Darkstar387

This was definitely one for the record books. Extremely well done sir!

If its the one I think it is, Nariac is right. It's simply a civilian pumping station. It doesn't have any special properties, if that's what your asking.

Update: Added a WIP section to the front page to keep you all abridged of my progress.

Got around to playing another one today. This is was such a cool idea, I loved the idea behind this mission. I thought of doing a blockade mission like this a while back but you took it to a whole new level. The multiple exit points made this mission extremely difficult, it's definitely one for the pro's. Let me tell you, the recon bike was my best friend here. GDI pumped out such a high volume of units that I eventually gave up on trying to take them head on. You forced the player to put an emphasis on hit and run tactics and really brought out the fundamental strengths and weakness that make each faction what it is. The more I reflect on my time spent with this mission, the more I appreciate the genius that went into designing it. This was a 100% pure Nod mission and I absolutely loved it. It's frustrating as hell, but it certainly took me out of my comfort zone and forced me to play Nod the way Westwood intended. The only thing I could possibly critique you on is the air strike trigger. It's not going to work the way you wanted it to: if you want it to loop, change the 1 at the end to a 2. Overall, this is a very difficult mission but is definitely worth worth beating. I had to save-scum the hell out of it, and I'm no slouch when it comes to C&C. *SPOILER ALERT* I don't know how the rest of you guys beat this, but I simply could not handle the volume of medium tanks GDI threw at me. I don't like being on the defensive, I like taking the fight to the enemy. So I abandoned my progress and rebooted the mission with a new strategy in mind. The first thing I did was build engineers and load them up into the APC. I then captured the Chinook and used it to ferry a full load of engi's into the GDI base. I then captured the construction yard and the weapons factory and sold them for cash, which I felt a desperate need for. With GDI attacks limited to infantry only, I was able to pick off the remaining vehicles and run down the evacuation transports with ease. I did however notice a vulnerability in the mission's logic: if you leave a minigunner on that middle island, GDI troops will get stuck trying to kill him, making the mission easy cheesy. I didn't do this the whole mission, but I noticed it could be done. Map Design: 5/5 Mission Structure: 5/5 Functionality: 4/5 Originality = 5/5 Challenge: 5/5 Final Grade: 96/100 (A+)

It looks like an SSM, but its not... so CML stands for "Consciously Misleading Lie". You should put this in the modding section, it will make it easier for people looking for modded components to find your post.

Yes it would, I was being sarcastic XD. Theres no way anybody would have time to play every mission, it would a full time job with mandatory overtime, no vacation days, and no pay.

The Autocreate function definately works on a schedule, it's not random. Don't qoute me on this, but I remembers seeing the number 150 time units floating around the forum, don't remember where I saw it.

Can we hope to see one someday?

Hmm... ok then. I have a second question regarding auto-created teams. In the campaign, Westwood had missions that included large numbers of different auto-create teams. Some missions would feature up to 11, 12 teams to be built. However, I noticed the AI only really ever builds the first 4 or 5 teams. It doesn't cycle through and randomly select teams like previously thought. I noticed this on my missions as well, the AI favors 3 or 4 teams and doesn't use the full list. Does anybody have any insight into how the AI picks teams during auto create?

It's been a while since I've played the original campaign. I know the only missions where the AI builds out of 2 factories are towards the end, missions 11 and 12 I think (and the extra Nod one). Were they able to accomplish this themselves?

That's what I do now, I used this technique in my mission "Heartbreak Ridge" . Different bases produced different teams so I could better mandage how they followed certain waypoints. I was wondering if you guy's new a better way of doing it though.

Does the mysterious U1 number factor into the equation? Eyes looking at you Mister Matt...

Hey guys, I seek your expertise once again. Do any of you have any insight into how / where the AI builds their teamtypes or units in missions where more than one factory is available? Suppose there are two bases, each equipped with the means to produce infantry and vehicles. IF the AI is instructed to build a teamtype, how does it decide which factory to use? I've designed a couple of missions where this scenario exists and it appears that the AI initially builds from whichever structure is listed first in the .INI file, but soon begins producing units from all structures at random. Have any of you experimented with this before?

Am I from Westwood? Not likely If i did, there's no way I would have let them sell the franchise to EA :ranting:. I was actually 5 when this game came out, my dad and I played it every weekend. Classic lines like "I got a present for ya" and "Nuclear Warhead Approaching" became burned into memory as we waged war every Saturday night on a couple of old Toshiba computers at his office. He'd sneak me in on the weekends because his office was home to the only computers on the same LAN... fond memories. I remember my first engineer rush, and how frustrated my brothers would get when I'd sell their construction yard. I remember the time dad stole my flag in a game of CTF using a stealth tank... 7 year old me thought he was cheating. This game was ingrained into my childhood as if it were my first bicycle. I didn't start making missions until I was about 24. I was late to the game, I didn't even know this community existed. I had spent years tirelessly searching for a way to create my own missions... until one fateful day I found an early version of CCMAP on some long-gone website and instantly dove right in, experimenting and churning out half-baked missions with only a limited knowledge of the game's workings. The first missions I made were rough... none of them are around today. But the years of refinement and research laid the foundation for the pack you're all playing now. "The Scorpions Sting" is actually the only relic I kept from my early days of mission making... albeit an "updated" relic. Luckily, about a year ago, I accidentally stumbled onto a home-brew C&C development page whilst searching for a First Decade patch. The webpage belonged to none other than Nyerguds himself. I had no idea who he was or what the hell his name meant, but I was fascinated by what he had managed to accomplish with the game. I instantly downloaded all of his patches and called my dad up to tell him about this Scandinavian who was keeping the game alive two decades later. After hopping from forum to forum looking for an active C&C community, the road finally led me here. It was my online pursuit of Nyer that led me to this community. After reading most of the stickied forum topics, I dropped the antiquated CCMAP for the highly capable XCC editor and began relentlessly studying Matt's video tutorials. Using their findings to supplement my own, I began revamping old missions and started churning out new ones. The ones that made the cut were sent to my dad, who (completely oblivious to the idea of user-made missions) had patiently waited an entire decade to replay the only video game he ever fell in love with. For a while, I only made missions for my dad and myself to play. Seeing his excitement every time i dropped a new mission was worth the hours it took to craft them. After a while, it inspired me to share them with the world. After quietly observing the forum and seeing hopeful signs of activity, I took a leap and posted the first few bits of the mission pack here. Several months of testing, research and feedback finally culminated in the mission pack you have before you. and that, ladies and gents, is the origin story. I'm glad you like them Arkawa! I will certainly keep em coming so long as you guys enjoy playing them. :heady:

Honestly, my biggest gripe was with the damn harvesters. I didn't mind micro managing my troops through the canyon, but having to babysit the harvester was a pain. I went right the first time i played it. If they ran out of tiberium on the right, they'd try to drive up the cliff to the the north west because that's the next closest field. Other times they'd bump into units leaving the base and renavigate using the cliffs, triggering 7 or 8 planes in the process. Similar issues exist even if the player chooses to set up on the left first. I'm so used to just letting the harvesters do there thing, I almost never have to manage them. It's become as subconscious as breathing. To have to directly control it is certainly...different.

Ok, so I finally played this one and Holy shit was it evil... First and foremost, the idea behind this mission is extremely unique, I have yet to come across anything like it. Using the airstrikes as a super / area denial weapon was ingenious. This mission absolutely HAS to be played a very specific way and it's design is so concrete that it stands as a testament to your skill as a designer. The map, base layout, and attacking forces were well thought out and executed despite the fact that some teams got stuck by the cliffs. Dismantling the bases bit by bit was , in my opinion, the best part of the experience. However, what initially made this mission interesting and charming slowly lost its appeal as the bulk of GDI's attacks devolved into obnoxious plane spam. Obviously, micro management is key here, but I feel that the player is punished a little too harshly for things outside their control, like AI pathfinding. I can't tell you how many times my harvester accidentally wandered onto a cliff and triggered 5 or 6 air strikes, thus ruining my economy and costing me precious resources. Harvesters and combat troops have to be intensely microd for the entire first half of the mission in order to avoid the wrath of the bombers. While this was certainly challenging, likely by design and ultimately rewarding in the end, it hurt the pacing of the mission and I wasn't really having fun until the first comm center was destroyed, finally giving my forces some much-needed breathing room and allowing me to focus on other things besides harvester routes. Overall, this was a great idea and the intelligence behind the mission's structure won you a lot of points. But the strict, cramped nature of the first half and being forced to babysit harvesters nearly killed the pacing. On top of that, some teams (like the rocket launchers to the West and the infantry group that came down the middle) got stuck and bunched up. Still a solid mission though, and I'd still highly recommend it to the hard core players here. I think my only complaints could be remedied by tuning the size and locations of the tiberium fields and maybe moving the airstrike triggers a little farther back or slightly reducing them. That is only my opinion though, I'd like to hear what other people thought! Map Design: 5/5 Mission Structure: 4/5 Functionality: 3/5 Originality = 5/5 Challenge: 5/5 Final Grade: 88/100 (B+)

Finally got around to playing some of your missions! This is definitely a neat little map. You nailed the the look and feel on the head. The patrols, bio-lab pipelines, prison camps and the helicopter overhead really added to the aesthetic. At first, I wasn't sure if the civilians served any other purpose besides being cannon fodder for the obelisks. I tried making a run past the first one with my commando while the obelisk barbecued the civilians but he wasn't quick enough XD. I'll be completely blunt, it took me 3 tries before I decided the commando wasn't getting through. Then it took me another run to spot all your traps. All in all, this is a commando mission done right! Ditto on Matt's remark about the Sam Site, they definitely trolled me in the end. I had to restart a 5th time and use the Apache's as decoys so Mobius could make it home. Map Design: 5/5 Mission Structure: 5/5 Functionality: 5/5 Originality = 5/5 Challenge: 4/5 Final Grade: 96/100 (A+)

This looks really cool. Biggest I have is that the A-10 looks disproportionately large compared to the other objects. By the way Neyer, we're still waiting for a Jungle.MIX file that's completely compatable with C&C95

Would anybody like to take on the horrid task of actually grading or rating all of the submitted missions based on quality, challenge and design? Maybe identify the truly great ones for us? XD

I agree, it depends on what you're looking for. Matt's missions are excellent but have a reputation for being very challenging. I haven't had a chance to dive into Chimas's huge collection, the sheer number of missions is daunting. But If you're looking for a place to start, I'd HIGHLY recommend grabbing the missions on the front page of the Single Player sub-forum. Members like Nariac, LKO, and myself have pumped out a ton of missions which vary in both type and difficulty. And don't let Nariac be too modest, his map and level design skills are superb.

Wow, all 40+? You might be the first one! Or at least the first one to say it. On Hostile Shores is a tough one, I myself struggled with it and I knew exactly how it was programmed. Being the first person to beat the Extended Ops pack, what are your thoughts?

Pack 3 contains all the missions from packs 1 & 2 but modifies them a bit, which made the missions from the previous downloads obsolete. Pack 3 is really just a re-release with some new missions thrown in.

Thats what I thought too... I could've sworn I've seen it go after all the defensive structures before attacking the main base. But then again how many GID vs. GDI missions are there? Not many.

I might throw together a test to determine the super weapon targeting priority of each building. I know that when playing as Nod, the Ion Cannon targets Obelisks first, then Sam Sites, then if neither of those are in play, they move on to air strip and refineries depending on which was built first (that last part is a hypothesis). If playing as GDI, the AI nukes Advanced Guard Towers first, and the weapons factory second. Beyond that is yet to be determined. I'll post my findings though.

I just uploaded my finalized 2nd mission pack. If there is enough demand, I will create a 3rd but it probably won't be for some time. I still have go through and play Nariac's missions, which I'm super stoked about.