Welcome back, General!
A while ago we announced new changes to Super Weapon general on the 19th Zero Hour Anniversary stream. In this news update we'll get into the details, describing everything. In case you missed Jundiyy's Contra X stream, with dce as co-commentator, you can watch it below (keep in mind that some units like the Challenger-II for Conventional path are placeholders):
Super Weapon general's gameplay begins with the choice between two paths - Conventional or Futuristic. We'll now explain the reasoning behind this change.
- Super Weapon general had design inconsistencies by having both conventional and futuristic-looking units and buildings.
- Some players were nostalgic about legacy buildings that got removed - Fire Base and SSM Site. They are making a comeback. Valanx is also coming back for the Futuristic path with improved looks.
- She could build a total of four super weapons in a game (considering Tournament Mode is on) which contributed to a very strong late game. With this change, she has two super weapons per path - Tomahawk Storm at rank 3 and ICBM at rank 5 for Conventional, and Particle Cannon at rank 3 and Weather Manipulation Device at rank 5 for Futuristic.
- The aforementioned changes are an opportunity to change yet another late-game annoyance - Auroras and their invincibility trait. Auroras will lose invincibility while attacking, which will be compensated by buffs in other stats.
There is a notable gameplay difference between the two paths. Conventional arsenal consumes less power in general but needs more upgrades to become more effective (such as EMP Missiles) while futuristic arsenal is more dependant on energy but disabling weapons exist by default (cryogenic and lightning-based weapons).
Futuristic path introduces new weapon technologies - lightning bolts and sonic waves. Cryogenic weaponry is now available to more units besides Saturn. Lightning bolts, being very strong vs. infantry, can also clear garrisoned buildings and shock vehicles. Shocks are generally weak but effective at keeping units disabled and not allowing them to recover. Sonic waves are the main anti-tank weapon technology. Their advantage is the ability to pierce through and deal damage to groups of units. Disadvantages are the slow wave speed and inability to follow moving units. They collide with terrain and obstacles such as buildings, but they are harmless to your own forces.
Valanx is Futuristic path's Humvee equivalent. Consumes 1 energy point.
Wuldor is Futuristic path's Avenger equivalent. Consumes 1 energy point.
Lightning Thor is Futuristic path's Thor equivalent. Consumes 1 energy point.
Lightning AIDE is Futuristic path's AIDE equivalent. Consumes 2 energy points.
Power Generator is Conventional path's equivalent of Ion Power Generator. It produces the same amount of energy - 5 points, but has appropriate visuals for the path.
Fire Base is Conventional path's Ion Defense Tower equivalent. It consumes no power, has 4 garrison slots which boost soldiers' range and damage, as well as provide constant healing.
Cryo AA turret is Futuristic path's main anti-air defense.
Sonic turret is Futuristic path's main anti-tank defense.
Fire Base, Cryo and Sonic Defense Cores allow to deploy and undeploy your defenses around the map.
That is not all, but it is all for now. Hope you enjoyed our news update. In the following updates we will reveal Super Weapon's Conventional super unit (currently in progress).
Круто выглядит ;)
Contra slowly morphing into Remix Escalation that diverged from it and I'm all for it lol.
Hopefully they can do that running laser from Science General, that was cool.
eta ?
Presume 2-3 years.
Beta very soon...full version later.
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New General for USA?
No, just a reboot: Alexander will have two routes to choose from at the start.
Finally!
And hope Vanilla Crusader Tank / Some MBT like Abrams will come soon
this mod is so great in many aspects and huge effort was put into it. personally i loved contra6 and contra7 and think they were the best, but since then new versions, were included futuristic units or buildings which never was very fond of. they were to scifi or felt out of place like cyborgs. sometimes i think a submod would have been best to separate the sci-fi contra from the realistic contra.
You do know that contra 7 had cyborgs, teleporting spiders, cyborg commando with swinging tail and huge superunit robot?
maybe i forgot the units. but my first contra i tested was contra5 and i liked best 6 or 7.
I hope you add the 3 bosses generals because I cant find them in skirmish
I have a detailed request! ;p xD
Realism & Longer Strategy Gaming: (Possible Gaming Mod Option for those of us who want less short arcade-style gaming and more strategy options?)
-All buildings should have fire-port options to garrison units.
-Big/Base buildings should need artillery (Range Needs to be at least 2x wider radius)/explosive/building clearing weapons (Flame) depending on Structure Type to be damaged instead of regular bullets having damage effect depending on caliber. This would also give reason to use building weapons and vehicles more.
-Infantry should have more roles/usage in battle while vehicles have a longer build time and cost much more to make.
-Infantry should usually be invisible when not moving, dependng on type (Sniper/Terror/Hijack/Sabotuer always invisible, Normal Soldier invisible until moving/firing, Heavy Weapons Always Visible for obvious reasons.)
-Infantry speed dependent upon weapon carried, which would make transports more useful and utlized in-game.
-Every General should have the basic infantry (standard soldier, Rocket, Motar, Sniper) along with their specialty infantry. But depending on their factions should have different build-time (Shortest/Cheapest/Unskilled = GLA; Then China = Middle build-speed/Moderate Cost/Maybe starts at a Promoted rank 1 being skilled unit OR just has better skill start stats [DMG/Range/Speed] then GLA; USA = Cost the Most, Longest build time for Infantry but Has the best stats and loadout of the Factions).
-LOADOUT Example: Sniper GLA is cheap/quick to make/but has the shortest range of the sniper classes and Maybe at the highest promotion has the ability granted to have the lowest chance per shot to take out a vehicle driver.
While Sniper USA has expensive/long build time/but has abilities to target vehicles from the start and get options to target Helicopters at a decent chance percentage. Also act like artillery spotters/markers which increases damage to the unit the sniper is targeting.
Artillery/Rocket = Accuracy/Range/reload times/Movement Speed ALL dependent upon Faction, Loadout dependent upon General Type; Basically, what would you expect a specific General to field in battle, some might not opt to have certain basic units but might have a range of other options for other unit types.
USA/China:
-MEDICS (Small Area Heal Effect to Fully Heal 1 or 2 soldiers at a time. Other soldiers even at the Highest promotion cannot fully heal, maybe just to start of the green color health bar.
-SERGEANTS (AURA BONUS Similar to GLA Command Truck Aura but smaller range)
-CAPTAINS (CAN Call in smaller off-map abilities depending upon faction and even more diverse upon General Type: artillery, lone plane airstrike/support)
-DELTA FORCE (Close Quarters, Building Clearing)
-SEALS (Air Drops)
-COMBAT ENGINEERS (Can Build Certain Defences & Carry C4)
Put Unit Caps and make them Expensive to offset spamming.
GLA already has Hijacker/Terror/Sabotuer so adding more to the unit roster of the other 2 factions according to true world military units.
MORE GENERAL POWERS DIVERSIFICATION: Some of the powers to each General are pretty straight-forward and are no brainers to get, but that usually leaves the other powers to hardly ever be used or picked. Adding more complementary powers to the generals would help to have players try out other options that are just as devastating as the Generals must have powers to stay relevant instead of mixing and matching powers for other deadly combos.
THIS IS A GREAT MOD!!! I enjoy it thoroughly, I'm hoping my suggestions will help the mod further. Thank you for looking it over!
Thank you for suggestions, however such big and detailed suggestion at this stage of the mod are not fitting, it would be better to start mod from scratch. Inserting new things affect many aspects of the gameplay and many other units. We also have dozens of ideas for new units and powers, but we know they cannot fit now, so its better to keep our current pace.
I understand, thank you for taking the time to read my comment at least. One more idea could be to use the old Contra mods and have them as variants. So, one contra version (ei. Contra 5) might be better suited to my suggestions along with other people's suggestions and could be it's own branch of Contra as a whole. So people wanting the old units would be able to play them in Contra 5 while others can play this latest Contra 7 that is considered late stage or almost finished. Other people wanting different country factions could play Contra 6 where it's possible to implement your mod team's ideas that couldn't make it into Contra 7. That way we have many flavors of Contra that will keep us playing this great game for years to come. Thank you again for reading these comments and I hope this new one I made makes sense! lol
Wonderful! So we now have two USA gens that has to different tech paths to choose from! Is there a plan to give all gens such branches?
Unfortunately thats a huge task and we dont see the need for this change. One possible similar change would be adding 2 super units per general with some perks including every super unit.
If there is a chance for another general to have similarly branching doctrines I feel that Kwai would fit the best. With his path being either swarming the battlefield with hordes of warmasters and horde bonus tanks/increase the effectiveness of the horde bonus, or using a smaller army of overlords that loses the horde bonus/only have the vanilla horde bonus.
Hope you guys can add some more super weapons for the Super Weapon general. In my opinion, the particle cannon and the weather manipulation device are rather weak compared to the Tomahawk storm and the ICBM.
Regardless, these new additions look astonishing. Great work.
All super weapons for this general are buffed now since they are 2 per path. Manipulation device is now easily the strongest in game (after nuclear storm ofcourse).
How about an SDI cannon? Will it be available in both paths?
Thunder units sweet
Saturn super unit for both path? Or we can see new super unit in future?
New super unit will be made as mentioned in the article and on the stream.
I hope that this reintroduces the crusader and paladin from vanilla. Seeing how the some GLA and china commanders kept the vanilla scorpion (Thrax and huchum)/marauder (huchum) and battlemaster (Bao)/overlord (Tao) yet the closest to the crusader and paladin used by the us is Townes heavily modified laser crusader and paladin.
That is an option, we will see design wise what can we achieve.
I have a suggestion for Leang super unit.
Basically it’s the hand of ruk from grey goo. A giant mobile barracks armed with a nuclear howitzer, or two, a propaganda tower, an ecm field, and it can train every ground unit. And maybe an anti-infantry/anti-air gattling gun.
Would that work?
For many years playing skirmish as SWG (my personal modded version with vehicle_tomahawks, paladins, custom upgrades, etc) was the only way i played Contra and i still enjoy it SO MUCH.
Guys, if you really plan to "rip" SWG in two parts - PLEASE make sure there will be an easy way (with .ini modding) to convert it into one whole version. Like a button for dozers to switch between these two command sets, and an easy .ini way to enable both. Honestly, choosing between Tomahawk Storm and Particle Cannon sounds heartbreaking for me. Also, TStorm from rank 3 now? I already know what i will mod first for my personal games=). Looking forward to see Beta.
Unfortunately due to this change, we have so many new units and objects that merging them together is not possible. TS and Particle cannon being available at rank3 seems harsh, but both of these are buffed now and they are much better. New units and weapons like sonic tank, lighting valanx, cryo anti air bring specific damages that you will see you dont need super weapon at rank1 anymore. And for conventional path, making fire bases which dont consume power also gives super pushy new strategy, rather than just camping and waiting super weapon to reload. This is a big change, but we already see good improvements and we have just started with changes.
Beta will come out really soon, and people will be able to judge by themself.
Keep in mind that when we are creating, we are doing this regarding multiplayer games with real people, and we seek for balance, rather than skirmish.
Thanks for the work guys! You're still keeping my childhood game alive and improving after all this years :) I quickly made an account just to say this and I only ever play ZH every now and then these days, but when I do, it's always contra mod! Wish it will catch up to a wider playerbase in the future. IMO it's the best mod ever with a lot of thoughts put into faction differences, balancing, AI and challenge mode!
Personally, I hope for classic tomahawk launcher as artillery for conventional SWG. It would be fitting with the tomahawk storm and I always liked having a tracked artillery launcher that delivers precise strikes in vehicles. But whatever you bring up in Contra X, I'll dig it!
Merry xmas and good start for 2023!
Actually, both classic Crusader tank and Tomahawk launcher came into discussion in last few days and most likely they will have their comeback for Conventional path (with visual improvements and updates).
Merry Xmas!
Seemingly nobody cares, so i am going to ask...
What effect does Have Super Weapon General changes have on the General Challenge?!
Also.. would you mind to tease what the new Super Unit will be?!
Lastly.. i think you said every general will have 2 Super uints, wich is awesome.
I am also curious what the 2nd one for each could be.
SW challenge is answered on Junidyys stream, our mappers will make it random or triggered by something.
New Super Unit will have conventional look and weapons, early design is done, but i would not want to reveal more as it can change depending of ZH coding and our ideas.
2 Super units per general is very possible thing, but for now it is only discussion with some ideas.
Hm and the previous plan for USA Boss General Hero Unit still stands?
This 2nd path for Super Weapon General is way better than getting rid of futuristic foundation!
I also must agree that the Centurion and Bd should get a cooler weapon in the blueish SWG style thus far.
Will SWG support powers diverge too? Or is it not feasible technically? The antiair space laser beam power surely belongs to the futuristic camp, while carpet bombing is definitely conventional.
And I love the ensemble of technology from other C&C series:
- Electric bolt & Cryogenic beam: Red Alert
- Sonic weaponry: Tiberium Wars
Yes, superweapons will also have their variations.
Some stuff do ensemble other popular games which we played while growing up.
Most latest would be Cloning Vats for China Infantry general.
Can you add the bosses generals
You can play as Boss generals using unofficial addons. Join our Discord and check the pinned messages in the addons channel: Discord.gg
Boss generals will not become playable in official versions because they contain overpowered arsenal that would mess up the mod's balance. They were designed exclusively for Challenge mode.
The wave coming from Centurion weapon and Base Defense is not so good,
maybe something different, faster a different form?
a bolt? More angular sleek looking ?
when it will b released?
Is there a chance for the cut Antares to make a comeback for the futuristic path? And possibly a structure version of it that acts like the forcefield from supreme commander?
When can you revamp the Robo avenger, at least in appearance? Since it current look doesn’t go well with Ironhands aesthetic.
It is in To_Do list
Would it be possible to provide Ironhand branch exclusive upgrades for his angels/spiders.
For example, the Angels get an upgrade that increases their durability or armor while the spider can get an upgrade that lets it self-repair.
And for the spider branch is it possible to give the spider units a self-repair upgrade, or at least give Ironhands a structure that repairs surrounding units? Since they can't gain the self-repair rank (since none of the robots can gain ranks) and the repair bot tends to die rather quickly means that with every hit-and-run attack the units must retreat back to base to slowly repair.
I love the spiders, i love the WIDOW surely this is not in your plans guys but if the already awesome looking WIDOW would have something more mech-y than coventinal as patriot on her back would be awesome.
OR laser from that ominous looking red glowing eye?
Also again a reminder of a super great awesome idea for either Ironhand Super Weapon or General Power:
A swarm of Squiddys/Sentinels bein shot out.
Various weapon options or use in general
Starting 1:15 minutes in
Moddb.com
Another good reason is those squiddys would bridge the aesthetic gap between Spider and Angel path- works for both-
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