Overall I'm pleased with this release, although a lot of that is to do with the huge amount of C&C3 staples that have been removed.
GDI have lost all Railgun tech & Nod have had all stealth & laser tech removed (Including the Beam cannon, Obelisk and their Commando!).
Despite this, there are still a number of things that annoy me especially on the 'Soviet' side, and it's mostly to do with Nod buildings (the power plant & the Construction yard). The Saboteur gets on my nerves, has does the MCV. I guess that GDI building styles are not that far removed from the Allied style, unlike Nod compared to the Soviets.
Lets have a look at the 'History' units has well has important C&C3 support.
Allies
Rocket Squad
Very useful anti-tank & anti-air units & cheap has well! There's rarely an excuse not to build these.Light Tank MKII
The faster less armoured option, while the Pitbull offers similar speed and the ability to hit air units with it's rockets, it can not run units over, the Light tank can and it's speed is certainly no hindrance when it comes this. When it comes to MBT battles, the Light tank can reverse move faster than the Rhino tank can move forwards, ie there is nothing the Soviet tanks can do to prevent a group of Light tanks retreating, consider these points when choosing your MBT.
Medium Tank
A very good all round tank with no obvious negative points.Pill Box
Essential anti-infantry defence. Not too shabby vs Light vehicles either!Artillery
Long range anti-structure unit, useful breaking open Soviet defences. Takes time to deploy and un-deploy, and is very weakly armoured. Remember that, for now, the Soviets do not have a artillery unit of there own.
Longbow
Very powerful anti-armour unit. This is the unit that nullifies the Soviets clear armoured advantage. The only effective counter that the Soviets have is the Mig.
Tanya
The Allies marquee unit and then some! With careful use, Tanya is a game winning unit, but you have to be clever, keep her out of enemy sight for has long has possible, use the Temporal belt to quickly get to a target, or to quickly retreat, provide diversions for her where possible. She'll destroy any ground unit from close range with minimum fuss, just avoid those Hinds!
GDI
Pitbull = Essential for dealing with the Kirovs and still very useful for harassing enemy harvesters.
APC = Still very useful in combination with an engineer. A powerful anti-infantry unit, and very useful for getting Tanya close to an enemies base without them getting an 'Enemy Commando detected' EVA warning.
Soviets
Rifle squads
Essential scouts and useful against Rocket squads in large numbers.Grenadier squads
Useful for clearing garrisons, too expensive for general use, plus their habit of missing moving targets can be irritating.Rhino Tank MkII
The Soviet MBT, a very hard hitting tank!Barracks
You'll probably need one of these!War Factory
You'll probably need one of these too!Soviet bunker
A powerful structure to protect your troops. Immune to garrison clearing weapons.Hind
Very powerful anti-infantry helicopter. Can be upgraded with rocket pods, to increase anti-building effectiveness.Mammoth Tank
Immense anti-everything super tank. The Longbow is the only effective allied counter.Mig
Effective against all targets except infantry. It's speed matched with it's attack power, means that it is a near essential purchase for the Soviets. It's the only unit that the Soviets have that can harass enemy harvester speedily. The Mig is a hard counter for the deadly allied Longbow.
Kirov
Nothing terrifies an opponent more than seeing a massive fleet of these blimps heading for their base! Extremely difficult to take down.
Nod
Buggy = Essential anti-infantry and speedy anti-air ability. The fastest ground vehicle for the Soviets by some margin.
Rocket squad = The nature of C&C3 makes these units very cost effective, useful has all round support, essential if you plan on building bunkers to protect your base.
Crates
There are a few additional crate surprises has well has a more traditional model for the crates. This is in addition to the standard C&C3 crate surprises.
Armour: Reduces damage by 75%, you can stack up to 3 of these (Reduce damage by up to 40%)
Fire power: Increase attack power by 140%, you can stack up to 3 of these (up to 220% damage)
Speed: Increase speed by 135%, you can stack up to 3 of these (Up to 205% Speed)
Explosives: A massive explosion damages anything caught in its blast. (You don't want to collect these!)
Any of the crate that provides a 'Buff' to a unit has an associated EVA announcement. Remember that crate effects units within an area, so if your feeling greedy, get a group of units to grab a crate. Be warned that the Skirmish AI will often assign a unit to grab any nearby crates! you don't want to bump into a heroic Mammoth that hasn't had to fire a shot in anger (like I did!).
AI
Speaking of the Skirmish AI, I have made a greater effort to get the AI to use the new units, I've done has much has I could without touching the actual skirmish code. The AI will use nearly all the new units, upgrades and abilities (with the exception that the Allies rarely bother to build the Light tank), so be warned that the AI will use Tanya's speed buff before they attack a building, they will use a heroic Longbows 'chronoshift' ability, Groups of Mammoth tanks will flank your base, Kirovs will attack in mass, etc.
So take a few minutes to give the mod a try and leave some feedback, there will almost definitely be at least one more release.
Download from here: http://www.moddb.com...story-release-2
Edited by Madin, 04 December 2010 - 01:41 AM.
