I realize this isn't how a lot of people like to play the game, but I'm really into building giant, impenetrable fortresses, having asymmetrical battles where well-placed units can do hugely disproportionate amounts of damage, and generally de-emphasizing build order and other strategic aspects in favor of micromanaging relative unit placement and having more exaggerated rock-paper-scissiors dynamics. I'm not a competitive online player at all and I'm sure there's a lot of strategy stuff I'm not taking into account here, so input is very welcome.
Currently the mod is facetiously titled Tiberian Dawn eXtreme, and here are the major changes it makes, in no particular order:
-Infantry are cheaper, have longer ranges (in most cases slightly greater than their own line of sight), and are generally more useful against other infantry. They also do a lot more damage, so defensive play gets a slight advantage. Comparable forces can still lead to one-sided battles.
-Line-of-sight plays somewhat more of a role. Artillery and rocket ranges are significantly bigger, so spotter units are more important than they otherwise would be. Again, defensive play gets a bit of a bonus.
-Flamethrower units now shoot long-range streams of flame like they do in RA.
-Humvees, Nod Buggies, etc. now fire tracer rounds and can massacre unguarded infantry with ease.
-Vehicles are generally much more powerful and much more expensive. Vehicle-on-vehicle combat is a lot faster-paced
-I hated APCs in the past, so I gave them Mk19 automatic grenade launchers that fire in 5-round bursts. Now they're fairly solid (though not exceptional) against infantry and light vehicles alike. They can also hold 10 units instead of 5.
-Commandos are the one infantry unit that is not cheaper. They are now scouts with a long line of sight who can cloak after a brief period of inactivity to act as spotter units or an early warning system, or pick off infantry from a distance. Their sniper rifle leaves a contrail, though, so they can't operate for too long without the enemy figuring out where you are. The plan is to balance them in the future against cheap but unarmed (or lightly-armed) Nod scout infantry who can also cloak and spot for artillery.
-Two new units (so far). One is based on the Russian TOC-1, which is an armored missile platform that fires thermobaric or incendiary missiles at soft targets.
In game, this is a medium-range napalm missile tank that can annihilate infantry but is a minor annoyance at best to heavier vehicles. It's buildable by Nod at the same tech level as artillery.
The other is a variant of the rocket launcher that fires napalm rockets. It is also extremely ineffective against anything with any amount of armor, but devastating towards infantry. It is buildable by the GDI at the same tech level as the rocket launcher.
-The light tank is now a scout vehicle with a long line of sight. It's fairly fast and fires an armor-piercing autocannon. A pack of them can make short work of slower, heavier vehicles or pick off expensive artillery units.
-The Mammoth Tank is more powerful, with a price tag to match. Anti-infantry missiles allow it to make short work of massed infantry. In one-on-one battles it can take down medium tanks in a matter of seconds, and needs to be surrounded and outranged to be defeated.
-Building ranges have been expanded, so build order is a lot less significant to the placement of buildings in your base. I'm not sure this will remain.
So yeah, it's pretty unbalanced at this point, so if you have any suggestions for changes please let me know. I'm going to probably model a few new units for it (nothing major) and continue to tweak it. There's currently no unique build icons or anything, so I'll add those as well as soon as I can figure out how (I'm on a Mac). I'm pretty accomplished at Photoshop and have done custom art for other quasi-3D games in the past, so I'm pretty excited for this part.
I also still need to do something with the Chem Warriors, which are basically super underpowered relative to the other new infantry.
Anyway, it's not much, but I've had fun playing around with it. If one person plays a single skirmish and has a good time I'll consider it an overwhelming success.
I'll be tweaking it, but if there's a lot of interest I can definitely add new features etc. according to suggestions. Hope you enjoy. Here's the download link. [uploaded the wrong version. see below for the correct one]
looks and sounds interesting