Twisted Insurrection June/July Update news

Greetings Twisted Insurrection fans, staff, watchers, lovers, haters etc.
As I am sure you are aware, Twisted Insurrection has been quiet on the Public Front for the past couple of months, but I assure you that it has not been due-to laziness! Myself (Aro) and the rest of the staff members have all been busy with our lives so we won't go into detail and boring you with our reality issues, instead, I'll get straight to the good news.

There have already just over 200 lines in the changelog since the Re-Issue of Public Beta 3 and there are several more changes to come, at this moment in time those changes consist of additional maps, balance fixes, generic code changes, new units/roles, additional campaign missions, additions to the soundtrack, bug fixes and various other changes all brought upon us by online beta testing. Thanks to the extensive testing and blast of activity, Twisted Insurrection Public Beta 4 is just around the corner!
Myself and Q45 have been working extremely hard on the campaign and GDI/Nod Challenge modes and at the rate things are going, I am pleased to inform you that the TI Nod campaign should be complete and finalized by Public Beta 4!

Public Beta 4 as a whole will aim to bring Twisted Insurrection much closer to completion (Well, yeah...) and even though there are still a lot of image placeholders at this moment in time, things are definitely looking a lot brighter than they did in the previous betas. One of the major changes which I am sure many of you (if not all of you) will be happy to know about is that the Twisted Intelligence (our fancy and creative name for the AI) has been revamped vastly and is no longer the come-down of Twisted Insurrection skirmish modes. While it still needs a lot of work to be perfected, it is already very playable and much more enjoyable than the absurdly overpowered Twisted Intelligence in the Re-Issue of Public Beta 3. Seriously, if you don't already have an account there, I highly recommend signing up on our forums over at PPM as you will see much more there than you do here on ModDB.

Now as I know a lot of you (again, if not all of you) don't like to be barraged with a wall of text, so I'll start throwing the images at you now!
Twisted Insurrection Public Beta 4 will feature over 100 multiplayer maps, all of which have a unique gameplay style of their own (All maps currently made can be viewed in the Map Forum). Some of the maps are also remakes of ones you can play in your other favorite Command & Conquer games, including Red Alert 2, Tiberium Wars and Generals. If you would like to request a map to become Twisted, don't hesitate to post a request over at our PPM forums!

Twisted Insurrection features several new mutations which have never been explained with a backstory up until now. Twisted Insurrection Public Beta 4 will also feature several new mutations!

Juvenile Visceroid: First of the two phases in the Visceral life cycle, this harmless form dwells in rich Tiberium fields. The Visceroids' origin and only means of reproduction are through an irregular mutation of a terrestrial animal. Visceroids vary in size according to that of the mutated animal, but each share the same body structure: Visceroids are essentially a single, massive cell, conducting locomotion via pseudopods. Hence they can be reffered to as giant Amoeboids. Unlike the adult form, a juvenile Visceroid cannot use its pseudopod for attack nor defence.

Research shows that the juvenile Visceroids absorb Tiberium particles directly through the cell wall, acting as the creature's primary and only source of nutrition. Like other Tiberium based life, it also possesses the fascinating ability of rapid cellular regeneration through Tiberium absorption and fixation into living tissue.

Adult Visceroid: Second of the two phases in the Visceral life cycle, this form is dangerous to approach. Born of the fusion of two juvenile Visceroids, the adult form has twice the mass and twice the strength. It's aggressive by nature, and has the ability of using its pseudopods to attack and kill anything it sees as a threat. How it actually senses remains a mystery, as these abominations are impossible to capture. They can simply slip through nets and cages with their irregular and constantly morphing body.

Research shows that the adult Visceroids absorb Tiberium particles directly through the cell wall, acting as the creature's primary source of nutrition. It has also been seen to cause terrestrial animals to mutate into juvenile Visceroids by attacking and enclosing them with its protoplasm. Like other Tiberium based life, the Visceroid also possesses the fascinating ability of rapid cellular regeneration through Tiberium absorption and fixation into living tissue.

Juvenile Floater: Nicknamed Jellyfishes due to their uncanny resemblance to the terrestrial invertebrate, these creatures levitate close to the ground like their namesake in shallow water. Not as dangerous as the adult form, juvenile Floaters nontheless posses a great threat to anything organic and electric. Capable of generating a deadly electric field, they can shock-attack prey with their numerous tentacles. Fortunatelly, the juvenile Floaters are rather fragile, and only pose a real threat in numbers.

Floaters move like Jellyfishes, using jet propulsion to propel them in the air for short distances. This is thought to be the cause of the peculiar sounds these creatures are known for, resembling a singing whale. The exhaust gas seems to contain a high amount of Tiberium particles, therefore it is toxic to breathe. They seem to able to levitate while completely still, possibly due to the electromagnetic field they have the ability to generate. Whether Floaters are in fact mutated jellyfishes, and if they reproduce like their terrestrial counterparts, is unknown. The Floaters seem to thrive in Thorn-infested regions, so they may reproduce in these infested waters. Due to the infestation, research is extremely dangerous and rare.

Adult Floater: The mature Floater is a dangerous hunter. It can generate an electrical current of several amperes, enough to kill a man in an instant. These creatures employ electromagnetism in various ways, including the ability to levitate and to detect and track a potential prey while seemingly lacking other sensory organs. Their light and aerodynamic body allows them to briefly accelerate to speeds of over 60 mph, and there are cases where a group of Floaters raiding a civilian town have caught escaping civilian automobiles.

Tiberium Fiend (Riparia/Vinifera/Cruentia/Arborea): These dog-like carnivores are highly advanced, suspected to have been evolved from equines instead of actual canines. They are currently the only Tiberian life forms domesticated to some extent, and only the Forgotten seem to have been succesful at this. The Fiends have a large growth of Tiberium shards at their backs, which they can either use to blend into the surronding Tiberium field, or haul at anything they see as a threat. Their method of killing seems to involve the two large tusks protruding from their upper jaw.

The Fiends come in four variations, depending on the type of Tiberium that dominates their territory. How this actually changes their morphology is not known.

Tremor: These rarely-seen, worm-like creatures spend most of their life underground while hunting above-ground animals. Nicknamed "Sabers" for the pair of sharp appendages they use to slice the unexpecting victim, Tremors literally jump out of the ground to attack and kill. They seem to possess the delicate ability to sense even the tiniest vibrations in the soil, using this to track the victim above.

Typhon: Typhons, named after the "father of all monsters" in greek mythology, is aptly baptised. These flying nightmares, seemingly evolved from ordinary bats, hunt during the night, and sleep in caves and other dark areas during the day. Their claws are extremely sharp, and no man has survived to tell the tale of a Typhon attack.

Whaloon: Typically harmless, Whaloons are so named because of their huge size and delicate, buoyant bodies. They levitate by filling the specialized bladders in their abdomen with toxic but lighter-than-air gas. To propel themselves, they have a pair of fin-like structures on the sides of their bodies, which move in a wave-like pattern.

A Whaloon is only to be feared when threatened, as it will charge the tresspasser and emit a plume of toxic gas. This behaviour is often seen when an individual Whaloon is driving away other Whaloons from its territory. Despite their size, Whaloons have a dangerously delicate body. If punctured, an unknown reaction with the air causes them to erupt violently, releasing the toxic gas within.

Mantis: Mantises, known commonly as "Bugs" because of their insectoid appearance, are a Tiberian species of unknown origin. These creatures are weak predators and pose little threat on their own, which is why they attack in groups. Mantises have even been reported roaming in swarms of thousands.

Despite the image of a large yet primitive insect, Mantises are extremely intelligent and social beings. They live in underground hives with indeterminable number of individuals. There are reports of Mantises gathering remains of human settlement and using them for their own needs, and even reports of a behaviour of what seems like "mourning" over a deceased fellow Mantis. Perhaps not all Tiberian life is not so alien after all...

Scarab: Another insectoid species, the Scarab is a gigantic, beetle-like creature with the witnessed ability to set cities ablaze with a monstrous, fiery breath. Their hard shell is nearly impervious to even the strongest anti-tank rounds. These hulking beasts are not to be reckonned with.
Note: The current Scarab image is a placeholder and will be replaced at a later date.

Tiberium Raptor: Extremely dangerous mutations with an unexplainable resemblance to the extinct dinosaurs. Whether they evolved from lizards or some other animal, their arms have nontheless reverted into a pair of extremely sharp blades, which they use to kill their prey in an instant. Like Tiberium Fiends, their backs are covered with Tiberium shards, although there are no reports of these serving any purpose other than camouflage.

Elder Tiberium Raptor: A matured version of the Raptor, the Elders are bigger, stronger and even more dangerous than their juvenile counterparts. Apparently, once mature, the Raptors are either exiled from the Riparian community, or they leave on their own accord to conquer a territory from a Tiberium Vinifera field. Once succesful, they live the rest of their life on these precious fields, sending their offspring to grow on the more abundant Riparian fields. Otherwise, the Elder Raptors might be a threat to the younger ones, a behaviour which is not uncommon in terrestrial fauna.

The Thing: A legendary, aquatic monster claimed to have been seen by very few people. Only rumors exist about the creature, but several tales about monsters in large bodies of water surrounded by Tiberium have spread around the world. How this or these species have become cosmopolitan in such a short time remains shrouded in mystery.

In addion to everything else and the vast improvement in quality over the years and months, we have also started replacing the older and lower quality tracks from the Twisted Insurrection OST. One of the new tracks which will be featured in Public Beta 4 is a remake of the original TI track, Despair. To check out this new track, head over to YouTube (don't forget to Subscribe to the TwistedInsurrection channel!)

And that is all for now. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for future updates and the upcoming Public Beta 4, It's not very far away now! Our main goal is to finalize at least one of the campaigns now that the mission launching issue (another problem fixed since the Re-Issue of Public Beta 3) has been fixed. The campaign that will be finalized first will be the Nod campaign as it is closest to completion and Q45 (one of our very talented mappers) has estimated completion in just a few months time!

Twisted Insurrection will never die!