Okay, so I'm interpreting "week" pretty losely. Let me just pull up the last bulletin and see what I was saying I'd have done this week... The snow theatre! Well, lets get right into it. Oh, wait.
So this week I completely failed to do anything much to the snow theatre. I continued the lengthy project of converting all our pavement stuff into the snow, starting with the cliffs, but that's not really something very interesting to show off. Here it is anyway:
Once this set is completed the snow theatre will get a lot more interesting. TO's setting calls for most of the Global Defense Initiative's civilian populous to be in Scandinavia and other cold areas, and it would be nice if we could use places like Canada and Siberia as settings, so a versatile and complete snow theatre is a must.
On to other things. Lots of mapping has been going on, some of it for Singleplayer and Co-op. I don't want to give too much away on other people's maps, but I've been working on at least one mission I'm willing to begin showing off. Without giving too much away, the context for this mission is that Nod is beginning a long campaign into South America. In order to capture one of their targets, they aim to lure the mainstay of the GDI forces towards the coast while a heavily armed force makes its way northwards. To do this, you must take control of a GDI port.
From your hidden base on an offshore island, you can launch attacks by sea and air, and can take control of construction nodes to allow for more local production facilities.
My aim with this mission is to provide as many options as possible for Nod to play with. Will you be stealthy, or will you armour up and take GDI head on? It should be up to you, right? In my opinion, a mission with only one solution is more like a movie you have to occasionally click on.
The last thing I have to show is a big GDI machine. I'm calling him "Atlas", since I think it fits with the other two GDI mechs; the Argonaut and the Ares. He carries the world on his shoulders.
Atlas is monstrous. The latest in GDI's Mammoth combat systems, the Atlas walker is armed with a pair of railguns at the front, missile launchers at the back, and armoured from hatch to toe. It can stomp across the battlefield laying Nod forces twisted and broken in its wake. Like most GDI units it can't be left out on its own but, with a mix of other units around it, Atlas is a force to be reckoned with.
A single one of them would be worrisome for the enemy, but one of the design rules in TO has always been that build limits are a lazy way of balancing things. We intend to balance it such that the price reflects its ability, and a prosperous player should be allowed to build just as many as he or she wants to.
And that's some of the stuff we've done this week!
That Nod mission sounds really promising, looking forward to it. Great stuff as always.
Aye, and the atlas mech should be interesting. Maybe there should be a mission for nod to steal a prototype? And as a optional objective while escaping with the prototype leave a trail of destruction in it's wake?
During the period where the Atlas is a prototype, Nod is still a bunch of factions scrapping in the desert.
But there are other prototypes for them to steal...
Ohohohoho, looking forward to it!
Wait, if Nod's not the threat at present, why does GDI need a massive weapons platform? Sure they might have designed one, but I don't see why they'd be in mass production. I agree with the sentiment on build limits, but I just don't feel like the idea's been fully developed.
Is there some other sizable adversary we should know about?
Many pieces of technology were rushed into prototype stages during the firestorm crisis to combat CABAL. Most designs were deployed in small numbers then, or shelved for the time being. A small number of Atlases were ferried onto orbital drop stations for emergency response, but as yet none have been deployed.
Once Nod re-emerged, GDI begins bringing their technology out of archival to combat the threat.
Ah, very good.
Alternate answer: This is after Firestorm, at this point, both The Brotherhood and Kane himself have enough of a knack for popping up in full force that some of the savvier GDI personnel expect them.
See also(sigh, what am I quoting): Havoc's fit over Mk.II's being mothballed.
We don't care that much for C&C3;'s lore, being that we're overwriting all of it, and I'm inclined to view Renegade as some kind of alternate universe fanfic :P
But yeah, GDI is a little paranoid.
That Atlas... I want one!
That's the best part! You can get multiple! :D
Beautiful as always! Please! An open beta with 1 or 2 maps and buildings and units that are ready! Please! I can not wait to try this mod incredible!
Can I get like, a ten-pack of those mechs there?
Sorry sir the credit cost would be enormous likely. Get more credits and maybe we'll do it.
But I don't have a job, and I need them for a party next week! Can't I just rent them and pay you back later?
You'd never pay me back! You'd just make a run for it with 10 atlas!
And it gets closer and closer! The day it comes, that you guys release a playable version, I think I may just have a heart attack. Been waiting all these years for this, and haven't forgotten about it!