Hello everyone, Graion is back with news regarding Attacque Supérior, the mod, which does more crazy things than you would dare to run with. 2015 was a colossal year for AS - what started with a struggle and lack of motivation ultimately turned into the greatest challenge the mod ever faced.
In early summer 2015, Attacque Supérior successfully switched engines and left Yuri's Revenge/Ares for good in favor of OpenRA. (Many thanks to Astor of Crystallized Doom for actually initiating the process) While the conversion isn't completed at the moment, and probably won't be for a good while now, the changes have already led AS into a path of constant evolution, pushing boundaries and reinventing gameplay.
In the current beta build, Allies, Soviets and the Freedom Confederates have already been restored, with Pacted probably following them. Yuri and Oppressors will have to wait - the first one due to requiring major features to be recoded before usable, the latter due it's gameplay style still being redesigned from the ground up.
In this newspost I'll be talking about the potential hidden in the codebase. Attacque Supérior will have it's own unique codebase working and maintained alongside with the OpenRA main code/repository. This is a feature of OpenRA's - mods created/run by capable modders can code their own features and include them as a third-party plugin, which can be included just like any asset by the mod. Attacque Supérior will definitely (ab)use this feature, due to many reasons, from not relying on other third party dependencies (like the WIP RA2 mod), and allowing to prioritize/feature logics the base games (ie. any Westwood-made C&C) doesn't have/fit, for example, a planned feature for Pacted will be the Generals US pilot-system with it's salvageable veterancy system, with the "engine support" technically being placed into the AS codebase.
Chrono Miner evading an airburst missile. Just another day in many RA2 mod gameplays.
What makes this feature newspostworthy even now that AS will not sit on this codebase privately. You can already track - albeit a bit lousy - it on Github.com and - if you're an OpenRA modder - even use this code in your OpenRA project, provided you actually get to compile it - an example to set it up will always be provided in my OpenRA repository - Github.com. Keep in mind that the AS codebase is provided as-is and might not fully compliant with the OpenRA guidelines.
Another drastic change as a followup of the above turned up to be the move of the whole AS project from C&C Guild. While Revora, the association behind C&C Guild was a great place and great start for projects like AS, the scattered community and the sheer size always resulted with an abandoned feel for AS. This, as well as Revora's choice of separating C&C Online entirely from C&C Guild implied to me that the Guild is a legacy of his own, one which has no long-term chance to shine again. At first I didn't even intended to pop up on SWR, but honestly speaking, SWR is a friendly place where I do feel I belong to for a while now. And I'm happy I could join.
Another newspost will come later to talk about what changes the factions themselves received due to the engine change. But there's also a different option.
Yes, you see it right, after a year of absence AS returns to the channel of Hecthor Doomhammer, bringing back the crazyness in full time! We're hoping to actually maintain the monthly streams this time though. :D You'll see how AS evolved in a lot different ways. I will also ofcourse monitor the streamchat and will try to answer your questions in real-time. So be prepared at the madness incoming at 13th Feb 19:00!
We're also opening up tester positions for now, since now that we're through the first hiccups, we could use some fresh insight to evolve further. A requirement will be a Skype account you're willing to share besides an SWR account ofcourse.
The 2016 roadmap so far has the Pacted rejuvenation, working on missing RA2/Ares/AS features and whatever knocks in. We'll see what that'll be.
Everyone, have a supérior year, Graion out.
What is the benefit of switching from YR to OpenRA?
Is it more flexible?
Yes, yes, absolutely. OpenRA is a lot more generic. In YR, many traits and possibilities had a lot of hardcoded limits which would take a lot of effort from Ares to circumvent (many times the ones which got circumvented ended up having their own new issues added to the mix). OpenRA scales a lot better, with a lot less limited interactions between these possibilities.
On the other hand, OpenRA atm still lacks a lot of YR-specific features, but with time, I'll get the ones done.
Also, to put it bluntly: when YR fails on me, it means I have to scrap some stuff because Westwood couldn't do some stuff right/hacked their own code for their similar thingy to work and ignoring many other cases - helicopters would never try to face their target if they've been told to only attack targets in front of them as one example.
When OpenRA fails on me: it's either due to the stress-test nature of my mod, which pretty much turns out to be too much for the game (and the devteam treats it like a minor bug), either a limit which is planned to be lifted in time during their TS completion either something I can try to lift myself in their code. In all cases, I can still work with what I have and prioritize stuff which will work.
And since I've familiarized myself with the OpenRA-codebase last year, I can even extend the OpenRA logics - a lot easier than how I could extend YR logics.
Sounds like quite a nice change
Will this be standalone?
OpenRA is a free engine where all mods (official or thirdparty) are equall, so the term "standalone" doesn't exactly apply here. ;)
OpenRA is great, modders have a lot of limits with the ancient outdated engines from Westwood. My biggest problem was the compatibilty problem of TS - it is/was just a pure mess.
Mods like Attacque Supérior, Shattered Paradise, Enigma or Crystallized Doom will help to bring in more people into OpenRA - be it modder, streamer or player :)
As I said on the screenshot already... shouldn't you at least mention somewhere that Spiderman_2099/Macrophage made these RA1 buildings?
I tend to mention it a lot of places. Even during the streams.