Red Alert 3

Hello Forums,

Below are a set of balance changes that we are considering for the 1.11 patch. Please give us your thoughts on them over the next 48 hours, at which point we will lock the changes. We had four goals in changes below:

- Remove some unintended, strange and exploitative behavior around walls, vision and line of sight
- Re-arrange the powers menu to create more interesting choices for players on their 2nd, 3rd and 4th point
- Encourage use of underused units
- Fix bugs

The inevitable outcome, of course, will also be to shake up the metagame. When you respond, please keep your posts succinct and targeted to the changes you have comments on or issues with. The bug fixes and exploit changes are not reflected in this list, but there are many.


Global Changes:

Garrison Range bonus reduced to 75% from 100%.

Walls / Structures no longer block line of sight while being constructed.

Parachute drop time increased.

Oil Derricks now explode when destroyed. Keep your distance.

Observation Post health increased to 10000 from 3000.


Faction Balance Changes:

Allied Javelin Soldier cost reduced to 300 from 400.

Allied Aircraft Carrier drone speed doubled.

Allied Aircraft Carrier reload time halved.

Allied Assault Destroyer Black Hole Armor bonus increased to 50% from 25%.

Allied Outpost now gains additional health when upgraded. 25% per level.

Allied Athena Cannon no longer requires line of sight to attack. It can fire over walls now!

Allied Cryocopter health reduced to 650 from 750.

Allied Chronorift cast delay reduced to 1s. Rift time changed to 5s for all levels.

Soviet Hammer Tank’s can no longer leech while moving.

Soviet Apocalypse Tank grinder DPS halved.

Soviet Flak Trooper Cost increased to 400 from 300.

Soviet structures will no longer refund 100% of their cost if canceled after taking damage. Refund value reduction is equivalent to the damage taken by the building.

Soviet Super Power Plant energy production reduced to 350 from 500.

Soviet Stingray health increased to 450 from 360.

Soviet Dreadnaught Missiles now scatter against units.

Japan Tsunami Tank now auto-heals while it’s secondary ability is active.

Japan Honorable Discharge power no longer deals any friendly fire.

Japan King Oni health increased to 3000 from 2250.

Japan Emperor’s Rage powers now limit the speed debuff to 75% for all levels.

Japan Wave Force Artillery no longer requires line of sight for attacking. I.e. it can shoot through walls, buildings, and anything else dumb enough to get in front of it.

Japan Shogun Battleship speed reduced to 50 from 75.

Japan Shogun Battleship cannons now properly scatter against other units.


Vision Changes:

Vision changes were incorporated from Red Alert 3: Uprising in order to improve unit behavior.

Allied Multigunner Turret Vision Range increased to 310 from 300.
Allied Prism Tower Vision Range increased to 360 from 350.
Allied Hydrofoil vision range increased to 325 from 300.
Allied Javelin Soldier vision range increased to 200 from 175.
Allied Guardian Tank vision range in Target Painter mode increased.
Special Agent Tanya Adams’ shroud clear range increased to 500 from 400.

Soviet Apocalypse Tank vision range in Harpoon mode increased.
Soviet Hammer Tank vision range in Leech mode increased.
Soviet Terror Drone vision range in Stasis Ray mode increased.
Soviet Base Defenses vision ranges increased slightly.
Soviet Bullfrog vision range increased to 325 from 300.
Soviet Sickle vision range increased to 170 from 150.
Soviet commando vision range

Japan Seawing vision range increased to 225 from 200.
Japan Tengu vision range increased to 225 from 200.
Japan Commando vision range increased 175 from 150.
Japan Commando shroud clear range increased to 500 from 400.


Player Power Changes:







Thanks!
-GB

My first impression is that Terror Drones should come out of the War Factory with little tophats.

hmmmm, not too pleased with the player power trees, or the empire changes.

The empire buffs are a bit unnecessary. Seriously.....why buff the king oni so much?

And tsunami tanks auto-healing......why is this needed?, they already completely rape infantry forces.....

Also, I don't know if you guys realize how powerful naganatas really are? But something should seriously be done to decrease their fire power.


Empire left power tree will now be soooooooo powerful

These would be better





[EDIT]: Also, I didn't see anything about fixing the scroll delay....... any word on it?

This post has been edited by EyEamZer0~: Apr 29 2009, 02:29 AM

Dont have the time to read the whole thing right now, but it looks pretty good.

great soviets changes and finally the capital ships are weak vs other units!

I totally agree with Zero.

My only worry is what the leech beam change would do to the soviets. I don't play soviets so I wouldn't know. And 3 4 EA staff in one place?! Unheard of!

EDIT: Exploding oil derricks eh?

This post has been edited by liquid death: Apr 29 2009, 02:05 AM

hey guys!

the left tree of empire is so funny strong it sucks, point defence drones and the vx upgrade is gonna make them dominate the early game. some changes proposed:

- make the armor buff less significant
- make the range of the power significantly stronger.

also tsunami didn't really need a buff vs infantry or something.

and the jav bug is a huge issue! i don't care if there cheaper if they don't shoot

jav bug:

- javs shoot a target, but stop shooting at red health, so essentially it kills nothing, then the tanks swoop in and just own them. especially with the grinder threads and the now healing of the tsunami in 2ndary.

This post has been edited by DwelF^: Apr 29 2009, 02:10 AM

AWESOME!!!! I LOVE ALL THE CHANGES !!!!!!!


oil derrick explosions FTW thanks for bringin that back Greg.

and THANK YOU for addressing all of the community's concerns!!!!!

Dwelf,

This list does not include any bug fixes, but we have made many. That said, the bug you described with the Javelins has been fixed in 1.11.

Sounds good to me. Fair enough!

BUT don't do this: Soviet Flak Trooper Cost increased to 400 from 300, if you want to buff Javelin.

very nice! thanks for clearing that up.

The whole point of a patch, is not to increase the aesthetic value of the game; it's to BALANCE a game. Granted that most of the changes are moderate, and very good; BUT there are some changes, which are completely unnecessary, and have the potential to completely screw up the metagame *cough* empire power tree *cough*

this is very needed, if you don't nerf them atleast increase there cost.

Japan Tsunami Tank now auto-heals while it’s secondary ability is active.

WHAT ! They get a HUUUGE armor buff already which owns any infantry. If you give them this wont they be able to even run down Flaktroopers down in mine mode with no probs?

I love the generals changes and I agree with zero on power trees, but I'd like to see an inconst in some empire units as vx sea wings, tank busters, shoguns, empire players can stop tier3 allies units playing with t2 mix, cuz those units are cheaper and usefull a lot. ty EA

Couldn't the economy of been buffed a bit also, like give 350 per load and at most 120 when depleted to speed the game up a bit?

I like these changes but I think Allies will be OP after this patch and I say that as an ally player. The super reactor change has been needed since the game released and will address the soviet easy expansion all over the map issue currently plaguing the game.

Also, I would just nerf the flak mine damage to buildings and not raise the price of flaks to 400. The power trees look like good changes to me. Will be nice to see some variety instead of the cookie cutter approach we have all been taking, especially allies and empire.

How about a prospector's deploy time reduction to 20 seconds? It doesn't seem quite right that the time to build a ref is 20 sec but the deploy time is 30 seconds

hmm wondering about old balances questions I'd remember twinblades, and apoc health decrease

This post has been edited by WonderWall: Apr 29 2009, 02:28 AM