We have five major objectives with the next release that we feel will continue with our overall goal of dramatically improving gameplay and balancing the game;
1. Further improve defenses with a focus on tier 3 defenses and units.
2. Veterency
3. Long Range artillery
4. Per unit upgrades
5. Scrin balancing
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1. Further improve defenses with a focus on tier 3 defenses and units.
In version 1.0 we boosted defenses and provided upgrade options to make them even better. In 1.1 we have taken defenses one step further by reducing the efectiveness of guardian cannons etc. against tier 3 units (mammoths etc.) and increasing the effectiveness of tier 3 defenses (sonic emmitters etc.) against all units. This now means that tier 3 defenses play a more important role in late game defense and it also makes tier 3 units more effective against tier 1 defenses.
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2. Veterency
Veterency was another item we wanted to work on and we have increased the rate at which units gain rank and it seems to be working nicely. It's something that especially helps Nod who have limited repair abilities (and now auto repair at hero rank), as well as units such as flame tanks and corruptors that often deserved to be ranked up after killing a lot of infantry.
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3. Long Range artillery
A lot of our focus for the first release (1.0) was on beefing up defenses, but we wanted to make sure that there was an effective counter to those defenses and long range artillery was the obvious answer. GDI already had an effective artillery option so we have been focusing on giving Nod and Scrin some long range options.
Nod have received a significant boost to the venom bounce (aka Refector beam) which has really helped as those beam cannons are great on flat terrain but if there was a hill they would charge right into the range of defenses and get destroyed. Now they can stay much further back and use the venoms to fire over terrain.
The Scrin needed help because their main long range attack was the aerial bombardment of the Devastators but with the changes made to AA it made it much harder for them. So we came up with a unique idea which was to turn the mothership into an aerial battering ram. It no longer has the game-ender weapon but instead has a massive increase in hit points as well as a repair drones, shield upgrade option, superscan and last but not least it can "Orbit Jump" into any area on the map. What this allows Scrin to do is distract enemy AA fire away from the devastators
long enough for the devastators to fire safely.
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4. Per unit upgrades
We're still working on making upgrades work on a unit level so that units in the game upgrade in the way that avatars currently upgrade in version 1.0. We feel that this will make players have to decide more carefully what and when they upgrade. Players will have to be much more aware
of their economy and carefully decide what and when they want to upgrade. Upgrading too many predator tanks with railguns for example, could use funds that otherwise would pay for Mammoths ot Juggernauts.
We also feel that this particular feature will make human players more wary of how their opponent may have upraded, because the upgrades can make the difference in how succesful an attack is or how well it can be countered.
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5. Scrin balancing
Scrin have received a lot of attention in this version. As already mentioned they have a totally new Mothership now but we have also given the mastermind a gun and turned PAC's into more of an AA / repair unit so that they play more of a supporting role to Devastators. The PAC's are now more effective against enemy air units which we felt was an area that they should be fairly strong.
The biggest change however is that the scrin ground units are quicker and have less hit points but they heal quicker in tiberium now. After a good amount of testing it seems to be a good balance and has given scrin a better feel when it comes to their play-style.
Even though Nod have the venom bounce working for them now we still feel that they need something extra because Venoms are still vulnerable to AA defenses and their ability to position themsleves for the beam cannons varies a lot due to terrain. Therefore we made the Liquid Tiberium Trucks a little more effective against defenses so that they are better at punching a hole in defenses.
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Smaller changes;
GDI's HAZMAT Disosal Facility now produces more income.
Garrison clearing units (black hand, grenadiers) have had their hit points reduced. Garrissoned units have had their rate of fire bonuses increased.
GDI armory upgrades have been worked on so that changes are noticeable after an upgrade.
Nod's Liquid Tiberium Trucks are more effective now as defense busters (more damage vs. defenses, more HP's and quicker)
Surveyors are now built at the vehicle factory. This was to stop the surveyor-rush at the start of games when there was no threat of enemy units in the middle of the map. Now when you deploy a surveyor you have to decide whether to rush without an escort or wait until you have built some tanks etc to protect the surveyor.
More changes are being worked on and we'll post news about them soon.
Sounds nifty.