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#1
22-08-2007, 18:48
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Meta C&C
The campaign structure is changing pretty dramatically from previous C&C games as the team is building on experience from the Battle for Middle-earth titles. The new campaign will add a high-level turn-based strategy game where players make global decisions and then jump into the more familiar tactical battles when armies come into conflict on the global map. "It's a mechanic that, to some degree, has been explored in other games with meta-games including Battle for Middle-earth II, but this is our next generation of that," says Verdu. "Rather than what some would consider clunky territory borders you actually have zones of influence around your bases and the flexibility that you have in customizing armies and moving the armies around on the strategic map really wanted to feel like a natural extension of the tactical gameplay and not just a different type of board game that was superimposed above that." It's cool to see the territorial boundaries being tackled in a different way like they are in Civilization or the real-time aspects of Rise of Nations. While the map will still show the boundaries of existing countries on the global map so that you can orient yourself in the familiar, they'll play less importance in delineating territory. They'll likely be more important in determining the actual tactical map that is played on when two forces collide. "As you employ bases they'll have a radius of influence and a radius of engagement," explains Vesella. "So if units move into that radius of engagement, you'll go down into battle. The radius of influence affects the world such as causing unrest with Nod or growing more Tiberium with the Scrin as their influence grows." As with many games of this type, persistence is key. There have been several great attempts at persistent armies and bases such as Dawn of War: Dark Crusade or BFME II, but they weren't perfect. The solution EA has come up with is for a tier system that must be handled on a global scale. For instance, a tier 1 base might include the standard package of a Con Yard, power plant, refinery and a barracks. You can choose to upgrade the base with power or defense or simply just upgrade the entire base to the next tier for better structures like an airbase. If you end up using that base in the tactical setting and manage to upgrade the whole thing to an ion cannon and space uplink and all of that during a tactical engagement, you won't get to keep it. You'll have to spend the cash to upgrade it in the meta-game. Persistence only sticks if you create it at the global level Strike forces (armies) work in the same manner. You can have a tier one strike force up maybe through Predators or tier two forces up to Orcas or something similar. "So if you come up against a tier 2 Nod strike package that's medium sized, you'll know approximately the power of the group you're coming up against," says Vesella. "If they're not coming with an MCV then you'll know that's all the power they're going to have in their battle because they won't be able to build up to units like Avatars." The number of armies you can have on the global map is still being balanced at the moment, but one of the ways they're combating the grind of having too many things on the map and turns taking too long is the operation points system. This will limit the number of moves you can make per turn. Building, moving, fighting all take different numbers of points so you'll have to choose wisely where to use them and won't be able to do everything at once like you can in a game like Civilization or Total War. Those familiar with BFME II should know that there won't be hero units needed to lead armies into battle, though there will apparently be meta-units that are powerful units that radiate their own influence. EA was reluctant to say any more than that at this point. The story will also be told during the meta-game which should provide an even stronger connection between the two modes of play. "You'll get objectives on the meta-game level that you have to accomplish and you'll see some of the FMV at that level and it should be a tightly integrated experience that we don't think has been done on this level before," says Verdu.
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#2
22-08-2007, 18:49
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New Toys
GDI, Nod and Scrin will all be receiving two additional sub-factions (added in the place of a separate fourth faction, which they didn't want to add) which will come with modified units of those you're used to with new special abilities and maybe some new upgrades along with unique powers and upgrades for each of the sub-factions as a whole. "All of those adjustments and modifications will come together to cater to a style of play for each of the sub-factions," explains Jim Vessella. "So if someone is into turtling or maybe they just like to steam-roll their opponents of units or maybe they're more finesse players that are great with their hotkeys and they like hit and run gameplay, well they should be able to find a subfaction that really is good for their style." At the end of the day you'll have nine styles to choose from in multiplayer and single player campaign. It'll be interesting to see how teammates mix and match all of these variations of the various factions. Unfortunately for us (or maybe fortunately for the size of this article) EA was only showing off a small portion of the new units that will be included in the final version of Kane's Wrath, which will eventually include the modified versions of various existing units as well. We'll surely get to see more in the coming days, but we got a quick peek at some existing units, which happily re-introduces hover and cyborg technology into the gameplay. Most of what was shown was pretty heavily GDI Nod Updates New Units The Awakened: These are the cyborg remnants of CABAL's former army that have risen to assist Kane in the Third Tiberium War. These guys have a welded machinegun on their left arm that is excellent for taking down infantry. While mostly used as anti-infantry troopers, the Awakened also come with a welded EMP cannon on their right arm, which is very effective in knocking out vehicles for other units to wipe up such as the… Specter: New stealth artillery that fits well into Nod's style of play. The Specter can tail other units around the battlefield or hide themselves in a corner just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. With the help of the EMP cannon from the Awakened, they can take out a group of enemy armor units easily. They also can fire over longer distances with the help of the new Shadow Infantry ability called Artillery Beacon that sets a target that the artillery can barrage the radius around that beacon from afar. Sneaky sneaky! Reckoner: This armored personnel carrier is a heavily armored troop carrier used for transporting infantry into defended areas with smaller risk of death. While the Reckoner is moving, units inside can't shoot out of it, but if you use the one time ability to deploy it, it turns into a bunker (and gets an extra garrison slot) and any troops inside can begin attacking everything around them with impunity until that hefty bunker is taken down. Other Upgrades Also mentioned were extra laser upgrades for the cyborgs to give them even greater power on the battlefield along with a sub-faction only unit that acts much like the Black Hand but uses liquid tiberium instead.
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#3
22-08-2007, 18:49
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Zitat:
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Geändert von RedBasti (22-08-2007 um 19:32 Uhr). Grund: Quote-Tags added
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#4
22-08-2007, 18:50
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Some screenies for you.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2...hot1hg5.th.jpg http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/5...hot2da0.th.jpg http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/5...hot3kh6.th.jpg http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/9...hot4qb4.th.jpg I would of posted a new topic but i cant find out where. ^^ Sorry wouldnt let me post it in 1 hit.
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#5
22-08-2007, 19:13
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Zitat:
e.g. : http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/9...enshot4qb4.jpg
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#6
22-08-2007, 19:30
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@Island Monkey: Please don´t forget to name the source. Good find anyway.
IGN-Artikel
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-->Reviews von Gamern für Gamer bei Gamer-Oase.de<--
Oh, isn't there someone else you can annoy? Friends? Family? Poisonous reptiles? - Manfred in Ice Age Geändert von RedBasti (22-08-2007 um 19:33 Uhr).
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#7
22-08-2007, 19:43
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Zitat:
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Hybrid-Darstellung
