Suggestion - Tiberium Cruentus Fields Thread - One Vision mod for Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath

After playing many games with the Reaper-17 faction, I began to think why not bring Cruentus into the game fully? Tiberium Cruentus currently is a great visual effect when the Hexapod kills an enemy and I'm always tempted to bring along a harvester or two with my attack force to harvest it.

Here are four suggestions I have for this mod:

Suggestion 1: Tiberium Cruentus should be added into the game in the form of a Tiberium field. Here are some ways I envision that happening:

1. Re-texturing any of the three Tiberium fields and coding them to allow the generation of Cruentus. This would create a new kind of Tiberium field in game, as opposed to point #3 which is just changing an existing field without actually making a new object.
2. Give the ability to a faction like Reaper-17 to "seed Cruentus" generating a small but slowly regenerating Tiberium field. This option would give the affected faction a financial edge, but I feel with the planned T4 superheavy unit additions along with an appropriate cool down (and maybe even limiting the number of uses this support power would have) can mitigate the financial gains the affected faction gets if those other factions plan accordingly.
3. Completely change one of the Tiberium fields in game (like the Red Zone Tiberium Field) to only generate Cruentus. This would affect all existing maps however, but please see Suggestion 2 as to why I added this bullet point

Suggestion 2: Give One Vision world builder support. Currently when I try to load KW world builder by editing the configuration file to include the One Vision mod world builder crashes. Maybe I'm not doing it right or its just not possible with KW world builder to load objects from mods, but assuming neither then:

• If Cruentus fields are added as an individual object, I think all mapmakers who enjoy One Vision would love to be able to play around with a third resource and design maps around it.
• Extension of #3 above: if it's not possible to load up the mod in KW World Builder, then another method to introduce Cruentus is to just change one of the existing Tiberium fields to produce it in game. This way the maps can still be made to include Cruentus using World Builder.

Suggestion 3: Exploding Tiberium

• If I remember correctly, EA removed exploding Tiberium because no one really wants to see all their resource get blown up. That's a valid point, but since we're talking about Tiberium here, for the sake of completeness, coding vinafera and Cruentus to explode would certainly add a new dimension to the game.
• Tiberium Vein Detonation would make this a nightmare... so its reasonable to not implement exploding Tiberium.

Suggestion 4: More mutant units for Mutant Hovel (re-texture existing units)

• This suggestion is not about making an entire faction of mutants, I think 9 factions are plenty, but:
• The mutant hovel is one of those structures that seem to be where if you capture it, you can build a few mutant units for fun, but no one really seems bothered to actively seek one out to capture. I suggest adding more mutant units to the Hovel so that anyone who captures it will be rewarded with a diverse group of infantry units that can heal in Tiberium.
• These units can be re-textures of existing units (like Nod Militants) and with different weapons applied to them, different numbers of units in each squad, etc.
• The game is already very balanced, so that means there really isn't a gap these new units are meant to fill (not to mention that the Mutant Hovel is not a staple for every map). But it does enrich the atmosphere of the game and makes these structures more valuable.

Edit: elaborated on point #1

Edit 2: added suggestion #4

Edited by: MarkSW

Suggestion 1:

Interesting idea with giving turning the big Tiberium Rifts into Cruentus. However, I have reservations against that since currently Cruentus only conveys very little economic value because otherwise converted units might give your enemy a big advantage. I would obviously need to change the value back to normal, as I don't want to mess with the economy of the game in a major way.

But I really like the idea of making the Tiberium Rifts more menacing.

For a long time I've also considered if I should replace the Seed Ichor ability with a "Depleted Ichor" support power which seeds Cruentus. However, it still doesnt convey an economic boost but you can use it to charge up your units and heal infantry on it. In return the support power would be cheaper and had a faster cooldown timer. In return, I'd change the "Overlords Wrath" into "Overlords Gift" which seeds a medium sized Tiberium Field that may or may not grow back.
Opnions?

Suggestion 2:

I am currently in contact with people from Gamereplays and are currently working to make One Vision work with the Worldbuilder. It's a known problem that OV cannot be run with the Worldbuilder but I'll see what I can do.

Suggestion 3:

I just don't want to mess with the ecosystem of the game and making it explode would affect gameplay in a major way. Even now it is often worth it to destroy blue Tiberium Crystals which are located in the vicinity of an enemy base. Making it explode would only make this more popular. While it really would be cool, I see too many problems to actually change it.

Suggestion 4:

I was at the point to make new mutant units but there is a technical problem. You see unlike most other units and structures the Mutant Hovel is not part of the normal game files (the static stream) but rather it is part of the Worldbuilder stream. Because of that changes of it are not loaded when you play a normal map and any changes done to the Mutant Hovel just don't take place.

The changes you make to a Mutant Hovel are only ingame if you play a custom map. I didn't want to have different options available depending on whether you play an official map or an unofficial on. I might be able to find a way around this, but in any case I want the mod the be consistent.

But you can believe me, if I do find a way I am sure I'll add some more options for the Mutants
Perhaps, I might even turn it into a neutral tech structure which unlocks hidden upgrades/units for some factions.

Suggestion 1: If the enemy was to harvest the converted cruentus, and it was worth more, then that would give them a major economic boost, at the risk of losing their harvesters

Maybe Cruentus is not the best example to use as it is associated with Reaper-17. Let me rephrase in general terms: I suggest the introduction of a third harvestable resource into the game (we'll just called it Tib-3 for now) that can either be of economic or utility strategic value. Tib-3 isn't necessary from a gameplay standpoint but if added would give the game world more variety (and in One Vision, variety is king). Let me address some concerns about it below:

Tib-3 with strategic economic value:

• This form of Tib-3 would be worth more than Blue Tiberium (or less, the value I never thought much about)
• Game balance: let me start by saying I see these things from a map maker's point of view. In my opinion, the layout of the map is the most important factor in balance. A third resource would not throw off balance in any match/map as long as it was used in an appropriate manner. For example, sticking a Tib-3 field in the spawn zone will turn the game into a slug fest within 5 minutes or give rushers an immense advantage completely ruining game balance. But if you stuck Tib-3 in the middle of the map, or a vulnerable region, it would instead create a contested zone where players can decide if they want to have a high-risk high-reward harvesting operation or just go for less profitable safer expansions. The risk/reward can be adjusted per map based on its value in relation to green and blue tiberium.
• I made the above statement because even without Tib-3 present, it is very easy to make a map that allows for unbalanced gameplay, and I commonly see them for download online. Example are those that set the Tiberium respawn rate to 1 for spawn point tiberium fields which allow for near infinite resources and turtling off even a single green tiberium field. Appropriately placed Tib-3 fields with reasonable tiberium growth rate will not alter game balance and add a new level of immersion in the One Vision world.
• If the current Tiberium Rifts were changed to generate a third resource, existing maps included with the game would probably have their balance thrown off (The Rocktagon comes to mind). Therefore, if this route is to be taken, I suggest a new object to generate Tib-3 (basically a retextured Tib Rift). Or the original EA maps can be redesigned to remove the Tiberium Rifts from the starting zones if they are present and replace them with standard green tiberium fields with same size and same growth rate (I'd be willing to do this).

Tib-3 with strategic utility value:

• A harvestable third resource that does not boost the economy but does provide something for each faction. It would be analogous to the Tiberium Vein from Tiberian Sun.
• At this stage I haven't thought much about this option.

Depleted Ichor and Overlords Gift:

• I never really liked the original support powers because Seed Tiberium/Seed Ichor never regenerated and depending on the map, the map maker might make regions not growable for Tiberium to achieve a certain Tiberium field look, causing the support power to be completely wasted if you seeded those regions (EA is guilty of this too, Crosstown Conflict is an example I can think of). In addition, the boost from the support power gives a net gain of 2000/2500 credits, which is enough for like 1 Avatar or 0.66 Tripods... Therefore any changes to these skills are welcome to me.
• Overlords Wrath suffers from the same as the above, though it has the ability to regenerate. But to actually create a respectable regenerating field requires several hits in the same area and the cooldown prevented that. I think changing it to spawn a larger field for an instant credit boost sounds better than what it is right now. As for continuing to allow it to regenerate, that depends on the amount of Tiberium seeded. If its more than than say, 10000 tiberium seeded, regeneration isn't really needed.

If you do choose to add in "Tib-3" down the line, I'll be willing to provide custom skirmish maps (they do take a while to make to look decent). I've been enjoying One Vision the most of any mod I ever played and I think we One Vision fans are here for the long haul

Edit: and I really like the idea of a building that unlocks secret technology!

Edit 2: I think if official maps can be extracted, edited, and then repacked into the .big file, I am willing to also change all the mutant hovels (if they exist) into a newer version that will allow the construction of new units, in addition to changing tib fields, etc.

Edited by: MarkSW

A multi-colored Tiberium field sounds interesting. I suggested adding a third type of tiberium field because back when I played many Tiberian Sun mods, I really enjoyed the different types tiberium implemented. In my opinion, for a game that has this much variety between the subfactions, it only makes sense to bring that same kind of variety to the game world as well, whether in the form of new Tiberium or Tech Structures (or both )

Edited by: MarkSW

Sorry, too many threads and posts to respond and I didnt have that much time. First, a new and separate resource is technically not possible. Many modders have tried creating a second, unique resource apart from credits but that does not work because the game was not designed with that in mind.

However, I could do a simple colour change. I could also say that there are differently coloured types of Tiberium (like yellow, purple, red or orange) and every time a game is loaded a different colour is assigned to a Tiberium Field. However, that could be very confusing as many probably won't know the value of each colour (yellow and orange could be derivations of green whereas purple can replace blue Tiberium).

And after having second thoughts I am not so sure if I can actually change Tiberium Fields to begin with, there might be issues similar to the Mutant Hovel.

This is one of those things where it'd be great if it was possible but if not, then no harm done, this mod is still great. I do remember seeing a mod where the developer added a vein hole monster using re-textured dead trees and it functioned as a third resource. That was why I thought it would be possible to add in a third resource for One Vision as well in the form of a Tiberium Field.

Regardless, I'm pretty excited for the future of this mod.