Balancing in Renegade X

[boxes]

First off to the developers, thank you so much for making such an awesome game. I've never played the original, but after playing Renegade X, I can tell that I missed out on so much fun a decade back.

After playing some hundreds of hours in the betas, I have a some issues concerning the balancing in Renegade X.

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GDI/Nod

Soldier-

Recoil should be reduced slightly. Though this class can dish out a very high dps when spraying at the head, it's too difficult to do so on people shooting at you while zig-zagging and jumping around.

Marksman-

Increase bullet speed.

Engineer/Hotwire/Technician-

No change necessary.

About the remote C4s though. Once placed, they are considered a mine, and this is a huge reason why people overmine in this game. I think mines and remote C4s should have separate limit counts. For example, mine limit 0/45 and C4 limit 0/5. This should prevent a lot more people from accidentaly hampering the team.

Mobius/Mendoza-

Out of the three choices for the 1000 credit classes, these volt rifle classes are arguably the worst. If you use them against a vehicle rush, you'll might end up getting run over because you can't fire and sprint away like a Raveshaw or Sydney.

Slightly increasing the fire range of the volt rifles will make them more useful in their anti-vehicle purposes without really changing their effectivness against infantry.

The secondary fire should be even faster so the DPS is greater, making it a more viable option in close quarters.

Mobile Artillery/MRLS-

Decrease overall damage by 10%. At only 450 credits, you can deal massive punishment to pretty much anything in the game with either vehicle. Once you get to a spot where you can spam at buildings, you'll see your credits skyrocket in no time. Light armor is the real weakness of these two, but their speed makes up for it because they can easily back away from aggressive infantry, snipers, and other vehicles.

Airstrikes:

Make them as they were in terms of effectivness in Beta 1, but keep the 800 credit price tag. As of right now, you're much better off spending your money on something else.

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Nod

Flamethrower-

I heard this class was really bad in the original because of hitbox issues. I must say this class is also really bad in Renegade X, and I fear what it could have possibly been like in C&C Renegade. The DPS is small, even if all your flame projectiles hits the target. About that, getting the flames to hit other infantry is very difficult in the first place.

A change to make this class more useful is to increase the fire rate so it'll be easier to hit your target more frequently, and increase the damage so you actually do something instead of putting up light shows for GDI.

Chem Trooper-

I know they're immune to Tiberium, but I think that they should still do damage to each other with their main weapon if GDI happens to get a spy, just without the burn damage. Other than that, no change necessary.

Stealth tank-

It's known to be one of the least cost effective vehicles in the game. You're basically toast when a Mobius, a Sydney, a Patch, or a(n) Hotwire/Engineer (maybe), or any class with a Tiberium auto rifle finds you up close since they'll attract the attention of other enemies. The missiles are so pathetic versus infantry because of the huge parabolic arc when you fire, as well as the tiny splash radius. If you try to run over the person who found you, they'll likely throw a C4 at you, forcing you to leave your stank (you're gone if you're not a technician or engineer), making you exposed to hijackers, Havocs and Deadeyes (if you cannot make it back to a safe spot in time).

However, I understand that you're not supposed to use stanks as a front line vehicle. I am aware that you're supposed to sneak behind an enemy line of vehicles and pick off the ones that are damaged and retreating, or to run over busy Hotwires or snipers, or to ambush MRLS. It's also great cover for nukes. It can be quite cost effective in these ways, but I believe that the stank needs some sort of chance when it gets caught and must fight back, as well as stronger harassing efforts.

The missile arc should be removed and the splash radius of the missiles should be increased somewhat. The damage should also be increased by 5-10%. Right now, I don't dare to attack a mammoth tank, medium tank unless they have no repairman and are around 45% health. Humvees and Buggies are one of your biggest vehicle threats if you don't have teammates around, since your missiles would always miss if they're right next to you. Other players should be taking the effort to dodge your missiles, not to sit right next to your tank so the missiles would arc right over them.

I also happened to notice that C4s that are placed on your tank can sometimes be stuck inside the tiny crevices in the stank model itself. This makes it impossible for you to remove it, therefore losing your vehicle.

Raveshaw-

Just a little thing: I figured that the red from the clothing is a little too noticeable. Snipers can see you clearly even if you're hiding in a dark spot. If it's possible, toning down the glow would make it equal for both Sydney and Raveshaw in hiding situations. Other than that, I see no real problems with the Railgun or the Personal Ion Cannon.

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GDI

Grenadier-

Add self damage.

McFarland-

Overpowered. There's no real explanation needed; I think the majority of the players know why he's too strong.

Add self damage from both primary and secondary fire. Decrease secondary fire splash radius and range. Decrease number of bullets per shot in the primary fire and increase the spread.

Mammoth tank-

Perhaps the least cost effective thing in the game right now.

First off, what can you get for 1500 other than a mammy? We can get yourself or your teammates three MRLS and a McFarland, as well as hundreds of other choices. Basically, it doesn't live up to its cost, unless you're camping in the base the whole entire game. Because of its huge size and slow speed, it's very prone to C4s, mobile artillery, flame tanks, and maybe Apaches that know how to dodge your missiles. If you don't have multiple repairman with you, you're pretty much screwed out in the open since you're a priority target.

The mammoth is supposed to be the one to absorb most of the damage for your team, I know. There's just too many cases when the tank will be helpless after, lets say, a Sakura picks off all your Hotwires and you're up against multiple Artillerys.

Changing the mammoth back to what it was at Beta 1 is a good move in my opinion. The bigger punch on the tusk missiles gives you a reasonably higher overall DPS and makes Apaches more reluctant to harass you. The greater speed would help you fall back when necessary, and makes it easier to kill infantry standing right next to your tank.

Orca-

I understand that Apaches should get the advantage over Orcas because of GDI's tank superiority, but the machine gun needs a buff. It's weak because you'll likely miss most of your shots against infantry.

Increasing the speed of the bullets would make it easier to deal with them.

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I don't know if this is considered an exploit, but in the beginning of a match, choose the Engineer class and start killing yourself with the remote C4s. Each time you do so, you'll get 10 credits and five points on the scoreboard, as well as a kill (for those who care about KD ratio).

[RokumanZA]

A lot of these changes will probably show up in beta 3, the devs are doing a LOT of changes

That being said I disagree with the airstrike, I think it should be 1000 if its at beta 1 effectiveness, it could own entire armies if they didn't react in time. Also see nothing wrong with the Raveshaw outfit, Sydney is also quite noticable.

The Marksman rifle is also perfectly fine in my opinion, as a free sniper it should be quite hard to get the kill and I've killed plenty Saks and Havoks with one before.

And please don't increase Volt Rifle Range, it does a ton of damage as is especially for headshots, no need to make it fire further.

Other then those, I agree with most other points, and I'm sure the devs changes will reflect at least most of these

[^_^]

I like the amount of changes that are proposed by you, so I wanted to add one or two more things (which I hope they will add in BETA-3, but I don't know).

Nuclear beacon / Ion Cannon Beacon

Currently the NOD beacon is way more noticeable when deployed (the sounds is way louder than the GDI's beacon). I can understand that the stealth black hand is partly a reason behind this, but if you miss the EVA message you probably missed the GDI beacon completely. It would be nice if the GDI beacon was better heard, compared to NOD's.

Also, the beacons compared to old Renegade miss the weather change (this instantly alarms the teams); thunderstorms for GDI beacon and red sky for NOD. And the clearly noticeable sound when the beacon is deployed. Implying this would make the SBH - beacon more challenging

Apache / Orca

The Apache has a small AoE on both bullets and missiles, compared to the Orca which has not. This leaves the Apache as the superior aircraft, especially since the window for missing infantry is even more positive since you have 6 missiles compared to 2 of the Orca.

In this comparison, the Orca could use some love. Maybe make the missiles better track infantry? I don't know, but then there still is some difference between the two aircraft, so they stay unique.

[boxes]

A lot of these changes will probably show up in beta 3, the devs are doing a LOT of changes

Wonderful! With all the bugs and crashes fixed along with new maps and balance updates, beta 3 will definitely be a total blast.

About the airstrike, 1000 credits is too hefty for this support power. I agree it was a little ridiculous in beta 1, but I thought if it includes the more noticeable airstrike pinpoint laser in beta 2, it's easier to know where it's coming from and a smart team would fall back.

The Raveshaw and the marksman are probably my least prioritized in my wishlist. I wouldn't care at all if they aren't changed.

As for the volt rifle, it's fine if the range isn't changed, but I still think a more effective secondary fire should be implemented. Right now, it's pretty hard to find a situation when using this is more useful than the primary fire (point blank range, but by then you'll probably get run over by a vehicle). I'd agree with whatever the devs think of that makes it more situational than it is right now.

[RokumanZA]

yeah also sure bet 3 will be a blast

About the airstrike, 1000 credits is too hefty for this support power. I agree it was a little ridiculous in beta 1, but I thought if it includes the more noticeable airstrike pinpoint laser in beta 2, it's easier to know where it's coming from and a smart team would fall back.

This is quite true, perhaps 800 with a smaller damage buff would be fine in this case

As for the volt rifle, it's fine if the range isn't changed, but I still think a more effective secondary fire should be implemented. Right now, it's pretty hard to find a situation when using this is more useful than the primary fire (point blank range, but by then you'll probably get run over by a vehicle). I'd agree with whatever the devs think of that makes it more situational than it is right now.

The secondary fire does definately need a patch, it is rather bugged for now actually...

[boxes]

I like the amount of changes that are proposed by you, so I wanted to add one or two more things (which I hope they will add in BETA-3, but I don't know).

Nuclear beacon / Ion Cannon Beacon

Currently the NOD beacon is way more noticeable when deployed (the sounds is way louder than the GDI's beacon). I can understand that the stealth black hand is partly a reason behind this, but if you miss the EVA message you probably missed the GDI beacon completely. It would be nice if the GDI beacon was better heard, compared to NOD's.

Also, the beacons compared to old Renegade miss the weather change (this instantly alarms the teams); thunderstorms for GDI beacon and red sky for NOD. And the clearly noticeable sound when the beacon is deployed. Implying this would make the SBH - beacon more challenging

Apache / Orca

The Apache has a small AoE on both bullets and missiles, compared to the Orca which has not. This leaves the Apache as the superior aircraft, especially since the window for missing infantry is even more positive since you have 6 missiles compared to 2 of the Orca.

In this comparison, the Orca could use some love. Maybe make the missiles better track infantry? I don't know, but then there still is some difference between the two aircraft, so they stay unique.

Sometimes in a middle of a tank battle, in general it'll sometimes be hard to hear the nuclear strike or ion cannon callout. It would be a good idea to make both of them louder. Maybe as loud as, lets say when EVA says "TRANSPORT HELICOPTER READY".

The weather change would be sick. That's an awesome idea, but it'll probably get annoying when people start spamming the ions or nukes.

The Orca's hellfire missiles could probably use a larger splash, but it's fine with me if it isn't changed. It's the machine gun that needs to be changed so they can deal with infantry. Sure, it's easier to run over them with the Orca than the Apache, but doing so risks you getting C4'd. It's relatively easy to do this because of the Orca's larger hitbox than the Apache (because of its engines).

[SFJake]

About the Volt Rifle:

The Volt Rifle has one particular flaw, you need to reload it way too fast.

Its been buffed since the original Renegade with pretty much double the damage, because it fires really fast, but this is unfortunately problematic as it is.

I would double the amount of ammo of the gun, both in the clip and that you can hold. This would actually reflect the buff in Renegade X, without nerfing how long you can fire.

And its only infantry buff it needs is to not become less accurate over time when holding the fire button. For the design of this game and this gun, its non-sense to have a cone of fire on this weapon.