Rise of the Reds Update: It Came from Outer Space Options

[MARS]

United States of America, 2043

Since the inception of ESA's famous Solaris energy project, high-ranking Russian officials have heavily criticised it for its possible use as a highly devastating orbital weapon and missile defence. While much of the criticism at the time was in no small part motivated by the fact that a self-sufficient Europe put an end to the long-standing fossil fuel deals that kept the Russian economy going, the alleged military potential of Solaris turned out to be more than just a slanderous conspiracy theory as early as 2046, when the Russian aircraft carrier 'Peter the Great' got melted to slag by a pillar of sunlight striking down from the sky without warning in the Baltic Sea. In addition to these short, concentrated bursts, European commanders can also experiment with a longer, broader solar saturation to turn entire areas into cooking wastelands for extended periods.

[GDIZOCOM]

Love the title, and the reports . You haven't shown a demo video for quite a while now

[scorpio]

nice!!! the blast looks like the love child of a particle cannon and a nuke.

[X1Destroy]

A new update, yeah!!! Now i've known what the ECA superweapon is.

[SpiralSpectre]

So finally Solaris gets officially introduced with it's duel firing modes. Practically nuke and particle cannon in one weapon... that's a lot. BTW how long is it's countdown timer? The relay itself looks magnificent. It looks high tech while doesn't have the "pure-clean alien-ish vibe" these kinda structures often have. Looks pretty tough and well detailed.

It's been a long time since we had an update with classified documents. Always loved this writing style, it was a great read. So both the Euros and the Russians managed to infiltrate into US successfully? So much for focused homeland security! They even got beaten in the run for the satellite and the infiltrators even managed to escape no prob.

BTW is there any chance that the Euros somehow used copies of Russian made weapons/bullets to get Russians involved while Spetsnaz weren't actually present at that time? Did Ruskies really manage to down that satellite without anyone knowing beforehand... if so then how? Always thought US was safest in these global conflicts thanks to their geographic position, guess that doesn't provide that much safety anymore. Now what will be their policies knowing they got violated? How safe is geographically more vulnerable China if US can't protect their water surrounded fortress? Questions, questions... a lot keep popping up... great update!

[Darkfire Angel]

OMG! That was grade AAA awesome. Really enjoyed the writing for this update more so than I have the others, and the video was gorgeous as well.

The animation where the circles coming out of the Relay change size, is that only when it's ready to fire or is it part of the firing animation, either way it looks very cool.

Also is that a hint of the style of music we can expect for the ECA maybe?

[MARS]

It's been a long time since we had an update with classified documents. Always loved this writing style, it was a great read. So both the Euros and the Russians managed to infiltrate into US successfully? So much for focused homeland security! They even got beaten in the run for the satellite and the infiltrators even managed to escape no prob.

BTW is there any chance that the Euros somehow used copies of Russian made weapons/bullets to get Russians involved while Spetsnaz weren't actually present at that time? Did Ruskies really manage to down that satellite without anyone knowing beforehand... if so then how? Always thought US was safest in these global conflicts thanks to their geographic position, guess that doesn't provide that much safety anymore. Now what will be their policies knowing they got violated? How safe is geographically more vulnerable China if US can't protect their water surrounded fortress? Questions, questions... a lot keep popping up... great update!

Well, the perps got away safely, but it's not like they made a clean get-away: The US did find out that it was the ECA and the Russians and they rightfully blamed them for this illegal act. This is not to depict the US/NAU as unable to protect their own waters, but the fact is that that the far north of the American continent is thinly populated, has a very extensive coastline and is thus difficult to survey completely. As for the Russians, the intended meaning is that they were most likely at the scene and did what they were accused of. The ECA may be reckless, but not to the point of doing false flag operations - plus, we've already had one such gambit in the narrative and it's generally a thing that should be used sparingly. The Euros weren't in this to cause some international incident between Russia and America; they really just wanted to recover the vitals of their satellite, hoping that no one would interrupt them. Besides that, the Solaris satellites may be capable of being militarised, but they're primary civilian, meaning that a country like Russia, with proper ASAT missile systems, should be able to bring them down if it wanted to, considering that this is also still during peacetime.

[wb21]

I see some Bradley Manning reference in one of the lores there. Loved the uniqueness and flexibility of the Solaris relay. Wondering how long is its countdown timer and the effect of broader "microwave" mode.

This post has been edited by D' WRTHBRNGR: 1 Nov 2012, 8:20

[Nonchalant Gener...]

Love this kind of update in classified reports, it gives a mysterious feel to the event.
I'm glad that the Solaris relay does not look like a GDI ion cannon control, for me the texture is more concrete and hardened. It has that bunker feel of a typical ECA structure.
I can see there are some bunker-like fireports on the structure, is it garrisonable like the Regional Command? Seems rational to me that ECA would protect their superweapon in anyway possible.

Hmm... I wonder when China will enter the scene.

[Lobo Solitario]

Lovely. Is that a bunker I spy on top of the building?

[aeroth]

Ion Cannon :X

[MARS]

The only ECA base structure that'll have garrison slots will be the Region Command, which is limited to one at a time. Giving them a garrisonable superweapon wouldn't be fair. Also, another thing that's tangentially Solaris-related: While we initially considered having the beam on the Solar Reactor damage aircraft, we have recently decided against this, as it would be a bit exploitable, since it would essentially damage all planes that fly over the structure after they've attacked it. As for the lore, yes, the Manning reference is intentional. While the US are decidedly not a police state in the story, there is now a stark distinction between the rights of an ordinary citizen and the rights of an insider and there's a general air of extreme secretiveness surrounding military, intelligence and geo-political matters. Basically, they still do some dubious stuff to 'traitors' and foreign enemies, but it's supposedly more detached from the attention of the general public.

[Claine]

so Beautiful

[Lobo Solitario]

The only ECA base structure that'll have garrison slots will be the Region Command, which is limited to one at a time. Giving them a garrisonable superweapon wouldn't be fair. Also, another thing that's tangentially Solaris-related: While we initially considered having the beam on the Solar Reactor damage aircraft, we have recently decided against this, as it would be a bit exploitable, since it would essentially damage all planes that fly over the structure after they've attacked it.

Oh well, I had a sneaking feeling that wouldn't make it into the final game - thanks for the info!

This post has been edited by Lobo Solitario: 1 Nov 2012, 9:08

[Anubis]

That solaris effect is so damn cool. The building is cool to, but damn i love that effect. Also nice to see the french legion put to action.
Somehow i got the feel from the story that the spetsnaz tried to start a battle between eca and usa troops so that they could profit - when 2 fight, the third wins

[Knjaz.]

Cool.

AoE + low delay - real army killer.
The building looks great as well.

[wargame10]

i guess you better post that update in facebook


and love that update

[aeroth]

Will we gonna get French Foreign Legion ingame ? It would be nice if they were a special ability like the russian VDV

[MARS]

At this time, they're not planned to be in-game, although you could use your own imagination and treat your French Felins as if they were Legion units. In any case, I wanted to use this opportunity to give them some limelight in the story, which we're also going to do for a bunch of other countries/units that aren't explicitely represented by in-game content.

[Comr4de]

Also is that a hint of the style of music we can expect for the ECA maybe?

Yes indeed.


Also very noteworthy. The Solaris sports the shortest cooldown of all super weapons ; 4 minute timer.

[aeroth]

Yes indeed.


Also very noteworthy. The Solaris sports the shortest cooldown of all super weapons ; 4 minute timer.

Does it have smaller dmg then other superweaponds on buildings ?

[Comr4de]

Does it have smaller dmg then other superweaponds on buildings ?

Not at all.

[Lobo Solitario]

Not at all.

Higher? Considering its limited footprint and duration. Or is it a case of choosing the correct fire mode for the situation?

[SpiralSpectre]

At this time, they're not planned to be in-game, although you could use your own imagination and treat your French Felins as if they were Legion units. In any case, I wanted to use this opportunity to give them some limelight in the story, which we're also going to do for a bunch of other countries/units that aren't explicitely represented by in-game content.

Are the Felin going to be French in-game? You know with a French accent and everything? Just making sure, knew ECA are using French gears as their standard gear but not their nationality.

Also very noteworthy. The Solaris sports the shortest cooldown of all super weapons ; 4 minute timer.

That's really good news. The way it seems now, ECA would require quite a bit of patience to play with. Good to know at least their superweapon will fire quickly and more frequently.

[MARS]

The Felin concept may be the standard infantry doctrine of the ECA, applied to all European infantry units that partake in its operations, but the in-game unit will indeed have a French accent.