Red Alert meets C&C in the same mod!

[psydev]

Ever wanted to play GDI vs. Soviets? Nod vs. Allies? Well now you can!

I have made a mod that imports the C&C units, structures, etc. into the Red Alert mod for OpenRA.

You can download it here: http://db.tt/OIrOdFJu or here: https://github.com/psydev/OpenRA/tree/cnc_meets_ra
(If you download it in the future when there's a new version of ORA out, you might need to replace the DLLs with what's in the default cnc & ra directories).

Functionally speaking, the mod is basically done. There remain a few loose ends to fix up, however. They're not a huge deal, though. The RA refinery is also in use by both C&C factions, obviously, since they're not mining tiberium anymore. The unit stats are taken from OpenRA's C&C mod.
I haven't played against any human opponents, yet. Let me know how your game goes!

-Psydev

[BaronOfStuff]

Well, you beat me to it!

Surprisingly, the default C&C stats don't result in a totally borked mess of completely unbalanced crap. With some attention and minor tweaks to iron out creases, this has real potential.

A few things though:

• Nod seems to be broken, at least for the AI. They build a Power Plant, then sit there and get raped by the first wave of whatever attacks. I'm assuming it's because they aren't able to build the correct Refinery, as for some reason there are two listed when you allow 'build everything' (along with the War Factory and some other stuff). This might apply to AI as GDI too, but I haven't checked.
• The mix of EVA voices is somewhat off-putting, but I am assuming this will be fixed later.
• Where is my Ion Cannon?! D:

[/list]

[psydev]

Well, you beat me to it!

Surprisingly, the default C&C stats don't result in a totally borked mess of completely unbalanced crap. With some attention and minor tweaks to iron out creases, this has real potential.

The units are very different (e.g. rocket troopers are very different in each game), but I have a feeling that sides won't be too different as to be unplayable.

Well, you beat me to it!
A few things though:
[*]Where is my Ion Cannon?! D:

Ion cannon should work.

[BaronOfStuff]

Ion Cannon now behaves itself in 20130421. Hurrah!

Obviously the AI still has problems when playing as a TD faction, but that's been mentioned.

After some more fiddling around and testing this, I have some suggestions for the finer details...

One minor thing that bugs me is the sound; while I appreciate the 'authentic' approach to having every unit keep their original firing sound, etc., it's strange to hear how wimpy the TD tanks sound compared to their RA counterparts. For consistency these could be changed so that certain TD weapons use RA sounds, but this is just a suggestion. Explosions are generally okay of course, but hearing the stronger TD Mammoth Tank in comparison to the RA version... well, yeah. They just sound like they're blowing out puffs of dust, and it's pretty jarring. These could do with said tweaks:
Gun Turret
Artillery
Light Tank
Medium Tank
Mammoth Tank

Second, the infantry scales. I know it's an early release, but oh god, does this just look weird. TD infantry use the correct size, while RA infantry are stuck with the fuck-ugly resized sprites that make them look 10ft tall. Having the TD infantry use the RA SHPs would fix this, and believe it or not there is actually a Chemical Warrior SHP in the RA files, along with a Commando (IIRC). It's a minor thing, but left as it is it would just look lazy and unfinished. Alternatively you can use the correct RA infantry SHP files, although where this leaves the Sniper unit, I don't know. Maybe I can resize that myself or substitute with another custom SHP for the time being.

Lastly (for now), TD airpower is simply gamebreaking. Having Orcas and Apaches reload mid-flight is ludicrous up against everything else -- I am sure you're already well aware that this particular aspect needs changing, because the lack of any naval power in GDI or Nod forces doesn't matter when you can just harass enemy ground units indefinitely and then airstrike the shit out of anything and everything else.


Still, looking forward to the next version!

[psydev]

Explosions are generally okay of course, but hearing the stronger TD Mammoth Tank in comparison to the RA version... well, yeah. They just sound like they're blowing out puffs of dust, and it's pretty jarring. These could do with said tweaks:
Gun Turret
Artillery
Light Tank
Medium Tank
Mammoth Tank

Sounds reasonable. The turret already uses the RA sound, I think.

Second, the infantry scales. I know it's an early release, but oh god, does this just look weird. TD infantry use the correct size, while RA infantry are stuck with the fuck-ugly resized sprites that make them look 10ft tall. Having the TD infantry use the RA SHPs would fix this, and believe it or not there is actually a Chemical Warrior SHP in the RA files, along with a Commando (IIRC).

Since most people will be modding for RA, maybe it's easiest to make the Nod & GDI use the bigger sprites.

Lastly (for now), TD airpower is simply gamebreaking. Having Orcas and Apaches reload mid-flight is ludicrous up against everything else -- I am sure you're already well aware that this particular aspect needs changing, because the lack of any naval power in GDI or Nod forces doesn't matter when you can just harass enemy ground units indefinitely and then airstrike the shit out of anything and everything else.

Well, Orcas have been nerfed recently, and they take a long time to reload now. They also don't do as much damage. I'll update the game.
It's worth noting though that air defenses are much more powerful in RA (AA guns, SAM sites, E3s, etc.)

[zypres1]

I really want to play this muliplayer with next stable.. Would be soooooo cool, and I guess all players would really enjoy it.. Another thing: I want d2k faction also, but only as one..

But most of all: one playable mod that works with next stable release... Westwood tribute mod? And first of all , I do not care that much about balance... Its just for the fun, and you could have players one your team from all factions, so balance is not that important, just that you have a playable working version...

[BaronOfStuff]

I really want to play this muliplayer with next stable.. Would be soooooo cool, and I guess all players would really enjoy it.. Another thing: I want d2k faction also, but only as one..

But most of all: one playable mod that works with next stable release... Westwood tribute mod? And first of all , I do not care that much about balance... Its just for the fun, and you could have players one your team from all factions, so balance is not that important, just that you have a playable working version...

I'm not sure that the D2K stuff can be implemented faithfully enough alongside RA/TD content without some major tweaking. You say that you don't care about balance because it's just for fun, but there's nothing fun about having awfully unbalanced bits and pieces. Even in a teamgame, the OP factions would just curbstomp anyone not using said factions.

Personally I don't really think it'd be worth throwing the D2K stuff in anyway; the four 'old-school' C&C factions offer more than enough in subtle variety and stick to a consistent visual aesthetic. GDI vs Soviet in particular would be very interesting to see.

[BaronOfStuff]

Just had a thought for an optional extra; replacing the 'identical' cameos for the TD units with unique images. I've got a few of these sitting around (I was going to use them in my own attempt at a mod like this), and will upload a few previews when I find 'em.

Just think of them as a minor visual aid!

[Matt]

I already added them to the cnc mod in https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/2886 but Sleipnir and Psydev reverted most of them.