GDI - Retaliation (Single Player)

[nariac]

The first C&C map I've made in a long, long time. Thanks to MattAttack for his handy YouTube mission making guide, it inspired me to get back into making missions for this great game.

 

So, without further ado, I present "Retaliation".

 

Designed as an alternate to the canon GDI last mission set, this has you going head-to-head with Kane in his last and strongest base - but it won't be as easy as the original campaign was. Rather than strolling into his backyard and happily setting up a base under Kane's nose, Retaliation has you taking over when the original campaign's commander tried exactly that, and found his base the target of five nuclear missiles and the entire Nod army.

 

You'll have to salvage what you can and prepare your retaliation. That is, of course, if you make it out of the base alive.

 

Good luck!

 

*EDIT* I tweaked the map a little. Tidied up a Tiberium patch which didn't look right, and made sure the movies which play are appropriate. Also made sure the name is consistent - the old version was called Counterstrike which might have been confusing when trying to find it in your missions menu.

Retaliation_v3.zip

[MattAttack]

fuckin awesome, can't wait to try it!  lol, just as I was lamenting how it didn't seem worth it to make any more how-to videos.... I better fire up my bandicam!  (as soon as I have a free minute, I just had a baby...)  I'll play as soon as I can!

[AchromicWhite]

Pretty cool mission. I had lots of fun playing it.

2 things:

 

-The computer started building in my base after the initial start (5 nuke drop), is that normal?

and am I supposed to make my base to the south of the original location... because I didn't, haha.

 

-The computer seemed to run out of cash after I killed their harv like once. Maybe make 2 harvs, so that they can make a second, if their first dies (drop them a second refinery in their base).

 

Other than that I thought it was pretty cool. Not very hard, but then, there was the cash issue for the comp, so yeah.

[nariac]

Yeah, they're supposed to take over the first base after forcing you out. Maybe I should have them move a larger army in so you can't just stay in it.

 

They build a second refinery in the base they take off you, but if they never managed to get that running I can see that causing them money issues. I'll see what I can do.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[MattAttack]

heh heh, I consciously decided to be a good boy and deploy at the flare site.  After meticulously planning many a mission, I know how it can screw up the mission makers plans if you deploy elsewhere! very very cool map though!  An ambitious, original* concept that was pretty well executed!  Enemy attacks were pretty relentless-- though not impossible to fend off.  I felt just the right amount of harassment.  I don't want to spoil too much, but on my first try I saw that just turtling in your south base was a recipe for disaster as they started putting down helis and obelisks.  I really liked how SSMs would "guard" just outside of my base and shoot rockets at my stuff.  And I'm pretty sure in my tutorials I professed my love of the "built it" trigger, so I really liked those! 

 

My critiques are pretty minor and subjective.......

 

I'm not a huge fan of "force move" since teams won't counter attack when you engage them, but I don't think it's really necessary to change them here since there's such a variety and frequency of attacks.  (I would say however, that "force move" IS essential for APCs/chinooks with engis in them.)

 

After beating the mission, I perused the .ini and I'm not sure if "retreat" is a command that functions properly, but again, I didn't notice anything while playing the mission.

 

That's all I can think of right now, but good job I loved it!

 

*Kilkakon had asked me to script a mission for a map he created (for his mod) and came to me with a very similar concept with the Nukes at the beginning.  I loved seeing someone else's approach to the same concept and how they circumvented the same problems I ran into.  (player selling the targets, I'd imagine)  Where you solved it with the use of a multi house, I had a weird house of cards of "dest trigger XXXX" if they sold the structures. XXXX being one of the nukes. So I found it particularly interesting.  I just hope Kilk completes his mod so it can go public!

[AchromicWhite]

About money, remember that AI harvesters pretty much give 99999 credits for each drop off, so if you also just put some silos in the enemy base, they'll all completely fill from EVERY harv drop, which means that they'll have enough to make another harvester, if their only harv gets shot.

Does the mission maker have to program in for the AI to rebuild the harv?

I know in the original missions, if you even fire at their harvester, they'll start making a new one right away. (don't know if that's a manual trigger, or some sort of built in AI)

 

Yeah, I too liked the way the enemy units attacked.

There was some bikes that run in from the south, too.

 

And yeah, if you want the player forced out, then you really have to push them right out. It was kinda funny to see them drop engis... then have me shoot them, and then see them start making a refinery as I was starting to build my base up haha

 

  -Liam

[nariac]

Thanks for testing it, guys.

 

It's hard to strike the balance on this kind of chaotic introduction between too hard and too easy, so much can swing upon a single unit happening to live or die.

 

That said, I've completely redone the intro, mainly by using multi 4 (the silver player) as the attacking army. This stops the allied mammoth tanks all driving out of the base at the start and getting destroyed in stupid ways. The attacking waves are tougher, but more discreet, so clever use of your few vehicles and commando can take the edge off each assault, however the attacks ramp up in size and come from all directions.

 

Also changed around some terrain and added an extra river crossing to try and stop groups from getting stuck. Made the attacks after you set up base a little harder with an extra wave of tanks that sometimes attack. The Nod base also has an extra refinery + harvester at the start, and an extra construction yard so they can "colonise" your old start location more quickly as well as keeping the pressure up on you by building assault waves. They also have 2 extra silos for a total of 4 to help them have enough cash reserves to rebuild a destroyed harvester (they build a 5th silo in the new base).

 

It seems to play better now!

[Darkstar387]

Fantastic mission! Was not expecting such a heavy enemy assault. I underestimated the level in the beginning once I retook the initial base., figured it would a cake walk once after securing all the power plants. I was humbled after I spent an hour punching through enemy defensive positions before finally laying waste to the base, all to realize the temple was the only thing I had to destroy. Great job!

 

Map Design = 5/5

Functionality = 5/5

Originality = 5/5

Fun = 5/5

Challenge = 4/5

 

[nariac]

Fantastic mission! Was not expecting such a heavy enemy assault. I underestimated the level in the beginning once I retook the initial base., figured it would a cake walk once after securing all the power plants. I was humbled after I spent an hour punching through enemy defensive positions before finally laying waste to the base, all to realize the temple was the only thing I had to destroy. Great job!

 

Map Design = 5/5

Functionality = 5/5

Originality = 5/5

Fun = 5/5

Challenge = 4/5

 

Glad you enjoyed it.