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This thread is to post the confirmed FACTS about C&C4 (from current info released) , so people don't get miss information or make things up. This is to keep things straight. If proof is necessary links will be posted, I'll update once we get more solid info. I would hope this could be stickyed, so people can easily find the up to date facts on what C&C4 will have.
Disclaimer:
All information here is public and thus may not be 100% accurate as pertaining to the Beta, because the Beta is subject to change. This means there will be things here that arn't yet in the Beta. So please take all information here as a General Jist of what the final product will look like. Conversely, all information here was gathered from direct sources, although some may be potentially outdated, are still 100% accurate.
Green= game mechanics
Orange= gameplay features
Cyan= Non-gameplay game features
Yellow= Latest updated information
(there will be fact clarifications in parentheses.)
This thread serves as a one stop shop, so people don't have to go looking all over the place for the Facts.
We Know thus far 2/20/010
1. How 5v5 works, and it's to be the main competitive mode (Called Domination). With unit Cap and putting units near TCN nodes.
-ATM it's only GDI vs. Nod. When u start every player has X# of Command points. These are used to purchase units, when unit is destroyed the Command points used to purchase them will be refunded. It's been said they're slowly regained to prevent quick mass production, also known as Spam. The primary objective of this mode is to secure the TCN nodes by putting units near them. The more units u have holding a node will increase the rate at which ur team captures the node. The more Nodes your team has will increase the rate at which ur team gains Victory points. The 1st team to 2500 points wins. Shooting at a TCN while under enemy control will expedite it's capture, also engineers can repair it while under your command to expedite the capture.
Both teams start with 0 victory points. Thus battling over the TCN nodes is the way the game is played,. Each player has 50 Command points to work with to train his army.
At the moment there are Typically 5 Strategic TCN Node points on a domination map. Thus having the majority is the main objective of this mode. Which allows your team to gain points. If both teams have the same # of TCNs, no victory points will be rewarded.
1.1 How 1v1 worksThere are several ways to play C&C4 which allow you to play with a large numbers of units, such as Custom Match and Campaign. Currently, in a 1v1 match, a player has access to 250 command points, which is equivalent to around 50 tanks, or 80+ light units, and 50 structures. As you can imagine, holding a battlefield with a force that large will test even the best micromanagers’ abilities.
Thus if there are fewer players, the more command points each player gets. [/b] 5v5 is 50 each, and 1v1 is 250 each. ATM this only happens if your in a 5v5, and all your team mates leave, giving you their CP.
But since this is the beta it is likelly to change. ATM in the beta a 1v1 is 90 CP
1.2 Game modes:
- Apoc has confirmed as of 1/16/10 that Domination will be the only official game mode that is shipped with C&C4.
This means as of that date, no other official game mode is in the game yet. Thus there could be more, but they are not in the game yet. Or this is the straight truth, and Domination is the only official game mode, period.
Direct quote:
Apoc wrote: The current mode in the multiplayer beta is the only mode slated for release at launch as of right now. Not to dash hopes, or necessarily build hopes, just telling you upfront so expectations are set.
-APOC
2. Crawler function and features, Must be Deployed to produce units, and has repair radius while deployed. it can build units when moving. but will not deploy units if its not deployed, storing them in it self up to 4 vehicles or aircraft.
-The Crawler can also crush units, but takes slight damage while doing so.
-Crawlers Can't be captured, because they are your central seat of command.
- They Respawn in protected areas.
2.1 Crawler Spawning. the ability to deploy on top of anyone in your deploy zone. Your crawler will land right on top of them as GDI, or burrow up from beneath them as Nod, totally destroying anything in the vicinity. Your deploy zone is also outfitted with defenses for those pesky folks who want to sit just out of range. There are a few other mechanics which also play into this, but they’re still under wraps for the moment
-]When players enter into a match, a team has a short amount of time to choose class and deploy location before the match officially begins. During this time, you can see the class that your teammates are deploying as, as well as their deploy location within the spawn zone, and discuss early-game strategy.
-[Capturing an Uplink Tower will allow you to spawn your crawler closer to the TCN nodes.
2.2 Switching ClassesClasses are chosen any time you deploy your crawler. When a match begins you’ll find yourself placed over your team’s deploy zone with nothing on the field. At this point you choose from any of the three classes on your faction, and then select a place to deploy anywhere in that deploy zone. If you want to change your class mid-match, you have two options. Sending your crawler to be killed by the enemy will present you with an opportunity to redeploy. If you want to change your class without tossing a bunch of experience at your opponent you can self-destruct your current crawler, which will allow you to redeploy as any class back in your deploy zone. Self-destruct takes a few seconds, so your enemy might still have a chance to kill your crawler for experience while it goes through the self-destruct sequence. The goal is to make switching classes very fluid, so that you can adapt to an ever-changing battlefield with limited downtime. Some upgrades, like tech levels, even persist across classes!
2.3 Crawler Weapons: Each crawler has a different weapon style that plays into the playstyle of the class itself. Offense crawlers, for example, are upgraded with guns, cannons, lasers, enormous fireball launchers, armor, speed, and stealth, all things that allow them to get in, do damage, and escape. Defense crawlers are upgraded with advanced repairs, stronger shields, and long-range artillery, allowing them to set up in an area and fire off a high amount of long-range damage. Support crawlers can heal while moving, fire off an array of rockets, become stealthed, and move more quickly, which makes support the fastest and most versatile crawler, but with the lowest damage potential when alone.
Offense can upgrade with a short range artillary.
3. Combat Mechanics
JohnWE Wrote:
Secondly, Jason discussed the core combat mechanics. It is changed from the previous C&C games, instead of having the top level units be powerful against everything below it, there are more different types of damage and armor. There are four types of armor: Light, Medium, Heavy and Reinforced. There are several damage types, but the main ones are Gun (think machine gun), Cannon (like a tank's gun), Beam (like a railgun or Obelisk laser), Rocket and Blast (flamethrower, etc). Gun is best against Light armor. Cannon is good against Medium but NOT Light. Beam is alright against Medium, but best against Heavy, and almost useless against Light. Rockets are good against Medium and Air and not so useful against others. Finally Blast is good against Reinforced.
The biggest change this would make is best illustrated by an example from C&C3. When you were being attacked by Rocket Bikes, the best counter was to build Predator Tanks. They'd take out the bikes in 3 hits. In this one, the bikes would manage to dodge the cannon shells, but would be much more vulnerable to machine gun fire from the APC. What this will do is make the lighter vehicles much more useful in the late game whereas that was generally dominated by Mammoth Tanks and Avatars.
3.1 Color coded effectiveness indicators
There will be feedback to help you tell if you're attacking the right type of unit to make it clear what's good against what. The mouse cursor will change (differently than a regular attack cursor) when you mouse over the correct unit to attack, the weapon hitting effects will be different, and there will be a line similar to RA2's attack line between your unit and the target.
This will let you know if your using the right weapon types vs. the most effective armor. type.
We’ve gone to great lengths to clarify the combat chain in CNC4. We have detailed tooltips for each units, clearly marking out the functionality of each unit.
In addition, if you have a unit selected, the enemy unit your chosen combatant is an ideal counter to will be marked with “crosshair” icons. Furthermore, if you select an enemy unit, the central UI area displays which of the units within your class are the correct counter to it. It’s a pretty robust system, working hand in hand with our increased focus on affordance (visual design indicating functionality) to create a clearer picture of how the battlefield works.
4. No Classic gameplay elements like eco, harvesting, base building, ,and harassment. Defense class will have some Power management, which will be discussed in 5.1
There will be a form of Tiberian harvesting, for more information, refer to 34
5. Class system concepts
-There are 3 classes they are Offense, Defense and Support.
Each class specializes in a specific unit type. Offense has Vehicles, Defense has Infantry and Base Defenses, and Support has Aircraft. However, all classes still have all 3 unit types, they just specialize in one of them, and their non specialized unit types will be extremely limited. More specifically, Only the support class has Aircraft. The all the factions still have 1-2 vehicles and infantry if it's not their specialty.
Each class is designed to be fully capable of holding it's own. however team cooperation will be encouraged.
support has a few ground vehicles, including tanks. Their tanks tend to have special abilities which improve the quality of nearby allies. They can, of course, hold their own as well, but are that much more effective when supporting an ally. They're tailored to give such aid,with healing and buffing units. In addition, they will have several high tier powers tied to the Crawler, which in their own right are "Super powers".
The Defense class will be good at holding positions. Defensive turrets are very strong and form formidable barriers, unlike recent titles where they have been relatively easy to overcome. Further discussed in 5.2. However, currently they have the Super weapons Structures, such as the Ion Cannon and Nuke.
The Offense class will be the heavy hitters, the Ground Pounders. Good at head on assaults.
-Defense class gets artillery.
For specific unit information, refer to 14 and 30.
5.1 Different Power Bar systems.
-The Defense Class will have a power bar, which is their cap for how many defenses they can build.
-The Support class will build up their Support Power bar over time, which is what allows them to cast their powers. The charge gains more quickly when in combat or actively healing, ensuring that powers will generally be active at just the right time to turn the tide of combat.
As Devs said "Defense players have a power limit in the same way that units have a Command Point limit. This means they can build a dozen or so structures at one time. The defense class certainly brings the most raw strength to the field, as their structures are very potent and they also have a good number of units to control. Their structures can’t chase you across the map, though, so it’s all about placement."
The defense class does not have a way to individually power down their structures. However, if the defense crawler is destroyed, or dismantled, their structures will lose power until they deploy again. Also, if a player changes classes, their remaining defensive structures will stay on the field, but they will be unpowered unless the player switches back to the defense class.
5.2 Defensive structures
Defenses can level up in several different ways. All defenses with weaponry gain veterancy levels as they destroy units over time, improving the resilience of the structure. In addition, all tier 1 and 2 defenses can be upgraded individually. For tier 1 structures, this reinforces their armor, causing any unit that doesn’t do anti-structure damage to do significantly less damage to them in the late-game. For tier 2 structures, new abilities and powers are unlocked on the structure via upgrading, e.g. a long-range rocket barrage or close-range flamethrowers. Some structures have additional global upgrades that can be purchased on the crawler as well, such as advanced shielding technology, which increases shield health and regeneration.
And now it's finally in, but there are no "Bases" to defend)
5.3 Other structures In addition to turrets, the defense player can build an array of supportive structures, including tunnel networks, stealth generators, shield generators, outposts, bunkers, and superweapons. In addition, many of the defensive structures are more than just simple turrets, and the way that you build your defensive grid will have a significant impact on the battles. The GDI rocket turrets, for example, use a system similar to the Patriot Missile System from Generals, allowing them to fire on enemies that a nearby turret can see, making proper creation of your rocket grid a very important gameplay element.
5.4 Structure placement. They’re placed on a grid, similar to the grid we used in Red Alert 3. This has proven to make structure placement much easier and more satisfying. Compared to the RA3 grid, the grid sizes are 50% smaller, giving you much more freedom in placement. Revamping this system has also allowed us to fix some unit pathfinding problems, and who doesn’t love that? You should find that units can much more easily and accurately see and shoot around structures in C&C4.
-Most structures in the game are created instantly on the battlefield when production is completed, allowing a defense player to instantly reinforce any deployed ally across the map. We wanted defense class fluidity to exist, but via a method that is unique to their class. A few structures, namely the outposts for both factions, build up in the world over time, and are created by builder units in the world. These are the only structures that provide additional build radius outside of Crawlers, which can be a huge tactical advantage, and thus they are highly vulnerable during construction.
-Structures are placed around the crawler itself, any friendly crawlers, and any outposts. The outpost is a structure built up in the world by the defense builder units and provides the player with the ability to build in and control multiple locations. In addition, the Uplink Tower, a tech structure, provides build radius when captured.
6. Directional damage Units take 25% additional damage from the sides and 50% additional damage from the rear. Air units do not get directional armor bonuses against ground units, through ground units do gain this advantage over air units. Even area-effect attacks can take advantage of directional armor.
7. Return of Tiberian Flora and fona, as well as mutant forces
-There are viceroids, mutant gorillas (who have melee attacks, named Ironback) as well as a battle buss(Named Scavenger) , armed with 4 machine guns. Trained from Mutant Hovel, Captureable) Also Tiberian Fiends are said to return, not confirmed by EA yet.
-The Visceroid, Forgotten Ironback, and Forgotten Scavenger are all playable units in multiplayer, built from the mutant hovel. Currently these units build instantly but have a limit per unit, allowing a player to quickly replenish their forces from a set point on the battlefield.
8. No playable Scrin in multiplayer But they will be in the game.
9. [color=orange]Burrowing returns, like the tick tank, as well as the sub APC. from Ts. Nod has burrowing, while GDI has hover tech. When a unit burrows into the ground, it can move. Once you detect these units u can attack Burrowed (subterranean) units, but they will have increased armor. (May also be a burrowing ability like the tick tank, where they just digging in, and not move, also, some Nod defense turrets can be upgraded so they can burrow into the ground.
Since you can attack a burrowed unit, it's not the same as Ts Subterranean units. To learn about detection of these units, along with stealth detection, refer to 21.
-Each of the Nod classes in C&C 4 has at least one unit that has a burrowing capability. The Scorpion Tank, Spider Tank, and the Widow form a subterranean strike force capable of dishing out a lot of damage before retreating underground for the Offense class. Support sports the Tyrant, an agile laser cannon that enhances nearby allies and can quickly turn the tide of battle. The Defense class utilizes burrowing in two ways. The Reckoner can be upgraded with a drill tip and additional armor, allowing a cadre of infantry to get into position for an offensive ambush. When upgraded, many defenses can also burrow, allowing the player to hide key structures for a surprise retaliation.
9.1 1 Burrowed units can move about underground and even traverse some map elements, such as cliffs. While most units move more slowly while burrowed, they also gain a bonus to their armor and can only be seen when detection is available in the area, allowing users to use burrowing as an effective means of getting into position.
10. Very basic overview of how the story is set, in 2077 after the Trailer in 2062, where Kane makes TCN treaty with GDI to clean up tiberium from the surface.We're activating TCN nodes, which are incidentally tiberiun nodes.
-The GDI campaign is currently called To Kill Kane which seems self explanatory. It will have a moving, emotional ending whilst being more accessible for newcomers to the storyline.
-The Nod campaign All Things Must End will provide a satisfying conclusion to the story arc for us long-term fans. We will discover the truth behind Kane's plans, it will question whether our actions in the GDI campaign were really 'doing the right thing' and we will get to know Kane better.
11. Player progression by gaining XP points from killing units. There are 20 levels per faction. Each level grants you specific unlocked technologies across all 3 classes. The Devs are still fine tuning what will be unlocked when.
-U get XP for killing units, capturing structures and repairing units with ur engineers, as well as other team cooperation acts.
-GDI XP points separate from Nod. So you can max out on GDI, but stay at level 1 for Nod. Will need to play as Nod to level up.
-]Players can earn experience through a variety of game mechanics in C&C 4. Each enemy unit killed, healed, or damaged gives a player experience. Collecting Tiberium Crystals earns a player experience, in addition to the all-important important team upgrade points. For the Support player, when their buffs or debuffs contribute to damaging or destroying an enemy unit, they earn experience. Earning achievements also grants experience, with harder achievements granting up to four times as much XP.
Each level of player progression requires the same amount of experience, making for a constant influx of new toys.
]It will take players 20+ matches to unlock a full faction. We are still tweaking the final progression values.
12. Online player progression, to track progress and prevent cheating. There are statements saying they're considering integrating an offline mode. However, it most likely won't happen because there not allowing LAN play.
-Online you and friends can form 'parties' to carry through from game to game. This saves from having to find a game and instruct everyone to join.
-Disconnects = Loss and the player will not gain any XP
-Even if you lose, staying until the end of the match will earn XP, since u obviously killed stuff.
- If a member of your team disconnects they will be replaced by a very competent AI player. The developers experimented with giving you their units or increasing your command points, but this worked out best.
-The multiplayer was described by some as World In Conflict-style.
-the lack of base building and blowing big stuff up was highlighted at Commandcom as something that is currently missing, and the lack of satisfaction when destroying an enemy crawler. These are both being seriously considered
13. New highly detailed damage models have been introduced to the larger units
-Pieces fall off the Crawler, inner workings exposed and the EVA voice becomes distorted when health is low. Damaged Mastodon limping and lurching slowly back for repairs.
14. Special Unit Features.
-There will be some higher level units with multiple special abilities
-None of the T1 units have special abilities, except support.
-All flame weapons in the game (and there are a lot of them) leave behind a flaming patch of ground when they fire on a unit or area. The flames in that area continue to do damage to any unit sitting in the flame over time, and an enemy unit that passes through the area will catch on fire, taking additional damage over time, even after they leave. If a set number of these fiery patches of ground overlap, all of them instantly ignite into a bright blue firestorm, consuming the damage over time and hitting anything caught in the firestorm for a significant amount of damage.
-Nod Centurions have a shield that rebounds damage back at the attacker. It will require micro management to out-flank and attack from behind. This means attacking from a different direction will have more effect.
-Nod Scorpion tanks can burrow into the ground, and appear in another place, so they can become subterranean.
-Nod Avenger Tanks leave mine field when they are destroyed.
-The Mutant Gorilla (ironback) can leap onto impassible terrain, and into battle. Much like the Ra3 Sickle
-Some units like Mammoth tanks and Mastodons leave husks when destroyed, which can be captured.
-Some destroyed units leave crates behind, which allow u to upgrade ur units. For example, u can get an extra barrel for a tank.
-some units have brighter weapons, which will make night fights look better
-The Hammerhead can be upgraded with Berserk, a timed ability which massively increases the rate of fire of the unit, but decreases its movement speed and chance to hit.
Nod has two different units that hijack enemies – the Hijacker and the Cyborg Commando.
-When the Nod Commando is brought down to 0 health, he respawns in a legless form that can crawl quickly across the ground. If he reaches melee range with an enemy, he paralyzes the enemy in place and carves himself an entry into the vehicle. When the Cyborg Commando takes over a vehicle, it hits maximum veterancy immediately.
-The Hijacker is a quick, light infantry unit that can also capture enemy vehicles in melee. She has less health and speed, but is augmented with a variety of helpful abilities, including an aura that scrambles enemy weaponry and a powerful virus.
When a hijacked vehicle is destroyed, the Cyborg Commando or Hijacker pops out, ready to take over another target.
-Flame tank can use a short blast fire boost, which temporarily increases it's speed.
-The Nod Salamander can drop waves of fire directly under it, which spread in a circular pattern.
-Sandstorms are hovercraft with gigantic missile launchers on them. They can be swapped between faster-firing single target missiles, and slower missiles that do area-of-effect damage. Putting eight of them onto area-of-effect mode and strolling them up to a pitched battle to bombard an enemy force usually results in a quick explosive death for whatever targets are chosen.
-Zone Captains, call down pin-point Ion Cannon strikes on their targets. This does considerably less damage than you'd expect to most units
14.1 Unit Design Descriptions.
For Official Unit Profiles go here:
http://www.commandandconquer.com/factions As of now there's:
GDI: -Crawlers
-the Mastodon
-Orca
-Sandstorm Hover MLRS
-Hunter
-Titan
-Refractor
-GST
Nod: -[Salamander
-Flame Tank
-Cyborg Commando
-Crawlers
-]Stealth Tank
-Obelisk of Light
-corpion
-Avatar
Here are the posted Unit Descriptions:
-The Mastodon is a slow-building, high CP, long-range artillery unit (especially good against structures) that can be upgraded to do AOE damage around itself. It is susceptible to fast-moving units, and especially those armed with laser weaponry. It has chin mounted cannons, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles on the back, and if your favorite Jedi tries to run underneath it, the sides open up and death charges are dropped.
The Mammoth is slightly faster and does additional damage to medium-sized targets, such as your average tank, and also has a special weapon known as the “taunt laser.” Any unit that the Mammoth is firing on is forced to fire on the Mammoth, and with an upgrade that gives the Mammoth reflective armor, this can be deadly for enemy forces.
-Nod Underminer artillery fires into the ground, the shell travels underground and comes up underneath enemy units. Thus u may not know where its shooting from.
-The GDI APC, called the Armadillo, is a heavily-armored, slower-moving vehicle with a powerful gun mounted on the roof. The Armadillo is best used to drive directly into enemy territory, especially when upgraded with a reflective dozer blade, allowing it to carve out a swath of damage.
-The Reckoner returns as the Nod APC, a rapid-transport system that units can only fire out of when the transport is deployed.
it gains both a range advantage and additional armor when deployed, and can burrow, allowing it to get into position with minimal difficulty or pop up unexpectedly behind enemy lines.
-The engineer has received much more focus in C&C4, becoming a multi-functional unit that can fill several roles. Though fragile, the engineer can heal any nearby units, even from inside of transports and garrisons. Both engineers use a low-damage, fast-firing, area of effect weapon especially good at destroying enemy mine fields. Engineers can detect stealthed and burrowed units, traverse cliffs, and capture the husks of large units as well.
-The Firehawk is one of the fastest and most fragile units in the game and can quickly drop a payload of anti-aircraft rockets and anti-ground bombs before needing to re-arm (which occurs more rapidly in the presence of the Crawler)
-The Hammerhead returns in a much beefier form as a heavy assault gunboat for GDI. Armed with dual rocket packs and a nose-mounted gattling gun, the Hammerhead can dish out a large amount of damage to light and medium targets.
Both GDI and Nod Offense players will have access to a unique Commando unit.
-Infantry assigned to the GDI Commando section are the most elite of the GDI combat infantry divisions, capable of dual-wielding weaponry with astounding accuracy, and trained to pilot any GDI ground vehicle with expert precision.
- In parallel, years of advanced cybernetics Nod research has produced the powerful Cybernetic Commando, a hulking, laser-armed monstrosity that will continue to do battle even after loss of life and limb.
-The GDI Spartan Tank,, has less health than many other tanks, but turns into a stationary turret on death with heavier armor.
-The GDI Rhino Tank is a long-range artillery that constantly fires off low-level sonic waves around itself when deployed, slowing and damaging enemies.
-Nod’s toys are even more fun, including the damage-reflecting Centurion and an enormous Tiberium vein detonator called the Aftershock.
-the Kodiak, sports three triple-barreled artillery cannons capable of laying waste to ground forces at range, as well as an array of anti-aircraft guns that can chew through light aircraft. When upgraded, the Kodiak can transform, becoming much more heavily defended, faster, but unable to attack. When in this defensive mode, it also grants an armor bonus to nearby allies. On the Nod side.
-The Leviathan mobile command facility can launch enormous fireballs from three devastating flame launchers and houses a hanger bay that can be upgraded with a wing of swift fighters.
-the Avatar continues its role as an anti-tank walker, weak to concentrated blasts from powerful laser units. The Avatar can be outfitted with up to five cannons when fully upgraded, allowing it to do some significant damage to enemy forces. As it is damaged, these cannons are blown off of the Avatar, significantly increasing its speed with each cannon lost and allowing the player to retreat the unit to repair and re-arm.
-The Nod Salamander is a capitol sip armed with 4 rocket pots. Each rocket pod has a 90 degree turning capabilities, this means that if the unit is optimized if it's in the center of the action. Thus if you use it to attack units in one direction, it will only be able to use 2 of it's corner mounted rocket mods.
To see this unit in action, go to the 11/09 BCPT in the Birth of a unit section.
-The Zone Infantry have taken on many new additions into their aresenal. Basic Zone Infantry can be outfitted with anti-light, anti-tank, anti-air, or anti-heavy weaponry, and higher-tier Zone Infantry are excellent at taking out structures and doing area-effect damage. Many Zone Infantry can sprint, giving them faster speed and a chance to dodge enemy attacks, and can be upgraded to cliffjump and heal rapidly when garrisoned. In addition, Zone Infantry often have unique weapons and abilities. The Zone Lancer can deploy a laser platform, increasing range and armor, while the Zone Captain fires down a mini-ion cannon which can EMP enemies when uplinked to the main Ion Cannon.
15. Cinematic
-*In previous games the camera was largely static in the same position throughout the campaign and other characters addressing you were also standing still for the most part. In C&C4 the camera will move through the set, down corridors, swing round to reveal new characters talking to you etc. It will be much more engaging, exciting and realistic.
-The newsreaders have been replaced with citizen journalism via the 'Aggregator Hub'. This interface that should ultimately mimic the in-game UI will flash up You Tube style footage and blog reports to further connect you to events on the ground.
16. Single player/ Mission Design
-will be far less linear and allow for alternate strategies. Heavier reliance on the enhanced AI to adapt to your strategies rather than sending x buggies and y scorpions every 4 minutes.
-AI respects line of sight, fog of war and has to scout to find your location.
-The tech-tree is no longer limited per-mission, but based upon what you have unlocked with your XP.
- Co-op is available, but singleplay will not team you up with a useless AI commander like Red Alert 3. The difficulty is ramped up in co-op instead.
-No Commando type missions.
-The Dev team has said there will be around 10 missions per faction, as well as 3 introductory missions as GDI, and a bonus mission if you preordr.
-The Player (or Players, in co-op) will encounter a wide variety of objectives throughout the Command & Conquer 4 campaign; from rescuing endangered VIP’s and escorting civilian convoys to defending downed spacecraft and investigating ‘Scrin-esque’ signals emanating from the Tiberium Control Network itself.
-While we share a lot of gameplay elements with MP – notably the Crawler system, respawns (which are limited in Campaign), Tiberium Crystals as an upgrade mechanic and the proximity method for capturing Tech Building – we have applied one of the key tenets of CNC4’s design, Player choice, in a very different, campaign specific way. Simply put, once you hit the campaign proper you’ll find each mission to be less a sequence of scripted events than an AI driven “possibility space”, populated by a variety of custom design AI entities – not just the skirmish AI - with varying allegiances, creating what we like to think of an “AI ecology” in each mission. We then layer objectives – not all of which involve labs – and some light scripting over the top, and let the Player get down to business. Since everything is reactive and AI driven, completing an objective is less about working out what the designer wants than taking in the situation at hand, making your choices (class, what units to build, what tactics suit your play style) and then taking a stab at it as you see fit. We take it as a mandate to accommodate your choices, no matter how out of left field they may be.
-The Crawler was instrumental in kick starting the new design process described above – by providing each Player with a mobile base, we are no longer able to so accurately predict Player location and critical path, which in essence invalidates standard scripting as a method for gameplay generation. Combine this with the class system, which means that we can’t even predict what units the Player might have, and AI was pretty much the only route to go.
- without giving too much away, there is a lot of internal conflict on both the Nod and GDI sides throughout CNC4.
-Depending the mission – some have multiple spawn points across the map, others limit you to a specific starting area and others again allow you unlock additional spawn points as you progress through the mission. The Objectives themselves do not vary based on spawn point, but how you go about completing them does vary.
17. Falling Units do Damage Some do, yes. We’re currently tweaking which aircraft apply crashing damage based on balance and what feels fun.
18. Infantry come in single units, not squads. Infantry appear as single entities in C&C4. This helps improve gameplay by way of better performance on low-end machines, better unit readability and easier unit control. We’ve moved all GDI infantry into hefty power armor, while Nod is making heavy use of cybernetic technology. Even the engineer has better equipment. (I like to imagine he’s still wearing that yellow hardhat under his power armor.)
19. Neutral Tech Structures We have a variety of tech structures, such as long range cannons, structures for infantry to garrison, and many others still in production that we are not yet ready to reveal. One of my favorites grants your team a forward deploy zone, which can be strategically crucial.
20. Command functions, Hot Keys & on screen selection
-There will be a Follow function allowing units to follow other units. For example, you can set an engineer (or another healing unit) to follow a specific unit. The engineer will prioritize healing to that unit automatically as it follows it around, once that unit is at full HP it will begin attending to any near by damaged units
Several new hot keys, and several behaviors on existing hotkeys have been added to help players with managing their army in C&C 4. The Q key, which selects all combat units also has a second mode. If the player double taps Q, it will not only select all of their combat units, but all of their units on the entire map. The E key has been changed to select all healer and engineer units on the map. The G key has been added and allows players to set a unit to guard another unit or area. Healing units are especially useful as guard units as they will prefer to heal the unit they are guarding. The R key now selects the player crawler, and if double tapped centers the camera on the player crawler. Additionally, the special ability hotkeys have been changed to use the Z, X, and C keys, to allow players immediate access to the unit abilities.
C&C 4 now allows you to band box select multiple defensive turrets to give orders to all of them at once. You can also select multiple structures through shift click, and any of the other multi-selection mechanisms in C&C 4. However, defensive turrets are not included on the various unit selection hotkeys, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally selecting your structures.
21. Stealth and burrow detection. First, far fewer units will have stealth detection, making stealth and burrowing a much more important, even necessary, element in Nod’s arsenal. Second, even when a unit is detected, it retains a buff. Detected burrowed units, for example, have extra armor, while detected stealth units retain a level of “concealment,” causing enemy fire to periodically miss the target.
22. Crushing : Currently it is very limited, to Big T3 units, which can crush small T1 units. Other than that, there is no crushing in the game. This is to ensure unit counters are used, and not just negated by crushing.
23. Disc not necessary In addition to their being an online download, as evident by the preorder option, u will be able to play C&C4 on your computer without the need to have the disk in to launch the game. Once it is installed, u can play without the need of the disk. This may be impart due to the fact that the online player progression will keep track of everything.
Since your profile will be online, u need only find a computer with the game installed, be it yours or your friend's.
C&C 4 will be available on digital download services, such as the EA Store and Steam.
24. Unit Veterancy, and other pick up bonuses. In CnC4, veterancy is gained both from picking up green tiberium cores that are created when units die or are dismantled, or by killing enemy units and structures. In both cases, the unit gains damage reduction for every point of veterancy. A high-veterancy unit can withstand quite a bit of punishment! We have moved weapon damage bonuses off of veterancy and onto blue tiberium cores (a mechanic unique to the Offense class), structure upgrades, and global upgrades, to provide for a wider variety of potential upgrade mechanics and unit customization. Veterancy is still being tuned through balance play-tests.
-So the Blue crate gives veterancy and healing, while the green is offense class exclusive, and will give a weapon upgrade, like a 2nd barrel for a tank.
-There is a neutral tech structure that produces both veterancy and add on offense crates.
25. Accuracy Depends a lot on unit and weapon type. For the most part, cannon weapons have a chance to miss when the tank is moving, while rockets have a chance to miss against moving targets. This makes for a very different micromanagement priority system when using one type of unit versus another. Upgrades can be purchased to mitigate the chance to miss, and some units, like the GDI Commando, are so elite that they never miss their targets.
26. Air unit reloading There are several different reload mechanics in CnC4. Some units fire in a burst and then reload single shells or missiles over time, allowing a player to get in, fire off a burst, and get out to fully restock. Many machinegun-using units have a “fast reload” ability, that reloads their gun clip at an accelerated pace, exceptionally effective when used near the end of the clip. The fastest units in the game are the speedy Vertigo and Firehawk bombers, which have a very long reload time but reload more quickly in the presence of the Crawler. These fixed-wing aircraft will always return to the crawler after dropping their payload, but do not have to dock to re-arm.
27. Reverse moving Reverse-move no longer slows down most units, with the exception of hover units and most aircraft, meaning that it is now an effective way to keep the enemy units spaced apart as they attempt to follow your mass of backing-up tanks, and allowing the player to funnel the enemy more effectively into a cone of damage. Units with slower-than-fullspeed reverse move generally have other advantages, such as cliff jumping, to make up for the lower in-combat maneuverability. In addition, many units can only fire in front of themselves or have a turret that takes time to turn around. When using these units, you will always do more damage using reverse move.
28. Garrisoning.
-Players cannot garrison the structures or units of other players. When we investigated this feature, we found several issues, including general player and UI confusion, units becoming “lost” when the garrisoned unit was sent to a remote location, and griefing potential, which ultimately resulted in the current system. Some structures, such as the tunnel and many neutral structures, are usable by all players on a team.
-Destroying a garrisonable structure will clear it in Command and Conquer 4. Pre-placed garrisonable structures will rebuilt over time, so the loss of potential defensive power in that area is only temporary. So, there are no degarisoning attacks, like in c&C3.
29. Support powers
Both GDI and Nod have a full array of 15 unique support powers, which include summoned units, sonic artillery, Tiberium vein detonations, Firehawk Airstrikes, powerful buffs and debuffs, and even the ability to shut down the enemy team’s radar and spam randomly-placed team beacons to confuse them!
-Nod can hack your radar, to show inaugurate information
-a max-tier support power calls in an elite squadron of Firehawks capable of doing a large amount of damage to all units in an area.
30. Unit stats from Commandcom
Here's a unit breakdown of all the units that we saw in C&C4. Only Tier 1 Support and Offense classes.
GDI Offense Tier 1:
CP Name Time Armor Weapon 3 Engineer 10 Light Repairs Units and Captures Buildings
3 Talon 15 Light Rocket
5 Hunter 25 Medium Cannon
5 Wolf 25 Medium Gun
5 Titan Mk.2 25 Medium Beam
3 Bulldog 15 Light Gun
3 Striker 15 Light Beam
GDI Support Tier 1:
3 Engineer 10 Light Repairs Units and Captures Buildings
5 Orca (air) 25 Medium Rockets
3 Spanner (air) 15 Light Repairs Air Units
5 Sheppard 25 Medium Cannon/+25% Dodge Buff to close units
5 Hurricane (air) 25 Light Gun
Nod Offense Tier 1:
CP Name Time Armor Weapon 3 Engineer 10 Light Repairs Units and Captures Buildings
3 Raider 15 Light Gun
3 Rocket Bike 15 Light Rocket, duh.
5 ____ 25 unknown unknown
3 ____ 15 unknown unknown
5 Scorpion 25 Medium Beam
5 Avenger 25 Medium Cannon
Nod Support Tier 1:
CP Name Time Armor Weapon 3 Engineer 10 Light Repairs Units and Captures Buildings
5 Marauder (air) 15 Medium Gun
5 Scalpel (air) 25 Light Repairs air units
3 Venom (air) 15 Light Rocket
5 Cobra (air) 25 Medium Cannon
30.1 Unit listing and labeled pictures.
Here is the list, with pics of the specific units.
31. Volp features EA will be using Vivox voice services to allow players to use microphone features in game.
32. Supper weapons
The Ion Cannon has a total of six charge states, with the final state taking about three minutes to charge up. A max-charge Ion Cannon is capable of decimating any small and most medium-sized units caught in the blast, and anything that survives will be EMP’d for a significant period of time. The Temple of Nod has received a similar facelift, and now constructs a missile in three distinct stages. At its base level, the missile does a good amount of damage, but over time Tiberium vapor pods are attached, creating a large, corrosive and damaging cloud at the blast site. If the missile is allowed to charge up to max-level, it gains a Tiberium catalyst, which arcs deadly waves of Tiberium across any units foolish enough not to avoid it.
-Each superweapon takes a total of 4 minutes to charge to maximum power. However, after only 40 seconds, you can fire off a weaker version of the superweapon. The GDI Ion Cannon has a total of 6 charge levels, with it taking 40 seconds for each level. So, the longer you wait to fire your superweapon, the stronger it gets, until it reaches maximum strength after 4 minutes.
33. Carma Zooming: We looked extensively at the in-game camera and came to a few conclusions. First, we wanted to see more of the battlefield at a glance, so we pulled the camera back quite a bit. Second, we felt that the camera angle on RA3 didn’t provide enough visibility of the horizon, which is key to seeing what’s approaching your column of deadly forces, so we brought the pitch angle down a bit to allow you to see more of the physical battlefield. Last, we looked at the art style afforded by the camera, and made some slight adjustments that you’ll only see when you play the campaign, which allow us to create a more cinematic viewpoint as the story unfolds.
- Also as said in the 11/9 BCPT there will be 2 zooming modes. the 1st is for singleplayer, which brings the camera pitch (angle) closer to the battlefield. the second is multiplayer, in which it's normal angle, but zoomed out 2x of Ra3's standard zoom. [/color]
34. TechingThere will be a limited Tiberian harvesting economy. Players will be able to gather Tiberian crystals with some units from designated map locations. The unit brings the crystal back to the Deploy Zone, which converts the crystal into credits, which are then used for upgrades & Teching up.
Also, tiberian gained by one player is shared by all team mates, thus according to Raj, theoretically only one player Need collect these crystals, since it is shared by all.
-The Idris Corporation lifter, used by the Tiberium Control Network returns (relatively) stable processed Tiberium to the battlefield or construction area where it may be of use.
-You retain all of your upgrades when your Crawler is destroyed, but give the enemy player a significant boost in points and map control.
There are 3 Types of Tiberium Crystals.
Green gives one upgrade point, Blue gives 2 upgrade points, and Red gives 5 Upgrade points.
Apparently in the campaign a unit need only pick up the crystal to process it.
35. Weather Effects:In addition to Ion Storms, there will be several other effects, like snow.
-Ion Storms will do damage to both ground and air units, but will not be as effective on aircraft as in previous games.
36. Unit Scaling: When we look at unit scaling, the first thing we ask is: will this unit/structure/object be readable and readily distinguishable at game height? Cues given by the shape of the unit and its weapons are key to creating an understandable gameplay experience, especially in the heat of battle, and we want to make sure that these cues are easily visible to the user. This is generally when we establish when a unit is “too small” or “too large.” After some balance work is done and most of the art is in, we go back and take another look at the units. This time, we’re looking to ensure that the size of the unit is appropriate to its attack power or defense, and that the unit sizes amongst different size categories can be differentiated. We’re just finishing up our second major resizing pass on units, and will continue to make slight adjustments as we polish everything up.
37. Upgrades:
There are two different types of unit specific upgrades. Each player class has a set of upgrades at Tier 2 and Tier 3 that affect a single type of unit on that class. If you like using Flame Tanks, Nod Offense has an upgrade for them which provides an additional special ability which provides increased speed, and causes the flame tank to leave a burning trail of flame behind it. In addition to these upgrades which are purchased using your upgrade points, there are upgrades on individual defense structures unlocked at Tier 2 that provide additional weapons, armor, and special ability to the structures. The Nod Tier 1 defenses can be upgraded to burrow under the ground, allowing you to hide a base underground, and then unburrow and surprise your enemy when they come near.
38. Match length
Matches average 15-20 minutes, but can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as an hour, depending on how dominant each team is.
39. Achievements,
There will be about 100 achievements in Command and Conquer 4. They range from easy (Raise 5 Hunters to heroic veterancy) to hard (Destroy 7 Crawlers) to just plain fun (Deal 1337 damage in 5 seconds with a single Mastodon). All achievements will also give you additional XP to help you level faster!
40. Beta Uplink Series:
This is official EA content to get players familiar with the new style and play of C&C4.
For previous Uplinks simply go to the bottom of the page, and there is a list there.
41. Beacons: The beacon system in C&C 4 has added a new context-sensitive feature. For example, when you place a beacon on an enemy unit or crawler, it will say “destroy”. When you place it on a Tiberium Crystal or a neutral tech structure (like the Uplink Tower) it will say “capture.”
42. Characters:
-LEGION will return as a supporting role as the Nod AI EVA.
43. Countering Specific Units:
-The Mastodon is a very powerful unit and can be difficult to counter at first. Any support unit will be able to tear apart unprotected Mastodons, especially Basilisks whose chain lightning can hit multiple Mastodons at a time. As an Offense player, Widows excel at taking out Mastodons and even smaller units like Scorpion Tanks and Stealth Tanks have the firepower to knock out Mastodons. As Defense, it is very difficult to counter Mastodons since the Mastodon is primarily an anti-Defense unit, but High Confessors with their chain lightning are your best bet. The reason why most players are decimated by Mastodons is because of the Mastodon’s area of effect weapon. Most players simply right click to attack the group of Mastodons and as the units move forward and try to get in range, they are all being obliterated by the Mastodon’s volley because they are all closely clumped. The trick is to surround the Mastodons (by burrowing, stealth, or simply attacking from different areas), and then make sure as few of your units are hit by each Mastodon’s volley. Once you’ve knocked out 1 or 2, send in Engineers to capture them and use the Mastodons against your opponent.
44. Maps
There are a total of a dozen multiplayer and skirmish maps, set in all of the various regions in C&C 4: Polynesia, PanAmerica, Arctic, and Junktown.
For select map info, check out Uplink part 7 in #40
45. Handy cap:
Currently, there are no handicap settings. Given that the design of CNC4 is more flexible than in previous titles, allowing less experienced Players to get involved in the multiplayer experience without going head to head with top tier micro masters, so we felt that handicap was less necessary for CNC4 and instead dedicated our time to getting the overall game balance as tight as we could.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If u need any more explanation on any points, just say so, and I'm sure someone here on the forum will have your answer.
Thought it was time to set this straight.
Also if you think I'm missing something, or got something wrong, site a source and I will edit as needed.
This will be updated as soon as we get more info.
Source materials: These are just a few of the sources I have read from. If you have any new sources or info feel free to let me know. I can't be expected to find all my sources, but here is a list of quite a few of them.
The last link will always be the most current Dev q&A.
think one of em who played the commandcom version said that the scorpion tank can jump out of its burrowing and grab on to enemy veicels with its claws and shoot em with its laser tail 2.
the aplha was 3 months old when played.
click on the pic i dare u
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2buteHswvBA
Joined: 10/26/08 7:34:16 PM
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If this is a fact sheet, then please do give us the facts on how exactly the 5v5 works?
No unit cap, but a Pop (aka resource) Cap in the form of Command Points - it may seem as a minor difference, but it is different.
What's the Etc'? There's no room for an "etc'" in a fact sheet.
Eco and Harvesting are kinda a trade off, isn't it?
Class system concepts?
Is that also a fact?
Please, do elaborate on those concepts. So we actually know the facts.
Yes - this is what you get when you throw a tantrum and new topic just as a reply to something I said in another one.
So please, and I ask seriously, elaborate on those facts.
Joined: 11/4/08 6:32:14 AM
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lmao seriously>? me throw a tantrum
We argeue over 10 pages and u clearly haven't been paying attention.
This is atempt for me to let u save some face, because u can't explain 2 things u wrote, explain them, and we'll talk further on those subjects.
U were the one losing it, 1st to say Dam 1st to say people who bash C&C4 have irational points and 1st to claim wanting the side barr back has nothing to do with being used to and old classic thing, while refusing to admit those of us who prefer Classic are just like u.
Please, enough with your problem splicing.
U don't buy a cake, eat one slice, and throw the rest away.
However I will expain further, but wanted to make it a quick list, and if anyone doesn;t understand something they just ask. Was thinking people would be detoured by wall of text.
I'll maybe post full explanations tomorrow, it's 2 AM here in LA.
GeneralSGJist wrote:This thread is to post the confirmed FACTS about C&C4 (from curent info released) , so people don't get miss information or make things up. This is to keep things straight. If proof is necessary links will be posted, I'll update once we get more solid info. I would hope this could be stickyed, so people can easily find the up to date facts on what C&C4 will have.
We Know thus far 9/3/09
1. Five players versus five players is the common play mode. Depending on the amount of players in a game the more Pop Cap you get (the Pop Cap is essentially a unit cap in a form of resources called Command Points). You can lower your opponents teams Points by controlling certain buildings, the first team to loose all of its Points looses.
2. Basic crawler function of producing units, Must be Deployed to produce units, and has repair radius while deployed. it can build units when moving. but will not deploy units if its not deployed, storing them in it self up to four vehicles or aircraft.
4. The classic gameplay elements of previous C&C games have been either removed or changed dramatically. Tiberium Fields have been removed, Tiberium Harvesters have been removed, classic building system has been removed for the Offense and Support classes, the Defence class can only construct defences.
5. Class system concepts. There are three different Classes for each faction which are the Defence, Offense, and Support Classes. Each class has its own unique units and unit types. For example the Defence Class uses more Defences and Infantry, the Support Class uses Air units, some Ground units, and support powers like the Ion Cannon, and the Offense class uses Ground Vehicles and Mechs.
6. No directional damage, it uses a unique damage and armour system.
7. Return of Tiberan Flora and fona, as well as mutant forces which act as neutral units on the map which can either be allied with or fought with for experience points.
8. No playable Scrin but developers said they play a minor role in the campaigns.
9. Burrowing returns, like the Tick Tanks from Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. Some Nod defences can even burrow for ambushing unsuspecting players.
10 Very basic overview of how the story is set, in 2077 after the Trailer in 2062, where Kane makes TCN treaty with GDI to clean up tiberium from the surface.We're activating TCN nodes, which are incidentally tiberiun nodes.
11. Player progression by gaining XP points from killing units. 40 levels. Use XP to unlock units and upgrades.
12. Online player progression, to track progress and prevent cheating. There are statements saying they're working on intigrating an offline mode.
Hope I got them all.
If u need more explanation one any points, just say so, and I'm sure someone here on the forum will have your answer.
I'm surprised Cypher hasn't done this, cuz he's been raving about all this miss =information and false info, well thought it was time to set this straight.
Will be update as soon as more info.
I tried to add a little more info to your post, I don't know what the points are called that you have to lower to 0 to defeat the player so could someone please tell me what it is? I also forgot the armour and damage types, so people have to help me out there too.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 9/3/09 9:20:16 AM
Cypher wrote:If this is a fact sheet, then please do give us the facts on how exactly the 5v5 works?
No unit cap, but a Pop (aka resource) Cap in the form of Command Points - it may seem as a minor difference, but it is different.
Would you mind explaining what do you mean by this?
I fail to see what difference it would make.
GeneralSGJist wrote:U don't buy a cake, eat one slice, and throw the rest away.
You do if it's nasty.
Without change we fester, we stagnate, we die.
CommanderT wrote:whenever you lose in a row it shakes your confidence of your own ability. its best to put it down and come back later screaming
WHO DA MAN, WHO DA MAAN!
Cypher wrote:If this is a fact sheet, then please do give us the facts on how exactly the 5v5 works?
No unit cap, but a Pop (aka resource) Cap in the form of Command Points - it may seem as a minor difference, but it is different.
Would you mind explaining what do you mean by this?
I fail to see what difference it would make.
-in C&C4 the more nodes you control the more units you can build. I dont know Cypher he may be referring to the fact that some RTS out there sport a system in which they had an already fixed pop cap, or that it can be gradually risen by building certain number of specific structures, like the farms in Warcraft or the houses in Age of Empires, or the supply depots in starcraft. I can see how C&C4 does follows a different concept from the traditional pop cap.
PS:
-I hope Cypher and GeneralSGJist dont forget to invite us to their wedding. will be checking my email ;D in the mean while I will dedicate this to the happy couple.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 9/3/09 12:29:35 PM
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." - Sun Tzu
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Act 1. Scene V.
easimon1812 wrote:
-in C&C4 the more nodes you control the more units you can build.
No. I've said this many times before. Holding TCN does NOT affect your Command Points. They don't reduce or increase them. In fact you cannot decrease them at all. You can increase the number via an upgrade on the crawler, but that's it.
Chickendippers wrote:I think Stephanovich has super human powers? He's quite possibly "The One".
easimon1812 wrote:
-in C&C4 the more nodes you control the more units you can build.
No. I've said this many times before. Holding TCN does NOT affect your Command Points. They don't reduce or increase them. In fact you cannot decrease them at all. You can increase the number via an upgrade on the crawler, but that's it.
so popcap are not connected to the command points? ok now Im a little confused.
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." - Sun Tzu
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Act 1. Scene V.
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1st to say people who bash C&C4 have irational points and 1st to claim wanting the side barr back has nothing to do with being used to and old classic thing, while refusing to admit those of us who prefer Classic are just like u.
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