Unconventional Faction

[Quadhelix]

I am actually in the process of conceptualizing a side that has nothing but unconventional units. (This should probably go in the Modding Subforum, but it is relevant to my point of liking unconventional units)

Infantry:Chaos Soldier: weapon similar Yuri's Chaos Drone, but in launcher grenade form and weaker (effects last 0.5 seconds per shot, shots are cumulative)

Hijacker: Can kill one vehicle driver every X minutes (X should be large: 5 minutes, minimum, preferably 10-15 minutes). Does not necessarily hijack vehicle once driver is killed. Not stealth when moving. Must enter vehicle to kill driver but will not automatically remain in vehicle.

Brute: Expensive. Vulnerable to anti-tank weapons. Attack dog for vehicles. (Brute vs. Battlemaster: Battlemaster wins)
Vehicles:Jammer Tank: Main Battle Tank. No gun except a weapon similar to ECM Tank's tank disruptor.

Proto-Magnetron: Combines Magnetron's levitate beam with the Microwave Tank's building disruptor. No offensive firepower.

C3 Tank: Combines Avenger's targeting laser with the ECM Tanks missile scrambler.
Needs some work, but I feel that it is at least a good start.

Anyway, I just thought that I'd post this in the proper forum. Chances are that I'll never make this mod, but i thought that I'd post anyway in case anyone else likes the idea.

Notes:

Hijackers should use USA Pilot logic so that their verterancy level becomes the hijacked vehicles' veterancy level. this would be especially important if Hijackers could survive the destruction of their vehicle.
Brutes are able to throw infantrymen out of the way, but the thrown infantrymen receive less damage than from a basic infantryman's rifle.
The side needs some sort of anti-aircraft weapon.

[Daishi]

The side needs some sort of anti-aircraft weapon.
Make a variation of the tank disruptor that can fire into the air?

[Quadhelix]

Make a variation of the tank disruptor that can fire into the air?
Good Idea!! It would be a bit difficult to balance, since completely shutting down a helicopter or airplane would cause it to crash, but it could work.

Vehicle:

Sky Guard: Anti-aircraft ECM weapon; as opposed to anti-tank ECM beams, Sky Guards fire short pulses at the aircraft. Any aircraft hit loses the ability to fire for 0.5-1.0 seconds (the Sky Guard has a rate of fire of three shots per second). Any aircraft hit by ten or more beams in less than a second crashes. Sky Guards prioritize their fire to target disabled aircraft only when all enemy aircraft in range are been disabled.

Thank you again, Daishi!:D

Edit (5/28/2007 4:05 PM):

Chaos Soldier: $150
Hijacker: $600
Brute: $1,200
Jammer Tank: $750
Proto-Magnetron: $1,250
C3 Tank: $1,000
Sky Guard: $1,500

Also, Chaos Soldiers' gas does not affect tanks.

[Derek]

Try not to make the units too similar to units in previous games, it almost sounds like an amalgomation of units from past CNC games.

Another thing to keep in mind is that although it is going to be an "unconventional faction", it still needs to be able to do real damage in some way. Perhaps they could have some sort of generic vehicle (or even infantry) that is moderately effective against everything, but strong aganist nothing. The idea would be that instead of "conventional" units being counters to specific units, the support vehicles are specialized. So to support your generic unit you would have an anti-vehicle support unit, and anti-infantry support units, and anti-air support unit, etc. These could each come in two or three varieties (but don't have too many, or they'll get redundant) with different abilities (but still the same specialty) and different types of units (infantry, vehicle, air). I think something like this could be interesting.

Hijacker: Can kill one vehicle driver every X minutes (X should be large: 5 minutes, minimum, preferably 10-15 minutes). Does not necessarily hijack vehicle once driver is killed. Not stealth when moving. Must enter vehicle to kill driver but will not automatically remain in vehicle.
That would be an incredibly useless unit. Capturing one unit every five minutes, and it doesn't even get to be stealthed while approaching the target? It would never capture a unit, and even if it could five minutes later when it was ready to do it again the game would have completely changed and it would most likely be dead or useless. A cooldown timer of 30 seconds is much more appropriate, and its needs to be stealthed even while moving in order for it to be effective (vanilla hijackers in ZH, which are visible while moving, are neverused). Since it is reusable, I think it would be reasonable to be about 50% more expensive than the ZH hijacker (relative to the income of the mod, of course).

[Quadhelix]

Try not to make the units too similar to units in previous games, it almost sounds like an amalgomation of units from past CNC games.
At this point, that's pretty-much what it is.:( I agree that this needs to be fixed. I have something of an idea for an air unit, a Chrono Bomber, based somewhat on the Aurora Bomber from Generals and Vertigo Bomber from C&C3.


New Units:Chrono Bomber: Something of a flying Chrono Legionnaire. Teleports in, drops either a light Aurora bomb or a Chrono bomb, then flies back to base.


Infector: A specialized infantryman who walks around the battlefield, leaving behind an cloud of infectious gas which lasts about ten seconds. Infantrymen (not vehicles) who enter the gas cloud become infected and leave behind their own infection cloud, as do all infected units. If an infected unit enters a transport or structure, that transport/structure becomes infected. If a transport or structure is infected, all units that are in that transport/structure become infected (meaning you have to scrap infected troop crawlers).

Infected infantrymen travel and attack more slowly, as well as lose health over time. Infected vehicles and structures are contagious but otherwise unaffected.

The Infector can self destruct, infecting all infantry, vehicles, and structures within a moderate radius.


Another thing to keep in mind is that although it is going to be an "unconventional faction", it still needs to be able to do real damage in some way. Perhaps they could have some sort of generic vehicle (or even infantry) that is moderately effective against everything, but strong aganist nothing. The idea would be that instead of "conventional" units being counters to specific units, the support vehicles are specialized. So to support your generic unit you would have an anti-vehicle support unit, and anti-infantry support units, and anti-air support unit, etc. These could each come in two or three varieties (but don't have too many, or they'll get redundant) with different abilities (but still the same specialty) and different types of units (infantry, vehicle, air). I think something like this could be interesting.
Perhaps something like the Tiberian Coalition's Mammoth Mk. II (http://www.cncgeneralsworld.com/articles/moddesign/part3.aspx) in All Stars?

[Edit: How about a mix of the Laser Tank and Robot Tank; The new Drone Tank (Bolo? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_%28self-aware_tank%29)) requires a control center and is armed with a laser. If the player looses power or lacks sufficient Drone Control Centers, he/she cannot control his drone tanks and the Drone Tanks cannot fire. Each drone Control Center allows the player to built 3-8 Drone Tanks. Because of their lasers, they have the ability to tap into nearby enemy power plants to boost their firepower up to 300% of normal.]

That would be an incredibly useless unit. Capturing one unit every five minutes, and it doesn't even get to be stealthed while approaching the target? It would never capture a unit, and even if it could five minutes later when it was ready to do it again the game would have completely changed and it would most likely be dead or useless. A cooldown timer of 30 seconds is much more appropriate, and its needs to be stealthed even while moving in order for it to be effective (vanilla hijackers in ZH, which are visible while moving, are neverused). Since it is reusable, I think it would be reasonable to be about 50% more expensive than the ZH hijacker (relative to the income of the mod, of course).
Sorry, wasn't clear about that. If the hijacker steals a vehicle and the vehicle is destroyed, the hijacker emerges unharmed and can immediately hijack another vehicle. The five minute recharge time is to avoid giving players a $400-$500 anti-tank Attack Dog. The main idea is that, while the hijacker can still hijack only one vehicle, the player can choose when to take control of that vehicle (this way, a group of five hijackers can disable a group of five tanks without one tank being destroyed by its four former companions before the hijackers can capture the other four tanks). As for the issue of stealth, remember that this side has Jammer Tanks (ECM Tanks), so the vehicles will probably be inoperative.