Red Alert 3 Beta Version 1.3 Patch Notes

[Sonic 296]

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Public Beta

Version 1.3 Patch Notes - August, 2008

 

This patch for the Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Public Beta brings the beta fully up to date with the development branch. It contains a large number of bug fixes and balance changes. Here are the most notable balance changes:

 

<Balance Changes>

Global Changes:

 

- Wall health increased to 300 from 100.

 

- Bridge health decreased to 1000 from 6000.

 

- All MCV’s now can crush light vehicles.

 

- Garrison Range Bonus increased to 200% from 125%

 

- Infantry vulnerability to PRISM weapon increased to 100% from 30%.

 

- All ships should now slow down by 25% when REALLYDAMAGED.

 

- Standard surface ship armor vulnerability to Rocket damage reduced to 100% from 150%.

 

- Amphibious Ground Units should no longer be crushing infantry on water.

 

- Heroic Veterancy now grants a 25% rate of fire increase.

 

- Heroic infantry are now immune to Bark-Stun.

 

- T1 base defenses now require line of sight. Check your firing lanes!

 

- Air Superiority Fighter attack ranges increased to 300 from 200.

 

- Aircraft are now twice as vulnerable to CANNON and GUN damage. This should only affect how quickly ground units can kill them while they’re docked.

 

- Anti-Ground Aircraft will now reveal themselves to their victims if they’re shooting from up on a plateau.

 

- Bark / Roar stun duration increased to 10 seconds from 6. (15s if you have Advanced Tech)

 

- Frozen Units are no longer insta-gibbed by RADIATION damage.

 

- Prism, Tesla, and Wave Force weapons no longer “thaw” frozen units.

 

- Repair Drone leash range increased by 50.

 

- Refineries now have a 30s infiltration delay, to prevent players from spamming infiltrators at refineries and getting mo money, mo problems.

 

Allied Changes:

 

- Peacekeeper health reduced to 150 from 200.

 

- Peacekeeper now does more damage when up close than when far away.

 

- Peacekeeper damage reduced to 40 at point blank, from 60, and 25 at max range, from 30.

 

- Peacekeepers are no longer immune to RADIATION damage when their shield is active.

 

- Engineer now gets a big armor boost when he’s in his (presumably Kevlar) medic tent. He’s also immune to bark stun in this mode.

 

- Multigunner Turret now has a unique weapon for the Imperial Warrior.

 

- IFV / Multigunner Turret + Dog/Bear range increased to 300 from 150.

 

- IFV now has a unique weapon when garrisoned by an Imperial Warrior

 

- IFV + Dog bark-stun duration increased to 5s from 3s.

 

- IFV + Peacekeeper should now be doing AUTO_CANNON damage.

 

- IFV + Tesla Trooper rate of fire doubled.

 

- Guardian Tank target painter reload time increased to 2 seconds from 0.

 

- Cryocopter cryo-beam range decreased to 150 from 300.

 

- Cryocopter freeze damage DPS reduced by half.

 

- Mirage Tank invisibility field radius decreased to 175 from 200.

 

- Mirage Tank mirage field toggle reload time decreased to 2 seconds from 10.

 

- Assault Destroyer Black-Hole Armor armor buff reduced to 25% from 75%.

 

- Athena Cannon shield HP reduced to 2000 from 4000. Duration increased to 20s from 10s. Reload time reduced to 20s from 60s.

 

- Dolphin’s can now damage multiple targets per shot.

 

- Century Bomber bomb damage radius reduced to 25 from 50.

 

- Surgical Strike now strikes much faster, although no more precisely.

 

- Surgical Strike damage reduced against Harvesters.

 

- Time Bomb 1 damage reduced against Harvesters.

 

- Cryo Satellite powers now have a pre-attack delay time of 5 seconds. In addition to making the power more balanced, it also horribly broke the visual FX!

 

Soviet Changes:

 

- Bear ground speed reduced to 85 from 100. Bear water speed increased to 85 from 75. Bear health increased to 190(!) from 50.

 

- Flak Trooper magnetic mine range decreased to 20 from 75.

 

- Soviet Ore Collector reactive armor buff increased to 75% from 50%.

 

- Terror Drones will now damage aircraft in the air. Previously they would stop damaging an aircraft once it became airborne.

 

- Terror Drone damage against Eggs reduced by 40%.

 

- Apoc Tanks can now grind large vehicles (MCV’s) and even structures(!) using its harpoon + grinder.

 

- Heroic Apoc tank damage type changed to EXPLOSIVE from CANNON.

 

- Heroic Apocalypse Tanks now fire high explosive rounds that detonate in an eerily similar fashion to that of V4 rockets.

 

- Soviet Bunkers now refund half their cost when sold. Soviet Bunkers no longer spawn a conscript when sold.

 

- Natasha’s bombing run reload time decreased, she should now be able to immediately paint a new target when she’s done with the old one.

 

- Soviet Power Tree reorganized.

 

- Toxic Corrosion can only be used against friendly targets. Toxic Corrosion death weapon explosion damage increased to 500 from 300, radius increased to 80 from 50. Length of the active radiation trail increased.

 

- Desolator Airstrike field damage increased by 4x.

 

- Desolator Airstrike will now clear garrisons.

 

- Desolator Airstrike time to target reduced by 5 seconds for all levels.

 

- Orbital Refuse time to target increased for all levels.

 

- Magnetic Satellite now has a 2 second pre- attack delay, giving you time to GTFO of the way. Beam duration increased by 3 seconds per level. Beam Speed increased to 50 from 30. Doubled effective radius.

 

- Magnetic Satellite now only affects units that are of roughly equivalent size / tech to its level. This means that a level 1 mag satellite will only pick up light vehicles (sickles, IFV’s, Tengu’s, etc); level two can pick up larger vehicles such as artillery, T2 ships, Harvesters, and Main Battle Tanks; level 3 (or “Trip”, as his friends call him) can pick up any vehicles, even Apoc Tank’s and MCV’s.

 

Empire of the Rising Sun Changes:

 

- Burst Drone attached speed penalty increased to 50% from 25%.

 

- Burst Drones received a 40% damage scalar against Nano-cores.

 

- Burst Drones (of the currently attached variety) are now directly targetable.

 

- Imperial Warrior is now immune to Bark-Stun while bonsai charging.

 

- Tank Buster: A burrowed tank buster can no longer attack. You must first unburrow them before giving an attack command. Essentially this cuts the middle “down in the hole but half way up and shooting” state of the tank buster.

 

- Japanese Refineries now grant enough buildability to allow you to wall in your harvesters.

 

- Japan Base Defense now has a 15 second cool down time on itsweapon toggle.

 

- Mecha Tengu ground speed increased to 125 from 100. Water speed increased to 100 from 80.

 

- Transformers are no longer receiving that a massive shroud clear buff when in the air.

 

- Yari Mini Sub Kamikaze attack damage reduced against Harvesters.

 

- Seawing water speed increased to 125 from 100.

 

- Tsunami tanks are now buildable from the Japanese Naval Yard.

 

- Tsunami Tank secondary ability armor buff changed to 50% across the board and now increases your Tsunami’s speed by 25%.

 

- Chopper VX speed increased to 140 from 120.

 

- Chopper VX should now have an easier time attacking moving units.

 

- Rocket Angel paralyze whip range decreased to 250 from 300.

 

- Rocket Angels Paralysis Whip no longer works against air

targets.

 

- Waveforce Artillery can no longer fire while moving.

 

- Shogun Battleship: Changed the Ramming Speed ability from a toggle to a location-targeted ability. Reduced duration of ramming speed to 5 seconds from 10. Ramming Battleships now have noticeable acceleration.

 

- Final Squadron aircraft will now attack enemy aircraft while in flight.

 

- Final Squadron spread reduced for all levels. Number of planes per target increased for level 2 and 3.

 

- Final Squadron attack damage reduced against Harvesters.

 

- Emperor’s Resolve status effect changed from a damage boost to a rate of fire boost. Overall DPS increase should remain the same.

 

- Point Defense Drones are no longer castable on infantry

 

- Balloon bomb spread decreased. Level 1 now drops 6 bombs, up from 4. Level 2 drops 10 bombs, up from 8. Level 3 drops, get this, 14 bombs up from 12.

 

- Balloon Bomb damage halved. Balloon Bomb damage reduced against Harvesters.

 

- Balloon bombs now move twice as fast. They however fall at the same old speed.

 

- Balloon Bombs are immune to Magnetic Satellite. Apparently they’re made out of ceramics or wood or something.

Patch download information available at http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showtopic=10405.

[Alphabear 11]

Changes to the Soviet Bear are good. It was virtually useless against infantry.

 

 

[CmdAqua-11thFleet- 0]

Personally I think the Soviet Bear got too much of an armour buff. But other than that the rest of the changes were well done by EA.

[Alphabear 11]

Considering its about double the cost of a conscript and a single conscript could take out a charging bear i think its well deserved. Then again i haven't had a chance to get try out this patch yet because of exams and the size of the download so i don't know what its like now.

[CmdAqua-11thFleet- 0]

Don’t get my wrong, it’s not like their ridiculously overpowered, just a little bit too much in my opinion. Overall I think EA has done a fairly good job in balancing out units, the game plays extremely well in my opinion, with suitable counters to what

ever an opposing faction could use against you.

 

[Gben 20]

Counters... This is the thing I still struggle with with only a handful of games under my belt.

 

I've only just given up on building enough basic allied tanks when facing APOCS...

 

[F15pilotX 4]

The one thing I have noticed in RA3 is the uselessness of tier 2 tanks...they get destroyed so easily and quickly it's not even funny....

 

In an allied mirror, missile guys and vindicators pwn them....twinblades and strykers pwn them for the other two sides (same with all the other tanks)

[Gben 20]

Oh really. I've only really seen my allied tanks against apocs. I feel like it's a one-shot kill - which is ridiculous!!!

[Luk3us 63]

The one thing I have noticed in RA3 is the uselessness of tier 2 tanks...they get destroyed so easily and quickly it's not even funny....

 

In an allied mirror, missile guys and vindicators pwn them....twinblades and strykers pwn them for the other two sides (same with all the other tanks)

 

lol.. What do you expect? All the units you mentioned are all counters for that unit.

[F15pilotX 4]

But seriously dude, the only units they can kill decently are apc-like units :S (bullfrog/riptide), and even those can own tanks if they have 1-2 ppls inside. They can't even touch japan's units due to the transforming capabilities.

 

Basically, RA3 tanks (aside from apoc) == PHAIL

Edited September 23, 2008 by F15pilotX

[Luk3us 63]

RA3 is moving away from the, just build 50 scorpions and pwn everything mentality. Which is a good thing imo.

 

Tier 2 tanks are only crappy when not properly supported.

[Gben 20]

Replace "50 scorpions" with "50 avatars" and what's the difference?

 

I don't mind that tier 3 tanks are markedly better than tier 2, but as F15 said, they seemed basically useless on their own.

I'm ignoring obvious counters like missile soldiers and air units; and support units as Luk3us correctly suggests. But I'm talking about a tank v tank battle, and getting sufficient mass of tanks to counter tier 3 tanks shouldn't feel so implausible.

 

(DISCLAIMER: Of course I've only play 6-7 games.)