Firestorm FAQ

[Totem Arts]

Page moved: https://totemarts.games/games/firestorm/game.html#faq

[MattHunX]

The main reason I'm excited about FIRESTORM, is because, aside from Red Alert 2, Tiberian Sun and its Firestorm expansion was my foray into not only RTS games, but gaming, period. Red Alert 2, around the turn of the millenium, was my first real game. Don't know where one of my mates got it from, but they gave it to me. I think I only got to play Yuri's Revenge a few years later. Not sure. But I played a ton, with both RA2 and Tiberian Sun, after.

With base-building actually returning (or rather being implemented in an RTS-turned-3D-FPS) I imagine it will keep things interesting, in the sense that no match, no approach to a base, no plan of attack will ever be the same. At least for a while. The pros/veteran players will, of course, eventually have preferences on where they'll place buildings and defenses, but that will take a few weeks or months, until they settle into a pattern. Until then, things will be pretty dynamic and never the same. We got so used to everything always being in the same damn place, even ambushes, beacons, defenses, defending units, attacking units being at or coming from the same directions, waiting at the same spots....etc. That will disappear, for some truly thrilling gameplay.

One of the things I remember fondly from Tiberian Sun, was exploring the blacked out map, accompanied by eerie music, looking for enemy presence. "Where are they? What's here? Where's their base? Oh, this is just an outpost. No Con-Yard. Good for capture, though. Keep looking!"

And so...I thought there could be some real use for scout units, or scouting in general, and it being rewarded with points. Scouting points. Or just the same experience points every offensive, defensive or supportive action would net us, counting towards veterancy. It would be thrilling to run or roll along the hills, mapping out the location of enemy outpost, the precise placement of their defenses and facilities for some extra experience, encouraging, if not early engagement, then, just careful recon without combat. Of course, the points that could be earned in a single match would be nearly finite, taking into account re-building structures in different spots that could be 'spotted' again.

I didn't watch every single development video, so I don't know what capture-able buildings will be in-game. Silos, probably. EMP cannon? Tech Lab? Radar? Perhaps some defense turrets around all of those that could be placed/called down (for credits, maybe) to aid in their defense.

What about neutral structures and defenses, of neutral factions that would have no soldiers or vehicles, but some basic turrets that would be defending some tiberium mining operation, a silo or a refinery even, either somewhere in the middle of the map or far off, at the edges. Fist of NOD? A derelict one. In need of repair. For a mobile war factory, for either faction to capture. Abandoned helipads, to serve a similar support function. If not for refueling, then, just for repairing and building aircraft. Perhaps the drawback of captured neutral structures, production facilities and refineries could be that they'd generate resources and would build vehicles/aircraft at a slower rate than the main buildings, just for a bit of balance. Capture-able repair depots could repair anything within a small radius, but slower than an engineer with a basic repair gun. Will GDI power plants need to be upgraded with the three turbines for added juice? Will NOD have their advanced version? That doesn't really matter, though. I mean base-management/power-management could be a bit tedious. Although it would open opportunities for more strategic offensives, where we could take out part of the enemy's defenses, depending on how efficiently they could reroute power to key buildings and more important defense structures. Commanders could have the ability to enable or disable which structures will draw power, as if they were using the power-button.

[Mystic~]

This game is much faster paced, more exciting and the maps are much larger, I honestly don't think the engineer is going to be used for repairs the same way it is in vanilla ren, so I welcome extra neutral buildings like repair pads, would like to see the drones used for repairs if they get implemented, engineers just can't keep up with team vehicles, and it would be nice if outposts once captured gave control of a basic tower defence turret a bit like C&C3 maps do, so you can hold onto it during the early game.

[MattHunX]

Oh, damn! I completely forgot about the little repair unit that NOD had. They could have that, with a radius for auto-repairs, but it ought to be balanced with something. Some drawback or something that GDI would have that NOD wouldn't. Like, Orca CarryAlls, that could be called in for transport charges/tokens or credits and they would spawn high above a specified ground vehicle. They'd pick it up and could take it to a valid point selected on the map. From there, the process would be automated, but perhaps it could be interrupted, in-case if it got attacked and was damaged so much that it wouldn't reach the location. It could set the vehicle down earlier, auto-detecting the closest valid spot on the terrain, not matter where that is. A tank, even a Mammoth MKII, could be put on top of e.g.: a mesa. Strategically placed to be harder to reach for ground vehicles and infantry.

I think I might have heard some mention of the Chameleon Spy, in one dev talk video. It would be neat to have them on NOD's side, in some capacity, since we won't/shouldn't have SBH. So the spy could fill that niche, partially. It shouldn't have the same attack power, laser-rifle and all that. Perhaps some incendiary or silenced pistol or...some early, weak prototype of the very pistol the female commando would eventually dual-wield by the C&C3 era. Huh? HUH!? It would be weak against vehicles, more effective against infantry, but not too effective, for balance.

But, to get back to the topic of repairs, I also wouldn't mind if we didn't have to force half the team into repair-roles and half or more of both base and field-repairs would be automated, either through mobile units, depots, drones, drones from the depots, tech-buildings or some combination of those, or all of them. That way, pretty much the whole team could more or less comfortably focus on the enemy and the only time we'd see engineers and repair-guns would be when a base was being assaulted by a large enough force, like an All-hands-on-deck situation for repairs.

Maybe it could be possible to do away with the "repair-gun" completely. As easy and fast and convenient as it was, it always seemed like a weird thing to me. Even considering the level of futuristic technology within the lore of the game. And this isn't like an alien healing-beam for non-biological, biological or partly biological life-forms. It isn't like a reverse-engineered Scrin technology. Although it could be an explanation for it, it's not necessary, at this point and it is potentially a retcon, if there's already some explanation for it. But, anyway...it's just a weird thing. And the RTS games certainly didn't have anything like it. The medics shuffled around and magically healed infantry, yes, but we won't be literally throwing bandages and first-aid kits at people, so the repair-beam-from-a-gun was obviously always a solution for an easy visual representation that needed to be convincing enough, for its time. And we can only talk about repair drones, because of C&C3 and how the mobile rigs and War Factories had them buzzing around them, which, even by the time of Tiberian Sun, shouldn't be a terribly new technology, considering all the stuff that's already out there in the game's world.

So either drones should be in there or just proximity to WFs, Airfields and capture-able depots should be all that is needed to make repairs work, without trying to strive for too much realism, which may not be convincingly possible or convenient in its mechanics. So, simplicity ought to win-out for a faster pace. Some "mechanics" (pun may be intended), should exist to be bolster a building's repairs, from the inside. MCTs and building-armor will still be a thing apparently, so maybe we cannot completely do away with the repair-gun.

Will we have the "medic" infantry, at all? That could be an important support-unit and critical squad-mate for others to defend, if they'd want constant healing. But, that healing shouldn't be OP, obviously. Perhaps we can prevent things like 5 medics swarming around a single, veteran unit, buffing and healing it to the point of it being invincible, with 5 healing-beams being fired at it and they would hold down an entire battle-front on their own. That shouldn't be possible. Perhaps medics could only periodically heal their targets or their "healing ability" would have a short cooldown. They wouldn't kneel, shuffle around in their bag and poof, you're partially healed, like in old RTS versions, obviously.

Damn, there's so many things to consider! Particularly how it could all be balanced.

By the way, has this kind of base-building, in an FPS/TPS, ever been done? I don't recall seeing any larger-scale, online-game, where both sides could freely place buildings, while they battle. There are some isometric craps out there, where the units and buildings are tiny, like some tower-defense crap. But, I'm not sure this has been attempted in an FPS/TPS before.

And I'm guessing there will/should be a limit on the number of buildings we could have, from every type, at the main base and at outposts (which should have a lower limit). One obelisk per main base and a few...*GASP*...fucking laser turrets!! I completely forgot about those, too! Damn! Of course! And NOD already had the laser-fences, even as far back as the first era. Um...the Mobile Stealth Generator...ah, crap. No! NO!! TOO MUCH!!

 

[MattHunX]

Also, something else that I forgot to mention that occurred to me. With this new, large battleground and more than one base, the time of stupid fucking RUSHES could finally come to an end. Since it couldn't be executed fast enough, crossing safely all across the large map, it would no longer be a viable "strategy." I would never again have to see the chat buzz with "rocket rush", "flame rush", "med rush", "APC rush"...UGH! Hopefully!

[MattHunX]

Hey! Been a while! A year or more? Just bumping the thread. My bookmark took me to the old abandoned forum, so I panicked. But, I'm glad FIRESTORM, in particular, is still very much in development. Can't wait!

[azoozsd1]

when firestorm will be playeble ?????????

[NodSaibot]

6 hours ago, azoozsd1 said:

when firestorm will be playeble ?????????

When it's done. If there's a release date announced, I'm sure you'll see it.