What did you enjoy most about AA?

What did you enjoy most about AA?

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Caydr
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Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

A lot of people - for instance Forboding Angel - have said on many occasions that AA lost its way about version 1.46 or 1.47. Coincidentally this was roughly the time I stopped playing...

Anyways, can you help me narrow down the things I did right on those versions, and the things I did wrong after that?

edit: rofl, upon further research I've determined that version 1.47 never actually existed. It went from 1.46 to 1.48.
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Caydr
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Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

Here's a snippet of the changelog from that era, maybe it will help you to narrow things down...

Code: Select all

1.49 --> 1.50

 Implemented small change which might correct occasional reported issues
  with anti-nukes not firing
 Fixed an exploit and a bug with heavy air transports
 Pitbull/Viper/HLT multiplication errors corrected, they are no longer
  insanely powerful
 Viper, Core HLT yardmap errors corrected
 Fighter unguided heavy rockets removed
 Cruise missile ship firing rates halved, damage reduced by 1/4
 Cruiser weapons adjusted; Crusader now has shorter range (900->720),
  Executioner; both ships' HP reduced by 1000 (5xxx->4xxx)
 Destroyer damage vs. submarines reduced (275->200)
 Aegis description fixed to reflect its change to EMP missile
 Viking, Cronus bombardment ships removed
 Annihilator HP reduced 500 units (3500->3000)
 Fido gauss/ballistic on/off switch added back in; in ballistic mode it
  now fires 50% slower by has 50% greater damage and has 6x the AoE of
  gauss mode
 Total unit count is now 383


1.48 --> 1.49

 Bulldog, Reaper, Goliath completely rebalanced
 Bulldog, Reaper, Goliath tracks (ground) adjusted for new model sizes
 Reaper buildpic redone to reflect model changes, script grabbed from OTA
 Proper decoy commanders added to the Hover-Commanders mutator
 Shield system unfortunately could not be implemented yet, will have to
  wait for Spring 0.72's release
 Repulsor metal cost reduced 2000 (9xxx->7xxx)
 Shiva HP increased 500 units, model height (Y axis) increased 22% so it
  doesn't look so flat anymore
 Abel, Caine wreckage no longer floats
 Pyro HP increased by 100
 Maverick shotvelocity increased; this is mostly a visual thing, I thought
  the shots looked too slow compared to OTA (350->500)
 HLT/Pitbull/Viper weapons completely redone mathematically and for
  realism (ie, Core HLT has 3 barrels, Arm HLT has 2.  Why does the Arm
  one fire significantly faster with less DPS?  Shouldn't it be the other
  way around?  etc)
 Pitbulls and Vipers adjusted in cost and firepower to be more useful and
  balanced compared with HLTs, both now have 3x3 footprints (Viper used to
  have 2x2)
 Annihilator HP increased 300 units
 Doomsday Machine HP increased 1000 units
 Commander laser aiming rate (script) increased 25%
 Pitbull model size reduced 25%, footprint size reduced to same as Viper
 Viper set to a sabot-style rocket, model size increased 5%
 All special damage values versus swarm and anti-swarm units eliminated
  (this may be reverted later - it has extremely dangerous implications
  in many cases)
 Hurricane anti-air missile removed and turret geometry hidden
 Warrior, Leveler, Samson, Slasher, Fido HP boosted by 75 units
 Twilight EMP explosion radius increased 50%
 Commander cloaking cost when stationary is now 100e, when moving 500e,
  minimum cloaking distance increased to 50 (40)
 Snipers no longer target aircraft
 Penetrator firing cone size increased by 45 degrees (90->135)
 Moho Exploiter HP reduced by 500 (the effect will be much larger when
  armoured)
 Exploiter turret height increased 25% , buildtime increased 500 units, HP
  boosted by 200 units
 Twilight HP increased 500 units
 HLT HP increased 350 units
 L3 sub torpedo range doubled, firing rate halved, turnrate quartered
 Submarine depth reverted to original values
 Reaper reverted to pre-uberhack role and appearance***SCRIPT***
 Demolisher removed
 Commander experience gaining set to a more reasonable rate and normalized
  so that both sides' Commanders gain XP at the same speed
 Commander laser firing rate increased 50%, damage reduced 40%
 D-gun range restored
 Fido range boosted 25 units, damage per hit increased 30 units (150->180),
  rate of fire increased by 0.2 (2.2->2)
 Fido ballistic mode elminated
 For sh*ts and giggles, Bertha/Intimidator/Vulcan/Buzzsaw weapons now
  have an impulsefactor of 3 (1)
 Bulldog and Reaper now have a smaller movementclass, allowing them to be
  spaced less widely during pathfinding, but crushstrength is the same
 Atlantis anti-air missile replaced with Chainsaw missile
 Zulu metal cost increased 1500 units
 Leejen HP reduced 400 units
 Marauder weapon switched to standard plasma shot appearance (guass)
 Zeus damage increased 10%, metal cost reduced 25 units, range reduced
  5 units (285->280)
 Maverick range boosted 5% (347->365)
 Pitbull cloaking and stealth removed, it was redundant with ghosted
  buildings
 Laser beam width reduced slightly to make them more closely resemble OTA
  ones (2->1.25)
 Liche costs reduced 15%, buildtime reduced 12%, damage increased 25%
 Krow HP increased 25%
 Bomber flying altituded normalized
 Krogoth, Orcone can now walk through virtually any wreckage or barricade
 Krogoth wreckage value and HP increased to a more consistent value
 Nonexistent unit "corbuild" removed from armor tree
 Obsolete ARMSCRAM data removed
 Core Searcher (CORPT) added to armor tree
 Claw/Maw issues resolved
 Firestorm damage increased 25%, HP increased 25%, energy/metal costs
  reduced 12%, buildtime reduced 15%
 Fixed inaccurate Detonator, Catalyst, Aegis, Bertha, Intimidator,
  Vulcan, Buzzsaw range rings
 Fixed Core "Voyeur" build menu position bug
 Missing wreckage for advanced storage buildings fixed
 Missing semicolon in ADVSAM, ARMSMART_TORPEDO weapons fixed
 Mercury/Screamer missiles now fire on an angle to help them clear other
  structures and/or landscape features
 Total unit count is now 385


1.46 --> 1.48

 Reduced Banisher firing rate 10% (6.5->7.15, increased damage 10%
  (700->770), reducing tracking 25% (32000->24750)
 Reduced Catalyst range by 200 (3200->3000)
 Firing rate of all high-arc plasma guns increased by 20%
 Core corvette wreck removed
 L2 jamming tower jamming radius reduced 15%
 Dragon's Claw and Dragon's Maw added back in as stationary units with
  stealth, no movement capabilities, and hidden health information
 Minor texture enhancement for Valkrie air transport
 New model for Core heavy air transport
 Hovercraft transports can now only grab owned/allied units, carrying
  capacity increased to 20 (8)
 Transport boats' carrying capacity increased to 40 (12)
 Heavy air transports generally buffed quite a lot
 Level 2 jamming structures' area of effect reduced by 1/3, operating
  costs increased to 125
 Arm "Eraser", Core "Deleter" mobile radar jammer running costs increased
  to 75 (10), radii of jamming reduced 33%
 Commanders no longer gain experience very fast
 Removed extra audio, reducing filesize
 Removed Valkrie (not the core transport)
 Renamed armor category "ALLUNITS" to be, much more accurately, "ELSE"
 Removed units which no longer exist from armor categories (armrb,
  armtanker, cortanker, commando, armmine4, armempm, cormine4, cortronm,
  armmedpc, cormpgun, armmark, spotter, watcher, armjam, corspec, blotter,
  concealer, ahermes, armbeac, armfmine4, armnanob, armscorp, armtick,
  cahudhri, corbeac, corbuild, corfmine4, cornanob, corscorp, corsquid,
  cortruck, prec, tawf003, armscram)
 Commander HP reduced to OTA stats (4000->3000), movement speed reduced by
  0.13 (1.38->1.25), explosion size reduced by 1/3 (xxx->xxx), edge
  effectiveness reduced to 0.25 (0.6), cloaking cost when stationary
  reduced to 200 (600), cloaking cost while moving reduced to 1000 (1200)
 Disintegrator and Decoy Disintegrator range reduced by 6% (250->235), shot
  velocity increased by 33% (225->300)
 Disintegrator damage increased to 99999 (50000)
 Fixed Arm Epoch and Core Black Hydra flaghips' firing arcs, they should
  all work properly now
 Fusion reactor explosion size increased
 Special reduced damage vs. commanders for certain extremely powerful
  weapons adjusted to retain the standard minimum number of hits to kill
 Razorback range reduced 25 units (500->475), damage increased 5%
 Level 1 artillery weapon area of effect increased to 112 (80), weapon
  range increased by 10 units
 "Castro" operating cost reduced by 5 (30->25), hit points increased by
  800% (120->960)
 Merl, Diplomat movement speeds reduced by 30%, health increased 50%
 Gantry energy/metal costs doubled, buildtime increased 50%
 Hammer/Thud range reduced 10 units (390->380), weapon velocity increased
  10% (260->286)
 Rocko/Storm range increased 5 units (470->475), weapon velocity reduced
  5% (200->190), weapon damage increased 5% (140->147)
 Plasma weapons' high trajectory mode damage increased 10%, impulsefactor
  increased to 2 (1)
 Targeting Facility energy/metal cost reduced 60%, buildtime reduced 55%,
  operating costs reduced to 150 (250)
 All construction kbots' HP reduced by 10%, all construction vehicles' HP
  increased by 20%
 Custom team death messages added
 Arm "Detonator" and "Aegis" weapon EMP effect extended to 20 seconds (was
  10) via new "paralyzetime" tag, increased area of effect by 25%
 Increased Spy Self-D paralyzetime to 45 seconds
 Increased Dragonfly paralyzetime to 20 seconds and greatly increased its
  potency at the cost of a reduced firing rate
 Increased Stiletto, Twilight paralyzetime to 15 seconds
 Decreased EMP Spider, Bladewing paralyzetime to 7 seconds
 Core "Catalyst" reverted to tactical nuke weapon, range reduced to 3200
  (4500)
 Advanced Solar energy cost reduced 1000, buildtime reduced 1000, metal
  cost reduced 50
 Combat auto-healing now goes as follows:
  LLTs: 2 HP per second (an OTA change that never got brought over)
  Beamer, HLLT: 3 HP per second (same)
  Commanders: 5 HP per second
  Bulldog: 10 HP per second
  Sumo: 15 HP per second
  Goliath: 20 HP per second
  Maverick: 35 HP per second
  Can: combat repair removed
 Maverick HP reduced 250 units
 Energy to metal conversion ratio is now 100:1 for regular land MMs, 90:1
  for floating MMs, 80:1 for moho, 70:1 for underwater moho
 Reduced the costs for underwater metal extractors so they're closer in
  line with land-based metal extractors
 Destroyer HP reduced by 10%, Cruiser HP increased by 10%, Battleship HP
  increased by 15%, Flagship HP increased by 25%
 Destroyer depth charge damage increased by 25%, rate of fire increased
  10%, AoE increased 100%
 Three new armor categories: FLAKBOATS, JAMMERBOATS, OTHERBOATS
 Plasma batteries now do 3x damage against ships
 Added ARMDF, ARMFAST, HLLT, TAWF001, Archon, Adept, Advanced Energy 
  Storage, Advanced Metal Storage, Dragons Claw, Dragons Maw added to the
  proper armor types
 Submarine torpedo damage vs. other submarines fixed
 Community-made "Hover Commanders" mutator added as (H)
 Slightly improved L1 fighter handling, strongly improved L2 fighter
  handling, massively improved seaplane fighter handling
 Finally got around to fixing the texture collision on Arm HLT
  (remodelled and retextured the "guns" section)
 Increased storage capacity of L1 metal/energy storage to 3000/6000
  respectively (2000/5000)
 Increased turret and aiming height for LLT, HLT, Beamer, HLLT
 Old "Underwater Advanced <Energy/Metal> Storage" added back in, but as
  structures which are built both on land and underwater; metal storage
  is 10000, energy storage is 20000
 Added new Core scout unit, "Leejen"; Charges into battle only to realize
  it's unarmed...  Serves as a good recon unit
 Annihilator HP increased 400 units (2800->3200)
 Buildpics for Adv. Storage buildings, DClaw, DMaw, Seahook, Leejen
 Total unit count is now 386


1.45 --> 1.46

 Viper metal cost increased 50 units (642->692), reload time reduced 0.1
  units (1.2->1.1), damage per rocket increased 20 units (270->290)
 Banshee HP reduced 30 units (380->350)
 Abel/Caine rocket launchers removed
 Nuke silo descriptions changed (Nuclear Missile Launcher->Nuclear ICBM
  Launcher), ICBM range increased to ensure they'll reach across any map
  (32000->72000), trajectory lowered so that anti-nukes will work again
 AK hitpoints reduced 25 (250->225), range reduced 5%, speed reduced 5%,
  damage reduced 5%, rate of fire reduced 4%, buildtime increased 5%
 Combat auto-repair speed on Maverick, Goliath, Sumo, and Can multiplied
  by 4 to compensate for engine changes to the auto-healing system
 Commanders now have a slow constant auto-healing (5), as it was in OTA
 Depthcharge launcher weapon range increased 100 units (480->580),
  maximum velocity increased 100 units (250->350), AoE increased to 256
  (192), damage vs. submarines and boats increased 50 units (150->200)
 New sound effect for Catapult rocket launch
 Seaplane gunship costs reduced, stats generally buffed to put them
  closer in line with L2 gunships (how I intended them to be but
  apparently never set up)
 Dragonfly, spies removed from CTRL+B category
 Punisher slope tolerance increased a further 10%
 Scout, Radar, and Sonar planes now have defensive flares
 Detonator, Catalyst missiles set to 1.44 stats, but as EMP weapons;
  metal cost reduced 400 units (~1900->~1400), buildtime reduced 20000
  units (~95000->75000)
 Stiletto EMP bomb explosion changed (purely visual)


1.44 --> 1.45

 Circular Saw/Eradicator energy cost per shot eliminated
 Torpedo launcher reload time reduced 25%, firepower reduced 15%,
  aiming rate increased, torpedo turnrate increased
 Metal generator metal output reduced to 1, energy cost increased 25%
 Core Krow script fixed, there should no longer be any bad calls, etc
 Peewee, AK aiming speed increased ~20%
 "REAL_DOOMSDAY" weapon missing semicolon fixed (thanks Maelstrom)
 AK/Instigator accuracy vs. fast units improved (PW/Flash don't have this
  problem)
 Anti-nuke missile speed decreased
 Pitbull/Viper no longer capable of targetting aircraft
 Viper, metal generators, aircraft carriers removed from CTRL+B category
 "with Anti-Nuke" added to carrier description to help newbies
 "with Anti-Mine Rocket" added to minelayer vehicle description to help
  newbies
 Instigator costs reduced 5%, weapon range boosted 5%
 AK range boosted 5%
 Recluse no longer fires at aircraft
 Anti-nukes can no longer be cloaked
 Freedom Fighter, Avenger HP and rate of fire reduced 20%, speed reduced by
  1 unit
 Torpedo bomber HP increased 500 units
 Torpedo seaplane costs, HP, and other stats completely overhauled to
  put them more in line with standard torpedo bombers (they are now much
  cheaper, etc)
 L1 fighter turnrate increased 15%, L2 fighter turnrate increased 25%,
  seaplane fighter turnrate increased 30%
 Phalanx/Copperhead HP, movement speed increased 10%
 Cruiser HP increased 10%
 Demolisher range increased 5%, LoS boosted 15%, damage increased to 650
  (425), reload time increased to 3 (1.7)
 Moho mex extraction rate increased to 0.35 (0.3, and was previously 0.5)
 Fatboy range increased 20%
 Maverick LoS increased 15%
 Leveler reload time increased 5%
 Mobile tacnuke launcher movement speed reduced 33%, HP increased
  by 2000
 Jethro/Crasher movement speed increased 5%
 Radar Tower radar range reduced 25%, Advanced Radar Tower radar range
  reduced 15%
 Flash damage per second reduced by 10, costs increased 5%, sprayangle
  (inaccuracy) increased 15%, range reduced 5% (DPS: ~115->105)
 Peewee damage per second reduced by 10, sprayangle increased 15%,
  range reduced 5%, HP reduced by 20 units
 Pillager reload time reduced 10%, costs reduced 15%
 Tremor energy cost increased 30%, metal cost increased 25%, build
  time increased 20%
 "Requiter" renamed "Aegis"
 Metal/energy income from construction units reduced to 1/100 their nano
  speed; you can now accurately judge how much "building power" a
  constructor has based on how much energy/metal it makes
 Strange nanolathing speeds fixed
 Added (or increased) storage capacity for resource buildings, even
  mundane ones (solars, extractors, etc)
 Increased HP by 100% on storage buildings
 Catapult costs increased 20%, inaccuracy (wobble) increased slightly
 Guardian/Punisher range reduced 30, Ambusher/Toaster range
  increased 30
 Beamer range increased 7%, damage increased 5%, accuracy vs. fast units
  increased
 Self-Destruct timer set to 10 seconds for:
  Krogoth
  Orcone
  Bantha
  Krogtaar
  Arm Commander
  Core Commander
 Ground construction unit movement speeds are now:
  ARMCK: 1.3   CORCK: 1.25   ARMACK: 1.25   CORACK: 1.2
  ARMCV: 1.6   CORCV: 1.5    ARMACV: 1.55   CORACV: 1.45
 Punisher slope tolerance increased 10%
 Big Bertha slope tolerance increased 20%
 Intimidator slope tolerance increased 30%
 Advanced Fusion metal cost increased 25%, energy cost increased 30%,
  buildtime increased 22%, output increased 1000, HP increased 25%,
  energy storage capacity tripled, cloak cost increased 500, slope
  tolerance increased 30%
 Krogtaar metal cost reduced by 400 units (7184->6784)
 Tactical nuke launcher (static and mobile) missiles require 33%
  longer to build and move 25% slower once launched
 Blade now takes only 50% damage from flak weapons; unit description
  changed to "Heavy Flak-Resistant Gunship"
 Blackdawn cut
 Fibber cut (Sorry Cavedog, it just wasn't a good idea)
 Rapier metal cost increased 10%, energy cost increased 15%, buildtime
  increased 12%, HP increased 15%, rocket damage increased 5%, AoE
  increased 10%, rate of fire increased 5%, movement speed reduced 5%
 Brawler HP reduced 5%, movement speed increased 5%
 Vehicle slope tolerance increased by 20% (15->18)
 Ships' minimum water depth decreased
 Subs' minimum water depth increased
 Subs are now deeper underwater
 L1 sub HP increased 25%, L2 sub HP increased 250%, L3 sub HP
  increased 30%
 Nuke cruising altitude increased hugely, maximum velocity increased,
  acceleration reduced
 Tactical nuke trajectory lowered 20%
 Beamer, HLLT, Packo, SAM, Inferno added back in
 HLLT HP increased 10%
 Nuke impulsefactor set to 2 (1)
 Fido range increased by 50 units (520->570)
 Pyro movement speed increased (2.1->2.3)
 Removed missile from sonar seaplanes, they're more trouble than
  they're worth
 Mavericks now have combat auto-repair (4)
 Goliaths now have combat auto-repair (3)
 Sumos now have combat auto-repair (8)
 Cans now have combat auto-repair (2)
 Total unit count is now 378
User avatar
Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

And then... here's the more recent section:

Code: Select all

2.3b1 --> 2.3b2

 Many more changes, unrecorded due to incompetence


2.23 --> 2.3b1

 Many changes, unrecorded due to stupidity


2.22 --> 2.23

 Leveler HP, range, speed, turnrate boosted, metal cost reduced,
  reload time decreased
 Seismic detector metal cost reduced, energy cost increased,
  detection readius increased
 Error in spy FBI files fixed; spies now self-destruct with a 45
  second paralyzing explosion, but if destroyed by other means
  expode with a 15 second paralyzing explosion
 Flea laser beamtime fixed
 Cruise missile ships now have radar


2.21 --> 2.22

 Fixed Manticore buildpic
 Reduced anti-air kbot HP by 200 (arm), 250 (core)
 Annihilator health bar fixed, properly this time
 Core HLT is now as tall as arm HLT
 Annihilator turret height increased
 Stumpy/Raider shot velocity increased by 20
 Gremlin, Stumpy, Sharpshooter, Skuttle seismic ping size fixed
 Commando weapon AoE halved
 Goliath health increased by 500, weapon AoE increased to 256 (192)
 Added the new units to armor table
 Boosted bantha, penetrator BLoD strength
 Increased penetrator range, decreased sharpshooter range
 Juggernaut restore_after_delay script adjusted, adding its new
  turrets
 All units now have a small seismic signature, spies and other
  stealthy/cloakable units have a larger one
 Adjusted sonar and sight distances for torpedo launchers and L1
  sonar stations
 Flash, Peewee reload time reduced to 0.3 (0.31)
 Zipper reload time increased to 1.5 (1.1), damage per shot
  increased to 15 (10), shots per burst increased to 6 (5)
 Flash speed increased slightly, instigator speed reduced slightly
 Peewee speed, HP increased, AK speed increased slightly, HP
  decreased slightly
 Flash, instigator HP reduced by 20, energy cost increased by 100
 Penetrator speed reduced by 0.118, HP boosted by 500
 Sniper speed increased by 0.04, metal cost reduced by 40, energy
  cost reduced by 3000, HP reduced by 120
 Sniper firing bug fixed
 Halberd energy cost decreased
 Hovercraft movement speed globally increased by 10%
 Fatboy metal cost decreased by 700, AoE increased to 256 (240)
 Liche reload time increased to 20 (8)
 Fighter damage generally rebalanced
 Fixed impulse on anti-air missiles
 Bombs (...from a bomber) now have 0.5 impulse (0.123)
 Banisher, Fatboy impulse set to 0.6 (0.123)
 Archangel, Manticore missile firepower reduced by about 20%
 Leveler impulsefactor increased to 0.9 (0.5)
 Janus turnrate increased, rockets set to fire with an arc and
  have limited tracking now, AoE increased to 128 (96)
 Fixed krogoth primary weapon typo and some corpse values
  (thanks to TradeMark)
 Removed unit "arrived" sounds (irritating!)
 Increase standard impulse of 0.123 to 0.256
 Unit and structure explosions now have higher impulse
 Depth charge accuracy and tracking reduced
 L1 & L2 sub reload time and damage doubled (same DPS)
 Serpent HP increased 900, range reduced by 55
 Leviathan HP decreased by 500, reloadtime increased by 50%,
  damage increased by 60%, range increased by 10
 Sub detection stats are now:
  Sight = weapon range
  Sonar = weapon range +10%
 Boosted sonar station sight/sonar range
 Torpedo bombers can no longer target anything that's not a water
  unit/structure and have sonar equal to their sight range
 Mines no longer flatten the ground they're built on, but now have
  a lower slope tolerance
 Weasel HP increased 50%, weapon damage increased 25%, maximum
  speed reduced 10%, turnrate reduced 100
 Jeffy maximum speed increased 10%, turnrate increased 10%
 Jeffy/Weasel acceleration/brake doubled
 Corvette maximum speed increased 20%, turn rate increased 5%
 Destroyer turn rate decreased 5%, energy cost increased 1000
 Some credit for water-related changes this version goes to Zirjin
 Thanks to, eh, let's say... "Quantum Tunneling"... LRPC and RFLRPC
  shots can now go through friendly units
 Poison Arrow renamed Kraken, since Poison Arrow is a retarded name
 Triton, Kraken movementclass fixed, sight range increased
 Metal maker, radar tower metal cost halved
 Merl, Diplomat rocket reload time reduced by 4, missiles should no
  longer "run out of fuel" before impact
 Reduced Tremor's damage per hit to 170 (190), increased impulse
  significantly
 Gunships restored to 2.11 movement stats
 Wind generator energy cost eliminated
 Reverted Commander script to 2.11 version, d-gun should work again
 Floating radars are no longer buildable on land
 Core floating radar range ring size fixed
 Changed repulsors so they can no longer receive commands
 Reduced gantry metal costs, buildtimes, and workertimes
 Added seperator between unit name and description
 Increased repulsor energy use and effectiveness
 L3 units now have custom nanolathing colors
 Regular L3 mechs besides krogoth are now paralyzer-resistant
 Nuke, EMP, Tacnuke launchers "should" no longer empty their entire
  stockpile once given an attack order
 Implemented improved weapon loudness system
 Crawling bomb vs crawling bomb damage reduced
 Reduced volume of Warning1 and Warning2
 Mine, DT costs adjusted
 All AWACS aircraft now have sonar
 Exploiter HP increased by 200, metal cost reduced by 10, sight
  range boosted by 20
 Increased seaplane platform costs and HP
 Reduced seaplane fighter HP and costs, increased firing rate
 Increased Juno weapon speed, reduced flying height
 Stumpy vs Raider balance fixed
 Panther improved in every aspect
 Boosted radar tower HP
 Commanders always leaves a wreck now
 Increased arm raising speed (for construction) on commanders
 Rocket ship range reduced, AoE increased, damage increased,
  reload time increased
 Total unit count is actually 366, there was an extra FBI file
  that wrecked the count
 Weapon definitions categorized into different files:
  Cannons
  Dummies
  Flak
  Lasers
  Mines
  Missiles*
  Nukes
  Paralyzers**
  Rockets*
  Units
  Water
  Weapons***

  * Difference between "missiles" and "rockets" is that rockets are
    either non-seeking, vertical-launching, slow-moving, or cannot
    easily hit aircraft
 ** Any weapon with paralyzer=1 goes in this category, regardless of
    its other properties
*** Basically, the "else" category.  If something doesn't fit into
    the others, it goes here.


2.2 --> 2.21

 Completely eliminated impulse on EMP weapons
 Stumpy/Raider HP boosted by 200, DPS reduced to 75 (81)
 L1 radar range boosted by 100 units
 Flak now has the proper explosion effect
 Commando is no longer cloakable, HP increased to 2500 (2000),
  reload time increased to 19.5 (5), metal cost reduced by 100
 Revised prior changelog entry: Nanotowers were never removed
 Added range rings to Tracer, Nemesis
 Dragon's Eye slope tolerance reduced to 18 (24)
 Adjusted some weapon colors
 Flak tank HP boosted 300 (1650->1950)
 Added "Archangel" and "Manticore" level 2 anti-air kbots


2.2b2 --> 2.2

 Removed quasi-baseplate from Core Solar
 Arm moho mex is no longer cloaked by default
 Radar LoS ranges fixed
 Implemented gradual reclaim and multi-reclaim
 Increased flea acceleration, brake, and max speed
 Sub rotation speed increased a bit
 Sniper reverted to old firing behaviour, but weapon will no longer
  hit friendly units
 Fatboy weapon groundflash size reduced
 Small tanks can no longer knock over trees
 Sumo should now fire properly
 Improved sub torpedo tracking and speed
 Increased Fido ballistic shot velocity
 Commander corpse script bug fixed
 Amphibious Complex is no longer underground
 Razorback no longer deforms ground, weapon bugs fixed
 Sniper damage vs. commanders increased to 1025 (750)
 Increased fighter sight range
 Minor enhancement to core crasher texture
 Improved EMG appearance
 Reduced L1 torpedo launcher range by 25 units (575->550)
 Torpedos and depth charges no longer collide with or avoid friendlies
 Anti-nuke HP increased by 1500 (2700->3200)
 Added "Tracer" and "Nemesis" seismic detector units, these can locate
  cloaked and stealthed units within their range (approximately 3/4
  the firing distance of a Guardian)


2.2b1 --> 2.2b2

 Fixed lingering Claw/Maw bugs
 Maverick weapon reverted, speed reduced to 1.65 (1.8)
 Fixed a missing texture bug
 EMP spider weapon given paralyzetime
 More slope tolerance and maxwaterdepth adjustments
 Sumo walking animation sped up slightly so it doesn't look like it's
  skating or something
 Commando walking script fixed (thanks to Archangel)
 Commando minimum cloaking distance increased
 Aircraft plants' yardmap adjusted, units should no longer get stuck
  in them (thanks to TradeMark)
 Janus, Leveler weapon impulsefactor increased
 Jeffy, Weasel, Flea energy cost reduced
 Carrier handling improved
 Vanguard weapon velocity increased by 40
 Morty weapon groundflash size increased
 Floating radar can no longer be built on land, given range ring
 Many mine stats adjusted, models shrunk on the Y axis to make them
  look less silly
 Minelayers can no longer do anything but build, given short-range
  jamming, speed/handling improved, build distance reduced
 Minesweeping bug fixed (how long has it been like that?!)
 Air LoS boost eliminated
 Radar tower LoS reduced a little
 Increased nanotower workertime to 200 (150), removed "move" button
 Mobile Annihilator aiming cone increased to 180 degrees (135)
 Sniper is now manual-fire only
 Removed a TON of useless FBI/TDF tags
 Dot Of Shrouded Mystery removed from beneath Dragonfly
 Hold Fire bug fixed
 Bombers (Liche included) now only attack the target assigned
 Hurricane buildpic redone
 Transport hovers leave wake again
 Subs should no longer go underground
 Zeus fold/unfold animation speed increased
 Underwater nuclear mines removed
 Flamethrower graphics improved with new FX system (thanks to Argh)
 Pyro now has a proper pilot light, not that polygonal stuff ^^
  (thanks to JCnossen)
 Units can no longer damage themselves with their own weapons
 Laser corethickness adjusted for more color
 Viper FPS exploitability reduced
 Naval balance finalized
 Perimeter cameras are no longer amphibious (to remove an exploit)
 Commander in (A) has proper resource stats
 New buildpic for core floating mine
 Movementclasses completely overhauled


2.11 --> 2.2b1

 Removed some unused weapon entries
 Eliminated impact physics for all common weapons
 Liche nuke AoE increased to 256 (128), damage vs superweapons fixed
 Maverick damage per hit reduced to 75, switched to buckshot (10),
  reloadtime increased to 3 (0.985), has less accuracy and wide spray,
  AoE increased to 12 (8); effective DPS is now 250 (300)
 Sniper weapon bug fixed, it now only hits one target rather than an
  entire row, minimum distance from enemy units for cloaking to work
  increased to 80 (72)
 Adjusted anti-nuke properties so they shouldn't have occasional
  problems intercepting nukes anymore
 Commander explosion damage doubled (25000->50000)
 All massive explosions now leave larger, deeper craters
 Plasma battery low trajectory fire now have normal (larger) AoE
 Movable nanotower bug fixed, they should also no longer attempt
  to repair or reclaim things beyond their nano range
 Beamer damage increased to 28 (27) per "zing"
 Vehicle factory metal cost reduced by 50 units (~750->700)
 Twilight minimum cloaking distance from enemy units increased to
  48 (30)
 Morty buildtime reduced by about 1200 units (6400->5200)
 Commander metal value reduced (15000->2500)
 Arm Lancet logo fixed
 Arm Moho Geothermal energy output reduced to 1250 (compared with
  Core's 1000 output)
 Prude HP increased to 12500 (8000), energy storage set to 1500 (0),
  metal cost reduced 10% (1176->1058), energy cost reduced 25%
  (32307->24230)
 Behemoth HP increased to 7500 (5000) and no longer targets aircraft
 Moho metal extractor extraction rate increased to 0.004 (0.0035)
 Advanced construction vehicle build rate increased to 250 (200)
 Arm moho metal extractor can now cloak for 50 energy and is always
  radar-invisible; description changed to reflect this
 Packo description changed to "Pop-Up Missile Battery"; SAM changed
  to "Hardened Missile Battery"; Circular Saw and Eradicator changed
  to "Medium-Range Missile Battery"; All related special damage
  values removed
 Flare efficiency (0.9->0.8) and launching rate (0.9->1.5) reduced
  on AWACS aircraft
 Pitbull, Viper weapon AoE increased to 24 (16)
 Construction aircraft workertime reduced to 45 (50), advanced
  construction aircraft to 80 (100), construction seaplane to 100
  (200)
 Construction seaplane metal cost reduced 100 (330->230), energy
  cost reduced 10000 (19000->9000), build time by 10000 (30000->
  20000)
 Radar tower detection ranges reduced
 Basic fighter energy cost increased 30%, metal cost increased 20%,
  buildtime increased 10%
 Basic air transport energy cost reduced 50%, metal cost reduced 40%,
  buildtime reduced 30%, "single-use" flares added
 Paralyzers should now be more effective
 Stumpy, Raider HP and range increased 50 units, rate of fire reduced
  25%, damage increased 30%
 Blade energy cost increased 25%, metal cost increased 10%, buildtime
  increased 5%, HP reduced 50 units
 Flash turning/accel/brake increased 10%, metal cost reduced 5%
 Recluse HP reduced 50 units (1100->1050)
 Thud HP increased to 900 (870)
 Rapier, plasma battery, leveler, bulldog, moho exploiter (rocket)
  groundflash size reduced
 Level 2 aircraft plant energy cost increased by 10000 (22000->32000)
 Default explosions disabled for most small weapons
 Maverick holster/unholster animation speed boosted
 Flash/Gator aiming rate increased (~150->200/175 respective)
 Fixed erroneous spelling of "BlackHydra" armor category in many
  different weapon files (big thanks to TradeMark)
 Fixed erroneous special damage entries in Dragon's Maw and Dragon's
  Claw weapon entries (more thanks to TradeMark)
 Gunship brake rate reduced 25%, acceleration reduced 20%, speed
  reduced 15%, rotation reduced 10%
 Juno should now function properly, it won't randomly fail to damage
  radar-related structures and units, AoE increased to 2048 (1280),
  pulse cruising altitude increased fourfold
 Warrior metal cost increased by 40 (208->248), buildtime increased
  by 400 (4104->4504), HP reduced by 175 (1475->1300), speed
  increased by 0.2 (1.3->1.5)
 Leveller weapon AoE increased to 144 (128)
 Intruder wake bug fixed, is no longer upright regardless of terrain
 Banisher now aims a bit upward to fire, similar to Mercury
 Construction vehicle build distance increased, construction kbot
  build distance decreased
 Merl, Diplomat HP increased 500 (~2500->3000), rocket AoE decreased
  to 64/72 respectively (160), rocket damage increased to 1000/1300
  respectively (800/900), range increased to 1215/1240 respectively
  (1150)
 Diplomat rocket reload time increased to 20 (16)
 Tremor reload time decreased to 0.4 (0.5), accuracy reduced to 1400
  (1000)
 All artillery rebalanced for lower trajectory firing at long range,
  higher trajectory firing at close range
 Arm moho mine HP decreased to 2500 (3000), core moho mine HP
  increased to 3500 (2500) and damage is now multiplied by 0.25
  when closed (0.4)
 Flash/Peewee EMG weapons seperated into two different classes
 Peewee range increased to 180 (176)
 Flash range increased to 190 (176)
 Instigator damage per second reduced to 97 (107)
 AK damage per second increased to 87 (79)
 Commander laser damage versus L1 air transports increased to 180
  (125)
 Metal extractors in (A) fixed
 Units removed: hyper radars, bertha ships, bertha tanks, orcone,
  krogtaar, artillery hovers, aegis, firestorm
 Depthcharge launchers added to commander build menus
 Laser and EMG weapon graphics improved
 Core LLT made the same height as Arm LLT
 Beamer turret height increased to halfway in-between Core HLLT's
  two turrets
 Jethro recoil on wrong barrel fixed
 Marauder death and self-d explosions reduced
 Removed a TON of unused graphics
 Removed extra loading screen bloat
 All vehicle speed, acceleration, braking, and turnrate values
  increased by 10%
 All corpse metal values normalized to 70% metal, 50% hitpoints,
  all heap metal values normalized to 35% metal, 20% hitpoints;
  all corpses and heaps put into one file (even more thanks to
  TradeMark)
 Arm amphibious construction vehicle, construction hovercraft
  build menu bugs fixed in standard, (H), (A)
 Amphibious construction vehicle build menus corrected in (F)
 Annihilator energy cost increased 250% to 62563, damage
  multiplier when armored (closed/off) increased to 0.25 (0.05)
 Catapult size increased 33% (3x3->4x4)
 Commander mass increased to 5000 (2500)
 Jammer tower cost vs. effectiveness made comparable to mobile
  jammer units
 Depth charge removed from anti-air hovercraft
 Radar, advanced radar, and mobile radar stats rebalanced
 Combat autorepair removed from all units except Commander, Maverick;
  maverick description changed to reflect this
 Metal maker, moho metal maker, floating metal maker, underwater
  moho metal maker costs increased
 Ground decals replaced with ones from Unpossible
 Mobile flak units now have the same range as flak turrets
 Core L1 fighter HP increased 15 units to make them survive one hit
  from most missiles rather than being intagib versus all missiles;
  they still have 10 less HP than Arm L1 fighters
 L2 fighter buildtime reduced by 2000 units (~9000->7000), missile
  bug fixed - they now have dual missiles as I intended
 Core cloakable fusion reactor removed
 Core fusion reactor output increased by 50 (850->900), HP increased
  by 3700 (4800->8500)
 Core underwater fusion reactor ouput increased by 50 (900->950)
 Arm fusion reactor metal cost reduced 500 (4504->4004), buildtime
  decreased 5000 (75014->70014), HP reduced 150
 Flea metal cost reduced to 14 (19), buildtime reduced 200 (900->700)
 Laser firing points on commanders improved somewhat
 Underwater fusion reactor metal cost reduced 1000 (~5700->4700)
 Behemoth firing sequence fixed (thanks go to Archangel)
 Missile truck range increased to 600 (585)
 Removed erroneous on/off switch on arm advanced solar
 Core solar generator HP bar height increased
 Nanotower buildtime reduced by 2000, energy cost reduced by 1000,
  HP boosted by 50
 New buildpic for Shellshocker and arm LLT
 Commanders/decoys no longer leave wrecks when they self-destruct or
  are otherwise "obliterated" by and extremely powerful weapon such
  as a D-Gun, and can no longer be reclaimed
 Shellshocker firing point and barrel improved, extra explosions
  removed
 Added "Futureproof" tests to package, drop in same directory as
  Spring.exe to test your computer's performance now and in the
  future; for more information read extras.txt in the Extras folder
 Added "Shadowhack" registry modification, execute it to increase
  your Spring shadow resolution, not compatible with all video
  cards; read extras.txt in the Extras folder for more information
 Mercury/Screamer energy cost doubled
 L2 fighters and seaplanes now have a low-efficiency flare
 Panther/Pelican should now properly approach to firing range when
  told to attack
 LRPC range reduced 10%
 Vulcan/Buzzsaw aiming height increased to 50, Bertha/Intimidator
  aiming height increased to 30
 Shields reverted to repulsor with shield range indicator
 Advanced torpedo launcher range increased to 1200 (650)
 Increased damage values versus amphibous units removed from all
  applicable weapons
 Hovercraft platform metal cost reduced 100 units
 "Support Ship" revert to standard anti-air ship
 Hovercraft made less slope tolerant, costs adjusted
 Amphibious tanks made more slope tolerant, costs adjusted
 Corvettes now have wrecks
 Increased time before autohealing starts to 60 seconds (20), healing
  rate reduced to 5 (10)
 Combat and construction hovercraft size reduced 1/3
 Core Slinger anti-air hovercraft's turret is now actually connected
  to the main model....
 Core Halberd heavy hovercraft now leaves proper wake
 Hovercraft wrecks now sink
 Commander building/defending bug may have been fixed, using Bugfix
  scripts for these to see if they work any better
 Samson/Slasher HP increased 100 units
 Complete rebalance of all hovercraft stats
 Spies are now amphibious
 Rez subs are no longer rendered beneath the terrain
 Amphibious complex buildable units added/removed, costs reduced
 Aircraft carriers should now repair planes properly again
 Turret removed from Intruder model
 Obvious edges in certain locations on certain groundscars fixed
 Juggernaut given 3 secondary LLTs with arcs
 Consul/Freaker stats adjusted slightly
 Poison Arrow model modified, treadmark position changed accordingly
 Catapult explosion size increased
 Morty damage per hit increased to 75 (65)
 Croc model adjusted to look less fragile
 Peeper/Fink flares removed, metal cost reduced by 10 units (~38->28)
 Bulldog range typo fixed (470->570)
 Complete rebalance of all amphibious stats
 Bantha, Krogoth primary weapons now use the new weapon FX system
 Construction vehicle open/close animation speed increased
 Floating flak gun sound categories fixed, rebalanced
 Flak gun sight radius increased to 550 (475)
 Ambusher/Toaster damage reduction when closed reduced to 0.25 (0.1),
  Pitbull/Viper damage reduction when closed reduced to 0.5 (0.2)
 Partial rebalance of some level 3 stats
 EMP missile paralyzetime increased to 60 (20), range increased to
  6000 (4500), AoE reduced to 256 (640)
 Vertical launch time on v-launch rockets increased, this means higher
  altitude before they aim
 Redone buildpics for Muskrat, Garpike, Shiva, crawling bombs, spies,
  to reflect their amphibious status
 Commando added back in, buildpic made
 Sonar range reduced
 AWACS plane sonar removed
 SAWACS sonar range halved
 Jammer towers, radar towers, sonars now have dummy range rings to
  show their effective area before you build them
 Complete rebalance of all naval stats
 Total unit count is now 368
User avatar
KaiserJ
Community Representative
Posts: 3113
Joined: 08 Sep 2008, 22:59

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by KaiserJ »

last time i had a log that big i had to call the plumber
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

rofl you should see the archived section
el_matarife
Posts: 933
Joined: 27 Feb 2006, 02:04

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by el_matarife »

Lots of debate on this topic has been going on since you left. As I recall the broad consensus I heard from the SMuG guys and a few others is that the mass unit eliminations of version 2.0 really left some gaps in the lineup and the Weasel / Jeffy issues didn't help either. Essentially, no bertha ship meant no way for sea players to strike land, and the removal of the tac nuke and bertha tanks removed some real variety from T3. Meanwhile, the game "slowed down" more and the removal of ground damage from fighters got rid of the best counter to commander pushes.
User avatar
Forboding Angel
Evolution RTS Developer
Posts: 14673
Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 02:43

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Forboding Angel »

Back in 1.46 one of the reasons it was so fun is that t2 was not absolutely necessary. Yes it helped, and it helped a lot, but you could get by with massing t1 and still manage to win.

If you will remember, back then, t2 was made more of a luxury than a necessity, and with the variety already available in t1 it made for a very nicely rounded game, cause once you actually went t2 you had stuff to augment your existing forces, not simply replace them.
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

I see... yes I do remember that, now that you mention it. I'll see if I can figure out how to bring AA closer to that.

The reason I removed bertha and cruise missile tanks is, I never imagined they were getting built. I don't think I remember anyone complaining about them being removed. To me, no complaints equals no dissatisfaction... if nobody says anything, it means my gut feeling on a subject was right, which it usually is.

Bertha ships will be returning, in a way.
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det
Moderator
Posts: 737
Joined: 26 Nov 2005, 11:22

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by det »

I think people are just nostalgic about early AA because they were new to spring at the time and it hadn't lost its magic yet. I don't think it has anything to do with the mod itself.
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

Oh yes, that's definitely part of it too. And while I think you meant that in a flamebait sort of way, I fully intend to find ways to using nostalgia to my advantage. If nothing else maybe I'll be George Lucas, incapable of doing anything right but keep people coming back for more.
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smoth
Posts: 22309
Joined: 13 Jan 2005, 00:46

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by smoth »

I liked the giant units, one of the best decisions you ever made was having hUGE units in AA
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

I'm not 100% sure what your intention is, but since you mentioned it... In AA, unit size is a balance decision, not something just for looks. Larger units are easier to hit with inaccurate weapons, and most often it's the inaccurate weapons that are capable of actually damaging something so powerful - again, for balance reasons. Can't have berthas oneshotting your commander.

There's not a lot in AA that's just there for shiggles.
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smoth
Posts: 22309
Joined: 13 Jan 2005, 00:46

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by smoth »

IIRC you did the krogoth huge for cool factor and that was where you started doing it.
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Forboding Angel
Evolution RTS Developer
Posts: 14673
Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 02:43

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Forboding Angel »

I agree with smoth on that, the larger units was definitely a big plus, for balance reasons or not, it did a lot for the look and feel of the game.

And det, you haven't been around long enough, lurk moar. AA in it's glory days was fun as all getout, but when caydr stopped playing it really took a turn downhill.
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Noruas
XTA Developer
Posts: 1269
Joined: 24 Feb 2005, 02:58

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Noruas »

Back when speedmetal was cool
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NOiZE
Balanced Annihilation Developer
Posts: 3984
Joined: 28 Apr 2005, 19:29

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by NOiZE »

well i liked 2.11, Gator was OP >:)
Imperium
Posts: 95
Joined: 31 Aug 2006, 20:10

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Imperium »

I liked 1.44

Flash spaem.
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NOiZE
Balanced Annihilation Developer
Posts: 3984
Joined: 28 Apr 2005, 19:29

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by NOiZE »

Now I had longer time to think about it. I Think even the "random" balance changes were the best thing about AA, almost every version was different, every time the game was a bit different, every new release you needed to "learn" the game AGAIN.

Now.... i actually think that might just be what AA made interesting!
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Caydr »

Hahaha, I hope this new version won't be TOO different for you.

Right now it plays a lot like AA/BA, but there's a lot less units and structures, and really a ton of things that I think other TA-based modders haven't done because they're afraid to change the TA formula too much.

I've given up on that though, keeping everything true to TA and not removing or significantly modifying any OTA units for any reason is holding things back IMO. Spring is not Total Annihilation, and some things need to be left behind to make room for newer, better things.

An example I haven't talked about before is storage buildings. At first I removed metal storage and made energy storage store both - when was the last time you built a metal storage? It's not as much of a necessity. Then I realized, storage as a whole is not something that's needed if the game itself is balanced without storage in mind. Storage buildings are just clutter. If people need energy storage, the game developer should realize this and incorporate storage into structures they will already have. Making it separate is just artificially inflating the unit list.

AA has always given resource production buildings storage, but I'm refining the system now so everything makes more sense.

At the same time, storage as a function is valuable in some circumstances. So some resource production buildings will have less storage than others, but with better statistics in other areas. I'm trying to take all the things that Spring is capable of and give the engine's unique features to various existing units that already fit the style so that there won't be any unnecessary bloat. At the same time I'm taking lots of other ideas I've had over the years and not had time to implement (at least not fully), like what I mentioned with storage, and put those in as well.

I'm gathering all the things that people take for granted about a TA-based mod and asking myself, "why are they this way? Is there any reason nothing has changed about them besides obeying the standard rules of TA design?" There are going to be lots of things that remain the same of course. For instance, flashes and gators are part of the core game design that works very well. What I'm doing is trying to make everything else like flashes and gators - essential, not just for show or to take up space.

It's going to be a really huge new experience. I'm not just blowing air when I say it will be very different from existing mods.
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Forboding Angel
Evolution RTS Developer
Posts: 14673
Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 02:43

Re: What did you enjoy most about AA?

Post by Forboding Angel »

The storage design in AA was one of my favorite behind the scenes additions, and it scaled beautifully.

EE also did this to some extent. I really helps the mid - endgame by expanding the economic structure of the game so that it stretches to fit.
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