle Cannon doomrays" pattern of this General during the Generals Challenge — and I was playing with Shi Tao "The Nuke".

Only the Tigress ever came close to being as despair-inducing as Alexis Alexander.

edited 25th Aug '12 12:18:33 AM by MarqFJA

Really? I find her pretty easy. Aurora Alpha strikes are relatively infrequent and you can shut down much of her power infrastructure with superweapons, aurora bomber strikes, or sneak attack tunnels and she'll never be able to replace most of it because her dozers can't reach the places she'd stick them. Also, I usually (if I'm USA or China) turn her nearest Particle Uplink Cannon against her. The rest usually just comes down to a nice wall of AAA.

Seriously, if you want despair, go get Shockwave and fight the Demolitions General. I mean, other than him, the mod is great, but fighting Juhziz just isn't fun because he can strike too hard, too fast.

edited 25th Aug '12 12:24:33 AM by Balmung

Here's a video on the airforce and Iron Side General taking down the Demo General. I'll look through his videos and see if he has a GLA general or China general taking him down.

Edit:Dr Thrax vs Demo
Death Strike vs Demo
Leang vs Demo

I hope those help.

edited 25th Aug '12 7:25:18 AM by mega-dark

There's one cheap trick I learned that will save you a TON of grief on that challenge. What you need to do is build the cheapest, most expendable unit you have: the Red Guard or scout crawlers for China, or slave workers for GLA are your best bet (the USA is a bit more complicated - I'll get to them shortly).

Place them at the far north entrances to your base ASAP: the first suicide bike should come along shortly and target that unit instead of your more critical stuff. Afterwards, do the same for the east side and IMMEDIATELY start building base defenses, particularly Tunnel networks and gattling guns, to cover the northern entrances and hills. Once done, send another sacrificial unit to stand in front (but not close) of the defenses, so that way the suicide units will be aggroed by them first instead of your more important base defenses. You can sometimes even lead them on a wild goose chase away from your base if you catch their attention from far enough!

Don't worry too much about the south: Juhziz seems to ignore it for the first few minutes, only sending a lone suicide bike at some point. It's when he sends the first tank or artillery units down south that you need to start worrying about defense down there. Problem is, it's a bit trickier, since your defenses will likely be in range of his rocket buggies and TOPOL launchers across the river. You'll have to wipe out the southern units as soon as you can and take control of the bridge: that way, his launchers will not have a clear shot at your base any more and will instead focus on the bridge, which is easier to defend. Just make sure to watch out for the Demo traps, they're all over that bridge!

Now, for the USA's starting defense... yeah, you're in a real pickle of a situation with them. You'll likely lose a dozer or power plant as soon as the match starts: accept that. But what you can do is make sure to build the power plant first: you'll get a ranger or two spawned once it's destroyed, and then use them as cheap decoys so the suicide bikes will kill them instead of something vital. Afterwards, start building rockvees and firebases ASAP. Firebases don't cost power, have good splash damage, and can be garrisoned by the more effective missile defenders. The rockvee can quickly move from entrance to entrance to deal with threats both armored and bomb-related, while at the same time having enough speed to outrun them for a bit.

Afterwards once your base is (somewhat) secure focus on getting a Strategy Center with the Search and Destroy plan up and running ASAP so that way you can start building Auroras. The reason is simple: you'll want to target Juhziz's Palace to the east, since it's the one structure he won't rebuild. And if done fast enough you may be able to stop him from building the SCUD Storm, as well as the TOPOL launchers and rocket buggies (though it's not likely - you'll probably be still busy trying to secure the perimeter when he starts building it).

edited 25th Aug '12 10:00:45 AM by SgtRicko

The upcoming C&C: Generals 2 has been renamed to simply Command & Conquer.

... Ohhhhhh, I am going to hate the EA executive who suggested this for the rest of my life even more than the others who meddled in the franchise ever since they took over Westwood Studios. I mean, it's so obvious: They want to overwrite Westwood's rightful claim to fame of being the creators of the Command & Conquer franchise!

edited 22nd Dec '12 6:59:29 AM by MarqFJA