Tiberian Dawn - The Scavenger's Revenge

[Messiah]

Another one of my odd single player missions. The behavior of the enemy here is quite unpredictable and weird, which makes the mission pretty hard but usually not impossible.

 

Nod has done research on tiberian creatures to use them as a kind of weapon. They used DNA samples from dinosaurs and animals and tested the effect from tiberium on it. Nod lost the control over that project and the result of the experiments escaped from the cages. As reaction, Nod locked the gates to their base. To regain control of the area, it is necessary to destroy all Nod forces and the creatures. We don't have a conyard and a headquarters in the region, last one is essential for further operations in the area. After you saved the HQ, find a way into Nod's base lead the beasts into it, so they will annihilate each other. If the biotechnical labs or some Nod forces survive the chaos, destroy them as well.

 

1. Free the MHQ and protect it on the way to the forepost.

2. Open the backdoor to the Nod base.

3. Free all beasts from their cages.

4. Guide the beasts into the Nod base

5. Destroy the BioLabs, all remaining Nod base and all beasts.

Bonus: Conquer Nod's ConYard.

 

Edit:

Now I made two different versions of the mission: one is the original one (scg86ea), where the beasts already escaped. In the second version (scg85ea) you have to sneak into the Nod base and open the cages per hand. Actually, I prefer this version

 

There are some issues with the scripting here which I couldn't handle.

 

- team "datk" is created at the very beginning of the game multiple times although the trigger is timed to 155 and fires only once - also the "special" house don't have any autocreate trigger.

- team "atk2" was created in earlier versions of the game but now it isn't created anymore although I didn't changed anything on trigger or teamtype

- team "atk1" isn't created at all although there is a trigger

- team "trcs" doesn't reinforce properly (although there is only one point where it could pop out and the house's edge is set correctly)

 

I hate the TD team types...

Maybe someone of you can look into the .ini after playing and say what's wrong here...

scg86ea.INI

scg86ea.BIN

scg85ea.INI

scg85ea.BIN

Edited October 20, 2018 by Messiah

[Nyerguds]

Haven't played yet, but, some remarks:

-You can add line breaks in your briefings, y'know. Just put ## at the end of a line to add a break.

-"Free all beasts from its cages." - their cages

-I'm fairly sure "autocreate", like "production", is an all-houses trigger... as I remarked a couple of times before, the house in the trigger is generally the house that triggers it, not the house that gets the effect.

-Team "A10": I sincerely doubt you can give commands to A10 teams. They just strike the most northern target.

-Team "datk": Put the number behind "15" to 0. That might help. This number is the production multiplier. As far as I know it should be 0 unless the teams should be built in a factory. In fact, this

is the only team of its kind where you used "0,0,0,0,0,15,1,0,0" instead of "0,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0".

-Team "atk2" is linked to an "Attacked" trigger which isn't linked to any unit or building, so obviously it'll never be created.

-Team "atk1" is linked to a "Player Enters" trigger, but the trigger is linked to a bike. Last I checked, players can't "enter" bikes

-Team "trcs" (odd name for a team of raptors, btw): I suggest making the hole in the east side smaller; 3 cells or so. That usually helps the reinforcements get out right.

 

On a related note, the number in the teams behind any non-move command (like "Guard" and "Attack Base") is the time before it loops back to the first command, so you might want to either specifically loop the teamtype on the last command, or put that last command's time to "99". I'd go with looping, personally.

(Side note to my side note: in case you don't know... The "loop" instruction does not cause looping, it prevents it. All teams loop by nature. "loop:N" causes the first N instructions to be left out of the loop. The "loop" action should be at the end of the list of actions.)

[MattAttack]

Nice looking map.  I like the double bridge at the base   Did I mention I really like nice looking maps?

 

To amend some of Nyer's comments:

 

-In regards to the production and autocreate triggers, I've always seen the house set to 'none' for destroyed triggers.  I have to test when I get home, but production should automatically start for Nod (even when set to 'none').  Goodguy vs. Badguy is interesting in this relationship.  In many original missions, the PLAYER would enter a celltrigger (set to player's house) and it would automatically start the opposing faction's production.  When fooling around with multi-house however, the house trigger had to be linked to THAT multi house.  Meaning only they could enter their own celltriggers to activate their own production.  IIRC of course, been a while since I researched that. 

 

-AI a-10's only can "attack base/units" not follow waypoints.  There are ways of controlling where they come from a little bit, by altering the border just inside and outside of the playable area.

 

-I always loop.  It is the only way to be reliably sure they'll loop.  I have a feeling it depends on what a team's last command is whether they'll loop or not automatically.

 

I'll try to play it later today if I get a chance!

 

 

[Nyerguds]

-AI a-10's only can "attack base/units" not follow waypoints.

The original missions' A10 teams don't even bother giving any commands, actually. They're just

a10s=GoodGuy,1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,1,A10:2,0,0,0

[Messiah]

It is weird that the Velo team is created before any autocreate/production trigger is fired... anyway, I think I'll keep it as it is, that makes the mission more unpredictable.

 

Seems I mistakenly changed the atk1 and atk2 when I linked it. That is fixed now.

 

That A10 team wasn't reinforceded at all. It was meant to be reinforced to destroy a nod building on the north-western island after you destroy all creatures. So player only can win when both factions are dead. (Idea by Kilkakon)

Nod is intended to be the stronger faction at all, so I skipped this.

 

Now I made two different versions of the mission: one is the original one (scg86ea), where the beasts already escaped. In the second version (scg85ea) you have to sneak into the Nod base and open the cages per hand.

 

[Nyerguds]

It is weird that the Velo team is created before any autocreate/production trigger is fired... anyway, I think I'll keep it as it is, that makes the mission more unpredictable.

Team creation doesn't require production. Only actually building units requires production. Team creation can just recruit existing units on the map.

[Messiah]

But it should require at least a trigger (autocreate or create exactly that team) to create that team? 

[cn2mc]

One of the numbers in the teamtype, I forget which one, possibly the 4th, is a 'create this team no matter what' toggle. So setting it to 1 will mean there will always be 1 team acting like that, and being produced if production is on. 2 means the AI will have 2 teams, etc.

[Nyerguds]

But it should require at least a trigger (autocreate or create exactly that team) to create that team? 

Well, yes, but you said "autocreate/production". Actual "Create Team" triggers don't require that. You mean they just spontaneously form without any trigger cause?  O_o

 

One of the numbers in the teamtype, I forget which one, possibly the 4th, is a 'create this team no matter what' toggle. So setting it to 1 will mean there will always be 1 team acting like that, and being produced if production is on. 2 means the AI will have 2 teams, etc.

I thought that was just a multiplier though... it causes the units to be created, but surely it can't just create the team without any trigger?

[Messiah]

One of the numbers in the teamtype' date=' I forget which one, possibly the 4th, is a 'create this team no matter what' toggle. So setting it to 1 will mean there will always be 1 team acting like that, and being produced if production is on. 2 means the AI will have 2 teams, etc.[/quote']yeah, but the autocreate trigger has to activate that first?

You mean they just spontaneously form without any trigger cause?  O_o

that's it.

actually not spontaneously, just at the beginning of the mission.

 

Could that be a house (Special) specific thing, or related to the dinosaur units?

[MattAttack]

datk=Special,0,0,0,0,0,15,[glow=red,2,300]1[/glow],0,0,1,RAPT:1,5,Move:8,Move:17,Move:8,Attack Base:8,Loop:2,0,0

 

The "[glow=red,2,300]1[/glow]" after the 15 will automatically create that amount of teams if autocreate is off on that team.  Therefore, if you activate the "autocreate" bit on that team or change the [glow=red,2,300]1[/glow] to a 0, the team wont automatically be produced. 

 

 

**edit**

see this topic: http://forums.cncnet.org/index.php?topic=4025.0

[Nyerguds]

Oh, right. That. I completely forgot about that -_-

 

Maybe I should make a new version of that old ccmanual... 

[Chimas]

Hey Messiah, do you have any descriptive TXT for this mission?

[Messiah]

MattAttack, what is the AutoCreate Trigger doing then, when team creation already is controlled by that number? Seems autocreate is completely unnecessary in TD?

 

Chimas: Look at the italic text in first post or the mission briefing in the .ini.

[MattAttack]

Well, autocreate functions perfectly fine.  If "#of teams" is set to 1 or higher and autocreate is on, that team won't be created until autocreate is activated.  If "#of teams" is set to 1 or higher and autocreate is off, however, that many teams will be instantly created if the units are available. 

[Nyerguds]

So basically... Autocreate delays autocreation? Might even prevent it if you add an Autocreate trigger that's never triggered...

[MattAttack]

hmmm worth trying, but my gut tells me it won't work like that.  To reiterate how this works:

 

datk=Special,0,0,0,[glow=blue,2,300]1[/glow],0,15,[glow=red,2,300]1[/glow],0,0,1,RAPT:1,5,Move:8,Move:17,Move:8,Attack Base:8,Loop:2,0,0

This team, which has autocreate switched to [glow=blue,2,300]"on,"[/glow] will only be created when the autocreate trigger is activated.

 

datk=Special,0,0,0,[glow=blue,2,300]0[/glow],0,15,[glow=red,2,300]1[/glow],0,0,1,RAPT:1,5,Move:8,Move:17,Move:8,Attack Base:8,Loop:2,0,0

This team, which has autocreate [glow=blue,2,300]"off"[/glow] will instantly be created if the units are available on the map (if they aren't on the map already, the units will be produced.)  I've stopped using this method to create tems, though, as once it's been created if you save your game and reload it will actually be created again, potentially making the mission considerably more difficult.  Again, see this post: Punishing Players for Abusing Savegames

 

 

[Nyerguds]

Ahh. I see. So it's related to the autocreate setting on the team.

[Chimas]

Is this one of the unsolved parameters of the TEAMTYPE command line?

[cn2mc]

Not really, just one of the weirder ones, I believe.