KyleBrogan

I've only had Kane's Wrath for a couple of weeks, but I have finished the SP Campaign, and have beaten the Global Conquest mode with GDI. But as I've been playing through the Skirmish maps, I've noticed that the Scrin seem extremely overpowered when compared to the other factions. Here are my concerns, and please let me know if I'm justified or if I just need to suck it up and play more and stop complaining. <grin> 1) Air Force - With the addition of the Slingshot, I believed that GDI finally had a chance at keeping Scrin air units at bay, but that's not nearly the case. A single Devastator can chuck his little disks at a group of three or four, and nearly wipe them out in one volley. Add to that the fact that the Devastator can safely stay out of range of any anti-air unit in the game, and you've got a unit that seems pretty out-of-whack. Either the Slingshot needs more armor, or MORE RANGE, or the Devastator's range or attack power should be toned down. 2) Disintegrators - Solo forces of these units tear through literally anything. One-on-one against other infantry, and they just lay waste. Compare their attacking power to the Missile Defenders of GDI or Nod, and you'll notice they just tear through everything. I've watched two or three squads of these little suckers tear a MARV to shreds faster than anything else. Compare that to the lackluster performance of the missiles, and I think they're overpowered. 3) The Hexapod - In the same vein as the Devastator, the Hexapod seems to also be pretty overpowering, with a similar weapon-style. Though the weapon isn't exactly "accurate", it's devastating to grouped units or any structure. Compare a single Hexapod volley to the MARV cannon's three strikes, and you'll notice who's deadlier. I've had a fully-loaded MARV (two Engineers, two Zone Troopers), leveled-up to Star-Veteran, and a brand-new Hexapod took it out one-on-one. That just doesn't seem right to me. So, what's the verdict? Am I just blowing steam? Or are these valid? Or is the key of the game just to rush every single game so that the new powerful units never see the light of day?

It's been a little while, and I'm really an Air Force General fanboy, but I've beaten the General's Challenge with everybody. Here's the tips that I can give you: As the Laser General, the you need to boost economy and defense at the same time. Set up laser defenses along the coast, while at the same time building a Barracks just south of your base, a little ways away from your Command Center. (She'll keep destroying it, so rebuild it in the exact same spot over and over, and you can focus resources on building in other areas.) Your focus should be to first neutralize the Particle Cannon to the east, with Humvees and Rocket Soldiers if you can, or if you can't get the econ going that way, focus on an airfield with Auroras. (Four Auroras will destroy any superweapon, every time, and they can't be taken down while in flight. Now, make sure to leave your Auroras in a guarding pattern in the ocean either just to the east of your base, or just to the north, out of range of the island EMP Patriots, but NOT IN YOUR BASE. This way, when she tears apart your Airfield in any way, you can rebuild it, and not have to rebuild your Auroras again. Just slip them in, load them up, and float them outside of your base. Make sure that you're building a couple of Supply Drops throughout the mission. She's going to target them, but you can rebuild. Always try to keep a reserve of funds on hand in case she takes out something essential, like a Supply Drop, or your Strategy Center. Until you take out her weapons, she's going to keep striking. (Duh.) Remember to place a couple of Laser Turrets at the southwest corner of your base, as well. Mid-game, Alexander will often airdrop in a group of units in that area, which can cause havoc if you don't have protection. With the Air Force General, I would often use snipers and a Patriot, but with the Laser Turret's all-around heavy damage, two of them will take down anything. DO NOT worry about trying to expand to the northwestern island anytime soon. Alexander will continue to pummel you throughout the match, and you main concern is taking out her Particle Cannons, Airfields, and Command Center, IN THAT ORDER. Something that you should notice is that her Particle Cannons are on a plateau at the east of her base. If you do it right, you should be able to use four Auroras for each strike, taking out each Particle Cannon, and she WILL NOT REBUILD THEM. Then, you focus on her Airfields to the east, to remove the threat of Fuel Air Auroras, then focus on her Command Center to neutralize general powers. Finally, focus in and take out each of her Bulldozers. As soon as that's done, you can sit back and take your time, because the game is essentially over. Something that I like to do during the fight, if I have time, is to use Stealth Fighters to force-fire at the EMP Patriots throughout the map. If you can topple her many (strangely placed) defenses, you can more easily get your aerial forces into the base and out again, saving you money and time. All in all, Alexander puts up a huge fight at the beginning which you have to fight back, but as soon as you do, she doesn't have the cajones to keep up her strength, and you can blow her away. Happy lasering! - Kyle

Well, franchise as in other products apart from just the game itself. There are also toys... And perhaps other products. But then again, I might just be choosing the wrong word. <grin>

It's a truly ignorant fool who simply says that 'omething "sux" for no reason whatsoever. Especially considering you're talking about an entertainment franchise that's so good, it's matches are still being televised in Korea ten years after its release. I can't wait for the new expansion, especially considering that they're bringing out some more interesting strategies that were just plain absent from the original, and also because it's obvious where some of these inspirations came from. (Y'all already know I'm a Generals fanboy.) The new GDI Hammerhead/Infantry is pulled right from the US Air Force General's Combat Chinook. Nod's Liquid Tiberium soldier is a carbon copy of the GLA Toxin Rebels. The Nod Reckoner is just a modified GLA Battle Bus, and the new EMP grenades are nothing but re-rendered flashbangs. I'm sure there's going to be a few more examples. All in all, I'm excited!

I don't know if it's just me, but I keep on trying to get onto the cncmovies.com site, and it keeps redirecting me automatically to commandandconquer.com. Is anyone else getting this problem?

I hate to be the old repeating record, but just listening to all this brought Generals into my mind. While I will admit that it wasn't canon C&C, it is, to me, the template that should have been expanded upon for balance in C&C3. The three factions were very different in their approaches, but were very well balanced overall. The same could be said, essentially, for the three-faction game of Starcraft. While I enjoy C&C3, I find myself falling back mostly to Zero Hour, because I enjoy the ideas of more interesting approaches to problems. While I obviously haven't played the new patch, I fear that it's just adding to the idea that "balance" equates to "identical", and that really shouldn't be the case.

Cute... Very cute. Sheesh.

Went a little overboard, Alphabear?

Now wait a minute. The different factions and varied approaches presented in ZH were exactly what made the game itself so fun to play. Instead of just tank-rushing every time, you actually had to think on your feet. Just because it didn't have an excellent campaign doesn't mean that EA did a bad job with the actual gameplay. While I agree that there are some aspects of both games that are better than the other, I feel that the many different "factions" in ZH is one of its strengths, not weaknesses.

Now that kind of response is just, well, silly. I don't think I could say "No Duh" any louder. <grin> I don't really have anything else to add there, but I thought that the comment deserved a D-U-H.

Punwisp... Dude, I mean... Dude. All they want you to do is apologize and just be quiet for a while. While I fully understand the whole wounded pride deal and all that, I'd say just suck it up, stand behind something (instead of weaseling your way from one opinion to another), and just stand your ground. While there are times we can just agree to disagree, there's nothing more annoying than someone who changes his opinion just to pacify his critics. Show a little nerve, say your piece. But when the hounds come to tell you that you're wrong, you look like a wuss, and you piss everybody off if all you keep on saying is "It wasn't like that, you're not reading what I said correctly." You said what you said. We get it. You denying it doesn't make it untrue. If you like EA's version of C&C better, fine. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. However, you have to be ready for the counter when it flies, because most of the crew around here is in the opposite camp. Choose a side, and stick with it. I'm rambling a little, but I am tired, but just couldn't sit here and read that without at least saying something.

I think it would make for some interesting, and yet pretty fair battles. I mean, ZH weaponry generally seemed a lot faster. Take, for example, the USA snipers vs the GDI sniper team. Pathfinders just rock infantry, and would put the buzzers to sleep for good. The fact that most of the defensive structures (except for the USA firebase and the GLA tunnel) are air and land weapons, does offer a potent balance for the C&C3 armies who need an infantry, vehicle and air defence cannon. In addition, the ZH armies don't have to worry about "Land Control." They might not be able to use EVA, and so their builders would still be vulnerable, but they could also build wherever they want, whenever they want, instead of waiting for the MCV or "mini-MCV" units. There's other things to be considered, of course, but it would just make for an interesting fight. Personally, when I play C&C3, especially as GDI, I wish for a King Raptor to come out of the airfield, I vainly want a Pathfinder to sneak his way from the barracks, and I wish the Humvee could show the APC a thing or two.

This was just something a friend and I were talking about the other day, but we thought it would be interesting to see a mod where the factions from C&C 3 were put head to head against the different armies in Generals. You know, like Nod vs USA Superweapons, China Tank vs GDI, or even GLA vs Scrin. While there would be some definite balance issues, it was just a random idea. (You know where conversations can take you sometimes at 2AM.) Though I would LOVE to see USA Air Force take on Scrin's air superiority. Independance Day, anyone? - KB

Which kind of OS are you running? And which version of ZH are you trying to install? I've found that First Decade will not run well with Vista, though it works fine with XP, while Generals and ZH standalones will work with Vista no problem.

I think I'll have to disagree with Luk3us, and echo Bob at the top. I personally enjoy Generals a lot more than Tib Wars, I think just because the creativity and balance in the game just seemed to be more developed and thought out. I've said it before, but the numerous and creative strategies of Generals really set it apart in the genre, even though it "wasn't really Command and Conquer." What bothers me with C&C3 is that while I agree that you shouldn't have to sit there for a long time playing a game if you don't want to, the game should open up strategies that really allow you to, if you like. This is essentially a war game, right? There should be new and unique ways to handle different situations, instead of simply using one method repeatedly, and ALWAYS having it work. If you're playing football, and the offense always uses the same play, a defensive coordinator with any brains in his head is going to be able to effectively counter it, forcing the offense to try something different. That's how strategy works. Now, a Real-Time Strategy game shouldn't be any different. It should provide the tools so that even if you go up against an opponent who has "been around the block", so-to-speak, he should still come up against a surprise now and then that would cause him to say, "Hey, I've never seen THAT before." Maybe all my ranting will be nullified by this new patch. Who knows? But I still wonder if these changes are really going to make the game into what an RTS ought to be.