Tiberium Essence v 1.4 released! news

Yes it´s true. After halve year of development, is finally here the moment you been waiting for so very long time. I put maximum efforts to make it real at least for Christmas when it was so many times delayed. I can only hope that all this delays due improvements I have to put into this
version was worth of this effort, but that is on you to decide. What you have not seen in previous media update is more new scrin units like Razorback (replacing gun walker) and new so-called Assault Mothership, which is second scrin epic. Some of you was disappointed when I announced conqueror as scrin epic unit so now you got also new unique capital ship. Hope you will like it too.

1.4 is not perfect yet, or at least not as perfect as I want it to be, but I hope you will enjoy it even with some flaws here and there. Many things has been changed, many improved, but many still waiting for adjustment or replacement for better model (titan, wolverine, scorpion tank etc) But overall the main goal I have for 1.4, to increase visual quality of this mod has been achieved

Balance part is always big issue specially when you change so many aspects of this game. We have done our best to balance things properly, but I'm sure there is always something which might evade our attention, so feel free to report any balance problem you encounter, it will be taken in to consideration and proper fix will be included in next patched version. This time I swear you won't need to wait another halve year for it, I will support 1.4 properly from now as you guys deserve.

This version also finally includes new music that is also reason why its so big file (around 140 megs) but i hope its not problem these days.
New music is composed by Vlado32 and Frank Klepacky
Track list:
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Vlado 32:
Found Troops, Rise, Slow march, Total Wasteland, They´re creep up and they won´t have compassion

Frank Klepacky (including tracks from Tiberian down, Tiberian sun and Renegade)

Tiberium down: Charge, On the prowl, Air strike, No mercy,
Tiberium Sun : Approach, Nod crush, Pharotek, Deploy machine, Dusk hour, Mad rap, Heroism, Time bomb, Lone troop, Slave to the system, Killing machine, Gloom, Scout
Renegade: On your feet, Stop them again, Stomp, In line of fire (renegade remix)

Vlado ´s music is now also available to listen here on moddb.

Credits:
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Jiri "Carnius" Chalupa - Project leader, all 2d/3d art in mod, all coding in mod
Rimtech - TE Logo, TE Propagation, Betatester, new sounds
DJ Killer - TE Logo final edit, Betatester
Vlado32 - TE music composer, Betatester
White Wolf - Text Editor (www.rebornwiki.com)

Thanks:
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Thanks to Sedistix from project CnC3:Tactix for his help with ini files and some coding stuff
Thanks to Dutchygamer from Project Perfect Mod forum for his help with code on explosive Blue tiberium
Olaf van Der Spec (XCC utility)
Jonathan "Jonwil" Wilson (SDK Extras/CnC3Tools)

So here is something you should know before play:

Global changes:

All basic and most advaced infantry lost detect stealth ability in small radius unlike in vanilla TW, this makes mines also usefull agains infantry and makes units with sensors even more important. Infantry with stealth detecting sensors are: Gdi Sniper Team, Gdi Zone troopers (small radius on start, increased with upgrade as usual), Nod Shadows, Alien Stalwarts and all Commando class units can detect stealth in small radius like in vanilla.

All superweapons cost 7500 and require more power

All T3 tech structures require more power

All Units with tiberium heal ability heal in tiberium slower

All basic and advanced infantry have 20% better protection vs cannon and missile damage

Added Unit Crate to Skirmish and Multiplayer game when crate option is on - Including only original Tiberium wars units. Unit list are: Gdi Apc, Gdi Pitbull, Gdi Predator, Nod Scorpion tank, Nod Beam cannon, Nod Flame tank. All these units are generic units without abilities or upgrades.

Any faction can now heal and replenish infantry squads. Gdi now use Barrack not Armory and Nod Hand of Nod for healing soldiers and Secret Shirne for healing cyborgs only. this maybe sounds unusual but if you think about that is only logical step. Barracks all around the world usualy have some stationary medics for treating at least small injuries and its the place where is also fallen or incapatiet troops replaced by new one. But not so scrin. I have something special for scrin in this matter. Scrin Portal (like Gateway) is using so called Nano Field for healing infantry and vehicles while Statis chamber can replenish squads, but they dont need to enter this structure, just enter small radius around Statis chamber and missing troops is teleported directly in to squad. Scrin are aliens race so they do things different :)

SCRIN:
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No reconstruction drones around gateway and gravity stabilizer - scrin are advanced race so they use advanced technology to repair units, all production facilities (including Portal) and deployed Explorer provides Nano field instead which repairs alien units around them. Just move your units inside repair circle as usual. Technicaly there is no difference, you can still repair max 3 unit at once or order Gateway to repair one unit 3x faster. It also works for infantry.

Buzzers - Cost 300 and attacking in one wave per second instead of 100 attacks in seconds as in vannila TW. This change is insignificant for balance but im sure you know that problem when buzzers attack vehicle, no matter how good computer you have frame rate drops down, well this change remove this problem completly.

Add new units Razorback, Defiler, Conqueror and Assault Mothership - more deails in readme

Add new support power - Meteorite strike

Add new upgrades - Tiberium Hive, Tiberium Enhancement, Tiberium Integration (that is lots of tiberium, but scrin should be masters of tiberium)

Tiberium shards upgrade - removed

Gun Walker - removed and replaced for new unit Razorback (i can´t stand its model anymore)

Seeker - 50% increased range, 10% more damage vs vehicles and structures

Manta - increased health, decreased range and attack damage vs structures

Harvester - increased health

Devourer - increased weapon range and increased maximum ammo for conversion beam

Corrupter - improved visual effect of firing

Annihilator Tripod - incresed maximum ammo for conversion beam

Signal transmitter - 50% more health

Photon cannon - renamed to Plasma disc Cannon (it firing plasma discs not photon-something), got upgrade Tiberium Enhancement

Buzzer hive - got upgrade Tiberium Hive

Mothership - renamed to Planet Killer Mothership - so we run 2 mothership classes Assault (new one) Planet Killer (old one with catalist cannon), you can have only one scrin mothership so you can´t deploy Planet Killer Mothership when assault mothership is already deployed.

GDI:
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New units add - Falcon hover tank, Jump jet trooper - more details in readme

New upgrades add - Shockwave Grenades (works like shockwave artillery, add emp damage to normal damage), Jump Jet Booster (for hover units)

Titan - 5% decreased health and firepower

Hover Mlrs - firing 4 missiles per salvo, got Jump Jet upgrade

Apc - removed and replaced for Goliath Heavy Apc

Mammoth Tank - improved model, missile pods can pitch up when shooting on air targets

Juggernout - improved model, 20% increased health, cost 2600

Missileman Squad - increased overall health and attack damage

Assault predator - renamed to Predator Mark II, improved model

Orca Bomber - decreased health, got carpet bombs, got versatile loadout ability, can chose between carpet bombs or shockwave bombs

Mammoth Mark II - new model, can be upgraded with disk launcher turret or anti-aircraft railguns, can´t have both you must chose which one you want.

Power plant cost reduced to 700, produces 10% more power, its more fair if you consider fact that original in vanilla TW produces only as much power as scrin powerplant for 600!

Refinery - model improved - add "plug" on tiberium "pool", green smoke replaced for normal smoke, gdi approach to enviromental issue more seriously and they care about health of their people so they can´t just spread tiberium toxins around.

Rpg tower - got Shockwave Grenades upgrade

AA-Battery - got Railguns upgrade (thats right, no tungsten but railguns! This is future right? So why should gdi using 100 years old technology when they got railguns. Before you questening this decision consider this, USA really trying to create anti-missile railguns capable of taking down balistic missiles so why not use it on aircraft too? Yes, its still in development, but in future who know? And we have one possible future in tiberium wars.

Sonic emittor - improved model

Dropship command - Provides 4 extra support powers which deploy various veteran units on dropship command for cheaper price than units build in warfactory. When nod got tiberium seed and scrin tiberium growth accelerators gdi got this. Something similar should be originaly in tiberian sun, but was cut off from final game. This is not exactly what was intended for TS but is closest i can get to it. Here you can buy preset unit groups including Light armor company (1x Falcon, 1x Apc, 1x Mlrs), Mech spearhead (2x Wolverine, 2x Titan), Siedge team (1x Disruptor, 1x Juggernout) and Mammoth Stomp (2x Mammoth tanks). All of them is reset at start so you have to wait until your reinforcement is ready which is propperly announced by Eva with generic "Reinforcement ready". Non of these powers is in player power sidebar on left but in ability window of dropship command so you have to select dropship command to gain access to them. I want to separate these powers from others because they works different way than classic support powers.

Mech spearhead - removed from player powers sidebar, deploys units on dropship command only

Composite Armor upgrade - add some resistance to tiberium

Regarding Jump Jet trooper I failed in some elements. First he came in squad of one. He do not walk on ground, but only hovering close to ground. He can´t be healed in barrack or medics combat support hospital, but he got power packs upgrade which compensate this inability at least with self heal. Im apologize if i disappointed your expectations regarding this unit, i have some serious troubles in code which denied me to do it otherwise, but i hope you will like my finall solution too.

NOD:
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New units added - Phantom repair vehicle

Cloaking field - renamed to Portable stealth generators, do not kills infantry anymore, works much like area upgrade your vehicles and not like mystical magic power which makes your units invisible and for no reason kills infantry.

Decoy army - decoys do not see anymore, cant attack, but is invulnerable, it suppose to be holograms, so lets make them behave like holograms

Catalist missile - (just reminding from v1.3) does more damage to normal structures and units, but area effect is smaller, still you can use it for

finishing of different targets than tiberium based structures

Subterranean strike - moved to Tech Lab, do not need secret shirne and operation centre anymore

Tiberium infusion - renamed to Forced Evolution, tiberium is poison and direct infusion would kill any human imediately so in Tiberium Essence Kane use his knowledge and force evolution of humans to be able to survive in tiberium contaminated area but they lost something from humanity hence they become sort of mutants.

Confessor upgrade - renamed to Black hand elite - a Black hand elite armed with laser gattling replaces confessor in squads of militants and add to black hand squad too. He is also able to attack airborne infantry like jump jet troopers or flying shadows are.

Enhanced servomechanism - removed, this whole upgrade was only redundant and fast cyborgs looks a bit weird

Refinery - improved model, tiberium pool partially closed, nod do not care about health their own people as much as Gdi do.

Power plant - new model for liquid tiberium core upgrade (lets get rid of that green bulb)

Black hand - new cape less model without insect-like eyes on helmet, now got propper helmet visor, add upgrade Black hand elite

Rocket Militant Squad - comes in squad of 3, increased overall health and attack damage, cost 500

Raider buggy - new model, attack power and health increased, cost 500, got Tiberium particle beam istead of laser capacitors (there is already

enough lasers in nod faction)

Scorpion Tank - do not need driling mechanism anymore

Scarab Apc - new model, can deploy mine field, cost 1000

Cobra Artillery - new model, new weapon (long range plasma cannon), is stealthed, deploys and undeploys to fire on button simillar to artillery in TS.

Beam cannon - removed and replaced for Basilisk beam cannon, Basilisk got completly new weapon, beams do not join anymore (that is actually agains nature), rather than that split in to three separate beams, can hit more targets at once or one with full firepower, new ability add - overchage, but lost reflector attack which was in contradictory to his new weapon, Charge Defenses presereved. Beam cannon something lost, something gain, but averall its much more usefull unit even in frontline combat.

Stealth Tank - 10% more health, basic damage decreased, has Tiberium core missiles upgrade, cost 1600

Cyborg squad - moved to secret shirne, got tiberium particle beam upgrade

Reaper - moved to secret shirne, can´t attack aircraft anymore, now serves as heavy anti-vehicle infantry, can´t enter structures or transport apc, but got call for transport ability, no more shoot that weird web to slow down units (ok that was really not well handled effect from my part), this whole ability was redone to Subtterain blast, Reaper launches preprogramed mortar shell which dig deep under ground and then detonate resulting small earthquake which slow down units and cause significant damage to infantry and structures. We decided that there is no reason to keep reaper like he was, he was not of much great use, frankly he was only stronger bike, but in firepower weaker than stealth tank, so we find better (hopefully better) use for him.

cyborg commando - decreased firepower and health, add flamer (like should be in TS), improved armor vs sniper fire

All cyborgs is now healed by nod repair drones

All defensive structures have increased health and firepower, turrets can be deployed in wider radius, but cost also increased

Mutants:

New unit add - Looted Pitbull - has missiles and minigun

Marauders - new model, can´t attack aircraft anymore but attack damage increased

Ghost Stalker - requires any tech lab class structure for build (is tier 3 unit now)

I'm apologizing for anything I forgot mentioned here and for any blunders in text. Last days was very busy and I got only little time to finish readme and this news post, if I want to do it properly this mod can't be released today, but maybe after new year. I'll be better next time.

So enjoy and have fun with Tiberium Essence 1.4!

Merry Christmas if you celebrate Christmas and happy new year if you have new year anytime soon :)

Carnius