Mystic~

I'd quite like a studio production C&C Renegade II - there's too many niggly irritations, imbalances or poor choices in a small community project and we never quite get the polished game I think many would want to enjoy. Ren-X is the closest thing to a remake of the original and I can't understand why anyone would want to keep recreating it, so many things have improved or moved on and it's being left behind.

I play a lot of Hell Let Loose lately, they use a squad system with commander and squad leaders. I'd much rather just speak with and listen to a few people in the squad than have to listen to the whole team speak at the same time, much of what is said isn't relevant anyway. The squad leads can listen and speak with the commander group in an isolated channel and pass on things like commander orders to go and defend or attack a certain place. The in-built coms system is quite advanced, but maybe Discord could be used to work with more than one voice channel at once unless someone knows how to do this side of things. In HLL there's also a proximity voice so you can pass on information or shout stuff at other players not in your squad if you're near them, things like 'medic' or 'grenade' etc. The organisation structure of teams in Renegade usually means there's one giant rush than say 2-3 different groups working together strategically and tactically to bring down a base. As long as squad leaders are prepared to relay commander orders then things can be followed.

I get caught out by this sometimes (yesterdays testing for example) and I end up waiting around for my none existent vehicle to spawn or arrive. I'd definitely appreciate some sort of simple negative sound effect that plays to communicate that the purchase wasn't accepted.

The silenced UZIs (I think they're still UZIs unless they've been replaced) are a weapon most people tend not to hear when it's being used, it's effective up close on someone you catch out by surprise as it doesn't have long range and usually people use it on anyone standing at the terminals when rushing and infiltrating inside a building so not to make a lot of noise. They're also used to assassinate people outside buildings. The main weapon is still more effective against infantry and light vehicles if you can aim and has much longer range, but they instantly draw a lot of attention because of the noise and many people understand how threatening an SBH can be in groups against buildings. Rowboat's tip about switching weapons instead of reloading is also good at times.

I seem to recall original Renegade had a chat window when accessing purchase screens, I'm sure this is where most of the serious plans were made and discussed between the most influential players. In terms of directing objectives, I'd also like the overlay map to be more interactive, the existing checkpoint system could be expanded in such a way that a commander could add or drag an icon onto the battlefield mini map that then this simultaneously triggers the meta waypoint system for all to see. i.e. Attack this building, Hold ground here. I've also become used to having an interface that can be hidden or fade away and then brought back into view when you need it, gets a lot of interface clutter off the screen, but it's still accessible with the touch of a key. You don't need to be overloaded with things like All Chat, stamina bars, ammo counts etc all the time.

Hey, I'd like the same ability to aim down the sights that the soldier infantry can, zooming in slightly for more accurate and stable aiming with the Menzdoza rifle. His secondary fire blue chemical spam could be moved to the X key function similar to the patch grenade and then you could switch between them. You could maybe do the same Mobius, although I think it's a better fit for doza and his weapon. Or you could turn the third mouse button into alt fire, usually the scroll wheel for basic mice.

I agree, I also think there needs to be an official North American server, I'm an EU player from Britain and I usually like to play from around 8 or 9 pm GMT, but often by this point the main EU server will be full and I rarely have the patience to sit around refreshing the server list so I normally only play in some of the weekend PUGs that I can pre-join. I don't think there's as much confidence in the none official servers, people not willing to seed and there's no sort of queue or lobby to see how many frustrated people are also waiting who could be forming another game server. In the past, some people loved Marathon and were determined to keep going no matter what, as well as people like myself who were happy with a max 1 hour / 45 minute game time and lots of maps and this seemed to encourage a server splitting of sorts. When the EU server naturally died off I would occasionally enjoy playing in the American server and seeing who's who in the Ren community, even if my ping wasn't as spectacular.

This reminded me of Tiberium crystals by @Beeple

My latest feedback, but could not find a flying version, so hope it's okay with just this: I still think the North West side of GDI base needs much more cover, like more barricades and crates, a bit similar to Goldrush as it's too open and exposed, it would still be a snipe fest even with the concrete barricade placed at the bar entrance. The South East side of GDI base I think is also too open, I sort of expect the wall to continue so there's a degree of symmetry, or there should be more rock or something, destroying the refinery seems like easy pickings for Nod, as there's an open hill, track and covered passage with rocks that can be used to sneak, but it's quite difficult for GDI to sneak to Nod's refinery as you must avoid the obelisk which has very good coverage. The infantry footbridge over the lava flow needs sinking into the ground slightly as it's hovering above ground and it feels sort of placed awkwardly. I still think some of the buildings in both bases are a bit awkwardly arranged - the GDI refinery I think should turn 90 degrees and have it's back towards the rocks and move further back and the power plant could be further back also in the base so it mirrors Nod's layout more. I think it's too easy just to run into the back presently. On the Nod side, I think the Hand of Nod could be where that raised cliff is so it's on the same side as the GDI barracks. And the Nod power plant could be rotated a little so it fits more snugly into the rock face. On the GDI side I felt disappointed that the hop-lava-rocks don't allow access to the back of the Weapons Factory if using a tech or SBH etc. I sort of feel the two observation bunkers at the silo should face into the open field somewhere so they can be used defensively and more useful than just facing towards each other at the silo, or maybe you could create others, but they feel sort of odd without a concrete roof or over hanging rocks giving cover. I wish I could run along the whole length of the concrete wall on a raised platform on the GDI base, would mean moving the AGT a bit further back and maybe other buildings to accommodate. There's a small piece of missing black/lava texture on the mini map on the Volcano side, but it's just minor cosmetic. I really hope you can get some sort of play test of this map as it looks just as promising as Desolation and Steppe were.

The following examples would probably work if I messaged you in game. 705 are you buying a tank? / mouse are you buying a tank? So long as there's nobody else with a 705 number in their name or another player using the word mouse, it would work.

I don't see or understand why the Commander role could be considered 'flawed', just because of extra pressure... it provides leadership, planning and strategy to move the game along and prevent it from becoming a long drawn out cluster-****. There's a real hierarchy of leaders in real warfare for which this type of game is based upon. I do agree with em0 about having someone to assist with other areas. I also really like the idea of squad leaders, but it's frustrating to see how much effort is required to create such a thing that realistically may never make it into the game. I play a lot of Hell Let Loose lately, it's also an FPS/Strategy with resources and bases-of-sorts, each team has a commander, some sub-commanders and a series of squad leaders. There's an exclusive voice chat channel just for the commander, officers and squad leaders. The squad leaders can point out rush / attack opportunities and in general commanders that have experience are respected, I suspect they also vent on games where things go badly. If there's no commander, games can still go ahead and depend upon co-ordination from squad leads. There's a text channel for the whole team, but also just for the squad, squads can also use voice with one another and this organisation of communication works really effectively, so you don't get plebosauruses harassing the commander by saying dumb things like "Use the CP!". What really goes wrong in Renegade commanding - a disgruntled team that votes out a commander. I think they should be chosen from the start and stay the full game where possible and only be removed if something serious happens rather frustrated individuals getting upset. Expecting them to babysit and watch harvesters and be the one's to call in all the scouting information is unrealistic. I also think the attitude from Renegade-X players/community is nothing like the HLL example, many players in general tend to be quite rude, swear more, be highly or overly expectant or easily judgemental or critical if losing during games and insults can get personal rather than being a reflective criticism. I really agree with these sentiments. It's not clear if your conclusion is to ditch the commander role entirely, or improve it more so that it's optimal?

So I like the idea of other players/another player being able to apply a buff power, I like the idea of there being some sort of squad leader or a person who could use a power instead of depending on the commander coming along and surviving to use it at the right time. I think multiple powers at the same time (one after another) is a broken part of the game and you shouldn't be able to apply more than one power at a time without a cool down of something like a minute as it's too strong and over powering. Also worth consideration, the enemy team can currently deliberately seek to take down the commander in order to sabotage an incoming rush, so would you communicate which player had purchased a buff ability? Else this could disappear. If there were two different attacks either outgoing or incoming, I'd let smaller groups apply more than one power at the same time, i.e. defenders and active attackers. I figured the whole interface for powers and special abilities needed overhauling as it's too complicated and I don't think commanders should have to worry about adding up different cp figures to determine if this ability combination can work. i.e. if you use a cruise missile at a necessary time, you're immediately penalised on points and can't then form a buff counter attack.

Reminds me of Nox Ball, or whatever that football game mode was in Nox with the kickable energy ball. Football, but with missiles and stuff and obviously the Renegade characters.