Command And Conquer series

I prefer the vanilla factions but am partial to Laser, Nuke and Tank.

At first I almost exclusively played Granger due to how his jets were practically immune to missiles, but as time passed and I got better at RTS games overall I began to prefer playing as the GLA, particularly Prince Kassad. Once you get a strong economy going and manage to expand outside of your main base it's almost impossible to stop that guy!

The Shockwave mod for Zero Hour definately mixed things up though. A lot of imbalances were fixed (well, most of them... GLA quad cannons are still nigh-unstoppable when mixed with rocket buggies) and now I've started getting used to the Superweapon general. They actually made her practical, even team-work oriented by making the majority of her units focus on support roles such as artillery, healing/repairs, dropping off repair kits or even buffing other units, as well as giving her a few good shout-out units such as the robot hover tank from RA 2 and the Sonic disruptor from Kane's Wrath!

Only problem with the mod though is that they made the laser general a little TOO powerful: they decided to remove the Point Defense lasers that the Airforce general had and give it to him as well as all of his tanks, a whole bunch of new or improved units, and a really powerful railgun artillery unit THAT CAN SHOOT THROUGH OBSTACLES AND MULTIPLE UNITS. Yeah, you can tell that whoever made that mod was probably a Townes fanboy.

Hmm... well, Townes' lazers are kinda neat, but boring. His only main difference from vanilla Eagleland is the laser tanks. Alexander is too turtle-y even for my tastes, plus her planes like to kill each other with those air bombs. So I'll have to go with Granger for those cloaked Commanches and superior air power.

For the Chinese, probably Shi Tao, as the others' strategies are "build a blob of infantry/tanks and attack-move." At least with Shi Tao I get to decide between systematically annihilating the enemy with nuke cannons, turtling until my six silos are ready to fire simultaneously, or the rare nuclear-powered tank hammer.

GLA... I dunno, I like Juzhiz. It's kinda novel brute-forcing with the tricksy, fragile army. Kassad is tactical and all, but still wimpy. Dr. Thrax just sucks.

Not sure who my favorite general to fight is, mainly because I'm apparently terrible at RTSes and can only beat the General Challenge on Easy. So when I fight tank guy, his attacks consists of maybe two gatling tanks every three minutes, and after the initial airstrikes plane guy just kinda sits back in his base waiting for me to kill him. But when I crank the difficulty up a notch I get roflstomped in the initial attack.

edited 4th Apr '12 9:45:27 PM by Tacitus

Juhziz becomes absolutely terrifying to fight against if your enemy knows about the demo rebel ambush trick. Basically, it involves getting the suicide uprgade from the GLA Palace (it basically equips ALL of your units with bombs that will either trigger upon command or death), and then upgrading your rebel ambush ability to level 3. Afterwards, if you manage to see that your enemy is making a superweapon or has an airfield full of auroras, just use the ambush ability, spread your guys around the structure, and KABOOM! Unstoppable Super-weapon/ annoying aurora counter!

The ONLY way to stop that trick is either killing the rebels with bullets, flashbangs, or neutron landmines, which won't set off the explosives.

I always enjoyed the infantry Chinese general. Minigunners are just so fun!

Pfft, they didn't even have miniguns. Hell, their portraits depicted them with AK-47s. How does an assault rifle shoot down a supersonic jet?

Try not to dwell on that for too long, and just enjoy all the pretty explosions!

...Or else you'll start realizing even worse stuff, like why are the Red guard only equipped with freaking BOLT ACTION RIFLES instead of the QBB-95 or A Ks 74. Or why does a Ranger's flashbangs KILL a target instead of incapacitating them...

edited 5th Apr '12 8:53:17 AM by SgtRicko

^ Why do RPG-7s home in on aircraft an ability they lack in real life? Why do rockets in general seem incapable of doing serious harm to a rifleman in the open? Why are Quad Cannons which from their aesthetics lack the search radar and fire control capabilities of various SPAAG's like the ZSU-23-4 seem to be able to contend with F-22s a jet with not only stealth but a fast flight profile?

Answer to all of these? Gameplay.

Tom said it; RTS games are not realistic. You can't magically create an army out of nowhere in real life; a baracks is not a cloning pod. It's escapism from the word "Go".

I LOATHED the mini gunners. they could go 1V1 with a assault chopper AND WIN. >:(

I loathed how one Assault Troop Crawler with Minigunners on the move was more powerful at air defense than a dozen Quad Cannons.

Then again the Rocketvee was a better air defense on the move at least it was fast and with Search and Destroy would have superior range to most aircraft and vehicles.

I really think they were OP vs aircraft.

Thats why i hate them so much, I like garanger.

The Chinese infantry general was pretty much the only opponent that Granger had a hard time dealing with, due to how many effective AA weapons they possessed. Whenever you find that sort of match-up, it's going to be about how long you can hold out until you have enough stealth fighters in the air to kill his bunkers and stun his infantry. That, or whoever pulls off the most effective rush first.

yea, frigin AA

Those chinese infantry men remind me of Yuri's rape towers and rape drones. The ones with the insanely OP gattling guns.

Speaking of rape, everyone remember the SCUD bug? When I first discovered it, I taunted my friends with it forever. "Nice base you got there. Boom. It was nice while it lasted."

Anyone played Mental Omega????? its basically adds 3 news campaing, more units, more tech, more buildings, oh and the Yuri Faction gets 3 divisions, Rape for everyone

Nah, they balanced him. His gattling turrets aren't that great anymore, except for one of his factions that get the original version. Also, the psychic towers now take a moment to control a target, so bum-rushing them actually works to an extent.

Link for those who want it.

My favorite part about it is that the Soviets aren't completely useless anymore.

What version do you have? I thought the psychic towers got replaced by railgun towers, which are basically tesla coils that you can't charge.

edited 8th Apr '12 1:33:30 PM by videogmer314

Oh my jizz, I do hope the standalone comes out. My discs were too aged to be read, and I can't get the copies anymore

Well, if you own them, why don't you just download them off a torrent or something? It's not piracy if you already bought the product, you know.

That's not what the 'officials' say though. But truth be told, I can't seem to find myself the spare copies. I'd rather save my internet for something else than to DL something potentially loaded with virus keygens or having a different orientation / language

The Shockwave mod is fun. I think my favorite in that mod was Deathstrike though. All his old soviet tech reminded me of RA 2.

Plus not having to build power buildings was a huge time saver. I also liked Leang but her aweful coal power plants were a pain in the ass to deal with. Like, half my base was those damn things.

Supposedly it's to balance out the fact that she has some kickass base defenses, supply choppers instead of supply trucks, and a really powerful superweapon. The only thing that's weak about her army is the lack of a strong ground unit (aside from her TOS-1 Buratinos).

You don't really need the CD key generator, you could use yours. You said you had the discs, right? If you still have the original key, then just get a copy off the internets, then input the one you already have. It's not that hard to find it from a reliable source, really. Of course, I can't say more. It's against the rules.

I've had a bit of a thought for heroes in the C&C games. Some of the biggest issues with them right now is that:

1) Infantry don't last very long in the field since they're so fragile and easy to kill.

2) They're ususally designed for commando/infiltration duties, and base defenses/detectors are a dime a dozen in C&C games.

3) The specical abilites they are given are usually very limited, nor do they work well with other units or tactics.

If that's the case, then why not design hero units in the vein of Warcraft 3? For example, instead of a commando, your hero might be a tank commander who can give buffs to units in the field, hop into any heavy vehicle of choice and greatly buff it's capabilities, as well as giving it unique abilities, such as high-explosive shells, an HMG to ward off infantry, etc. Another example would be to tie the support powers together with the hero unit - make it that if you want to use the power, you need to have the hero unit designate the target or allow them to call in supply drops/ repair kits. That way, players will have both an incentive to use the hero units on the frontlines, as well as protect them.

edited 10th Apr '12 3:56:12 AM by SgtRicko