Playtest 20130421 news

Changelog

• Fixed a crash in Survival01 startup.
• Fixed a crash in Dune 2000 because of missing smoke trails.
• Removed classic mods as they are unmaintained and in bad shape.
• Fixed problems with harvester unloading and weapon factory exits clogging up too soon.
• Removed reindexing of all maps when loading the shellmap for faster game start-up times.
• Added connection quality indicator (green nickname is good, orange is still playable, red is a very bad ping)
• Added dynamic order latency adjusted by player pings for smoother game-play especially in single-player.
• Changed sequence loading to be more verbose about missing definitions and files to aid modders.
• Added building husks for Red Alert (construction yard, power plants, refinery) for more impressive destruction animation during explosions.
• Added more ore silo fill steps for smoother transitions.
• Added a smoother Red Alert weapon factory door animation.
• Changed selection overlay color on snow map for more contrast (was white on white).
• Removed palette rotators on the build palette (glitchy on RA desert).
• Fixed zombie aircrafts sometimes returning to base instead of crashing to the ground.
• Added the mobile radar jammer to the allied forces which will disable enemy radar domes if you drive it next to them and deflect missiles around a 3 tiles radius (like the ECM tank in Generals).
• Added .mix filename to Exception if duplicate values are found to help debug this strange problem. (Please send in your exception.log so we can hunt this down.)
• Fixed Fragile Alliance lobby button and update the players shroud properly on diplomatic stance changes.
• Fixed a NullReferenceException when watching replays with team chat.
• Changed C&C maps by Psydev got maintenance updates.
• Removed lag from move order and auto-target by decreasing response times.
• Fixed trait documentation is now updated automatically in the wiki and indentions have been added to the HTML formatting shipped with each release for better readability.
• Changed C&C anti-air (Orca gets one more rocket but reduced damage from overall 30 to 25 and 20 to 15 against heavy armor, SAM sit turret rotation/build/fire speed increased, cost slightly reduced, APC gun got buffed to fire more rapidly and do more damage against air units, guard tower missiles fire faster now)
• Changed Tiberium silos got a storage upgrade as build space is now valuable for the AI.
• Changed GDI Humvee and NOD buggy are 5% less powerful vs buildings and heavy vehicles.
• Removed some duplications in the bits folders to get the patch size a little smaller again.
• Fixed damaged silos placed by mappers using wrong sprites.
• Fixed GL crash when starting Allies04 on Windows with NVIDIA drivers.
• Added a Drop Zone map for C&C by Danny.
• Changed Dune 2000 bazookas and quads can no longer shoot rockets over walls.
• Changed Dune 2000 tank speed from 3 to 6 so they get through the waste Arrakis landscape faster for more intense gameplay.
• Added stealth trike to Ordos and weapon crates.
• Changed buffed Dune 2000 tanks to do more damage vs. light vehicles.
• Changed Dune 2000 turret strength vs vehicles has been increased.
• Added RALint check for missing sequence definitions and fixed them in d2k mod.
• Add `Required` slot checking in lobby logic. Use it for missions that don't work without a set amount of players.
• Changed Don't try discover UPnP capable routers by default as people reported problems with Mono.Nat. The setting has been exposed to the GUI so be sure to check it if port-forwarding works and you want the extra comfort.
• Changed C&C repair bay costs reduced from 600 to 500 credits.
• Changed nerfed GDI advanced guard towers to have less HP and consume more power. Differentiate the damage of each defense building better. Small machine gun guard towers will shred infantry, the gun tower will take out heavy tanks and the advanced guard tower shoots rockets that hurt aircraft badly.
• Changed C&C sniper range for the commando increased from 5 to 6.
• Changed C&C infantry prone crawl speed from 50% to 60% to make it less annoying to evacuate you hit men from enemy fire.
• Changed GDI mammoth tank missiles vs infantry now does 40% instead of 30% damage.
• Changed C&C Construction yard HP reduced from 1500 to 1400 so you can guaranteed destroy it with ion cannon and airstrike together.
• Changed NOD artillery range decreased from 12 to 11, GDI MLRS damage vs buildings increased from 25% to 30%.
• Changed decreased C&C infantry crushing evasion probability from 75% to 60%.
• Changed C&C building adjacency from 5 to 4.
• Removed all backfalls to Red Alert content in the Dune 2000 mod. Convert every sprite in the Data.R8 file.
• Changed Dune 2000 Ix Research Center now requires High-Tech Factory as per-requisite.
• Added the bibs back to Dune 2000. Mappers: please create more rock terrain build space for extensive late-game bases. Keep in mind that the tech buildings require lot's of tiles and the cell size is 32 on the Arrakis tileset which is 33% bigger than Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn. Turn on the grid in the map editor to get a better feeling.
• Changed reduced Dune 2000 mobile construction vehicle speed from 7 to 6.
• Added Dune 2000 map "Brimstone" by sanedisruption.
• Added Dune 2000 map "The hourglas" by Danny.
• Changed Dune 2000 tanks rotate a little slower, but drive slightly faster on nearly all terrains.
• Changed Dune 2000 weapon balancing: quad and artillery damage vs buildings slightly increased, removed artillery fire-delay, reduced riflemen damage vs buildings to 15%.
• Changed Spice regeneration speed to be much faster.
• Changed Dune 2000 turret gun to fire over walls.
• Changed Dune 2000 air strikes to fire faster and reveal shroud during the approach.
• Changed overall faster air-units for Dune 2000.
• Changed Harkonnen Devastator gun to do lot's of damage against everything, but fire slightly slower.
• Changed reduced atomic damage vs buildings and heavy armor, but increased overall damage and spread a lot in Dune 2000.
• Changed Ordos tank speed got reduced from 10 to 9.
• Removed turret from burning base defense husks in Dune 2000 to clarify that it is destroyed.
• Changed Dune 2000 husk burn times shortened.
• Changed Dune 2000 units do not detect cloaked units in vicinity anymore.
• Changed gave quad better scout range; reduced trike's.
• Changed faster vehicle speeds on rock, sand, dunes on Arrakis.
• Changed trike missile-tank and riflemen damage vs buildings decreased.
• Changed Dune 2000 harvesters and MCVs got HP increased.
• Changed initial stance Defend on from all Dune 2000 units except artillery.
• Changed more money in Dune 2000 cash crates.
• Changed cheaper Hightech factory, pricier Ix Research labs.
• Changed palace armor from concrete to wood.
• Changed artillery damage vs. concrete reduced.
• Changed palace and radar outpost will now detect cloaked units and got a range indicator for that.
• Changed Dune 2000 build palette order.
• Changed Dune 2000 repair pad is now cheaper, too: 800 to 500 credits.
• Added generic custom per-requisits for Starport (useful if you capture one, but lost your own).
• Changed the Ordos raider got pricier, but more HP to differentiate better towards the regular trike.
• Changed Ordos raider and regular trike damage increased vs heavy armor.
• Changed Dune 2000 quad gun refurbished to attack heavy armor now with two bursted missiles.
• Changed Dune 2000 silo capacity increased from 1500 to 2000.
• Changed Dune 2000 outpost cost reduced from 1000 to 700.
• Changed Dune 2000 spice refinery cost reduced from 3000 to 2000.
• Changed Dune 2000 missile tank HP lowered to 90.
• Changed Dune 2000 rocket tank rate of fire increased.
• Changed all maps on Dune 2000 now come with shroud revealed (only fog of war is rendered).
• Changed Dune 2000 power usage of repair pad got lowered.
• Changed Dune 2000 infantry damage vs. heavy armor increased from 15% to 20% and vs. light armor from 30% to 40%.
• Changed Dune 2000 artillery minimum range lowered from 3 to 2.
• Changed Dune 2000 defensive structure got more visual range.
• Changed Red Alert Chrono-Tank to crush infantry and sandbags as well as trigger AT mines. Requires Chronosphere now to be built, increased price to 1350.
  Changed buffed tesla and chrono tank HP to 400.
• Changed buffed Allies medium tank damage from 30 to 40
• Changed Red Alert mammoth tank turret rotation speed increased from 1 to 2.
• Added repairable bridges using engineer to both Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn. Includes a nice animation for long bridges and destroys enemy ships.
• Changed Dune 2000 missile tanks does not require the high-tech factory any more.
• Changed increased spread of the turret gun and damage vs infantry.
• Changed Starports will now deliver faster in exchange for costing more.
• Added support for smaller build palette icons used in Dune 2000.
• Added overhauled Dune 2000 buttons made by Sardaukar.
• Fixed deselecting edge scroll checkbox loosing ability to use arrow scroll.
• Fixed attack dog voice in Red Alert.
• Changed buildings costs inspired by the original Dune 2000 stats.
• Removed anti-air capability from Dune 2000 bazooka.
• Changed Dune 2000 harvester unload rate and cash-ticks slightly.
• Added high resolution sprite for the mechanic and a armor badger drop icon (unused).
• Added new map Dune Boogie by Psydev.

Trailer

Thanks to the Games for Linux YouTube channel we now have a nice game-play trailer which gives a good impression (of the previous releases):