Gems
Remember back in the day when ore came in fields and Gems were just ore, but moreso? Well, technology advances as it should, and unfortunately with the advances in ore drilling (convenient, nigh-invulnerable drill stations), gems have been somewhat left in the dust. See, while gems are found in a very similar way to ore, the ore stations use magnets to transfer it, and everyone knows gems aren't magnetic. How tragic!
But now technology advances again, with the creation of the Gem Truck! Specially designed to gather specially designed gems from specially designed gem drilling stations, the Gem Truck is sure to boost the world's economy... or at least help the rich get richer. The designers of the Gem Truck have wisely decided to remain neutral, meaning that they provide their services to whoever has an engineer in the building at the time. Once the gem truck has been purchased, it must travel to the gem station and back to the building it was purchased from in order to drop off its cargo. If the truck is destroyed along the way, then the cargo is lost, but if it makes it, then the faction controlling the truck will be rolling in the proverbial glittering dough!
Allegations that the company intentionally spaced the pick-up and drop-off stations far apart to make more money from destroyed collectors have been stubbornly denied.
(In plainspeak: in Paradox, ore mines will now run out a little faster than before, but they aren't your main sources of income anymore. You'll now be provided with Gem mines, but to collect from the mines, you need to own a Tech Building that acts as a Gem Collector constructor as well as a gem drop-off point. You need to maintain supply lines between the mines and the drop-off, but if you do then the payoff will be enormous. This allows for the "supply line strike" to be a viable tactic, as refineries and ore collectors function a little too well for their own good. Ore still provides cash and Oil Derricks still boost your economy impressively, but we aim to make Gems (the mines of which DO NOT RUN OUT) the primary resource.
TL;DR: Ore starts you off, Oil Derricks support you, Gems keep you going forever.)
And as an added bonus, here are some special Works in Progress from our graphics designer and team leader, Open Sketchbook!
Confederate Vehicles, pre-normals
From left to right: Jackson APC, Piledriver Tank, Gun Turret (defensive emplacement), Sidewinder Burrow Tank, Construction Dozer
Confederate Minuteman Infantry w/ Weapons, pre-normals
While I have your attention, I would also like to announce that the first mod release will be mostly focused on the Confederate and Allied forces. I apologize to fans of the Soviet and Rising Sun factions, as well as those who are looking forward to finding out about Atomic China and the Electrical Protectorate, but the good news about this is that the first mod release will be sooner rather than later. I mean, imagine if we had to design and balance 6 whole factions before a single release! That would be silly. So no, two factions at first, more later on. No release date yet either because we still don't know when the SDK will be here. Be patient, the mod will come soon.
I like gems :D
So, will there be gems in the water or just on land?
The problem with the gems was that paradox had detiremined that it added too little to gameplay and thus they relegated them to a single game mode. (supply lines I think)
Darn shame.