A Few Questions, thinking of getting back into the game Options

[IntoTheRain]

Hello.

I recently reinstalled the game and played through the campaigns for nostalgia's sake. (its probably been at least 8 years) I'm kinda thinking about checking out online play if there is still an active group. I just had a few questions.

1) Is the game generally considered balanced? The latest version seems alright, (especially compared to 1.0) but I want to be sure there isn't something I am unaware of.

2) Are any of the mods designed for competitive play, or are they mostly single player oriented? I have tried a few, and most of them just turn the game into a giant mess of 500 units, several of which are usually terribly balanced. (pinpoint accuracy high powered artillery anyone?)

3) Are there any mods that make the AI half way decent? You can't execute rushes on them, you can't tech evenly with them, and yet...its completely hopeless at actually attacking. (or defending itself late game..)

4) Additionally, is there any mod that works on improving unit AI? Because some of it makes me want to scratch my eyes out. Jump troopers landing when units that can shoot ground are still right next to them, or units not automatically attacking enemy buildings unless specifically ordered is especially frustrating when your trying to manage several things at once.

4) And finally, are there any mods that help out with the outdated interface. Trying to scroll through 30 units to find the one your looking for is a pain. Is there a way to make the pics smaller so you can increase the number of units visible? Is there a way to force the game to sort the unit types out? I.E. all infantry/all vehicles/all aircraft/other abilities regardless of when they become available as tech options?

It does look like there are a lot of people here who still enjoy the game. So at least the game has an active (if small) community. I'm kinda hoping that either multiplayer or a well designed mod can keep my interest.

[IntoTheRain]

Dusk has some very solid ideas, earlier (and larger) pavement, longer wall sections, more efficient aircraft, faster mcvs, etc. It has a couple problems, specifically the sheer number of crashes that I am getting. Its difficult to finish a game at all without one occurring. Whether this is on my end or the mods I'm not sure.

Balance wise, I think its a mistake to make infantry unable to be run over by vehicles. Part of the base price of infantry is assuming that it is vulnerable to being run over by vehicles. Removing this weakness makes them extremely cost efficient, and only some extremely hard counters (like harpies) give you any reason to build anything else. I can't confirm any of this of course because my only opponent right now is the comp, which plays nothing like a real person, so this ends up being speculation on my end. (it doesn't help that the comp likes to rush you with 3k worth of infantry..which makes it even harder to try and stay objective) Whatever, its a dead mod so its pointless complaining. (although theraputic!)

As for Online games, I'm struggling to get online right now. Working on it, and I hope to be online within the week. I am however, probably to busy to play during the week, but I would love to play during the weekends if your interested. I don't use either instant message program, but I can create an account if you want on MSN. I'm on Central time.

[Rampastring]

I tried a few matches in Dusk yesterday, and it crashed randomly. Although the AI is tough, I dislike the way it has been made tough; it isn't really that smart, and a quick look at the TSD rules.ini shows that even the Level 1 AI gets 8 times more money than the human player. Since it has so much money it's always able to build hundreds and hundreds of infantry and a lot of vehicles and buildings at the same time, even if you destroy most of it's harvesters. This can be seen even in the beginning of the game; the AI sends infantry worth of thousands at your base and still techs up faster than you ever could.

Otherwise it was quite fun, although there are some quite useless units (Nod's Devastator for example).

If you're interested in playing, you're going to need some IM account. Although MSN will do, I'm much more active on Xfire and recommend it because it has the in-game chat interface for most 3D games.

This post has been edited by ^Rampastein: Sep 12 2009, 04:44 PM