'tis all about C&C3 Kane's Wrath

[Ultralight]

If there is one franchise that I faithfully follow it is the C&C universe. Unlike many I enjoyed Generals and C&C3, but after getting Kane's Wrath the new units are less than enticing.

I've played both the subfactions of GDI, the Steel Talons and ZOCOM, and other than a few tweaks -- meh. Seriously, there are few advantages to purchasing this expansion. The AI is less than stellar and you would have hoped they would have at least added another two or three single 8-Player maps.

Bottom Line: The same old, same old, with a few added units that really don't add to the game play, just nice eye candy.

 

[RichUK]

My copy should arrive through the post tomorrow. All is good

It only cost me £15 ? Cheap as chips.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Regs

Originally posted by: venkman
Anyone have trouble registering the code for the RA3 beta? I tried it about 10 times and kept getting a "Key Not Successful" error.

The game is likely good for the newer generation of gamers, but I can see long time C&c fans become bored with this game or even frustrated after the 2nd mission or 2nd skirmish.

I might be shooting myself in the foot by saying I think it's time for C&C series to join the fray of pop cap based games like COH. To spend an hour building 1000 units, only to watch more than half of them die senselessly, leaving only 10 or so to achieve victory seems like a defeated purpose now-a-days for strats.

Having been with Westwood/EA and their RTS legacy since Dune 2 on my Amiga... I have been in awe at some C&C games. The original was a great improvement on Dune 2, removing the need to give a move order before clicking where to move... just sumblime. Everything up to and including RA2 was a joy to play, Tiberian Sun a slight disappointment but still a wonder to behold.... but C&C3 has dragged it down.

I disagree with a pop cap system. It removes C&C's uniqueness and rather damages the Tiberium storyline, its scattered all over the planet... not in conveniently placed points to capture and hold like some sort of Tiberium Oil Derrick.

I woulld suggest making units actually worth something. They are all demolished in a matter of milliseconds... with the exception being the Mammoth and the new Epic Units which take a couple of more milliseconds to vaporise. It would be great if units lasted longer, had more armour and lasted a lot longer in battle... we'd need less of them and tactical options open up.

Infantry is a big disappointment in C&C. Even the highest tier troops can be mutilated in droves. They have always proved useful in every other C&C game to a certain degre so it is devastating to see that even elite troops like the Zone Troopers are merely there for the "oh wow cool, guys with railguns" effect.

In short,

Boost unit armour or reduce weapon damage.
Make infantry last more than the second that they do and give them a purpose.

Jobs a good'un in my eyes.

Personally, I love the new touches and new units in Kanes Wrath. They work well and the sub-factions are really quite nice. Overall, a good expansion.

 

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: Elcs
Infantry is a big disappointment in C&C. Even the highest tier troops can be mutilated in droves. They have always proved useful in every other C&C game to a certain degre so it is devastating to see that even elite troops like the Zone Troopers are merely there for the "oh wow cool, guys with railguns" effect.

I really disagree with this. I've annihilated entire tank armadas with my infantry swarms. If anything, infantry is far superior in CNC3 than the past games because they come in squads rather than individual units. Infantry was more so useless in the past games.

I don't know if you just not using them correctly, but Zone troopers are the ultimate counter to a mammoth tank army. They are unsquishable and they tear through mammoth tank armor like anything. One time I was building up a squad of 10 mammoths, and the AI just barraged me with a 4 or 5 squads of Zone troopers. There go all my tanks.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: Elcs
Infantry is a big disappointment in C&C. Even the highest tier troops can be mutilated in droves. They have always proved useful in every other C&C game to a certain degre so it is devastating to see that even elite troops like the Zone Troopers are merely there for the "oh wow cool, guys with railguns" effect.

I really disagree with this. I've annihilated entire tank armadas with my infantry swarms. If anything, infantry is far superior in CNC3 than the past games because they come in squads rather than individual units. Infantry was more so useless in the past games.

I don't know if you just not using them correctly, but Zone troopers are the ultimate counter to a mammoth tank army. They are unsquishable and they tear through mammoth tank armor like anything. One time I was building up a squad of 10 mammoths, and the AI just barraged me with a 4 or 5 squads of Zone troopers. There go all my tanks.

It is a very common complaint on the C&C3 boards I have read.

The Zone Troopers are highly effective against armour and smaller numbers of infantry but are quickly extinguished by anti-infantry.

If you dont mix anti-tank/building (Mammoths) with anti-infantry (Wolverines, riflemen, black hand, snipers etc.) then you are asking for trouble from any anti-tank infantry. The AI either lucked out or used superior tactics to demolish your frontline assault force.

It seems as though you can lose a lot of infantry extremely quickly even up against one or two opponents.

 

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: Elcs
Infantry is a big disappointment in C&C. Even the highest tier troops can be mutilated in droves. They have always proved useful in every other C&C game to a certain degre so it is devastating to see that even elite troops like the Zone Troopers are merely there for the "oh wow cool, guys with railguns" effect.

I really disagree with this. I've annihilated entire tank armadas with my infantry swarms. If anything, infantry is far superior in CNC3 than the past games because they come in squads rather than individual units. Infantry was more so useless in the past games.

I don't know if you just not using them correctly, but Zone troopers are the ultimate counter to a mammoth tank army. They are unsquishable and they tear through mammoth tank armor like anything. One time I was building up a squad of 10 mammoths, and the AI just barraged me with a 4 or 5 squads of Zone troopers. There go all my tanks.

It is a very common complaint on the C&C3 boards I have read.

The Zone Troopers are highly effective against armour and smaller numbers of infantry but are quickly extinguished by anti-infantry.

If you dont mix anti-tank/building (Mammoths) with anti-infantry (Wolverines, riflemen, black hand, snipers etc.) then you are asking for trouble from any anti-tank infantry. The AI either lucked out or used superior tactics to demolish your frontline assault force.

It seems as though you can lose a lot of infantry extremely quickly even up against one or two opponents.

The key to using infantry is their superior numbers. In the time it takes to build 2 or 3 predators, you can easily have 10 rifle men squads and 10 rocket trooper squads. This allows you to attack the opponent with a far greater force than he would have if he was building vehicles. Yes, they would get mowed down by APCs or watchtowers, but not before they destroyed half the enemies' base. Nod is especially good at this because you can produce so many infantry is so little time.

The strength of infantry lies in the early moments of a game. Once you get to the mid or late game stage, they are easily overpowered by flame tanks and more powerful units.

 

[Maximilian]

Ive read the wiki on the storyline... is CABAL dead or not? Is he part of something new? Why did he go rogue? Why was kane in a glass tube with CABAL and kanes voices both trying to say the same thing?

Are all these questions answered? Lol i hope they are ive been waiting ages for this.

 

[Zenoth]

You guys haven't seen Mammoth Tanks dying to swarms of NOD Venoms have you?

I've finished the Campaign on Hard with using almost exclusively (as soon as available in later missions) swarms of them, and once upgraded with the laser they are almost unstoppable. During the last three missions I've had anywhere between 50 to 70 of them eating GDI bases away in an instant, set them to offensive stance, bring the swarm on top of the Construction Yard, and see the GDI disappear and going back to dust in under a minute.

And I've also destroyed the VMI (spelling?), the GDI Epic unit, using the same tactic, it just takes longer, about a good 20 seconds of constant firing from 60 Venoms, and you're done with it, I mean there was so many of them that the actual laser beams gave the illusion of being a single continuous non-stop red beam between the target unit(s) and the swarm of Venoms, it's just awesome to watch.

Overall I liked the Campaign, but to be honest the story lost me, I'm not 100% certain of what happened, but that's probably because I haven't played Tiberian Sun in ages and I don't remember the ending of Firestorm.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

-

-

-

It looks like I play a machine/A.I named Legion, which has been programmed with a "mind" similar to that of CABAL from Firestorm, and that somehow Kane is linked to the Scrin race, and that it looks like I, Legion/pseudo-CABAL, am linked to the TACITUS, and that the TACITUS had all of the answers contained in it from the start, the Scrin Invasion, Kane, and so on, all the way back in Firestorm, but in Firestorm they never explained much about it, which is why in Kane's Wrath we start in 2034, which is the end of the Second Tiberium War... is that all correct or not? I don't get it entirely right now...

If anyone would care to explain I'd highly appreciate it.

 

[EvilComputer92]

Any ideas on how to beat the first mission?

This game is way harder than CNC3. I got rid of the gdi structures and captured the radio towers, now I'm getting attacked by units from all four sides while trying to defend the radio tower and keep my harvesters alive. I can't sustain enough money to build more units because their attack bikes keep killing my harvesters.

edit, nevermind finally managed to get through it. Second mission was really easy compared to it.

 

[imported_sushicide]

Good grief, is it just me or the unit AIs are dumber than a bag of bricks? Sometimes when I order them to attack a building they just form a tight circle around it and not fire at anything....wtf?

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: sushicide
Good grief, is it just me or the unit AIs are dumber than a bag of bricks? Sometimes when I order them to attack a building they just form a tight circle around it and not fire at anything....wtf?

Force fire.

 

[ayabe]

Picked this up last night.

Sorta of a mixed bag, the campaign is pretty.....boring, IMHO.

Played a few skirmishes and yeah the AI is still really disappointing.

 

[Ultralight]

Originally posted by: sushicide
Good grief, is it just me or the unit AIs are dumber than a bag of bricks? Sometimes when I order them to attack a building they just form a tight circle around it and not fire at anything....wtf?

I swear it has gotten dumber since the latest patch. I actiualkly thought the game was much more challenging unpatched. And if you are playing skirmish mode you'll often find an opponents 7 to 8 harvesters stuck behind encampment buildings. This is especially true with NOD.

 

[Elcs]

Did anyone download the 9.5 gig of Bonus Movies Content?

Mine just finished downloading and when I go to open, it tells me that the compressed file is either invalid or corrupted. What?!!?

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: Ultralight

Originally posted by: sushicide
Good grief, is it just me or the unit AIs are dumber than a bag of bricks? Sometimes when I order them to attack a building they just form a tight circle around it and not fire at anything....wtf?

I swear it has gotten dumber since the latest patch. I actiualkly thought the game was much more challenging unpatched. And if you are playing skirmish mode you'll often find an opponents 7 to 8 harvesters stuck behind encampment buildings. This is especially true with NOD.

Yeah, this seems to be a glitch introduced with one of the patches. I played C&C3 quite a bit when it came out and never saw it happen back then. I hadn't played the game much since then and only got back into it last week, but I noticed the AI harvester traffic jams several times in some skirmishes I played.

 

[Donts00tmesanta]

nothing but pretty version of older CNC

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Elcs
Did anyone download the 9.5 gig of Bonus Movies Content?

Mine just finished downloading and when I go to open, it tells me that the compressed file is either invalid or corrupted. What?!!?

I have downloaded this direct from the EA Store for the second time and I am still receiving the same results.

Could anyone shed any light on this or provide some assistance?

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: kyubi
nothing but pretty version of older CNC

you say that like its a bad thing.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: Elcs
Did anyone download the 9.5 gig of Bonus Movies Content?

Mine just finished downloading and when I go to open, it tells me that the compressed file is either invalid or corrupted. What?!!?

I have downloaded this direct from the EA Store for the second time and I am still receiving the same results.

Could anyone shed any light on this or provide some assistance?

wow, thats frustrating.

 

[chronox]

Anyone else notice that the MARV doesn't always go after a target that you right-click on? I seem to have to manually direct the MARV so that it is within range before it will acquire a target.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: chronox
Anyone else notice that the MARV doesn't always go after a target that you right-click on? I seem to have to manually direct the MARV so that it is within range before it will acquire a target.

I cannot say I have encountered that MARV bug however I have noticed the MARV suffers from a problem present in Dawn of War.

In Dawn of War Soulstorm, attaching a SoB Missionary to a Celestian Squad can cause a problem by which the Missionary moves into range of his gun, this outranges the Celestian squad and as a consequence, only he fires.

The MARV's main gun outranges a Zone Raiders sonic grenades. This quite often means the MARV moves into range with its main gun but fails to close the gap further and bombard its target with sonic grenades.

One other MARV bug I noticed when trying to move it across a bridge. Every click I made in an attempt to move the MARV along a bridge would result in the MARV trying to almost drive itself off the bridge then carry on its course towards where I clicked.

 

[Dorkenstein]

I bought this with great enthusiasm but now I am playing other games. Just didn't feel like a good purchase for some reason though I liked the original. Might try the RA3 beta key.

Some balancing issues I noticed, are they intentional? The Steel Talon faction gets owned by the Scrin due to lack of decent air defense.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
I bought this with great enthusiasm but now I am playing other games. Just didn't feel like a good purchase for some reason though I liked the original. Might try the RA3 beta key.

Some balancing issues I noticed, are they intentional? The Steel Talon faction gets owned by the Scrin due to lack of decent air defense.

What about the Slingshot? They rip aircraft a new one and I believe they still have Pitbulls.

Add in a few repair APC's to a squad and you should find things a little easier.

 

[Dorkenstein]

It seemed like every time my attention was turned my slingshots were getting whooped by either aircraft or the scrin vehicles. The armor on the slingshot is pretty bad. I would train up slingshots and they would get wiped out to a unit. The scrin had a turret that fired green stuff that did horrendous damage to my vehicles. Also the behemoths are really dumb, my watch turrets would be getting owned a few feet away by ground units and the behemoth would do nothing.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
It seemed like every time my attention was turned my slingshots were getting whooped by either aircraft or the scrin vehicles. The armor on the slingshot is pretty bad. I would train up slingshots and they would get wiped out to a unit. The scrin had a turret that fired green stuff that did horrendous damage to my vehicles. Also the behemoths are really dumb, my watch turrets would be getting owned a few feet away by ground units and the behemoth would do nothing.

Slingshots are basic Hover MRLS (Tiberian Sun) with a rather nasty AA Turret on top of them. A handful of them make mincemeat of aircraft however they should be treated like NOD units, thin armour, fast and mobile. Not all of GDI's units are meatgrinders and the Slingshot is proof of that.

Steel Talons Behemoths... I feel that C&C3 did a great injustice to the Juggernaught in general compared to Tiberian Sun. The Behemoth... really doesnt add anything to the basic Juggernaught. I would have loved to be able to place a sniper in there but theres a problem in that too.... Steel Talons do not have access to snipers. Steel Talon Infantry is too nerfed to provide the Behemoth with any tangible advantage over the Juggernaught.