ShockWave is now officialy 10 years old! Options

[The_Hunter]

Today exactly 10 years ago i publicly released the very first version of ShockWave namely version 0.8
To this present day its played by many and become pretty much a cult classic at this point.

A lot has happened during the past 10 years people have come and gone and ShockWave also officially stopped to be actively developed by us in 2011.
Well as of today i'm pleased to announce we will do one more major update to this mod to address some of the issues that have become obvious over the time since our last official release.

We've already been doing some preparations on this and our anniversary release will include a completely reworked generals challenge, bug fixes and some necessary balance tweaks.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we will announce more details on this development

[Caustizer]

This is amazing news! I play Shockwave regularly and have done so since the last update in 2011.

I've noticed a number of issues that could be addressed in the improved version, and many of them have to do with AI in the Generals Challenges. Here's a bit of a list:

- General Townes never activates his Laser Defense Turrets, and has no Stealth detection around the entrances to his base. It's far too easy to just walk in with Bomb Trucks, Black Lotus, etc. and take apart his base even on Hard. He should also probably make more frequent use of his UAV Drone strikes against applicable targets such as unit and building groups. Perhaps Railgun Artillery should be a *bit* less accurate against moving infantry targets, as it seems a bit powerful to me ATM against virtually everything on the ground.

- Prince Kassad only targets either the top of his own base, or the very rear of your base with his Scud Storm. He should probably target the center. He also only uses Sneak Attack once, and never reloads his Tunnel Networks with units. For some reason one of his attack waves consists of Combat Buggies as well (which are unique to Deathstrike)... perhaps he should use his Stealth Bikes more often? If I wanted to be extra mean with how I set up this scenario, I'd swap his garrisoned Jarmen Kell units for Assassins and include Kell as part of the regular attack waves, as well as incorporating Assassin/RPG Battle Buses. Also, his RPG troopers should start with the Stinger Missiles upgrade when you fight against him in the challenge... it makes sense because its a powerful upgrade!

- Dr. Thrax is done masterfully and is one of the most challenging and rewarding generals to fight in the game. Good on your team! The only issue I've noticed with him is that he drops his Anthrax Bomb and Nerve Gas at the back of your base, where it does very little damage apart from kill your workers/trucks. I would have the Anthrax Bomb drop in the middle of the base (around the command centre) while Nerve Gas targets groups of combat units. I do think his Python Tanks are a little bit too good with the combination of Anthrax Gamma and AP Ammo... perhaps they should only get one or the other? It also surprises me that Toxin Grenadiers detect stealth... this should be mentioned in their tooltip.

- General Juhziz is fun to play against, and his only major flaw is that his attacking tanks/Flak Tanks never change their targets during an attack wave so they are especially vulnerable to air based attacks. A few Commanches/Helixes is often enough to stop almost everything he sends at you. I'd fix this issue, as well as his tendency to never target your base with any sort of general powers... his Demo Trap Parabombs always target ridiculous places such as the bottom of the map. He should also send Jarmen Kell at your base just like he says he will... Demo Kell is one of the best commando units in the game! He has a similar issue to Kassad in that he never stocks his tunnel networks.

- General Granger has one HUGE issue... he doesn't have enough power plants to power his base! He should at the very least build some control rods, but otherwise is pretty challenging. His Hypersonic Aurora Bombers should pick their targets right away so they can't be shot down on their attack runs... they really squander their best ability by flying around aimlessly looking for something to bomb. His base seems to lack a Helipad or War Factory, so I have no idea where his Combat Chinooks are coming from... I would get rid of those useless warehouses in his base and try to make room for the new structures. His Comanches should probably be upgraded to have Stealth from the beginning of the game too since its such a powerful ability. He also never fights general Leang due to an error in the Generals Challenge order.

- General Alexander seems almost completely up to snuff. Good work to the team on her challenge, especially whoever added the bridge! Her Comanches attack annoyingly early, but a rushed barracks allows your infantry to get inside the Flak Bunkers just as they arrive. Her Lockdown MLRS units seem entirely useless as they don't auto-attack even if an enemy is within range (not to mention they are really fragile) so I'd change them to fix that. Perhaps you could make her more difficult by creating vehicle based attack waves from the entrance to her base? Aurora Alpha Bombers also have a misspelled tooltip in the general powers menu.

- Generals Ironside, Fai and Deathstrike could use their own maps! (I know this is unlikely, but hey you guys did an amazing job with Juhziz and Leang so one can dream)

- General Kwai is a complete joke of a matchup at the moment because he runs out of money midway through the game! This huge issue makes the game basically a mopup operation past the first ten minutes and needs to be fixed. His Internet Centre should probably be filled at the start of the game, and he should have a Tank Plant and Nuclear Missile from the beginning if just to have access to the valuable upgrades within (which he should start with or at least gain as the game progresses). It would be nice to see some Reaper Tanks and Warmaster Tanks in his attack waves too so the difficulty and variety increases. He also makes precisely zero use of General powers, so EMP bombs and Artillery Strikes should also be considered. His Ramjet Turrets seem to have very low power costs considering how powerful they are... perhaps they should at least be 3?

- General Tao is pretty beefy, especially if you can't come up with a way to deal with his nuclear missiles before they launch. Oddly, he seems to target large groups of units with them which results in lots of duds where your units move and he bombs an open field. Perhaps his nuclear missiles should go for building groups instead while the Artillery Strikes and nuclear cluster bombs go for units? In his challenge he really should have a Research Reactor so he can access the valuable upgrades within and build Siege Cannons/Devestators. His MiGs should also start with Tactical Nukes... they are sort of a joke at the moment with just radiation missiles. It's also mildly surprising the the large group of units he has in the middle of his base (which consists of Overlords, Tanks and Troop Crawlers) rarely ever moves to defend his base.

- General Leang is a pretty tough and rewarding general to play against, though a bit odd because she has no voice taunts programmed in so the entire thing is in silence apart from the intro. As a matchup she attacks relentlessly and with waves of Blacksharks and Phoenix Bombers which is really tough to play against (and so enjoyable and challenging). She seems to loose all her general powers in a single burst though and never again after that... perhaps this needs to be adjusted?

Well I think that covers all the generals. I look forward to whatever adjustments you plan to make with eager anticipation!

This post has been edited by Caustizer: 5 Apr 2015, 18:06