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Reflections of the green crystal: a Command and Conquer quest
- Thread starter NottheCrabs!
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Reflections of the green crystal
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Introduction + character creation
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
"Tiberium is a scientific curiosity, a vastly powerful resource, an unprecedented environmental cataclysm, a catalyst for war, and much more." –introduction of "Tiberium: a Primer"
In the year 1995, a small asteroid impacted in Italy, when the asteroid was discovered the world was surprised for surrounding this asteroid was large plant like pods that sprouted green crystals as the area surrounding them withered and died, the first researchers of this strange alien plant named it after the river Tiber at which it was discovered, Tiberium. At first a scientific curiosity Tiberium quickly revealed itself a resource, the plant like pods had roots which dug deep into the earth, taking minerals out of the soil at a ludicrous rate, these minerals would then be stored in the crystal protrusions on top of the pod, growing larger with the more minerals the plant processed, it was found that should the crystals be processed in a centrifuge the resources in the crystal could be extracted. Imagine just putting a plant in the middle of a desert or on an asteroid and in a month having enough resources to fund a small country, Tiberium might just be the end of resource scarcity itself!
The road to hell is paved with good intentions of course, lax containment methods and overgrowth of Wild Tiberium quickly lead to ecological disaster, towns nearby to Tiberium fields far larger than the one at the asteroid told horror stories of trees growing slimy protrusions that sprouted Tiberium crystals and mass sickness with the fatality rate of the Black Death quickly followed by animals melting into mutated masses of flesh. The vast resources terror groups could now wield did not help matters. One of those terror groups known as the Brotherhood of Nod under a man known only as Kane even managed to go toe to toe with a UN anti-terrorist task force by the name of the Global Defence Initiative for a couple years before its inevitable defeat (this conflict would later be called the first Tiberium war).
The following decades were a nightmare, mutated monstrosities, vast ion storms and more followed, the death of the old world powers were slow and gradual enough that the increasing need for international cooperation could be met, evacuations and humanitarian aid became the purview of GDI and people of all nations would help fight against the spreading disaster. Of course there were those who did not want GDI assistance, people who believed Tiberium to be the retribution of "the real god" for some perceived wrongdoing as well as those who simply did not or could not leave Tiberium affected areas became increasingly common, the beaten and bruised Brotherhood quickly gobbled up these malcontents. By 2030 things were shaping up for a war not fought by nations, but fought by a terrorist Tiberium cult and the truly United Nations in what became known as the Second Tiberium War. Long story short: GDI won the war by the skin of their teeth barely preventing the Brotherhood from turning the entire world into a giant Tiberium field. After the conflict another crisis showed up as a literal AI revolt annihilated the last of Nods forces before being destroyed.
What followed were a desperate two years where 30% of the Earth was made completely inhospitable to human life with only 20% of the planet being truly habitable by the standard of the previous century, Tiberium seemed to evolve, the crystals eating both the mutated monstrosities it spawned and the pods they grew out of. Tiberium had turned into a self-replicating proton lattice or in layman's terms: the crystals make more of itself entirely by itself. The good news is that the evolution gave us some breathing room and with that we finally found Tiberiums Achilles heel. One of the more unique weapons invented in the past few years was a Harmonic resonance wave that could shake apart tanks and infantry, the hope was that if we could shake Tiberium down to the atomic level it should destroy the crystal entirely, leaving nothing to grow.
The tests were successful, the sonic emitter was born, while short ranged and energy intensive there was finally a way to curb the ever growing threat of Tiberium, the thought occurred "could we reclaim what we have lost?" and the attempt was made. In Germany sonic repulsor field's locked Tiberium fields in place preventing further spread while proper sonic emitters slowly destroyed the crystal itself in what would become a habitable paradise by the name of "New Eden" and for the first time Humanity looked to have a true chance at rebuilding. At this time GDI became what it is today, a unified planet wide government under the Direction of the almost superfluous UN, as Nod revival failed to appear GDI turned more and more of it's funding to reclamation efforts, cutting its military funding by over half in the year 2043.
Exactly as the Brotherhood wanted.
While Nod was near annihilated by the end of the second Tiberium war the destruction lead to a change in leadership and strategy, no longer would the Brotherhood be a secretive band of only the most extremist and violent of the underrepresented but instead would return to its roots as an underground insurgency, rebuilding infrastructure in the ecologically damaged areas of the world and arming local Nod sympathetic militias instead of fighting toe to toe with GDI itself. Nod grew exponentially. while the central core of the organisation remained hidden millions of people now knew of the Brotherhood as freedom fighters and heroes as thousands of Nod cells under various names skirmished with an underfunded GDI military given the same duties as before the reclamation projects but with only half the funding.
In 2047 during a meeting of GDI branches a Brotherhood ballistic missile destroyed the GDSS Satellite Philadelphia, the centre of GDI's leadership. What followed was a mass charge by a million disparate Militias under one banner against GDI, tearing through an unprepared and leaderless military and pushing GDI to the brink of defeat in the first few weeks of the war. It was a done deal, a war ended in days, not years. But Nod's great army was a poorly organised cudgelled together mob pointed at an enemy and told to attack by an incredibly small group of professionals. Gaps were made in Nod plans, gaps that GDI's experienced military exploited to reorganise and in the same amount of time it took to bring GDI to the brink Nod found itself limping back to the Tiberium tainted zones they came from, the ensuing year of fighting was a slog of GDI slowly grinding down an irregular force stupid enough to fight a conventional war. On the fifth month of the war the "Capital" of the Brotherhood of Nod at Sarajevo was under siege by GDI forces, but the Brotherhood was spiteful and had one last trick.
Tiberium, when superheated to melting point is an incredibly destructive force that should it explode near regular Tiberium crystals would cause a chain reaction leading to further explosions until all Tiberium in the vicinity detonated. And Nods fortress in the middle of a Tiberium tainted zone was full of stored Tiberium for the war effort.
The Balkans don't exist. Not anymore, you wouldn't be able to tell what used to be where you stood, could have been a mountain, could have been a city, it's all gone now.
It was the effective end for Nod. its support structure had been crushed and all that was left was disorganized militias in the middle of nowhere. And at the cost of millions the Third Tiberium war had ended.
And then the goddamned aliens showed up, the monstrosities best described as "vaguely bug like when they feel like it" showed up not even a month after the end of the war and started raising cities like it was nothing, not three days later the attackers started to crumble to cautious counterattacks, they had sent everything at us in the first days, the reason why? A diversion. They were building these giant towers that rose into the skyline in the worst Tiberium affected zones, nobody knew what the hell they were doing but nobody wanted to see what those towers do, and so GDI set forth to the most nightmarish areas of the world to fight an alien menace and pushed them all the way back to what once was the Tiber river, to ground zero. We won, and they lost.
It's been three years since the true end of the Third Tiberium war and neither Nod nor the aliens seem ready for round two, if there were any more aliens out in the galaxy that is. That doesn't mean the worlds all sunshine and sparkles though, Germany was pretty close to the Balkans so wild Tiberium fields are sprouting up again, most of the rebuilding is still going on and a lot of cities are being evacuated but god dammit we're alive and kicking.
Well, let's try and make that last shall we? You've just gotten a top priority communication by the Director of GDI herself. Better see what's going on.
But first, who are you?
[ ] Name
[ ] Gender
In the year 1995, a small asteroid impacted in Italy, when the asteroid was discovered the world was surprised for surrounding this asteroid was large plant like pods that sprouted green crystals as the area surrounding them withered and died, the first researchers of this strange alien plant named it after the river Tiber at which it was discovered, Tiberium. At first a scientific curiosity Tiberium quickly revealed itself a resource, the plant like pods had roots which dug deep into the earth, taking minerals out of the soil at a ludicrous rate, these minerals would then be stored in the crystal protrusions on top of the pod, growing larger with the more minerals the plant processed, it was found that should the crystals be processed in a centrifuge the resources in the crystal could be extracted. Imagine just putting a plant in the middle of a desert or on an asteroid and in a month having enough resources to fund a small country, Tiberium might just be the end of resource scarcity itself!
The road to hell is paved with good intentions of course, lax containment methods and overgrowth of Wild Tiberium quickly lead to ecological disaster, towns nearby to Tiberium fields far larger than the one at the asteroid told horror stories of trees growing slimy protrusions that sprouted Tiberium crystals and mass sickness with the fatality rate of the Black Death quickly followed by animals melting into mutated masses of flesh. The vast resources terror groups could now wield did not help matters. One of those terror groups known as the Brotherhood of Nod under a man known only as Kane even managed to go toe to toe with a UN anti-terrorist task force by the name of the Global Defence Initiative for a couple years before its inevitable defeat (this conflict would later be called the first Tiberium war).
The following decades were a nightmare, mutated monstrosities, vast ion storms and more followed, the death of the old world powers were slow and gradual enough that the increasing need for international cooperation could be met, evacuations and humanitarian aid became the purview of GDI and people of all nations would help fight against the spreading disaster. Of course there were those who did not want GDI assistance, people who believed Tiberium to be the retribution of "the real god" for some perceived wrongdoing as well as those who simply did not or could not leave Tiberium affected areas became increasingly common, the beaten and bruised Brotherhood quickly gobbled up these malcontents. By 2030 things were shaping up for a war not fought by nations, but fought by a terrorist Tiberium cult and the truly United Nations in what became known as the Second Tiberium War. Long story short: GDI won the war by the skin of their teeth barely preventing the Brotherhood from turning the entire world into a giant Tiberium field. After the conflict another crisis showed up as a literal AI revolt annihilated the last of Nods forces before being destroyed.
What followed were a desperate two years where 30% of the Earth was made completely inhospitable to human life with only 20% of the planet being truly habitable by the standard of the previous century, Tiberium seemed to evolve, the crystals eating both the mutated monstrosities it spawned and the pods they grew out of. Tiberium had turned into a self-replicating proton lattice or in layman's terms: the crystals make more of itself entirely by itself. The good news is that the evolution gave us some breathing room and with that we finally found Tiberiums Achilles heel. One of the more unique weapons invented in the past few years was a Harmonic resonance wave that could shake apart tanks and infantry, the hope was that if we could shake Tiberium down to the atomic level it should destroy the crystal entirely, leaving nothing to grow.
The tests were successful, the sonic emitter was born, while short ranged and energy intensive there was finally a way to curb the ever growing threat of Tiberium, the thought occurred "could we reclaim what we have lost?" and the attempt was made. In Germany sonic repulsor field's locked Tiberium fields in place preventing further spread while proper sonic emitters slowly destroyed the crystal itself in what would become a habitable paradise by the name of "New Eden" and for the first time Humanity looked to have a true chance at rebuilding. At this time GDI became what it is today, a unified planet wide government under the Direction of the almost superfluous UN, as Nod revival failed to appear GDI turned more and more of it's funding to reclamation efforts, cutting its military funding by over half in the year 2043.
Exactly as the Brotherhood wanted.
While Nod was near annihilated by the end of the second Tiberium war the destruction lead to a change in leadership and strategy, no longer would the Brotherhood be a secretive band of only the most extremist and violent of the underrepresented but instead would return to its roots as an underground insurgency, rebuilding infrastructure in the ecologically damaged areas of the world and arming local Nod sympathetic militias instead of fighting toe to toe with GDI itself. Nod grew exponentially. while the central core of the organisation remained hidden millions of people now knew of the Brotherhood as freedom fighters and heroes as thousands of Nod cells under various names skirmished with an underfunded GDI military given the same duties as before the reclamation projects but with only half the funding.
In 2047 during a meeting of GDI branches a Brotherhood ballistic missile destroyed the GDSS Satellite Philadelphia, the centre of GDI's leadership. What followed was a mass charge by a million disparate Militias under one banner against GDI, tearing through an unprepared and leaderless military and pushing GDI to the brink of defeat in the first few weeks of the war. It was a done deal, a war ended in days, not years. But Nod's great army was a poorly organised cudgelled together mob pointed at an enemy and told to attack by an incredibly small group of professionals. Gaps were made in Nod plans, gaps that GDI's experienced military exploited to reorganise and in the same amount of time it took to bring GDI to the brink Nod found itself limping back to the Tiberium tainted zones they came from, the ensuing year of fighting was a slog of GDI slowly grinding down an irregular force stupid enough to fight a conventional war. On the fifth month of the war the "Capital" of the Brotherhood of Nod at Sarajevo was under siege by GDI forces, but the Brotherhood was spiteful and had one last trick.
Tiberium, when superheated to melting point is an incredibly destructive force that should it explode near regular Tiberium crystals would cause a chain reaction leading to further explosions until all Tiberium in the vicinity detonated. And Nods fortress in the middle of a Tiberium tainted zone was full of stored Tiberium for the war effort.
The Balkans don't exist. Not anymore, you wouldn't be able to tell what used to be where you stood, could have been a mountain, could have been a city, it's all gone now.
It was the effective end for Nod. its support structure had been crushed and all that was left was disorganized militias in the middle of nowhere. And at the cost of millions the Third Tiberium war had ended.
And then the goddamned aliens showed up, the monstrosities best described as "vaguely bug like when they feel like it" showed up not even a month after the end of the war and started raising cities like it was nothing, not three days later the attackers started to crumble to cautious counterattacks, they had sent everything at us in the first days, the reason why? A diversion. They were building these giant towers that rose into the skyline in the worst Tiberium affected zones, nobody knew what the hell they were doing but nobody wanted to see what those towers do, and so GDI set forth to the most nightmarish areas of the world to fight an alien menace and pushed them all the way back to what once was the Tiber river, to ground zero. We won, and they lost.
It's been three years since the true end of the Third Tiberium war and neither Nod nor the aliens seem ready for round two, if there were any more aliens out in the galaxy that is. That doesn't mean the worlds all sunshine and sparkles though, Germany was pretty close to the Balkans so wild Tiberium fields are sprouting up again, most of the rebuilding is still going on and a lot of cities are being evacuated but god dammit we're alive and kicking.
Well, let's try and make that last shall we? You've just gotten a top priority communication by the Director of GDI herself. Better see what's going on.
But first, who are you?
[ ] Name
[ ] Gender
Last edited:
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
so... back to this again eh? never could run away from the idea in spite of that poor first start of mine. the idea just kind of stuck, think I've learnt some things from the previous thread for how short it lasted so lets see how this goes
also just some advice for everyone out there: just because you don't think you'll do a good job, does NOT mean you can put out your worst foot in an attempt to preserve your best ideas for later. I did that with my first attempt at this quest and ho boy clicking the post thread button back then felt like standing on a nail you knew was there in the first place
vote ends on saturday
also just some advice for everyone out there: just because you don't think you'll do a good job, does NOT mean you can put out your worst foot in an attempt to preserve your best ideas for later. I did that with my first attempt at this quest and ho boy clicking the post thread button back then felt like standing on a nail you knew was there in the first place
vote ends on saturday
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[X] Female
[X] Name: Rinne Zaman
[X] Name: Rinne Zaman
[X] Female
[X] Name: Rinne Zaman
[X] Name: Rinne Zaman
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
allright folks! votes closed, expect either a threadmark post or a Informational post by Monday.
ACT I: chapter one + unit selection
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
{Rinne Zaman}
{Rank: Commander}
{Password: **********************}
{Verifying…}
{Welcome back: Commander}
{Incoming transmission: priority 1}
"Onscreen"
The computer lags for a moment as you quickly see over a hundred faces pop up onscreen, most of them are military officers of various rank as well as the director herself and a few eggheads, after a few seconds most of the transmissions have been turned to audio with only the Director still onscreen. The prim and proper look of an experienced bureaucrat only slightly marred by the frayed suit.
The director is the first to speak "now I know this was rather sudden but this is important enough to break protocol for, I want everyone to know we just found out about this yesterday and info is still coming in so consider this need to know until a public response has been announced, General Alison will give you the downlow now. General."
General Allison you've met personally, admittedly it was for about five days as your troops evacuated his headquarters during the war. Still has that permanent frown on his face like he just smelt something unpleasant "Thank you Director. Now I want everyone here to listen closely, at 0500 hours three days ago scientists finished translating an old communication between what we believe to be the Aliens high command, in the transmission surprise was expressed at our continued existence in spite of the Tiberium explosion at Sarajevo. They concluded that the explosion was "premature"" this concerned the research team who then transferred the communication over to the Tiberium research division who have come up with a working theory" the General stops talking as a twitchy scientist comes on screen.
"Yes, yes, the theory! Tiberium melts at extremely high temperatures turning into the volatile Liquid form used in the Sarajevo bomb, this process could be remade in a natural environment if a Tiberium vein was suitably deep underground to be heated to melting point and then when said vein hits the molten core the entire vein would explode along with other Tiberium veins in the vicinity. This explosion would mean complete annihilation for everything in a roughly continental sized Radius around the detonation site. As for the time until this explosion… we don't know when it will happen, could be anytime between this very second and the end of the decade. That's all we have at the moment." Not exactly the most hopeful situation then. Joy.
"Thank you Doctor, now you can see why we're all here. Every officer here and those under them is to be sent to the Tiberium Red Zones* to reinforce the current garrisons. Whatever plan we get will need more manpower than we have there at the moment. You will now be moved to separate communications to discuss the specifics with your theatre commanders." the names on the screen slowly wink out until it's just you a dozen other officers and the General himself
"Right, now on to the real shitshow, you're all directly assigned to me to deal with the largest problem in our "solution". Red Zone 28."
The Balkan red zone, you've heard about it, doubt anyone hasn't. A green hell that will never freeze, Where not even the mountains survived. The one last proper holdout of Brotherhood military strength. Horror stories of entire Zone Command expeditions just being there one day and gone the next were quite common in the months following the war.
"RZ-28 is the current hideout for Pedro Alviar. Alviar was Kane's Favourite butcher and the man who's been keeping us out for the last three years, and our job is to finally clean him up. The specifics are being worked on but for now you'll be moving to a temporary HQ in Zagreb to receive further orders, transportation is being organized. Any questions?"
The questions from the other officers were both numerous and obvious, supplies, Intel, chain of command, all of which Alison answered with a verbal shrug and "working on it". It wasn't exactly surprising for a plan hatched up in a day but at least you knew where you were going.
"Anything else? Good, transports should be on their way in the next 24 hours, we'll reconvene at Zagreb HQ. EVA, End Transmission"
{Yes General}
{Transmission ends.}
You pull out of your chair for just a moment to finally let this all crash down on you, son of a bitch you thought Earth was finished with end of the world bullshit for at least this decade, but no, never ends does it? Better get ready for transport so you don't accidentally the planet by being a second late.
"EVA, setup Command and control interface"
{Very well Commander, establishing command uplink}
please pick eight units, if you want to pick a unit several times, if you want to select multiple of one unit please put a number at the end of your selection
[ ] Recon (HP 5 ATK 5) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Spotter, Concealment, Capture building
[ ] Infantry (HP 15 ATK 5) Traits: Dig In, Capture Building
[ ] Armour (HP 20 ATK 10) Traits: none
[ ] Super Heavy (HP 50 ATK 15) Traits: Heavy (COUNTS AS TWO UNITS)
[ ] Artillery (HP 10 ATK 20) Traits: Artillery, Heavy
[ ] Zone Trooper (HP 15 ATK 10) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Jump Jets
an Example
[x] Infantry (HP 15 ATK 5) Traits: Dig In, Capture Building (3)
[x] Armour (HP 20 ATK 10) Traits: none
[x] Super Heavy (HP 50 ATK 15) Traits: Heavy
[x] Zone Trooper (HP 15 ATK 10) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Jump Jet (2)
Explanation of combat, traits and the MCV in the informational post below
* a Heavily Infected Tiberium Zone
{Rank: Commander}
{Password: **********************}
{Verifying…}
{Welcome back: Commander}
{Incoming transmission: priority 1}
"Onscreen"
The computer lags for a moment as you quickly see over a hundred faces pop up onscreen, most of them are military officers of various rank as well as the director herself and a few eggheads, after a few seconds most of the transmissions have been turned to audio with only the Director still onscreen. The prim and proper look of an experienced bureaucrat only slightly marred by the frayed suit.
The director is the first to speak "now I know this was rather sudden but this is important enough to break protocol for, I want everyone to know we just found out about this yesterday and info is still coming in so consider this need to know until a public response has been announced, General Alison will give you the downlow now. General."
General Allison you've met personally, admittedly it was for about five days as your troops evacuated his headquarters during the war. Still has that permanent frown on his face like he just smelt something unpleasant "Thank you Director. Now I want everyone here to listen closely, at 0500 hours three days ago scientists finished translating an old communication between what we believe to be the Aliens high command, in the transmission surprise was expressed at our continued existence in spite of the Tiberium explosion at Sarajevo. They concluded that the explosion was "premature"" this concerned the research team who then transferred the communication over to the Tiberium research division who have come up with a working theory" the General stops talking as a twitchy scientist comes on screen.
"Yes, yes, the theory! Tiberium melts at extremely high temperatures turning into the volatile Liquid form used in the Sarajevo bomb, this process could be remade in a natural environment if a Tiberium vein was suitably deep underground to be heated to melting point and then when said vein hits the molten core the entire vein would explode along with other Tiberium veins in the vicinity. This explosion would mean complete annihilation for everything in a roughly continental sized Radius around the detonation site. As for the time until this explosion… we don't know when it will happen, could be anytime between this very second and the end of the decade. That's all we have at the moment." Not exactly the most hopeful situation then. Joy.
"Thank you Doctor, now you can see why we're all here. Every officer here and those under them is to be sent to the Tiberium Red Zones* to reinforce the current garrisons. Whatever plan we get will need more manpower than we have there at the moment. You will now be moved to separate communications to discuss the specifics with your theatre commanders." the names on the screen slowly wink out until it's just you a dozen other officers and the General himself
"Right, now on to the real shitshow, you're all directly assigned to me to deal with the largest problem in our "solution". Red Zone 28."
The Balkan red zone, you've heard about it, doubt anyone hasn't. A green hell that will never freeze, Where not even the mountains survived. The one last proper holdout of Brotherhood military strength. Horror stories of entire Zone Command expeditions just being there one day and gone the next were quite common in the months following the war.
"RZ-28 is the current hideout for Pedro Alviar. Alviar was Kane's Favourite butcher and the man who's been keeping us out for the last three years, and our job is to finally clean him up. The specifics are being worked on but for now you'll be moving to a temporary HQ in Zagreb to receive further orders, transportation is being organized. Any questions?"
The questions from the other officers were both numerous and obvious, supplies, Intel, chain of command, all of which Alison answered with a verbal shrug and "working on it". It wasn't exactly surprising for a plan hatched up in a day but at least you knew where you were going.
"Anything else? Good, transports should be on their way in the next 24 hours, we'll reconvene at Zagreb HQ. EVA, End Transmission"
{Yes General}
{Transmission ends.}
You pull out of your chair for just a moment to finally let this all crash down on you, son of a bitch you thought Earth was finished with end of the world bullshit for at least this decade, but no, never ends does it? Better get ready for transport so you don't accidentally the planet by being a second late.
"EVA, setup Command and control interface"
{Very well Commander, establishing command uplink}
please pick eight units, if you want to pick a unit several times, if you want to select multiple of one unit please put a number at the end of your selection
[ ] Recon (HP 5 ATK 5) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Spotter, Concealment, Capture building
[ ] Infantry (HP 15 ATK 5) Traits: Dig In, Capture Building
[ ] Armour (HP 20 ATK 10) Traits: none
[ ] Super Heavy (HP 50 ATK 15) Traits: Heavy (COUNTS AS TWO UNITS)
[ ] Artillery (HP 10 ATK 20) Traits: Artillery, Heavy
[ ] Zone Trooper (HP 15 ATK 10) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Jump Jets
an Example
[x] Infantry (HP 15 ATK 5) Traits: Dig In, Capture Building (3)
[x] Armour (HP 20 ATK 10) Traits: none
[x] Super Heavy (HP 50 ATK 15) Traits: Heavy
[x] Zone Trooper (HP 15 ATK 10) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Jump Jet (2)
Explanation of combat, traits and the MCV in the informational post below
* a Heavily Infected Tiberium Zone
Last edited:
Combat Mechanics, Trait list, and the MCV (in progress)
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
Okay, on to combat.
This quest will be mostly combat focussed, with few dice and a tile system. In this quest when combat starts you will be given a map
(I may have to start screenshotting excel if this is difficult to understand)
Now this map will most likely have terrain, elevation, objectives, Intel etc but for this one it's blank
In this simulation I have one recon unit and an artillery unit vs an armour unit with the mission objective to destroy all enemy units. Different units will have certain traits which I will list
Spotter: this unit can naturally see two tiles
Concealment: this unit cannot be seen unless it attempts to move while near an enemy or the enemy moves onto the tile with the unit
Stealth detectors: this unit can see enemy units with the trait concealment or the trait stealth
Capture building: this unit can capture strategic buildings in a mission
Dig In: this unit can use a turn to create fortifications that take up to five damage instead of the unit, can be multiplied up to four times and is stackable with terrain bonuses
Artillery: this unit can attack anywhere
Jump Jets: this unit can spend a turn to move up to two squares through impassable terrain
Heavy: this unit cannot be airlifted in combat
Recon units can see up to two squares in any direction including diagonal (unless a hill or the like blocks their view to the second square) and also have concealment (will not be detected unless opposing unit sees unit moving or attempts to move into the tile with the recon unit.) however they have low HP and below average attack, the artillery can only see one square around them like a regular unit and have low HP but have a massive attack score and more importantly have the ability to attack any enemy unit that can be seen on the map
Armoured units don't have any abilities*, they're just really good at brawls.
* the GDI armoured unit at least
So since my recon can see the armoured I use my artillery to attack the tanks, now the enemy commander of course will figure out that there is an artillery regiment in the mission and would usually try to react in some way but this time it's a simple one hit blowout, the armoured losses all its HP and enters a "stunned" faze, whenever a unit reaches 0 HP it will become a traitless 1 HP 0 ATK unit that cannot move for a turn, if the unit dies in this state its gone for the campaign, as there's no one to save these poor bastards I use my second turn to kill the armoured unit completely. There's no more enemy units on the map and the mission is won.
The MCV
You may have noticed that big blob of HP at the end of the unit selection choices. That is the Mobile Construction Vehicle and is a commander's best friend, this unit is very special, you see when you harvest Tiberium either out in the open or mined from the ground by a Tiberium spike you get a lot of resources, resources that can immediately be transferred to material that can then be transferred into parts which then thanks to the MCV turns into a full blown base, when the MCV is deployed anywhere you get a 20 health base that can heal units using a 1Dlosthealth a unit. This is amazing in and of itself but if you were to deploy in a square next to a Tiberium field or a Spike the base would then be upgraded every turn until it becomes a tier four base that can heal for 4dlosthealth a unit and has defences in every non Tiberium square around it. The speed at which the base is upgraded and the strength of the defences is still in the development phase but you can already tell just how important the MCV is to a mission. Please do note however that no matter how much material and infrastructure there is in a base you can't fix the dead and those 4dlosthealth are the most healing you're gonna get.
This quest will be mostly combat focussed, with few dice and a tile system. In this quest when combat starts you will be given a map
| Armoured (20 HP 10 ATK) | |||||||||
| Recon (5HP 5 ATK) | |||||||||
| Artillery (10 HP 20 ATK) | |||||||||
(I may have to start screenshotting excel if this is difficult to understand)
Now this map will most likely have terrain, elevation, objectives, Intel etc but for this one it's blank
In this simulation I have one recon unit and an artillery unit vs an armour unit with the mission objective to destroy all enemy units. Different units will have certain traits which I will list
Spotter: this unit can naturally see two tiles
Concealment: this unit cannot be seen unless it attempts to move while near an enemy or the enemy moves onto the tile with the unit
Stealth detectors: this unit can see enemy units with the trait concealment or the trait stealth
Capture building: this unit can capture strategic buildings in a mission
Dig In: this unit can use a turn to create fortifications that take up to five damage instead of the unit, can be multiplied up to four times and is stackable with terrain bonuses
Artillery: this unit can attack anywhere
Jump Jets: this unit can spend a turn to move up to two squares through impassable terrain
Heavy: this unit cannot be airlifted in combat
Recon units can see up to two squares in any direction including diagonal (unless a hill or the like blocks their view to the second square) and also have concealment (will not be detected unless opposing unit sees unit moving or attempts to move into the tile with the recon unit.) however they have low HP and below average attack, the artillery can only see one square around them like a regular unit and have low HP but have a massive attack score and more importantly have the ability to attack any enemy unit that can be seen on the map
Armoured units don't have any abilities*, they're just really good at brawls.
* the GDI armoured unit at least
| Armoured (1 HP 0 ATK) | |||||||||
| Recon (5 HP 5 ATK) | |||||||||
| Artillery (10 HP 20 ATK) | |||||||||
So since my recon can see the armoured I use my artillery to attack the tanks, now the enemy commander of course will figure out that there is an artillery regiment in the mission and would usually try to react in some way but this time it's a simple one hit blowout, the armoured losses all its HP and enters a "stunned" faze, whenever a unit reaches 0 HP it will become a traitless 1 HP 0 ATK unit that cannot move for a turn, if the unit dies in this state its gone for the campaign, as there's no one to save these poor bastards I use my second turn to kill the armoured unit completely. There's no more enemy units on the map and the mission is won.
The MCV
You may have noticed that big blob of HP at the end of the unit selection choices. That is the Mobile Construction Vehicle and is a commander's best friend, this unit is very special, you see when you harvest Tiberium either out in the open or mined from the ground by a Tiberium spike you get a lot of resources, resources that can immediately be transferred to material that can then be transferred into parts which then thanks to the MCV turns into a full blown base, when the MCV is deployed anywhere you get a 20 health base that can heal units using a 1Dlosthealth a unit. This is amazing in and of itself but if you were to deploy in a square next to a Tiberium field or a Spike the base would then be upgraded every turn until it becomes a tier four base that can heal for 4dlosthealth a unit and has defences in every non Tiberium square around it. The speed at which the base is upgraded and the strength of the defences is still in the development phase but you can already tell just how important the MCV is to a mission. Please do note however that no matter how much material and infrastructure there is in a base you can't fix the dead and those 4dlosthealth are the most healing you're gonna get.
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NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
Hmmm... I think I put too complicated an option at the start of the quest. Especially with the combat system still in development so instead I'm going to make a Meta vote
I'm going to make a series of "presets for units combinations to select soon, then the voting can start, apologise for the delay
edit: Y'KNOW WHAT I'M GOING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL IDEA
I'm going to make a series of "presets for units combinations to select soon, then the voting can start, apologise for the delay
edit: Y'KNOW WHAT I'M GOING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL IDEA
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- Location
- New England
Not sure what the two options mean. Does it mean that either:
[] start out with (e.g.) two humvees and a medium tank, be able to acquire more/better units later on
or
[] start out with (e.g.) two humvees and a medium tank OR four rocket launcher guys OR a single Orca
?
[] start out with (e.g.) two humvees and a medium tank, be able to acquire more/better units later on
or
[] start out with (e.g.) two humvees and a medium tank OR four rocket launcher guys OR a single Orca
?
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
okay, I have returned to the original voting method, please look at the end of chapter for voting
- Location
- New England
Plan diversify:
[X] Recon (HP 5 ATK 5) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Spotter, Concealment, Capture building
[X] Infantry (HP 15 ATK 5) Traits: Dig In, Capture Building
[X] Armour (HP 20 ATK 10) Traits: none (2)
[X] Super Heavy (HP 50 ATK 15) Traits: Heavy (COUNTS AS TWO UNITS)
[X] Artillery (HP 10 ATK 20) Traits: Artillery, Heavy
[X] Zone Trooper (HP 15 ATK 10) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Jump Jets
[X] Recon (HP 5 ATK 5) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Spotter, Concealment, Capture building
[X] Infantry (HP 15 ATK 5) Traits: Dig In, Capture Building
[X] Armour (HP 20 ATK 10) Traits: none (2)
[X] Super Heavy (HP 50 ATK 15) Traits: Heavy (COUNTS AS TWO UNITS)
[X] Artillery (HP 10 ATK 20) Traits: Artillery, Heavy
[X] Zone Trooper (HP 15 ATK 10) Traits: Stealth Detectors, Jump Jets
Warmach1ne32
Machine of War and Quests
- Location
- Indonesia
Just found this quest and I am a bit disappointed by the lack of variety in units and weird unit stats (No way a Zone Trooper have the same HP as a squad of infantry). The combat system looks like a Turn-Based Strategy version of Command and Conquer Rivals (I love the game btw so I am really interested in this quest). So I think I can make a few suggestions that would make the combat more interesting and engaging.
1) The MCV need to make buildings to unlock certain types of units, Barracks for Tier 1&2 infantry, War Factory for Tier 1&2 Vehicles, Helipad for Tier 1&2 Aircraft, and Tech Lab unlock all Tier 3 units.
2) Have armor and weapon types (This is core to EVERY C&C game), Riflemen have Bullets x2.0 ATK against Infantry, Missile Squad have Anti-Tank x2.0 ATK vs Vehicles and Aircraft, Tanks have Cannon x3.0 ATK vs Vehicles, Flame Tank have Fire x3.5 ATK vs Infantry
3) Have every unit have 2 Vision Range and Artillery gets 3-4 Attack Range (depending on the average map, if the quest have a lot of expansive maps with lots of room to maneuver 4 Range would be enough). That way you can have Long Ranged as a trait for Snipers that have 2-3 Attack Range (Depending on the average map size).
4) Have access to a Commander Power it can be whatever, a Satellite Scan that reveals a 3x3 square that can be used every 2 Turns, Drop a Watch Tower halfway across the map for a variety of uses every 4 Turns, Old Ion Cannon that can insta-kill 1 unit in a tile every 5 Turns, Drop Zone Troopers anywhere on the map every 4 Turns. They'll have a price tag obviously and the more powerful it is the more expensive it is going to be.
5) Include Aircraft, have them have lower HP but give them the Trait Flying to pass over impassable terrain.
6) With your system I could have 4 Artillery and 4 Recon, 1 to spot any enemies nearby while the rest search the map. Once a recon found the enemy base have 4 Artillery pummel it to the ground. That is what happens when you give infinite range. Sure Juggernauts can do it in game but their damage is pretty mediocre. So to fix this, lower the ATK to 10 and have the Artillery be limited to 3 or 4 Range.
7) Just include actual units: Infantry = Riflemen, Armour = Predator Tanks, Super Heavy = Mammoth/Titan
8) And more diverse units: Snipers, Shatterer, Slingshot, Pitbull, APC, Orca, Grenadiers, and etc.
9) Have Harvesters, use it as the primary method to get money while also providing a secondary method to hinder your enemy by denying him money. Another way to slow him down so you have more time to amass units for a base assault.
10) We should be allowed to build a defensive structure every 2 Turns, they will be slightly expensive, static, and their max deployment range is 2-3 tiles away from Base Structures.
I had an idea to have Upgrades, which would be a nice addition but I have less of an idea on how to implement it well so I'll not include it right now. Tell me what you think about these ideas? Do you like them?
1) The MCV need to make buildings to unlock certain types of units, Barracks for Tier 1&2 infantry, War Factory for Tier 1&2 Vehicles, Helipad for Tier 1&2 Aircraft, and Tech Lab unlock all Tier 3 units.
2) Have armor and weapon types (This is core to EVERY C&C game), Riflemen have Bullets x2.0 ATK against Infantry, Missile Squad have Anti-Tank x2.0 ATK vs Vehicles and Aircraft, Tanks have Cannon x3.0 ATK vs Vehicles, Flame Tank have Fire x3.5 ATK vs Infantry
3) Have every unit have 2 Vision Range and Artillery gets 3-4 Attack Range (depending on the average map, if the quest have a lot of expansive maps with lots of room to maneuver 4 Range would be enough). That way you can have Long Ranged as a trait for Snipers that have 2-3 Attack Range (Depending on the average map size).
4) Have access to a Commander Power it can be whatever, a Satellite Scan that reveals a 3x3 square that can be used every 2 Turns, Drop a Watch Tower halfway across the map for a variety of uses every 4 Turns, Old Ion Cannon that can insta-kill 1 unit in a tile every 5 Turns, Drop Zone Troopers anywhere on the map every 4 Turns. They'll have a price tag obviously and the more powerful it is the more expensive it is going to be.
5) Include Aircraft, have them have lower HP but give them the Trait Flying to pass over impassable terrain.
6) With your system I could have 4 Artillery and 4 Recon, 1 to spot any enemies nearby while the rest search the map. Once a recon found the enemy base have 4 Artillery pummel it to the ground. That is what happens when you give infinite range. Sure Juggernauts can do it in game but their damage is pretty mediocre. So to fix this, lower the ATK to 10 and have the Artillery be limited to 3 or 4 Range.
7) Just include actual units: Infantry = Riflemen, Armour = Predator Tanks, Super Heavy = Mammoth/Titan
8) And more diverse units: Snipers, Shatterer, Slingshot, Pitbull, APC, Orca, Grenadiers, and etc.
9) Have Harvesters, use it as the primary method to get money while also providing a secondary method to hinder your enemy by denying him money. Another way to slow him down so you have more time to amass units for a base assault.
10) We should be allowed to build a defensive structure every 2 Turns, they will be slightly expensive, static, and their max deployment range is 2-3 tiles away from Base Structures.
I had an idea to have Upgrades, which would be a nice addition but I have less of an idea on how to implement it well so I'll not include it right now. Tell me what you think about these ideas? Do you like them?
NottheCrabs!
Local fool making foolish things
- Location
- The Bottom of The Ocean
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They
I just want to say thank you for your participation and advice in this quest! I admit that I was going for a more advanced wars style combat system but i suppose rivals wouldn't be a bad spinoff game if it did not have the micro transactions. Now as to your points.
1: I was trying to make a specific unit choice at the start of a mission feel important, both because narratively "producing" infantry doesn't really work (not to mention the extra amount of turns) and make a unit achieving veteran more of a fanfare beacause you keep those units as the missions continue.
2: hmmmmm good point, I did in fact have a damage system and armour system like this planed originally (even have a post about it in the quest idea thread) but found it lead to the over importance of heavy units, I will probably add an armour system to the game. Although how to balance that...
3: there is both elevated terrain that boosts range and a captuable building that greatly increases it. although your suggestions for movement and range are founded and would speed the missions up (probably won't debuff artillery range that much, loved the arty duels in Tiberium sun)
4&5: that's most definitely going to happen, thank you.
6: yeah that would be a great way to combat the units I currently have shown, but would that work against the Brotherhood?
7: hmmmm.... No, no then I would have to destroy a level of abstraction. I will probably include what type of old cnc style units are in a unit just so pepole know.
8: while your advice really is good your not thinking turn based quest, how many posts would I have to make for one mission? How many months would that take? If I wanted to make a CnC board game I would've done that.
9: already in the works
10: hmmm working on it
....(looks at notes).....(looks at advice)....(looks at stuff to be done)
... Alright, this system needs a lot more polishing before we actually get into combat, would probably be looking at a month long hiatus (at best) before the next post , I apologise for that. I do thank you for your advice, would've hated to notice some of these during a combat mission.
Warmach1ne32
Machine of War and Quests
- Location
- Indonesia
1) True, but army building is part of the fun of deck building in card games. Maybe adding a queue system would work, instead of individual army units, queue 6 Recon units and then leave it alone while focus on other things.
2) Well 1 method to balance Heavy units are to nerf its health slightly, and have it rely on its armor type so certain attacks deal more damage. Another would be to gate them behind an Expensive Tech Lab that needed several turns to even build and then a few more turns to get enough money to make a Heavy Unit. By that point either the other team had an army of lower cost unit or they spent their money on a 2nd or 3rd harverster those they have less units on the field but they can slowly build up a lot of money overtime to allow them to tech up Tech Lab while being offensive on the field.
3) In Rivals, having to deal with a Fortress deck without any artillery unit, forces you to use Air units, and dealing with Artillery with only 3 Range is cancer. In the PC games it isn't much of a bother as they don't do much damage, in Rivals any land unit that gets within 3 range gets smacked to less than half HP. dealing with a proper fortress with only 6 units is a nightmare. With being able to bring more units into the field I feel like Arty duels would be more manageable, so I'll defer to your judgement on what is necessary
6) Once the Arty is set up, set a perimeter of Recon that can detect Stealth and have more Vision range. That should deal with every land unit. Since Air units isn't a thing yet there is nothing to counter. If there was air, have a few anti air units and static defense around the arty with maybe a few Air units as interceptor. Bingo, unbeatable fortress comp. Unless they have burrowing units
7) Alright
8) Maybe have a spreadsheet of stats for battle, don't need experience system to keep track of, have questers set up a build order like plan.
[] Plan Standard
- send scout units to find anything on the map
- set up harv
- build base
- etc.
Once there is a battle,you'd be surprised how many want to make large plans that can deal with every contingency. Once the several page long plan is finalize you just need a brief description on what the unit did and the enemy reaction, right? There are a lot of amazing quests that have battles that took several threadmarks (mostly the Warhammer Fantasy Quests being the best example) but they are still amazing. So long as there is something different, I doubt we'd get tired of having to battle for several irl months.
Its fine, better to have a great game late, then a mediocre game early. You could lock some of the more advanced tech units until later missions to make the spreadsheet of stats easier to manage instead of unlocking every unit at the start. Good Luck in tweaking your quest system.
- Location
- New England
Remember that the C&C games were pretty horribly balanced. Even with the damage modifiers, infantry was basically useless, with the exception of the commando-type unit in certain situations. As were all the lower-tier tanks once you got mammoths. Balancing is tough, so I understand a desire to have a lower number of unit types, which makes it possible to give each unit some kind of role within a battle.
The other thing, since we're trying to go for a C&C flavor, it's hard to get that without "Mammoth Tank", "Orca", "Stealth Tank" and "Obelisk of Nod", etc. The Zone Troopers and MCV are a good first start.
I actually like a veterancy system, it gives incentive to treat units as less disposable.
The other thing, since we're trying to go for a C&C flavor, it's hard to get that without "Mammoth Tank", "Orca", "Stealth Tank" and "Obelisk of Nod", etc. The Zone Troopers and MCV are a good first start.
I actually like a veterancy system, it gives incentive to treat units as less disposable.
Warmach1ne32
Machine of War and Quests
- Location
- Indonesia
We could have a Pop Cap on how many units we can bring to make things simpler.
Making units expensive-ish is incentive enough to keep them alive as that means that your enemy will have more stuff than you do. But veterancy does makes balance harder to maintain as 1 unit is significantly better than their counterpart by certain percentages and that gets complicated and harder to track Real Quick. Sure its nice when we don't have to keep track of it ourselves like in the games, but in here? I think it'll be a nightmare to manage. So that is why I don't include a veterancy system.
For infantry being useless, its because they get literally run over by tanks, make it so that they don't get run over like in Rivals, and they become a pretty integral part of a balanced deck. Plus, Mass Missile Infantry does work in campaign and in high level multi player so some infantry does have their uses. Even Basic infantry is used for scouting and map control in the early game.
Plus we aren't in a multi-player game so being unbalanced should be alright, narrative wise.
Making units expensive-ish is incentive enough to keep them alive as that means that your enemy will have more stuff than you do. But veterancy does makes balance harder to maintain as 1 unit is significantly better than their counterpart by certain percentages and that gets complicated and harder to track Real Quick. Sure its nice when we don't have to keep track of it ourselves like in the games, but in here? I think it'll be a nightmare to manage. So that is why I don't include a veterancy system.
For infantry being useless, its because they get literally run over by tanks, make it so that they don't get run over like in Rivals, and they become a pretty integral part of a balanced deck. Plus, Mass Missile Infantry does work in campaign and in high level multi player so some infantry does have their uses. Even Basic infantry is used for scouting and map control in the early game.
Plus we aren't in a multi-player game so being unbalanced should be alright, narrative wise.