Rise of the Reds Update: As the War Approaches Options

[MARS]

People's Republic of China, 2044

Good afternoon, fellow citizens. This is SinoNews24 with an update on the most important international events.

Moscow. The wildfires in all of western Russia are still raging uncontrolled. Thousands of refugees are fleeing the countryside as their ancestral lands perish under the firestorm. The entire country is suffering from the hottest, most dry summer in its recent history with temperatures well above 45°C (113°F) during the daytime. The inflammatory peat soil that is iconic for the landscape of the western regions makes it difficult to subdue the flames which already claimed the lives over 20.000 people and destroyed large parts of the country's most vital farmlands. On behalf of President Suvorov, Russia's Prime Minister Valentina Baranova has placed the blame on the Europeans, calling their Solaris satellite network a "nefarious weapon of mass destruction in the guise of a power source" while citing confidential intelligence assessments which came to the conclusion that the use of Solaris as an "orbital strike weapon that could incinerate entire swathes of land" would be technically feasible. The project was met with a heavy backlash from the Federation since its inception in 2039, putting a heavy strain on diplomatic relations ever since.

Berlin. Germany's Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Renewable Energies, Michael Struppe has dismissed the accusations of Solaris being a weapon as "ridiculous slander" and said that the Alliance's strategic military deterrence power still lies within the French and British nuclear arsenals rather than "some crazy spaceborne solar-cannon". "Unlike Russia", he continued, "our scientists do not seek to turn every revolutionary new invention into a terrible weapon of war as a first thought". According to Minister Struppe, the heat wave is "yet another sad proof for the Federation's utter failure to keep up with the development of eco-friendly technologies". Furthermore, he cited Russia's continued reliance on numerous coal power plants as a major contributor to climate change, the effects of which are now plaguing its own people. At the same time, he echoed earlier concerns of the Chancellor that the destruction caused by the wildfires, along with the ongoing crisis of the Russian economy since their withdrawal from Africa, could be another step in the destabilisation and radicalisation of the Federation.

Vladivostok. SN24 correspondents report of another despicable attack on Chinese citizens in the Russian far-east metropolis. Last night, the hardworking store owner Lei Ping and his wife were brutally robbed and murdered by a gang of local racists. The humble couple enjoyed great respect in the city's Chinese community and leaves behind three young children who are currently with their grandparents. Zheng Dao, an official representative of the Chinese community in Vladivostok has condemned the violence and stated that "in the light of many previous incidents and the willful ignorance of the Russian police, we will soon have to resort to forming our own citizen militia in order to protect our homes and families from the hatred of these dangerous extremists". Meanwhile, our Great Chairman Cheung Liu has proclaimed that in the event of a further escalation of these vile attacks, "more permanent measures to ensure the safety of China's citizens will be considered". He also voiced his concerns that the wildfire situation "may very well lead to a massive hunger crisis which would further deepen the rifts among Russia's multi-ethnic population".

Those were the major international headlines for the moment. We will now continue our programme with a new documentary on the Changping Garrison in Beijing, which is under the command of the illustrious General Xing Chen. Older viewers will certainly remember the former infantryman whose exemplary bravery and heroic exploits during China's most pivotal victories in the Global War on Terrorism were later popularised by the heavily acclaimed PLA-funded war movie trilogy "The Hammer". Until next time, SinoNews24 wishes all citizens a happy and productive day!

"Brave men of the Middle Kingdom! It is time for you to take up arms and aid your countrymen against foreign tyranny. Your fighting spirit and patriotism will lead China to victory. Raise the red banner and rejoice in triumph when the enemy lies broken and fleeing before the might of the Red Army. True patriots volunteer today, not tomorrow!" - People's Volunteer Reserve flyer

The Chinese Volunteer Squad is your official cannon fodder infantry. They come in a Squad of five men with similar mechanics as the Angry Mob. There are two types of infantry in one Squad: One with a cheap rocket launcher and the others carry a submachine gun. Both are used for general purpose attacking and cannot be used against air units. Volunteers are meant to overpower your enemy through sheer numbers as they do a very bad job at fighting enemy infantry on equal terms.

"Why we still use the Battlemaster you ask? It's obvious!" said the Chinese Colonel looking down at the tank assembly line from the window of his office high above. "Even after many years in service to the great nation, it is still the most advanced tank in the world. One Battlemaster can destroy three, even five enemy tanks on its own easily. It is the iron fist of China that does politics once the diplomats are done bickering. Not only is each Battlemaster stronger individually but they outnumber the enemy tanks as well, thanks to our industrial might. No army in the world can withstand our Steel Tide tactic. General Kwai would be proud."

The Battlemaster is the bread and butter of Chinese gameplay. They are cheap, well rounded and have great firepower under the effect of Horde bonus. In order to add some diversity to these numerous vehicles, we've added a number of visual variants, too. Can you feel the thunderous roar of approaching armor, General?

Last but not least, here's two rather nifty China-themed wallpaper for you.

Chinese Battlemasters 800x600 Chinese Battlegroup 800x600
Chinese Battlemasters 1024x786 Chinese Battlegroup 1024x786
Chinese Battlemasters 1280x1024 Chinese Battlegroup 1280x1024
Chinese Battlemasters 1600x1200 Chinese Battlegroup 1600x1200
Chinese Battlemasters 1360x768 Chinese Battlegroup 1360x768
Chinese Battlemasters 1440x900 Chinese Battlegroup 1440x900
Chinese Battlemasters 1680x1050 Chinese Battlegroup 1680x1050

[Anubis]

Cool update. Those new bm versions look much nicer. Especialy the 2 on the right of the pic with the star on the front of the chassie. I'm glad squads are back for china. Loved them with Fai. Also nice we stand together wallpaper. So that is one of the new stuff in the upcoming patch i guess

[DELETED MEMBER]

Welp i guess one of my predictions was right, China got a new infantry unit
its my eyes wrong or there is no render for the one with the cheap rocket launcher?

[ultimentra]

Can the volunteers garrison themselves inside structures? For example, in bunkers?

Also, really cool update. I always love the story and images you guys make.

[Anubis]

Can the volunteers garrison themselves inside structures? For example, in bunkers?

Also, really cool update. I always love the story and images you guys make.

Given that it's a squad, and probably has the same logic as the GLA mob ( or the chinese squads in shockwave ) no. It won't be able to garrison.

[Shatterfury]

Nice update.

The Lore bit is so nice.Don`t be shy MARS , we all know you can make them bigger.

[ultimentra]

Thats disappointing, I find infantry are mainly only useful inside structures or for capturing things. If you also can't transport them, it will be difficult to get them from place to place without being squashed by vehicles or killed my snipers/infantry inside structures. I guess they could be useful for early base defence or putting a couple of squads in your base here and there to protect from GLA general power ambush thing.

Also one other thing, these wallpapers are really excellent, really well done. Will you guys doing any more of these for the different factions? I would love to have a US and a Russia one.

This post has been edited by ultimentra: 22 Jun 2012, 22:27

[GeneralCamo]

Two things.

What happened to Kwai? Was he promoted to a higher rank then General? Or was he KIA?

Are the squads going to be Exclusive to Chen? Or will he get a better version?

[ultimentra]

I thought Kwai died from being enormously fat

[Panzer4life]

Love the lore, sad to see Russia burning due to the ECA's 'power supplier'. Russians aren't going to 'cough' 'cough' on some coal factories. Like they have caused any fires in their times. Also, are the battle-masters going to have three different upgrades, similar to the overlords? Oh, when can we get to see Zhukov's and Griffen's MTG?

[Cobretti]

Looks cool...is the original RotR Battlemaster model still going to be in game?

[Jester]

Great update and interesting lore And yes what happened to Kwai?

This post has been edited by Jester: 22 Jun 2012, 23:57

[Atsumachi]

Oh man, I'm lovin' the update! Excellent job on the lore and the new models for the BM. I'm suspecting that the volunteer squad might require a Gen point, but who know's.

Everything in this update looks spectacular and I cannot wait for more!

[Warpath]

Two more new units to go.

Why is there is no render for the cheap rocket Launcher?

[Mr.Kim]

Also, are the battle-masters going to have three different upgrades, similar to the overlords?

Smiliar DeathStrike's T-80 Scrab Tank "Variant" from Shockwave or smiliar logic as random technicals.

But, my guess is wrong. Also, they have 6 differents Variants, if play China faction.

This post has been edited by MR.Kim: 23 Jun 2012, 0:15

[Comr4de]

Two more new units to go.

Why is there is no render for the cheap rocket Launcher?

There's also variants of said soldiers with different hats, not sure why it isn't rendered in.

Also yes, the original battlemaster is still going to be in there, these are additional variants for them

In regards of the Volunteer squad, they are excellent in bolstering your infantry numbers - combined with Red Guard and they can take on just about anything with the exception of air units. We've also been listening to some of your posts and comments regarding China, as you've seen, and are making tests and tweaks to make buffs and necessary nerfs here and there to make China a bit more formidable in PVP games.

Remember, we look more into the PVP side of things than just run-of-the-mill players versus AI games AI discussion since that actually shows the true nature of balance. The AI cheats and ignores cash, cash is irrelevant to them, and will exploit that greatly to the point it seems that some incredibly expensive units are used en masse. That wont fly against players so we look into PVP balance discussion more so than the general complaint of "in my AI game". No offense but it's the best we can decipher what exactly is going on in regards of balance.

[MARS]

Welp i guess one of my predictions was right, China got a new infantry unit
its my eyes wrong or there is no render for the one with the cheap rocket launcher?

Yeah, that may be a bit of an oversight on our part. The launchers will be properly visible in-game.

Can the volunteers garrison themselves inside structures? For example, in bunkers?
Also, really cool update. I always love the story and images you guys make.

They cannot be garrisoned. For one, this is due to their Mob-logic and secondly, we don't want them to be jack-of-all-trade kinda units. Even though they can't do anything against air units, a mass of these Squads is still quite powerful. You're not supposed to use them for elaborate tactical shenanigans either. These are literally spam-units that are supposed to keep the enemy distracted and scared while your real units do most of the fighting. They're also dirt-cheap with a price clocking in at little more than 600$ post Patriotism upgrade.

Two things.
What happened to Kwai? Was he promoted to a higher rank then General? Or was he KIA?
Are the squads going to be Exclusive to Chen? Or will he get a better version?

One thing I should mention is that since Overdose is now back on board, he'll be providing the actual render descriptions in the future while I do the lore portion. This is in effect with this update. From the sound of it, I would assume that Kwai either died or retired by the time RotR is set - 20 years after Zero Hour. He wasn't exactly a youthful whippersnapper to begin with and the fact that he 'would be proud' at least implies that he's sufficiently detached from daily PLA life at this point. As for the Squads, they will be available to all Chinese generals. We just threw in the MTG for Chen because it needed updating anyways and kinda fits the content.

Love the lore, sad to see Russia burning due to the ECA's 'power supplier'. Russians aren't going to 'cough' 'cough' on some coal factories. Like they have caused any fires in their times. Also, are the battle-masters going to have three different upgrades, similar to the overlords? Oh, when can we get to see Zhukov's and Griffen's MTG?

The Battlemasters still benefit from the Nuclear Tanks / Depleted Uranium Shells upgrades which of course will also be visible on the tanks, but there won't be Overlord style individual upgrades. Also, do note that this is merely the Russian government -accusing- the ECA of being responsible for the wildfires out of political opportunism. It's not like this kinda thing couldn't happen naturally after all, but the Federation is in turmoil after their failure in Africa, with all the radicalisation that goes with a total economic crash and a humiliating military defeat. As for Zhukov and Griffon, well, they too will be presented as part of an update that somewhat fits their themes in terms of story and/or renders.

Looks cool...is the original RotR Battlemaster model still going to be in game?

Should be, yes.

[Warpath]

"One Battlemaster can destroy three, even five enemy tanks on its own easily"

I know that this is just for propaganda but any retired chinese Battlemaster operator ( and RotR player ) will laugh at this, it might win in a 1v1 fight but it will lose if there are more than two enemy tanks let alone 3 or even 5 enemy tanks.

This post has been edited by Warpath: 23 Jun 2012, 8:05

[MARS]

Although technically speaking, it isn't actually a false statement. A single Battlemaster -can- destroy three, five or more tanks on its own...as long as the tanks are shooting at anything other than the Battlemaster which, while doing its thing, must not be attacked by anything else either.

[General Tatarin]

Very interesting.

[Nemanja]

One of better updates so far,
one question :
Is this BM variants means that every BM that leaves WF will look different (Technical Logic) or those are variants for each General ?

[Comr4de]

One of better updates so far,
one question :
Is this BM variants means that every BM that leaves WF will look different (Technical Logic) or those are variants for each General ?

Yes.

[Shatterfury]

Also, do note that this is merely the Russian government -accusing- the ECA of being responsible for the wildfires out of political opportunism. It's not like this kinda thing couldn't happen naturally after all, but the Federation is in turmoil after their failure in Africa, with all the radicalisation that goes with a total economic crash and a humiliating military defeat. As for Zhukov and Griffon, well, they too will be presented as part of an update that somewhat fits their themes in terms of story and/or renders.

For the moment RF`s attack on the Alliance doesn`t have any ground to stand on , at worst the Alliance can be acused of passivity,I mean Wolfgang responded from the other side of the African continent yet the Americans and the Chinese didn`t even pick up the radio, sure he was turned back but Wolfgang`s discharge was on TV so RF can`t blame the ECA for turning back since the discharge underlines that it was the act of a General not the ECA High Command.

The ECA as a hole is quite passive but maybe there can be a few elements , a few influential individuals, who want to stop the radicalisation of of the Federation but they fail and get caught.

I am sure that you have something up your sleeve.

This post has been edited by Shatterfury: 23 Jun 2012, 14:56

[Claine]

Nice.. So Amazing Update ^^

[MARS]

For the moment RF`s attack on the Alliance doesn`t have any ground to stand on , at worst the Alliance can be acused of passivity,I mean Wolfgang responded from the other side of the African contient yet the Americans and the Chinese didn`t even pick up the radio, sure he was turned back but Wolfgang`s discharge was on TV so RF can`t blame the ECA for turning back since the discharge underlines that it was the act of a General not the ECA High Command.

Truth be told, it's always difficult to come up with a halfway decent reason for Russia to invade the west in a post-1991 scenario. Most games generally handwave this by having radical communists or nationalists somehow take control of the Kremlin. But this war isn't exactly ideological in nature. It's essentially the result of Russia -finally- getting its act together after several lost decades under a strong, yet non-dictatorial leader, only to have their economic boom cut short due to a.) Europe becoming self-sufficient and thus mostly independent from Russian gas/coal/fuel exports and b.) GLA fanatics taking away their prime access to important future resources while the only thing Europe does is to -detain and punish- the one man who had the guts to -help- them. It may not be a direct justification for all-out war, but it serves to antagonise the two factions to the point where something that might as well be a natural disaster gets turned into a seemingly plausible conspiracy theory (by the highest Russian authority, no less). Plus, the fact that a European politician can't think of anything better than berating Russia about environmental policies while the entire countryside around Moscow is -on fire- obviously doesn't help and paints a rather grim picture of the diplomatic situation between the two. And then there's that other possible conflict brewing in the east, next to China which even went as far as creating a short-lived alliance with the USA that actually engaged in an ill-fated military campaign against the Russians in Africa and is now enacting a 'civis romanus sum' style policy to protect its people outside its own jurisdiction. In short: This isn't actually as much about Russia falling into a classic villain role 'for teh evulz'. They just end up with seemingly no alternative other than warfare because everything else is falling apart around them even though they honestly tried their best to rebuild their country without turning it into an international pariah again. President Suvorov is basically Woobie the Destroyer of Worlds.