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[Millennium]

I'm proud to announce that I am half-way through my first (please, people, no newbie-bashing) official mod for YR. It will be named The Third Power: Das Letzte Battalion (Das Letzte Battalion is German for The Lost Battalion). The mod will replace Yuri's faction with an axis faction - the namesake "Lost Battalion", which will operate from New Swabia, a secret base on Antarctica, where they have amassed and developed advanced and pseudo-scientific weapon systems.

Introducing the more pseudohistorical parts of nazi technology, such as Nazi UFOs and the P.1500 Monster super-heavy tank (which existed n reallife as a blueprint only) into the universe of RA2 isn't rather hard, as such technologies as mind control and prism weapons are already present.

Because in the timeline of RA2, no World War 2 took place as we know it, I will still have to work out a background story - I created the basic concept of the mod solely based on the atmosphere it had, but I didn't tie it into some continuity with RA2 as of yet. Maybe the background story will be a Nazi invasion from an alternate timeline or, since the Pacific War has apparently happened in the RA2 timeline (the Arizona and Iwo Jima memorials in RA2 being the topic of much discussion within the community previously), the group could be remnants of the Imperial Japanese forces rather than Nazi Germany.

Axis Units (no pictures for now, since they use either the images of already present units, or very bad downloaded voxels):

Note that all of these units are based on acctual or alleged Nazi resarch during World War 2.

Trooper
Classification: Light infantry
Effective VS: Infantry
Ineffective VS: Heavy tanks, buildings, aircraft
Primary armament: Rifle
Secondary armament: -

Basic infantry unit. Cannot deploy and is more expensive than the Conscript.

Stormtrooper
Classification: Light infantry / medium infantry
Effective VS: Infantry
Ineffective VS: Heavy tanks, buildings, aircraft
Primary armament: Assault rifle
Secondary armament: Flamethrower

Stormtroopers are the German's shock troops. They are upgraded Troopers armed with assault rifles and one-burst flamethrowers. Stormtroopers can clear civilian buildings from occupying forces with their flamethrowers, which makes them extremely effective in urban battles, but they are even more expensive than the Allied GI, due to Nazi shortage on men and material.

Panzerfaust
Classification: Medium infantry / heavy infantry / anti-tank
Effective VS: Tanks
Ineffective VS: Infantry, aircraft, buildings, artillery
Primary armament: Panzerfaust
Secondary armament: -

Anti-tank infantry. Very, VERY effective against tanks.

Rocketeer
Classification: Combat Engineer
Effective VS: Infantry, buildings
Ineffective VS: Tanks, artillery, aircraft
Primary armament: Flamethrower
Secondary armament: -
The German Rocketeer is similar to his allied counterpart in the ability to use rocket propulsion to cross terrain safely in flight, but will have to land to function to the full extent. German Rocketeers are armed with short-ranged flamethrowers that can easily scorch infantry and demolish light buildings, but performs poorly against armored vehicles and heavy structures, such as bunkers. However, the most important function of the Rocketeer concerning buildings is that he is also the German force's engineer.

Exoskeleton
Classification: Heavy infantry / light tank
Effective VS: Infantry
Ineffective VS: Heavy tanks, buildings, aircraft
Primary armament: Machine guns
Secondary armament: Ground-to-ground rockets

A soldier wearing a powered exoskeleton. This unit is produced from your Barracks, but should be seen as a light tank. Snipers and other anti-infantry weapons will bounce off its armored hull and on the field, tank should be sent against it, not other infantry.

While using a set of machine guns as its main weapon to mow down infantry, an elite exskel also carries unguided rockets it can use against enemy armor to give it an edge in tank battles it would otherwise loose. These rockets can also be used for building demolition, but are less effective in that role. The main purpose of this unit remains infantry engagement.

Cyborg
Classification: Heavy infantry / light tank
Effective VS: Infantry
Ineffective VS: Heavy tanks, buildings, aircraft
Primary armament: Machine guns
Secondary armament: Multiple Missile launcher

Advanced form of Exskel, where the pilot is cybernetically linked with the machine.

Design-wise, I needed this unit to be an advanced form of the Exoskeleton also in the weapon systems it used, so the Cyborg is really a combination of the Cyborg and Cyborg Reaper from TS and FS. It uses a machine gun, like the Cyborg and like the Exskel, but to upgrade, or at least include, the rocket weapon from the Exskel, I couldn't stick with a simple copy of the TS Cyborg, therefore, I included the Reaper's missiles system.

Panzer
Classification: Medium tank
Effective VS: Tanks
Ineffective VS: Infantry, aircraft, buildings
Primary armament: 75mm tank gun
Secondary armament: -

The name "panzer" as used in english often refers to this, the Panzer IV. It was the common German tank in World War 2. It will be one of two basic tank units of the Axis in The Third Power.

Panther
Classification: Medium tank
Effective VS: Tanks
Ineffective VS: Infantry, aircraft, buildings
Primary armament: 75mm tank gun
Secondary armament: -

A late-war tank model produced in limited numbers. An advanced form of the Panzer. Originally designated Panzer V Panther, Hitler ordered the roman numeral to be dropped from the name, for whatever reason, thus this tank was known solely as the Panther.
That is as far as real life goes. In The Third Power, the Panther will be a common tank unit for the Axis. Although providing no advancement in firepower over its predecessor, it is faster, more maneuverable and can sustain more damage.

Tiger
Classification: Heavy tank
Effective VS: Tanks
Ineffective VS: Infantry, aircraft, buildings
Primary armament: 88mm tank gun
Secondary armament: -

Advanced late-war German tank.

King Tiger
Classification: Heavy tank
Effective VS: Tanks
Ineffective VS: Infantry, aircraft, buildings
Primary armament: 88mm tank gun
Secondary armament: -

In real life, this was an advanced form of the Tiger. Keeping with real life, it would only have minimal changes to the Tiger, including keeping the 88mm tank gun, but I'm actually thinking about making this a very futuristic unit, though I do not yet know what exactly I will do...

Maus
Classification: Super-heavy tank
Effective VS: Tanks, buildings
Ineffective VS: Aircraft, tank destroyers, anti-tank infantry
Primary armament: 128mm tank gun
Secondary armament: -

The Maus (mouse) 188t super-heavy tank only existed as prototype in real life. In my mod, it comes to life as the equivalent to the Soviet Apocalypse. The Maus uses a 128mm cannon, which is more than both the Rhino's and Apocalypse's 120mm cannon, however, it has only one barrel, rendering its absolute firepower less than that of the Apocalypse, plus it cannot attack aerial units. The Rhino is superior to the Maus in that it fields a gun of slightly less firepower at a much lower price and higher speed. Still, the Maus will dwarf any other ground unit except for the Apocalypse. For the Allied side, the only cost-effective way of bringing this mouse down is the use of aerial firepower.

Elephant
Classification: Tank destroyer
Effective VS: Tanks
Ineffective VS: Infantry, buildings, aircraft
Primary armament: Sabot
Secondary armament: -

The Elephant tank destroyer was the common tank destroyer in use by the Germans during World War 2. In The Third Power, the unit is the same as the German Tank Destroyer, only using a different voxel.

Hummel
Classification: Self-propelled artillery
Effective VS: Infantry, buildings
Ineffective VS: Tanks, aircraft
Primary armament: Artillery gun
Secondary armament: -

The Hummel (Bumblebee) is a conventional self-propelled artillery unit of the Axis forces. It fires about the same weapon as the artillery unit in original RA (although adjusted for a higher range).

Wurfrahmen
Classification: Rocket artillery
Effective VS: Infantry, buildings
Ineffective VS: Tanks, aircraft
Primary armament: Rockets
Secondary armament: -

Literally translated as launching frame. German rocket artillery. Fires inaccurate rockets that are effective against large targets, like buildings, and enemies bunched together, but have trouble hitting single targets. Compare it to a Katyusha, just with tank tracks instead of wheels and more armor applied.

V2 Launcher
Classification: Rocket artillery
Effective VS: Buildings
Ineffective VS: Aircraft, tanks, infantry
Primary armament: V2 rocket
Secondary armament: -

This is the V2 Launcher from Red Alert. Although the rocket carries a deadly payload, it is inaccurate and reloads slowly, in practice making this unit very vulnerable when exposed to mobile enemies.

V3 Launcher
Classification: Rocket artillery
Effective VS: Buildings
Ineffective VS: Aircraft, tanks, infantry
Primary armament: V3 rocket
Secondary armament: -

This is the V3 Launcher as known from the Soviet side. Although the rocket it carries is absolutely accurate when fired upon stationary targets, mobile enemies can easily dodge the incoming rockets and make short work of the unarmored vehicle, thus the V3 Launcher suffers from the same weakenesses as its lower cousin.

Wirbelwind
Classification: Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
Effective VS: Aircraft
Ineffective VS: Ground units, buildings
Primary armament: Flak-Vierling (Quad cannon)
Secondary armament: -

The Wirbelwind (whirlwind) was a SPAAG based on the Panzer IV chassis. In my mod, it is a dedicated anti-aircraft unit in the Axis forces (the Axis haing no unit that can attack both air and ground), firing a quadruple Flak (which is not actually a Flak weapon like the others in RA2, but some sort of MG).

Rheintochter
Classification: Anti-aircraft missile launcher
Effective VS: Aircraft
Ineffective VS: Ground units, buildings
Primary armament: Rheintochter AA rocket
Secondary armament: -

In real life, the Rheintochter (approx.: Daughter of the Rhine) was an extremely long-ranged anti-aircraft system based on the V2 rocket and developed as a late-war effort by Germany.

This unit fires a large (Dred missile-sized) homing missile against aerial units. It takes some time to reload, but the missile is absolutely deadly, consuming not only the target aircraft, but also its wingmen, in a huge fireball.

Note: there is a slight bug in this. If an aircraft manages to outrun the missile and return to its home base, the missile will actually follow the aircraft and slam into it when it is docked, destroying the docking structure. I think it is a problem with Ranged= on the proj, but I'm thinking on keeping it in, as it is an interesting effect. But perhaps I will add Airburst=yes so it will detonate when still in the air.

Messerschmitt Bf-109
Classification: Strike fighter
Effective VS: Ground and air units
Ineffective VS: Buildings
Primary armament: Machine gun
Secondary armament: -

The Bf-109 is the regular strike fighter aircraft in use by the Axis. Being a strike fighter, it can be used against both air and ground targets, but is neither as effective in the anti-ground role as a bomber, nor as effective in the anti-air role as a fighter would be.

The Bf-109 will have a virtually unlimited supply of ammo (only virtually, because aircraft is hardcoded to require a number in the Ammo= statement, but it will be enough not to run out of it even if it fires for hours straight) and doesn't land after having downed its target. Instead, it will circle around the area, making the unit a great patrol craft to keep your airspace and ground clean.

Me-262
Classification: Interceptor / strike fighter, rocket aircraft
Effective VS: Aircraft, ground units
Ineffective VS: Buildings
Primary armament: Machine gun
Secondary armament: -
The Me-262 is an advanced fighter in use by the Axis. It is more efficient than any allied or soviet aircraft in the fighter role due to its exreme interception speed, but does less damage than aircraft dedicated purely to the fighter role and is also less efficient in attacking ground targets than a bomber. While it can do considerable damage to infantry and even some lighter vehicles, the damage it can do to buildings is totally neglectable.
In real life, the Me-262's effectiveness as an interceptor was somewhat limited due to its high fuel consumption, which made it impossible for the plane to be used longer than a few minutes. In The Third Power, the same will apply, caused by a very limited amount of ammunition, forcing the plane, which will be the fastest in the game, to return to the Airfield after only one attack pass.

Ju-87 StuKa
Classification: Light bomber / tactical bomber / dive bomber
Effective VS: Ground units, to a lesser extent buildings
Ineffective VS: Aircraft
Primary armament: Several runs worth of bomb payload
Secondary armament: -

The Ju-87 StuKa is a dive bomber is the main ground attack aircraft of the Axis. It is very effective in leveling enemy infantry and vehicle formations, but, being only a tactical bomber, will hardly be capable of leveling enemy bases. The same I said about the Bf-109's ammo and landing behaviour applies to the StuKa, making the plane a great patrol craft against enemy ground units.

The StuKa only drops its bombs directly overhead the target, doing damage precisely only to the target, so there won't be a long strafing run like seen on the ORCA Bomber in TS. This is my way of reconstructing tactical bombardment.

Note: The dive bombing effect - aircraft diving down towards target - is possibly easy to create via using a SHP image. Any good SHP artist around here who's interested in doing the work?

Heinkel He-111
Classification: Medium bomber
Effective VS: Ground units, buildings
Ineffective VS: Aircraft
Primary armament: One strafing run worth of bomb payload.
Secondary armament: -

In real life, the He-111 was Germany's heaviest bomber. It was the aircraft that was used to attack the UK in the Battle of Britain. However, by the standard of the time, it was only a medium bomber, incapable of strategic bombardment like the allied bombers.

The He-111 carries one strafing run of bombs. This bomber will behave like the ORCA Bomber from TS in its bombing behaviour. Due to its limited ammo supply, it will have to return to the Airfield after having completed one bombing run.

The He-111's bombs do considerably more damage than the Harrier's missiles, plus, far more bombs are dropped during a He-111 attack the single missile fired by an attacking Harrier. But there is also a downside to it: the damage is spread over a long corridor the bomber overflies in its attack run, rather than concentrated on a single target, and the bomber has to enter the airspace above its target and remain within the area for a longer time, exposed to possible anti-aircraft fire far longer than the Harrier would be.

UFO
Classification: UFO
Effective VS: Ground and air units
Ineffective VS: Buildings
Primary armament: Force beam
Secondary armament: -
The famed pseudo-scientific Nazi UFO.
UFOs will use force beams which kill infantry on the spot and attract vehicles towards the disk, then releasing the beam and dropping the vehicle and its crew to death.

Zeppelin airship
Classification: Airship
Effective VS: Ground and air units, buildings
Ineffective VS: -
Primary armament: 1X 160mm cannon
Secondary armament: 12X 88mm FlaK (six on each flank)
Variable bombing payloads
Equal to the Soviet Kirov, however combining it with the armament of the Siege Chopper.
Zeppelins will attempt to engage ground units with their 160mm main gun, while buildings will be bombed. The Zeppelin can also defend against air attacks and be used as a flying aa platform, through 12 88mm FlaK cannons, which allow it to fire upon aerial targets in any direction.
Zeppelins carry a large crew reminiscent of the crew of a battleship, including a group of engineers which will perform repairs on the airship when damaged.

U-Boat
Classification: Attack submarine
Effective VS: Ships, submarines, naval buildings
Ineffective VS: Destroyers, aircraft, land units and buildings
Primary armament: Torpedo
Secondary armament: -
The U-Boat is the lightest naval unit in use by the Last Battalion. They are generally equal to Soviet Typhoon Attack Subs.

Bismarck Battleship
Classification: Battleship
Effective VS: Surface units, buildings
Ineffective VS: Aircraft, submarines
Primary armament: Dual 380mm turret
Secondary armament: -
This heavy naval unit is similar to the Soviet Dreadnought, but carries large-calibre guns instead of missiles and can fire much faster without being bound to a minimum range. The shots are also more accurate when attacking moving targets, as they travel faster than the Dred missiles, though they have a shorter range and do less damage. There is generally no surface vessel that could pose a threat to these ships. The only danger comes from submarines and enemy aircraft.

Note on all air units able to attack other air units: This is only valid if I decide to use RockPatch2 (Except for the Zeppelin, which, as a JJ unit, can be coded to attack other air units without any modification of the game's .exe).

Other stuff that might be included:
Hindenburg - alternate name for Zeppelin
Tirpitz - battlecruiser
Ratte, Monster - super-heavy tanks
Subterranean Factory - War factory for Axis, based upon real-life Nazi production facilities located inside bunkers and mountain caves.
V1, V2, V3 - fixed launch sites for use as superweapon buildings

-------------------------------

I was inspired to this by:
1) some neonazi concept of a lost battalion of SS troops having withdrawn to Antarctica at the end of WW2, taking with them advanced technology, such as directed energy weapons and the famed Nazi UFOs, to prepare for some later war. I read about this in a german magazine, and the title of that article was Die Dritte Macht: Das Letzte Battalion (The Third Power: The Lost Battalion).
2) The Nazi loading screen and units mentioned to have been in very early (pre-beta) versions of Mental Omega, but later removed.
3) Also, those of you who are into anime will propably have realized by now that the Millennium organization from Hellsing was an inspiration to this, because the term "Das Letzte Battalion" appears here aswell.

Since this is the very first mod I will release, please comment on the concept. Constructive criticism is very welcome, for I hope to become accepted in the community despite being a total newbie!

[Beowulf]

I'm pretty sure Mig Eater is handling some of this quite well. The best way to get accepted is make a simple mod showing you can learn on your own.

[Rattuskid]

Realistic units are pretty worthless in Ra2, mainly because they have to be nerfed into something they are not. The names end up being the only lasting 'real' thing, and it's fairly boring have two nigh identical tanks/bombers for the same faction. People will just use trhe better of the two, or more cost effective of the two, rather. Nazis in RA2 are also a pretty over-done idea. If you're going to pull this off, at least use something fresh and not the Nazi UFO bullshit on top of units like the Maus and stuff.

Also...

But perhaps I will add Airburst=yes so it will detonate when still in the air.

That is not what airburst does, really.

[Millennium]

...and it's fairly boring have two nigh identical tanks/bombers for the same faction.

Imagine RockPatch applied here:


[Exoskeleton]
...
UseNewUpgradeSystem=yes
NextType=Cyborg

[Panzer]
...
UseNewUpgradeSystem=yes
NextType=Panther
...

[Tiger Tank]
...
UseNewUpgradeSystem=yes
NextType=King Tiger
...

[V2RL]
...
UseNewUpgradeSystem=yes
NextType=V3
...



How does that sound?

Edited by Millennium, 18 February 2008 - 10:43 AM.

[raminator]

"Das letzte Battalion" is "the last Battalion" not the lost... >>> "Das verlorene Battalion"

[Millennium]

"Das letzte Battalion" is "the last Battalion" not the lost... >>> "Das verlorene Battalion"

Meh...you're right... soorry... But it doesn't really matter, since the name of my mod will keep the German "Das letzte Battalion", without any translation.

There are some other changes I'm now putting into the mod:

• New spark and smoke particles for damaged vehicles.
• DeathWeapons on ALL vehicles, vessels and buildings. Larger buildings will cause the screen to shake when destroyed (like in RA).
• Exploding vehicles spawn debris specific to their voxels (for example, the Rhino now spawns 1 debris looking like HTNK, 1 looking like HTNKTUR and 1 looking like HTNKBARL). Sometimes they also spawn generic PIECE and GASTANK debris instead.
• Use of function-specific lighting on buildings (e.g. red lightning from refinery etc.)
• Dying infantry will turn into long-lasting corpses and exploding infantry will leave puddles of blood. The latter has prooven to be difficult, as of yet.

Also, because of previous criticism, I'm removing the Nazi UFO and instead, I have been working on superweapons for the Axis side. They'll receive a V Rocket strike, more like the original V1 and V2, not like the V2 and V3 in RA and RA2.

Other superweapons I have been thinking of are:

• Airstrike - by a normal bomber
• Carpet Bombing - by a bomber dropping an Airburst/Cluster projectile directly overhead the target. The projectile would detonate just underneath the bomber, spraying its AirburstWeapon into the area underneath the bomber.
• Zielgerat 1229 - In real life, this was an infrared visor for use by german snipers. However, its code name was Vampire. I'm thinking on reintroducing this as a mutation superweapon, which turns infantrymen into vampires, which in turn can bite other infantry to turn them into less powerful zombies. These undead would be immune to small arms fire and have to be "gibbed" in order to kill them (Quake, anyone ).
• Fallschirmjager (Paratroopers) - Drops just as many soldiers as the Tech paradrop for the Soviets, but half of these are Troopers and the other half Panzerfaust Troopers, giving the airstrike capacity against both tanks and infantry, but less efficency against infantry than the drops of the other sides.
• Mars Attacks (temporary/project name only) - Reintroduce the UFO as being called in by a superweapon (an entire fleet of them) and level the enemy's base.

I don't know yet what I will use...

The Wirbelwind would not attack paratroopers while descending, until I gave it anti-ground capabilities (I stumbled upon this by accident, when giving it anti-ground merely to test if it could attack infantry at all). So, now, for the sake of logic, the Wirbelwind WILL attack paratroopers, but it will also be able to shredd ground units (mainly infantry) with a variant of the 20mmRapid I set to Gattling in order to have multiple firing locations. The unit fires almost nonstop, and can give quite good suppressive fire against infantry, though it tends to be a little inaccurate.

Also, I revised the Maus to be as strong as the Apocalypse, however armed with a 160mm cannon using an AP warhead instead of the anti-building/anti-infantry-oriented SCHOPWH, making it an effective siege unit and long-range fire support, though, unlike the Apoc, inacapable of attacking/defending against air targets.

Then, I dropped some unit designations:
The Ju-87 will simply be called "StuKa".
The Bf-109 will receive the in-game name of "Kurfurst", which was the name of the final develppment of that plane, but I think this name will only be temp, as it doesn't sound right...
The He-111 is now simply called "Bomber".
The Me-262 will be called "Interceptor".
Also, I reduced the speed for the Me-262, as the real life stats for the Me-262 give a max. controlable speed of Mach 0.84, while the real life Harrier has a max speed of Mach .89 (considering the Me-262 was built in the mid-40's, it is quite impressive it had almost the speed of a modern-era jet fighter). Later Me-262 models where expected to reach Mach 0.89. Thus, I'm giving the Me-262 the same speed as the Harrier.

And I'm thinking about a hero infantry and unit for the Axis:

• Some aryan supersoldier as hero infantry. Will overturn tanks with his bare hands, currently doing a brute recolor and reshape to make it a very, VERY musculous, blonde, white-skinned man...
• Monster or Ratte tank from above introduced as hero unit. Both tanks would not be able to climb uphill (via using the apparently otherwise unused SpeedType=Tracked and setting TrackedUphill=0), nor cross bridges (either via MovementRestrictedTo= or by using some SpeedType=Tracked and setting it to 0% on the Bridge terrain entry).

Edited by Millennium, 18 February 2008 - 03:22 PM.

[Millennium]

I have now completed both the Panzer and Wirbelwind, including voxel. The Panzer uses RA2's own unused 75mm gun and (though this doesn't work yet) upgrades to the Panther. The Panther has not yet got a voxel of its own. Although the Panzer may seem undergunned, using a gun that is both the smallest tank gun available in the game and apparently redunant in the code from TS (where it was unused too, so I suppose its even held over from original RA), I found the 75mm to possess, credited to its high rate of fire, a rather devastating firepower against enemy armor, so the Panzer is definitely a match for the tanks of the other sides.

The Wirbelwind has been completed by, as in real life, mounting a Quad gun turret on the Panzer body. It has the same armor, speed, hitpoints and whatnot as the Panzer, but it comes slightly cheaper and, of course, it is armed with a quad aa gun (which is basically a variant of the 20mmRapid using Invisible4 as projectile and on a gattling weapon system mount on the vehicle to allow me defining four different WeaponXFLHs in art.ini, so the firing anim of the tank will now actually be cycling through the barrels). It can no longer attack ground units, since I removed the weapon's AG capacity, but gave the tank a secondary anti-ground weapon instead with a damage of 1 and a warhead with a Verses= setting of 2% against everything. This allows it to attack paratroopers on their descent, but, owning to LandTargeting=1, it will neither be able to target, nor accidentially damage, anything on the ground.

[Mig Eater]

Mixing WW2 stuff with RA2 is a bit iffy IMO, your best off just loosely basing stuff on WW2 tech. You have too many over lapping units as well, you only really need one of each type of unit.

[Allied General]

No real point is using 3 types of what are basically are standard tanks

In 99% of mods this just means 75mm, 90mm, 105mm and some M60 weapon as well, turning the entire game into a tank spam.

You should think about unit purpose and be inventive with units.

Also screenshots and testing ftw.

For example building specific lighting especially without alpha images looks bad and on RA2 it looks ever worse/lags

[Millennium]

In 99% of mods this just means 75mm, 90mm, 105mm and some M60 weapon as well, turning the entire game into a tank spam.

Well, I was never intending to use secondary machine guns on any of my tanks, I at least had that bit of respect for game balance...

Okay, I revised the Axis unit selection:

Infantry
---------
Trooper - basic infantry.
Panzerfaust - anti-tank infantry
Exoskeleton - heavy infantry (something akin the Cyborg from TS, is immune to poison weapons).
Flame-eater - Rocketeer-engineer combination armed with flamethrower. Can clear out UC buildings.

Units
------
War Miner - Same as Sov
Panther Tank - main tank for Axis, uses 75mm gun.
Tiger Tank - heavy tank for Axis, uses 90mm gun (so, by weapon standard, this is closer to a RA1-era Medium tank, but this is the closest you get to RL Tiger Tank's 88mm gun...)
Maus Tank - super-heavy tank, similar to Apocalypse. Has one 160mm siege cannon, good against buildings
(so, to cut down on number of tanks, no more Panzer IV and King Tiger...)

Hummel - Artillery from original RA, with revised voxel and greater range.
Elephant - Tank destroyer like RA2's original tank destroyer, but will use new voxel...
Wirbelwind - dedicated SPAAG, can attack aerial units and will attack paratroopers, but cannot attack ground targets...

These were the normal units that I have finished designing. Now, there are some more units that I'm unsure of putting in or still developing:

Flame Track - Halftrack armed with a flamethrower. Can carry infantry like the Flak Track. Based on RL WW2 SdKfz 251/16 (flamethrower-armed halftrack).

Werfer Plattform ???? - Means "Launching Platform" in German. Combination of my previous rocket artillery designs, this slow and vulnerable vehicle can attack both air and ground targets with rockets, but must deploy to fire. It should be seen more as a fixed launching site than a portable siege weapon or anti-aircraft artillery... Maybe this will also be removed...

Experimental Bridge Layer ???? - I'm currently experimenting on an amphibious unit that will deploy into a bridge (via ToTile= and the TMP Editor, but there is little progress no far...)

Repair Vehicle - needs no explanation, support vehicle I may include instead of either the Werfer or Bridge Layer.

Naval
------
U-Boat - submarine, like Soviet Typhoon
Bizmarck - battleship, armed with cannons, less damage and range than Dreadnought, but more accurate against moving targets...

Air
---
I'm using a special SlowdownDistance= setup to simulate non-VTOL aircraft starting and landing as good as I can.

Zeppelin (unit type) - Uses a special gattling gun setup (three weapon stages) to simulate a tertiary weapon. Fixed 160mm gun used to attack ground units, bombs used to attack buildings and OmniFire flak cannons used to defend against aircraft. Not yet fully operational...

Bomber - drops bombs in long strafing runs. Does more overall damage than Harrier, but damage is scattered and the bomber directly overflies its target (no standoff weapons) and is thus more vulnerable to aa weapons. Carries one run of bombs.
Interceptor - Me-262. Can attack other aircraft and ground forces and PassiveAcquires targets. Is as fast as the Harrier and can down enemy aircraft in one attack (except for Kirovs and Zeppelins), but has very little ammo.
StuKa - Bomber that will attack solely its target (no strafing runs). Does not return to airfield after a flight and will instead circle the area. Still, it will crash when airfield is destroyed. Carries (virtually) unlimited ammo.
Messerschmitt - Fighter / strike fighter. Operates like the StuKa, but with machine guns and can attack air targets.

Buildings:
-----------
Although I have removed the "Upgrading" theme on units, it is still visible on the buildings...

Resource:

Con Yard - needs no explanation...
Power Plant - Produces 150 power. Can be upgraded to produce +50 power.
Power plant upgrade - as mentioned above...
Ore Refinery - needs no explanation... Can be upgraded to work like the Ore Purifier...
Ore Processor - upgrade as mentioned above...
Radar - needs no explanation, needed for Airfield. Can be upgraded to generate stealth.
Blackout Device - upgrade for Radar as mentioned above...
Barracks - needs no explanation...
Academy - Trains infantry to elite status...
War Factory - needs no explanation...
Shipyard - needs no explanation...
Airfield - Produces aircraft. DOES NOT GIVE RADAR. Originally accomodates 2 aircraft, can be upgraded to hold four aircraft... Also gives the paradrop and airstrike superweapons.
Airfield Upg - as mentioned above. Still experimental...
Research Center - Reduces unit cost when built. Gives access to Bizmarck battleship and Tiger and Maus tanks.

Armory:

Bunker - Cost: 500. Normal defense building, similar to allied pillbox. Armed with a machine gun. Can be upgraded to use an anti-tank gun or flak gun in order to turn it into an anti-armor or anti-air defense. Upgraded modes use power and will shut down during a power shortage.

PaK upgrade - Anti-tank upgrade for Bunker. Weapon similar to tank destroyer, which means this upgrade makes the Bunker worthless against infantry, but deadly to armor. Cost: 600

Flak upgrade - Cost: 500. Anti-air upgrade for Bunker. Weapon is not really a RA2-ish Flak cannon, but rather the same aa machine gun as used on the wirbelwind, but not in a quad setup... This aa defense, too, will target paratroopers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More changes:
Allied Patriot and Soviet Flak both attack paratroopers.

Screenshots soon to come...

Also, please take your time to read my entire post - there was never the idea of letting three basic tanks exist simultaneously - the Panzer IV would be the only one buildable and upgrade to Panther via RockPatch New Upgrade System...

/EDIT:

• Ore Refinery Upgrade now called "Increase Miner Capacity"
• Airfield Upgrade as seperate building until upgrade logic works...

Edited by Millennium, 20 February 2008 - 07:13 PM.

[Speeder]

I started to wonder where the heck my Nazi concepts could have gone. Waiting for screenshots.

[Mig Eater]

Upgrading the Panzer IV to the Panther would look stupid, there completely different >.> would be like a rhino turning into a apoc!

[genobreaker]

based on what he written... i think some of it will work...

[Allied General]

Armory:
Bunker - Cost: 500. Normal defense building, similar to allied pillbox. Armed with a machine gun. Can be upgraded to use an anti-tank gun or flak gun in order to turn it into an anti-armor or anti-air defense. Upgraded modes use power and will shut down during a power shortage.

Yeah you really need to code this before posting (especially since you asked readers to read it fully) as if you don't code it/test it, people who have tried this coding will come along and no offence intended but make you look stupid.

The above statement will not work unless the bunker is actually a powered building e.g. mg goes offline too as Powered=yes/true or whatever on base defence upgrades does nto work which is easy to notice in TS.

Also upgrades fully repair damaged structures.

Edited by Allied General, 20 February 2008 - 07:14 PM.

[Romanul]

also another thing:the nazis never managed to create their UFO army due to capturation of the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia...
also few ideas are way too SF.
Exoskeleton?With nazis?
also new swabia?sounds wierd.
My recomandations are to try firstly create an normal mod then start TCs.

[OmegaBolt]

@ Secret - This isn't a TC afaik, it *just* adds a new side.

And yeah... hopefully the mod won't be a history lesson. If you want it to fit with the other sides then make it a bit crazy, don't use uber real names but more generalised ones. Also, as said, try not to add units which just supercede others and make them irrelevant.

If done right I can imagine this being a pretty cool mod. Just don't stick to fact so much, and loosen up with the Ra2 feel.

[Millennium]

Armory:
Bunker - Cost: 500. Normal defense building, similar to allied pillbox. Armed with a machine gun. Can be upgraded to use an anti-tank gun or flak gun in order to turn it into an anti-armor or anti-air defense. Upgraded modes use power and will shut down during a power shortage.

Yeah you really need to code this before posting (especially since you asked readers to read it fully) as if you don't code it/test it, people who have tried this coding will come along and no offence intended but make you look stupid.

The above statement will not work unless the bunker is actually a powered building e.g. mg goes offline too as Powered=yes/true or whatever on base defence upgrades does nto work which is easy to notice in TS.

Admitted, mistake on my part - I simply copied the GACTWR code from TS's rules.ini into RA2 and appended the necessary extra statements (BuildCat=Combat, UIName=Name:BUNK, etc.) at the bottom, but I didn't test it properly.

also another thing:the nazis never managed to create their UFO army due to capturation of the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia...

Huh ??? You mean... something like this was really attempted during WW2? I've read about it in a German magazine on conspiracy theories and science fiction, but I didn't take it seriously...

also few ideas are way too SF.
Exoskeleton?With nazis?

Hmmm, since the bulk of nazi units are from the 1930's / 1940's, why not let them have a little fun with some more advanced concepts? Since RA2 takes place in the 70's / 80's, there should be some nazi tech to match stuff like Tesla Troopers and Chrono Legionnaires, so I thought it would be good to let them have this walking tank right from their barracks.

also new swabia?sounds wierd.

Indeed, this is one of the few things that about alleged secret nazi operations to hide at least some truth. You can look it up on wikipedia, if you like.

And yeah... hopefully the mod won't be a history lesson. If you want it to fit with the other sides then make it a bit crazy, don't use uber real names but more generalised ones. If done right I can imagine this being a pretty cool mod. Just don't stick to fact so much, and loosen up with the Ra2 feel.

Taken to heart!

Renaming...
Trooper - Can do it anymore basic...
Exoskeleton - Assault Armor (this refers to TS and also, "assault" in german means "sturm", which was used alot during WW2 - like, you know, sturmgewehr, which means "assault rifle")
Flame-eater - sounds ok to me

Panther - Can stick with its name since Rhino and Grizzly aren't any less Animal Kingdom...
Tiger Tank - same here. Says Tiger Tank on the cameo, string will read "Tiger Heavy Tank"
Maus - This even more so, since calling such a behemoth "mouse" gives it a nice touch...
Hummel -> Howitzer
Wirbelwind -> Tornado
Elephant -> Anti-Tank Gun (not tank destroyer, I want to keep them with different names)
Wurfrahmen -> Rocket Launcher (maybe removed anyways)

U-Boat - no change here
Bizmarck - sounds to good to remove...
Zeppelin - same here, though "Battleairship" sounds kewl to...
StuKa - ...and again...
Bomber - Already a very general name
Interceptor - Already a very general name
Messerschmitt - Patrol Fighter

Bridge Layer, Repair Vehicle - use very generalized names...

PaK Upgrade -> Anti-tank gun Upgrade

Also, I little note on the former Wurfrahmen rocket artillery - although classified as rocket artillery, this is basically just a rocket tank - its not like it showers you with rockets from 11 cells away. It's more like a rocket launcher mounted on a lightly-armored vehicle, and its range is only slightly larger than that of common tank guns.

Also, as said, try not to add units which just supercede others and make them irrelevant.

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure I've rounded up every redundant unit in the game - the King Tiger's removed, the Panzer IV's done for and I took out the Cyborgs. Perhaps you mean the Hummel Artillery and Wurfrahmen Rocket Artillery? And also maybe I shuld also make the Maus a hero unit rather than a regular heavy tank.

EDIT
Wirbelwind is now called "Tempest", Elephant is called Elephant again.
/EDIT

Edited by Millennium, 21 February 2008 - 02:29 PM.

[some_weirdGuy]

Don't call elephant anti-tank gun!, Elephant is a way better name(and its a general type of name, i mean, unless its called HI754 Nazi Anti-Tank-Tank, or something with a code number thing, then its already pretty general...

[raminator]

screenshots! screenshotS! screenshoTS! screenshOTS! screensHOTS! screenSHOTS! screeNSHOTS! screENSHOTS! scrEENSHOTS! scREENSHOTS! sCREENSHOTS! SCREENSHOTS!
say more than a thousand words

[Millennium]

Ok, so here are some pics from what will be in the game. I admitt, I have a hard time with screenshots, because each time I do a screenshot, the game freezes for 5 min, and it crashed twice. Must be some issue with my VRAM or something, but dunno... Before I consider my units worthy of presentation, I will try not to go through this pain, and instead present you these cameos:



They do not yet have a name on it (there was another Tiger cameo with name, but it was worse...) and I won't put names on them until I'm entirely sure what to call them. I personally think the Elephant cameo is the best, followed by Tempest (although it lacks a proper background), and finally the Tiger. You can't even see the Tiger's barrel, because on the original picture, it pointed towards the viewer, but this didn't work out well with the smaller size of the cameo. All of these have been created by me from pictures found on google.

(Also, if you would like to use the Elephant, please do so - credit me )

EDIT
A new cameo preview - some are quite good, others are... weellll... not so good:


First row: Elephant, Howitzer, Tempest (I guess there will never be a good cameo for the Tempest...)
Second row: Rocket Launcher, Panther, Rheintocher (the latter being unused, therefore this really crappy cameo will not be in the game...)
Third row: Flame Track, Maus, Panzer IV (unused)
Fourth row: Patrol Fighter, StuKa, Interceptor
Fifth row: Bomber, Trooper, a secondary, more morbid cameo for the Trooper showing a skeleton clad in Wehrmacht uniform - may be used for superweapon.
Sixth row: Panzerfaust Trooper, Exoskeleton (very bad cameo), Skystormer

Missing: Tiger Heavy Tank, U-Boat, Bizmarck, Zeppelin and potential Bridge Layer and Repair Track vehicles.
The Tempest and Exoskeleton are so bad they can be considered missing as well...

The infantry cameos at least need a LOT of work to be done to.

Some more changes: The Howitzer is called Artillery again. The exoskeleton is removed. The Flame-eater is now called "Skystormer" and works as airborne stormtrooper and engineer, combining the former Flame-eater, Stormtrooper and Exoskeleton in one unit. Great for taking enemy bases with a swift airborne engineer rush, but needs to land to fight / perform engineer functions (like the JJ from TS).
/EDIT

Edited by Millennium, 22 February 2008 - 06:29 PM.