RA2YR: Changing of the Guard [Ares]

Millennium

Hi! I've not been active in the community for.... oh my, a couple of years actually... but an offline friend of mine (NCoder), who is still active, asked me to present his current mod on PPM, as he couldn't manage to make an account here (his browser wouldn't let him register? I have no idea. Anyways, moving on!). He is already on Revora with this mod, so you guys might want to check back on information there if you care enough.
Anyways, the mod's title is...

Changing of the Guard
(which is a WIP/project title nonetheless)

While no "official" background story exists yet, the basic idea is a POD somewhere during the Pacific War, with the Japanese Empire opting to expand westwards and keeping its hands off Pearl Harbour. This change causes an asian superstate to come into existence in the 1960, consisting mainly of the Chinese Empire, Japanese Empire and Kingdom of Korea. This faction, the "Asian Alliance", is playable, replacing Yuri's side. The Alliance focuses on extremely resilient defenses and a powerful navy, however its air and surface units are terribad and to get anywhere on the offense, it has to employ spamming tactics, which are helped by their quick and multi-tracked production mechanism. Eastasians use several technologies based on unused effects left over in the RA2/YR engine, such as railguns, and also technology adapted from Yuri, such as mind control, which became hacking, and gattling weapons. They also make extensive use of drones and other robotic combat units, such as mechs, to boost their numbers on the battlefield further.

A further side, conceptual only for now, is the Brotherhood, which is something along the lines of Al Quaeda. The Brotherhood was initially planned as the third side, but this was cancelled due to artistic reasons and was replaced by Eastasia.

The Allies and Soviets also received various alterations, such as the Prism Tank being toned down from artillery to all-purpose battle tank, the introduction of the Chrono Artillery (which teleports explosive charges) as the allied artillery unit, the addition of the Chrono Prison, Prism Troopers (a staple), Chrono Tanks, and for the Soviets, the replacing of the V3 with the Scud Launcher, the addition of a buildable airforce, etc.

While this mod has been tugging on for 2 years+ (the first version was quite ripped on on Revora), the artwork problem rears its head again at this point of development. We'd greatly appreciate if someone wants to add themselves to the mod team, ideally with some expertise in making building SHPs, but I acknowledge that at this point, this is propably asking too much from the RA2 community. Still, if one of the old-timers (or newbies, mind you!) is still hanging around here and wants to put their skill to use, you're welcome to leave a comment here, PM me, or contact NCoder on Revora.

Let me present some screenshots from the mod:

AA_units01.PNG

Description:

From left to right:
Zhuge Nu (a gattling tank), Shrine (the remains of a fallen soldier controlling a war mech), Qilin Tank, Hwacha (a MLRS), Hurricane (a lighter MLRS, of which the Hwacha is the upgrade version), Lynx Tank (basic MBT), Nuke Cannon ('hero

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AA_units02.PNG

Description:

Showcase of Asian Alliance buildings and airforce: Tech Center and Airpad, the aircraft are Dragonfly (which never lands, instead circling an area, trailing toxic fumes behind itself to contaminate infantry below), Firefly (a rocket engine kamikaze plane)

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ls640china 0000.png

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Chinese loadscreen!

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loadflags.PNG

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Selecting the Asian Alliance countries for skirmish...

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Ixonoclast · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 5:21 pm Post subject:

That tower... Looks like a tower from RAGE, I think.

Millennium · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject:

I'm aware this "tower" (the one with the antennas and lights, yes?) was a tech center in Enemy at the Gates. However it was in a downloadable resource pack by ...Darknessvolt I think? on Revora. I also think it is freely available on RA2DIY (chinese site), so no ripping as far as I can tell.

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Graion Dilach · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 6:01 pm Post subject:

hm? http://www.ppmsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13464

_________________
"If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more...

Millennium · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 6:13 pm Post subject:

Right. And by now I figured out that Ixonoclast was referring to a building in the game Rage, not something in a mod called Rage. My bad!

More features:

Asian Alliance Infantry

Ashigaru
The Ashigaru are the Alliance's mainstay infantry. Cheap, lightly armored and armed with a chaingun, they form the bulk of any strategic formation. They are more vulnerable than both other sides' basic infantry, being limited by their weapon's range and firepower, however they also fire much faster, pushing the DoT higher on a per-unit basis than any of their contemporaries - if they live long enough to see it. Because they are so cheap, they also promote quickly, benefiting from their elite weaponry earlier than other infantry. Like all basic infantry, they can occupy civilian structures. If a player owns more than one Dojo, one additional Ashigaru will emerge from each additional Dojo if the player trains one.
* Primary: Minigun - Rapid-fire, low-damage, short-range bullet fire against ground targets.
* Secondary: N/A

Firelancer
Named after an ancient chinese rocket weapon, the Firelancer is not actually armed with rockets. Instead, this combatant carries a thermal ray cannon which can instantly ignite or melt infantry. It deals some damage against vehicles as well, but it is generally negligible in this respect except for when used in massed formations. Its main use against enemy armor is that its microwave beam shuts down electronics for a brief moment, disabling whatever vehicle he hits and making it easy prey for other units with more of an anti-armor punch.
* Primary: Thermal Ray - Ignites infantry; paralyzes vehicles for a brief moment. This effect stacks from multiple Firelancers, up to a limit.
* Secondary: Thermal Ray Blast - Self-centered weaker AoE version of Thermal Ray.

Powered Armor
The Alliance developed various forms of Powered Armor to counter the manifold hazards of the battlefield, which revitalized the concept of heavy infantry in modern warfare, allowing for generous amounts of armor protection without prohibitive effects on mobility - and actually allowing the integration of weapon systems that would not be portable to the average human soldier. The infantrymen wearing these devices are protected from radiation, poisonous gas, sniping and even flame-based weaponry, behaving to all these threats much like vehicles would. However, their suits are powered by high-yield energy cells, which have a tendency to go off when the suits are heavily damaged, damaging nearby comrades.
* Primary: Chaingun - Good, not special, triple-burst bullet fire against ground targets. Fires rather quickly.
* Secondary: Pilot Ejection - If the suit's destruction is imminent, the pilot can eject himself, becoming an ordinary Ashigaru. If the pilot is not ejected, survival rates of pilots are zero if their suits are destroyed.

Hacker
Hackers are Alliance tech specialists, operating in much the disruptive role they do on the internet's dark underbelly - only now in a military context. Hackers are equipped with tools to shut down enemy armor and vehicles over a distance. They have to deploy to use these, but when doing so can affect targets over extended ranges, disabling incoming columns of armor, or shutting down enemy base defenses in preparation for an assault. Hackers also power the Comm Center, being required to occupy it for its special functions and charging its superweapons. To have additional shelter, Hackers can be sent to occupy Hacker Outposts, fortified structures with electronic warfare and surveillance equipment which increases their range and protects them from enemy fire. Of course, these can only be used in a defensive role.
* Primary: N/A
* Secondary: Shutdown

ShadowHand
ShadowHands are modern-day field operatives making use of the ancient art of ninutsu (ninja arts), aided by many futuristic tools and weapons, such as a force knife that can cut through vehicle armor, and stealth suits, allowing them to slip past base defenses. The ShadowHand can assassinate any non-hero infantry with a single attack, as well as kill the drivers of vehicles, however for this he has to get within meelee range, as he is not equipped with ranged weaponry. He can also infiltrate structures for the same effect as the allied spy, however he cannot disguise.
* Primary: Force Knife - Instantly kills any non-hero unit. Elite Shadowhands do not lose their invisiblity when using it.
* Secondary: Grappling Hook - Leap over cliffs and walls. Needs to be deployed to fire.

Shikari
Shikari (lit. 'hunter') are Alliance special forces, armed with powerful railguns that can pierce most known vehicle armor and purposefully intended mainly for anti-vehicle use. Their railguns inflict damage along a line of fire, allowing them to succesfully engage even massed of infantry as well, as long as attacked from one side only, however the slow rate of fire prohibits them from engaging massed targets with single shots. At $1750, the Shikari is quite an investment compared to other AA infantry. Luckily, you can count on your infantry cost bonus to make these soldiers a little more affordable. There is a build limit of 3 for Shikari, however more can be called in via the Hunter Drop (see below) commander ability. If a player owns a Drone Hub structure as well, Shikari gain the ability to call in drone airstrikes. Without this structure, they are limited to their railguns against buildings, where they perform very poorly.
* Primary: Railgun - Deals high damage to the target and everything in between that and the firer. Slow rate of fire.
* Secondary: Place Beacon - Calls a drone strike on the designated target. Not available without Drone Hub.

Alita
Alita is the first successful fully-humanoid battle android, developed by an old and legendary scientist somewhere in Japan. She was programmed with an intense desire to best her designer's human "inspiration", Tanya. Her stats and abilities are for now classified.
* Gains bonuses to various stats in the presence of enemy hero infantry. The exact nature of the bonus varies with the opponent she is facing off against.

Asian Alliance Vehicles

Spectator Drone
The Spectator Drone is a lightweight, unarmed, cloaked surveillance tool, fitted with a camera. It can sneak into enemy bases unsuspectedly to provide reconnaissance. Despite their cloaking ability, they are often found out and quickly removed by an enemy's more advanced base defenses.
* Primary: N/A
* Secondary: N/A

Harvester Drone
These drones are the Alliance's resource-gathering units. They are faster and cheaper than any other miner, however they are also very lightly armored and cannot carry alot of cargo. Like many Alliance vehicles, they use magnetic levitation to cross bodies of water. Harvesters will use their drills to defend themselves, or if manually ordered to attack a target. Being designed to dig up ore from rock, they are surprisingly effective against buildings in this role - not to say this makes them an adequate support weapon in a siege however. Harvesters are constructed from the Drone Refinery, not from a commander's War Factory, making it easy to replace them early in the game, when a factory may not yet be present.

Gattling Tank
The Zhuge Nu Gattling Tank is to the Alliance's armored forces what the Ashigaru is to the infantry. A lightly-armored, rapid-fire mainstay. Unlike the Ashigaru, the Gattling Tank can actually achieve considerable per-shot damage during extended fire. That is not to say that these tanks have not also been used as artillery support - their light armor makes them rather unsuited for direct engagements with enemy tank guns, while their ability to hit aerial targets offers valuable protection Alliance tank formations and even bases.
* Primary: Gattling - Can attack both air and ground targets; increases rate of fire and damage when firing over longer periods.
* Secondary: N/A

Lynx Tank
The Lynx Tank is perhaps a better bulk unit for Alliance tank forces - although a light tank with a weapon that is easily dwarfed by both the Grizzly and Rhino, these tanks stand a chance when used in larger formations, and have been specifically designed with tank-hunting in mind, isolating singular enemy tanks on the battlefield with rapid maneuvers thanks to their formidable speed, and then making short work of the outnumbered foe. However, when meeting massed enemy counterfire, the tank is less effective. Just like the infantry, the tank's low cost means both affordable spamming tactics and a quick promotion and the main gun's firing rate when promoted to elite is excellent. If the player also owns a Drone Hub, the Lynx Tank gains the ability to call a drone in battle, further increasing his firepower and bringing it on par with much heavier vehicles.
* Primary: 90mm gun
* Secondary: Drone - Available if a Drone Hub is present. Calls a single missile-armed drone to aid in anti-tank warfare.

Qilin Tank
The Qilin could potentially be called the Alliance's take on a heavy, or even super-heavy tank. It is comparable in size and configuration to the soviet Mammoth Tank, and is armed with dual railguns. If a Drone Hub is present, this tank can also call a drone, but it does not limit itself to one - it calls 3 machine gun pods that protect this slow-firing, cumbersome unit from infantry ambushes or mass maneuvers. The tank is prohibitively expensive and is best used as a sort of mobile fortress - not because of the damage it can take, but mostly because most opponents won't live long enough to deal significant damage to it.
* Primary: Dual Railguns
* Secondary: Triple Drone

Troop Crawler
The Troop Crawler is an outdated soviet BTR, part of the Chinese forces. These vehicles had their driver's compartment removed and instead an autopilot was installed. Troop Crawlers offer room for 8 infantrymen (of human proportions) and can cross both land and water. They are armed with an automated gun turret, which will fire at targets on the go. They can also call a drone if a Drone Hub is present.
* Primary: Vulcan cannon
* Secondary: Drone - Calls a Missile Drone, making the unit a moderately effective tank hunter.

Turtle Transport
The Turtle Transport is a heavier amphibious transport, capable of ferrying infantry and vehicles alike, propulsed by a magnetohydrodynamic drive. The Turtle has firing ports for transported units to fire out. It can be ordered to attack a target and will then unload its passengers in range with the order to attack that same target, minimizing the need for micro-management. It has no offensive capabilities of its own.
* Primary: Unload passengers with attack orders
* Secondary: N/A

Firestorm MLRS
The Firestorm MLRS is the Alliance's main field artillery. It is a large armored vehicle, mounting a turret with 9 rocket tubes. The MLRS can fire in two modes - single fire mode, which fires a rocket every 2 seconds, or massed fire, which fires all tubes at once, at the expected delay to reloading them. The rockets themselves are effective against any ground target, but the vehicle is unable to attack air targets or escape quickly from counter-rushing tank forces.
* Primary: Single-Fire - Fires a single rocket per attack, not depleting its ammunition.
* Secondary: Barrage - Fires nine rockets in a single attack, instantly depleting its ammunition. It then requires time to recharge, during which it cannot fire. Switch between the two modes by deploying the Firestorm.

Pulse Tank
The Pulse Tank is a vehicle armed with a pulse emitter weapon, much like an upscale version of the Firelancer's thermal ray cannon. It disables vehicles for longer periods of time and incinerates infantry along the entire firing line of the wave. It can also be used to clear out garrisoned civilian structures, as its beam, when targeted at these buildings, does not damage the building, but instead harms the infantry inside. When promoted to elite, it will be instantly fatal to anyone caught inside. The tank is otherwise not capable of having any effect on buildings.
* Primary: Thermal Ray Wave
* Secondary: N/A

Emperor Tank
The Emperor Tank is the Chinese Empire's special unit. This tank offers an array of electronic warfare equipment to hackers, all on a mobile platform. The Emperor natively comes with two attack modes - an EMP beam used to counter enemy vehicles, shutting them down (in the case of aircraft with instantly fatal results), and a hacking attack, transferring control over enemy drones, missiles and automated base defenses to itself. The Emperor offers room for 3 infantrymen which can fire out and is intended explicitly for Hackers, however other infantry can enter as well if it seems prudent to the commander, for example to offer anti-infantry firepower, against which the tank is natively helpless.
* Primary: Hacker Attack
* Secondary: EMP Beam

Rail Cannon
The Rail Cannon is a super-heavy artillery piece, propelled and powered by a small nuclear reactor. It is a railgun of massive proportions, hurling a tactical nuclear warhead over extended ranges, damaging anything in the firing path. Because of the prohibitive cost and strategic value, only 3 of these will be available to any Alliance commander over the course of battle - once this pool has been exhausted, no additional units of this type may be purchased, even if the existing ones were lost. Because of the high power consumption of moving and firing the unit, only one of either function may be performed at any time - in order to fire, the unit has to be deployed to immobilize itself, channeling its power into its weapon system. Note that this unit's reactor has a tendency to go critical if the unit is heavily damaged, often detonating in a spectacular fashion, maiming nearby forces of either side.
* Primary: Rail gun - Long-range line-of-fire damage; high AoE damage and radiation at point of impact.
* Secondary: none

Drone Carrier
The Drone Carrier is a heavy artillery piece. It is not armed with a gun, or with missiles. Instead, these heavy vehicles carry a compliment of drones which they launch against enemies over extended range. The drones can engage aerial targets as well, providing their army with broad screens of air defense.
* Primary: Launch Drone

Asian Alliance Vessels

Gattling Junk
A light vessel armed with a set of turret-mounted gattling guns. Can attack air and ground targets, but because its weapon is not very effective against hardened armor, it performs best in an anti-air escort role, second best in ship-to-ship combat and plainly horrible in shore bombardment. Junks cannot take alot of damage, so it is advised to use them in combination with heavier craft that can take a punch.
* Primary: Gattling
* Secondary: N/A

Luyang Destroyer
A heavier vessel, armed with missile launchers and two types of ammunition - unguided rockets against surface targets, and guided missiles against aircraft. While a destroyer, the Luyang cannot engage submarines in exchange for its anti-aircraft role.
* Primary: Rockets
* Secondary: Guided SAMs

Yamato Battleship
Generally the heaviest ship in existence, except perhaps for the largest of allied aircraft carriers, there is not much on land or sea that can match the Yamato in both firepower and tanking ability. The Yamato fires shells equaling those of the Grand Cannon, further upgraded to railguns when elite. The Yamato has a secondary firing mode, called a Wave Motion Cannon, which is in effect a small superweapon, fired only by using the appropriate command skill from the SW tab of the command bar to designate a target. The WMC takes a long time to charge and will render the ship immobilized and powerless for a short period after use.
All that said, the battleship is highly vulnerable to anything below the waves or above the ground and should always receive extensive protection from submarine and aerial threats, lest this valuable investment will be lost at sea.

* Primary: Triple 20 Inch Guns
* Secondary: Wave Motion Cannon
* Tertiary: Tachyon Field Propulsion - Move a short distance overland. If the ability's duration runs out before meeting water, the vessel will be stuck on land until it has recharged.

Kraken Frigate
The Kraken Frigate uses a magnetohydrodynamic drive to travel both on land and on water. It is armed with a magnetic ray that it can use to pull tanks, aircraft and vessels to the bottom of the sea. Against other submarine craft, it is nigh helpless - it can draw then in, but they will not be damaged in the process.
* Primary: Magnetic Beam - Pulls the target underwater. Instantly fatal to land vehicles, aircraft and surface vessels.
* Secondary: N/A

ECM Frigate
This ship serves a similar purpose as the Pulse Tank on land - it scrambles enemy electronics, protecting its fleet from missiles, drones and even aircraft. It also detects submerged submarines (or cloaked units on land, when close to a shore). It has no offensive capabilities against other ships, or against ground units.

Drone Frigate
Similar to an aircraft carrier, or the Drone Launcher on land, the Drone Frigate is a carrier for small robotic drones, of which it carries a compliment of six. The drones are vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, but they are replenished fast and never run out of ammo, providing constant harassment for any opponent in range of this ship. They can also be directed against aircraft, where although they perform poorly, they offer another line of defense against air attacks on your fleet.

Manta MiniSub
The Manta is a small, one-man craft with the main purpose of carrying a large explosive warhead next to an enemy vessel, or naval installation, deposit it, and then hope to make it out in time. The warhead contaminates a large area with radiation and is generally lethal to lighter craft. The Manta reloads itself in the course of a few minutes, ready for another attack.
The Manta is also flat, allowing it to land at beaches and ferry up to 3 infantry units in its cargo space. Because it is so fast and hard to detect, this method of transport is often favored by the Alliance for tactically valuable units.

Cetus
The Cetae are the Alliance's unique take on naval war animals. These robotic sharks are armed with a railgun (not a laser!), mounted on the head and fired by neural interfacing. Their weapon is capable of piercing the hull of a warship, but due to the interaction of water with the weapon's magnetic field, it will only be charged when the animal is surfaced. While diving, it can use its powerful teeth to rend both organic and mechanical targets to bits.
* Primary: Shark Bite - Can damage both infantry and vessels. Instantly fatal for infantry. Meelee only. Remains underwater when using it.
* Secondary: Railgun Leap - Line-of-fire AoE damage. Can fire upon aircraft. Has to surface to fire. Deploy to make the surface surface and prepare its railgun.

Asian Alliance Aircraft

Hawk
A tactical fighter-bomber, the J-20 Hawk is armed with a set of AP missiles. Its firepower and speed fall behind the allied planes, however it is more maneuverable. It carries missiles for a single attack run, making it capable of (hence 'fighter'), but unsuited for, dogfights, something in which allied fighter-bombers excel.

Black Eagle
The Korean replacement for the Hawk, as we know it from original Yuri's Revenge. It now fires laser-guided mini-cluster missiles when promoted to elite.

Pelican Helicopter
The Pelican is the Alliance's helicopter gunship, propelled by a magnetodynamic drive in the shape of a fan tube. The Pelican is not special, being armed with unguided rockets (against ground targets) and guided missiles (against air targets).
* Primary: Medusa Rockets
* Secondary: Medusa AA Missiles

Flamingo Bomber
The Alliance's only bomber, a slow, cumbersome craft driven by magnetodynamic propulsion and hence capable of VTOL. It is only called in by commander abilities, and never uses its innate weapon, although it has one.
* Primary: Inferno Rocket Swarm
* Secondary: N/A

F-Zero Yukikaze
The F-Zero is a plane exclusively available to Japan. Its weapon recreates the "danmakou" games so popular in that country, firing a pattern of colorful orbs, which detonate upon coming in contact with enemy units, but not immediately upon touching the ground, instead bouncing and bobbing about like rubber landmines, ready to be triggered by another unlucky foe.
* Primary: Red Energy Orbs
* Secondary: Blue Energy Orbs

Shenlong Sky Junk
The Shenlong is a heavy airship, serving as a sort of flying castle to Alliance airforces. It is armed with rocket bays that it can fire in broadside at air and ground targets. It is slow to turn, making it unsuited for engaging more nimble units. The Shenlong also carries a WMC, which is fired by the commander ability 'Grand Barrage' (see below). The Shenlong itself never needs to land and requires no Air Bay, except when constructed. It will simply hover over its target position like an airship if ordered to move somewhere, not fly back or land. It is slightly higher-flying than other aircraft, protecting it from some forms of anti-air defense. Only two of these units may be built by a commander.
* Primary: Inferno Rocket Swarm - Spreads a swarm of erratically-moving rockets in the direction of the target. These tend to miss their actual target (the target being no more likely to be hit than anything else in the general vicinity), but cause widespread devastation in the area.

X-90 Firefly
The Firefly is a rocket plane with an autopilot, called in exclusively by the Kamikaze Strike commander ability. It carries a large explosive warhead in its nose and strikes whatever it is called in on with a steep dive. Because of its high speed, it is nearly impossible to intercept this craft, however its targeting accuracy slightly falls behind, meaning that on occasion, targets do escape a direct hit. Be it as it may, the warhead's considerable payload and spread mean that anything caught even vaguely in the blast zone will not emerge unscathed. While predominantly effective against buildings, the weapon is also known to be fatal to personnel by the sheer size of the warhead. Vehicles, especially armored ones, fare much better and will generally take light damage.
* Primary: Suicide bomb - Massive AoE damage. Creates a ripple and a small earthquake.
* Secondary: N/A

Asian Alliance "Superweapons"
(more like, Commander Abilities)

Dropship Loadout
The Dropship Loadout, available from the Air Bay, calls a dropship to the target destination, delivering a mixed force of vehicle units. The SW will cost money equal of the cost of the units delivered and allows to both circumvent bottlenecks in unit production, further aiding the Alliance's 'spammer' tactics, as well as allow for the strategic placement of your forces.
* Provided by: Air Bay

Hunter Drop
The Hunter Drop calls 3 Alliance spec ops soldiers, called Shikari. They ride a rocket-powered military glider loaded with an explosive warhead, steering it towards the designated target area. They will nosedive into the target and disembark moments before the aircraft impacts, parachuting to the ground safely while the glider detonates, inflicting severe damage. The Shikari are then yours to command.
* Provided by: Academy

Scrambler Overfly
Calls a Flamingo Bomber to emitt an EM pulse over the target zone, disabling enemy electronics for a brief moment. This also causes all aircraft in the area to crash (except for Kirovs, who will simply be frozen). This is NOT an EMP bomb - the pulse is emitted by the bomber itself.

Drone Surveillance
The Drone Surveillance calls a cloaked spy drone to fly over the designated target area. Unlike the Spy Plane, the drone will circle the area indefinitely, and can also reveal cloaked units. It is however much more vulnerable should it be spotted by enemy air defense, and the area it reveals is alot smaller.
* Provided by: Drone Hub

Drone Strike
The Drone Strike calls in a swarm of missile-armed drones, which fire their payload at the target area, then retreat off the map. The closest the Alliance can get to airstrike support, however these drones do not really inflict alot of damage.
* Provided by: Drone Hub

Kamikaze Strike
Calls a single X-90 Firefly drone on a suicide mission to the target area. The drone has a rocket engine, moving at high speed, which makes it unlikely any form of air defense will manage to intercept it before it begins its terminal dive. The drone's steering mechanism is somewhat on the bad side during high speeds, however it carries a large warhead, which makes up for its inaccuracy. Buildings in the area of impact will be heavily damaged or outright destroyed and infantry in the area tends to be decimated. Armored vehicles fare alot better, as the warhead is not very effective in damaging them.
* Provided by: Air Bay

Scan
The Scan is a not-so-special ability which causes the Comm Center to use its electronic warfare and surveillance equipment for long-range reconnaissance. The Scan will reveal any enemy units, including burrowed or cloaked ones, in the target area, however it will not reveal the terrain.
* Provided by: Comm Center

Cash Transfer
If staffed with Hackers, the Alliance Comm Center can gain limited access to an enemy commander's army control panel - in this case, to their budget control. The superweapon will instantly grant its owner $3000 upon use.
* Provided by: Comm Center

Lockdown
If staffed with Hackers, the Alliance Comm Center can gain limited access to an enemy commander's army control panel - in this case, to their power control. Upon targetting a building with this superweapon, the hackers will switch its power supply off, rendering the building useless until the commander manually re-activates the structure.
* Provided by: Comm Center
* For some reason, this does not yet affect factories' production ability.

Puppeteer
If staffed with Hackers, the Alliance Comm Center can gain limited access to an enemy commander's army control panel - in this case, to their troop communications systems. For a limited period of time, all enemy units in the target area will receive faked orders from the Alliance, rather than from their real commander, and will thus be under Alliance control.
* Provided by: Comm Center

Grand Barrage
Designates a target for the WMC to attack. All Wave Motion Cannons owned by the player will attack the designated position (if ready to fire).

Atomic_Noodles · Defense Minister **Joined**: 05 Oct 2011

So... basically this is Empire of the Rising Sun from RA3 (But with more Asian Countries) which replaces Yuri?

I'm guessing your putting back Yuri in the Soviets?

_________________
~ Excelsior ~

Millennium · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:49 pm Post subject:

Yes, Yuri's seperate side is removed, but his technology has also been largely removed from the Soviet side. I have a huge deal of background story to how the in-game situation developed historically, but I feel that this information should be presented later, after more gameplay elements. However, while thematically similar to the Empire, I feel at least gameplay-wise, the Alliance has very little in common with the RA3 faction. RA3, and the Empire in particular, has this huuuge focus on mobile warfare - transforming units, amphibious movement, etc. The Alliance has none of that (well - they do infact have some amphibious units, but no buildings or heavy units). I actually made them to be more suited to a turtling playstyle (which I found would suit China, historically), with powerful defense structures, but nearly useless ground and air units, which have to be spammed in order to achieve anything (in turn, the spammer element of the Soviets was tuned down). I did however keep the naval warfare slant of the Empire - a side including Japan, but lacking a powerful fleet, just would not feel right - the Yamato Battleship and kamikaze submarines are just too good to pass up on when adding Japan to a C&C game.

On that note, the mod itself is building up on a long line of files and code of a mod I made that dates back 4-6 years, so the majority of the time will at first be spent on clearing out unused, superseded or simply... obscure... files and bits of code, before I have any real progress to show. For example, tons of "Third Power" material is still in the code and in the mixes, from an ancient mod I made and which is present on Revora. It actually made me wonder wether its worth introducing the Third Power as another faction in the game, seeing as most of their graphics are still present and Ares allows almost unlimited additional factions.

Atomic_Noodles · Defense Minister **Joined**: 05 Oct 2011

Mind PMing me the Code for your Support Repair Drones? I could fix you up a More fitting one for the Empire Faction.

_________________
~ Excelsior ~

Millennium · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject:

The proper repair drone code is actually pending some Ares bug fixes in order to be functional as expected (I've handed in reports for them, but I will send you the mostly-functional current code).

In other news, Chinese country-specific units spotlight:

Flame Tank.PNG

Description:

The chinese Dragon Flame Tank mounts a flamethrower and large fuel tank on the ubiquitous HUT armored utility chassis. When attacking, the tank will swat a stream of flaming liquid from left to right, dealing damage in a conal area infront of it.

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114.68 KB

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Graion Dilach · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:03 pm Post subject:

You did? Point me out the one exactly.

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"If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
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Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
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WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more...

Millennium · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:14 pm Post subject:

Well my friend did it for me, since we're working on the mod together... not quite sure about the exact ID it has with you guys. It will be something about spawned aircraft with repair weapons targetting vehicles with positive Storage values, rather than the target they were targetted on.

More units:

Chinese Halftrack, Cadre and Siege Cadre

Siege Cadres are chinese infantry, armed with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. Although they can be fired at both air and ground targets, the rockets have very limited tracking capabilities and will likely miss their target if it is small and/or capable of quick movement, such as infantry and aircraft in flight. Against both buildings and tanks, the system performs strongly, as they are large enough not to evade the target acquisition.
* Although guided, the missiles will almost never hit infantry if fired at them, however they may still deal splash damage. There is a huge accuracy bonus when using the weapon against tanks. Even for a dedicated anti-tank infantry, this makes these soldiers unsuited for engagements with infantry.
* When promoted to elite status, the Siege Cadre gains a secondary demolition ability: deploy him next to an enemy vehicle or building, and he will place an explosive charge on that target. He then needs to be evacuated quickly, as the charge will detonate with a timer of 10 seconds (medium speed setting). This attack not as strong as a Crazy Ivan's, however it is much stronger than the generic rocket attack these troopers use.
* Siege Cadres can be garrisoned in bunkers and civilian structures, providing a solid anti-tank defense at chokepoints.

The chinese Flak Track and it's bigger cousin, the Siege Track. The background here is somewhat obvious - assuming in C&C: Generals, the Chinese adopted the soviet BTR as their Troop Crawler, a similar process may have happened in RA2's universe - only that instead of the BTR, the Soviets here employ the Flak Track as their prominent troop transport - so China would have adopted that instead. However, substantial changes have been made by chinese Engineers, leading to the Siege Track variant, which replaces the Flak Track after researching "Armored Warfare" technology. Changes from the original Flak Track to the chinese basic version are slight - when promoted to elite, the Flak Track now uses incendiary shells with a cool new orangey-red projectile graphic, other than that, nothing has changed.
The Siege Track, however, is a vast improvement over the fragile "tin box" the Soviets produce. Not only is it up-armored and larger, allowing for up to 8 infantrymen to be transported, its main gun also has been replaced with a small-caliber field gun, firing explosive shells. It is actually half-way between an APC and a light tank in terms of firepower and armor. Furthermore, it has firing ports for its passengers. Fitted with a crew of Siege Cadres, this variant is more than equipped to serve as a mobile bunker for quickly shifting defenses, or as a rapid tank hunter.
* Crewmen - The Siege Track comes pre-packed with 3 Siege Cadres. However, these are needed to man the vehicle's gun and while they are visible as passenger pips, they may not be deployed like regular infantry. If the vehicle is destroyed however, they may emerge (chance varying with the veterancy level of the vehicle) and can be commanded like regular infantry.

Graion Dilach · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 8:39 pm Post subject:

I honestly haven't heard about this yet and can't even find such on the tracker.

_________________
"If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more...

Millennium · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 3:11 am Post subject:

I think its in the forums, I'm pretty sure it did get posted. If not, I'll drop by and post it myself.

Also, strictly temporary list of scheduled chinese units. This does not yet include buildings, base defenses, vessels, aircraft and 'command abilities' (superweapons)

The units in italic are replacement units which replace the basic unit if a certain "stratagem" is activated (China's method of a tech tree). For example, upon activating Infantry Tactics, the Cadre is replaced by the Assault Cadre, swapping a WWII-era bolt-action rifle for an assault rifle. If Armored Warfare is activated, the Flak Track is replaced by the Siege Track.

Graion Dilach · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 11:42 am Post subject:

It should be on the tracker, not on the forums.

Good luck with the mod, sounds interestiog.

Millennium · Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:48 pm Post subject:

This is the Desolator Bunker, chinese Atomic Stratagem base defense. China has found a way to handle spent nuclear fuel, putting it to strategic use by storing it in these battlefield structures, essentially weaponized miniature nuclear reactors. Each Desolator Bunker is filled with uranium, sealed away in a lead container and then surrounded by brick walls. The sealing is not perfect and the bunker will constantly leak sub-lethal amounts of radiation. It has no real attack of its own and will present itself to the enemy as a sitting duck. However, by deploying the bunker, a commander can open a set of small doors in the containment device, allowing radiation to seep out freely, irradiating a wide swath of land around the structure, creating an area of impassability to infantry and most ground vehicles. Simply deploying the bunker again will close the container and stop the process, although radiation will linger for awhile.
Should the bunker be heavily damaged, the containment vessel will break and radiation will flow out on its own, wether the bunker is active or not, with no way to stop it. Finally, upon its destruction, the bunker will explode violently and pollute the area around it.
* Desolator Bunkers produce a small amount of power while closed; while opened, they do not produce power as their radiation is channelled into irradiating the area around them.
* I always found giving the Desolator's massive AoE radiation ability to an infantry unit was unbalanced and abit silly - giving it to a vehicle at least would have made more sense, but a building just seemed more right.
* This building replaces the generic Bunker during the Atomic Stratagem.
* There will also be larger "Nuclear Storage Bunker" map structures, which create a similar field of impassability as a strategic battlefield element. Should a player somehow manage to capture such a structure, it grants a one-use nuclear missile.

EDIT:
(more pictures)

Chinese forces defend oil derricks! The soviet building options in the tab are out-dated by now.

Gathering resources... the Chinese Ore Truck is actually the most efficient resource collector in the game! It's weak and unarmored, with very little cargo capacity, but it is cheap and reasonably fast. Whereas Allies and Soviets have invested in protecting their valuable ore by means of high technology, or heavy armor, Asia has instead turned to pure cost efficiency.

A small base. Most of the new building graphics can be seen here. I plan on the Asian countries to play very Generals-ish, and so far that is working out surprisingly well. Those bunkers work in a way that really makes you want to use them like China would in Generals.
The Propaganda Tower can switch between boosting friendly units' defense or firepower. Modes are triggered by hitting 'Deploy' and either mode will create a circular AoE around the tower in which the effect is applied. Good for supporting your forces during a base defense.

artemisfowl · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:37 am Post subject:

Hey Millennium, I had just found out that you're using the name Asian Alliance. I had never seen or heard of your mod before( It looks great though, keep up the good work!), but I had also been using the same name for an allied Subfaction in a mod that has yet to be announced. Do you mind if I use that name in my mod as well? If not, I perfectly understand. Thanks!

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All modding I do is now recreational, but Re-genesis is not forgotten. It's now a book based on a futuristic holocaust on humanity's next evolution. However, I'm pinning on my PPM hopes in voice acting.

Mig Eater · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 10:10 am Post subject:

The name Asian Alliance has been used in multiple mods & isn't "copyrighted" by anyone so you are free to use it as well.

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artemisfowl · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:53 pm Post subject:

Thought so, I remember seeing it in the string files somewhere, so that's where I had received it from in the first place.

_________________
All modding I do is now recreational, but Re-genesis is not forgotten. It's now a book based on a futuristic holocaust on humanity's next evolution. However, I'm pinning on my PPM hopes in voice acting.

Atomic_Noodles · Defense Minister **Joined**: 05 Oct 2011

Residual RA2 Coding implies this too when the allies functioned more like their RA1 Iteration.

Russians
Arab Union (Iraq)
Confederation (Cuba)
America
British
France
Alliance - Supposedly Asian Alliance (South Korea)
Supposedly Ukraine would have made a comeback too...

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~ Excelsior ~