The Messiah Returns
i dont know, if this is the right place to do post this, as it isnt a real mod "announcement", its more of a "hello there, im working on something and would like to hear your opinions".
let me start from the beginning: im a TS-fan since it was released, however, as i didnt have internet that time, i just played skirmish. even after getting acces to the net, i never really played it online. now, some time ago i found out, that some of my friends are also big TS-fans and we began playing it on LAN. long story short: there were many things we wantet to improve, so i startet looking into TS-modding. after doing it for some time now, our "LAN-mod" grew and grew. now there is even something like a concept and we have plans for a third side and stuff like that.
the main problem is: i can do most of the coding, but as soon as it comes to graphical things, i suck. i have no talent for things like that, so our mod uses mainly public assets. ok, i did some new cameos, editet animations ans stuff like that, but i will never be able to voxel or create decent SHP-units.
my friends keep bugging me to announce this "mod" to the public as they expect some help from other people to visually spice up the whole thing. i, however, am afraid, that noone will be interestet in helping us, since it isnt even sure, that this mod will hit your taste or will ever be released to the public. the simple reason for that is, that i have tons of stuff to do and can only use very little time for modding (not more than an few hours per week). also, we do not have too much to show. ok, there is a concept, new cameos (a friend of mine helped with the basic desing, you know i suck at things like that) and some recolored anims. the rest is made of public assets everyone here has already seen
uh-oh, i think i talk too much. anyway, here is what we have up to now:
GDI
with the help of the tacitus, the GDI was able to boost their technology to a level, wich allowed safe space travel and many ways to use the tiberium for civil and military projects.
- GDI main forces are stationed on several cruisers in earth orbit, allowing fast deployment around the world.
- they rely on conventional weapons, but are already testing ion-based weaponary such as EMP-bombs or small ion cannons for ground vehicles. these weapons are used by elite units to test them in actual combat.
- can upgrade vehicles on the battlefield to use these new weapons and gain an advantage over the enemy (for example EMP bombs to disable stealth generators and allow precise bombing)
- total air superiority, including interceptors (AA-combat) and transports.
SWs
- Drop Pods: nothing to say here...
- Ion Cannon: same here, exept that it is more powerful, allowing the user to destroy even con yards (dont worry, even the AI builds now multiple con yards)
- Orbital Strike: GDI cruisers fire their weapons on the surface, dealing massive damage to anything in the target area. deforms the area pretty bad, preventing the enemy form rebuilding the base. (game ender, not sure if and how to be implented. for now, it takes *really* long to charge, the building can be seen from far away and even if stealthed due to lighting. the AI sees this building as priority target and will try to destroy it at any cost)
Units
- Mobile Artillery/Support mech: mainly a support unit to disable base defences, offers limited anti air defence and can crush buildings pretty well. can be upgraded to use EMP shells to disable vehicles and buildings.
- Orca Devastator: used to hunt groups of enemy armor, fires a swarm of small heat seeking missiles.
- Orca Interceptor: can intercept enemy aircraft and is used to guard important places and units as they can shoot down pretty much anything in the air.
- EMP Bomber: well, the name indicates its purpose
slow, but well armored this bomber can take out base defences and stealth systems.
Buildings
nothing new here...
Nod
after cabals betrayal and kanes disappearance, the brotherhood fell into chaos. unable to obtain enugh weaponary due to the GDIs heavy controls, the split up in different cells and ceased their attacks. this lead to the public belive, the brotherhood was dead. however, each of these cells began researching tiberium or scrin based weaponary on their own, wich they tested and improved in small attacks on GDI bases. they, however, did not think of these attacks as actions of the brotherhood but more as local riots - a fatal mistake, wich allowed the brotherhood to be formed again as a underground organistion with influence over the whole world, unseen by the GDI. now kane returned (wohoo, surprise) and leads the brotherhood once again against the GDI.
- most of the structures underground, very little can be seen from above.
- advanced stealth technology, they are most difficult to spot in the battlefield.
- weak armor, as they do not posess the materials and facilitys to produce military vehicles on pair with GDI units and thus rely heavily on infantry.
- tiberium-based weapons instead of convential ones, working on high powered proton weapons
- very strong base defence, needs huge amounts of energy
SW
- mutator missile: mutates any organic matter in the impact zone (including vehicle pilots wich leads to their destruction)
- growth accelerator: missile sprays chemicals over the target, which accelerate tiberium growth. this results in some massive crystals shooting up from the ground, destroying anything above them.
- tiberium nuke: same princip as a nuclear weapons, this one uses tiberium instead of uranium or plutonium. it can destroy a whole base in a matter of seconds, deforms and contaminates the whole area with tiberium, making it nearly impossible to rebuild the base. (game ender, same story as with the GDI orbital strike)
Units
well, there is not too much new here... just some little things:
- black hand: flamethrower infantry, i think every one knows what it is good for^^
- proton trooper: advanced anti-tank infantry, carrying a small proton cannon similar to the one the banshee uses.
- scout: cloaked, can steal money and infiltrate enemy buildings to gather intel (still buggy, not sure if i keep it that way)
most other units have new weapons, some of them new images. overall speed increased, armor weakend to make the units fit with the new concept.
Buildings
nearly nothing new at the moment, just a new defence structure:
- Advanced Obelisk: very expensive, needs a shitload of energy and is the ultimate base defence: long range, AA and AG fire, extremely powerful. however, pretty slow ROF and can easily be pwnd by artillery.
some other infos:
as you may have noticed, this mod uses ETS. yes i know, some ppl dont like it, but we do
also, the armor system has been redone. not too much of a change, but makes it easier to give each unit a different task.
there are several graphical improvements, form adding missing active animations (mh... i think, everybody has done this) to edit some anims to make them look better and removing translucenty form many anims to reduce CPU load. (it also looks better this way
)
of course there are many other things to tell about this project, but i already talked too much.
now, if anyone has some unused things that might fit in here, id be happy to take them^^
but, as i said, i cant guarantee you, that this will ever be made public.
also, i dont have any other things to show you right now, as a big screenshot with a few public assets wont impress anybody
oh, and yes, the story is crap, as this was not intended as a "mod" but as a way to have more fun with LAN-games, so we just had to write anything before anybody cries that there is no story... we will rethink and improve it. at least i hope that.
at the end, some credits:
big thanks to LKO for his awesome SHPs!!
also, Denmon for his nod-infantry pack. i resized some of them, i hope this is ok
Stygs for the remade GDI units.
(nothing against the name of your mod, keep it)
