So yeah. Maybe I forgot to do one of these last week. I've been pretty busy with real life, but I've put aside some time today to recap what's been going on.
Things have been kinda quiet the past couple of weeks, in that we haven't generated that many pictures to show off. Morpher put together another internal release with the intention of getting some online naval testing going. The navies should be a big part of TO, so it's important to get them to the point where they're fun to use and help out on watery maps, but don't detract from the tactical opportunities of maps without usable waterways. Because of the push for finalisation on the navies, I started work on the deploy animation for GDI's capital ship. I've also continued working on Nod campaign missions and some of the assets required to make them fun. Speaking of which, I think I'll end on a question, because there's some feedback I'd be interested in.
Anyway, onwards.
GDI's capital ship is the Poseidon. When mobile it's a slow, sitting duck. When deployed it's a missile platform with a long, long range and sensor capabilities. It's had all these abilities for a while, but it's only had temporary artwork for its deploy. I have begun the process of making all these pieces by importing the voxel into 3dsmax. Next comes colour and contrast adjustments and animation.
I've cut it up and started on the 'unfolding' animation, which brings the silo at its centre into the limelight, but I'm not going to show that off for a little while. Once finished, I'd like for large pontoons to deploy from the underside, turning it into a roughly square, heavily defended floating island.
I've also been working on Nod's campaign. While looking through some old files I found a mission that I'd almost finished a long while ago. As with a lot of things, more important stuff came up and it fell by the wayside. It's a mission where you come up against the Genesis Legion, a Tiberium weapons based faction with ties to Nod's old research facilities. Pushed towards the Black Sea, they eventually managed to entrench themselves in a mountainous region and begin their research anew.
Mission wrote: Our intelligence indicates that the Genesis Legion has begun preparations to launch a devastating chemical weapons strike on GDI. This must, unfortunately, be prevented. The Brotherhood must remain as inconspicuous as possible until the appropriate time. Once we are ready to take on the Global Defense Initiative the Genesis Legion can find whatever vengeance they wish.
You are inserted into the area to locate and destroy their missile silos.
I'm trying to give as much of a feel for the mission as possible without giving specifics, since I want a lot of the campaign to be surprising. In any case, it's a mission with some light base building and a lot of fighting through rough terrain. the Genesis legion is well dug in on a lot of the hilltops, and the area is a maze of interconnecting canyons. Just finding the silos is a bit of a mission in itself.
The last thing I've been working on is the Blister Tank. One of the splinter factions is all about brute force. I've been playing with how their tank might look and function, and I've come up with the deployment animation below.
A lot of Nod's early campaign centres around interactions with the splinter factions. Wipe one out and they'll be gone for good, or maybe their last few supporters will show up to try and kill you later. Damage them but don't kill them, and maybe they find someone else to ally themselves with. Or maybe you can bring a splinter group around to your side. If you do that, they'll maybe give you some tech and aid later. The Genesis Legion has Tiberium weapons. They have a mobile artillery which fires Tiberium shells. So if you can destroy their silos but also complete some secondary objective to assert your dominance, they'll give you that. By deciding who you try to ally yourself with you can shift your arsenal one way or another.
Which brings me to the question of this bulletin. How do you want your version of Nod to play? Would you be trying to make them even faster and more mobile? Or even sneakier? Or do you think Nod could do with some heavy weapons to take GDI head on? Maybe some from column a, some from column b? There's some space here to really customise the feel of Nod in the campaign, and I'd like to know the direction people would like to take it.
Hopefully we'll be back next week with more!
What are those win-like side pannels that spring from the sides of the Blister Tank when it deploys?
I loved that deploy animation, and the Tank model itself, its really cool, Pseidon model is also really good, its just that I prefer that Tank model. :)
I guess they're further shielding. If the game had the logic it'd be cool to have it grant an armour bonus to nearby infantry. It's mostly there to signify visually "this is a fortified vehicle".
Its wonderful mate, Armor over the side of the tracks to fold out to provide that small cover, really suits the design\look you were going for. It is a shame TS is limited in what you can do with that regard, but its pretty stunning what youve come up with already.
First
"A lot of Nod's early campaign centres around interactions with the splinter factions. Wipe one out and they'll be gone for good, or maybe their last few supporters will show up to try and kill you later. Damage them but don't kill them, and maybe they find someone else to ally themselves with. Or maybe you can bring a splinter group around to your side. If you do that, they'll maybe give you some tech and aid later. The Genesis Legion has Tiberium weapons. They have a mobile artillery which fires Tiberium shells. So if you can destroy their silos but also complete some secondary objective to assert your dominance, they'll give you that. By deciding who you try to ally yourself with you can shift your arsenal one way or another."
ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!
To answer your question:
I would prefer a high mobile, stealthy approach with some heavy artillery units,
Hrrrmmm...Largely depends, I think I'd gain the allegiance of the research faction though. Tib arty sounds pretty good to me.
imo nod is sneaky and that should be the main focus, but that beings said they should have some heavy hitters
Nod's purview has always been one of hit and run tactics, the original Ezekiel's Wheel was the epitome of this with its light armor, high-damage and rapid re-cloak, micro is a stealth tank's best defense. The stealth generators seem as though they were designed to make it feasible for Nod to have an established foothold in a region and pose an interesting counter to GDI's Ion Cannon as earlier versions(Anything prior to C&C 3) require pin-point accuracy in targeting enemy structures rather than blasting a whole base.
That being said, I think the splinter factions you incorporate should determine the makeup of each commander's own brotherhood, although that may be tougher to undertake. The freedom to shape your army by the technologies you adapt shouldn't necessarily be limited to a couple basic unit upgrades.
I know that I would try to get everything buildable but that's just me and my collector attitude.