With my changes for the campaign AIs, the story will feel more as it is supposed to, in my opinion ;) This is no real mod for FA, you only need to replace files of your FA installation. Easy installation and lots of fun changes ^^
Well, here it is... The additions to the 4th mission have been implemented as best as I can, but I'll be polishing the new UEF commander during the jammer phase and later on of course. At this moment, all he does is send very light attack forces. But yeah, don't want him to be like Dostya, because then you can just sit back and relax while they do all the work for you xD
Anyway, since we have a new ally, we deserve more enemies too right? That's why they gave me the idea of building some expansion bases for the Seraphim. And the Seraphim does this exactly! And for the beauty of it, I added an objective about it as well =D
A bloody cool idea, with 1 but.
Personaly, I alwayes liked campain missions, because almost always it was me, who decided if i`m ready to advance to the next phase and in this case a too agressive AI can be a pain in the arse if that silicon guy finishes off an objective, while my base is still being built. If you could make the ai respond to some type of command to switch between offencive and defencive modes, THAT would be totally Awsome.
I guess I can delay the construction of those artillery, but I don't think I can create an effective way to make James switch from offense to defense or vice versa... Also, I tried to make a ping command for a squad of units, similar to the Colossus ping in the 3rd mission, but that doesn't work... That way you could completely control your ally, but the thing is, it only works on one of the units in that squad or just doesn't do anything at all =(
Also, that is why James only has 1 Land and 1 Air Factory, to not make him too powerful. He is not really an AI that can control the battle during the first phase, his units will be destroyed with ease, don't worry about that! ;)
well, i was talking about agressive AIs in general, but in this mission I don't see a reason for this James to exist, other than to draw some fire in the first minutes of the battle...
And that would be easier for him to do with 2 small bases north and south-west of player starting position. That will also elliminate his presence pretty quickly and save player the trouble of getting rid of him.
After the first stage he will be only getiing in the way, because he occupies a strategically important hill. I usually fortify all five hill around the prymary base for surviving the final phase, and a T1 ally would just eat resources[both mass and my PC processing power :)] and space, while giving nothing valuable in return.
for the QAI mission, it would be good thing to create a small, expendable loyalist(or a cybran) force that would hold 1 flank for 3-5 minutes for the player to get his base up to T2 at least. they don't neccesary need mass deposits, they can run on a couple of fabricators. But that is only thinking out loud.
and by the way have you any idea about the UEF t3 neptune BC bug when it fires its main guns above the target and only in campain maps?
First of all, thank you for your responce and for playing the mod :)
Second, I can say that I somehow agree with you, James is not necessary in this mission but the reason why I added him was because I wanted to do something "spectacular" with it again, like adding Dostya. This was also not my idea, but the suggestion of a fan like you. The location he is building up was also not my decision... I just scripted that what he wanted. And I can understand that he just takes up place, but I made it so that you can still build over there, of course not that much, and I added the reconstruction of the defenses to do some of the work for you. And, do note, this is not a T1 ally... He's T2 land and T3 air (he eventually builds T3 air as well)
Also, somehow I am against this disposable ally that would only help temporarily... I'd rather have a full Cybran commander like Fletcher, which could then also be a 'shield' to delay QAI in the very beginning. Think about it, I already placed mass deposits to your north which have been placed to fit factories in between them. I'll start on that soon ^^
Looking at the placement. Seems upper right of this image is a good re-location spot for this AI. As he won't be "in the way" and can still assist in the early phase, with being well enough exposed to die out if you want him to.
Hmmm... You mean relocation as in move his entire base there from the very beginning? My opinion, he'll then be much to close to the Seraphim expansion, making it just too easy to destroy that one =/
(also see my comment above)
Played through the second mission, the upgrades are good, but 2 things require some doing, the firs order base and the "generators" outpost desperatly need more defences, maybe another t2 land fact. And the last QAI base, the one with the ACU in it, needs more sheilds and engineers for rebuilding destroyed things. Maybe a nuke launcher to throw nukes at player or selene ance in a while, say... 20-10-5 minutes, depending on the difficulty... For those, who like to actualy see their SMD in action at least once...
The rest of the changes to the AI are awsome. Loved to watch Selene rebuild her killed bases in less than 2 mins))
I know, but I still didn't add them... Also, I think that I'll leave the resource base untouched. I mean, defenses don't really matter there since some T3 arty can utterly decimate that base.
But you are correct about the main base during the first phase... I already added a defense platoon for Celene there but static defenses like Oblivion PDs are also a must. I'll be adding them soon ;)
Maybe a small defencive base in the center of the first phase area, near the water, would do the trick. It will protect both the generators and tha factories bases and won't allow such an easy access to resources for the player. That doesnt mean that the main base doesn't need more defences though, it will delay the assault on the generators and player's progress to T3...
That would indeed be enough to stop them, and I already know what that defensive base should do... ^^