This is a Multiplayer / Skirmish mod for the PC version of Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, patched to 1.09.
TALON Mod 1.3 is a full version of the TALON Mod. You do not require any previous versions of the mod for this to work.
We know it's been a long time since our last release. Thanks for being patient. We hope you enjoy TALON Mod 1.3, and if you want to play the mod with us or others, feel free to join our Steam group.
Thanks!
TALON MOD v1.3
by Desecrator, Svein and HawK
Overview
In version 1.3 we have made what we believe is some of the boldest and most game changing adjustments to the game so far. In previous versions of the mod we made changes that really needing doing, but there were still some things that needed attention. The economy was still racing out of control and the game speed was still way too quick. You could build a base, tech up, harvest, produce units etc., all at speeds that made the game frantic and require that you did everything or else you were at a disadvantage. We wanted to make the game less linear with players able to choose some specializations but not all. This way you aren't always facing an opponent that has every counter ready to deploy or strengths in all areas, whether that be unit upgrades, super weapons, special powers or all structures built.
Added in 1.3;
○ Structure build times increased significantly, for the purposes of realism and to slow the game down. This has a knock on effect that really changes how the game plays in many ways. There's more time for scouting, using infantry, tier one units, tier 2 units etc. It's not about trying to tech up in the first few minutes of a game anymore.
○ Harvesters now gather at a significantly slower rate. Harvesters are also weaker to promote harassment.
○ Players now have to choose what they will build and in what order, and that effects the units, specializations and powers available to them for the early and mid-game.
○ It now takes a minimum of 10 mins to get to tier 2 and 20 mins to get to tier 3.
○ New radar buildings added to the game with more abilities for every faction.
○ Command Post / Operations Center and Nerve Center now not only unlock Tier 2 but allow all factions to use radar jamming missiles and counter measures.
○ Tiers re-worked so that mid-game units and abilities are available at Tier 2 and high powered units and abilities are available later at Tier 3. An essential change with the new structure build times.
○ Tier 3 units (Mammoths, Avatars, Tripods) are now much tougher.
○ Removed the railgun upgrade from Predators and gave them a repair drone instead.
○ Venoms now have pulse scan upgrade ability
○ Increased Scrin heal rate in Tiberium
○ All Ion Storms detect stealth now
○ Scrin shields now recharge quicker after they go down.
○ Mastermind can capture defenses
○ Many research items, upgrades and special powers moved to structures that fit.
○ GDI structures have more garrison slots, and have repair drones.
○ More Nod structures have mine defenses.
○ Rigs no longer detect stealth
○ Much more effective Shockwave Artillery
○ Special powers and abilities that were over-powered have been balanced with longer reloads, higher tier placements, higher costs.
○ And of course we have more maps in this release that are exclusive to the mod. Of special note is Waterworks which is a 2 vs 2 map and a few maps that are setup so that you and a friend can play against more than 2 Ai. This allows you to fine tune the challenge more (e.g. one hard & two medium). Check out Bad Odds and Last Stand.
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MAPS INCLUDED
We have included some of our custom made maps as well as community made maps with the mod. Visit our website for more information about these and other maps (www.TALONClan.com)
● [=T=] Alamo *
● [=T=] Bad Odds*
● [=T=] Battle Royale
● [=T=] Blackout *
● [=T=] BridgeFort H *
● [=T=] Canyon Climax *
● [=T=] Citadel Siege*
● [=T=] Destruction Station
● [=T=] Downtown Disaster *
● [=T=] Downtown Disaster v.2*
● [=T=] Face Off**
● [=T=] Hadrian's Wall
● [=T=] Kane's Cauldron *
● [=T=] Last Stand
● [=T=] Mirror Islands
● [=T=] MegaPort One
● [=T=] Mutant Mosh Pit
● [=T=] Octalon *
● [=T=] Octalon v.2*
● [=T=] Talooine *+
● [=T=] Tiberium Square Dance
● [=T=] Two L and Back*
● [=T=] The Four Horseshoes of the Apocalypse*
● [=T=] The Keep
● [=T=] Hadrian's Wall*+
● [=T=] Waterworks
● Sarajevo YZ8 (courtesy of Mr David)
● Conduit Contention 2.0 (Courtesy of VonBinG)**
*- exclusive to the mod.
** - Sharing as per readme: "I hope you enjoy playing my map! please share this round online!"
+ - Thanks to Krileon for scripts used in this map. (Krileon2@hotmail.com)
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KNOWN BUGS / ISSUES / SMALL STUFF
● The mod is not designed or tested for single player campaign play.
● Stormriders may fly in what looks like slow motion sometimes.
● Ox transports might freeze in position if they cannot airlift a unit for some reason.
● Harvesters must be coerced into transports. This isn't a bug, just a limitation of what can be done. You have to call for transport and then tell the harvester to get in.
● Decoy nuke will not point the same way every time so rotate your real nuke to avoid making the observant know which is which.
● Zone Troopers from drop pods sometimes stop responding to orders.
● Infantry may appear to stick out of bunkers sometimes
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THANKS
To our wives, girlfriends and pets for understanding our gaming needs.
Overmind @ Overmind.ro
Golan & Stygs @ thundermods.net
NutZ @ talonclan.com for the installer and testing
Generalsol, Mini_Tach, Jolly Rancher, Lancer and Raging Redneck, Flaming Firefox @ talonclan.com for testing
Mr David for permission to include his map "Sarajevo YZ8" with the mod.
Everyone at ModDB who has supported us and provided feedback.
A lot of people helped with this mod and we are very grateful for everything they have done. If we have forgotten anyone or forgotten to mention a specific task undertaken, please forgive us and know that every bit of help is truly appreciated.
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FEEDBACK
There will be future releases of this mod so we would appreciate any feedback you may have. Please direct this to our forum at www.TALONClan.com or to our Mod development page at Moddb.com
If you want to play with others who have this mod check out our Steam page: Steamcommunity.com
I know this mod wasn't designed for single-player but this is all I play. I have to say it is one of the best mods I have ever seen and it makes the game so much better. I can't thank you guys enough for all of your hard work and dedication. Thank you so much, I love it!
Thanks Cncforever. It's always interesting to hear how the mod plays in single player. Previously there were a couple of stages that were a problem when playing with the mod, but there were ways around them. Have you had any problems yet or points where you had difficulties?
I had problems with the very first GDI (tutorial) mission. There is a part where Nod Fanatics are supposed to attack the GDI Power Plant and that never happened. I just play through on normal, let it auto save and then you can load up the Talon Mod and it will begin the next mission. All automatic saves of the standard game can be loaded and played through with any Mod. Just in case everyone didn't already know that :)
I think this mod is probably one of the smoothest and well implemented game modifications I've seen, the campaign in my opinion is much better however with just a few modification you guys could call this a multiplayer/campaign mod. I know this is unlikely but I'll put my observations here in any case:
First I think GDI infantry are insane! I have been able to complete almost every mission in campaign by just having a ton of infantry and they obliterate everything once you get to a critical mass (~70 missile squads & ~40 riflemen squads). Because of this I found the campaign extremely easy as GDI, though I have yet to try it as NOD.
I LOVE the Orca mods, they are brilliant, though on various campaign missions firehawks are 'locked in' to having bombs, meaning you have no air-to-air capability.
Also on various missions, and linked to the statement above, the mission seems to override your mod, for example in the tower mission for GDI, call for transport costs $100 again, overriding your setting for $0, and Zone Drop Pods recharge ridiculously quickly.
I love the mod the way it is but honestly I think if you spent a little time with the campaign you could release this as a fully featured all-round mod marking, as you put it, the return of strategy for both Campaign and Multiplayer games.
P.S. Could you make the GDI infantry a little *less* badass?
Thanks for the feedback. Svein's the single player guy so he'll cave way before me when it comes to optimizing the mod for campaign play, but who knows maybe one day we'll look at the single player side of things, especially if we have good feedback like this.
One of the main things we're looking at right now is infantry. Specifically reducing the range of Rocket troops (GDI & Nod) and the effectiveness of Disintegrators against infantry.
We like that infantry is being used more now with the changes made in 1.3, but feel that there need to be some slightly better counters (other than other infantry), so we're looking at making anti-infantry defenses and vehicles more effective at taking out infantry.
We're also looking at mutants in the game and trying to make them become more appealing and useful.
I'm not sure if any of that will benefit Campaign play.
I just downloaded it - but how do I launch it?
The installer should have put an icon on your desktop that you launch from.
Thank you very much! We do apologize for the long wait for this version. There was a lack of communication between the original mod coder and Hawk for various reasons, which forced Hawk to bring in myself to continue where he left off. But now that that's taken care of, new versions should come out on a much more frequent basis.
This version of the mod probably is the worst one for single player out of all the releases to date because of the changes made to the structure build times and HPs, mostly with the missions that have a time limit attached to them. So apologies for that change, but if you're ever interested in playing some multiplayer, hit either one of us up. We'd be more than happy for a game. The best way to contact us would be through the mod's Steam group, but if you don't have a Steam account then I'm sure there's something else we could figure out if you're interested.
Ops, I replied but didn't realise I wasn't logged in. The Guest comment about the GDI + Fanatics was my response. All of the changes made are exactly why single player is so much greater!
I have always loved the engineer repair bots, structures are no longer made out of paper and missions in this update take so much longer, I have to be more careful of what units I create and the harvester times mean I can't spend credits frivolously like I used to.
I haven't played for long so I am sure there are more things I will notice later!
So, just one problem with the increase to structure durability...Beam cannons are effectively useless :/
Power plants repair faster than a beam cannon can damage them, which just doesn't seem right...
And yes, I know you're not supposed to demolish bases with just one or two units, but, you know, a siege unit should be able to damage a power plant faster than it can repair.
Don't worry, we're looking at and adjusting damages of units for 1.4. That was one of the things we knew would have to be adjusted after the durability/build times changed, and it's been on our list for a while. But we really wanted to get a release out, and had done so much work for this version already. Damage changes will be a huge component of the 1.4 release, alongside other things.
It's just kinda sad that Nod has a siege unit that does nothing, while GDI pummels the crap out of everything.
Also, are Devastator Warships SUPPOSED to fly into range of AA defenses, even though their attack range is greater? When you order your devastators to attack an AA defense, they fly closer than they need to and turn into expensive scrap.
I have been swinging back and forth on Beam Cannon damage. I was thinking they were too weak, but I think it comes down to numbers. If you make 5 of them they make quick work of almost anything. More than that and they are probably the quickest at destroying structures when compared to the same number of juggernauts or Devastators. But we'll keep testing and tweaking where necessary.
Devastators have been one of the hardest units to get right. In 1.21 you could use the Mothership to draw fire away from Devastators, or spot for them. But with recent changes to the Mothership this option isn't as appealing obviously. The issue we want to avoid is where Devastators can just pound a base to dust in seconds and travel quickly and easily to another base and do the same thing again. Yes they're artillery units, but because they are so mobile and quick to travel around a map and because they can only be countered by AA units it's an artillery unit that needs a some kind of downside. The way we see them right now is as a coup de gras unit...meaning a unit that comes in and finishes the job quickly when the AA defenses are down. We do frequently play with Scrin so it's not a faction we don't like, we just don't want them to be over-powered either.
We do have some ideas for the Devastators that we're working on though, and it's good to get feedback on how you feel they are at present, so thanks.
Oh, a mobile AA unit being able to wipe them out is fine. It's the part where a GDI AA gun is shooting down my devastators because they're stupid enough to keep closing in on something they can already attack. The downside to an artillery unit should NOT be that it likes to attack from as close as possible instead of max range :p
Ok I see what you're saying. The Devastators have a shorter range than AA defenses, but I hadn't noticed that they kept moving forward after the Devastator main weapons came into range. And you're not clicking on an area in the fog/shroud I assume? And no weird terrain nearby when it happens? Sorry to ask, just like to make sure there are no other explanations or variables. We'll take a closer look.
Flat terrain, single click on a stationary target.
I did a test with 5 Beam Cannons and 5 Juggernauts attacking structures. These were the results.
5 juggernauts vs War Factory = 17 seconds
5 Beam Cannons vs War Factory = 11 seconds
5 juggernauts vs Conyard = 112 seconds
5 Beam Cannons vs Conyard = 27 seconds
Try those vs basic defenses, though. The beam cannons will end up being melted by Scrin's basic defense structures, while the juggernauts will just happily fire away.
That's a trade off though. You get stealth and a bit more power with the beam cannons, but they're weak on their own, which is why you don't send them in alone. If for some reason the beam cannons aren't outranging the anti-vehicle defenses, then bring in a venom or two and use the venom bounce ability to extend the range of the beam cannons. Both should be able to stay out of range of defenses while still giving you the range needed to take them out. Beam cannons were't meant to take a beating.
OK you were originally saying that regular structures were what Beam Cannons were "useless" against, not defenses. I think that's been resolved as they actually do more damage than Juggeranuts.
I hadn't noticed an issue with them against any defense, but will do some tests specifically against defenses, and we'll look at the code to see if there's any weird settings for Beam Cannons.
It's more a matter of the basic defenses for Scrin somehow gaining a range boost vs beam cannons only. My flame tank sitting closer than the beam cannon is fine, but the beam cannons melt as soon as they start to fire...
Well the fact that it's targeting your beam cannons over your flame tanks is a matter of threat level. Each unit is given a value to determine how dangerous they are, which gives them priority targeting over other units of lower threat levels. This means that if both a flame tank and a beam cannon are within range of a turret, the turret will target the beam cannon since it sees it as more dangerous. Proximity doesn't come into play at all, and there's no way to adjust the range of turrets for specific units. The range of turrets and units is completely universal.
As far as Scrin turrets being able to outrange a beam cannon, we'll look at that specifically.
I have enjoyed your mods now though with the latest 1.3 single player works ok but as the AI builds up infantry etc my harvesters slow down till they stop. In the campaign it's self can't remember which scenario, but it starts with blowing a hole in a wall using fanatics the problem is the wall is now stronger than the explosives.
The mod isn't designed for campaign play but there are ways around the wall issue you mentioned. I forget what the solution is off the top of my head, it's posted on here somewhere.
We haven't noticed any slow downs of harvesters, but will keep an eye on that.
To get around that, you can either run near the wall with your fanatic and dodge the anti vehicle gun being fired from the enemy allowing it to hit and weaken the wall before you blow the hole in it, or you can play through that level as normal, let it auto save and then load up the Mod and continue. It will pick up the auto save without problems and you will be able to play the Mod as normal.
hopefully a single player focus will come into play.
Is there a way to make the build time faster? I know it is MP based but 6 min for a structure haha
How to fix the mod?