New Suggestions & Ideas List

[Mystic~]

Hi all,

I've been keeping a running list of new ideas and suggestions for Ren-X, I obviously wouldn't expect anything to be implemented without discussion or feedback, and some are perhaps just novelty or open ideas, but feel cool and in keeping with the C&C Universe and game mechanics. Rather than feeling you have to comment on everything, maybe just pick out the few things you like or really oppose, thanks. If something seems popular it could go into a future patch or development queue.
 

Flame-trooper and Grenadier - make them slightly more realistic and more of a tactical-fun choice to use. Make both classes explode when they die just like the original C&C strategy game and make them do 'friendly' splash damage to surrounding soldiers and enemy soldiers - people will use them less in mass groups and more strategically. Maybe they could do more damage to offset the risk of one exploding near your group.

Artillery - Should the artillery really have the ability to shoot so close? Could they also have a slower rate of fire? They aren't the same as tanks and preferably, they should damage themselves also given their blast radius for close fire. MRLs can't get a close fire option and easily get chased around.

MRLS - aerial bombardment alternative fire option. They automatically aim upwards at a steeper angle and rain down more at 70-80 degree angles without having to know the technique for aiming awkwardly on certain maps. This is sort of like the Artillery's ability to arch fire over something.

Harvester - make a full harvester into an exploding bomb - this was done in Tiberian Sun, a big blast radius that does lots of damage to buildings and vehicles alike, similar to when full of blue, but just ignore this technicality. New strategies could come from using it as a guided truck-bomb.

Are Light tanks are too cheap at 600 credits? They end the game on some larger maps very early on. Could be increased to 700 - GDIs tank is 800 and better armour/damage is often offset by NOD Lights rate of fire and movement speed - one on one there isn't that much difference anymore.

Gunner - give them an alternative fire slow loading, slow lock-on option for 1 powerful missile like the alt missile of the gun emplacements on Whiteout/Tomb and give them better armour like the LCG to function as an anti-tank unit that doesn't die so easily.

Water - get rid of the water invincibility so people can't keep diving down and popping back out and shooting with near invulnerability and invincible cover.

Commander - give him an arcade-style ground star around him so people can more easily recognise him (your team only), automatically boost him with a bit more health and armour like a sort of 'hero' unit to circumvent the time needed to access things like the powers menus or to keep a rush going and communicating.

Vehicle collision damage if you manage to crash into an enemy tank, also destroys self if a light vehicle.

Hummvee tow missile sounds quite viable, something from the C&C Generals game and might prevent powerful early organised artillery rushes. 

I really don't like the weak Mammoth tank alt-fire rockets anymore, how about giving them a slow sydney style railgun type blast - powerful, but slow to recharge, these tanks can't survive on their own for very long anyway. Limit the number that can be on the field at any one time as a special unit.

Mutator - increase rate of veteran points during a PUG match? End really long stalemate games quicker.

Some sort of alternative end game option(s) - the return of the end-game Beacon Pedestal / Sudden death mode with no more character respawns... ends tied public games or long games, could be made a votable option to end stalemates.

Special Powers:

Stealth sweep - special power for GDI a bit like the mobile sensor arrays in Tiberain Sun, reveals stealth units for a short period of time and then re-charges and costs CP like everything else. Better than random firing in my opinion.

Building dome shield or temporary shield wall - counter to prevent an overpowered artillery/tank bombardment with an offensive bonus in play. Either turn the building the same dark blue or light blue defensive colour if possible or create a new honeycomb type of effect. Could be a GDI only thing.

Paratrooper drop - for GDI - 3 - 4 basic inf or 1 engineer + 3 inf etc. Timed delay on usage and also CP based. / Same but with NOD gliders sounds like a hi-tech equivalent if we gave them the same option. Would create some new strategies from this ability as presently Nod as the sneaky advantage. Place a circle around people and they automatically fade out and get placed near or over the enemy base in the sky and have to land. A bit like the fun chinook drops of a relaxed pug.

Napalm drop - Nod special that sets tanks on fire and does damage over time. Intended to help stem a GDI tank rampage with lots of armour through causing damage and destroying tanks i.e. Islands or Field.

[Madkill40]

If Barracks/Hand of Nod dies then the faction without their Bar/HoN unlocks their 150 ticks, 1 death = -1 tick. 

When points reach 0, that team can no longer respawn Each building killed thereafter reduces the the total amount of ticks by 50.  

[HIHIHI]

Oh no... Definitely NOT as a main feature, please. : )

Some of the best battles happen when you have sustained such losses. But it's a neat idea for an alternative style of play.

HIHIHI

[Marinealver]

10 hours ago, Mystic George said:

...
 

Flame-trooper and Grenadier - make them slightly more realistic and more of a tactical-fun choice to use. Make both classes explode when they die just like the original C&C strategy game and make them do 'friendly' splash damage to surrounding soldiers and enemy soldiers - people will use them less in mass groups and more strategically. Maybe they could do more damage to offset the risk of one exploding near your group.

Artillery - Should the artillery really have the ability to shoot so close? Could they also have a slower rate of fire? They aren't the same as tanks and preferably, they should damage themselves also given their blast radius for close fire. MRLs can't get a close fire option and easily get chased around.

MRLS - aerial bombardment alternative fire option. They automatically aim upwards at a steeper angle and rain down more at 70-80 degree angles without having to know the technique for aiming awkwardly on certain maps. This is sort of like the Artillery's ability to arch fire over something.

Harvester - make a full harvester into an exploding bomb - this was done in Tiberian Sun, a big blast radius that does lots of damage to buildings and vehicles alike, similar to when full of blue, but just ignore this technicality. New strategies could come from using it as a guided truck-bomb.

Are Light tanks are too cheap at 600 credits? They end the game on some larger maps very early on. Could be increased to 700 - GDIs tank is 800 and better armour/damage is often offset by NOD Lights rate of fire and movement speed - one on one there isn't that much difference anymore.

Gunner - give them an alternative fire slow loading, slow lock-on option for 1 powerful missile like the alt missile of the gun emplacements on Whiteout/Tomb and give them better armour like the LCG to function as an anti-tank unit that doesn't die so easily.

Water - get rid of the water invincibility so people can't keep diving down and popping back out and shooting with near invulnerability and invincible cover.

Commander - give him an arcade-style ground star around him so people can more easily recognise him (your team only), automatically boost him with a bit more health and armour like a sort of 'hero' unit to circumvent the time needed to access things like the powers menus or to keep a rush going and communicating.

Vehicle collision damage if you manage to crash into an enemy tank, also destroys self if a light vehicle.

Hummvee tow missile sounds quite viable, something from the C&C Generals game and might prevent powerful early organised artillery rushes. 

I really don't like the weak Mammoth tank alt-fire rockets anymore, how about giving them a slow sydney style railgun type blast - powerful, but slow to recharge, these tanks can't survive on their own for very long anyway. Limit the number that can be on the field at any one time as a special unit.

Mutator - increase rate of veteran points during a PUG match? End really long stalemate games quicker.

Some sort of alternative end game option(s) - the return of the end-game Beacon Pedestal / Sudden death mode with no more character respawns... ends tied public games or long games, could be made a votable option to end stalemates.

Special Powers:

Stealth sweep - special power for GDI a bit like the mobile sensor arrays in Tiberain Sun, reveals stealth units for a short period of time and then re-charges and costs CP like everything else. Better than random firing in my opinion.

Building dome shield or temporary shield wall - counter to prevent an overpowered artillery/tank bombardment with an offensive bonus in play. Either turn the building the same dark blue or light blue defensive colour if possible or create a new honeycomb type of effect. Could be a GDI only thing.

Paratrooper drop - for GDI - 3 - 4 basic inf or 1 engineer + 3 inf etc. Timed delay on usage and also CP based. / Same but with NOD gliders sounds like a hi-tech equivalent if we gave them the same option. Would create some new strategies from this ability as presently Nod as the sneaky advantage. Place a circle around people and they automatically fade out and get placed near or over the enemy base in the sky and have to land. A bit like the fun chinook drops of a relaxed pug.

Napalm drop - Nod special that sets tanks on fire and does damage over time. Intended to help stem a GDI tank rampage with lots of armour through causing damage and destroying tanks i.e. Islands or Field.

Some interesting concepts but there are those that lets just say it could break the gameplay. The Artilery one fore example. It is odd that it becomes Nod's hardest hitting tank instead of a building destroyer but if they lower the rate of fire then it would never be able to destroy buildings. A team of nod Artillery focusing on a building exterior should always be able to outpace a team of GDI Hotwires focusing on the MCT.

As far as the end game options the Veterancy seems to be the best solution because if you look a an even match as the game grinds on buildings will get destroyed which removes options. Vehicles and Advanced infantry will now have to be carefully maintained and fall back if in risk of losing. I think another solution could be more Tiberium Sun Tech structures to supplement the lost options. I guess I better try out that map editor.

1 hour ago, Madkill40 said:

If Barracks/Hand of Nod dies then the faction without their Bar/HoN unlocks their 150 ticks, 1 death = -1 tick. 

When points reach 0, that team can no longer respawn Each building killed thereafter reduces the the total amount of ticks by 50.  

Interesting but then that would make the Barracks/Hand the most important structures in the game. If there were a way to rebuild destroyed structures (maybe with a construction yard) then that could be a possibility. Or if there were a way you could put multiple Barracks/Hands of Nod in a map so both would have to be destroyed. 

Or you could just start with a reinforcement points all together as another game mode (call it Grinder). 200 Infantry and 75 Vehicle Tickets. Each building takes off 20 tickets (Barracks/Hon takes off 50 and Weps/Airstrip removes 25 vehicle tickets) You could still use basic vehicles (humvee buggy APC) if the weps/airstrip is destroyed but again once you are out of tickets that is it. Also Base destruction is an automatic victory conditions.  

[vandal33]

Some interesting ideas, I like the end-game options such as pedestals and sudden-death and yes, water invincibility sucks.

But No grenadier/flamethrower explosion when death please. People don't really find death-rewarding perks a good thing in FPS games, especially when you could do friendly fire with it. There's a reason why Red alert a path beyond removed this feature from the soviet grenadier/flamethrower.

Vehicle collision damage would be bad for some players (like myself) with lags. I dont know if it's just my rig or the game's engine, but I am having trouble driving vehicles. Making collision damage would encourage me not to use vehicles even more.

And I don't like stealth sweep. I like it better if Nod stealth have the advantage of the first attack with GDI cannot do anything until they started attacking first. Stealth units aren't that powerful when they're discovered. I prefer GDI being forced to random shooting if they are looking for stealth .  GDI being forced to recall some units from the field to watch base or spend more time patrolling is one trick Nod can do to keep enemies occupied. All this is gone if they can easily spend some cp to scan the base. This is too much hand-holding for GDI.

[Guest once upon the time]

12 minutes ago, vandal33 said:

I like the end-game options such as pedestals

This exist on one map i know, but this map is not in the Server map rotation.

Its Paradise, Anubis made their a extra room which only possible to enter after a special time limit (dont know yet 30 min. or whatever :)  .

[Madkill40]

11 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Interesting but then that would make the Barracks/Hand the most important structures in the game.

I mean, if you lose your Bar of HoN before anybody acquires a Hotwire/Technician your team will most likely fail... so they're already the most important structures to be fair... 

Although it wouldn't make much sense for the aforementioned tick-rate idea, what's more likely to happen? 150 deaths before the team without Bar/HoN can't respawn? Or their base being destroyed?

11 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Or you could just start with a reinforcement points all together as another game mode

I'd keep any such tick-rate gamemode simple and just have an 'until respawn is no longer an option'  

Maybe AOW servers/mode (because time limited) should have an tick-rate, only so many team deaths... That'd really give a whole new meaning to "All Out War"   Bases still have to be destroyed too... That'd be really interesting gameplay, and games are limited to 45 minutes in AOW so 100 tick-rate. Either team with 100 deaths will no longer be able to respawn... If it works for capturing points then it can work for destroying buildings, right? 

[Marinealver]

3 hours ago, Madkill40 said:

I mean, if you lose your Bar of HoN before anybody acquires a Hotwire/Technician your team will most likely fail... so they're already the most important structures to be fair... 

...

Sometimes I wonder if the weapons tab should be brought back and put proxy mines in it. If 2 buildings fall before one team gets the other team loses one then yeah it is pretty much game over so the rush wont be totally taken out. Then again if any class can get proxy mines then what would the Hot/Tech class have to make them worth the credits. Maybe  Hotwires/Tech could be equipped with a sentry gun that can be placed inside buildings as well. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Marinealver
grammar

[Madkill40]

2 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Then again if any class can get proxy mines then what would the Hot/Tech class have to make them worth the credits.

Infiltrating the enemy and detonating an building by themselves is worth the credits... Repairing vehicle and buildings pretty much help mine credits

[Mystic~]

Thanks for responding and feedback.

Any other thoughts about any of the proposed Specials, or things like the Gunner? The para-drop/gliders is the idea I find the most strategy changing as it would mean even GDI has an infiltration option, but of course, if they get spotted then it's possible also to shoot them down, but means a team always needs some sort of defensive presence that is more than one tech/hotwire.

I get that any change to the artillery needs careful consideration as it's so pivotal to the gameplay, rate of fire is the main one I would be cautious of, but they do seem to be being used as head-on tanks often if they have a tech repairing them and can often challenge or take on a medium tank, which I wouldn't expect one to be able to do at close range. Long range is another story and even the MRL can do this.

Collision damage I am suggesting only takes place between opposing teams, not for your own team as there's too much scope for misuse and abuse. If a buggy, bike or humvee runs into a tank I'd expect it to be toast or lose a lot of health/armour, bounce off even, and possibly cause a bit of damage to the tank if it has a long run-up. APCs would, of course, be immune to this mostly. It might prevent tanks from trying to push one another in some instances and keep range in order to fire and in some instances it encourages you to ram smaller vehicles rather than fire. I imagine artillery pieces would be softer targets for this sort of tactic. I wasn't envisioning any sort of terrain collision damage, so lag wouldn't pose much of a threat.

I've not played Path Beyond so I can't comment about exploding units, I imagine they would become an attractive target to hit but would be offset by the ability to cause damage. Your team would need to protect them more and/or keep out of their way. If you snipe one who is in a group of other units, it's a strategic advantage as you cause damage to the other surrounding enemy soldiers.

The veteran points thing is still an issue in some public games like FIeld/Under, where both teams seemingly become heroic and there's a standoff where even a rushing team gets eaten up before it can do anything. I sort of like the end game missile that was introduced into that recent C&C mobile where when you hold all 3 points you inflict quite a bit of damage to all buildings. It's a bit like the EMP cannon on Stronghold, but it could maybe be: Repair and hold the temple for a period of time, maybe both sides could 'capture' this, or introduce a comms centre. I think some people worked on models for these buildings at one point. However, I was thinking something that could be introduced into all maps and not just as a novelty, so it could also be some sort of server game option like Marathon or Arcade-mode, even.

I don't think Stealth-Sweep is a bad option, it would work a bit like a spy-plane, except you'd imagine it as some sort of orbital satellite, and perhaps make it radius dependent, so it scans a large circular area of the base, but not great enough to cover an entire base and vocalises "enemy unit detected". This seems preferable to just driving or running around and constantly free firing everywhere to cover all possible areas. It would still be possible to do this of course, but there would be far less pressure to do this and mine. Walls and X Mountain are the main maps and Whiteout before they introduced the extra guard towers that I typically don't like on this map. If it costs enough CP then it has to be carefully considered and using this does mean you don't get the option to use your Offensive/Defensive bonuses as often as the other team. If someone does get revealed, they have to move out of the zone and the usual cat/mouse hunt for invisible units begins.

My building defence idea was laser trip wires that weaken after every person that dies running through one and can be disarmed or EMPd, makes more sense to me that to mine your own base, but this is discussed in another thread. It would mean if you lose the bar/hon you're not guaranteed to lose everything else through APC rushes or SBHs etc. You could still strategically mine places, but I'd expect them not to be buildings, but rather other key points.

[Marinealver]

The last point could be interesting. Sometimes I think it should be better if mines were automatically placed at the start of the map. That way you don't need one person to stay in base until they can Hotwire/Tech in order to protect it.

[HIHIHI]

1 hour ago, Marinealver said:

Sometimes I think it should be better if mines were automatically placed at the start of the map. That way you don't need one person to stay in base until they can Hotwire/Tech in order to protect it.

Yeah... but then you lose a few things, too. I think that if a team is careless enough to not defend in the early game, they should be punished for that by a possible sneaking kill. And also, if mines are already there, who owns them? You lose the boink sound that can alert you to mine loss. Sure, you still have the mine counter, but the auditory warning can be nice.

HIHIHI