I'd personally imagine that gameplay would be changed up quite a bit, though certain core aspects, such as researching new stuff and designing your own units, would be kept more or less intact, and artillery could still fire long distances (provided that sensors can see the artillery's target).
Designing units: As awesome to me as it was back when I 1st played this game, I think that the design system could use some reworking. In particular, I'd like to draw inspiration from Master of Orion III's ship-designing system (even though I think that the game itself didn't live up to its predecessors' standards of enjoyability, though I will admit that some of its features were promising), do away with the concept of different body types (like Viper, Cobra, Leopard, Retaliation, Dragon, etc.) and instead merge it with propulsion types while also allowing players to choose the size of the unit. (For example, there would be one model each for small, medium, large, and extra-large versions of wheeled units, tracked units, mecha, helicopters, spider walkers, etc.) Defensive structures such as towers, hardpoints, and emplacements, and powered armor (think of them both as small cyborgs AND as like the space marines from Starcraft, or the Zone Troopers from Command & Conquer 3) would also be included amongst the models, though you might not be able to change their size like you could with tanks, ships, and aircraft. (For example, since I'd like for cyborgs/powered armor to be able to garrison neutral structures or bunkers, they'd need to stay small, or else, they probably wouldn't be able to fit inside of them.
)As for what you'll add onto these base models, there would still be the weapons and systems that you'd slap onto your units, though they would now take up a limited amount of space depending on your unit's size and propulsion type (so no mounting cannons the size of a cannon fortress's cannons onto a cyborg or small vehicle
). There would also be these add-ons, which, unlike weapons and systems, would NOT take up any space at all. What are these add-ons? They're unit upgrades that can be applied to increase the unit's general performance. Not only would these add-ons include optional armor and engine improvements (which would replace the concept of more advanced bodies like going from the Viper to the Leopard to the Retaliation) that may also increase the unit's cost and/or weight, but these add-ons would also include such things as radar-absorbent material (that makes units less detectable from radar), cloaking devices, advanced targeting systems (to improve weapon accuracy), missile armor (to protect missiles from point-defense weapons), personal deflection shields, ECM (that makes it more difficult for homing weapons to hit the vehicle), jump-jets (for making small leaps across cliffs or water, or over hardcrete walls), amphibious kits (that would allow land units to move through water, and ships to move through land), automated repair systems, and infrared sensors (that allows the unit to see through cloaking), all of which could also increase the unit's cost and or weight.Other gameplay changes:
- The entire damage calculation system where weapons of a certain class would be more effective against certain unit types (such as anti-tank weapons dealing 120% as much damage towards tracked units as normal, while only dealing 30% as much damage towards cyborgs) would be scrapped in favor of a simpler damage calculation system (such as the one that Starcraft 2 uses), though kinetic and thermal armor would still be kept. Some weapons could have special effects, like dealing extra damage to certain units like tracked units or hovercraft, ignoring part of the target's armor while calculating damage dealt to that target (armor piercing weapons), dealing damage over a period of time (such as from a flamethrower), dealing additional damage that completely ignores the target's armor or shields (such as a disruptor weapon), dealing splash damage (such as from explosives), or disabling the target for a period of time (such as from an EMP), to name a few.
- In the beginning of a skirmish or multiplayer match, and at the beginning of the campaign, players would start off with a couple combat engineers and the ability to produce powered armor infantry (what I'll be calling the basic cyborgs here), but no ability to produce vehicles (which would come after a little research).
- Cyborgs could garrison neutral structures (such as ruined huts or buildings) in order to give themselves additional protection. (Borrowed from the Command & Conquer series.)
- Research stations (including allied ones) could now research the same thing in order to research it faster, though there would be diminishing returns in terms of the time that it takes to research it.
- If multiple engineers or trucks are assigned to construct the same structure, then while the structure would take less time to build, diminishing returns would be applied so that each extra construction unit involved would not speed up the construction process as much as the previous construction unit.
- Destroyed units and structures would leave some wreckage, which wouldn't block space, and could be reclaimed by engineers or trucks for a small fraction of the unit's cost. (Borrowed from Supreme Commander 1 and 2.)
- Destroyed structures could be rebuilt by engineers or trucks by building over the wreckage. The structure being rebuilt would require only half of the construction costs, and would take only half as much time to rebuild. (Borrowed from Supreme Commander 2.)
- You could now control what defensive structures can target, or what sensor artillery structures could be assigned to, but they'd still be unable to gain experience.
- Artillery units would no longer need to be assigned to a certain sensor in order to be able to shoot at targets outside of their own sight radius (or across the map for that matter). Rather, each artillery unit and structure would automatically target units that are either within the unit or structure's own sight radius, or that are detected by any of your own, or your ally's, sensor units and structures (including radar-detectors and counter-battery sensors).
- As an alternative towards scrapping your less-advanced units in order to transfer their experience towards more-advanced units, you could now refit them at a nearby factory or repair facility (switching out weapons, systems, and add-ons, but not size or propulsion type, for others). Although the unit would be deactivated for some time, and wouldn't be repaired to full health, the process would cost less, and would take less time than just scrapping the unit and building a newer one. (Borrowed from Master of Orion II, where you could refit ships to replace their older stuff with newer, more state-of-the-art stuff.)
- Engineers and trucks would also be able to refit defensive structures in the same way, and again, it would be cheaper and less time-consuming than just demolishing the structure and building a new one in the same spot.
Finally, for the story, here's what I would've had in mind:
"Almost 50 years have passed since whatever remained of humanity was saved when the forces of NEXUS were defeated by the Project. Since that time, the Project began to enter the next phase: namely to establish a stable civilization. Even with this victory, the Project knew that they still had much work to do.
Within the next decade, the Project was able to create a stable post-Collapse nation that spanned throughout most of North America. However, they were forced to implement some harsh policies towards its own populace, such as limiting population growth in order to keep its citizens from overpopulating to unsustainable levels, and brainwashing and conscripting criminals within their armed forces. Still, in these harsh times, desperate times called for desperate measures, though in spite of all this, the nation benefited from a more-or-less representative form of government, and more pre-Collapse artifacts continued to be discovered all across North America, including knowledge on civil engineering, space travel, and medicine.
Yet despite the Project's success at forging and maintaining a stable, united nation of people, some looming problems continued to exist. For one, the diversity of the gene pool from within the nation was very low, not only due to the Collapse itself, but also due to the Project's war against NEXUS, leaving only around 150,000 people left throughout North America by 2100 (though this figure was slowly rising). Moreover, the ecological damage that was wrought throughout the world as a result of the Collapse had left much of the world a scarred wasteland. No doubt a mass-extinction had occurred as a result of the nuclear winter, and no doubt more extinctions would follow in the years to come unless something is done to stabilize the environment.
However, in 2136, Project scientists discovered a pre-Collapse artifact of significant historical importance. The artifact contained information on how to clone living beings, including humans, which was a controversial technology even during the final years of the pre-Collapse era. Now, it might just be the Project's key towards humanity's salvation. In the years to follow, the Project began to mobilize expeditions to begin their next phase: to recover lost artifacts from across the world and restore civilization throughout the world.
By 2050, the Project was ready to deploy several expeditionary teams throughout the world. Among these are teams Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Team Alpha would explore South America, Team Beta would explore Europe, Team Gamma would explore Asia, Team Delta would explore Australia, and Team Epsilon would explore Africa. Project HQ, which is stationed within North America, would continue to manage affairs within the continent, while smaller teams would explore the Pacific islands, The Caribbean islands, and Antarctica. All of the teams' objectives are as follows:
1. to assess the ecological damage that was done throughout the world (and hopefully foresee any disasters that are yet to come).
2. to search for and hopefully establish peaceful contact with any surviving civilizations.
3. to search for any pre-Collapse artifacts.
4. to collect stem cells from any surviving humans and wildlife so as to improve the odds of humanity's survival as a whole.
Since this mission is intended to be relatively peaceful by nature so as to not provoke any unnecessary violence from other surviving civilizations, expedition teams are being given access to limited technology. This technology would only be enough to ward off most scavenger raids, though it'll also serve to limit what technology any hostile civilizations can salvage from Project expeditionary teams."
I'll write the campaign details later, but for now, I'll just say that you won't be playing as some unseen commander so that the story would better explore humanity within the world of "Warzone 2150".
In the meantime, feel free to post your own ideas of what you believe a sequel to Warzone 2100 should be like.
Edit: Here's a brief synopsis on what's to be expected from my sequel's campaign:
Like I said before, you'll be playing as Team Alpha's commander, who actually has quite an involvement in the storyline (think McNeil or Slavik from Tiberian Sun, or any of the 3 player characters from Supreme Commander 2). This would be done to better explore humanity's struggles since the Collapse.
During the Project expeditionary teams' missions, the Project later learns that a number of other nations have risen from the ashes, many of whom shared similar goals of rebuilding civilization, such as the Illuminati, based in South America, the New Templar, based in Europe, the Covenant, based in Australia, and, most notably, the Khanate, a militant (almost fascist) superpower based in Asia whose goal is to build a world-spanning civilization under the control of their iron fist.
The Khanate have been sending invasion forces into South America, Europe, and Australia, all of which are later thwarted by the Project (with the player thwarting the invasions of South America and Europe, while Team Delta's commander thwarts the invasion of Australia). They've also been spying on the Project itself in North America, and have been using a combination of brutal tactics (including genocide and torture akin to both the historical Mongolian Horde's conquests and the Germans and Japanese during World War II) and deception to achieve their goals. Examples of said deception include framing the Project for the assassination of the New Templar's leader (after being driven out of South America by a combined Project-Illuminati task force), and even helping a Project traitor instigate an attempted coup d'état against the Project in North America, before attempting to launch their own invasion there as well. Khanate forces are generally considered to be vicious, with many of their forces willingly sacrificing their lives in kamikaze and human-wave attacks for the benefit of the Khanate.
Even worse, during the conflict, rumors about NEXUS's survival begin to surface, some implying that parts of the Khanate, specifically the forces that are being led by one of the leader's most ambitious sons, are being manipulated by NEXUS. This has caused some of the Khanate's forces, most notably those being led by one of the leader's more pacifistic daughters, to defect from the Khanate, believing that the Khanate is heading down a path of destruction. Eventually, this proves true, as after the Project successfully assassinates the leader of the Khanates, the ambitious son decides to avenge his father's death, only to himself be betrayed by NEXUS and perish in one of the nukes that NEXUS launches in an attempt to eliminate the Project's own forces in Asia. Eventually, the Project, along with the surviving nations, including the Khanate forces that managed to survive NEXUS's betrayal, launch a joint attack against NEXUS's forces in Africa, culminating in a plan to detonate numerous nuclear EMP blasts that span the world in an attempt to eradicate NEXUS throughout the world. (The Coalition forces would have to shut down their systems before the EMP blasts occurred to ensure that their own systems wouldn't be destroyed in the process.) After that, the world breathes a sigh of relief, and can rebuild civilization in peace without having to worry about further attacks by NEXUS... or do they?
Again, feel free to post your own ideas of what you believe a sequel to Warzone 2100 should be like.
