D51 Defense Thread - Tiberium Secrets mod for C&C3: Tiberium Wars

I was thinking D51 defense would be air-superiority. Maybe structures would include somethings based on the following:

Light Defense Outpost:

A small but complicated looking structure, this rectangular, open-top 'pyramid' like fortification is reinforced with D51's state-of-the-art armor and contains but one soldier- or operator, rather- and several kilograms of computer equipment. It also features 5 recharge-and-repair docks that are big enough to house... aircraft the size of large eagles. Usually seen un-docked and flying around the structure are Falcon Drones. Small drones, however, good at gathering intel, these tend to wander off only up to 8 meters diagonally and 4 meters horizontally from their control LDO. They have a swell sight range and are capable of hovering and quick maneuvers for they keep adrift using dual hover propellers. The drones themselves are compact bodied, armed little monsters. Underneath their bodies they feature a retractable arm which fires an AP Plasma Microwave capable of decimating infantry and very light vehicles. Add together 5 of those firing at once and you have yourself a well-suited early game defense. Better yet, they come with a built in power source so you do not have to worry about base power blackouts. Sadly, all this is rather expensive.

The LDO has a unique upgrade (that must be bought individually) with which it dramatically increases armor. Compact Composite Armor.
It also has 2 universal upgrades: Eagle Drone Reflective Armor (lasers ineffective against it and against other weapons slightly less chance of taking damage) and Drone Control (add 3 more drones).

Drones occasionally return to LDO for recharge and repair and will be replaced without cost if necessary- albeit with a delay. If Outpost is lost drones continue to battle hovering in the same spot until they run out of ammo, where-upon they self-destruct without causing damage; until they run out of charge (lost faster if in combat), where-upon they fall to the ground after a dramatic display of short-circuiting; or until destroyed.

Heavy Defense Outpost 1

The HDO is like a large polyhedron buried into the ground, and several faces of the polyhedron are removed, to allow for antennae deployment and docking (docks of which there are 3). Containing again one operator, it houses mostly computer equipment. However, this base is significantly larger than the LDO and it's 'weapons' are significantly more dangerous aswell. Each HDO is home to 3 Hawk Drones which aid each other with targeting--- meaning unlike the Eagles they cannot all fire upon their own targets; they must share a common enemy. However, most any common enemy will not last long against these drones. Kept afloat by dual hover engines not different from the infamous GDI Orca from the Tiberium Wars, they use two arms with built-in AT Railgun Plasma Shards to take down heavier vehicles but will not think twice about attacking infantry aswell. They house their CPU's within their compact crystal-shaped, fusiform bodies. They generally have a much greater lifespan than Eagle Drones. Most Outpost mechanics are not vert different from those of the LDO. The HDO has pre-purchased reflective armor and simply can reinforce its drones with better armor with a unique "Hawk II Armor" upgrade.

Heavy Defense Outpost 2

The second version has only 2 docks, meaning where the third would have been is a polyhedron face. This variation of the HDOs houses Osprey Drones: One of which is equipped with an 'air-gasser' and another which has a AA SuperFLAK (Flugzeug Abwehrskanone, or FLAK for short (this is the actual word, by the way)) gun. The drones look like miniature planes- the first funtions as a air-based cropduster, shrouding the area around the base, whilst the second fires away, albeit only at aircraft. The benefits of this smoke? Pliots are disoriented and planes which are unmanned... well they'll be fine. Anyway, disoriented pilots will not let loose their payload while influenced by the smoke screen for they know that the chance of hitting something is slim and would rather hit a target instead of wasting a ton of firepower. All the while they may think twice for their plane is being shook left and right by flak. A secondary but rare benefit of the smoke, which would only be seen when challenging another human player, would be if he foolishly left a unit under the smoke, thus invisible to him on his pathetic little monitor he calls a commander's war-time control CPU, and forgets about it. He will be hinted however, as the shroud will be revealed. [Also take note this is a strictly AA defense, so that unit may very well- any ground offense unit actually- be the end of your HDO.] This tower is very useful once two upgrades are purchased, but I'll list it last. The first upgrade is unique- AdvancedFLAK (more damage per second, aka higher ROF). The last two and most useful are universal and very expensive- First, ElectroStatic and ElectroMagnetic FLAK- Allows EMPing of planes, meaning an instant decommision-like effect and loss and firing at ground units, EMPing them and doing slight damage. Also AA power is greatly increased against certain transformable units which is EMP'd midair will take damage but divert power to revert into a ground form (then EMP effect will take place more 'clearly'). The only silver-lining may be saved from inevitable destruction [as if something were to come 'save' it.] NOTE: You CANNOT manually control any defense drones, meaning you may not rapidly micro-switch targets for EMP, the drone will take its time and destroy one-by-one or be destroyed first. [Anyway, I forget to mention back then, the smoke will hinder your vision because it's high in the air and opaque. For the deploying commander it will be translucent... and tip- deploy anti-ground forces/defenses with these towers before upgrades.] Second upgrade- Anti-Transmission Smoke. Yes my fellow D51 commanders be jolly and whatnot as this will allow the smoke to extend farther and disrupt the comm. uplink from commander's little CPU's and their units. Unless given aggressive stance they will dumbly stand there in the smoke, now extending as far as ground level, not firing- or reacting in anyway. You may now 'have your way' with them, as no commander will be able to as much as click on them, making them like a background scenery such as the common-yet-somewhat-annoying battlefield tree... that once cost the enemy money, of course. With the final two upgrades base defense will become much more relaxed... then again, by the time those upgrades/tech tiers are available, the enemy (and you, I guess) will have access to artillery...

Smoke-Screener

A small contraption that is very expensive, available later in the game. It functions as the air-duster drone of the HDO 2, except is on the ground and does no direct damage (neither does smoke, of course). Covers more area than HDO 2. Universally affected with upgrades for smoke ESFLAK and EMFLAK.

Spike Bed

Seemingly old-school, this contraption looks little-to-no different from the Smoke-Screener. However, it is largely hidden underground and covers a wide area with retractable Plasme Spikes. When any ground unit comes within range, the spikes jut out and tear through the underside, where the generally weaker armor of a vehicle is located. It is a melee-type damage weapon of defense and can be uniquely upgraded with Longer Spikes, better against infantry and damaging bipedal walkers more, as before the upgrade they went unaffected by this defense. [Such as Titans.]

Air-Strike Tower 1

A tall and very small tower with radio equipment easily visible at the top. It calls in a Condor Drone to blanket the traget zone with AP bullet fire and AT missile fire. The drones can only 'guard' a specific area, within range but not spanning the entire range of the tower. This means they should be deployed sort-of en-masse with each other. The commander chooses between modes of fire, some of which include free-fire, guard, aggressive, and many other unit-like-capabilities. Beware- the Condor Drone can be shot down- albeit only during it's strafe runs, as otherwise it is orbiting around the tower out of sight- however its shadow, if present on the map, can be seen. [Night maps, anyone? Maybe with thunder and lightning and rain and wet vegitation and... all-in-all weather is awesome in CnC games, esp. if effects are visibly on the battlefield.] Unique upgrades include D51 P. Missiles, giving homing missiles to the drones which will lock-on aircraft aswell as ground vecs.; and More Guns, equipping drones with more guns so more AP damage can be done on strafe runs. (Of course they will damage vecs but not too significantly). Universal upgrades include Divebombing, which allows drones to drop one napalm bomb per run which damages units overtime when in the napalm and upon bomb impact. But most damage will be done by napalm. Also, this can be used to benefit the attacker is he gets a unit close to the tower... and the drones target it...

A unique thing about this tower is that it can gain veterancy- not in the usual way, however. It gains more drones, and visible effects are seen in the form of more radio equipment to accomodate, respectively, and felt effects by the enemy include destruction and sorrow and felt effects by the deploying commander include induced-humor and joy. For the first veterancy, the drone you have becomes slightly stronger. For the second, you gain another drone like the first-veterancy-affected-drone (this new drone is stronger aswell, but as strong as first). For the third you get a third drone, with fire-power just like the first and second. They can all be seen orbiting the tower in different positions but guard a shared area, again not spanning the entire range of what they could possibly have guarded. Anyhow, with the extra radio equipment and esp. drone shadows even the common newbie (I guess) could tell that it is no ordinary A-S T 1.

Air-Strike Tower 2

---Is the ultimate defense mechanism, at a whooping amount of credits and a very high tier it is only available. It acts as a bunker for infantry AND vehicles, out of which MBT's and infantry can fire and be protected. It has significant armor and a smoke deployer. It features 2 Osprey Drones and has AT turrets upon its corners like a Rig. It looks like a vital structure more than it does a defense post, even if it is the best defense the D51 have. It also houses a tower which grants the commander a support power of carpet bombing within the large radius of the A-S T 2. It call gain veterancy not visible on the second and third veterancies. The first grants visible extra armor and the second upgrades the 30-second-countdown Carpet Bomb to 45-second Napalm Carpet Bomb and the third upgrades it to 55-second Anti-Matter Mother-of-all-Bombs. Yes, this late game defense structure with a limit of 3-per-map [Team coordination is required if playing with human players... or one could possibly hog all the towers...] is the perfect siege weapon, aswell as forward-base weapon, aswell as offense weapon, aswell as strategic weapon.. etc. so-on-and-so-forth.

Upgrades include ESFLAK and EMFLAK, Reflective Drone Armor, and Better Shields, meaning it will gain extra fortifications around it that absorb damage and are automatically replaced from time to time. Possibly more upgrades may be available.

Drone Command

The DC is- NOT- direct current, but a 'house' for drones. This provides all universal upgrades for drones and outposts and looks like a radar station, complete with radar dome. It features 10 docks, but no premade drones- nor can any be bought at it. [It also provides radar should one run out of power OR have their other radar-supplying-structure down somehow.] It has significant armor and should be placed along the front lines. Why? Well, because if any other drone defense were to go down and this structure was present, the drones would rush to it and take shelter there. This means one with lots of accumulated credits (probably a pro-turtler) could build and dismantle drone structures as he pleases to have a versatile defensive Drone Command. Also, if somehow >10 drones were left without an outpost or whatnot, the first 10 to arrive at the DC would take shelter-- the remainders would decomm. and self-destruct immediately. It works like a first-come-first-served basis no matter how many docks are left. If there is a full Drone Command and a outpost was destroyed the drones would act as they usually would (mentioned earlier). It is only when they 'lose' a race to the DC they decomm.

So yeah, seeing as how the defense is largely air-based, I'd suppose an air-superiority team could easily knock-out the D51 defense- although I made them have air defense because I though D51 was air-superiority. Or maybe that could be (like an) option...?

{I hope this compensates for my ~20 days off. Again, I apologize, but hey, it's life you know? [I don't even have an official job though. I do research at a university and live off of a scholarship until I get my surgical liscense. *beams*] I think if of all WIP mods I were to choose one as my favorite, it would be this one.}

Anyway, see what you all think and maybe this would suit another faction. I was thinking of a Drone-Deployer Tank, even, which in essence would function as a mobile outpost of some sort. I don't know.

I feel like I could have expanded MUCH more upon these structures but am a little tired now... I took ~2 hours to type this from scratch and didn't grammar check. Is that amount of time normal?

Lol.

Christ, I was "wondering" how long it took you to write that

The only thing that i can really tell you on this is that D51 will be using a hybrid turret system of Nod and TS GDI, there may be defense outposts, which we can look into when time comes.

Also there is a drone carrier class unit, it's for the ASI, that was the "Secret unit" mentioned.

As for air drones, their will be some patrol ones for the Carrier, but not sure if any more given current thinking.

I'm so happy you are so dedicated, but pace your self, I don't want you to burn out.

lol, your AST2 idea gave me an image of a defense: imagine a buzzer hive....... but using Firehawks lol

There is so much here I dono where to begin...

I hate to say this again , but lets focus on the ASI....optimistically they can be done by end of month.

Haha, thanks and ok. But a Buzzer Hive with Firehawks

That is, indeed, pure win.

I've tried to keep up/catch up with the progress as of now, but I must say that you guys are progressing great and I expected nothing less.

Oh, and as a side note, don't worry about how I post- I function as so. I will churn out large amounts (?) of information periodically.

So anyway, I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but I like making 'creeping' bases. Ones that will start small and fortified and begin to stretch using base defences to provide strong support for the front lines. Also, you can now tell I would enjoy having [certain] base defences being able to gain veterancy.