Version 5 Changes news - GC2 Reversal Mod for Ground Control II: Operation Exodus

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A comprehensive look at all of the new features and changes included in Version 5 of the Reversal Mod.

Posted by Flamecurse on Sep 20th, 2021

REVERSAL VERSION 5 - CHANGE LOG

MOD CHANGES

The readme file now includes some instructions for Steam users about launching the game with a command line input, which is necessary to run the mod using the packaged .sdf files.
The mod now comes bundled with the various UI addons in addition to the skirmish screen update. This should hopefully reduce the amount of mod and addon packages users have to keep track of or send to their friends.
WinSDF now comes bundled as well, so users have everything they need to unpack and play with their friends online if they need to.

GENERAL MISSION CHANGES

Increased the starting AP of various missions throughout the campaign. Some increases were minor while others were more significant depending on the mission's starting difficulty.
The player now starts with an additional dropship engine upgrade in the first couple of missions in the NSA campaign, helping with the unusually long travel routes.
Fixed the remaining unchanged AI starting units in the NSA campaign to use the AI-only variants where appropriate.
All Viron Assault Pod support powers during the Viron campaign now drop Infector Clanguards instead of Assault Clanguards. The price remains unchanged (2500). This change only applies to the campaign and not skirmish or multiplayer.
Corruptor Centruroids are now available for purchase in all missions of the Viron campaign instead of disappearing after the second mission. Having a heavy armor unit for the rest of the early missions, and a proper anti-infantry unit for the middle missions makes dealing with the full Terran arsenal much less frustrating. This was due to the increase to infantry survivability this release and the tendency of the AI to use a lot of Dragon Legionnaires during Aiming for the Teeth.
Changed the Terran faction's Artillery support powers to use the same projectile effect values as the NSA Airstrikes. Rounds will now take longer to impact than previously, and in Reversal mode the swapped weapon effects should now display properly. All campaign missions have been updated with this fix, however community-made singleplayer missions will still use the older values and effects though the difference is mostly visual.

SPECIFIC MISSION CHANGES

Mission 1 (Rat Catcher): Changed a few of the starting infantry in mission 1 into snipers. The many changes in the mod to infantry survivability, especially involving cover, have made that mission far more difficult than it was intended to be. With snipers a player now has the means to flush hostile infantry out of cover without taking heavy losses in the process, especially during the initial bridge crossing.
Mission 2 (Calling the Shots): Changed some of the player's and allied starting Light Assault Infantry into Siege Soldiers. Also changed the Anti-Infantry turrets on the western half of the beach into the long range, low damage variant. This means the allied infantry are now able to survive long enough to take a bunker or two instead of being wiped out within the first minute or so of the mission.
Mission 3 (Smells Like Victory): The AI will no longer instantly replace a destroyed dropship, instead having to wait over a minute for a new one as normal.
Mission 5 (All That is Dear): This mission received numerous adjustments.
1) Changed some of the starting Light Assault Infantry into Siege Soldiers and Raptor Snipers to help deal with the Virons across the first bridge.
2) Moved some of the allied units at the research facility around so they have better engineer repair coverage.
3) Switched out one of the player's Recon Terradynes for a Combat Engineer so that they have repair capability at the start of the mission when playing the campaign as NSA, matching the functionality of the Terran version of that mission in Reversal mode.
4) The engineer unit (NSA or Terran) the player starts with will now group properly with the rest of the available engineers in that mission and will now also properly trigger the event where you can recover a disabled tank.
Mission 11 (She Sells Sanctuary): Changed some of the starting Light Assault Infantry into Siege Soldiers.
Mission 13 (Inverted Momentum): Changed the enemy Assault APC that appears near the eastern VL in Reversal mode into a Light APC.
Mission 14 (Asphyxiation): Changed some of the player's starting Assault Clanguards into Infector Clanguards.
Mission 15 (Aiming For the Teeth): Changed the starting Combat Striders into Missile Striders when playing in Reversal mode. This should help deal with the air units that tend to be guarding the first LZ as Legionnaires alone struggle to deal with helidynes.
Mission 17 (Long Distance Call): Fighter Helidynes can now be purchased via dropship. They were already available in the previous mission (It Came from the Swamps) and this gives you a unit to properly hunt down the Terran Attack Helidynes that like to wait in ambush near the landing zones.
Mission 18 (Cities in Dust): Changed the starting Missile Striders into Legionnaires when playing in Reversal mode. This brings the AP value of the player's Terran starting units on par with the Viron ones in the other modes.
Mission 20 (Dead But Dreaming): Changed some of the starting Thumper Centruroids into Hellfire Centruroids. The Antimatter Barrel by the Astrid is now neutral instead of a hostile unit, meaning your units will no longer fire on it automatically and potentially kill themselves in the process. It can still be destroyed by manually targeting it with tank or artillery fire should players wish to do so.
Mission 23 (Unlocking the Sky): Changed some of the player's starting units and also adjusted AI unit weightings to hopefully encourage a more balanced opposition force.
Mission 24 (Nothing Left to Burn): Changed some of the player's starting units, mostly infantry in Revision mode but upgraded a number of the vehicles in Reversal mode to make up for Terrans' lack of melding capability.

AI CHANGES

The custom skirmish AIs will now upgrade their dropship armor in addition to the engines and cargo as previously. This should make them a bit more resilient to late game LZ attacks.

GENERAL BALANCE CHANGES - WEAPON AND ARMOR MODIFIERS

Anti-Tank weapons now deal slightly more damage to light vehicles.
Small arms and autocannons now deal more damage to standard and superheavy tank armor.
Sniper weapons now deal less damage to helidynes.
Missile weapons now deal more damage to standard and superheavy tank armor and less damage to dropships.
Chemical and flame weapons now deal more damage to turrets and other buildings.
Energy weapons now deal a bit less damage to infantry, aircraft and buildings than previously, but retain their effectiveness versus other target types and remain especially potent against vehicles.
All weapons that deal Energy damage have had their rate of fire adjusted to bring them in line following the changes to that damage type.
Omni weapons now deal less damage to dropships, this mostly affects the Centurion Hoverdyne's secondary (anti-air) mode.

GENERAL BALANCE CHANGES - DROPSHIPS

Adjusted the Imperial Dropship's weapon values in light of the changes to Energy damage and the visual update to its weapon turrets.
Increased the dispersion of all dropship weapons and added a small blast radius to the level 2 and 3 upgrades.
Fixed the dispersion value of level 5 dropship weapons as well as the default weapon on non-player dropships.

GENERAL BALANCE CHANGES - UNIT TYPES

Increased the speed of all scout vehicles in primary mode by 3 and also increased the Recon Terradyne's speed in secondary mode from 12 to 15.
Increased the dispersion of the weapons on tanks and scout units in long range mode, making them less accurate against infantry but still easily able to hit vehicles and tanks.
Increased the top armor of anti-air vehicles (Rocket Terradyne, Missile Centruroid and Centurion Hoverdyne) to make them a bit more resistant to helidynes.
Increased some of the side, top and rear armor of medium and heavy tanks.
Re-enabled automatic targeting in secondary mode only for Mobile Artillery and Imperial Howitzers, and in both modes for Mortar Centruroids.
Increased the armor of all helidyne units. A full balance pass on their health and weapon damage was also done to keep their overall values in line.
Checked and adjusted which units are able to be carried by Transport Helidynes. Several fixes were made to units which had gained movement in secondary mode in a previous release but were not made transportable.
Striders can no longer be picked up by Transport Helidynes and remain too large to fit into an APC.
Increased the speed of Light and Attack Helidyne missiles from 80 to 90 and their tracking from 10 to 15. This helps with issues targeting fast scout vehicles on the ground, especially with the speed increase those units received in this release.
Reduced the costs of deployable Sentry Guns from 400 to 250, maintenance values from 4 to 2 and somewhat reduced their damage output to keep them in line with the new cost. The NSA version also had some of its health moved into armor, making it easier to repair.

NSA UNIT CHANGES

Light Assault Infantry: Health increased from 130 to 140, armor from 0 to 10 and adjusted the rate of fire in both modes.
Siege Soldier: Health increased from 180 to 200, health regeneration from 2 to 3 per tick and adjusted the rate of fire in secondary mode.
Raptor Sniper: Damage reduced from 50 to 40 and increased the rate of fire to keep the overall damage output the same. This change should make them more consistent when dealing with different infantry types, especially light infantry.
Recon Terradyne: Increased the rate of fire.
Light APC: Increased the damage and adjusted the rate of fire in primary mode.
Rocket Terradyne: Increased the armor values in both modes.
Combat Engineer: Maintenance value reduced from 6 to 5.
Liberator Terradyne: Adjusted the damage and rate of fire of the secondary weapon.
Ravager Terradyne: Reduced the rate of fire in both modes.
Juggernaut Terradyne: This is the NSA's new super-heavy unit, an upgraded Ravager model with a new texture, icon and unit stats. Secondary mode generates a shield instead of providing an armor bonus to nearby units, although it still gains a bonus to its own frontal armor at the cost of mobility and side armor.
Assault APC: Adjusted the rate of fire and damage in both modes.
Recon Helidyne: Increased the damage output versus infantry and adjusted the rate of fire.
Light Helidyne: Increased the sight range in secondary mode from 210 to 240. Primary mode remains at 210.
Transport Helidyne: Cost reduced from 750 to 650 and the maintenance value from 10 to 8. Changed the secondary mode to trade out armor instead of speed. Players should now switch modes depending on the type of incoming fire: Primary for bullets and secondary for missiles.

TERRAN UNIT CHANGES

Legionnaire: Health increased from 90 to 110, armor from 0 to 10 and adjusted the rate of fire in both modes.
Dragon Legionnaire: Overhauled all unit stats. It now costs less, takes up less maintenance and dropship space and the health and damage output has been reduced accordingly.
Deadeye Legionnaire: Adjusted the rate of fire in secondary mode to put them on par with the Raptor Sniper. Increased the stealth values in both modes by 10 and adjusted the cover multipliers to keep them in line.
Combat Strider: Cost reduced from 600 to 550, changed the health from 210 to 240 and reduced the rate of fire in primary mode.
Missile Strider: Cost reduced from 550 to 450, the maintenance value from 8 to 6, increased the health from 180 to 210 and reduced the rate of fire in both modes.
Engineer Hoverdyne: Now repairs less damage in secondary mode but at a faster rate. The total health added over time remains the same, this change just reduces the value of quick-swapping it between modes while also improving its ability to repair small amounts of damage across numerous units such as infantry squads.
Destroyer Hoverdyne: Adjusted the damage and rate of fire in secondary mode.
Vanquisher Hoverdyne: Reduced the damage and rate of fire in primary mode and increased the rate of fire in secondary mode. Rather than only being useful for swap-firing, the secondary mode now has a respectable damage output on its own against infantry compared to the primary mode weapon and can be used in much the same fashion as the Destroyer Hoverdyne secondary mode.
Conqueror Hoverdyne: Frontal armor in secondary mode increased from 50 to 60 and rate of fire reduced in both modes.
APC Hoverdyne: Reduced the cost from 950 to 900, the maintenance value from 12 to 10 and adjusted the weapon rate of fire.
Imperial Howitzer: Increased the splash damage and changed the secondary mode weapon to have damage falloff as intended.
Attack Helidyne: Adjusted the damage and rate of fire of the secondary rockets and those now have damage falloff, dealing half the damage towards the edge of the impact. The unit will also pitch up and down to track targets now, which should improve its ability to hit those targets at close range.
Deployable Shield Generator: Health increased from 200 to 250 and reduced the maintenance value from 6 to 5.
Increased the projectile speed of the Vanquisher and Conqueror secondary mode weapons from 400 to 600 and changed them to have damage falloff. Also enabled the secondary mode for the AI variants of these tanks which should now be used when targeting infantry.
The Terran version of the Transport Helidyne is now a unique unit instead of a Reversal mode-only reskin and has been enabled for Terrans in skirmish and multiplayer, as well as in the Reversal mode NSA campaign (but not the Viron one).

VIRON UNIT CHANGES

Assault Clanguard: Cost increased from 200 to 210, the health from 140 to 160 and health regeneration from 3 to 4. Now has the ability to move in secondary mode and gains more armor and health regeneration, but no longer fires its weapon.
Missile Clanguard: Health increased from 120 to 130 and adjusted the weapon damage and rate of fire in both modes.
Infector Clanguard: Cost increased from 400 to 420, health increased from 210 to 250, health regeneration from 60 health per minute to 120 and increased the rate of fire.
Mortar Clanguard: Increased the rate of fire in primary mode and the armor in both modes. Also increased the volley size from 3 to 4 which should make it more likely at least one round from each volley will damage the intended target, as the individual rounds still have a relatively small blast radius.
Mortar Clanguard: Increased the range of the secondary mode smoke launcher from 150 to 250, increased the projectile speed and removed automatic targeting. Instead of creating a defensive curtain of smoke halfway to the target, it will now drop the shells exactly where they are aimed like any other artillery weapon and can do so from a safe distance.
Gun Centruroid: Increased the damage and adjusted the rate of fire in both modes.
Missile Centruroid: Increased the armor and damage output to bring the unit's value more in line with its cost.
Engineer Centruroid: Cost reduced from 600 to 550. Also changed the armor values in secondary mode so that it gains more even coverage on all sides instead of heavily favouring the frontal armor.
Mortar Centruroid: Cost reduced from 1200 to 1100 to match the Engineer Centruroid. Increased the rear and top armor and changed the secondary mode weapon to use damage falloff. It now deals about a third of its damage in a slightly larger area but is still best used against stationary targets.
Hellfire Centruroid: Adjusted the damage and rate of fire. It now gains increased regeneration in secondary mode in addition to the existing bonus to speed and armor. Note that it still lacks a weapon in this mode.
Vindicator Centruroid: Health reduced from 800 to 750 and the area effect now grants more health regeneration but the armor bonus has been removed. The unit's visual effects have been updated to reflect this change.
Corruptor Centruroid: Reduced the damage of the area effect cloud in secondary mode from 20 to 15.
Thumper Centruroid: Increased the damage output and added an Anti-Personnel damage effect to the outer damage radius. This brings the damage versus infantry back in line with the unit's cost, an issue caused by the damage modifier changes in Version 4.
Fighter Helidyne: Adjusted the damage and increased its rate of fire, projectile speed and tracking.
Surveillance Helidyne: Cost increased from 400 to 425 and adjusted the rate of fire.
Screamer Helidyne: Adjusted the rate of fire and area effect damage in primary mode. Also reduced the damage done by the aura in secondary mode, although the modifier that aura adds to enemy units remains unchanged.
Contaminator Helidyne: Cost increased from 800 to 850 and health increased from 210 to 280. The secondary mode now has a small amount of damage falloff but still deals the majority of its damage across the full splash radius.

NEUTRAL UNIT AND STRUCTURE CHANGES

Reduced the damage output of all stationary and deployable heavy turrets.
Raised the firing point on all heavy turrets so that they can more easily fire over obstacles. This was an overall minor increase, they still can't fire over a wall for example.
Added a long range variant of the NSA and Terran stationary heavy turrets. These have 200 range instead of 150 and are used in a few campaign missions where appropriate.
Pulverizer Turret: Reduced the damage and added falloff with a large radius. The net result is less damage to the target but more units around the target will receive a bit of splash damage every shot.
APB-5 Gun Emplacement: Overhauled the weapon with improved rate of fire, sound effects and a custom twin weapon effect.
Imperial SAM Site: Increased the armor from 20 to 40, adjusted the rate of fire and increased the projectile speed and tracking. It now fires missiles in bursts of 4 and the damage per missile has been reduced. This improves its ability to fire through shield defenses.
Heavy Shield Generators: Increased the armor from 20 to 40. Note that this is the version that only appears as enemy structures in certain campaign missions.

SPECIAL UNIT CHANGES

The Ravager Mk2 (previously unique to the Heavy Armor skirmish AI) has been replaced with an AI variant of the Juggernaut.
There is now an AI version of the Vindicator Centruroid. Like the other AI-variant tanks it has increased sight range.
The NSA version of Sergeant Rho has been updated in the same fashion as the Raptor Sniper.
The Terran version of Sergeant Rho now has its own unique model with his weapon, effects and texture more appropriately resembling Deadeye Legionnaires instead.
Adjusted all unit values of Centurion Dracus' personal tanks, and the NSA version now uses the Juggernaut weapon and model.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - UI

Updated the customized main menu background logo. The text is now better spaced and the alpha layer has been fixed.
Improved the Viron UI skin by adding in missing elements, correcting the colours of some of the existing ones and removing artifacts left over from the original work process.
Reviron mode now uses the Viron UI skin for the main menu interfaces, allowing users to tell whether they're running in Reviron or Revision mode just as easily as they can with Reversal from the colour of the menu buttons.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - DROPSHIPS

Fixed some incorrectly placed muzzle blast positions on the NSA dropship models. Also updated the animations for the gatling gun turret variations so that the barrels now rotate properly when firing.
The Imperial Dropship's ramp now animates during landing and takeoff, it has a new turret model for higher weapon upgrade levels and its turret now rotates and tracks properly at all upgrade levels.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - UNITS

Added water impact effects to many units which were missing them and adjusted several existing ones that were either too large or small for the given weapon.
Engineer Hoverdynes and Centruroids now have the same visual effect as the NSA Combat Engineer while repairing, and the rate of the pulses also correctly matches each unit's repair rate in the given mode.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - NSA UNITS

Light Assault Infantry now fire their secondary mode weapon from the same height as the primary. This solves the issue where they would be able to hit targets in primary but upon switching to secondary would dump their missiles into the ground or not fire at all.
Overhauled the animations of the Siege Soldier model. It is now much steadier while moving and the barrels properly spin while firing on the move. The head no longer clips through the helmet faceplate while moving and firing doesn't interrupt and reset the normal head movement animations anymore.
The repair pulse visual effect of the Combat Engineer has been slowed down and now matches the 2 second repair rate.
The Ravager Terradyne's commander will now stay inside the tank while in secondary mode and the animations for opening and closing the hatch have been copied over for switching modes as well.
Centered the firing point offset on the Light Helidyne.
The Light Helidyne now fully deploys its landing gear when stationary and adjusted the position of the gear slightly so that it could land without resting on the missile pods.
Improved the visibility of the weapon effects on the NSA version of the Deployable Sentry Gun.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - TERRAN UNITS

Improved the projectile effects of the Legionnaire and Combat Strider weapons and reduced the impact effects.
Improved the Dragon Legionnaire's weapon impact effects.
The Deadeye Legionnaire now has a laser sight like the Raptor Sniper, which becomes visible when the unit is standing still in either mode. Also reduced the weapon particle effects in primary mode.
The Missile Strider's secondary mode weapon now has its own unique particle effects to help distinguish between modes. In addition, it now fires missiles one at a time instead of in a slow volley of 3 in this mode. This means the range bonus can be more easily countered by anti-missile defenses.
The Engineer Hoverdyne should now more reliably open and close its rear hatch when switching modes.
Added the missing tank commander and his hatch to the Conqueror Hoverdyne.
Cleaned up the APC Hoverdyne's custom secondary mode model to remove the unused parts.
Fixed the missing texture on the Imperial Howitzer's recoiling bolt piece, which is visible when the unit is firing.
Fixed the firing point offsets on the Attack Helidyne and the secondary mode weapon now has a proper incendiary rocket projectile.
Improved the texture of the Terran version of the Transport Helidyne. The colour scheme, windows and decals now more closely match other Terran units.
Created a Terran version of the Deployable Sentry Gun with a new icon, texture and weapon effects. It replaces the NSA version used by the Terrans in Stealing Beauty as well as in Reversal mode where appropriate.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - VIRON UNITS

Fixed the Infector Clanguard's duplicate weapon impact effects.
Fixed the weapon impact effects of the Engineer Centruroid and Contaminator Helidyne so that they are visible again.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - STRUCTURES

The Anti-Infantry turret is now only swapped with its NSA version in the Reversal mode campaigns, and not in skirmish or multiplayer.
Changed the colour of the lighting effects on the NSA version of the Anti-Infantry Turret so that they now match the muzzle flashes.
The Heavy Shield Generator now has an NSA variant which replaces the Terran ones in Unlocking the Sky and in Reversal mode where appropriate.
The Imperial SAM Site now has an NSA variant which replaces the Terran ones in Unlocking the Sky and in Reversal mode where appropriate.
Fixed the missing textures and particle effects on the desert version of the Turret Control Center.
Fixed the LOD distance issues on the swamp version of the Turret Control Center.
Fixed the missing textures and particle effects on the Shield Control Station. This also involved fixing the parenting issue which caused Showbox to crash when trying to view or edit the model in tree mode.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - SPECIAL UNITS

Fixed the firing points of Sergeant Rho's various weapons and modes and his NSA version now has a muzzle flash when firing in secondary mode.
The NSA version of the Supply Transport seen in the first tutorial mission now uses a more appropriate model.
Added in the missing death animation for the NSA Supply Transport and VIP Transport.
Alice McNeal now has Terran themed outfits in Reversal mode as well as a properly coloured unit icon.
Antimatter Barrels that have been damaged should now stop shaking and spewing gas once they are repaired. Also fixed various duplicate and missing gas effects among the various damage states.
Added the missing name and unit icon to cutscene viewer barrels for the few instances one becomes selectable during a mission.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - SUPPORT POWERS

Viron Assault Pods seen during the campaign will once again use the Viron model instead of the Terran one in Reviron mode. This feature was unintentionally removed in the previous release and has now been restored. Additionally the visual fix now applies to all forms of the pods, including the static animation ones used in cutscenes.
Also fixed the Graser Strike and Viral Spore Cloud support powers to use the correct effects when running the campaign in Reviron mode.

GRAPHICS CHANGES - OTHER

In Reversal mode, Alice's transport now uses the APC Hoverdyne model during the cutscene in Nothing Left to Burn where she exits the facility.
Major Grant's dropship waiting on the ground at the end of Nothing Left to Burn now uses the Imperial Dropship model in Reversal mode instead of the NSA version.

MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES

Increased the maintenance income caps and adjusted the levels at which they come into effect. Notably there is now a small bonus to income at the lowest maintenance level and both the low and high ends of the spectrum have larger caps in between levels.
Overhauled all dropship upgrade costs. In general weapon upgrades are now more expensive while engine and fuel upgrades cost less. This also corrected an issue with the cost of the Imperial Dropship's level 5 weapon upgrade.
Rebuilt the mipmaps on all texture (.dds) files in the mod and standardized the new settings. This should reduce the blurriness of things like unit icons in the UI.
Solved the issue where trying to tab through a number of selected units would stop working properly if more than one of those units had the same cost. Each faction's units are now uniquely priced excluding deployables, which aren't normally selected in groups with mobile units anyways.
Fixed the audio settings for some weapons that weren't using the full range of sound effects.