[Mod] Taco's RA [1.04]

A rebalance of the current OpenRA Red Alert + new units

Information and discussion for custom maps and mods.
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Which faction are you most excited to see in the future?

German
6
38%
African People's Army
3
19%
Operation Group Echo (pre-GDI)
7
44%
 
Total votes: 16

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

[Mod] Taco's RA [1.04]

Post by tacozmeister »

[font=Comic Sans MS][align=center]Taco's Red Alert Realism Balancing Modification![/align][/font]
[align=center][font=Comic Sans MS]Current Version: 1.04 for OpenRA Version 30 June 2012 [/font][/align]
[align=center][font=Comic Sans MS]Much credit to BaronOfStuff for the new unit models![/font][/align]
Short Overview
The description above says that this is a "rebalance," and some may argue that this isn't really a rebalance. But it rebalances the game in my eyes. I decided to copy and create a rebalanced, realistic-ish version of the current OpenRA release (30 June 2012). I originally made this for a friend and I to play together, but then I decided why the hell not release it? So I am, here ya go :D
The goal of this mod is to make the game more realistic, and then balance it!

[align=center]Image[/align]
[align=center]Image[/align]
New Units
There are some new units, which will be going through on this picture from top left to bottom right!

Comanche: This attack helicopter belongs to the allies, basically an upgraded combo of a hind and longbow. It will hammer through anything, but quickly needs a reload.
Spitfire: The allied alternative to the Yak attack plane, this unit is a yak with slightly better manueverability and higher cost.
B52 Bomber: A heavy bomber that belongs to the allies, this guy drops tons of bombs and has tons of armor. It also has some wing-mounted machine guns for anti-air defense, but they're rather terrible, so they're best only used in emergencies.
Badger Bomber: The soviet alternative to the B52 Bomber, this guy has less health but much more damaging bombs.
Falcon Jet Fighter: This unit is the allies' alternative to the enemy MiG fighter. It shoots rockets and travels at high speed.
Advanced MiG: This unit is a highly upgraded version of the soviet MiG. It drops bombs that are as devestating as an A10, but carries a few more. It also has the option to fire it's bombs as rockets, destroying almost any airborne unit in just one shot.
A10 Bomber: A simple jet-powered, fast-moving, low-armor airplane used for quickly bombing targets. Allies.

Shotgunner: That itty bitty guy all the way to the left is the Soviet's main ground infantry. He has a shotgun and is weaker than a rifleman, but he acts as wonderful cannon fodder.
Stormtrooper: Allies' elite light infantry unit, this guy is a rifleman armed with a better rifle and body armor.
Special Forces: This guy is essentially a Stormtrooper, but he can easily hide himself and go undetected easily, as long as he doesn't go right up against anything.
Commando: This is the soviet alternative to Tanya. He's much like he was in Tiberian Dawn.
MAAG: This mobile anti aircraft gun is much like the soviet's flak truck, however, this one can only shoot at air and only available to the allies. He also does much better at it. He also is armed with a small machine gun on the side of the turret for emergencies, but it's best just to run away.
Soviet Light Tank: Pretty simple, really. It's a light tank for the soviets. He has a heavier, slower-firing gun and better armor, but less speed, than the allied light tank.
Soviet Medium Tank: Unlike most other Soviet units, this tank has less health and anti-infantry damage than the allied counterpart.
BM30 Smerch: This is a heavy artillery unit. It launches 16 large rockets at a large field of enemies, doing massive amounts of damage. It has a long reload time, though.
MLRS: The allied counter to the BM30 smerch, this one is more accurate and fires faster, but the rockets are much less damaging.
Advanced Medium Tank: This is the allied main battle tank. It's a slightly heavier Allied Medium Tank, with a grenade launcher on top for anti-infantry and anti-light vehicle damage.
Tank Destroyer: The bane of the soviet's heavy armor, this allied unit is a very strong anti-tank cannon strapped on an armored chassis. It is, however, very susceptible to enemy infantry and aircraft.
Landcruiser: This is the allied version of the Mammoth Tank, however, it has a much less powerful anti-tank gun. It does, however, have much more health and anti-infantry damage. This guy bulldozes any kind of infantry.
Mammoth Tank MkII: No, it isn't that hideous excuse of an AT-AT from Tiberian Sun, this unit is a much more powerful version of the mammoth tank. It does devastating amount of anti-tank adn anti-infantry damage, but unlike the Mammoth Tank MkI, it sports no anti-aircraft capabilities. It's so slow, that even A10 bombers do significant damage to him.
Tech Centre: The basic tech center for both teams to provide a stepping stone between radar domes & repair bays and team-tech-centers.
Nuclear Power Plant: (Not shown), this building is available for both teams and produces gigantic amounts of power, but when it explodes, it unleashes nuclear wrath. It also produces plutonium for the Nuclear Silos, and is thus a prerequisite.

[align=center]Image[/align]
Artillery
So, a major change has come to artillery. There are new artillery units, and they fire from gigantic distances. However, they're not nearly as powerful or accurate as before. It's mostly to cause the enemy to want to advance forward to avoid the artillery fire, and maybe even charge into their death.

They also act as an easy way to assault heavy base defenses without nuclear weapons.

Long Overview:
First thing I thought was really lame about Command and Conquer was that 1 dinky little bazooka could destroy a heavy tank. So, I rebalanced that and fixed it. Now, tanks have secondary weapons that they can use against infantry (they also use it against other vehicles, for little effect). Light tanks get a dinky light-machine gun that fires extremely often and does little more than just the main gun, medium tanks get a "heavy machine gun" equal to about that of a rifleman's gun, and heavy tanks get a modified flamethrower that's better than a rifle, but is definitely not a flamethrower. It's like 1/3rd of the flamethrower. It's mostly just for how cool it looks whenever it attacks ;]

Oh, and be assured, it's not that overpowered. 3 bazookas can still obliterate a heavy tank, they'll just lose one or two in the process.

Nuclear weapons are also harder to get. If you could make infinite number of nukes with only $2500, the US wouldn't be in debt ;]

Aircraft have more hitpoints, SAM does more damage, sea transports only carry one vehicle and are really cheap, and yaks and hinds have infinite ammo now. All of the said things here make realistic sense, and are indeed rather balanced.

Oh, and also, allies get grenadiers. Like they should have had ever since 1996 >_>. This makes it so the allies have an advanced infantry unit between riflemen and Tanya.

Oh, and all infantry are the same speed (except Tanya). This helps make sure that infantry march in step when moving.

Oh, and finally, I changed AI. Easy AI is really n00by, and I tried to minimize refinery growth and radar dome growth. See changelog for full details.

And finally, there are new units and artillery adjustments. See above!

Full Changelog / Readme: A full changelog and readme can be read here.

Short Changelog:
1.04: Added more new units, too many to list, and made artillery more long-range. Also changed prices of buildings to promote slower/more significant upgrading.
1.03: Added first batch of new units. Commando, MAAG, Soviet Light Tank, Main Battle Tank, Tank Destroyer, Mammoth Tank MkII, and MiG bomber.
1.02: Smaller filesize, improved gap generator, better MiGs/Longbows, heavy tanks no longer make it EXTREMELY difficult to see, and other minor changes.
1.01: Fixed Medics, balanced MiG/Longbow, balanced artllery (again), added "Brutal AI," balanced some buildings' power, and added tanks to paratrooper groups.
1.00: Overhauled original OpenRA Red Alert. View readme for more.

TL;DR Version: Tanks + Machine Guns + Flamethrowers = awesome mod. Don't bash it 'til ya try it. Oh, and more units. And better artillery.

Download:
Download either at the bottom of the post or at this link.

Install:
Windows Users:
1] Go to Start -> My computer
2] Go to the following location on your hard disk:
. C:/Program Files(x86)/OpenRA/mods/
. NOTE: If you do not have a "Program Files(x86)," then the folder's just "Program Files"
3] Open up the .zip file using 7-zip or other packaging tools
4] !!! IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A "tacora" FOLDER INSIDE OF /mods/, MOVE/DELETE THAT FOLDER!!!
5] Bring out the "tacora" folder into the mods folder
6] You should then have at least 3 folders in /mods/
. cnc, ra, and taco

Ubuntu and/or Linux Users:
- Same as above, but replace steps 1 and 2 with...
. Go to the following location: /usr/share/openra/mods/
- You may need to run "sudo nautilus" or "sudo thunar" to gain access to that folder.

Mac Users:
- I don't have a Mac, you're on your own! D= Sorry

Future!
I always plan to update for major releases of OpenRA, and release bug updates if needed.
The next plan we have is two new factions: Germany and Africa's People's Army or Arab's People's Army. After that, maybe a pre-GDI faction. Stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I'm deeply sorry if this violates any distribution thingies. :P Probably doesn't, but if it does, I will remove this post!
Legal: Don't distribute this modification or any extremely similar modifications of it without crediting me. I'd be very happy and wouldn't care if any of these ideas were incorporated into the actual OpenRA RA release without credit. Would be cool if this mod got some attention, too >_> . Thank you!
Credits: VERY MANY THANKS TO BaronOfStuff for many of the models.
Attachments
tacora.zip
The mod, version 1.04
RECOMMENDED DOWNLOAD
(1.56 MiB) Downloaded 1047 times
Last edited by tacozmeister on Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:17 am, edited 12 times in total.

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zypres1
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Post by zypres1 »

sweet. This can fix the stupid turn over to arties lately. The arties where superior IMHO, and then it got even harder to take out all at the same time.

Do you think we should remove superweapons in one mod?

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BaronOfStuff
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Post by BaronOfStuff »

Hard to say, really. Even as far back as RA95, they can really turn a war on its head, and give the battered defenders a good enough boost to get to their feet and take the fight back... or it can just seal the deal for the already curbstomping aggressors in what might be seen as a 'cheap' move.

Maybe Superweapons could be a simple option in the game setup, with the "IsSuperweapon" tag (or similar) on structures (Missile Silo, Chronosphere, Iron Curtain)?

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

@zpyres Believe me, the artillery still does a lot of damage against infantry and equal damage to vehicles, so it will stop an impending invasion! It just gives a defender less chance of being stomped on by artillery without a war factory.

@Baron Uh, well, ya see, I'd have to do more modifications than I know how to do to add a checkbox on the main game screen. xD the main developer of OpenRA'd have to do it, and I'd just have to follow. I WILL reallow nukes under that variable if it's implimented.
(In the .yaml file, there'd have to be an option like this (building.yaml) pseudocode

Code: Select all

MissileSilo
-- Nuclear Strike
----- Superweapon: true
And the designer of OpenRA would have to have "Superweapon: true" do something. Or someone who knows more than me about modding.)

EDIT: If an overwhelming majority like superweapons, I GUESS I'll add them back in. Currently, AI can't use nuclear strikes, though :P That'd make brutal interesting.
EDITx2: I'm taking suggestions for a version 1.02, I see little else to edit. :P

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BaronOfStuff
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Post by BaronOfStuff »

Oh, I meant if the option could be implemented by a developer as part of the engine, not just as a feature of this mod. Of course, what I'd really like is a 'Tech Level' setting like in RA95, but that's another matter entirely.

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

Oh yeah, tech level'd be cool. Well, for AI, there kinda is a tech level in my mod :P The poor easy AI folk won't build anything past a barracks. x] Basically tech level 1.

I really want AI to use airplanes and sea units, then I could make harder AIs. Waiting for the developer for that. [Hopefully he sees my plight!]

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BaronOfStuff
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Post by BaronOfStuff »

IIRC, the AI will quite readily use an airforce if you set the build percentages to allow them; it takes a while to get there, but eventually you'll see AI aircraft. They're not really much good with it though (but then they never were in RA95, so we're not missing much).

Naval units though... well, we can dream!

Matt
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Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:21 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Matt »

Aircrafts don't work at the moment. He will build them, but never start an attack. Shipyards don't work because of the rallypoint finding function. You need to fix https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/blob/m ... HackyAI.cs to get it to work.

Matt
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Post by Matt »

You don't need to copy all the unmodified mods/ra files and dlls. Just reference mods/ra/* stuff in mod.yaml This way it might not break on every upgrade and your .zip becomes smaller.

See https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/issues/2197 for the superweapon game option feature request.

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

Cmd. Matt wrote: You don't need to copy all the unmodified mods/ra files and dlls. Just reference mods/ra/* stuff in mod.yaml This way it might not break on every upgrade and your .zip becomes smaller.

See https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/issues/2197 for the superweapon game option feature request.
I think I will make it reference those, thank you! I was just stupid and was very unsure as to what I needed to reference when I first created the beta for this, so I jumped in EVERYTHING in case I needed to edit EVERYTHING. I'll be moving things I didn't edit to reference the /mods/ra/ and hopefully that'll work. And make the file smaller. And make my job easier with less copy-paste for the next update. (: I'll bring that with version 1.02 of this mod. I'll also fix it to say "1.02" not "1.00" like it did in the 1.01 version x] I forgot to change it. Argh. Won't happen again! (it probably will xD)

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

Well, I did it yesterday, but because I had a major problem with my computer and had to redo my entire harddrive, I put it up today. No worries, it was all saved [says whimsically] "in the clouds" so it's alright.
1.02 is out now, no big changes, but filesize reduction and MiGs and Longbows have increased swagger. Check out the full changelog for more.
P.S., am I the only one who can not see my amazing picture that took me an hour in Photoshop to make? >_>

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zypres1
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Fun

Post by zypres1 »

Fun. I would like to play this.
It could make som interesting air battles, and the soviet drop is nice. also the heavy tanks.

Could counter the arties well.

I do not see the picture, and can not make the game run on 715-2...

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

The only supported release version is 30 June 2012. It's very likely it will work otherwise, but I can't help you :P I'll fix the image though.

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

Just thought I'd make an adjustment to my mod, to make it better, I'll be adding subteams (countries) to the game which each get unique units. I haven't really decided on units yet, but here's a headsup. I will be adding the Commando back for the soviet's alternative to Tanya.

Added Factions
ALLIES
- United States: Tanya
- France: Longbow
- Britain: Grenadier
- Germany: Tank Destroyer [New Unit]
- Spain: Medic and Spy

SOVIET
- Russia: Tesla Tank and Tesla Trooper
- Georgia: Commando
- Ukraine: Mammoth Tank
- Greece: Flak Truck and Attack Dog
- Belarus: MiG

Are any of these teams really imbalanced? Let me know!

May make adjustments to this later, including making tesla troopers cooler or something, but that's gonna be it. I'm also going to be adding a new unit "Tank Destroyer," which will essentially be a CnC Medium Tank Model (the one with the white piece on it) that has no secondary machine gun, but rather sometimes shoots rockets out of the white piece.
Before it's all set in stone (like when I'm actually ADDING the units), does anyone have any further ideas? I'm going to be needing a Tank Destroyer icon SHP, and i ripped the model from original CnC. I have a .png for the Tank Destroyer icon from RA2, I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone could convert it to SHP for me because I can't really find a way xD.

Come to think of it, and to keep support for this, I think I'll just add in the commando and tank destroyer without adding in factions. Unless more people want factions than not.
Attachments
Tank Destroyer png
Tank Destroyer png
1.png (2.47 KiB) Viewed 18504 times

tacozmeister
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:37 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Post by tacozmeister »

Just thought i'd post my progress on my tank destroyer. So far, works! But uh.. Not really. I'm red but the tank is blue. xD
Attachments
Whats with this.png
Whats with this.png (27.99 KiB) Viewed 18491 times

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