The Return of Gundam Mudrock

So there has been a lot of updates to the mod in the last few weeks since the last update.  First we've replaced the Explorer truck of uc with a Big Tray.  This is cool for a few reasons, first it helps further the graphical separation between GDI and UC.  Second the structure will not only deploy and further build out the forces but it also will be the main structure for deploying both defensive structures AND will be the deployment spot for all Special Operations Units.

What are Special Operations Units?  SOU units are mostly classified as artillery units or units that are designed to fulfill a special roll in the field.  All those units that you read about in the back history of "these units were expensive to mass produce so the Earth Federation only built a few" are probably in this category.
Another interesting change is the fact that defensive structures are going to come with backup.  That means you deploy the main weapon and then some defensive units will also deploy based on that type of structure.  A basic defensive cannon will come with some commandos for anti-infantry support.  That heavy anti-air sam site?  How about a few RGC-80's to help protect it from ground attacks?  Yea, you get the idea.

Finally we have the current (but never final) Gundam list.  There are 2 new Gundams being added to our pool giving us 9 Gundams on the UC side.  The new design calls for 3 teirs, each teir having 3 units to choose from.  You build a unit from the teir and you get access to different bonus's and features on the units.  You can only have 1 gundam from each teir built at a time, but if it dies you can rebuild it or build a different one to go a different direction.  This is the new list.

Gundam RX-78-2 / Gundam RX-78-6 Mudrock / Gundam Alex
Gundam GP01 / Gundam GP02 / Gundam GP03
Gundam RX-178-0 Proto / RX-93 Nu Gundam / RX-93-V2 Hi Nu Gundam


Yep, Mudrock and Hi-Nu are back in the game.  I will go into detail on what powers you actually get from each unit at a later posting but let me be clear that we are working very hard at making sure that each unit gives a bonus that helps offset other concerns (in other words obviously RX-178-0 Proto isn't as powerful as Hi-Nu Gundam but RX-178-0 will give a bonus that may make it worth it to some players to use depending on your stratagy).

Now for the down side, the only thing that this new design has to remove are the capitol ships that used to drop the units in.  It would be nice keep them in but at the moment they just are not needed.

More to come soon, including pics on ModDB.

Damn it, I really need to start posting here more often.

First I want to say thank you to everyone who reads this blog.  I simply have not been keeping up with my posts like I was supposed to and for that I am sorry.  However I really do have some good news.  I'm posting again!  Thats good right?

On to more important things.  The reason I have not been posting lately is because Doug and I have been hard at work with making some important changes to the EF and with coming up with blueprints to UC/AW/Seed.  Now I know what your thinking, "wait, didn't you already have those?  I mean, we've got the UC update already!  It's 2 posts down!"  Sorta.  The update that was posted here was never posted up to ModDB (see, I do keep some promises) so only a few people have actually played it.  This is a GOOD thing.  After converting UC and AW to the new balancing system a few things stood out to us.  First, AW held up under the new system a hell of a lot better than UC did.  Second of all our Defcon system was simply too archaic to work in this new game system.

You see with the changes that we made in the O3 mod in place the old UC design was simply too constricting.  There were too many "artificial" barriers in place to allow for a fluid UC gameplay to happen.  You HAD to wait 5 minutes to go from teir 1 to teir 2, then another 4 minutes to go to teir 3, then another 4 to go to teir 4, you get the point.  This leads to a very uneventful UC gameplay where the player is constantly on the defensive for most of if not all of the game!

Now I'm not willing to go into detail just yet in what our new system is but I can tell you a few things that both Doug and I have agreed upon that this new system must be able to pull off if it's to work right.

1. The Upgrade Path through the teirs must be fluid.  It must move at the players pace and not at an artificial pace.
2. The Units that a player can choose must be able to be dynamic.  This means that a player must be able to fluidly modify their game-play though the choices of units and that units must actively be able to support one-another if they really were meant to be supported.  A good example of how this would work in game is with the RX-78 and the RGM-79 mobile suits.  RGM-79's are all good and fine but if you have them backed by the RX-78 they could for example gain the ability to call in their own Core Bomber bombing runs!  Hows that for something to watch out for!  Maybe you don't want to have RGM-79's with bombing runs, prehaps your going to focus your forces around Gundam Alex.  Now those RGM-79's are not normal RGM-79's, now they are upgraded to RGM-79D Cold Climate types with improved speed and fire rates!  However if you lose your Gundam you also lose the bonus the Gundam grants, so you better cover those Gundams!
3. The Gundams ARE the Generals on the field.  This means that a single Gundam can turn the tide of a battle by not only being an incredibly powerful and unique force on the field to fight but also by the bonus's it gives to certain units.  The down side to this is you can only have 1 gundam from each Teir (there will be 3 gundams to choose from per teir and 3 teirs right now) so you can only manipulate the force so much.  If you lose your gundam you can however simply rebuild it or choose a different one to go with so your never forced to stick with a specific tactic.
4. It must be a CLEAN system.  This means it must not only be easy to use, not only easy to tell what unit gives what bonus's, but it must also be obvious what is going on in the field.

So you see we do have a very interesting and grand plan in the works.  We should have the final design locked in by Thursday so after that I will be able to give more details.  We also have plans to change AW some and make it not only cleaner but give the player more control over their forces abilities.  But first we have to get UC done.  Who knows, maybe you'll be playing some new UC by the end of Febuary?

still alive and kicking

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking here.  Doug and I are hard at work on the mod still, we're almost done with the AW conversion (a half dozen units to change on AW, a few modifications for UC and EF as a whole) then we will be on to finally FINALLY adding SEED back in.

UC Test 1

http://www.mediafire.com/?jqoob2ppgmuplim

Here is a test run with UC converted, AW has NOT been modified to the new system yet.

Keep your eyes open on thursday

Yea yea I know.... its way past when I said it was going to happen.  As alen pointed out, its been awhile.  I had mean to have something up last sunday for you guys but the version just wasn't coming along the way I wanted.  I have one that works now but I made a major mistake in it which causes the game to not feel right for UC.  Upon further inspection it was my design choices that made it feel artificial.

You see since we're using a teired unit system and UC works off of a defcon teir system I tried to have each teir follow the defcon, so all decon 1 units were teir 1 units, all defcon 2 units were teir 2 units, and so on and so on.  And it works for the most part but it just feels... odd.

So as a teaser for what you can expect on Thursday here is a little chart to wet your appetites.

NAME :  WT - AT - UT - HP - Class

RGM 79 : 1 - 2 - 2 - 2700 - Offense
RGC 80 : 2 - 2 - 1 - 1800 - Assault
Guntank MP : 2 - 2 - 2 - 3000 - Offense

Gunsniper 2 : 3 - 2 - 2 - 1800 - Assault
Power GM : 2 - 3 - 2 - 4500 - Offense
RX 77 D : 3 - 2 - 2 - 1800 - Assault

GM Custom : 3 - 3 - 3 - 4500 Offense
RGC 83 : 4 - 3 - 2 - 4950 - Offense

Guntank 2 : 4 - 4 - 2 - 6000 Offense
FA RX178 : 5 - 6 - 3 - 10890 Offense
Super Gundam : 6 - 5 - 4 - 8250 Offense

RGZ 91 - 6 - 6 - 4 - 9900 Offense
Stark Jegan - 4 - 4 - 3 - 4200 Utility
Armored Jegan - 4 - 4 - 3 - 4200 Utility


I know this may not mean a lot but it should give you an idea of just where we plan to have mobile suits sitting.  Remember a WT 2 means it should be able to kill an AT 2 with no issues in a 1-1 battle.  So an RGM 79 should be able to kill pitbulls and survive with no issues.  (It will obviously still take damage).

December is a happy time

Or so they say.  I personally am starting to not like it. It's cold, so the heating bill go's up.  I get sick much easier, so there's the down time from that.  Its also crazy busy at work so there is that as well.  All this adds up to less and less time to work on the mod.

God I can't wait till January at this point.

Still I do have some time.  I'm currently working in re-integrating the Xenoforce O3 files from the latest version.  Then we move on to converting UC and AW.  After that its SEED.  I'm hoping the first 2 parts go quick so that I can spend most of December on SEED.  As long as I have the proper models this should move along at a rather nice pace.

Once I get UC and AW converted I will post a version up here for readers of the Blog to try out.  Consider it a gift to all you "god, he's ranting again" people who actually read this mess lol.

Back to work for me.  :)

More late posts, but it happens.

I first wanted to let everyone know that yes, I know I have not been posting on here as regularly as I want.  However I have a good reason.  I work in Retail and it's heading into the busiest time of the year for us.  For the last 2 months I've been getting extra hours at work (8-12 extra a week) which has taken a lot of my extra time away.

We are still hard at work on the mod.  Tonight I will be uploading the O3 2.1 version of the mod to ModDB / Mediafire for everyone to play.  This version will have some balancing tweaks and fix's to it (no more infinite cash for GDI players who like to shoot at the ground).

Tomorrow I plan on starting work on converting UC and AW to our new system.  I hope this conversion process will go smooth.  As a special "thank you" to all the people who read the blog I plan on posting up a link to this "pre-SEED" version of the mod once it's done, hopefully by the end of November.  This link will only be here on the Blog, I don't plan on posting it on MOD DB.  So as far as that go's keep your eyes open.

In December I plan on getting SEED done and out of the way.  Our design should be easy enough that it shouldn't take long to do.  I hope.  After SEED we plan on moving straight into the Invid.  Doug has some good army ideas already in mind for them and we've gotten our hands on a few models to make this process relatively easy.

After that its a short jump to Zeon and then a hard finish with the RDF/Southern Cross/REF.

We're also working on getting new audio files placed into the mod so everything doesn't sound like a Predator unit lol.

I will try to go into more detail with our SEED designs next Sunday.  Until then keep playing!