Contingency - A Warzone 2100 Expansion Pack Mod (Preview)

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Note that I haven't yet decided on what to call this expansion pack, so any suggestions?

Edit: I've decided to name this mod "Contingency".

Note that this thread is a continuation of this other thread.

What initially started from a need to balance out Warzone 2100's existing metagame quickly turned into an initiative of mine to produce a more balanced mod that's designed to address many of the issues that plague the current metagame, mostly with problems with tech progression and weapon-line weaknesses. However, the modifications planned for this project seemed to keep on growing until, not long after, the project started to become something much more broad in scope than what you'd find within a simple mod. With me realizing how much different this mod would be compared to the original Warzone 2100, and with me wanting to remain reasonably close and faithful to the original, I've decided to repurpose this mod into something more akin to an expansion pack.

What I have planned for this mod is to basically provide players with a more fun, balanced, streamlined, and fast-paced experience than what is typically found within the "vanilla" Warzone 2100 experience. As such, I've decided to balance out tech-tree progression, switching to a more exponential upgrade system (so that each new upgrade would have as much of a proportional impact over the previous upgrade as what impact the previous upgrade had proportionally over the one that came before it...), adjusting variables for the various weapons, bodies, etc. (mostly to accommodate the new tech tree and upgrade system), and even adding in several new weapons, some of which are designed to help deal with certain threats that various weapon lines, such as machineguns or cannons, are traditionally weak against (such as anti-vehicle gattling guns for the machinegun line, or anti-personnel flak cannons for the cannons line), especially for low-oil maps, and others to help promote more weapon line diversity (such as Incendiary Cannons, cannons that shoot out jet-propelled shells, or railgun howitzers), especially for higher-oil and team-based matches.

I'm currently working on a rough draft for a new tech tree for this mod, so stay tuned.

[Reg312]

with my low level english it is hard to read all your texts

some notes:
1) for what version of WZ you going make your mod?
if it is 3.1 then you should expect some changes in future
some stat files can be turned into ini-format and etc.
1) vtols on ground takes triple damage (not sure is it exactly)
2) assault gun in version beta 2 enough strong to kill vtols
3) bunker is structure with weapon inside, if you place heavy cannon on bunker roof it is make no sense
4) how you going balance research and stats? some situaitions cannot be prognosed
5) how you going balance low oil games and high oil games?
common situation in WZ when weapon good in low-oil and bad in high-oil

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

1) for what version of WZ you going make your mod? if it is 3.1 then you should expect some changes in future
some stat files can be turned into ini-format and etc.

I'll start by modding version 2.3.9. Eventually, I hope to adapt this for version 3.1.

1) vtols on ground takes triple damage (not sure is it exactly)

Really? I always thought that they took as much damage while on the ground as they did while in the air.

2) assault gun in version beta 2 enough strong to kill vtols

Sadly, I haven't tested out version 3.1 beta 2 yet, so I don't know what's different.

3) bunker is structure with weapon inside, if you place heavy cannon on bunker roof it is make no sense

There are 2 different .pie models for bunkers that I'm aware of: one for the Machineguns, and the other for the cannons and flamers.

4) how you going balance research and stats? some situaitions cannot be prognosed

It's going to take me a while, that's for sure.

5) how you going balance low oil games and high oil games?
common situation in WZ when weapon good in low-oil and bad in high-oil

I already said that I was planning on adding new weapons.

Some of these new weapons would be designed to be effective against threats that the weapon line is traditionally weak against (such as cannons being poor against Cyborgs, and machineguns being poor against Half-Tracks and Tracks), which would allow players, especially on low-oil maps, to be able to research a viable counter to these kinds of threats within a short amount of time.

Some of the other new weapons would require research from 2 or more lines (such as cannons + machineguns, or cannons + rockets, or howitzers + railguns), but would be very powerful, thus encouraging players on high-oil or team-based matches to work together to research more than 1 weapon line at a time, so that they would be able to use these powerful weapons.

with my low level english it is hard to read all your texts

Ah well. No worries. I believe that I understood you well enough at least.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

While I haven't quite yet finished my rough draft on what the technology tree would look like, I did work on a rough draft for what the bodies, propulsion systems, some of the buildings, and some of the turrets, MIGHT be like. Throughout this project of mine, I'll be open to suggestions from you guys, so any feedback would be much appreciated.

1st of all, I'd like to adopt an exponential upgrade system where, for every 9 upgrades that are researched, whatever's being upgraded would be 4 times as powerful as it was before. For example, let's take a weapon that deals a base damage of 30 per shot. If we research 9 damage upgrades for that weapon's class, then the weapon would instead deal 120 damage per shot.

The exceptions to this upgrade policy would be for upgrades to power generation rates, research speeds, factory production speeds, and construction speeds. I initially thought about scaling every new tier of vehicle bodies and defenses so that the T4 bodies and defenses would be 4 times as powerful on almost every field (and 4 times as expensive) as their T1 counterparts. However, upon further examination, I realized that scaling them that high might be a bad idea, so I later decided to tone it down to being only twice as powerful (and only twice as expensive) after receiving 9 upgrades.

Also, while preparing this rough draft, I nearly doubled the price of alot of things, as well as set the rates at which units are produced from a basic factory, structures are built with a basic truck, and research items are researched in a basic research lab, to roughly $10 per second. I also proposed setting the rate at which power was collected at $8 per derrick, so that every 5 derricks could keep any combination of up to 4 basic factories, research labs, and trucks fully operational (meaning that the rate that these 4 factories/trucks/research labs spend power would match the rate at which 5 oil derricks provide power through basic unupgraded Power Generators). With this system in place, it would normally take a truck 10 seconds to build a $100 building, or a basic factory 8 seconds to produce a $80 vehicle.

However, I'd probably want to set starting power from $1300 to $2500 so that certain build strategies, like RFFRC, could still be made viable, especially with how I've increased the prices of many things. However, if adjusting starting power is impossible, then I may have to scale down prices, as well as build points, in order to compensate.

Edit: These values will probably not be used anymore.

Bodies:

Viper: $50, 50 HP, 1000 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 10 Kinetic Armor, 6 Thermal Armor
Cobra: $100, 100 HP, 2000 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 15 Kinetic Armor, 9 Thermal Armor
Python: $150, 150 HP, 4000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 20 Kinetic Armor, 12 Thermal Armor

Bug: $45, 45 HP, 750 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 6 Kinetic Armor, 10 Thermal Armor
Scorpion: $90, 90 HP, 1500 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 9 Kinetic Armor, 15 Thermal Armor
Mantis: $135, 135 HP, 3000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 12 Kinetic Armor, 20 Thermal Armor

Leopard: $63, 63 HP, 1000 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 11 Kinetic Armor, 9 Thermal Armor
Panther: $126, 126 HP, 2000 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 17 Kinetic Armor, 13 Thermal Armor
Tiger: $189, 189 HP, 4000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 23 Kinetic Armor, 18 Thermal Armor

Falcon: $57, 57 HP, 750 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 9 Kinetic Armor, 11 Thermal Armor
Warhawk: $113, 113 HP, 1500 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 13 Kinetic Armor, 17 Thermal Armor
Eagle: $170, 170 HP, 3000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 18 Kinetic Armor, 23 Thermal Armor

Gladius: $79, 79 HP, 1000 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 13 Kinetic Armor, 13 Thermal Armor
Longsword: $159, 159 HP, 2000 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 19 Kinetic Armor, 19 Thermal Armor
Claymore: $238, 238 HP, 4000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 25 Kinetic Armor, 25 Thermal Armor

Retaliation: $71, 71 HP, 750 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 13 Kinetic Armor, 13 Thermal Armor
Retribution: $143, 143 HP, 1500 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 19 Kinetic Armor, 19 Thermal Armor
Vengeance: $214, 214 HP, 3000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 25 Kinetic Armor, 25 Thermal Armor

Wyrm: $100, 100 HP, 1000 Weight, 2500 Engine Power, 16 Kinetic Armor, 16 Thermal Armor
Salamander: $200, 200 HP, 2000 Weight, 5000 Engine Power, 24 Kinetic Armor, 24 Thermal Armor
Wyvern: $300, 300 HP, 4000 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 32 Kinetic Armor, 32 Thermal Armor
Dragon: $400, 400 HP, 8000 Weight, 20000 Engine Power, 40 Kinetic Armor, 40 Thermal Armor

Cyborg Mk1: $25, 25 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 4 Kinetic Armor, 4 Thermal Armor
Cyborg Mk2: $31, 31 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 5 Kinetic Armor, 5 Thermal Armor
Cyborg Mk3: $40, 40 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 6 Kinetic Armor, 6 Thermal Armor
Cyborg Mk4: $50, 50 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 8 Kinetic Armor, 8 Thermal Armor

Super Cyborg Mk1: $50, 50 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 8 Kinetic Armor, 8 Thermal Armor
Super Cyborg Mk2: $63, 63 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 10 Kinetic Armor, 10 Thermal Armor
Super Cyborg Mk3: $79, 79 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 13 Kinetic Armor, 13 Thermal Armor
Super Cyborg Mk4: $100, 100 HP, 0 Weight, 10000 Engine Power, 16 Kinetic Armor, 16 Thermal Armor

Cyborg Transport Mk1: $150, 150 HP, 0 Weight, 1000 Engine Power, 16 Kinetic Armor, 16 Thermal Armor
Cyborg Transport Mk2: $189, 189 HP, 0 Weight, 1000 Engine Power, 20 Kinetic Armor, 20 Thermal Armor
Cyborg Transport Mk3: $238, 238 HP, 0 Weight, 1000 Engine Power, 25 Kinetic Armor, 25 Thermal Armor
Cyborg Transport Mk4: $300, 300 HP, 0 Weight, 1000 Engine Power, 32 Kinetic Armor, 32 Thermal Armor

I decided to expand on the dragons line to include light and medium bodies, naming the light body after the Wyrm, a mythical dragonoid that doesn't have any limbs or wings, and naming the medium body after the Salamander, a real-life creature that, in myth, was often thought to be an elemental creature borne of fire.

I also decided to add 2 new lines of vehicles, the bird-of-prey line (Falcon, Warhawk, and Eagle), and the sword line (Gladius, Longsword, Claymore). The bird-of-prey line was designed to be a T2 version of the New Paradigm's insect line of vehicles (akin to how the Collective's cat line of vehicles was more like the T2 version of the Project's snake line of vehicles), while NEXUS's revenge line of vehicles was repurposed into a T3 version of the insect line. The sword line, on the other hand, was designed as a T3 version of the snake and cat lines, while the expanded drake line was repurposed as more of a special line that would come as a reward for players/teams that manage to invest their research into upgrading not only unit HP and Engine Power, but Kinetic and Thermal Armor as well.

You may have also noticed that I expanded the number of versions of Cyborgs, Super Cyborgs, and Cyborg Transports each from 1 to 4. I'd personally like for these to be made upgradeable much like with the new tiers of vehicle bodies, so I decided that I'd create new bodies for them to be applied to different tiers of weapons. For example, the T1 Cyborgs and Super Cyborgs would be reserved for T1 weapons, the T2 borgs for T2 weapons, the T3 borgs for T3 weapons, and finally, the T4 borgs would be reserved for a number of special T3 weapons that would require research from 2 or more lines at a time. As for the Cyborg Transports, I decided to make the T2 version available upon researching Turbo Charged Engine Mk3, the T3 version available upon researching Gas Turbine Engine Mk3, and the T4 version available upon researching the Wyvern body.

If you're wondering about why the bodies weigh as much as they do, and have as much engine powers as they do, it's because I'm wanting to change the propulsion modifiers to something like this:

Propulsion:

Wheels: Max Speed: 192, +50% Power, +100% HP, +100% Weight
Half-Tracks: Max Speed: 160, +75% Power, +150% HP, +50% Weight
Tracks: Max Speed: 128, +100% Power, +200% HP, +0% Weight
Hover: Max Speed: 256, +100% Power, +75% HP, +300% Weight
VTOL: Max Speed: 700, +150% Power, +50% HP, +100% Weight

Cyborg: Max Speed: 160, +0% Power, +0% HP, +0% Weight
Super Cyborg: Max Speed: 128, +0% Power, +0% HP, +0% Weight
Cyborg Transport: Max Speed: 700, +150% Power, +50% HP, +200% Weight

I wanted to make the Wheeled, Half-Tracked, and Tracked propulsions a little more useful (Wheels especially), even when more advanced propulsions, like Hover and VTOL, are available. To this end, I decided to reduce the amount of weight added to the Half-Tracked and Tracked propulsions so that they could afford to carry more weight without being slowed down in the process. (Real-life half-tracked and tracked vehicles are capable of hauling heavier weights than wheeled vehicles without slowing down due to how the treads provide them with lower ground pressure than wheels.) However, for these same reasons, I decided to increase the weight of Hovers so that players that try to use them would need to be conservative as to how heavy their turret should be. (This becomes less and less of an issue as more engine upgrades are researched though.) I also decided to increase the speeds of Wheeled and Half-Tracked units significantly, though I also nerfed Hover speeds, as well as reduced Half-Tracks' and Tracks' HP.

Other than changes in HP and Weight, VTOLs were otherwise left relatively unchanged for now.

Structures:

Command Center: $150, 750 HP, 10 Kinetic & Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor
Power Generator: $100, 600 HP, 10 Kinetic & Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, provides 8 power per second for every derrick
Power Module: $100, provides an additional 4 power per second for every derrick
Oil Derrick: $50, 300 HP, 10 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor
Research Facility: $200, 600 HP, 10 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, researches at a rate of $10 per second
Research Module: $100, researches at an additional rate of $5 per second
Factory: $200, 750 HP, 10 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, produces vehicles at a rate of $10 per second
Factory Module: $200, produces units at an additional rate of $10 per second, per module
Cyborg Factory: $150, 600 HP, 10 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, produces Cyborgs at a rate of $10 per second
VTOL Factory: $200, 750 HP, 10 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, produces VTOLs at a rate of $10 per second

Repair Facility Mk1: $250, 600 HP, 12 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, repairs units at a rate of 50 HP per second
Repair Facility Mk2: $315, 756 HP, 15 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, repairs units at a rate of 63 HP per second
Repair Facility Mk3: $397, 952 HP, 19 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, repairs units at a rate of 79 HP per second
Repair Facility Mk4: $500, 1200 HP, 24 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor, repairs units at a rate of 100 HP per second

As you can see, I'm thinking about reducing the price of HQs to about 75% the price of factories, given how less vital they seem to be overall compared to factories, research facilities, and power generators in general (which have the advantage of not being as limited in how many can a player build as HQs are). Likewise, I'm thinking about making the Cyborg Factories less expensive than regular factories since players have far fewer choices as to what to build from Cyborg Factories. While I still feel as if the factories still have a little too much HP to be fair, I'm willing to overlook this, as I doubt that factory modules could add additional HP to the factories.

I'm also thinking about creating different versions of Repair Facilities to better account for the different tiers of bodies. Just as I'm planning on setting Wyvern bodies' base HP to be twice that of Python bodies' HP, so too am I planning on setting the Repair Facility Mk4's repair speeds to twice that of the Repair Facility Mk1's repair speeds.

Structure Bodies:

Steel Tower: $75, 200 HP, 8 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, MEDIUM Armor

Hardcrete Emplacement/Tower: $150, 400 HP, 12 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor
Supercrete Emplacement/Tower: $189, 504 HP, 15 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor
Plascrete Emplacement/Tower: $238, 635 HP, 19 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor
Plasteel Emplacement/Tower: $300, 800 HP, 24 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor

Hardcrete Hardpoint: $225, 600 HP, 16 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor
Supercrete Hardpoint: $283, 756 HP, 20 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor
Plascrete Hardpoint: $357, 952 HP, 25 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor
Plasteel Hardpoint: $450, 1200 HP, 32 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, HARD Armor

Hardcrete Bunker: $225, 600 HP, 20 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, BUNKER Armor
Supercrete Bunker: $283, 756 HP, 25 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, BUNKER Armor
Plascrete Bunker: $357, 952 HP, 32 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, BUNKER Armor
Plasteel Bunker: $450, 1200 HP, 40 Kinetic and Thermal Armor, BUNKER Armor

Again, just like with the Repair Facilities, I'd like to provide players with different tiers of defenses to go along with the different tiers of vehicle bodies.

Systems:

Truck: $50, 100 HP, 500 Weight, builds structures at a rate of $10 per second

Heavy Truck: $200, 300 HP, 10000 Weight, builds structures at a rate of $50 per second

Mobile Repair Turret Mk1: $25, 50 HP, 500 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 10 HP per second
Mobile Repair Turret Mk2: $32, 63 HP, 500 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 20 HP per second
Mobile Repair Turret Mk3: $40, 79 HP, 500 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 40 HP per second
Mobile Repair Turret Mk4: $50, 100 HP, 500 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 80 HP per second

Heavy Repair Turret Mk1: $100, 150 HP, 10000 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 50 HP per second
Heavy Repair Turret Mk2: $126, 189 HP, 10000 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 100 HP per second
Heavy Repair Turret Mk3: $159, 238 HP, 10000 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 200 HP per second
Heavy Repair Turret Mk4: $200, 300 HP, 10000 Weight, repairs units at a rate of 400 HP per second

Again, I wanted to add multiple versions of Mobile Repair Turrets to go along with the different tiers of vehicles, though since no support currently seems to exist for upgrading Mobile Repair Turrets (along with Heavy Repair Turrets and Cyborg Mechanics, but NOT Repair Facilities), I had no choice but to to manually augment their repair capabilities even further than usual, so that they could keep up with the pace of technological advancement.



What are your thoughts on this? Should any of this be changed? Feedback would be much appreciated.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

I've come up with a few ideas for this expansion pack's name, such as:

Armageddon
Contingency
Fallout
Black Dawn

However, I haven't yet decided on a final name (which might not even be any of these names). Any ideas?

Anyways, I'll now discuss what I'm planning for what the weapons would be like for this mod, starting with what I have planned for the different weapon types (modifiers):

Anti-personnel weapons would be most effective against Cyborgs, and would be somewhat effective against Wheeled and Hover vehicles, and VTOLs, but would be ineffective against Half-Tracks, Tracks, Medium and Hard structures, and do almost no damage to Bunkers. While many machineguns, and some lasers, would still fall within this weapon type, most of the artillery weapons, including Mortars and Howitzers, MRAs and Seraphs, and some Bombs, would be moved here as well (since I'm repurposing the artillery weapon type for a new set of weapons), along with some brand new weapons, including a cannon and a couple railguns.

All-rounder weapons would be most effective against Wheeled, Hover, Half-Tracked, and VTOL units, along with Medium Structures, and would be somewhat effective against Tracked vehicles, Cyborgs, and Hard Structures, but would be ineffective against Bunkers. Many cannons would still fall into this weapon type, though some rockets and machineguns would fall in here as well. One of the more well-balanced of the damage types.

Anti-tank weapons would be most effective against Half-Tracked and Tracked units, and Hard Structures, and would be somewhat effective against Wheeled, Hover, and VTOL units, Medium Structures and Bunkers, but would be ineffective against Cyborgs. While Lancers, Tank Killers, and Scourge Missiles would still fall into this weapon type, many railguns and cannons, some lasers, and Archangel Missiles would fall in here as well. Another well-balanced damage type.

Armor-piercing weapons would be most effective against Bunkers, and would be somewhat effective against Hard Structures and Tracked units, but would be ineffective against Wheeled, Hover, or VTOL units, and Medium Structures, and do next-to-little damage to Cyborgs. The Bunker Buster would fall into this weapon type, along with some new weapons, including some indirect weapons and bombs. This weapon type would function as the polar opposite of the anti-personnel weapon type.

Anti-structure weapons would be most effective against Medium and Hard Structures, and would be somewhat effective against Bunkers, but would do almost no damage to cyborgs or vehicles in general. This weapon type would be reserved for special weapons, such as those that deal damage by causing localized earthquakes.

Incendiary weapons would be most effective against cyborgs and bunkers, and would also be highly effective against vehicles in general, though would be ineffective against Medium structures, and do almost no damage to Hard structures. For all intents and purposes, they replace and expand upon the flamer weapon type, since in addition to Flamers, they would include Incendiary Mortars and Howitzers, Phosphor, Thermite, and Plasmite Bombs, and Plasma Cannons, as well as a few new weapons. They would function as the polar opposite of the anti-structure weapon type.
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Next, I'll be showing you guys what I have planned for each of the different weapon lines:

Machineguns: The Machinegun would still be your starting weapon, while the Twin and Heavy Machineguns would still be made available soon afterwards. However, virtually all of the weapons in this line would deal a small amount of splash damage in order to simulate bullet spread caused by recoil. Moreover, I'm planning on moving the Hurricane and Whirlwind to this weapon line due to how small and specialized the AA line is, and so that they could share the same weapon upgrades as the Machinegun line, which they seem to resemble quite a bit.

I'm also planning on adding some brand new weapons to this line, some of which would be meant to be mounted on heavier bodies, such as a Twin Heavy Machinegun. I'd also like to add some all-rounder weapons on this line so that players that focus on this line could have a weapon that performs at least decently against those pesky tanks that anti-personnel weapons are traditionally ineffective against.
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Cannons: The Cannons line would likely be the 2nd earliest line that players would be able to focus on, since I'm planning on moving the Flamer and Rocket lines later up the tech tree so that players' weapon progression would be a bit more linear at the start. It would also serve to gradually introduce players to the concept of type-effectiveness in a more fair way. Cannons would serve as the earliest of the anti-vehicle weapon lines, though I'm planning on adding a specialized anti-personnel weapon for this line for dealing with Cyborgs, one with a nice big blast radius.

I'm planning on moving the Heavy Cannon and Assault Cannon (and maybe even the Twin Assault Cannon) earlier down the tech tree, to the later stages of T1, to provide players with some nice weapons to mount on their vehicles, especially if they choose to focus on researching engine upgrades so that their vehicles could mount these heavy weapons without having to sacrifice speed. I'm also planning on adding some new variants of the Hyper-Velocity Cannon to serve as higher-tiered variants to the Light Cannon, Heavy Cannon, Assault Cannon, and Twin Assault Cannon.
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Flamers: Due to previous complaints about how OP Flamer rushes seemed to be, and due to how specialized this weapon line is, the Flamers line would be moved to being slightly later along the tech tree than the Cannons line. They'd still require Fuel-Injection Engine as a prerequisite, though Fuel-Injection Engine's prerequisites would be changed up. (I'm still working on a rough draft of my tech tree, so stay tuned.) Other than that, the Flamer line would remain mostly unchanged, and would help unlock some neat weapons for the other lines (more on that later). However, players would be encouraged to start research on a second weapon line to help deal with VTOLs later on. (For that reason, I'm moving the start of the Lasers line down to the start of T2, requiring Dedicated Synaptic Link Data Analysis as a prerequisite.)

The Plasma Cannon would likely be moved into this line due to how it seems as if it would fit in better within the Flamer upgrade line than the Cannon line. It would be treated as a Flamer weapon for damage calculation, would deal burn damage, and would require research into both flamers and railguns to unlock.
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Rockets: The start of the Rockets line would be moved to require HE Cannon Shells (under the reason that they might be looking for a better anti-tank weapon). Although the Cannon, Laser, and Railgun lines would be getting some anti-tank weapons for players to play around with, the Rockets line would be the go-to line for the earliest possible anti-tank weapon: the Lancer, which would only require HEAT Rocket Warhead (now the 1st damage upgrade for the Rockets line) and Stabilized Rockets (which would now require the Mini-Rocket Pod as its only prerequisite).

The Sunburst AA would be moved earlier in the tech tree so that they could be made researchable before VTOLs could appear, while the Avenger SAM would be moved to T2 (and possibly renamed), and given a VTOL version, so that players could have the opportunity to experiment with a new weapon that functions like an AA version of the Lancer (and since I feel as if Vindicators, which replace Avengers, are researchable far too early after Avengers could be researched). Other than that, the Rockets line would continue to lack in HP, would continue to have longer range than Machineguns or Cannons, and would continue to play host to a wide variety of powerful, yet difficult-to-master, weapons, from the tank-killing Lancers and the rapid-fire Minipods, to the anti-personnel Mini-Rocket Arrays, structure-killing Bunker Busters, and the long-ranged Ripple Rockets, though in addition to expanding the line of weapons, and merging this line with the Missiles line, some of the weapons would perform somewhat differently.

For example, I'm planning on turning the Mini-Rocket Pod into an all-rounder weapon that's more powerful than a Light Cannon, and maybe even a Medium Cannon, though I'm also planning on making it a very inaccurate one as well, with a long-range accuracy as low as 25%. The idea behind this change would be that it would ideally perform better when used in groups against groups of tanks or structures, since lack of accuracy would become less of an issue when missed shots would likely hit nearby enemy units anyways. I do plan on adding a Twin Mini-Rocket Pod turret for heavier bodies to use, along with T2 and T3 versions that, in addition to being more powerful, would also be much more accurate, with the T3 version being given homing capabilities.

For the Mini-Rocket Array and Seraph Missile Array, I'm planning on adding a T2 version (that resembles a gray-colored Seraph) to bridge the gap in tech level between the 2 weapons. I'm also planning on giving them a minimum range due to their designation as indirect-fire units, with the Seraph and its T2 counterpart being given a longer minimum range (and a longer maximum range to compensate) due to them being (presumably) top-attack rocket/missile launching systems. Their rate-of-fire would be increased to less unbearable levels, while their splash radius would be increased so that they could act as better crowd-control weapons.

I'm thinking about adding a couple of new T3 tactical ballistic missile launchers that are modeled after the SCUD-like Earthshakers from the demo version of Warzone 2100. One of these would be an anti-personnel (artillery) weapon that would deal massive damage, even to tanks and structures, over a wide area via fuel-air explosives, while another one would be a devastatingly-powerful anti-structure earthquake weapon. A 3rd weapon is also planned, a plasmite missile launcher, though it would require some extra research into flamers to unlock. All of them would have ranges that are greater than even Archangel Missiles, and all of them would have a blast radius that's comparable to a Plasmite Bomb, though due to their sheer power, they would likely be expensive to produce (even for T3 standards), and each of them would likely have even longer load times than Ripple Rockets or Archangel Missiles, possibly taking up to 60 seconds to reload (without upgrades).

As for the remaining weapons on this line, their rate-of-fire would likewise be increased to less unbearable levels, with most T1 weapons taking no longer than 10 seconds to reload, while the Ripple Rockets and Archangel Missiles would take no longer than 30 seconds to reload, though for balancing reasons, this would likely come at the cost of damage-per-shot (or damage-per-salvo). Moreover, the Ripple Rockets and Archangel Missiles would be made more effective against vehicles, though they might be made less effective against structures and Cyborgs in the process.
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Mortars/Howitzers: The Mortar and Howitzer lines would be merged into a single weapon line, "Artillery", so that they could benefit from more mutually-shared weapon upgrades. Mortars would no longer require Factory Modules as an upgrade, but they would require some research into Cannons, as well as Sensor Turrets (which would be moved later into the tech tree), to unlock, while Howitzers would still require some research into Mortars, as well as Sensor Upgrade, to unlock.

While damage done by both generic Mortars and generic Howitzers would be treated as anti-personnel weapons, they would not be any less effective against structures than they are right now, since I plan on increasing their direct damage output to compensate. This would also mean that they would be more effective against tanks, especially if they can land a direct hit on them.

Damage done by both the Incendiary Mortar and the Incendiary Howitzer would be treated as Flamer damage, while the Hellstorm would be renamed as something else, since I'm planning on introducing a weapon that's an incendiary version of it, and naming that Hellstorm. The Ground Shaker would be renamed as well, while a new, more-specialized, long-range, anti-structure howitzer would be given the Ground Shaker's name, since it would fire rounds that generate miniature earthquakes on impact.
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Lasers: The start of the Laser line would be moved to the start of T2, requiring only Dedicated Synaptic Link Data Analysis as a prerequisite. They would serve as an introduction to the concept of Thermal damage, meaning that players could easily catch opponents off-guard if they continued to research Kinetic Armor upgrades, but neglected to research Thermal Armor upgrades. They would also make for a viable choice for Flamer users to focus on, especially once VTOLs start to appear.

In general, the Laser line would typically feature weapons that, while having ranges that are on-par with the Rockets line, would generally start off with slightly lower damage output than the Machinegun and Cannon lines, (to balance out their longer range). They would be subdivided into 2 categories: long-duration anti-personnel lasers that are optimized against Cyborgs, and short-duration all-rounder pulse lasers that are optimized for vehicles and hard structures. Since they're being moved to the start of T2, I'd like to expand this line for T3 as well.
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Railguns: Other than adding a railgun version of the Assault Cannon, Twin Assault Cannon, Flak Cannon, and that anti-personnel cannon that I mentioned before, the Railgun line would remain mostly unchanged.
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Bombs: The Bombs line would require HE Cannon Shells as one of its prerequisites (again, due to a focus on explosives), and although the Cluster and HEAP Bomb Bays would be treated as anti-personnel weapons for the purposes of damage calculation (since I need to free up a weapon modifier), the Incendiary bombs would be treated as flamers instead of artillery. Moreover, some new bombs are planned, including an anti-structure Earthquake Bomb, and the powerful Fuel-Air Bombs (which are on-par with Plasmite Bombs).
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EMPs: These weapons would be moved to T2, requiring Dedicated Synaptic Link Analysis Mk3 as its only prerequisite, so that more players could have the chance to put them to use during the match. I'm also planning on adding an EMP fortress, and even a support power that would allow players to launch a massive EMP strike anywhere on the map every couple minutes.
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Electronic Weapons: I'm thinking about adding a new series of ultra-short-ranged weapons that, like the NEXUS Link Turret (which I'm planning on making easier to research in T3), could allow players to hijack and steal enemy units and structures (especially undefended Oil Derricks) as early as soon after the start of T1. It would also encourage developers to add support for what could be Warzone 2100's equivalent of the Command & Conquer series's capturable Tech Buildings, such as a Nuclear Plant that supplies extra power, an Academy that increases the rate at which units are promoted, a Nanotech Lab that enhances Auto-Repair capabilities, or a Fortress-sized Howitzer that fires an EMP round with a wide area-of-effect anywhere on the map every 2 or 3 minutes, to name a few.

I'd also like to introduce some Cyborgs that could capture units or structures, including a Heavy Cyborg armed with a NEXUS Link Turret, and even a fortress armed with one!
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Continued...

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Next, I'm planning on adding many new, unique weapons that would require research into multiple weapon lines. This is so that, in high-oil or team-based maps, players would be encouraged to split their research into more than 1 weapon line at a time, so that they could get their hands on these powerful weapons:

Ripper Cannon: A T2 all-rounder cannon that combines machinegun and cannon research in order to create a rapid-fire, belt-fed gattling cannon that puts the Assault Cannon to shame. A T3 version, the Shredder, is also planned.

Rocketstorm: An early T3 all-rounder rocket weapon that combines machinegun and rocket research in order to create a rapid-fire, belt-fed rocket launcher that, like the Mini-Rocket Pod, would be optimized for groups of units due to it having amazing dps, but poor accuracy.

Ramjet Cannon: A late T2 anti-tank cannon that combines cannon and rocket research in order to create an anti-tank cannon that fires powerful jet-assisted shells at enemies.

Bulletstorm: An early T3 anti-personnel howitzer that combines machinegun and artillery research in order to create a rapid-fire, belt-fed, howitzer that, instead of firing high-explosive shells, fires a stream of dense, high-velocity bullets in order to cover moderately-distant areas with a hail of hot lead.

Gattling Mortar: A late T2 anti-personnel (artillery) mortar that combines machinegun and mortar research in order to create a rapid-fire, belt-fed mortar that can pummel nearby areas with a barrage of rounds.

Gauss Howitzer: A late T3 anti-personnel (artillery) howitzer that combines railgun and howitzer research to create a railgun howitzer with a range on-par with the Archangel Missile Launcher, though would be more deadly than a Ground Shaker.

Lead Sprayer: A late T3 anti-personnel railgun that combines machinegun and railgun research in order to create a mass-driver weapon that sprays a constant stream of pellet-sized slugs at enemies at speeds much faster than ordinary machinegun bullets.

Incendiary Machinegun: A T2 anti-personnel machinegun that combines machinegun and flamer research in order to create a machinegun that fires incendiary bullets, which, while doing primarily Kinetic damage, would also burn targets for some time, making it a bit more effective against tanks and structures than usual. A T3 version is also planned.

Incendiary Cannon and Plasmite Cannon: A couple all-rounder cannons, one T2, and the other T3, that each combine cannon and flamer research in order to create a cannon that fires incendiary rounds. While these rounds would deal kinetic damage on impact, they'd also deal burn damage. The Plasmite Cannon would, as would be expected, be the more advanced of the 2 cannons, though it would also serve to replace the Plasma Cannon, which would be remade into a weapon that would require railgun and flamer research to unlock. (See below...)

Hellstorm and Ragnarok: A couple T3 incendiary howitzers that each combine advanced howitzer and flamer research. The new Hellstorm would be like an incendiary version of the older Hellstorm (which would be renamed), while the Ragnarok would be like an incendiary version of the Ground Shaker. Both would fire Plasmite shells that deal incendiary damage over a wide area.

Plasma Laser: A T3 incendiary laser that combines research from lasers and flamers in order to create a plasma beam weapon that uses a laser to create a vacuum in the atmosphere in order for the plasma to reach its target over a long distance. The plasma would set the target on fire for some time.

Armageddon Missile Launcher: A T3 incendiary rocket/missile weapon that combines research from rockets/missiles and flamers in order to create a tactical ballistic missile launcher that fires Plasmite warheads that are capable of rivaling Plasmite Bombs in terms of damage and area-of-effect.

Plasma Cannon: The Plasma Cannon would be remade into a T3 incendiary flamer weapon that would require flamer and railgun technology to unlock. Like the older Plasma Cannon, It would fire blasts of superheated ions at distant targets (much farther than from a typical flamer), causing large amounts of thermal damage over a wide area. However, unlike the older Plasma Cannon, the newer one would also cause additional burn damage over the affected area.
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Finally, I'm planning on expanding the amount of fortresses there are available, and modifying some existing fortresses. Also, each of the fortresses would require a new research prerequisite in order to unlock them: Fortress Construction. Although this research item would not really unlock anything new, once researched, bing able to research a new fortress would be made much quicker and cheaper, especially since the price of researching new fortresses would be reduced significantly. Think of this new research prerequisite as having to research the Fortress Body before you can research the Fortress's weapon turret. (By the way, I'm also thinking about giving bunkers, hardpoints, emplacements, and hardcrete towers the same treatment.)

In addition to fortress bodies, I'm also planning on introducing a 2x2 fortress-sized emplacement body for several new artillery structures to use. Although these artillery structures would be just as expensive to produce, if not more expensive, as any other fortress, they would generally be less durable, so they would be placed behind walls, hardpoints, or even fortresses, for their own protection.

Here's what I have planned for the various fortresses:

Cannon Fortress: An early T2 fortress that would now do anti-personnel damage, though would continue to do serious damage to whatever vehicles (or structures) it manages to score a direct hit on. Otherwise, it would function the same as the old Cannon Fortress.

Autocannon Fortress: A late T2 fortress equipped with an anti-tank twin-barreled 155mm autocannon. It would combine the power of a Heavy Hyper-Velocity Cannon with the rapid rate-of-fire of a Twin Assault Cannon. The end result would be a durable defense armed with a powerful anti-tank weapon that would tear apart a heavy tank in mere seconds.

Gattling Fortress: A late T2 fortress armed with a massive anti-personnel gattling gun that fires oversized shotgun blasts, peppering large areas with a constant downpour of hot lead. Can target both ground and air units.

Mortar Firebase: A T2 fortress-sized emplacement equipped with a massive anti-personnel rotary mortar for significantly softening up an incoming enemy assault. It would have a range of around 24 tiles.

Howitzer Firebase: An early T3 fortress-sized emplacement equipped with a tactical anti-personnel 255mm rotary howitzer. Although it could be considered almost like a superweapon (or a possible game ender?), due to its large shot damage, high rate-of-fire (by artillery standards), large blast radius, and high durability (again, by artillery standards, though by fortress standards, firebases in general would be lacking in protection), it would be many times as expensive as simply building enough ordinary artillery units or emplacements to match it in terms of dps, and would take many times as long to build.

Heavy Rocket Bastion: Damage would be reduced to that of the Tank Killer, but rate-of-fire would be as low as 1 round per 2 or 3 seconds. In essence, this early T2 fortress would act like a gigantic version of the Mini-Rocket Pod, though would be highly accurate instead (much like the Rocket Assault Pod).

Missile Fortress: Might be either cut, or repurposed into a more powerful T3 version of the Heavy Rocket Bastion, with homing capabilities and the ability to attack air units, due to the introduction of the Missile Array Firebase, which would fulfill many of the same functions, including being able to attack targets that are far away from it. (I would like to use the turret model for the Missile Array Firebase, and I'd probably want to give this fortress a new turret model that would somewhat resemble the Heavy Rocket Bastion's turret model.)

Missile Array Firebase: Functionally, this early T3 firebase would be a much larger version of the Seraph Missile Array, with a much longer range (about the same as the old Missile Fortress), more missiles fired per barrage, more damage-per-shot, and a bigger blast radius, though with a slightly slower reload time.

Laser Fortress: A late T2 fortress armed with a powerful anti-tank laser that can quickly cut through tank armor like a hot knife through butter, especially due to its high rate-of-fire. It would perform similarly to the Autocannon Fortress. A T3 version, possibly called the Pulse Laser Fortress, would also be available. (I'm picturing a fortress with the Supreme Commander's Monkeylord Spiderbot's Microwave Laser being mounted on one of these fortresses right about now. )

Mass Driver Fortress: This would be replaced with the Gauss Autocannon Fortress and Gauss Scattergun Fortress. (Since I'm planning on reusing the Mass Driver Fortress's model for the Gauss Scattergun Fortress's model, and since the Gauss Scattergun would function similarly to the Mass Driver, I could just modify and rename this into the Gauss Scattergun Fortress.)

Gauss Autocannon Fortress: A T3 fortress equipped with an anti-tank twin-barreled gauss autocannon, designed to replace the Mass Driver Fortress in the anti-tank role, and to serve as a more advanced version of the Autocannon Fortress.

Gauss Scattergun Fortress: A T3 fortress armed with an all-rounder gauss scattergun for annihilating large groups of Cyborgs and vehicles. It would serve as a more advanced version of the Cannon Fortress.

EMP Fortress: A T3 fortress that would be designed to disable whatever units (or structures) it targets with rapid-fire EMP blasts. By itself, it could keep a single unit immobilized indefinitely (due to its rapid rate-of-fire), and slowly whittle away at the disabled victim's HP, no matter how durable it might be (since the weapon would do a bit of damage in addition to the EMP effect). However, it would be vulnerable to groups of units due to how it would deal no splash damage.

NEXUS Link Fortress: This fortress would be capable of assimilating units in only a few seconds. It would be like Warzone 2100's version of Supreme Commander 2's Loyalty Gun.

I may come up with new fortresses later on (most likely, ones that would use more advanced versions of those weapons that require research into multiple weapon lines to unlock, such as Incendiary Cannon Fortresses, Plasma Cannon Fortresses, or Gauss Howitzer Firebases to name a few).
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In addition to all these fortresses and firebases, I'm thinking about adding a new T2 tactical support weapon. Like the Laser Satellite Command Post, it would be able to strike anywhere on the map, though unlike the Laser Satellite Command Post, it would be geared more towards disabling large groups of targets, via EMP, instead of destroying them outright. While I'd like to make this into a Tactical Howitzer or Tactical Missile Launcher that would fire an EMP round anywhere on the map, I might have to settle with a satellite-mounted EMP system, since restricting it to requiring Howitzer or Rockets/Missile research could cause some balance issues, and since, due to programming limitations, I might have to settle for a satellite-mounted system in order for it to require manually assigning a region to target.

I'm also thinking about adding another support power, this time, for T1. This support power would allow players to perform a satellite surveillance sweep over a targeted area every minute or 2.

Please note that I might not be able to implement any support powers other than the Laser Satellite Command Post, since it might require some coding that I'm not yet familiar with, so I apologize if I couldn't add any for this mod.
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Is there anything that you'd like to add onto this list? Do you feel that something on here needs changing, or shouldn't be touched upon? (Please note that, when suggesting new additions, I'm unlikely to add anything overly ambitious or outlandish, like teleportation systems, force fields, underground battlefields, or even nukes, partially because I'm not yet experienced enough in terms of programming to achieve such things, and partially because I think that those ideas are ridiculous, or would ridiculously unbalance the game.)

[aubergine]

I prefer the term "Bastion" to "Fortress":

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastion -- it's a key defensive point in the wider defensive structure
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress -- it's the wider defensive structure (ie. walled base)

[aubergine]

Looking at the defence structures described above, is it not catering too much to the turtle style of gameplay? While I think the tutrle gameplay style needs a little boost in early game to perhaps be more balanced against early rushes, in the late game these weapons would give turtlers too much of an upper hand I think.

In terms of nexus weapons, I wouldn't want the big nexus fortress to be so powerful - maybe it could do a really strong burst that would assimilate one unit, but then have a 60 second recharge time? Otherwise people will just create rows of them and nothing but ranged attacks will be able to get near.

[Arreon]

Perhaps I can contribute to this mod as well

I'm a budding audio designer, so I can try to make the sound effects for your new weapons.

[aubergine]

I'd like to see a "cruise missile" type weapon.

It would require all missile research to be complete (so it comes after archangel). Satellite uplink would also need to have been researched.

The cruise missiles would actually be droids: a variant of VTOL (propulsion), that looks like a big rocket (body) and has a payload (turret).



Cruise missiles would be built at a missile silo (or perhaps the model used for a nuclear reactor) - these models already exist as shown below:



It could be that if you want to build nuclear cruise missiles you need to build a reactor first, then a nuke silo. And for more conventional payloads (plasmite, cluster, heap, etc) you'd just build a normal missile silo?

When a cruise missile unit is built, it comes out of the silo (well, just appears on map like any other unit) and then hovers in that general area.

It can be moved around the map in much the same way a VTOL can - select it and click it's destination, or shift-click several destinations to plan its route with waypoints. Unlike a VTOL, it will not land after reaching a destination, and it cannot use rearming pads.

It can be told to attack any ground target (any structure, or droids with wheeel/hover/halftrack/track/cyborg/naval propulsion).

The payloads (turrets) will be very much like the existing VTOL bombs, only they'll look like the nose-cone of a big missile and they won't actually "drop" from the missile. The idea is that the missile has to fly in to it's target and on contact (or close proximity) detonates its payload destroying the missile in the process.

Should the cruise missile be damaged to destruction, or assimilated by nexus link, it will drop its payload like a bomb wherever it happens to be at that point in time. So, if a player is storing up a number of cruise missiles in their base ready to launch a major attack, enemy VTOLs could swoop in with versatile or AA turrets and destroy the missiles causing much destruction to the surrounding area.

[Giani]

I didnt read all, because is too long, but i found this:

Propulsion:
Wheels: Max Speed: 192, +50% Power, +100% HP, +100% Weight
Half-Tracks: Max Speed: 160, +75% Power, +150% HP, +50% Weight
Tracks: Max Speed: 128, +100% Power, +200% HP, +0% Weight
Hover: Max Speed: 256, +100% Power, +75% HP, +300% Weight
VTOL: Max Speed: 700, +150% Power, +50% HP, +100% Weight

That is too fast for vtols, the AA cant shoot to something so fast!

[NoQ]

That is too fast for vtols, the AA cant shoot to something so fast!

VTOLs became much slower, due to weight increase, and 2.5x more expensive, while they always had 700 as their max speed.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Looking at the defence structures described above, is it not catering too much to the turtle style of gameplay? While I think the turtle gameplay style needs a little boost in early game to perhaps be more balanced against early rushes, in the late game these weapons would give turtlers too much of an upper hand I think.

I doubt that these fortresses would be that overpowered if I make them only 4 times as durable as a hardpoint, but somewhere between 8 and 16 times as expensive and time-consuming to build as one. Also, by adding more fortress types to more weapon lines, shouldn't that make them more accessible for weapon lines other than the cannon, rocket, missile, and railgun lines?

Besides, wouldn't players attempt to defend their well-secured oil derricks, bases, and chokepoints with some nice base defenses, including Cannon Fortresses or Missile Fortresses, or build artillery emplacements in safe locations, and counter-battery radars to cover their assets, anyways?

In terms of nexus weapons, I wouldn't want the big nexus fortress to be so powerful - maybe it could do a really strong burst that would assimilate one unit, but then have a 60 second recharge time? Otherwise people will just create rows of them and nothing but ranged attacks will be able to get near.

What use is such a powerful, but slow-firing weapon against even a handful of tanks? Sure, it could capture 1 of them, but then, it would have to wait a full minute before it could capture another unit, though by the time that happens, it might already be destroyed by the remaining units.

Now I don't know if it would take a shorter amount of time for a NEXUS Link Turret to capture a Cyborg than it would capture, say, a Dragon tank, though if it would take the same amount of time to capture both units, then like a Loyalty Gun in Supreme Commander 2, or one of Yuri's various mind-control units in Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge, perhaps it would be more vulnerable to swarms of cheaper units, namely Cyborgs or light tanks, than it would be towards more expensive ones, like heavy tanks. Also, what's to stop players from using units that the fortress can't target, like maybe VTOLs, or artillery?

Perhaps I can contribute to this mod as well

I'm a budding audio designer, so I can try to make the sound effects for your new weapons.

Well, for some of the sounds that I'd want to use, I could probably use Audacity to tweak some existing sounds to create some new sounds for the Bombard, Light and Heavy Hyper-Velocity Cannons, and even some of the new cross-line weapons like the Lead Sprayer and the Gattling Cannon. Here's a few sounds that I made using just the Warzone 2100 sounds and Audacity: (By the way, I'm making these sounds open-source by placing them under the CC0 license, so feel free to use them if you'd like. )

gattlingcannon.ogg

I sped up the Assault Cannon and overlayed itself every .1 second to create this gattling cannon sound.

(12.24 KiB) Downloaded 472 times

gaussgattlinggun.ogg

Here's the Assault Gun sound sped up to create a sound for a rapid-fire gauss machinegun.

(11.42 KiB) Downloaded 454 times

lasersatellite.ogg

Here's the Flashlight laser sound slowed down significantly. The result is a sound that would go nicely with the laser satellite.

(15 KiB) Downloaded 435 times

However, if you'd like to help out, then perhaps you could try to create the following sounds:

Mini-Rocket Pod/Mini-Rocket Array: I'd imagine that the rockets would be less noisy compared to the existing rocket sound (which I'd probably reserve for the Lancer, Tank Killer, Scourge, Bunker Buster, any of the fortresses or firebases that use rocket/missile technology, and maybe the Ripple Rockets and Archangel Missiles).

Cruise Missile Launch: Examples of cruise missiles that I've seen and heard in other games that I've played in the past would include the V3 and Dreadnought Missiles from Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, and the SCUD and Tomahawk Missiles from Command & Conquer: Generals. Perhaps something similar-sounding would do, though if you'd like to make one that sounds like a real-life SCUD, Tomahawk, or other cruise missile that's being launched, then I'm all ears.

Shotgun Cannon: If you're wondering why I'd ask for a shotgun sound in a game like Warzone 2100, I plan on adding a weapon that would basically be a cannon-sized shotgun that's large enough to deal some serious damage to Cyborgs, and maybe VTOLs and light vehicles as well.

Armor-piercing bullet impact: For a rapid-fire weapon that's designed to fire armor-piercing bullets, the regular machinegun ricochets just wouldn't do. Neither would using any of the explosion sounds. Therefore, I'd like to ask for a sound that, when you hear it, you'd get the feeling that, while it's not very explosive, if at all, it would still leave some nasty-looking holes in your vehicles' armor.

Big fiery explosion: I'm looking for an explosion that would make you think that, whatever area just got hit by that incendiary howitzer shell, or that plasmite bomb, would be going up in a massive ball of flames.

I'd like to see a "cruise missile" type weapon.

It would require all missile research to be complete (so it comes after archangel). Satellite uplink would also need to have been researched.

The cruise missiles would actually be droids: a variant of VTOL (propulsion), that looks like a big rocket (body) and has a payload (turret).



Cruise missiles would be built at a missile silo (or perhaps the model used for a nuclear reactor) - these models already exist as shown below:



It could be that if you want to build nuclear cruise missiles you need to build a reactor first, then a nuke silo. And for more conventional payloads (plasmite, cluster, heap, etc) you'd just build a normal missile silo?

When a cruise missile unit is built, it comes out of the silo (well, just appears on map like any other unit) and then hovers in that general area.

It can be moved around the map in much the same way a VTOL can - select it and click it's destination, or shift-click several destinations to plan its route with waypoints. Unlike a VTOL, it will not land after reaching a destination, and it cannot use rearming pads.

It can be told to attack any ground target (any structure, or droids with wheeel/hover/halftrack/track/cyborg/naval propulsion).

The payloads (turrets) will be very much like the existing VTOL bombs, only they'll look like the nose-cone of a big missile and they won't actually "drop" from the missile. The idea is that the missile has to fly in to it's target and on contact (or close proximity) detonates its payload destroying the missile in the process.

Should the cruise missile be damaged to destruction, or assimilated by nexus link, it will drop its payload like a bomb wherever it happens to be at that point in time. So, if a player is storing up a number of cruise missiles in their base ready to launch a major attack, enemy VTOLs could swoop in with versatile or AA turrets and destroy the missiles causing much destruction to the surrounding area.

Sorry, but I probably couldn't program in any suicide units even if I wanted to (which I probably wouldn't due to balancing concerns). Right now, I'm trying to stay within the modding limits that I believe are present in current builds of Warzone 2100.

[Iluvalar]

Sorry if i'm annoying annoying, but i'll repeat again : You are going in the wrong direction by giving a counter to any enemy in any line. That's the only contingency that force the player to change the way he research in the labs. You will create a situation where the player do not need to be aware of the external situation to make "decision" in the lab. Actually, there will be no more thing such a "decision" in the research layer. There will be no more game there.

Then, the design layer will be non significative as well because no one will be able to adapt his design to target an enemy weakness. The player will build mainly the known best designs for his research path since the same line always research the same.way. And then will mix with some random propulsion/weapons type to avoid adaptation from the enemy. So the design layer will be dead as well.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

I get it! We both feel as if the balance in the current metagame is lacking, but while your solution involves bringing back unit previewing, my solution involves creating a mod (which is an optional add-on btw) that would expand and rebalance the gameplay experience in a fun and fair way. We both have our own opinions, so why must you continue to shove yours up my face?

Edit: Sorry about the outburst, but that was rude of you butting in like that. Anyways, it seems as if we don't see eye-to-eye as to how to tackle this kind of problem. Whereas I believe that research should be made more flexible, so that players could adapt their research to even out unfavorable situations by planning ahead, you seem to believe that research should be kept inflexible, so that players would be forced to adapt their research by switching to another line, which I feel is needlessly making things harder on players. In the short term, adapting research isn't even as helpful as adapting production to counter specific threats.