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Post news Report RSS APB Dev. Blog :: December 16th, 2015

The Red Alert: A Path Beyond team has been working hard on their game to polish it and make it better. Their latest improvements include beautiful map assets/foliage, new infantry, upgraded buildings and nicer weapons.

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Time for another APB Dev. Blog~!


It's been some time since a blog, and with the release coming this month we'll need some screens won't we? There is plenty to cover, and only so much we can fit in a blog.

So!

While we find our way closer and closer to the new version, we'll roll out smaller blogs to get you the new updates, changes, and more to look forward to! Today's blog will cover infantry improvements.

Allied Engineer

Firstly, the Allied Engineer will be seeing a new look. Originally made and textured by ScreamingCricket, with Aprime further improving on the texture, Pushwall has since rigged this unit and included him in-game.

Allied Engineer
Allied Engineer Allied Engineer Allied Engineer


Soviet Engineer

And not only the Allied Engineer, but the Soviet Engineer too will be seeing a new look! Credit to Aprime for this texture. You'll see that this Soviet counterpart has changed into an olive uniform, with a Soviet Engineer Corps insignia displayed on his left arm sleeve. Most importantly, he now sports a gruff beard befitting of a hard-working man of the Soviet Union.

Soviet Engineer Soviet Engineer Soviet Engineer Soviet Engineer


Allied Mechanic

Another improvement to Allied infantry, have a look at the new mechanic. Now sporting darker clothing, and bearing more resemblance to his Red Alert purchase icon, the Mechanic is here for all of your vehicle repair needs. Thanks again to ScreamingCricket for the model and original texture, and Pushwall for rigging this one as well.

Allied Mechanic Allied Mechanic Allied Mechanic


Rifle Dudes

The basic riflemen are in for a treat too; the new M16A2 and AK-47 unveiled in blogs long past have finally made it into the game. For variety's sake, the Medic is still using the old M16.


Re-Rigging

In addition to the new guys, all the old infantry have been re-rigged to fix gaping holes in their hitboxes and significantly reduce the amount of weirdness with hand/weapon positions, such as the Rocket Soldier who used to have a floating LAW, the Medic who used to have a broken/twisted arm, the Starshina who held the TOZ-194 incorrectly, and various pistol-wielding infantry that were trying to do kung fu stances at the same time.


Binoculars

Binoculars have received a couple of changes that should make them a little less useless; for one, they can target objects up to 300m away - the same range as snipers - to see their allegiance, unit name and health. Since quite a few maps have fog that reaches full thickness at around 300m, it can be hard to discern what an infantry unit actually is at long distances, or whether that truck approaching is a demolition truck or supply truck, so this isn't nothing. In addition to this, when you "fire" the binoculars, they will create a chevron-shaped radar marker at the spot you're aiming at, which is visible from any distance and only visible to your own teammates, and disappears after 15 seconds. Be sure to let your team know what the marker means though, because it doesn't really say much by itself!


Supply Trucks

Supply Trucks are not infantry themselves, obviously, but they've received a few upgrades to allow them to provide assistance to infantry in the field beyond just transporting them. Any infantry that enters a Supply Truck will immediately have all of their armour refilled - remember that infantry armour now provides a bunch of resistance bonuses to health instead of just being a glorified secondary health bar, so Supply Trucks will not allow an infantryman to stay invincible in a firefight, just prevent them from becoming sitting ducks for explosives and low-caliber firearms after a few firefights. In addition to this, any infantry that spends 10 seconds inside a Supply Truck will have all their weapons refilled, except for ones that can't be refilled (Golden Wrenches and signal flares). Since C4 CAN be refilled, Engineers and Tanyas should see more field presence. The trucks are still as fragile as ever, though, so it shouldn't be hard to prevent an Engineer/Tanya truck sneak from destroying everything.

The long and short of all this is that the truck now acts as a mobile refill station that doesn't refill health. On bigger maps there are neutral ones that will respawn at certain landmarks, so it's not always necessary to bring your own into the field for that purpose.

Voices

There is now a much wider variety of infantry voices - most of the generic Allied/Soviet unit voice clips from RA1 have been included for basic infantry, various infantry are now voiced by characters from RA1's campaign cutscenes, and Tanya now uses some of her taunts when injured or placing C4. Oh and she has her proper death sound now, so we can finally say goodbye to Manya references.

Barracks

While we're on infantry, have a look at a new detail added to both the Allied and Soviet Barracks.


Both sides' barracks now fly their respective flags, taking a little step further toward their Red Alert incarnation. The flag itself sits on a pole slightly behind the building, so as to not impede movement between and around the barracks. A small thing, but something that has always been missing from the Barracks.

Explosive Barrels

Adding on to infantry and Red Alert incarnations - explosive barrels!


Currently, these only feature on RockTrap and generally spawn around the control points. Fairly resistant to weapons outside of flamethrowers and explosives, this should make the LAW and the RPG more useful on deathmatch and domination maps. Each barrel is almost as powerful as an artillery shell, but lacks the cover penetration aspect, so make good use of all that cover!

Here's Pushwall in a test demonstration of explosive barrels on the field.

Rest assured that enemy kills that you net by destroying barrels will be properly attributed to your score and frag count. With explosive barrels spawning around the control points and at other strategic locations, keep an eye out for moments of opportunity.

And that's the latest on our infantry! Stay tuned for more updates to come!

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NodGuy
NodGuy

Awesome!

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