Tiberium Dusk is a re-imagining of the Kane's Wrath universe in a way I feel better fits canon, as EA did a pretty poor job with the C&C franchise continuity from Tiberium Wars onwards. This mod doesn't change anything with regards to the story but helps add elements to the gameplay that "fill the gaps" and provide a more Tiberian Sun esque experience (including all its flaws and unbalances) and departs away from the Kane's Wrath RTS formula. Still a work in progress, I've made changes to the AI (buffed turtle AI and made brutals harder), made changes to "Militant Squads" which make them work with the timeline of the franchise, changed the "Nod" faction entirely with a new name, as Kane's Wrath "Nod" works more of a splinter faction rather than a true "Brotherhood"; with Marked of Kane being the new face of the faction. There are also numerous changes to GDI and Scrin, especially Reaper 17 and Steel Talons, which make them play significantly differently.
As part of the Nod Legion and Traveler-59 update, Swarmer Squads are a new type of squad purchasable for both factions.
A swarmer squad is a special type of squad with obscene numbers of troops (usually totalling around 30) which are typically poorly armed and armored, but by sheer volume are able to hold and create diversions or simply buy time for you to counter-attack.
These squads are currently being balanced (and optimized for the engine), it appears that the most difficult part of this kind of squad is the death graphics / gore as it can be very demanding if multiple die at once, so I am aiming to make an optimized animation for it. ^^
As for actual gameplay, aside from when the squads die I see very little difference in performance, but even so, I will likely be limiting the number of squads purchasable to 30 at any one time. :P
Swarmer Squads will allow C&C3; players to see truly epic scale battles but at the same time not eating away at performance, nor providing an unbalanced experience to the game, as well as providing a unique mechanic to Traveler 59 and Nod Legion. :)
That's insane! xD
"For Kane!"
It is pretty damn awesome. I've modified the gore specifically for these squads so currently even if a nuke explodes directly on the 25 squads (the current cap for the swarms) the gore system doesn't completely tank the game engine in any unplayable way. You will drop frames, but you're not gonna see a slideshow.
Considering that 25 squads with the confessor upgrade amounts to a total of 700 (yes 700) troops, with each one having his own independant gore particles and 3D giblets... having thousands of effects going off at once and not completely lagging the game to death is impressive.
Yes, the optimized gore is less intense than the regular infantry (and has less gibs) but when viewed over the whole swarm you're not likely to notice the difference unless you look closely. :P
The new squads are cool because you'd have to have 70 militant squads normally to get the same amount of troops as just 25 of these squads, something you'd never normally see since spamming just a single squad type 70 times isn't really normal or necessary. (It also creates more lag I feel from gameplay too)