APRIL NEWS Week 3

Wednesday 21st April 1999
Mech Units Info - Daniel
Westwood Underground have discovered the following new information about the names of TS's Mech Units:
First there is the Light Mech, Codename "Wolverine". Primary use infantry killer. Onboard weapons is Two Vulcan cannons, perfect for putting holes into infantry.

Next there is the Medium Mech, Codename "Titan". Primary use general attack vehicle, good on armored units and building. Onboard weapon is a cannon.

Then Last but not least there is the Heavy Mech, Codename "Mammoth Mark II". This Four legged unit is the is the heaviest land roving walking vehicle the GDI have. The onboard weapons include Rockets and a Rail Gun.

I'll update the units section as soon as I can with this new information!
FMV in Tiberian Sun - Daniel
Hamma's TS Page asked Rade this question about the videos in TS:
Royalty: Rade, I have a quick question for ya. Please answer. I really appreciate it! Ok heres the question. How many minutes of FMV (full motion video) are there in TS? Apx??
Rade: A bit less than an hour.
New Lead Designer - Daniel
Now that Erik Yeo's left (see below), Adam Isgreen is the new lead designer for Tiberian Sun. Here is the first Q&A with him (from TSCC:
Leephus: Do you have any plans for Tiberian Sun that might not have made it into the game if Erik Yeo had stayed until the release?
Adam Isgreen: Not really. Erik had completed the unit designs before I was handed the project. I'm just taking all of the existing units and balancing them. They may change a bit in weapon types / firepower, but that's to be expected at this point -- we want the game well balanced.
Lots More Questions with Adam - Daniel
These are from The German Site, Tiberian War, Absolut Tiberian Sun and Tiberian Zone - Check out more questions on their sites:
Chris: Will there be a level editor?
Adam: There is a random map generator already in place that lets you make your own multiplay maps and save them off. You can adjust many different aspects of the map, and the generator has produced some very cool maps for people to play on. As for a complete editor, it is not likely with the initial release. Our editor is very esoteric and not user friendly. Only die-hards would even attempt to use it. Since we don't want to delay the release of TS, it is most likely that if an editor were to be available, it would with an add-on or a download from the net at a later date.

Chris: Will there be another C&C game?
Adam: Yes. The C&C line was planned as a trilogy of games, with RA being the pre-trilogy game. The next game Tiberian Twilight, should be very cool, but we need to finish TS first! :)

Goldfish: Can you give us some info on the Temple of Nod?
Adam: It is big, cool, and gives Nod a neat ability.

Goldfish: Do you have new names for the Mechs?
Adam: Yes we do.

Goldfish: When a tank blow up, will it damage units around it?
Adam: Yes.

Zed: What stage is TS at now? What have you done to it recently?
Adam Isgreen: Balancing and tuning solo-play missions and multiplayer play. That's really all that's left. All movies are in place, and all the solo-play stuff is basically done.

Multiplayer - Sharing Disks - Daniel
GenKiller from TiberianSun.net.nz asked Rade the following question:
GenKiller: For home network players, will there be a second disk (ex. a Nod disk) in which the second player can put into their computer that will allow the game to be played through the network? Or, will the players have to buy a seperate Tiberian Sun game in order to play network games?
Rade: You can use the second disk for a second player in multiplay. The copy protection is completely transparent to legitimate users so they won't even notice it.
BG:TS Units Guide - Daniel
BG:TS have a units and strategies guide on their site. It has lots of information and ideas. Check it out here.
Monday 19th April 1999
TS and Windows - Alex
CC4ever.com asked Rade 3 questions, to which he responded that Tiberian Sun will run under Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT, but not under DOS and Linux.
Sunday 18th April 1999
Rade Responds - Alex
Rade responded to 2 questions.
  • There won't be a Supply Limit like in SC, that means that you can produce as many units as you like.
  • There will be a little Experience Indicator underneath the Health Bar for the units.
  • EA & Software Piracy - Alex
    Avault reported that EA licensed a way to prevent their Games to be copied. Basically, a digital signature will be on the CDs that cannot be copied by CD Burners. If the program does not find that signature, it will not start.
    Saturday 17th April 1999
    Erik Yeo Left!!! - Alex
    Yeah it's right: Erik Yeo officially left Westwood. Instead of posting the whole release and the whole interviews GameCenter ,Avault and PC Gamer had, I will summarize what happened.
    Erik will leave to 7 Studios, where he could get an ownership. He said that Tiberian Sun is "in good hands." He also confirmed his leaving, but said that he will look back to his time at Westwood. In an Interview, another leader at Westwood, Aaron Cohen, said that Adam Isgreen, the lead designer of Red Alert, will replace Erik. Brett Sperry is strongly involved in TS and will be the boss behind future games, such as Tiberian Twilight.
    Basically, Brett Sperry and Adam Isgreen will do all the things Erik did so far.
    New Feature - Alex
    WWU had news about another TS feature:
    "OK here is something that is not known about TS, When you click your right mouse button and then move the mouse down a little you will scroll your view, Basically it makes it so you don't have to go all the way to the edges of your screen to make your view go up, down, left, or right. Its pretty cool."
    As I understand it the game will have the same scrolling as in Settlers III. I played that game as think that the feature is useful, but no real advantage over the C&C scrolling. It doesn't really matter.
    Friday 16th April 1999
    C&C Phrase stolen from '1984'! - Daniel
    RSN received an email which links C&C with George Orwell's novel, '1984'. In page 37 of the book, the following phrase is found:
    "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
    This well known quote from C&C makes it seem like the game may be slightly based on this book. Read the rest of the article here.
    Rade Questions - Daniel
    Andrew from Westwood Underground asked Rade a few questions:
    Andrew: I heard from Cyberman0 that the Hunter Seeker drone might be cut, is that true?
    Rade: No, it hasn't been cut. I was just watching it work today.

    Andrew: Is Kane really dead?
    Rade: No, I actually saw him in his office today and had a conversation with him. :)

    You can read the other two questions here.
    Order Westwood Games - Daniel
    You can now order, not only Tiberian Sun, but many other Command and Conquer games and Westwood games, and hint books, from this page. There are 28 products for sale in total. To order any of these, simply click here!
    Thursday 15th April 1999
    New Theme - Daniel
    BG:TS have created a new Tiberian Sun theme which you can download here [1.1Mb].
    TS Release Getting Closer! - Daniel
    Aaron Cohen (the Westwood PR Guy) has been at Gamesmania and says the game will be going gold at the end of May and will be released in June! He also showed them the game and you can click here to read about the new features they saw and the opening movie.
    Virtual Ted Questions - Daniel
    Hamma's TS Site, The C&C Universe and TS Command have all asked Virtual Ted some questions, here are the main points they covered:
    • The game has not been held back until December and also, it is not optimised for a Pentium III, as if we believed that anyway!
    • Last Year, Westwood updated their site each day with what was revealed at the E3 trade Show, this year "It's possible they'll have something at E3" (Sounds pretty likely!)
    • Westwood will be releasing some more music from Tiberian Sun soon.
    • There may be a screenshot function in the game so you can save screenshots just by pressing print screen (like in Starcraft)
    Unit Loading Dock in Tiberian Sun - Daniel
    It seems this feature wasn't just a rumour and will be included in the game. It allows you to choose which units you start a mission with. BG:TS received this email from Silver:
    "I read the story about the drop ship and is true. I just bought Alpha Centauri and inside was a book with all the different games that EA publishes including Tiberian Sun. In it, it said "Built in way point system and special drop ship missions let you decide what units to bring into battle." I thought you might be interested."
    C&C number 34? - Daniel
    Well, according to Ultimate Games, C&C and Red Alert are the 34th best games ever. Which isn't really too brilliant, I think it should've been much nearer the top. Half-Life, of course, was in at number one, and Total Annihilation at number 2! (Hey, it's not that much better than Red Alert, is it?) Anyway, here is what they said about it:
    34. Command and Conquer & C&C: Red Alert
    It is old now, of course, but the granddaddy of the Real Time Strategy genre as we know it today still stands up to a great deal of playing. Before Total Annihilation, this used to be the way Luke and I spent the long winter nights in the absence of female company and/or a social life and the diversity of its single player missions and the specialist units still deserves a mention. It laid the groundwork for the best Real Time Strategy we're playing now and, indeed, the best RTS games of the future. Command and Conquer: We salute you.


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