Command And Conquer series

Not hours but definitely I didn't throw a hodgepodge of a base together.

It was interesting how they gave you concrete, sandbags and walls at your disposal, even if they were tedious to make. I've seen a fairly cool implementation of walls in one or two Tiberium Wars mods, though.

I just wish the pavement size was bigger than 4x4 squares. (No you can't mod it bigger. 4x4 is the biggest Foundation= string you can use. Yes it is string based not numerical.)

I love building intricate bases. Neat, walled-in military complexes give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. It's why I usually play on the Floating Fortress maps in RA3. Just placing things wherever you've got room is so... inelegant.

Well there's also some strategic concerns too. I learned quickly playing Starcraft and Warcraft that you place your production buildings either right behind your tower defense line or way in the back beyond layers of defenses, farms and whatnot. The same spilled over into my playing of CNC. I'll either put my production buildings not far from my defensive perimeter or tucked into its own area. (Alternatively if the map aesthetics have something going for it like many RA 2/YR maps I'll tailor base design to the map.)

I like organizing structures. I always try to do it in rts games, especially Age of Empires. Not as much in C&C, but to an extent.

To the extent of tacking on maybe fifteen minutes to my mission clear time, yes. It's also (part of) why I can't handle the Generals Challenge on anything other than Easy, I get anal-retentive about making sure my power plants line up and everything's at right angles. Just slap buildings down spread out to counter superweapon strikes? What's the point of winning if you do so from a fugly headquarters?

God, it took me forever to break out of that habit. Even into Generals I still tried to turtle in most situations, focusing on building huge lines of defense first and barely expanding (and as you can imagine, I barely won matches online). I finally broke that habit around the time Tiberium Wars rolled around and showed me that it was FAR more important to expand and attack instead of sitting in your base all day. If anything, that's the one good thing that I'll credit C&C3 with doing right.

I once played a multiplayer game on RA 2 that reached the point I couldn't get anywhere near the other guy's base because everywhere you could get in from had at least one or two French Grand Bumraping Cannons. Like, fucking everywhere. Of course, I got around it with a spy a bunch of harriers, but still, it was remarkable, to some degree.

Funny that. Everybody always bitched about how broken the French Grand Cannons were, but every time I tried to use it, it got destroyed by something pathetic and constantly missed it's shots.

They're useful in open spaces or against groups, but you'll want to surround them with some prism towers, and maybe some AA defenses. Of course, a large enough group of deployed GI's is more than enough to defend pretty much anything. The only think that would make them even more overkill would be giving them AA capabilities and bullets that shoot more bullets upon impact.

But of course, that would be silly.

Oh god, RA2 GIs. How I miss thee. It was always a lot of fun watching them quickly elite themselves.

So, speaking of Grand Cannons, what was everyone's favourite nation-specific unit?

Also speaking of nation-specific units, one thing I think RA3 did a good job of was making the Allies truly the Allies by diversifying the unit voices.

edited 30th Mar '12 10:13:40 AM by pagad

I whenever I was Allied, I'd stick with the German Tank destroyer.. unit they nerfed it to hell. Afterwards I just used the US paradrop power. For the Soviets it was either the Libyan demo truck or the Russian Tesla tank.

Well in RA 2 it was actually the US army that did most of the fighting in the campaign - the Europeans only joined in to help after halfway through, hence why most of the units are of American design (ex the G Is, SEALS, AEGIS cruiser, Grizzly tank, harrier, etc).

edited 30th Mar '12 10:19:46 AM by SgtRicko

Lybian demo truck spam + Iron Curtain (to get them in the enemy base) + Nuke (after the curtain)= Fun.

I always do the French in RA 2. RA 1, I go with the Russians. Cheaper vehicles.

I actually liked playing as Cuba or Iraq mostly.

Hiding five terrorists inside a Flak Track and then having it sneak into an enemy base while my tanks were knocking at their front door was always awesome

And the desolator was a damn fine anti-GI counter with that rad field of his. I hide them behind buildings and just turned the ground green

I think I liked America's air force bonus.

I always put a bunch of desolators around my base to make it infantry-proof (bye bye, allied spies) when I used them. Real fun, but the damage vehicles receive once killed a couple flak traks I didn't realize where just standing there.

Also, in the subject of Red Alert 2: The Deploy Button is one of those neat little things gaming just sort of forgot about. Really good way of putting all the abilities in one slot. I often try to see what happens if I press "D" while on on a cab.

In RA 2 it was either Korean Black Eagles or American paradrops. (Capture an Airport to double the free guys!) On the Soviet side I liked the Tesla Tank the best.

I never could figure out how to play Yuri before I started tinkering with the game's inner workings.

Yuri's army was so hilariously broken you didn't really need to figure out how to play it

Ah yes, I forgot about these. One squadron equal to two Harrier squadrons, two squadrons equal to four Harrier squadrons (or in other words, how to take out a construction yard in one hit).

edited 31st Mar '12 2:21:08 AM by pagad

I still think Yuri's Revenge engine can be reused to make a fangame. Just add rotatable view, keep the Sprite/Polygon Mix, add the advanced controls from Tiberium Wars, and improve the GUI. Instantly, you'll have a new engine running on old spice, spreading all new charm

At least that's my firm belief

edited 31st Mar '12 5:29:05 AM by Cassie

The core components such as terrain, buildings, infantry and a lot more are full 2D with limited 3D illusioning.

The Ares Project has already addressed (and rejected) the concept for that engine.

Apparently nobody here has ever heard of the RA 2 Deso-bomb? As Iraq, build a flak track and place at least 2-3 desolators inside. Drive it up to the enemy base, as close as you can to their vehicles or more preferrably barracks, especially if it's an Allied player, before it gets destroyed. Just before it does, unload the desolators, deploy their field, and watch the fun as everything begins to melt into goo around you! It's also handy at stopping infantry/light vehicle rushes or Allied paradrops!

That's how you fight off the first paradrop raid in Soviet 7 in RA 2. (Or was it 8? The one where you go after General Vladimir in Washington DC.)

I used attack dogs and terror drones in that mission to deal with the paradropped G Is who landed too close to the tech center.

EDIT: Wait, Vladimir? Is that the one where you have to capture the White House from him? Don't recall them using paratroops in that mission...

edited 31st Mar '12 10:36:24 AM by SgtRicko

Yeah, mission eight.

Not one that I particularly enjoyed. It's not fun facing terror drones as a Soviet player.

His initial attack on you is dropping paratroopers on you in the first minute or so of the mission.