Rise of the Reds Update: The Fourth Estate Options

[MARS]

Germany, April 2046
ECAN Medienzentrum, Berlin

Anchorman Eric Brice took a deep breath after he sat down, feeling uncharacteristically nervous for a man who was more than used to presenting important news to an audience of millions during prime time. "We'll be on-air in 30 seconds!", announced the new Russian floor manager with a threatening tone. "And remember: Do not try any tricks. We are watching you, svoloch!" A few months ago, the ECAN Media Centre in Berlin was forcibly taken off the net by a Russian Spetsnaz team that barged in during a live broadcast. Warning shots cracked through the room, accidentally killing several members of the news team while Eric dived under his table. Now, the popular anchorman was forced to collaborate and recite the propaganda of the Russian Federation. His remaining colleagues were held at gunpoint and all he could do was to add subtle, sarcastic inflections as he read off the teleprompter, hoping that the Russians' grasp of the English language would not be firm enough for them to notice. The cameras were aimed at him like the rifle muzzles of a firing squad and the floor manager started counting down: "Aaand we're live. Davay!"

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Eric Brice for...Federation Front News, from our new studio in Berlin. From now on, I will present you the pure, unfiltered truth about the war of European aggression.

Germany. The fighting forces of the Russian Federation continue their relentless advance through the heart of Europe, meeting only little resistance along their way. The majority of the European Continental Army is sensible enough to surrender in front of our kind, well-disciplined soldiers whilst only a handful of fanatical nationalists dare to put up a senseless fight. The 106th Guards Airborne Division under the command of General Orlov has established a stable beachhead in the western city of Koblenz, securing vital bridges that will take our forces across the Rhine and onwards into France. In the far north, the venerable 20th Guards Army led by General Zhukov is now within reach of the Dutch border. Together, the two veteran commanders are trapping a sizeable portion of the German Army in the polluted Rhineland. It is reported that the glorious General Aleksandr will soon mount a decisive attack to crush their futile resistance once and for all.

Czechia. Nikolai Suvorov has payed a surprise visit to Russian troops in the liberated capital city of Prague. During an interview tour, the President inspected the city's largest hospital which is used to treat the injuries of Russians and Europeans alike and even volunteered to donate an entire litre of his own blood to save precious lives. During the procedure, he once again stressed that the people of Europe are not the enemies of the Russian Federation. Two decades ago, a cadre of military warmongers and demagogues has exploited the chaos of the GLA insurrection to turn the European Union, a trusted long-standing partner of the Russian people, into a fractured mosaic reminiscent of a failed state marred by backwards provincialism and disunity. The entire nation of Russia will not rest until the old order has been restored and the united states of Europe can once again assume their rightful place under our benevolent Federation, he explained.

Russia. Official sources report that border guards in the Far-East district have intercepted a Chinese infiltration force. At roughly 2AM local time, a group of fifteen foreign agents was caught in the act of sabotaging a border fence in Primorsky. The reckless intruders immediately opened fire on the border guards and died in the ensuing skirmish. Concealed weapons, computer equipment and outrageous propaganda material that was, without a doubt, intended to spread ethnic aggression among the local communities were fou*static*

This is Hauptmann Jaeger of the Berlin resistance. Don't listen to the lies of the mass media. The Bundeswehr is holding Ivan at the Weser river and receives ample reinforcements from our neighbours as well as several ECA battle groups. Austria and Italy have fortified the alpine redoubt and the combined navies of Sweden, Norway and Denmark have locked down the Baltic Sea. The numbers of our resistance are growing day by day: For every city the Russian's obliterate, for every innocent shot dead by some green conscript or Shock Trooper scumbag, and for every inch of our homeland they defile, our numbers rise. We will outsmart and overtake them. Spread fear among their ranks, give them no quarter and not a single moment's peace. We have our eyes everywhere, we do not forgive and we do not forget. And: We are coming for you, Aleksan*static*

Established in 2032, the European Communications Agency Network (ECAN) was formed as one of the first cooperative institutions of the new European community and assumed operations two years prior to the formal creation of the Continental Alliance itself. Initially, ECAN was conceived as a joint initiative of several semi-nationalised telecommunications companies, news agencies and public broadcasting services and offers a wide range of entertainment, documentary and news programmes on television, radio and the internet. As a reaction to the rampant, dehumanising sensationalism of the past, the new European media corporations are obliged to follow a strict set of ethical guidelines backed by national laws against deceptive advertising, dubious 'reality' formats and smear campaigns. In a world where many news services are heavily affected by corporate interests or propagandistic posturing, ECAN News, with its popular anchorman Eric Brice, is regarded as one of the more impartial and level-headed programmes. However, if there is one thing that ECAN could potentially be accused of, it would be its rather amicable relation with the European military task force: Ever since the invasion of North Africa in 2037, the Continental Army works in close cooperation with ECAN's war correspondents who operate from within the Telecom Relay in order to provide the European public with a close insight into the operations while the military may benefit from an additional source of income generated by the ratings. Beyond that, the Telecom Relay also offers access to Europe's extensive satellite network, allowing ECA forces to take a clear look at their entire area of operations for short periods of time.

When the Russian advance into France began to stall and the frontline degenerated into a vicious back-and-forth between the two warring factions in the bitter winter of 2047, many European soldiers reported a new phenomenon: Whenever they recaptured a front sector - even if it was only for a few hours or days until the next counter-attack dislodged them - they noticed that the Russians had done their utmost to dismantle any bit of valuable technology they got a hold of before their positions fell. From the pressure-sensitive plates that had been installed on many motor ways in order to generate electricity to the intricate network of fibre-glass cables that formed the backbone of all continental telecommunications, many of these items later reappeared in Russian cities. Ironically dubbed the 'snatched earth' doctrine, this tactic nevertheless had the same effect as a classic 'scorched earth' operation, for even though the assets were not destroyed per-se, they still became unusable for the Europeans. In order to restore the vital telecommunications capacities in liberated areas, ECA technicians began to install these Telecom Towers which process additional data traffic, thus generating extra funds in conjunction with the Telecom Relay. It is advised that additional Towers can only be constructed as long as the Relay is intact.

[GDIZOCOM]

Federation Front News. Let's go COMR4DES!

If you have to ask me the telecom towers are the strangest....and one of the most interesting ECA additions. And how tall are they in-game?

This post has been edited by GDIZOCOM: 29 Nov 2012, 12:54

[The_Hunter]

Taller than speaker towers.

[Admiral FCS]

Ahh, so essentially the Telecom Relay is the secondary income source for the ECA, functioning similarly to the Black Market while also having spysat as an ability, and as long as the Telecom Relay exists, you can build additional Telecom Towers to increase secondary income. Very smart

[GDIZOCOM]

Ahh, so essentially the Telecom Relay is the secondary income source for the ECA, functioning similarly to the Black Market while also having spysat as an ability, and as long as the Telecom Relay exists, you can build additional Telecom Towers to increase secondary income. Very smart

It's going to be hard taking out these towers will all those defensive walls

[Knjaz.]

That's a very nice example of Information Warfare, with some sci-fi hacking

I guess, by the time of this update, Zhukov's army did not reach the Low Countries, yet?

This post has been edited by Knjaz.: 29 Nov 2012, 13:09

[Anubis]

I couldn't wait to see the lore behind the second economy system. I gotta admit, it does a great job in making it believable. Awsome update as usual.

[__CrUsHeR]

The best time is when the transmission of the FFN is replaced by the resistance, was exciting.

The media and telecommunications are increasingly present in large conflicts, the idea of exposing this reality in the game was pretty cool.

Probably Russian troops find an unexpected resistance in the Netherlands, they will know who is the General Willem.
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How will operate the satellites of the Telecom Relay?

This post has been edited by __CrUsHeR: 29 Nov 2012, 13:43

[MARS]

You basically purchase an upgrade from the Relay which then gives you a full map reveal every few minutes. If you lose the Relay, you'll have to build a new one and purchase the upgrade again.

As for the story, the Russians will also reach the Low Countries but it's left deliberately vague as to how much of their progress reported on the news is actually true. The overall gist is obviously correct - i.e. they keep pushing west - but the timing is off.

[SpiralSpectre]

Very nicely designed secondary eco. Been waiting for a while to find out what it would be and a big income producing structure and income enhancing smaller structures sound really interesting. So it also comes with spy sat? Wonder how that would work out. Goes without saying that both structures, specially the com relay, looks top notch as always.

The lore behind the buildings are also quite interesting. ECA's close collaboration with the media is an interesting point, not many military like to do that honestly. Kinda liked hearing the Russians are playing somewhat smartly and stealing whatever valuable tech they found while ECA engineers figured out a resourceful and practical solution to the vandalism.

About the lore - so the Russians are now spreading full force propaganda and it's not Alek's goons that are doing it either. But these things are inevitable in a war I guess. This Hauptmann Jaeger guy looks pretty badass... is he the ECA hero by any chance? Wonder what kinda concealed weapons and computer equipment those pesky Chinese were using.

[MARS]

'Hauptmann Jaeger' is actually one of our most senior team members (feel free to start guessing who^^) and we got him to do a little photo shoot for us. I think it's time to drop the bombshell and confirm that he is indeed the ECA hero. You'll learn more about his background, his role and his abilities as we go along. As for the blatant propaganda, this is obviously one of the things that show up in every war and yes, this is officially sanctioned by the Russian leadership but I'd say as far as dick-moves go, it's still very tame compared to Aleksandr's actions.

[__CrUsHeR]

Excelent news, you guys could seize the opportunity and record videos with this mysterious actor to use in introductions to the missions, would be fantastic, the idea to create more realistic characters is something 100% C&C, congratulations for the initiative.

Now I want to know more about the past of Hauptmann Jaeger.

[ArsenalXA4]

He looks like a German Colonel Burton. I really want to find out what he can do.

This post has been edited by ArsenalXA4: 29 Nov 2012, 14:12

[Panzer4life]

I enjoy the update, however, are the telecom towers easily destroyed like the Chinese propaganda towers?

[MARS]

They aren't quite as fragile as the Prop Towers, but still vulnerable and expensive. It'd be foolish to construct them in tight groups.

[Nemanja]

Interesting idea to generate more money.
How many Telecom Relays will be possible to build at the same time and how many this of Towers ?
Glad that we now have sneak peek at the hero and I am even more glad that it is one of your men.
Is this Bundeswehr beret on picture just decoration or he is wearing it all the time ?
And will his model have beret on his head ?

[Knjaz.]

Interesting idea to generate more money.
How many Telecom Relays will be possible to build at the same time and how many this of Towers ?

1 Relay and as many Towers, as you'll be able to.

This post has been edited by Knjaz.: 29 Nov 2012, 14:46

[MARS]

Interesting idea to generate more money.
How many Telecom Relays will be possible to build at the same time and how many this of Towers ?
Glad that we now have sneak peek at the hero and I am even more glad that it is one of your men.
Is this Bundeswehr beret on picture just decoration or he is wearing it all the time ?
And will his model have beret on his head ?

It's just a prop that we shopped into the image (along with the background; everything else you see is real). It has to do with his previous military background but his in-game model isn't going to have it.

[Banzai]

Nice update guys! Didn't see the Telecom Towers coming!
The lore is great as usual!

Can't wait to hear more about the Dutch front!

This post has been edited by Banzai: 29 Nov 2012, 15:09

[Shatterfury]

Very nice update.

I can`t wait to see how cost effective is ECA`s second economy.

[Warpath]

Nice update, I never expected that the ECA secondary economy will be media based.

Hey, has anyone else saw the Starship Troopers reference in the update.

This post has been edited by Warpath: 29 Nov 2012, 15:55

[Genmotty]

Hey, has anyone else saw the Starship Troopers reference in the update.

If you didn't...do you want to know more?

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Fluffwise, rather good. Not sure the comm tower model really gels with my taste in aesthetics all that much, but hey since nearly everything else pleases I'm not fussy.


EDIT: Now all we need is for ECA troops to have a 'using their mobile phone/texting' idle animation ¬.¬

This post has been edited by Genmotty: 29 Nov 2012, 16:05

[Cobretti]

Very cool update!

'Hauptmann Jaeger' is actually one of our most senior team members (feel free to start guessing who^^) and we got him to do a little photo shoot for us. I think it's time to drop the bombshell and confirm that he is indeed the ECA hero. You'll learn more about his background, his role and his abilities as we go along. As for the blatant propaganda, this is obviously one of the things that show up in every war and yes, this is officially sanctioned by the Russian leadership but I'd say as far as dick-moves go, it's still very tame compared to Aleksandr's actions.

I think it's a composite of two...the name sounds like a reference to The Hunter and Hauptmann Jäger himself is portrayed by none other than Vidar (who else, really)? Can't wait to see what his abilities are...I'd think he'd use a bow and arrow but the presence of shotgun shells on his webgear may hint otherwise (or a secondary weapon).

[Planardweller]

Germany, April 2046
ECAN Medienzentrum, Berlin

... His remaining colleagues were held at gunpoint and all he could do was to add subtle, sarcastic inflections as he read off the teleprompter, hoping that the Russians' grasp of the English language would not be firm enough for them to notice. The cameras were aimed at him like the rifle muzzles of a firing squad and the floor manager started counting down: "Aaand we're live. Davay!"

English as the main language of Europe? Or is this the international edition for the world?

This post has been edited by Planardweller: 29 Nov 2012, 18:40

[Vidar]

Very cool update!



I think it's a composite of two...the name sounds like a reference to The Hunter and Hauptmann Jäger himself is portrayed by none other than Vidar (who else, really)? Can't wait to see what his abilities are...I'd think he'd use a bow and arrow but the presence of shotgun shells on his webgear may hint otherwise (or a secondary weapon).

Bingo^^ ! ...partwise