The follow-up version 1.1 has been released: http://spring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtop ... 14&t=14520
UPDATE!
After being in the making for about half a year there finally is the first official version of what you may call the inofficial successor to Balanced Annihilation:
Download Mirrors:
http://www.file-upload.net/en/download- ... 0.sd7.html
http://spring-portal.com/index.php/docm ... lation-v10
more to come
Modinfo / Modit:
http://modinfo.adune.nl/index.php?side=arm&MOD=ma10
Media:
- Trailer #1 (High-Res)
- Trailer #2 (High-Res Version)
FAQ:
Q: What is this?
A: It's a new TA mod which originated from the Balanced Annihilation mod.
Q: What's the difference?
A: In contrast to its origin MA tries to extend and/or change the gameplay at various points to create more tactical possibilities and improve the game where possible and also is oriented towards team games whereas BA is very much tuned for a nice 1v1 experience. There are quite some changes which will not be presented right now. At the end of this posting you'll find a brief guideline which introduces you to the mod's features. There also is a video comment planned which will present this in detail.
Q: Is this finished?
A: No - not at all. There are numerous things still not integrated and many things like not so good looking models or quirky corpses have to be reworked but even if some things may not look like a beauty the functionalities of the units are fully given. The reason why there now is an official release is my need of some more input and to have it on Modinfo / Modit (as you imo let your pants down concerning all your mod's secrects when uploading it there you can make it official right away) for way easier balancing and bugfixing as it's a really helpfull platform for that. So with that said you shouldn't expect the ultimately well done balance yet (especially at later Tech Levels) but it's more than just "playable"...
Q: Who developes this?
A: Just me.
Q: How can I help?
A:
1.)
You heard the man! Just go ahead, play a bit and come back here with your critique, suggestions or even some praise ( ). I'm interested in any opinion.
2.)
I'm VERY interested in replays of games with 4 or even better 6 and up players!
Q: What's going to happen next?
A: Well for this I can give a nice small roadmap:
----------------------------------V1.0
Release
V1.1
- introduction of Thud-MK II
- introduction of Arm T3 All-Terr. Mech
- Zulu gets AA too and just one LRPC gun like Arm counterpart
- extend the T3 Sea Tech Tree
- various bugfixes & balance changes which will come up
V1.5 Next Minor Milestone
- introduction of Krogoth & Arm Ultra-Mech
V2.0 Next Majro Milestone
- integration of T3 Tank Tree
- all planned units / buildings now are ingame
Brief Gameplay Guideline:
General changes from BA that should be known before first gaming:
1.)
New Eco-System without buildtime being a ressource.
Labs now build on their own and cannot be assisted (leading to way higher gamespeed in lategame because of an immense decrease in nano particle numbers).
Metal Makers are more inefficent: 100e per m on T1, 80e per m on T2, 60e per m on T3 (that's T1 level in BA btw).
All Labs now use a certain amount of metal per second - no matter which unit they build:
T1 Ground / Sea Labs: -5m per second
T2 Ground / Sea Labs: -10m per second
T3 Ground / Sea Labs: -25m per second
T1 Air Labs: -2.5m per second
T2 Air Labs: -5m per second
T3 Air Labs: -12.5m per second
So you can plan ahead as how much of your income you want to spend on units.
You'll also find T1 being very cheap...
2.)
Power Plants & Metal Extractors only have a rather tiny storage capacity.
For serious backup ressources you need storages.
3.)
K-Bots now have All-Terrain specialism, Vehicles have Amphibic specialism.
Each tree now has a special All-Terrain / Amphibic worker.
Amphibic K-Bots were removed in the process (i.e. T1 / T2 = KBot ; T3 = Mech).
4.)
K-Bots now have a conquer&hold role as they all have a decent autoheal which turns in when idling for a while (in Spring i.e. not being attacked).
Vehicles still are for brute force.
T1 heal: 10HP per second
T2 heal: 20HP per second
Exceptions: Spies, Scouts & Artillery - they only have half of those values.
5.)
As most people will ask about it here it comes:
Yes - Flash and Instigator now got more reasonable stats.
Another important change is that Samsons / Slashers now actually are AA-only - you have dedicated artillery against ground so use those.
6.)
Lasers now actually do 100% of their damage and don't lose hell of a firepower on distance. Especially at T1 (and also T2) this has the nice effect that it really reduces the effectiveness of one unit spam. So you might want to rethink just charging your Stumpies into the enemy and start using artillery or a different tactic - there have been quite some accomodations on this sector like Merls / Diplomat not moving at turtle speed anymore or having the opportunity to use alternate routes via transports. Mix your units for good!
7.)
Crawling Bombs only detonate in a big manner when you (or they themselves) ignite them. You'll also find out they have a nice special feature now...
8.)
The recent T3 level was extended to a whole Tech Level.
Tech Level 2 got totally revamped building wise.
9.)
Both sides now have a T2 Tactical Nuke Launcher which work just like a Nuke Silo with less damage per missile and being interceptable by Anti-Nukes.
10.)
Lots of new units, buildings, FX and abilities added. I won't go into detail here because it would make this brief overview waaay too long so go ahead and try everything out - the unit descriptions should tell you everything you need to know. :)
11.)
While the damage units deal can be pretty much seen on the explosion, you also can guess the damage a beam laser deals now:
Red Laser: Low Damage
Orange Laser: Medium Damage
Green Laser: High Damage
Turqoise Laser: Very High Damage
Blue Laser: OMFG!!!
12.)
When having reached T3 morphing your Commander will give you access to the "T4 Superweapons". You can only get them via your Commander. Going into lategame without your Com may be your downfall now so keep an eye on him.
13.)
Lifting your (or an enemy ) Com with T1 Air Transports won't work.
14.)
Hosting tip: Use 500e and 500m as starting ressources.
15.)
Enjoy gaming! :)