We're testing the client created by Rampastring of the Dawn of the Tiberium Age fame who's been so kind as to help us get the next version of Mental Omega, which has now been labeled 3.3, to work with CnCNet5 and make use of other various advantages that this client provides. If you're not familiar with DTA, you should check this video to see what it's all about. We're also testing new and old missions, skirmish for bugs and crashes and of course doing some balancing since an entirely new side is now involved.
Speaking of the 4th side, the Foehn Revolt, I've prepared this short video which reveals the recent additions to the unit roster of Mental Omega in more detail.
Mental Omega 3.3 - New Units Showcase #1
The music for this preview has kindly been provided to us by World Beyond whose music will comprise the soundtrack of the Foehn Revolt. Go and check his entire catalogue, it's great.
As I have tweeted quite recently, we've finished creating and voicing the units for the Foehn Revolt and there will be about 50 of them in its first release. After that, if we get some good ideas for new ones we will expand their tech tree accordingly. The only thing that will not expand is the stolen tech roster once it hits 16 units. And speaking of stolen tech..
The new stolen technology roster: 8 units to go.
Two additional stolen tech units have been revealed: the Allied Quickshifter and the Epsilon Salamander. The Quickshifter becomes available after the Allies have constructed their War Factory, their technology buildings and also infiltrated an enemy Allied Tech Center. There are traitors on the battlefield after all, right? People have been asking 'how do the Allies get more tech from the Allies', I wouldn't know, but hey, we all know how stolen tech works in this game. It's always a fun way to acquire some special units during a skirmish.
Allied Quickshifter by ONE X
The Quickshifter is the new chronoshifting tank which uses a missile barrage similar to that of the Aegis Cruiser. Compared to the Chrono Legio nnaire, Quickshifter deals standard damage which is something that might make it even more dangerous than the trooper. Additionally, it can target aircraft and transport a single passenger, effectively making it a chrono transport.
Thanks to Ares DLL though, this passenger is unable to leave as long as the Quickshifter is still warping in. The ridiculous oversight of chrono transports in mods that didn't rely on Ares was that a passenger could leave the chrono transport as soon as it appeared on the target cell, so imagine what was happening when that was combined with a Navy SEAL and his C4. The Quickshifter does not have this issue.
Epsilon Salamander by Azri_Apoc
The Salamander is essentially the next generation Basilisk which was possible to be built thanks to some of Foehn's advanced technology. When an Epsilon Proselyte manages to infiltrate a Foehn Cloud Piercer with the use of his Infiltrators, he receives access to their confusion ray technology, which Epsilon technicians combine with many, many A.R.O. launchers. This forms an aircraft with incredible firepower and a way to prevent enemy forces from even firing back.
The Salamander can target both ground and air units alike and has two types of confusion rays. The first one will be fired at range, with reach similar to its A.R.O. launchers. The second one will be activated below the aircraft, making all enemy units in an area below target each other instead of the Salamander or any other unit that belongs to you. Salamander is slow and its armor is not that great, however it'll be quite tricky to even damage this unit considering its eclectic weapon combination and quite a large range.
But enough about the stolen tech units, let's take a closer look at the new units of the Foehn Revolt.
Coronian Draco Tank by ONE X
The Draco is a very unique tank which acts as a basic combat vehicle for the Wings of Coronia subfaction of Foehn. While its basic speed and durability are nothing spectacular, Draco Tank has two special characteristics that make it very effective in battle. First of all, it is equipped with devices similar to those of a Jackal Racer or Sweeper which make it receive high speed boosts whenever they are nearby a Spinblade. Once a Draco has been boosted, it can outrun even the Mantis Tank of the Scorpion Cell, which is said to be one of the fastest main battle tanks in the world.
The other special feature of the Draco is the ability to detach its turret upon destruction and allow it to act as an autonomous aircraft unit. The turret is in fact a small drone which, while it won't be able to withstand too much anti-aircraft fire, might still give the Foehn Commanders the necessary edge to win an armored battle with the enemy tanks. The presence of Draco on the battlefield alone forces the enemies of the Wings of Coronia to not only rely on their tanks but anti-aircraft vehicles as well.
Haihead Diverbee by ONE X
Do not underestimate this little aircraft judging it by its size - Haihead's Diverbee is an extremely dangerous thing to see on the battlefield on the enemy side. Just like all the other aircraft of Foehn, the Diverbee makes the best of their wind control technology and never has to land on an airstrip. Once it catches on with your ground units, it will launch itself at them from a short distance and violently explode causing lots of damage to all types of armor and infantry as well.
Since Haihead focuses on dealing as much damage to the enemy forces as possible, the Diverbee is no exception. It is a flying bomb capable of destroying the lighter of tanks in just a hit and taking down the heavier ones in a combination of three or four. It is however an expensive unit which requires full technology access on the Haihead's side and can still be shot down with a relatively small amount of anti-aircraft fire.
Foehn Minermite by Mevitar
Last but not least today comes the Minermite which is Foehn's harvester of choice. Tiny, is the word that describers this miner best: it's small, it's cheap, as it costs only $700 and makes the price of the Foehn Ore Refinery go down to $1300, and as expected, it has small storage for the harvested ore, half of what the Allied Chrono Miner has. However, it is able to achieve high speeds and get additional speed boosts with the use of Spinblade, in a similar fashion the Draco Tank does.
Minermite is also capable of repairing nearby mechanical units just like the Soviet Repair Drone or an IFV/AMC/Tsurugi or Stinger with an Engineer inside. This means that if many Minermites are working in a group, they'll be quick to repair each other if the enemy is trying to destroy these little harvesters. Don't be surprised when it turns out that you'll need to include more units in your early rushes than you expected to take down at least one in a small group of Minermites with.
After updating the Factions info pages for the original sides, I've decided to update the Neutral Structures page wth new additions by Nooze as well. These are the following:
Tech Nuclear Plant by Nooze
It's a capturable nuclear power plant! What else is there to say? It provides less power than the Soviet Nuclear Reactor, as it's only 1000 units but it also explodes less violently. Considering that being on full power is even more important in the next version, capturing one of these early game might help you perform a quick tech rush. Remember that if you are on low power in the next version, your production speed will fall by 50%.
Tech Missile Silo by Nooze
This is the updated Tech Missile Silo that grants you access to a powerful Missile Strike.
Tech Academy by Nooze
This is the first in a series of tech buildings which provide the units or defenses you build with initial veterancy thanks to Ares DLL academy logic. Tech Academy gives initial veterancy to your infantry.
Tech Heavy Machinery by Nooze
Tech Heavy Machinery gives initial veterancy to your ground vehicles.
Tech Aeronautics by Nooze
Tech Aeronautics gives initial veterancy to all of your aircraft, this includes jets, helicopters, blimps, flying saucers, Rocketeers, Hornets on Aircraft Carriers, all of those things.
Tech Defense Bureau by Nooze
In Mental Omega defensive structures will also become stronger as they kill more units. We don't refer to this as 'veterancy' but simply 'upgrades' instead. With a captured Tech Defense Bureau all the defenses you build will appear with an initial upgrade.
Tech Military Docks by Nooze
Heavy Machinery doesn't give you veteran ships and neither does infiltration of an enemy factory with a spy. Capturing the Tech Military Docks however do. Note that this building is not placed on water, it is placed very close to it and that's what I recommend for mappers to do in the future.
After all, Engineers cannot swim in Mental Omega.
And that's it for today. Stay tuned for more updates and subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notified about new Unit Showcase videos.
If you'd like to help develop Mental Omega further, write an e-mail to mental.omega.apyr@gmail.com
We always welcome additional Voxel Artists, 3D & SHP Artists, Mission Scripters and Voice Actors.
Single contributions are also welcome and will speed up the development of the mod.
