Jump to content

Bringing OpenRA features to PortableRA


Zeus

Recommended Posts

So I discovered both OpenRA and PortableRA recently and have played several rounds of both.  I find myself loving the traditional composition of PortableRA, but missing some of the nice features of OpenRA.  Have any of the developers ever considered adding the following features as optional selections?

 

1. Queuing up units to be built

2. Improved wall building

3. Fog of War

4. Specifiable new unit deploy position (select a spot where newly built units move to automatically)

5. Game Timer

 

I realize that some people might say, "Just go play OpenRA if you want those things!"  The problem is I miss everything else about the original.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no programmer, but I'll answer the questions the best I can.

 

All the changes in PortableRA was made by patching the game directly. I'm pretty sure that all the features are very hard to implement in assembler code considering that the source code of RA was never released and if they are possible the players might protest as these suggestions create fairly major gameplay changes. Some people even protested about the higher resolutions and mouse scroll in the sidebar.

 

[*]Would be hard to implement and changes the gameplay

[*]This feature is in Arda

[*]Been there since 1996. Just enable shroud regrows

[*]See point 1.

[*]Hard to implement

 

I'm pretty sure either CCHyper, Iran or AlexB can answer the questions better though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

The op actually brings a valid point I find the original Red Alert to be severely unbalanced towards the allies, now don't get me wrong I love Red Alert 1 more than Red Alert 2 but Red Alert 2 is a more balanced game. I think it would be really cool to add new features to this old game and make it somewhat more modern. Such as giving the Allies air support, making vehicles kill infantry faster, giving spies and thieves to the Soviets too. Giving the sam site to the allies and trading it for the AA gun for the soviets would also help make the game more balanced for the Allies. The medium tank for the allies could also be slightly stronger then it already is to give the Allies a chance against mammoth tank rushes and heavy tanks. I don't know if this possible but maybe spies could shutdown power to bases if they infiltrate a power plant.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The op actually brings a valid point I find the original Red Alert to be severely unbalanced towards the allies

I disagree, the double power that the soviet basic unit possesses is something to think about

 

now don't get me wrong I love Red Alert 1 more than Red Alert 2 but Red Alert 2 is a more balanced game

This makes more sense to me but it seems prism tanks are still an uber-powered end-game unit, the soviet apocalypse did alleviate the one-sidedness a bit though

 

I think it would be really cool to add new features to this old game and make it somewhat more modern. Such as giving the Allies air support, making vehicles kill infantry faster, giving spies and thieves to the Soviets too. Giving the sam site to the allies and trading it for the AA gun for the soviets would also help make the game more balanced for the Allies. The medium tank for the allies could also be slightly stronger then it already is to give the Allies a chance against mammoth tank rushes and heavy tanks.

Try looking into rules.ini - that's where pretty much everything mentioned here can be done.

 

I don't know if this possible but maybe spies could shutdown power to bases if they infiltrate a power plant.

I don't think this is possible, assuming all spy/thief/engineer logic is hard coded.

 

If you do look into rules.ini do watch for hard-coded aspects (super-weapons, infantry logic and airfield powers, amongst a couple of other things) which cannot be changed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Matt: Wow looks like your planning to expand RA more. Keep it up mate!

 

Red Alert 2 is a more balanced game.

coldroll: what makes you think RA2 is a more balanced game than RA1? Me I find RA1 even more balanced than RA2 because  in RA2, you have to think fast or you'll end up getting over-runned to death by your opponents, and also you'll be most likely targeted by the AI, which is also quite a challenge to us if you ask me.

I think it would be really cool to add new features to this old game and make it somewhat more modern. Such as giving the Allies air support, making vehicles kill infantry faster, giving spies and thieves to the Soviets too. Giving the sam site to the allies and trading it for the AA gun for the soviets would also help make the game more balanced for the Allies.

 

I agree with having several undergoing changes and also modernizing it but don't make vehicles kill infantry faster anymore because in my opinion it would be unbalanced alreay. Remove thief and let the spy do the thief's job also (only if it infiltrates a silo and refinery) but with silos I think silos should be removed. (in my case)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if this possible but maybe spies could shutdown power to bases if they infiltrate a power plant.

Why? Because RA2 did that? Don't judge a game on the ideas and features of its successors. This is RA1.

 

I'm not judging the game I'm simply suggesting ideas to make an old classic more balanced and interesting. Also what else would you do to give players an incentive to use the spy more in multiplayer?  :)

 

Also in my post about Red Alert 2 I did forget that the rocketeers and prism tanks were unbalanced.  :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also in my post about Red Alert 2 I did forget that the rocketeers and prism tanks were unbalanced.  :P

 

Oh yeah I forgot about rocketeers too.

Almost like trying to remake the Tiberian Dawn Helicopter Spam that was....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Besides those minor imbalances Red Alert 2 still had much better balancing than Red Alert but let me be clear Red Alert 1 is my favorite C&C.

 

I did sort of attempt to rectify that in some way in my mod, do check it out.

However you do have a bit of a point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Besides those minor imbalances Red Alert 2 still had much better balancing than Red Alert.

 

I have to disagree on this. I always found RA2 to be far more balanced toward Allies because in any game I played (admittedly not all that many, probably around 100) Prism Tanks and IFV's were an unstoppable wall of rape. Rhino Tanks and Apocalypse Tanks folded under the rays of the faster and better-ranged Prism Tanks, and super-expensive Kirov Airships simply couldn't go the distance with so much IFV AA-spam ruining the day. Just speaking from experience, although I'm hardly close to anything near 'pro' at RA2. Sure, the Soviets had the early Rhino advantage (Grizzly Tanks weren't worth shit), but Rocketeers and even deployed GI units... arrrgh. Fuck RA2.

 

/rant

 

Anyway, as for introducing OpenRA features into RA, I'm not so sure that this will ever be feasible, and not just for coding reasons. I play both, and really, they're far too different now to make any direct and fair comparison. Infantry play a much bigger role in OpenRA already (I actually support this deal), and it's rare that a Tank Rush works any more. Compare this to RA95, where ten WF's and as many tanks as your funding allows seems to be the norm! Unit/Structure production queues? Minor gameplay change that doesn't really give or take an advantage; I'd be all for it. Swapping around who-gets-what and giving units extra function? No. This is where you start fucking with things just that bit too much. Don't get me wrong -- I like OpenRA for being somewhat fresh and attempting to rebalance things without going down the route of "everything for everyone", but for anyone to suggest that RA95 adopts certain things from the project is just insanity.

 

tl;dr -- some engine tweaks (if possible) are favourable, but changing the core mechanics of how a round unfolds is never going to work or be popular among vets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reminds me of Counter strike players who hate any kind of change in a game, kills alot of great mods.

 

Mods are an entirely different category. Changing the behaviour/rules of the base game for everyone is what causes disagreements and issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reminds me of Counter strike players who hate any kind of change in a game, kills alot of great mods.

 

Mods are an entirely different category. Changing the behaviour/rules of the base game for everyone is what causes disagreements and issues.

 

https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/tree/bleed/mods/ra

 

Technically all the behaivor and rules in OpenRA (just the engine) are defined in mods. It also supports complete customizations per map.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...