Rise of the Reds Generals mod beta

[Laughing Mechanicus]

I know we have some fans on SD.net of the Shockwave mod for C&C Generals, so I wanted to let you know that the team that created Shockwave has just released the first public beta of our newest mod: Rise of the Reds. I am a co-leader of this mod and have done lots of art and design work for it, so I am interested to hear any comments anybody has on this early beta. You can download it and see renders and screenshots at the official website.

Currently we have implemented 3 factions - the USA, China and the new Russian faction (the GLA and the new European faction will follow later); each of the original factions has been significantly re-worked with new units and gameplay elements. Eventually each faction will have 3 Generals to choose from, though for this release each faction can access many new units that will eventually be specific to a General.

We have made some basic deviations from the "standard" C&C Generals gameplay with this release already: jet aircraft have been made less vulnerable to anti-aircraft units and more effective against enemy aircraft, this is to encourage players to use them more often and reduce the level of frustration their extreme vulnerability used to cause. Additionally we have removed or made less accessible many abilities that allowed players to reveal areas of the map and instead replaced them with cheap "scout" units which each faction can build from their Command Center, this encourages more use of the early units and makes it harder to keep constant tabs on your opponent. The Russian faction also has a fully functional (and very challenging) AI implemented, so if offline play is more your thing you will also be able to have lots of fun with this.

So there you have it, as I said I would like to hear any comments or ideas you have about the mod. If you have read my views on RTS games in this forum in the past you will know that I dislike the kind of "pro" micro heavy gameplay that other RTS games tend to have, and one of my main goals with Rise of the Reds to try and keep that style of gameplay to a minimum.

[Scottish Ninja]

I think I recognize that Golem Tank! I like the look of the new stuff, so I'll have to give it a look.

What's going to distinguish the Europeans, thematically? I so dearly want to play as them.

[Laughing Mechanicus]

The European faction are going to have a more defensive play style, as part of our background fluff involves a Russian invasion of Europe. They will use lots of different kinds of defensive structures, and will be able to construct large static artillery cannons which can cover fairly large portions of the map. At the beginning of a match they will have access to mostly conventional units, but will later gain access to more advanced technologies to supplement their forces.

When completed they will have 3 Generals to choose from - one focused on even more defensive specialisation, one focused on mechanised assault and one focused on fire support. One of their drawbacks is that they will have no fixed wing aircraft and instead they must reply on choppers for aerial work, the exception is the (British) fire support General who will have access to several Harrier-type VTOL jets.

[Samuel]

New air system looks good.

AI needed for Russia and China. (don't have one for medium)

AI needs to capture neutral buildings.

Style points- the Chinese propaganda blimp is perfect.

[Laughing Mechanicus]

AI needed for Russia and China. (don't have one for medium)

AI needs to capture neutral buildings.

Both of those should have AI for every difficulty level - it's possible you were playing on one of the new maps which doesn't have AI support yet, I'm afraid there's a couple of those at the moment.

[Samuel]

AI needed for Russia and China. (don't have one for medium)

AI needs to capture neutral buildings.

Both of those should have AI for every difficulty level - it's possible you were playing on one of the new maps which doesn't have AI support yet, I'm afraid there's a couple of those at the moment.

All too clear now.