Hello, and welcome to the update. It's been a while since we've had an update. We have a multitude of reasons for this, but also some exciting news, so read on!
TSR 1.5.0.0
1.5.0.0 has gone gold and is available for download! We have a host of changes for this patch, which unfortunately cannot be appreciated as I lost my entire changelog during the move to my new apartment (fun!). But I can at least give some information about the major changes:
Enforcer
As the Second Tiberium War started to come to a close, GDI realized that even if they could somehow manage to contain the Tiberium infestation, they would have no way to make any incursions into hostile Tiberium infested territory. As a result, High Command started development on a trooper that could survive in such an environment, codenamed "Enforcer." Using an improved version of the Power Suit that Dr. Ignatio Mobius and Dr. Sydney Mobius developed in the post-war crisis of the last Tiberium War, these soldiers were initially to be equipped with high power railguns. With the high cost of these weapons however, the decision was made to instead equip these soldiers with the Portable Ion Cannon Mk. II, used by the elite Drop Troopers during the war.
The Enforcer is equipped with an improved version of the Portable Ion Cannon, experimented upon by Dr. Sydney Mobius at the close of the First Tiberium War. It is highly effective against Vehicles and Cyborgs, but is not very effective against most structures. This weapon, while hit-scan, fires slowly, so each shot needs to count. It also walks slower than most GDI Infantry due to the use of an experimental protective suit. These suits are also equipped with a temporary JetPack that allows for temporary flight. However, due to the high cost of these modules, these are only given to the most elite troopers using these power suits.
Note: The model and texture are placeholders, and will be replaced as soon as we have a replacement.
Disk Thrower
The Disk Thrower had many changes. This was done as a result of player and tester feedback that the unit was not as useful as it could be.
The first major change is that disk throwers throw their disks faster now. This allows them to hit targets easier at range. You will also notice that Primary Fire no longer has a minimum range, which should remove a lot of the frustration.
Alternate Fire was re-done. While still faster than the Primary Fire, it now has a very large minimum range which should discourage its use at close range. It is also not accurate at all, which means that Primary Fire is still useful compared to this. On the plus side, the disk now travels further, which is useful for long-range engagements. Just don't expect to hit anything very easily.
Officers
It has come to my attention that the officers badly needed a re-balance. Elite cadres were just too powerful, while GDI officers were nearly useless. Initially, this was thought to be the result of a change to their DPS that made the elite cadre more powerful than the GDI officer. Testing however, revealed that it was actually due to the result of the Elite Cadre being way too accurate, in addition to his absurd grenades.
To balance this out, Elite Cadres now have inaccuracy. This isn't as much as the GDI officer, but it still is enough to balance him. In addition, he now only carries 15 grenades at a time. These can be replenished by refilling, but this should force Elite Cadres to think about exactly where they are planting these grenades.
These changes are still awaiting some feedback, so please let us know your thoughts in the coming days.
Smaller Changes
- Rocket Soldiers were nerfed against infantry. In exchange, he has a pistol now.
- Devil's Tongues now have a clip that needs to be reloaded above ground
- Mobile Stealth Generators now have a limit of 5 (from 3) and are faster now
- Building Interiors were updated to include ambient sounds now
Map Changes
It has come to my attention that a few maps are unbalanced and disliked. Here are the relevant changes:
TS_Shallows
This map is awaiting a full remake, or failing that, it will be removed due to the low quality of the map itself and terrible gameplay state at the moment.
TS_Field
This map has had an extensive change. Tester and player feedback has led to this map being completely replaced with the old Field_2 map.
TS_Desert_River
This map is the old Field under a new name. Not too many changes here.
Infantry-Only maps
TS_Frostbite is still off the server. TS_Drought however is back on rotation.
Other maps
Some of you might remember other maps during testing. TS_Kombat has been cut completely until it can be completely redone. TS_Storm is cut until it gets its textures redone. TS_Pipeline has been cut until CTF can be implemented properly.
The Future
The next major version should be 2.0. We will be doing a near-full rebalance of the entire game, so do expect some major changes here. We will also be adding vehicle veterancy to this patch, which has honestly been delayed for far too long already. This will take at least 4 months to do however, so we are branching our development paths to continue to bring you balance changes to 1.5.x as needed. Don't expect too many new features, but at least game-breaking bugs and balance issues will be fixed.
That's it for this update. Expect more updates on the road to 2.0, along with some patch release notes as we get them out.
Neat!
Add bots please
Bots would be great- ...if possible of course + no pressure etc. etc. Thanks for all you've done already!