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C&C Tiberian history: Hints & Tips #47

component tower tiberian sun gdi

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#1 Madin

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Posted 11 June 2014 - 10:19 PM

Name: Component Tower
Side: GDI
ERA: Tiberian Sun
Base Asset: Tiberian aftermath

 

GDIComponent_Info01.jpg

 

The Component Tower defences are a new set of defences that completely replaces all of GDI's C&C3 lower tier base defences.

This means replacements for the Watchtower, Guardian turret and AA battery. So the best place to start is by doing an individual like-for-like breakdown, before going onto further considerations.

However there is one consideration that it is best to address now: all of the Component base defences have the same amount of health (this is equivalent to the Guardian turrets health).

This is being mentioned now because it is very relevant for the individual breakdowns.

 

Vulcan

 

GDIComponent_Vulcan_01.jpg

 

First off, despite its looks, the Vulcan does exactly the same damage as the Watchtower that it replaces (it is the Watchtower weapon). 

 

GDIComp_Vulcan_FIR_01.jpg

"I feel bad for them!"

 

However the big change here is the extra health that the Vulcan has in comparison to the Watchtower due the Component towers health being standardised at the Guardian turrets level.

 

This simply means that it can take a few more hits before it goes down, which in turn means that it can get some extra kills.

Does this mean that there is even less reason to build the tier 1 anti-vehicle defence? (the Guardian turret was so useless in its anti-vehicle role that many preferred to use the cost that would have gone to the turret to purchase a couple of Watchtowers instead) this obviously depends on the effectiveness of the Guardian turret replacement so let's discuss that next.

 

RPG

 

GDIComponent_RPG_01.jpg

 

The RPG is obviously a better anti-tank defence than the Guardian turret, there would be no point recreating something has useless has the Guardian turret in C&C3 and EALA basically acknowledged that it was useless by greatly increasing its rate-of-fire for Kane's Wrath.

 

GDIComp_RPG_FIR_01.jpg

Great against low tier tanks!

 

The RPG has this increased rate-of-fire, but an even more interesting improvement is the fact that the RPG can fire over (through) buildings, just like the Vulcan can.

This removes a lot of the issues that the line-of-sight Guardian tower had. Placement is no longer an issue (the line-of-sight defences require getting placed in the open or at the perimeter, or it becomes too easy to avoid damage by manoeuvring around buildings). It also means that you can use the same tactics that are used to provide cover for defences that fire over (through) buildings, namely building a cheap structure (typically a power plant) and placing the base defence behind it so that the enemy vehicles have to destroy the structure before they can get to the base defence.

 

Despite this positive, there is still the issue that the Guardian turret also suffered from, and that is that it is only anti-vehicle, it is rubbish against infantry. And in a game were infantry (specifically rocket type squads) often get used in base assaults, there might still be the tendency to build a couple of Vulcan towers vs a single RPG tower. After all the Vulcan is not great vs vehicles, but at least it does not miss them like the RPG does vs infantry.

 

GDIComponent_FIR_01.jpg

Needs back up against attack groups mixed with infantry

 

Against mainly light vehicles or light vehicle infantry mixes, I would go with a couple of Vulcans vs an RPG tower.

Against mainly tanks, definitely the RPG tower (preferably behind power plants or barracks to shield the defence), get a couple up and they will get noticed at least vs a small tank group.

 

SAM

 

GDIComponent_SAM_01.jpg

 

This is the biggest difference by far obviously as it is the only complete weapon type change in terms of the replacement defences so far.

 

For me the old GDI AA battery was rubbish, a truly laughable defence that allowed skilled pilots to plan for their aircraft to take a certain amount of damage before they pulled their aircraft out of harms way.

 

The SAM however is a big improvement. It should be stated now that the actual weapon is exactly the same as the Nod SAM, so if you have experienced that, then you know what to expect.

It is a lot better at dealing with the lower level Orca\Apache harassment. It takes only 2 missile to take these craft down and combined with the fact that the missile will 'chase' an aircraft that attempts to escape (provided the missile was launched while the aircraft was still in range) it is a lot harder for pilots to deal with this vs the AA battery.

 

GDIComp_SAM_FIR_02.jpg

"One down, one to go!"

 

There is a rather large negative however. At the introduction the standardised health was mention and the potential impact it would have on some of the like-for-like replacements. Well for the SAM, having the Guardian turrets health level means that it is much weaker in terms of the damage it can take.

So although the weapon is stronger, certain aircraft, if they have the right weapon type, might consider taking the SAM on with a view to destroying it. This is something which was not often done (unless you had mass aircraft) to C&C3 AA defences because of how much health they have.

In particular it is a real issue that it now only takes 2 Vertigos to destroy a SAM!

 

However it is considered that there are enough positives to allow this large negative to continue, we will discuss this in the next section.

 

Overall

Apart from the health, the other thing that is standardised is the power drain. This is also set at the Guardian turrets level, this is not great news, because the Guardian turret used the most power out of all the lower tier GDI base defences in C&C3.

However it is unlikely that power would be an issue due to these low level defences, so it does not really matter.

 

So I have gone on and on mentioning Component this and Component that, without much of a plug-n-play high customisation that you would expect from TS era GDI, well here it comes!

 

While you can purchase each defence separately (this simplifies things for the AI) once you have made your base purchase, at any point you can buy one of the other 2 defensive types for your tower! (be warned that it cost the same to upgrade as it would for purchasing the individual tower of whatever weapon type you are upgrading too).

So for example if you purchase a Vulcan and you see some Storm riders heading to your base, you can click on the Vulcan, find the SAM upgrade button and press it to upgrade your Vulcan to a SAM site!

There is no limit to how many times you can swap either.

 

This obviously means that your static base defences are a lot more flexible as you never have to have the 'wrong' type of base defence for any situation!

 

GDIComponent_Upg_01.jpg

Some Black hand squads are spotted, so a RPG tower is being upgraded to provide extra stopping power

 

GDIComponent_Upg_02.jpg

The extra Vulcan means that the Black hand squads are more easily dealt with!

 

 

There are some downsides to this.

The most important thing is that you do not get any refund for the weapon you are swapping out. Swapping your RPG for a Vulcan? that's $1200 spent on the RPG and an extra $600 for the Vulcan. And if you decide to sell the Component defence? you only get half the price of the original Component purchase, it does not account for what you spent on upgrades!

 

Also there are issues to do with target priority on upgraded defences. For example if you initially purchased a Vulcan Component tower and then you upgrade it to a RPG tower, the defence will still try and prioritise infantry as if it was a Vulcan defence (and the opposite if going from RPG component to Vulcan upgrade). This is something you will have to deal with.

 

The benefit is that you can switch a high number of defences in a short period of time to deal with a massed threat. For example if you had 5 Component towers with various weapons and you saw that a mass of Storm riders were coming your way, you could switch all of your Component towers to SAMs until the threat had passed. Or all to RPGs if mass tanks were spotted, Vulcans for mass infantry etc,

 

 

Some Stats:

SAM
Hit points: 4,000.
Weapon strength: 1125.
Weapon Clip size: 5
Weapon range: 450
Weapon splash damage radius: 10.

RPG
Hit points: 4,000. (Same has Guardian Turret)
Weapon strength: 500. (Guardian Turret = 350)
Weapon Clip size: 1. (Same has Guardian Turret)
Weapon range: 350. (Same has Guardian Turret)
Clip Reload Time: 1.25s.
(Guardian Turret = 2.3s)

Notes: Can fire over buildings!

 

I am sure that you can imagine the potential, if not check out the video below, for a very basic demonstration.

 

Defend GDI bases!

 

 

Release 6 update!

  • Vulcan damage radius increased to 5 (was 3).
  • SAM cost reduced to 700 (was 800) experience points scaled to match. The SAM's health is a lot lower than other sides static AA, so the price is being lowered to reflect that.

Release 7 update!

  • Reduced cost of SAM and SAM upgrade to $600 (was $700).
  • RPG warhead damage increased to 400 (was 350).

 

Release 8 update!

  • RPG warhead damage increased to 500 (was 400). The previous increase was not enough.
  • RPG reload is now 1.25s (was 1s). Higher damage, but longer reload time.

 


Edited by Madin, 12 May 2017 - 10:17 PM.


#2 Phil

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Posted 11 June 2014 - 10:52 PM

Looking good, but for some reason I have always preferred the Tiberian Dawn composition of GDI defences with Guard Tower and Advanced Guard Tower. But again, really nice re-implementation of TS component towers.


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#3 Madin

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Posted 12 June 2014 - 04:20 AM

Looking good, but for some reason I have always preferred the Tiberian Dawn composition of GDI defences with Guard Tower and Advanced Guard Tower. But again, really nice re-implementation of TS component towers.

 

I will be getting to the Advanced guard tower eventually!






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