Xenoforce 0.9c released!

Yes, 3 days early in fact!  I was going to wait until Christmas Eve to release the mod but I remembered last month when I tried to do it on a specific day on MODDB and forgot that it takes anywhere from 24 to 48 hours for MODDB to actually post the mod for download from when I submit it.  That just won't do this time!  

So I present to you the link to the latest and greatest update to the Xenoforce Reborn project to date.  The 0.9C.  Have a merry christmas guys!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jm3gc5j559mdoaw

Armored and Stark Jegan

I've managed to get the Armored Jegan and Stark Jegan into the game. The difference between these two units actually go's past the typical "weapon swap" considering they are both based on the same unit. So I felt this was a good time to talk about the Teir 5 units and why Teir 5 really is the pinical of UC tech. Some of these units are also Teir 4 units but are still avalible in Teir 5.

The RVC-1 Guntank II is more of a mobile vehicle than a mobile suit. It is equipped with an assortment of weaponds and it's primary purpose is long range artillery support. However due to it's heavy weapons and armor its a very slow unit making it more useful for base defense rolls.

The GM-III is the typical frontline unit for Teir 4 and 5. Its equipped with a standard Beam Rifle and has decent armor. It's cost is only slightly higher than the original GM's but it's speed, armor, and firepower all range between 20% to 35% higher.

The Armored Jegan is long range artillery support. It is equipped with 2 powerful beam cannons and is heavily armored so it can take quite a hit before sucumming to enemy fire. It's firepower is roughly equivilent to the GMC-83 GM Cannon II, and it's not quite as tough armor wise, but it's speed is much faster making it easier to deploy on the battlefield.

The Stark Jegan is quick response firepower able to move as fast the RGZ91 in Waverider Mode. Power wise it's able to release a massive amount of kenetic damage against an enemy target with it's hyper bazooka and missle loadout. However, it's speed and firepower are offset by it's basic armor, so it's not able to last long in a fight.

The RGZ91 is a very powerful mass production unit. It's equipped with a rapid fire beam rifle and it is a heavily armored unit. It's main advantage is that is can switch at will between mobile suit mode and waverider mode. In Waverider mode it gains more speed and missile pods but is much more fragile to incomming fire. It is however a very expensive unit.

And there you have it. Thats a rundown of Teir 5's suits. I know some of you may be going "oh gee, 5 suits? Thats it?" Well, yea pretty much. But you also get Nu Gundam along with any other suits that you've got left over from previous teirs (time to pull those old RGM79's out of retirement and put them into the field). On top of that you have the air units still avalible (which will be getting an overhaul before the release next week) and the basic vehicles that EF gets (so that's the Jeep, Colony Defense Tank, Missile Truck, and T61 Tank). Honestly, that should be enough don't you think?

Quick update

Thought people may want to see the new EF Landing Pad that's replacing the old new one... yea.... something like that.  Anyways, here's the pics.  One is the regular version, and the other is the upgraded one for UC's timeline.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that I've added the EVA sounds in for EF.  They're just the same sounds as GDI uses for now, but it's something and it does help.  

New ability discovered.

So I just figured out how to properly use different models dependant on their damage states, along with different movement animations.  While this is quite cool, what I wanted to do with this new ability isn't possible. 

See, I was trying to get the units to lose limbs as they take damage.  Spicificly, I was trying to get the Powered GM to lose an arm after it takes X ammount of damage.  I was able to pull this off, except for 1 issue.  If I did the animation of the arm blowing off then every time the unit stopped moving it would redo this animation (not what I was going for).  If I didn't do this the arm would simply disappear, which wouldn't look right to me. 

So I ask you guys, what would you suggest?  Right now all I've done is add a sort of "wobbly" effect to the unit when it starts or stops moving, but that doesn't seem to be enough to show "damaged" to me.  I really don't just want to do a "texture" swap with damage on it, that's lame considering the possibilities of being able to swap the entire model out.  I'm gonna try adding damage wires and stuff to the model and see what that looks like, but any suggestions would be welcomed.

New ideas for EF/UC

So the votes are in and for the next month we will be working on finishing UC up.  This means code cleanup, new sounds (hopefully), damage effects for the units, weapon balancing, these kinds of things.

In the last few days I have been working on the new turret system for some of the units.  I have also been working on making each unit even more unique (lets be honest, some times units really feel like the same thing don't they?).

For example, we have how many long range/artillery units in UC?  Well, in timelines 1 and 2 we have the GM Sniper, the GM Cannon 80, the GunCannon RX77D,  and the GunTank Mass Production!  Thats over 50% of their forces consisting of artillery units, that's quite a bit.  So what did I do?  I added another one in of course.

So this is how it's going now, a breif description of how each of the artillery units will be different/used differently.

The Guntank MP is equipped with 2 120mm long range cannons.  It's long range helps keep it well out of enemy range, but it does take a bit of time to reload.  It's also equipped with a secondary weapon, machine guns on it's arms, to help protect it from enemy infantry that could try to flank the artillery.

The GM Cannon (RGC80) is equipped with a single 240mm cannon.  But, due to the cannons shorter barrel it is not as accurate and requires the unit to be closer to the target to use.  Also, because this weapon is mounted on a normal GM body, the unit is fragile.  However, it is also very cheap and easy to produce, and it can pack quite a punch.

The GM Gunsniper has been modified to a new setup, one that I think makes the unit a lot more effective and useful.  Now the unit is stealthed at all times except when firing it's weapon.  However, the unit can not fire until it is in deployed mode.  It works a lot like the GDI Rig in this fashion.  However, it has great range and with the proper deployment these guys can make great "stepping stones" for the enemy to have to go through when deployed in a forward sense.

The RX77D Guncannon is a much more heavily armored unit when compaired to the GM Cannon RGC80, and comparison is in order here.  The unit is equipped with the same weapon as the RGC80, but it has 2 of them instead of the RGC80's one.  However it's cost is greatly increased, so while have some of these guys mixed in to your forces makes good sence trying to build a huge army of just these guys will drive you bankrupt quite easily.

The other teir 2 unit is the GM Sniper 2.  Compared to the original GM Sniper, this one is equipped with a normal kenetic based rifle.  It however still has amazing range, stealth, and can pack quite a punch.  It does not however require deployment to be used, so in this sense it's a lot like a normal unit with a powerful rifle which, in the end, is exactly what it is.

In the 3rd Teir you gain access to the GM Cannon 2.  This unit is very expensive, but is very powerful.  It is a GM Custom unit with Gundam Alex's extra armor making it a tough unit and is equipped with 2 powerful beam cannons.  Now the key thing to this unit is that when the GM Cannon 2 is killed what actually happens is that the GM Cannon sheds its outer armor and cannons reverting to a GM Custom unit.

Teir 4 has the Guntank 2, a traditional artillery unit.  The Guntank 2 has 2 recoiless 120mm cannons that allow it to fire in a much quicker sucession than the original Guntank.  Also, the Guntank 2's secondary weapons are now rocket/missile tubes allowing this unit the ability to deal with enemy mecha as they get closer to it easier.

Arguably also Teir 4 has the Super Gundam which is equipped with a powerful long range beam rifle, so you could consider it artillery also.

Teir 5 is the only teir that doesn't have any artillery in it, but does it really need it?  I didn't think so either.