Speedrun attempts

[Jacko]

I am incredibly scared/intrigued into how you managed to beat the entire Nod campaign....

without building an Airstrip. Scary stuff.

Does go to show how overpowered engis were in the game though. As well as your...exploiting (I use that term quite loosely) of certain game mechanics.

 

Also I found it very interesting how you exploited a really interesting bug in missions 9 and 11, where you could use your cy even when you couldn't see it, and you even had the speed of 2 cys with only one revealed to you.

I discovered a similar bug in RA while mapmaking where if you had 2 barracks (one not revealed to you) building dudes could spawn them at your 2nd barr in the shroud.

[RC1985]

I am incredibly scared/intrigued into how you managed to beat the entire Nod campaign....

without building an Airstrip. Scary stuff.

Does go to show how overpowered engis were in the game though. As well as your...exploiting (I use that term quite loosely) of certain game mechanics.

 

Also I found it very interesting how you exploited a really interesting bug in missions 9 and 11, where you could use your cy even when you couldn't see it, and you even had the speed of 2 cys with only one revealed to you.

I discovered a similar bug in RA while mapmaking where if you had 2 barracks (one not revealed to you) building dudes could spawn them at your 2nd barr in the shroud.

 

I find that using tanks slows the game tremendously, cos of the longer production time + time taken for the cargo plane to reach the airstrip. Also when comparing costs, men cause more damage  than vehicles (at 600 bucks, 2 rocket soldiers kill a tank easier than a light tank). But yes all this is made possible through AI exploiting, a vital component in finishing the game quickly.

 

I noticed that cy bug too, after capturing an enemy cy with another cy hidden, and then selling of the captured cy, non-production buildings still appeared on the sidebar. Only after discovering the hidden cy do the production buildings get added in. I didn't notice the increase in building speed though, now that you pointed it out it certainly sped up the game

 

to be honest i didn't find too much excitement in doing the Nod campaign; the missions were a lot easier than GDI's, the final mission lacked enemy attacks... I plan to do a harder variation when I start playing again...and the dinosaur campaign was worse, it was so boring that I stopped halfway. In the end I was putting more effort into MattAttack's missions which are a lot tougher!

[Jacko]

I guess with extreme exploitation of lazy AI (and engineers) most missions are quite easy.

It wouldve been cool to see you do Nod 10b (with the mammoths R&D facility) , a personal favourite mission

Although on 10a it was so satisfying to do it conventionally and then flatten the research building with artillery

 

[RC1985]

i chose 10a cos of the potential to dash across but damn the buggies are so dumb sure, will do nod 10b after I get back. i'm planning to do a special version of Cloak and Dagger too by bringing the mcv out and building outside the enemy base- this activates the AI to start making units..

[MattAttack]

I request Nod 7 ec, the one where you have to capture the orca.  I always thought that was the hardest stock mission.  Although now that I think about it I should probably go back and play it to see if it's as hard as I remember

[Jacko]

we should do challenges like the "destroy everything Nod Death Squad" thing you did

so on Nod missions 6(b?) and 7c the challenge is to capture the entire GDI base

 

And once I (somehow) on Nod 10b managed to destroy all the units on the map, including the 2 meds and patrolling mammoth

And do all the missions without engis! (or something)

[RC1985]

we should do challenges like the "destroy everything Nod Death Squad" thing you did

so on Nod missions 6(b?) and 7c the challenge is to capture the entire GDI base

 

And once I (somehow) on Nod 10b managed to destroy all the units on the map, including the 2 meds and patrolling mammoth

And do all the missions without engis! (or something)

 

Sounds good, destroying everything on missions with limited units makes for a cool concept. adding a 'no unit loss' criterion makes it even more exciting.

 

I request Nod 7 ec, the one where you have to capture the orca.  I always thought that was the hardest stock mission.  Although now that I think about it I should probably go back and play it to see if it's as hard as I remember

 

yeah I think it's tough too cos of the unit spread and also north attacking south. plus the only speedrun possibility is to capture the orca asap, after that it's a dreary task of orca reloading and unloading.

 

And damn all this talk is tempting me to reinstall TD :/

[MattAttack]

lol I think we might be a bad influence on you.  It's better than joining a street gang though, right? hmmm maybe not

[Jacko]

why not just join Nod instead

But yeah those speedruns were very interesting indeed, thanks for sharing them with us. Was very cool to watch (and learn) some crazy new strategies and exploits.

[X3M]

How about playing the entire campaign without losses/selling.

With exception of that power plant in GDI-2

[MattAttack]

How about playing the entire campaign without losses/selling.

whoo that'd be especially tough against GDI airstrikes.. unless you have a sam or something as the most NW thing

[Jacko]

I think the challenge would more be getting a good unit Kill/death ratio rather than zero losses at all (only ever done that on GDI 6 and Nod 10b)

[RC1985]

lol I think we might be a bad influence on you.  It's better than joining a street gang though, right? hmmm maybe not

why not just join Nod instead

But yeah those speedruns were very interesting indeed, thanks for sharing them with us. Was very cool to watch (and learn) some crazy new strategies and exploits.

 

This is absolutely the wrong place to say this: excessive gaming is bad

 

Yup the purpose of the speedruns was to show something different and faster... No engies, no selling of buildings etc are legit challenges definitely, though it'll lead to the other playthroughs we see on YouTube - regular tanking to beat the mission.

 

I try to avoid tanking in single player as I found it doesn't work to well .. This is cos of money limits and low production speed, and shifting tanks is a nightmare cos of the lack of bookmark and 'select everything' hotkeys. Instead of the usual W, E, R, shift+1, ctrl+1...I had to do a very heavily-improvised method like in Infiltrated, which is H, drag to select new units, shift+1, ctrl+1, alt+1. It gets worse when I sell the cy, I'll have to take a rifle and put it near the war factory and group it 2, then it becomes alt+2, select units, Shift+1, ctrl+1, alt+1.

 

All that aside it's very refreshing that the TD players demonstrate deep knowledge of all aspects of the game, in multiplayer, single player, game creation etc. A welcome relief from what I see in RA where most have no idea of the campaign or expansion missions, and whore out the same damn money map every day on cncnet...jacko knows what I'm talking about

[X3M]

I think the challenge would more be getting a good unit Kill/death ratio rather than zero losses at all (only ever done that on GDI 6 and Nod 10b)

 

It is indeed easier with GDI than NOD.

I once managed on GDI 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14.

I still need to try on GDI 2, 5, 7, 12 and 15.

 

For NOD, it is just 1

[Nyerguds]

we should do challenges like the "destroy everything Nod Death Squad" thing you did

so on Nod missions 6(b?) and 7c the challenge is to capture the entire GDI base

The "maximum score on Death Squad" one is an interesting challenge. I found out you lose score in efficiency for any building you destroy to reach your objective. So the maximum score run on Death Squad is one where you lose 0 units and where the only building you destroy is the ACC itself.

[RC1985]

we should do challenges like the "destroy everything Nod Death Squad" thing you did

so on Nod missions 6(b?) and 7c the challenge is to capture the entire GDI base

The "maximum score on Death Squad" one is an interesting challenge. I found out you lose score in efficiency for any building you destroy to reach your objective. So the maximum score run on Death Squad is one where you lose 0 units and where the only building you destroy is the ACC itself.

 

max score shouldn't be that tough i think, the units can be moved to the east-most side without having to destroy the guard towers, then the mammoth tank can be killed easily from behind the walls. after that the light tank distracts the advanced guard tower while the commando blows up the adv comm centre.

[Nyerguds]

Distract the AGT? Why?

 

You can kill the ACC with the stealth tanks without even coming into the range of the AGT

[RC1985]

Cos stealth tanks would take a while, like 1000 rockets to kill it while all the commando needs is to touch it then it blows up completely

[Nyerguds]

So? If you go for max score, it's not like speed matters.

[RC1985]

Of course you'd logically want to make it fast too. Then the viewer wouldn't be bored + it's more challenging as well.

[MattAttack]

All that aside it's very refreshing that the TD players demonstrate deep knowledge of all aspects of the game, in multiplayer, single player, game creation etc. A welcome relief from what I see in RA where most have no idea of the campaign or expansion missions, and whore out the same damn money map every day on cncnet...jacko knows what I'm talking about

 

I remember a couple of years ago I had been sitting on cncnet (cncnet4 that is.. omg!) waiting for a TD game for several hours and there were no players or games to be found.  I saw that RA had like 20 games, so I was like "oh well, why the hell not?" I was playing some guy on P4 and holding my own pretty well and I just realized that I was having no fun whatsoever.  There was no strategy or tactics, it was just whether or not I could click fast enough.  (The regular maps aren't that much better imo; at least there's ore to fight over.)  So I blew myself up and went back to staring at the empty TD lobby which was equally fun.  I would rather get raped by an engi rush.  Sure it pisses me off sometimes but at least it evokes some kind of emotional response.  Oh and the elation I feel when someone tries it and I gun them down!  "Delicious tears" I think weaveR says...

And P4.. that ugly fuckin map.. yech!  I'm half tempted just to put some cliff edges or lakes or something other than those rocks on the map, but I doubt anybody would give a crap.

Of course this is just my opinion and anybody who is into RA1 totally has the right to enjoy it--- to each his own!

[X3M]

Speed up a video after recording? I see this happening with replays lately.

[RC1985]

I was playing some guy on P4 and holding my own pretty well and I just realized that I was having no fun whatsoever.  There was no strategy or tactics, it was just whether or not I could click fast enough.

 

heh you got my drift about that money map whored out on RA every day. p4 is a very fast-paced map since you got to be on your feet the whole time (and sore wrists are common for first timers). but p4 doesn't teach money management cos it's infinite ore, and money management is something many on RA severely lack. It's great that the TD players have mastered this skill.

 

Speed up a video after recording? I see this happening with replays lately.

surely u don't mean speedrun videos?

[X3M]

No, I mean that if someone plays a normal game at normal speed. They speed up the video instead.

Gives them time to do it good. Yet those who watch the video see a fast version and wont get bored at some parts.

[RC1985]

Yeah for some vids (not speedrun) that are very long I usually speed the video up so that it doesn't get too long and dreary. For speedruns though I do it speed 6 out of 7 for all missions, no lowering or increasing at any point. the challenge is to demonstrate good tactics while being fast.