Red Alert 3

[noeffeks]

http://peruron.com/blol/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/seal-of-approval.jpg

[Doctor Zyo]

http://peruron.com/blol/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/seal-of-approval.jpg
Can anyone else confirm this Mammals Approval?

[DarkieJ]

http://peruron.com/blol/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/seal-of-approval.jpg

Confirmed

[פֿяαιп βαмαgεפ]

Hot chicks, that is all.

[Mad_Clog]

Confirmed
Confirming the confirmation

[פֿяαιп βαмαgεפ]

http://www.dopclan.com/mulchseal.png

[[AE] 5316 *TKZ*]

I just wrapped up the SP campaign (played it all solo w/ the AI, which really wasn't bad, as far as AI goes)


Now its time to hit up the m to the p, and pwn some face.

[Caroline]

Sweeeeeeeeet Red Alert, one of the first games I fell in love with.
I SO need to get that one...

[Credge]

So, avoid skirmishes with this game. The AI is really bad. The higher the difficulty, the more it relies on cheesy AI tactics instead of it actually being... good. This was understandable in older games, but it's simply not the case now. Bad AI is bad AI and having it have a handicap in order to attempt to beat you is very poor.

But, with that aside, the AI is really, really bad. I'm talking fundamentally poor. For those with the game, you'll understand this picture fairly decently.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/crimsonedge38/badai.jpg

That's me finishing up a brutal AI. You'll probably notice that his refinery isn't in the ideal spot. In fact, it's not even on the green little squares that the game makes for the player. It's in such a bad spot that the efficiency there is about as bad as it would be if the refinery were 2 refinery lengths away from the mine.

:|

Edit: The game looks so much better in screenshots than in motion.

[Lost]

That looks pretty damned badass. Never picked up any of the RA games but now I may have to.

[Credge]

That looks pretty damned badass. Never picked up any of the RA games but now I may have to.

Oh, the game is very bad ass. My biggest complaints all revolve around the only stuff I care about - the skirmish and online play.

The AI in skirmish is reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally bad and the automatch, currently, doesn't work.

[Lost]

Is it on par with Starcraft AI? It isn't the greatest but not completely ignorant either.

[Credge]

Is it on par with Starcraft AI? It isn't the greatest but not completely ignorant either.

Each faction has 3 personalities, all of which deal with the 3 most popular ways to play with said faction. That's about as smart as it gets.

Otherwise it's as poor as any other AI in any other RTS.

[Iggy]

That's why it's AI rather than RI.
:twisted:

[Credge]

So somehow the automatch for RA3 actually worked and I had a lot of fun in my first match. This is where this game shines.

[SkinkHero]

Shame to hear about the AI...

Anyway for those with the game,
- Is it an improvement on YR?
- Is the game as much 'fun' (RA2 was very original)?
- Do the factions have similar play styles?
- Whose campaign on YR was the real one?

[Credge]

Shame to hear about the AI...

Anyway for those with the game,
- Is it an improvement on YR?
- Is the game as much 'fun' (RA2 was very original)?
- Do the factions have similar play styles?
- Whose campaign on YR was the real one?

Never played Yuris Revenge. Can't comment. However, for a vanilla game, it's better than RA2 by a bit in regards to multiplayer fun. The AI... no, not so much.

The factions are so different that being good with one won't make you good with another.

Neither campaign was the real one, or rather, it doesn't matter. The intro movie shows that the russians went back in time and accidentally killed Einstein. In other words, no bomb to drop on Japan.

[Credge]

So I've been playing a good deal of RA3 online. Can't say I'm impressed. Faction diversity means that it's always a build order lottery. Playing as Empire against an Allied? Well, you better get a T2 war factory up AS SOON AS POSSIBLE if they send any air at all. The problem is that spending any cash at all not doing that specific build order means you're not going to counter what he did.

The obvious problem with that? They send infantry instead.

Scouting is not an option as you need your T2 war factory up as soon as possible, and the only time realistic scout for the Empire are from the Barracks. It just doesn't happen if you're playing against Allied. It's a complete crap shoot. And, even if you do counter it, they have 3k worth of bombers still alive (very rarely do you kill one) which will be used at some other point.

There are also a literal shit-ton of cheap things that players do online. A list:

Engineer filled water transports from Allies who don't use the typical air rush. Countering it means you must go full anti-air at the beginning, meaning you're rushing to T2 as Empire or spamming T1 infantry as a Soviet. With Allied you just build 1 apollo and you're safe. Another crap shoot.

Parking a dog or bear in front of a barracks and putting the unit in to aggressive stance. What this does is instantly kill any infantry unit that comes out without you having a single chance of doing anything about it, effectively shutting down your infantry until you get a vehicle to come and end them. The problem with this is that these units are spammable, cheap, obtainable with just a barracks, and kill infantry instantly. To boot, they have an AOE stun that is usable every 30 seconds.

Soviet quick tech to Tesla Troopers. It's a valid strategy, but it's just been metagamed to death. T2 comes somewhat quick with the soviets and Tesla Troopers counter all land things. Get a water craft transport. Load up 5 Tesla Troopers, send them to the back of the enemies base. You've won.

The game, as a whole, has too much luck involved. Scouting doesn't exist and plays such a small role. It doesn't matter if you scout and know that the enemy is sending a big group of stuff to the back of your base. You're taking a gamble from the very beginning before you can even send a scout.

Is your enemy going to attack from the front or is he going to be sending amphibious units to your rear? WHO KNOWS! It's just not very interesting. There is no out-thinking your opponent. Games are most usually over in 5 minutes (I still haven't had a game last more than 8) and they are won or lost depending on what you picked at the beginning of the game.

Not a very interesting setup to be honest.

[puppychow]

stuff

you complain alot about games..no flame but you do..f3, here, ff and prior..

anything make you happy? you should get into the industry and show them a thing or two.

[Circuitous]

Most games suck, have you not noticed?

Besides, what does it matter to you if he complains? He's a consumer, he's got every right to it.

[puppychow]

i'm generally satisified with all games I buy, but I do the research. people that complain often have a sense of entitlement which is false.. but fair enough - as I am a consumer of this thread I would like to invoke the right of stating and complaining that you love and get off with inserting comments edgewise without them typically having substance...you enjoy being reactionary.

yea for consumers rights!

[YomMamasHouse]

I expect this game to disappoint me, as is the case with all post-Westwood CNC games.

[Credge]

i'm generally satisified with all games I buy, but I do the research. people that complain often have a sense of entitlement which is false.. but fair enough - as I am a consumer of this thread I would like to invoke the right of stating and complaining that you love and get off with inserting comments edgewise without them typically having substance...you enjoy being reactionary.

yea for consumers rights!

The difference is that I do research before I buy and then complain after because what I found out did not come even close to what the game is like.

When I hear faction diversity, I don't expect one faction to completely dominate and force other factions to play build order lotto while that one can pick and choose which he wants to use. I expect the game to be like Warcraft 3 or Starcraft.

I complain because my expectations were not met despite doing plenty of research about the title. Research in this case includes:

Fully knowing what each faction was capable of in beta right before release.

Watching over 5 hours worth of replays from the last tournament from the beta.

Knowing what every unit was capable of in the beta.

I don't know what else I can say about research. I do this with every game I buy, and when the release is not up to my standards, especially after knowing what to expect, I become angry.

It's a bit like this:

I looked online for a guitar. I went to several review sites, listened to a bunch of sound samples, looked at screen shots and spec sheets. When it arrived the neck looked like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/crimsonedge38/douglas4.jpg

Wouldn't you be upset if this happened to you?

[puppychow]

i know this sounds trite but i would never buy a guitar online. that's a brick and mortar purchase for me..along with some other things.

As for being angry about video games not being up to your expectations..meh, all I can say is that they are video games, and if you get mad at poopy AI, remember that you are getting mad at a computer not being as creative as a human opponnent, which really has never happened yet.

Sorry, I find one getting their panties in a bunch over missed expectations over a video game, which is a very subjective experience, to be somewhat silly.

looks like you just like to get mad.

[Credge]

i know this sounds trite but i would never buy a guitar online. that's a brick and mortar purchase for me..along with some other things.

As for being angry about video games not being up to your expectations..meh, all I can say is that they are video games, and if you get mad at poopy AI, remember that you are getting mad at a computer not being as creative as a human opponnent, which really has never happened yet.

Sorry, I find one getting their panties in a bunch over missed expectations over a video game, which is a very subjective experience, to be somewhat silly.

looks like you just like to get mad.

No, it usually is a brick and mortar purchase. The thing is, though, that when you find good deals, you can't pass them up. An example: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid

But no, I don't get angry about video games not meeting my expectations. I get angry because I feel a video game is not worth the money I payed for it. Wouldn't you get pissed if you bought something that, despite your best research efforts, was a piece of shit that you couldn't return?

Yeah, that's something that only happens with video games. I'm able to return the guitar and did. I was reimbursed for the shipping cost. A bad PC video game? No, that money isn't something I'm getting back. I can't return it to get a better one. Nada.

There is no "brick and mortar" testing with a video game. If demos existed then yeah, you could get a feel, but none of my complaints are ever about that. My complaints are always about things that you won't realize until after playing the game for a while. I.E. fundamental issues and flaws that come up once you actually understand what's going on. A demo never shows you this.