Singleplayer savegames
Probably the most wanted missing feature, the next version will include support for savegames in both skirmish and the campaigns. No more losing all progress to a stray dog eating your Tanya!
Longer missions can now be played in several takes instead of needing you to pull through in one go.
Spectator UI and new Tiberian Dawn sidebar
Our spectator UI has always been noted to be clunky and take too much space on the screen. With the next update we are happy to finally introduce a more slim and focused spectator UI.
The new transpart overlay is a huge quality of live upgrade for both casters and casual spectators.
Our second most visible update features yet another long standing UI rework that was just completed last month after sitting on the shelf for years. The sidebar in Tiberian Dawn was completely overhauled and looks better than ever.
Polished building placement previews
There is not much to say here, the images will tell the story. The tweaked placement preview makes it easier to see both the building being placed and any cells that are blocked by units or debris.
On a side node for the modders reading this: With the coming update the core engine will also support placing building variants in your mod (if you like north and south facing refineries for example).
The new Tiberian Dawn UI includes a refreshed building placement overlay and brand new sidebars.
Polished map previews
The ingame UI was not the only thing getting an upgrade. We overhauled the map previews of the map chooser to look the same as ingame.
The new previews include the positions of forests and civilian structures.
Setting support power directions
Parabombs and airstrikes have long been a point of both frustration (when taking too long to reach their destination) and joy (when immediately whipping an army at the map edge). We kept the joy aspect, but removed the frustration! The upcoming release will allow you to conveniently select the approach vector by dragging into a specific direction while placing the power.
Want to avoid air defenses by sending your troopers in from the south? We’ve got your back.
Even more upcoming changes
The list is long, too long for this post. A few other noteworthy changes include:
- A new time limit lobby option for multiplayer and skirmish games
- Many fixes for queued unit orders, aircraft, and harvesters
- Removed Mono requirement on macOS and Linux
- A new name and artwork for the long-controversial Allied Hind in Red Alert
- Many new tweaks and traits for modders
- Even more bug and performance improvements
You can take a peek at our development changelog if you are interested in the entire list of upcoming changes.
You could use the King Cobra as replacement for the Hind as they were both in service at the same time.
I agree. The Cobra would be a fitting choice :)
So, I wonder what is to become of the Hind then? Are there ideas for possibly implementing it back with the Soviets (hopefully)? Personally, I think it'd be suitable to have the Hind buildable/replenish ammo at the Airfield, along with the Mig and Yak, so the Soviets don't necessarily need the Helipad just for it, if others feel the same way too; for air units, I like that the Allies just have the Helipad and the Soviets just have the Airfield ;)
Looking forward to the next update guys!
While the original Cobra (not the King Cobra, which is a bit too modern) would be fitting tech-wise, it's an American helicopter which doesn't fit in as well since the Allies in RA1 are primarily European (America wasn't a major member until RA2).
If anything we should go with something like the Alouette II, a French Cold War era helicopter which was widely used by several European nations.
It would be really nice to be able to play this game with exactly the same rules/mechanics/build orders/construction positioning as the original 1996 release.
Building power plants across the map if you feel like it,
and all that goofy goodness.
That's the game I miss, not really this hyper-balanced, tournament-tuned reimagining.
There are lobby options to disable some features like the construction yard radius, but in general you might find Github.com more to your liking.
It would be really nice to have these features folded into the main build as an option though,
since that's what most users including myself are expecting when we discover the game. It couldn't take too long to implement.
Thanks for working on savegames though, I really appreciate that one, and I think the majority of OpenRA players do too.
Classic rules and tournament-OpenRA rules differ too many ways to have them together within the same game as a checkbox in the skirmish settings menu. Even if it's doable, it would be a hell of a maintenance burden.
Separating them out is the best option. Since the standard rules are frozen, updating them along with the releases is relatively easier than trying to maintain everything within one complicated setup tied to a checkbox.
Most newcomers only expect the game going though and not an 1:1 rendition, since they don't remember such exact details of the balance anyway.
in any case, a minute of silence for the incredible work you have done! What a masterpiece Red Allert!
Any news of the progress of Tiberian Sun? Would love to see that on a release before 2020. Maybe that's wishful thinking though lol.
The "Many fixes for queued unit orders, aircraft, and harvesters" point mentioned in the news post understates what has been a significant rewrite of the code controlling the way units behave. These changes fix some of the big technical issues that needed to be solved before a public TS release, in particular involving aircraft and the various deploying units (tick tank, artillery, sensor arrays, etc). This is a significant step forward for TS, but there are still many other big technical issues that need to be solved and don't yet have a clear timeline.
I understand that TS is a different animal compared to TD and RA, so take the time you need to. I love what you guys are doing with OpenRA. Keep it up!
I can't wait for Tiberian Sun to be released. My favourite C&C :D
What an update!
holy ****.... that update will be awesome!
can we have a photo comparison between the old vs new gui in TD? are you gona make similar facelifts to RA?
thanks so much for your hard work. i want to donate.
I'm curious about the replacement for the Allied Hind. Hopefully it's something fairly appropriate for RA1's setting (1940's - 1960's tech), preferably a European (not American) helicopter since that's what the Allies in RA1 are. Personally I'd love to see something like an Alouette II as an Allied helicopter.