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« NEWS ARCHIVES »
November 2003 |
| Freedom! | | - MooMan65 | November 29, 2003 | That's right! Three months of freedom ahead of me now thanks to the joyfull combined Christmas/Summer holidays the Southern Hemisphere gets. 
So needless to say I have pleny of time from this point on to work on YR˛ among other things. The new version of vBulletin is due out very soon and I'm charged with upgrading a few forums to this, also I will be going on holiday with my family in a few weeks time which I'll go into later.
The mod is nearly up to the point in which I will need to begin third-party testing. I have only recently decided on how the tech trees will be structured this time around (thanks in had to the polls on the right which will be finishing soon) and now I actually have to create the new and replacement game objects so the beta testers will have something to test. 
While on the topic of beta-testers, within the next few weeks before I head off I will be sending out invitations to people I believe would make great contributions to the project. These include people currently beta-testing existing C-GEN products, people who have been contributing a lot in my forum topics about the mod and people I generally chat to online often. I'm only going to be considering people who have accounts on the C-GEN Forums because that is eventually where the private beta-testing forum section will be where beta-testers can discuss amongst themselves. I want everyone together so everything can be a collective effort.
But don't expect a beta to be out until after I come back from holiday as I don't want to be away for weeks when testing is in progress as that is a time where I always need to be on hand to answer questions and listen to feedback.
So anyway you will have plenty of time if you want to be considered for testing! Register on the C-GEN Forums and try to contribute what you can to the mod in my section.  | |
| Exam Time! | | - MooMan65 | November 11, 2003 | And so the single most important time of my life so far is upon me. I have the exams that will determine what my life will be like from now for the next few weeks so don't expect any work on the YR˛ (or anything else for that matter.) I will be spending every free moment studying, and any time I have to go online it'll be only to reply to forum topics and emails. Wish me luck everyone!  | |
| Moo's Mumblings 5: Replacement Explanations | | - MooMan65 | November 7, 2003 | It has been some time since I last did some random mumblings, this time I want to explain the choices available in the polls to the right and reasons why I'm doing specific things in more detail than I have in the past. This hopefully will clear up an confusion on certain things you may have:
- Mirage Tank: First off we have the good ol' Mirage Tank. Now the main reason why I'm wanting to replace this tank is how on earth can a fat tank 'disguise' itself as a skinny tall tree? What kind of system could it possibly use? Now off the top of my head it could have been described as using a kind of scrambling system which causes unit sensors to read the tank as a terrain object, and what I would have done is make all infantry immune to this obviously as so far we have not been able to crack the organic eye sensors as we can electronic ones. Not putting this aside, the other choices in the poll are:
- Phase Tank: As explained previously, the Aftermath expansion for RA1 added in the Phase Tank (which was not normally buildable) for the Allies which cloaked in the same manner as the Stealth Tank seen in other C&C games. Now this example is based around the 'evolution' of this technology of the fifteen or so years between RA1 and RA2. Instead of it cloaking at any time other than firing and can be detected by certain units, this evolved Phase Tank cloaks only when standing still, but so effectively that nothing can detect it unless it moves around or fires its weapon. I can understand a tank masking itself to blend in with the background, but not as another object of a totally different mass and composition (trees etc.)
- Stealth Tank: This simply is the exact same thing as the previous Tiberian games, so effectively the Allies kept the exact same principles of the Phase Tank from RA1 and decided to utilise it properly.
- Prism Tower/Tank: I'm grouping these together as they both use the same technology, and I want to explain in more detail as to why I want to replace it. Prism technology is based upon the process of concentrated heat and light to be used as a cutting/melting tool. I'm sure a lot of us did the whole Magnifying Glass melting thing to see what happened, and that is exactly what Prism tech does. The thing is though to see a beam of concentrated energy that is powerful enough to damage the materials used in construction is just WAY too impractical considering you can achieve the same effect through conventional weapons at a much cheaper cost. 'Lasers' (or more accurately; 'Phasers') are used in real life primarily in anti-missile defence systems. The beam emitted is accurate enough to punch a hole in an approaching missile and stop it when conventional missiles are too clumsy. While you can equally use the beam as a ground-based defence, governments never use that as they're too inferior when it comes to tank armour. These beams also only punch holes through their targets, they don't literally explode, so unless they hit the fuel tank of the target most likely it will take many shots to stop a tank in its tracks. The Prism Tower is more accurate here, as the beams destination does not explode on contact while the Prism Tank does. In short, this technology is only best suited for anti-air or anti-infantry defence (since the human body is easily incinerated by a blast), NOT for an all-round defence/offence system.
- Gun Turret: Right, this choice is here as an option to those of you who agree with my statement of conventional weapons being just as effective but available as a cheaper cost. The Gun Turret can be built straight after a Barracks and can literally tear apart armour using explosive shells (here is where you can use explosion animations). The range, damage and speed can be adjusted however you like, I am only talking about concepts here, not the actual stats of a replacement (so all those of you saying 'I don't like this option as this weapon is not effective enough against this target', think again). But anyway this option is pretty straight forward.
- Rail Tank/Tower: Railgun technology eh? Well first let me explain what it is. They're literally mini particle accelerators, using magnetic fields to propel generally Uranium magnetic slugs at supersonic speeds. It's speed allows it to literally punch through any barrier blocking normal weapons, and it travels so fast that the space around it is literally deformed hence why it looks like a beam similar to a laser. Now while again this technology is not used often in real life due to its cost, it is more feasible for general offence/defence category as it literally can damage anything thrown at it. It can be used in multiple ways as well, one way is to pack the slugs with enough explosives so compacted together that the friction caused by the speed does not prematurely detonate it, and it can be used just like an explosive weapon, but instantaneous. The other way is to leave it solely as a slug and fit an infra-red scanner on it and allow users to literally kill the driver inside a vehicle while leave it generally unscathed (certain Sniper Rifles can also travel fast enough to do this, explaining Jarman Kell's ability in Generals). So this option is for people who prefer not to use Prism technology but like having some experimental weapons to play around with. Railgun technology is so much more feasible in certain applications than light beams.
So there you have it. One more thing I'd like to point out before I finish is the whole idea of 'bouncing' prism beams to other targets. In order for a light beam to reflect to another target accurately the reflecting surface need to be perfectly smooth with no bumps or impurities to be seen. Now we obviously know structures and units aren't smooth at all, so it's almost impossible to calculate an accurate trajectory for reflections with so many variables. This also applies to Tesla technology, but I'm not dealing with that just yet. The Railgun technology will make up for this general loss of ability if I decide to replace it by the fact that it can damage anything the slug passes through.
But anyway keep voting! There are still more polls to come later! | |
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