Command and Conquer: Generals 2 Discussion Thread

Since I'm a fan of the C&C series I felt that this game in particular deserves its own thread. I'm going to personally upgrade my PC again later this year to play it on Very High settings. I'm hoping I can give it a swing on my new laptop as well on medium settings at a lower rez. I've been waiting for this game ever since I finished the first one almost a decade ago.

Check out the official page with the trailer from EA: Command & Conquer : Games : C&C Generals 2

This game looks awesome. So guys what's your take?

 

It's too early to tell. It could very well be a Generals game with just updated graphics and different models; little changes to gameplay.

This is what worries me the most [from the official website]

Will they sell an incomplete game for $60 and make us pay additional money for these DLC in order to play it fully?

Bear in mind there will be no mods and map making tools so you pretty much have a few maps to play with + DLC $maps$. I'm pretty certain there won't be any of these because if they do release it, it would defeat the purpose of selling maps, units, factions, etc.


I have Generals Zero Hour with Shockwave mod, and I honestly can't see how this is going to top it. If you have ZH, I highly recommend Shockwave mod.

 

Big C&C fan here.

I've played every single one, beat them and played high-end competitive PvP (was on the top 50 leader board). I can't wait for Generals 2 to release.

Generals/ZH and C&C3/KW are definitely one of the greatest RTS games of all time in my opinion. Infinite replay value. Never was a fan of RA3, though.

I assume they're going to keep the same factions. I just hope that they'll include sub-factions in the main release. I hate waiting up to a year for expansion packs just to play sub-factions - it brings more variety to the game.

@brncao
Sadly, I couldn't get Shockwave to work via Direct Connect. I always get a mismatch within the first 2 minutes even though both players have the exact same folder contents. Without it, LAN/Direct Connect works flawlessly. Are you aware of any fixes? I tried everything I could find.

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So assuming all factions/sub-factions are identical, who are you guys going to be? I'm best at China Infantry (1vs1/2v2) and USA Superweapon (3v3).

 

Big C&C fan. In game footage looks great. Seeing how this will definitely be a PC exclusive i can expect graphics to be spectacular. Frostbite 2.0 in RTS = WIN. Lets hope they dont try to mess too much with the gameplay like they did in C&C4 and i think EA is gonna have a winner on their hands. Now that is what I am concerned about, EA. Probably the worst gaming company. Ruined the Battlefield series(Dont get me wrong BF3 is great but the only problems i have with the game are there cause the game was rushed to release), the Crysis series, NFS series, Mass Effect series, honestly i could go on and on. So I am not keeping my hopes high for this one.

 

when C&C:G2 comes, I am taking a leave of absence from work

buddy, this is the video we saw on spike video game awards some 5 months ago I was hoping there was a trailer..

 

Knowing this is EA, anything goes. Due to time constraints, I think it'll be easier for them to do just USA//Europe/U.N. (Allied-esque) vs GLA. Introducing a third faction and then having to balance across all 3 would be tedious and time consuming. Again this is EA we're talking about when time is money. Additional factions/subfactions will most likely be DLC, but no promises; adding them is a lot more time consuming because of the balancing issues.

I honestly don't know what the cause is. It could be that your game's data is recorded into some file differently that might cause it to mismatch.

 

Generals was oddly fun. A huge distortion of the original CnC's from Westwood, but EA somehow managed to maintain interest in the game. Ridiculously buggy and unbalanced though.

Looking forward to gen 2, nice to see what frostbite 2 is like in an RTS, hopefully it doesn't need too high specs

It just seems odd, that there are HARDLY any modern-day setting RTS's around. World in Conflict, Wargame european escalation, generals, act of war... and thats about it (disregarding mods).

 

is there a release date for it?

I played C&C since the first ones, had lots of fun with them.
I ordered C&C3 when it released and i played the full campaign, but my PC sucked at that time hehehe (Pentium IV with a nvidia 6800). So i got the kane´s wrath expansion these days and im playing the campaign now, and the graphics maxed are not outdated at all. I like it better than SC2 to be honest.

 

Sometime next year. We still got a long way to go

Love C&C3! (especially with the KW expansion).

If you play one match in low settings and the second match at high settings, the graphics/look changes so much. I've never seen such a big change in any other game from going low to high. I also like it better than SC2.

Did a 3 (me+2 brutal AI) vs 5 (5 brutal AI) as Marked of Kane ...what an insanely difficult match. I barely made it. This is the type of difficulty I like I don't think I could of done it on any other faction/sub-faction to be honest. What's your favourite team pick?

I absolutely love the dark atmosphere, the graphics, the music, the SFX, the units - the game is seriously an RTS masterpiece.

 

Off-topic: a RTS and FPS hybrid would be interesting (though not in the CnC series). You got real players, and AI units controlled by the commander. The AIs would be smart enough to duck or get behind cover, running cover to cover.

You don't have to rely on incompetent players; just ask the commander for support and the AIs will take care of it whether it be an infantry assault, armored assault, artillery strike, or airstrike, etc. It won't be an empty-feeling battlefield. Talk about the adrenaline rush and better teamwork! But alas, it doesnt exist (there's a few FPS/RTS hybrids, but many of them aren't that great). I can dream right?

 

Been a long time fan of generals zero hour, I really hope this game is as fun and as good of game play as zero hour is. Also I hope they have worked on the lan connectivity as those damn mismatch errors are annoying!

 

I would love to play something like this. I too had a similar idea a few years ago regarding what you described. /dreams as well

 

WHAT?!! Is that no-mod policy official? Damn.. the thing I liked the most about Generals: ZH was the HUGE array of mods available..

Yeah.. it's an awesome idea.. Still off-topic, you might want to check this out. It's not exactly what you described.. but it's pretty cool too ;-)

Also, I do recall a HL2 mod that matched your description to the letter. Can't remember its name though.. but you might be able to find it - if they ever finnished it - on moddb.com

 

BF2 had mods, BF3 does not have mods. This was when DLC was introduced. If they introduced mod sdk tools and map-making tools, it would defeat the purpose of selling these DLC as players will simply download them elsewhere for free, and it will hurt their DLC sales. If you ask them if there will be mod sdk tools available, they'll reply "no because the Frostbite engine makes it difficult to mod for many modders."

Empires mod I presume. The problem is, the role of the commander is extremely boring, and if there's only a few people online, that's even worse. But it's a good start nonetheless.

 

@ Voodooi

You mentioned you thought the series had infinite replay value which I agree. This is more the case when it comes to the mods for it, have you tried any Cnc3 mods?

I have about 10+.

 

Which one's would you recommend as the best?

Are they fine for LAN?

 

As excited as I am to see a Generals sequel I don't have a good feeling about EA doing it justice. Plus it's too far away. I've seen dates slip more than an elephant on ice. Once they give a firm release date then I'll be excited.

 

I have never tried any of these mods in LAN but I can't see why they wouldn't work if everyone is playing the same Mod.

I recommend Tiberium-essence


(I love the jump-jet infantry in this one!)

Tiberium Wars Advanced

Talon Mod, this one is for those of you who like more tactics, tank rushes are unlikely to work in this mod

Commando-special-forces

C&C: Retarded

C&C 3: The Forgotten

(Yes, you heard right, this Mod contains a full length campaign)

Ultra Mammoth Mod

This Mod makes GDI very overpowered, particularly the Mammoth tank which includes anti-air, sonic gun, rail gun and its own repair bots, to counter this, Nod has a Nuke truck that can take out almost an entire base if you give it a chance, if you ever see one of these heading towards your base, it could be game over if you don't get to it in time. I have found this Mod very fun but it can make everything easier.

Kane's Wrath Reloaded

 

Wow, thank you for all these great links I'll definitely be checking them all out.

+1 rep

 

Installing the Mods are easy but you can use free software called Desura to automatically download and install. The individual Desura Mod links will work unless your Cnc3 is from Steam. Either way every Mod can be run using the built in Modmanager (-ui switch).

If Command and Conquer: Generals 2 doesn't have unofficial Mods, I think a huge part of its long-term future will be wiped out. Often community Mods rival official ones simply because its love Vs profit. Since Command and Conquer: Generals 2 will be selling Maps and DLC, I can't imagine they will allow them.

 

Thanks again.

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I can see them putting out several DLC packs in a two year span until a new C&C game is out (RA4 is next in the rotation, but I hope it's C&C5 with GDI/NOD/Scrin instead) and since I'm such a big fan of the series, there's no doubt that I will purchase them all It's sad about the mod community though.

 

I think one thing that'll be huge to change is the availability of secondary income - in generals, China had hackers, USA had drop zones and GLA had black market all giving free resources.

This is stupid IMO - yes it didn't impact 1v1 or even 2v2 online that much, but 8 player battles were horrible because of this.

One thing I'd like them to consider is a pop cap. It'll force players to stop spamming single units and really focus on developing a well rounded force.

 

Naw, that's what I liked about Generals. It was different. No pop cap, once you got established you could set up alternate ways to get resources so the game could continue even when all map resources were exhausted. It gave you many strategies on how to maim the enemy. Otherwise it would just be another Starcraft clone. I usually would target the enemy's income sources first, which would usually stop them from spamming single units anyhow because more attention is given to getting their economy going again.

 

I used to only play those Mods for skirmish but recently started to use them in campaign mode. I have found that each mod is like playing a completely different game so I end up completing the campaign for each faction for each different Mod. Being able to build your own repair Bots as well as increased range of units and having access to different weapons earlier on allows for so many more tactics.

In the Tiberium Essence Mod, I was able to use Jump-Jet infantry early on to protect a base and in other Mods I used a flame tank to burrow underground, bypassing heavy defenses to attack. The most difficult campaign / Mod is the Forgotten, even on easy level!

Another Mod to keep an eye on is Tiberian Rising but that has been in development for about 5 years so far.

Edit: Mammoth Tank survived a Nod Nuclear Missile with 50% health left

 

thats why you do what I do...wait for the Game of the Year version and then wait for the Christmas sale to get it for 5 bucks....or wait longer for a complete pack plus Christmas sale and get all the games for about $2.50

I have like 300 games and average $2.50-$3.00 per game

EDIT: lol what ever mod gave you commander and chiefs was dumb. I was the US C&C and I had all 3 defenses. With that I could beat 7 hards on a team by myself lol. had to play on slowest setting to maximize my speed so I could get the perfect amount of defenses up to win...took me like 30-50 tried to get it right. The actual game took like 24 hours to win. Slowly built money and super weapons up lol its hard to get enough super weapons fast enough to kill all of theirs when their was 7 hards.

 

LOL did you play generals online?

90% of games NEVER got to the stage where you would run out of resources - it really only mattered in big multi games (or if you were playing no rush or something).

Simply having a pop cap and not having those stupid resource buildings would not turn it into a starcraft clone. Starcraft is much more nuanced.

Targeting income is how you play generals - the entire game revolves around econ harass.

 

I didn't play Generals online as much as I did with a few friends and just for fun against AI (which is dumb as they come, lol). But I enjoyed it for what it offered. Even the online games I played, I frequently did run into resource issues at least map supplied resources.

I dunno. I loved original Starcraft. I can't stand Starcraft 2. It's all about who can rush with the most units in the first five minutes. Who can click the fastest without making a mistake. My APM is low, so the clickfest of SC2 is nothing but a frustration for me. I've never had that issue with Generals. I could frequently use the units I built to do some damage for a while and still do significant damage, where in SC2 units live about 60 seconds at best. I guess Generals has good defense where SC2 is mostly about offense. Generals suits me better in that regard.

 

Well, not trying to sound like an arrogant rager but in higher level online play, seriously generals was ALL about rushing with a small number of units to do econ harass. And some of the factions were just stupidly good at doing so. Add to that the fact that the only map that was played was tournament desert... EA did a horrible job of improving the game (i.e. tailoring it to how the players played the game) in their patches as well. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed generals, but I had heaps of "aaargh" moments at the game design as well.

Odd that you feel your APM was so low you can't play SC2 but can play SC1 - SC2 had way lower APM requirements with automining, unlimited unit selection, multi building selection...

Definitely SC2 lost a bit of the defenders advantage to SC1, and yes I liked SC1 better too, but usually don't have a problem with rushes if you pick them up early enough.

Generals had some pretty stupid rushes in it too, I remember using the chinook to drop a dozer into the opp base and build patriot missile turrets to take out their supply depot