RELEASE 3 IS OUT!!! LINUX, PC, OSX!

[wyvern]

Alright, i'll be opening a separate page for this faction, as for the 5 round autoloader, yes its powerful, but the tank has 25ep, regenerating at 1 at a time, this means that after the first burst of five, its gonna be reloading pretty slow, little over half of the Alliance tanks reload. It has normal range and the mobility will be good, but without AA, aircraft make a good counter-Tinytim unit.
Yep, the AOP's the scout plane, and though aircraft will be a killer against this faction, i'm certain that it wont be under-capable, since it trades a superior ground force for a inferior airforce
As for separate wheels, yes I thought about that, and then I realized that this unit is gonna be pretty small, the treads top is covered by sideskirts, and similar to the IFV, this might see a lot of use, so lots of treads could equal lag on slower computers. If you want, I already have the treads made, so I could just put them on this model
I might add a flak tank to equal out this faction against aircraft a bit, though it still wouldn't make their flak as good as the other factions missile launchers and what not.

PS: I really like your new release, the second faction makes this mod even better

[Ishmaru]

Thanks Wyvern! This should make things a bit more organized

Everyone For info about Mordaivan Faction for Annex please visit:
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=8554.msg83840#msg83840

PS: I really like your new release, the second faction makes this mod even better

Thanks! Glad you enjoy it!

Here are some Annex news!

Annex has over 40000 views + 80 watchers on Mod DB!

Annex is getting a home site thanks to Michaelb who offered to help getting it together! He also is currently working on revising Annex sound fx and hopefully voice overs as well. He has contributed sound to many open source games such as Warzone 2100. The revised sound fx sounds great so far!

Personally I'm taking a small break from direct annex development for a little bit to take care of personal life, I'm getting married come October. However here is a small update screen:

(click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/screen552.jpg[/img]

You should recognize two canceled beta units: Bunker (in beta 1)+ Bomber (in beta 2) which have been revived and updated for use in the Republic faction. The Bomber, which is now called the Havoc Fighter, Is the Republic main combat aircraft, can Attack both ground and air targets with missiles. They are noticeably weaker than the Alliance Harrier but, like most Republic units, they are faster and cheaper to build.

Also to note I made some modifications to Mr Wars, Astro Marines Annex faction to play better with Release 3! Whenever I get a more reliable router I will upload it for you to play/test!

Also I still really want to do multiplayer sessions. Just need some free time to organize one!

And Annex is still looking for new maps!

Just a reminder Like Annex on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/AnnexConquer
Follow annex development on twitter! @delphadesign
Annex: Conquer the World on Freenode IRC:  #annex

Take Care all!

[treba]

...I'm getting married come October...

congratulations, man 

it's soo good to see worlds best foss-scifi-rts game advancing.

[wyvern]

Personally I'm taking a small break from direct annex development for a little bit to take care of personal life, I'm getting married come October. However here is a small update screen

Gratz man 

[Ishmaru]

congratulations, man 

it's soo good to see worlds best foss-scifi-rts game advancing.

Gratz man 

Thank you!

[titi_son]

I found a "bug" while playing all the Alliance scenarios   

if you lose all units (not the buildings) in "A 5 Death from Above" you didn't lost the game

(click to show/hide)

Add this to <scripts>

Code: [Select]

<unitDied>
if unitCountOfType(1, 'striker')==0 and unitCountOfType(1, 'battle_tank')==0 and unitCountOfType(1, 'mini_gunner')==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(0)
setPlayerAsWinner(2)
setPlayerAsWinner(3)
setPlayerAsWinner(4)
setPlayerAsWinner(5)
setPlayerAsWinner(6)
setPlayerAsWinner(7)
endGame()
end
if unitCount(0)==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(1)
endGame()
end
</unitDied>

and set

Code: [Select]

<default-victory-conditions value="true"/>
to

Code: [Select]

<default-victory-conditions value="false"/>

(I tried the script)

[Ishmaru]

I found a "bug" while playing all the Alliance scenarios   

if you lose all units (not the buildings) in "A 5 Death from Above" you didn't lost the game

(click to show/hide)

Add this to <scripts>

Code: [Select]

<unitDied>
if unitCountOfType(1, 'striker')==0 and unitCountOfType(1, 'battle_tank')==0 and unitCountOfType(1, 'mini_gunner')==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(0)
setPlayerAsWinner(2)
setPlayerAsWinner(3)
setPlayerAsWinner(4)
setPlayerAsWinner(5)
setPlayerAsWinner(6)
setPlayerAsWinner(7)
endGame()
end
if unitCount(0)==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(1)
endGame()
end
</unitDied>

and set

Code: [Select]

<default-victory-conditions value="true"/>
to

Code: [Select]

<default-victory-conditions value="false"/>

(I tried the script)

Thank you PT! It works though, I will need to code it to work for you to be victorious! Ill try to apply this to the two Shadow Faction Missions with a similar setup as A5.

[titi_son]

I found a "bug" while playing all the Alliance scenarios   

if you lose all units (not the buildings) in "A 5 Death from Above" you didn't lost the game

(click to show/hide)

Add this to <scripts>

Code: [Select]

<unitDied>
if unitCountOfType(1, 'striker')==0 and unitCountOfType(1, 'battle_tank')==0 and unitCountOfType(1, 'mini_gunner')==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(0)
setPlayerAsWinner(2)
setPlayerAsWinner(3)
setPlayerAsWinner(4)
setPlayerAsWinner(5)
setPlayerAsWinner(6)
setPlayerAsWinner(7)
endGame()
end
if unitCount(0)==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(1)
endGame()
end
</unitDied>

and set

Code: [Select]

<default-victory-conditions value="true"/>
to

Code: [Select]

<default-victory-conditions value="false"/>

(I tried the script)

Thank you PT! It works though, I will need to code it to work for you to be victorious! Ill try to apply this to the two Shadow Faction Missions with a similar setup as A5.

You can win:

Code: [Select]

if unitCount(0)==0 then
clearDisplayText()
setPlayerAsWinner(1)
endGame()
end
i already made that

[Ishmaru]

Oh thanks! Though killing every unit is a bit much, the mission is hard enough as is

[titi_son]

OMG look at your scenario 
team 0 has only buildings
team 1 has the gunships
and team 2 all the other units
idiot  

[Ishmaru]

I have reasons for setting senarios up like this. Its sort of a system i came up with:

Player 1 (red) = main enemy. Contains most structures + usually has working Ai
Player 2 (blue) = Player
Player 3 (green) = no Ai. Used for guarding specific locations / ambush units

All senarios are based on this system. But not all mission follow this exactly.

PS I put a lot of time an effort into Annex, and I would appreciate it if you didnt call me an idiot. Thanks.

[Mr War]

great mod

[titi_son]

PS I put a lot of time an effort into Annex, and I would appreciate it if you didnt call me an idiot. Thanks.

sorry
...
and thats a great system!

[Ishmaru]

Thanks Mr War!

sorry

Its good to point out things that are wrong or can be improved just don't be so harsh about it

Ok, after a few weeks break from Annex development I got back to some modeling:

Spider Anti Air
Neo Republic's Main Anti-Aircraft Vehicle. Equipped with two Flak Cannons, and a machine gun for ground targets.

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/Republic_Spider_AA_AD.jpg[/img]
Anti Tank Rifle
Here is the Republic's basic Anti Tank unit, the AT Rifle. Not as powerful as the Alliance Rocket Grunt, or Shadow's RPG Trooper, but makes up for it with faster reloading times and longer range.
Debating weather or not she should be able to attack air units.

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/Republic_AT_Rifle_AD.jpg[/img]
New Balancing:
After some multiplayer I can see just how underpowered shadow organization is in the beginning of the game. Personally, I feel its due to Scorpion tanks + Flame tanks being to expensive and time consuming as such I made both units cheaper and faster to build.

Also every multiplayer game (I've been in) revolves around Air Combat as its by far the most effective way to combat a Human player. As such I will be Greatly Increasing the effectiveness of Anti-Air Weapons, especially Ground to Air weapons.

Infantry are far to weak for my taste. Ive reached a point where I no longer produce infantry to save money for more powerful vehicles. So to combat this a bit I increased infantry resistance to vehicles based weapons and increased damage of anti Vehicle Infantry. To give an example of new balancing: Just 3 RPG Troopers can take down a IFV (with 1-2 casualties) but 2 Grunts can easily take down 3 RPG Troopers

[wyvern]

The new models look really cool and the balancing seems like a good idea, i personally never use infantry, just MG turrets and IFV spam so better balance might be a good idea.
As an added question, how do you make your textures, they're really great, and i have trouble making a decent texture on anything, so any possible advice you could give me as to who to make better textures, please .
The Spider looks amazing, the ATR trooper looks really cool too, just a thought though, wouldn't it be good if the gun had some sort of monopod/bipod, its virtually impossible to fire ATR's without some sort of fore support. Great models as always though, looking forward to seeing how the neo-republic develops.

[Ishmaru]

Thanks for feedback Wyvern!  Ill see if I could get a bipod to look good in that stance.

 

As an added question, how do you make your textures, they're really great, and i have trouble making a decent texture on anything, so any possible advice you could give me as to who to make better textures, please

How do your textures look?

I generally make small rectangle of base camo pattern and make a few copies (in same file)  and edit each to have different decals, windows, mechanical parts. Then uv the model to how textures look best. As f textures I try not to use flat colors, instead I use lots of gradients.  I generally have a fade to black around the border with a slight light to dark gradient overall. I also suggest puting a dark shadow around decals as it helps to stand them out. I could upload an example of a texture if you like later!

[wyvern]

I'll try your suggestions and see if they help me come up with better textures

[Ishmaru]

I'll try your suggestions and see if they help me come up with better textures

Hope they help, defiantly post up your results!

[Ishmaru]

Up Dates!

Due to popular demand AT Rifles now have a bipod:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/Republic_Anti_Tank_Rifle_AD.jpg[/img]
I replaced the old Inferno Rocket infantry with this version I call the "Buster Rocket"

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/Republic_Buster_Rocket_AD.jpg[/img]
Yes its another Female unit.

There are two main Anti Tank Infantry in the Republic: The AT Rifle girls or the Elite Troopers however neither of these units have anti air capabilities. Inspired by a unit from the Mordavian Faction, I came up with this unit.
"Buster" Rockets are specifically designed for Anti-Aircraft Purposes. Its more powerful and has more range than other rocket armed infantry. However, this weapon can only target air units and cannot attack any ground vehicles.

She is also equipped with a standard assault rifle, and more body armor. Making them more effective than conscripts vs infantry. However at their price they are best used for their anti aircraft abilities, instead of anti infantry.


Faction development:

Spartan IFVs are now in game + Goblin IFVs now have a shrapnel cannon instead of a machine gun!


The Neo Republic has two IFV units.
 The Goblin IFV is the republics starting unit. Its lightly armored and fast and equipped with a shrapnel gun which does splash damage at close range.
 The Second the Spartan IFV Is a much more armored IFV, with stats comparable to the Neo Sabre Tank. Its equipped with a rapid fire AP gun (effective against Infantry + Light armored vehicles) and two rocket pods which fires a barrage of 8 rockets (good vs Vehicles).

Cruse Missiles!

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/18/17106/thumb_620x2000/Republic_CruseMissle_AD.jpg[/img]
Aside from spawning free conscripts, Troop Crawlers can also launch long range cruise missiles, which do tremendous damage to enemy structures. However the relative low speed of the missiles make them ineffective vs moving targets.

Much re-balancing is being done! Game is more fun now that infantry are no longer too weak

[Ishmaru]

Video of Annex development, depicting various units/gameplay for the Neo Republic faction.



New Structure:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/Neo_Republic_Fortress_AD.jpg[/img]
The fortress is a tech building (same type as Silo or Shadow Lab) its required to build Neo republic's strongest vehicles, the Goliath Tank and Troop Crawler.
Unlike other tech buildings, the Fortress is both heavily armored and armed with anti-armor missiles. Like the Alliance Silo, the Republic Fortress stores their nuclear missile.

A Fortress, supplemented with bunkers and AA turrets can be an difficult obstacle to overcome.

[SnEptUne]

That's amazing.  Is there anywhere I can download the new neo republic faction for annex?

I see that annex' texture_map are all tga, is there any plan to move them to png to save space?

It would reduce the game data size significantly.

Code: [Select]

IFS="
"
for x in `find . -name "*.tga"`; do convert "$x" ${x/tga/png}; done


[ProfEclipse]

Looks awesome. Perfect mod, man !
When no workers available - the particles of incomplete buildings can still work?

[Ishmaru]

Thanks for comments SnEptUne and ProfEclipse!

I haven't thought about an alpha release outside the official ones. Faction is not ready for an alpha release just yet it still needs icons and some key units. But an alpha is a good idea for testing, Ill think about it

I don't plan on converting to .png as i would have to re-link all textures which is a huge task to undertake. Perhaps when all core stuff is complete.

And ProfEclipse yes the particles stay when there are no workers working on it, currently there is no way to change this behavior...

More Annex updates:

Republic Hangar:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/18/17106/Neo_Republic_Hangar_AD.jpg[/img]
Produces scouts and Havoc Jets

Annex Faction Flags:

Since MG is allowing for incorporated video/music for battle end screen, (see here:  https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=8618.0)
I created some faction symbols/flags to display in the background of the results screen if you are victorious:

  (try HD for best results)

In order factions are:

East Ocean Alliance
NEO Republic
Shadow Organization

These clips might be used for other videos such as intros and faction previews too!

[ProfEclipse]

Wow ! Excellent Hangar model and Annex faction flags are very nice !

Perfect mod, but it still needs improvements.
I checked out your models and I found a problem.
Take a look at this : https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=8581.0
Please re-optimize all your models. Static meshes (two or more frames) can cause these problems : Slow load game, and waste memory space - disk space seriously. (An example is ("..\base_battle\models\unit\transportrun.g3d").
Find and download g3dHack. It's a best choice for you.

[ElimiNator]

From this view it looks like the tops of the bar things weren't textured, just stretched from the side texture.