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I know I'm a big critic of the game's current HUD design and have often sited that it's far too busy with too much info. And I'm well aware of my hypocrisy in asking to add yet another thing to it. But I'm still going to do it because I think there is a bigger issue at stake. The game's audio announcements are absolute ear rape. In fact, it's become common occurrence in matches that so much stuff is just spammed as audio announcements from EVA/CABAL that my brain simply tunes out important stuff. - I've been in multiple games where I leave the base, then come back about a minute or two later to see a building destroyed that I had no idea was destroyed, let alone even under attack. -I've been in multiple games where a building is suddenly destroyed by a nuke I had no idea had been planted. Yes, that includes me being completely oblivious to the planting announcement, countdown announcements as well as the imminent announcement. People come into my room while I'm playing this game and are absolutely astonished by how I understand anything that is happening what with all the random announcements that are happening and overlapping each other. - This also makes me concerned that it is scaring away new players. A number of EVA/CABAL audio announcements need to be cut out of the game completely. Some need heavier regulation to reduce their frequency. "But R3," you ask, "how are we going to know what is happening?" Quite simple! We use visuals on the HUD! As well as new, unique audio notification soundbites that would precede and thereby identify types of announcements before the actual announcement is given (or played in place of an actual announcement for brevity sake or just to avoid repetition). For offensive items, a small HUD element would popup on the side of the screen that would essentially be like a text box. You would see a list of any beacons that are deployed, as well as a countdown timer next to them. When they are added to this list, a visible flash would display to get your attention, perhaps with a notification sound. Obviously, disarming a beacon would remove them from the list. If there are no other announcements happening, the EVA/CABAL audio about a beacon being deployed/disarmed can play, but not if there is already too much going on. Also, the first beacon would have audio announcement priority. If multiple beacons get deployed in a short amount of time, EVA/CABAL would only really announce the deployment for the first one. This would also apply to things like airstrikes and commander powers like cruise missiles. It would popup on that HUD element rather than relying on an audio announcement. And please, for the love of Kane, get rid of all of the countdown audio. Yes, a beacon was planted. I don't need to hear EVA/CABAL doing countdowns from 10 seconds. For one, you can't disarm them after 10 seconds so it's just for an (annoying) aesthetic. For two, if multiple beacons are deployed, then the count down becomes useless as the timers will overlap with each other (often being unintelligible) and you will never know which timer is applied to which beacon. Please, just remove them from the game. They serve no purpose other than audio spam. "Building under attack!" announcements also need to be looked at. Shorten their length and make highly obvious visual flashes and animations on the HUD around their building icon. Long audio announcements like "GDI Tiberium Refinery Under Attack" tend to overlap with other announcements/tie them up because it's just so long winded. Plus, it takes like 4 seconds into the announcement to actually get to the important part - Is it under attack? Is it repaired? Is it destroyed? There should be unique and identifiable notification sounds for all types of announcements that play at the start of an announcement to let you know what the announcement is for. A short series of beeps in a special sound could identify "Under attack" announcements. These would be a different sound notification for "Destroyed" announcements. Is it really all that important that EVA/CABAL announce every vehicle that is created? My bottom line is that I think this game has an over abundance and over reliance on audio announcements. Regulating them, making them more concise and axing the unimportant ones would be a big step forward when it comes to retaining new players.

It's definitely feasible. Players and vehicles have different map icons. In fact, there are different graphics for each and every vehicle. Plus your player dot is different from other player's dots. So it is definitely possible to apply different graphics for different units/players. I don't see how changing the graphic to something more visible would be an issue. Granted, I have never actually seen the code. I'm just making an assumption based off of what I see in game right now.

NvN was interesting the first time I played it. Now I generally avoid it. I would play it if it was more of an "event" rather than a map variant. The game is more fun when two teams with different units fight. But when everyone has the same thing, it's not as fun.

A few vehicles in this game have cameras that are positioned way too close. This makes using them very hard. What makes it hard is that the camera crops out the lower portion of the vehicle, either moving against the ground or the entire lower segment completely. This makes it hard to judge the direction you're facing/moving in. The biggest offender is Nod's flame tank. As it stands right now, it is literally undrivable for me. The turret is larger than the body, and the body is 3/4 occluded by the camera crop. I can't tell which direction the body is facing after I spin the turret. Most of the time I think I'm pointing forward but when I move forward, the tank strafes left or right. Other vehicles I have a difficult time controlling due to the camera would be both team's APCs as well as GDI's Humm-Vee. Though these are no where near as bad as the flame tank. (Another vehicle that has a similar issue is the stealth tank, but that is because I have a hard time seeing which way is "forward" when the vehicle is in stealth mode. This isn't a problem with the camera distance) Pretty much all of the other vehicles, off the top of my head, seem to have good angled cameras.

Yes, I noticed this quite frequently as well. Never thought to report it though.

I've said this before a few separate times: I don't like the "Commander" role in this game. I think that the role that the Commander fulfills should be the responsibility of the entirety of the team. Commander support powers as well as logistical abilities should be possible to any player with a few caveats to avoid misuse/abuse. However, that is a concept for another discussion. This thread is about these Support powers (regardless of if they continue to be used by Commanders or not). Renegade X has made some interesting strides when it comes to modernizing the classic C&C Renegade. However, one thing remains largely untapped: There haven't been any introductions of new base structures. Yeah, they have repair pads, but they are more of a sub-structure. I'm talking full-on, required to destroy to win, provides significant benefit to your team, base structures. >>>Suggestion starts here: I suggest adding in Communication Centers to the game as a new type of base structure. They existed in Tiberian Dawn and would fit in perfectly with this game. The benefit of a Communication Center would grant you three things: CP Accumulation. Destroying a Comm Center would deny the enemy team of a constant trickle of CP. *ASIDE: Balance suggestion: Create a new support power that allows you to spend 3000 CP for a super weapon beacon. This power would be possible even in low-population matches. "Call-in" Support Powers. This would pertain to any support ability, barring super weapons, that rely on "outside assistance." Things like recon planes, cruise missiles, even airstrikes. All such powers would be tied to the Comm Center. Therefore destroying the Comm Center would result in, among other things, denying the enemy the ability to call an airstrike. *NOTE: This does NOT apply to buffing abilities. You would still be able to defense/offense buff even without a Comm Center. You would likewise still be able to plant super weapon beacons as well. Even purchasing one through CP would remain possible. Backup reinforcements. When advanced infantry structures (HoN/Barr), as well as vehicle production structures (WF/AS) are destroyed, you are still given the ability to upgrade/purchase low-tier units/vehicles. This is done for balance reasons and I'm 100% onboard with this. However, I believe that we should reclassify these units as "reinforcements." These reinforcements would be tied to the Comm Center. So, for instance, if GDI loses their WF but retains their Comm Center, they can call in vehicles from off the map at an increased price and production time. But if they lose their Comm Center as well, all vehicle production would become impossible. *ASIDE 1: I believe these same production delay that calling in a vehicle has should be applied to purchasing an advanced unit. This would work by having to wait for a transport helicopter to fly in and drop off a supply crate that only you can interact with. Once you interact with it, your class changes and the crate disappears. *ASIDE 2: If this Comm Center concept is considered, I'd also like to put forward the idea of increasing the types of units that can be called in as a reinforcement. Things like snipers and tanks should still be possible, albeit with the same penalties as other reinforcement units. Maps that do not feature a Comm Center would simply behave as if they do have one. Essentially that means they would play almost exactly the same as they do now. (Basically what I'm saying is that adding a Comm Center wouldn't uproot all of the maps currently in the game right now) I would also like to propose a concept that might make you rethink your opinion on this suggestion. I started this post talking about removing the Commander role and giving its powers to all players. Obviously a balance discussion needs to happen on that but I don't want to do that here. I do, however, want to put forward the idea that CP would become a player-currency rather than a team-currency. That would increase the value of a Comm Center dramatically and make it super important, just as much so as any other structure in the base.

This is the problem, though. The simple concept of making the leader a tangible rank is a bad idea. It might sound to you like it's helpful for new players, but only because you've played the game with the roll in place to know what it is. But most new players probably don't even realize a commander exists or that they are any different from EVA announcements. Then there are players that do enjoy communicating with their team, but feel like there is an unnecessary weight of responsibility that comes with the rank that they simply don't want. This results in the same people taking the roll over and over. And I'm not even talking about buffs or other commander powers. I honestly don't care much for them. If you pressed me, I'd could probably easily be able to brainstorm some concepts to allow all players to use them in a fair, balanced way. But I care mainly for encouraging basic team play and communication. And encouraging new players to participate. Not just blindly do what the pink text says.

"Stalemates" where the most enjoyable matches. I'd much prefer to play a 2 hour game on a single map than play 5 maps for 25 minutes each. Short matches are worthless and just not fun. When it comes to multiplayer games, I prefer ones that simulate loss by making you feel the burden of it. In Renegade's case, the frustration of wanting a match to end after playing on it for too long but being unable to end it because the enemy team is putting up too good of a fight is physical weight that I can feel emotionally. It makes me feel like there is a real stake involved in me putting my time into that match. Not necessarily true. This sort of has connotations to how maps are designed. In some cases, matches will become boring simply because maps aren't versatile enough in their design. Conversely, when maps are too open, it just becomes irritating to play because there are so many ways the enemy can attack from it's almost impossible to defend effectively. Strategy and coordination win matches and the satisfaction from winning a match due to a successful strategy is up there in the top 3 reasons for what makes Renegade so fun to play. I didn't say anything about not requiring leadership. What I am saying is that the commander role, and its necessity in actually winning games, is making it hard for leaders to just fall into place naturally. An actual team leader in Renegade was never really official unless you where playing specialized matches. This made it easy for anyone to simply chime in and coordinate with others. Commanders now are a very specific role. There are players that have reputations of actually being good commanders and it kills the spirit of Renegade since their voice automatically mutes anyone else. If I go to a restaurant, I want to order a single meal and enjoy that. The next time I go, I might get something else to enjoy that. But getting a sample platter of different meals is not enough to enjoy anything. Yeah, the game has a lot of good maps. That doesn't mean you need to play them all every time you log in. Short matches aren't enough to enjoy them.

Player count shouldn't define the ability to use a beacon. Game time should. Or at least some combination of the two. Beacons are stalemate breakers. Stalemates can happen even in low-player games. In fact, it's more likely to happen in low-player games (and personally, low-player games are my preferred way of playing this game). I actually played a match a few months ago that was literally just 2vs2, and it just went on for way too long. Having a beacon would have been better than wasting an hour in a 2v2 infantry only match where each team's bases only had infantry structures left. Beacon usage should be defined based off of how long a match has been going on for as well as some other factors. Mainly: Matches should enable beacon usage after 40 minutes of play. Regardless of how many players are in the game. You can debate the exact time, but I think 40 minutes is fair. Optionally: This timer should decrease based off of the number of structures your team loses. So, if your team only has one building left, it may potentially be the better idea to enable beacons for that team as a means of potentially retaliating.

I don't like any of the commander aspects of the game. I think it removes a large part of the appeal of Renegade's multiplayer. That is to say, we are a team and we all work together, communicate, strategize and execute as a team. Yeah, sometimes some voices end up as the 'commanding' voice, but that all happens during a match. I have fond memories of multi-hour matches in the original Renegade where you just form bonds with your teammates. You learn each other's strengths and begin to trust in the ideas of others. If someone was in that match for 2 hours and they had to leave, you actually felt the weight of that. The commander functions completely remove this aspect from the game. Paired with the increased pace given in the game's balance, there simply is no more room to form those bonds on the fly. Now, you're either a commander and the weight is on you, or you're a no body and should just shut up and listen. And to be completely honest with you, 90% of the time I just completely ignore anything the commander does or says. It's spam as far as I'm aware.

There is also louder sound effects when repairing as opposed to not repairing. However, it works on any sort of repairing. So there is no difference between repairing a wall and repairing the MCT. Another suggestion would be to put the repair icon on top of the MCT of a damaged structure. Similar to how you see it above damaged vehicles.

I don't think that is a problem with MRLS balance. If anything, it's an issue with map design. Being able to skillfully curve shots doesn't seem overpowered to me when the opposing team has tanks and infantry that can literally be invisible and tear you to pieces in seconds.

The thing I dislike most about multiplayer is all of the text information being thrown at you. You got chat. You got killfeed. You got radio commands. You got EVA updates. You got polls. You got commander messages. You got server messages/crate announcements. You got more polls. And I still think I'm missing stuff. Point is that I think that this game would be way more fun if there was a way to limit/remove a lot of that clutter. Hide some of it behind opt-in settings. For instance, I like to play the objective and to support my team. I enjoy working together and forming a strategy and executing it. But I really dislike the idea of having a commander and generally that whole segment of the multiplayer. No longer can you just suggest an idea and get some people onboard with it. Now, if you're not commander, stfu. It kills all the teamplay incentives for me and I look at those commander polls/messages as spam and just ignore them most of the time. Basically, when there is too much information, the important stuff is drowned out and you're left wondering when the hell they managed to sneak into your base and blow up your power plant.

My point was that the most important thing at any given point is how much health you are currently losing. Being able to see match dependent info at a glance is nice and all, but the HUD's real job is to jump up in front of you, smack you in the face and say "Hey! Moron! You're being shot at!"

I'm pretty much against any non-vital information being added to the HUD. I already find the amount of info to be too much and confusing. That isn't to say there shouldn't be a counter available to view though. Just not on the HUD. This goes for proximity mines as well. That sort of detail information isn't vital to your surroundings and immediate attention. Put it in a sub-window, like the scoreboard where you can call it up when you need to see it. What's more important? - The number of mines your team has placed. - The buildings that are being attacked. - The amount of health you are currently losing.