Domaithianus

Hey, so, I'm back, after several years of life going very wrong, I'm starting to get back on track, and back to the things I love doing. I've been poking around this editor, and I'd love to have a play with building some new units. Was thinking of starting with an Imperial Hammer Tank - basically a very heavy combat tank with a Gun Turret (the building) weapon, instead of the usual tank cannon. I wanted to take the top part of the Gun Turret, and put it on the Siege Tank base, but I seem to have no idea what I'm doing with sprites, as the two seem incompatible without some editing... I had a look at the 'Resource Editor', but, currently, it's just going straight over my head. I was also hoping I could edit the colours for the 'Sandworm' faction, so, instead of using an odd Atreides allocation index for my House Sarakeen, I could use the Sandworm, and build some real differences between Sarakeen, and Atreides (like making the TibEd built Sarakeen commando only accessible to them, and not giving them an Atreides palace). This software is amazing, thank you for all the work you've put into this. I feel obsolete.

They do, but they're more expensive, and build more slowly. Imperial Palace Sardaukar are 120 credits instead of 200, and have a much higher build speed. Sorry, 2v2v2 is what I meant, thanks for pointing that one out, I've now amended the description. And please, go right ahead. That index was an excellent idea.

Hello all, I know it's been a long time, but I'm back, and should have several new releases in store very soon. I also feel I need to compliment the modding community for the incredible new tools I've seen available on here - it would appear I have a lot of catching up to do, and it's wonderful to see how alive and well this community is. Here, I have a small pack of multiplayer maps I designed, all thoroughly tested online both with friends and with strangers. Contains: Smuggler's Cove [4P] - A pretty straightforward 4 player free for all map. Smuggler's Cove Co-Op Version [4P] - Same map, but for 2v2 co-op games. Desert Islands [4P] - A slightly strange 4 player map on which no single rock has reasonable room for a full base. Players can rapidly expand by capturing 'neutral' silos on other small rocks across the map, or deprive their opponents of the same opportunities by destroying them. >>>WANING - Win trigger will only activate once all silos are destroyed or captured. Desert Islands Co-Op Version [4P] - Same as Desert Islands, but for 2v2 co-op games. Abandoned Observatory [4P] - Bridges lead to a bottlenecked, easy to defend central island with easy access to safe spice harvesting, and a captureable Imperial Palace for cheap Sardaukar for any faction - if you can take and hold the middle in time. Abandoned Observatory CoOp Version [4P] - Same as Abandoned Observatory, but for 2v2 co-op games. Abandoned Observatory Extended CoOp Version [6P] - An extended version of Abandoned Observatory for 2v2v2 co-op games. >>>WARNING - Do not attempt to play with 8 players on this map, as supposedly neutral structures will be owned by player 8. MultiplayerMapPack.7z

@Striking Drekavac Having checked the fix I mentioned on three separate Windows 10 machines now, I can confirm I haven't had a single crash in 3 weeks. The one time I forgot to quit from the initial launch, and start up using the separate application though, my game crashed within minutes, as if to emphasise I had the right solution. Happily, however, I've got my Windows 7 PC fixed, and it's running more smoothly than any Win 10 machine I've ever touched.

Woah, those things really go off. Like a devastator self destructing.

@Cm_blast @Fey Thanks for the warm welcome back. It's a great community on this forum, which I feel is a tesament to the game itself. I find the same when I play online, D2K players always seem to be good natured and friendly. I've been looking at the new stuff available, though I have yet to download any - my main PC is down at the moment, and I'm trying to save it, so I'm having to borrow a laptop for now - but it all looks extremely impressive. I remember when I was last on here, thinking it looked like the tools had really advance a lot since people began modding this game, and I see that progress hasn't stopped. Though I must confess, I'm a little concerned my 2 or 3 year project will now be obselete before I've even released it :-P. I may have a lot of catching up to do in how to use the new tools. I've already begun work revamping this Ordos campaign, and I have an Atreides set near completion. Should be releasing both pretty soon. Then I'll likely have my main project ready to go. Really looking forward to seeing how people get on with it. A Harkonnen set may take a little longer, but I still plan to do one eventually, and it should at least take less time than the big project I keep yapping on about has.

I return. Sorry I haven't been around for a couple of years or so. I actually started work on another project, and promised myself I wouldn't log back on until it was done so that I wouldn't be tempted to post bits before it was complete... then the small project turned into a large project... then the large project turned into a huge project... then I kept reaching a point where I thought 'Hey, maybe just a couple more months of work, and it'll be done.' which turned out to be wrong every time... and I kept having more ideas, and then I burned myself out creatively. The project really is nearly done now, and should be releasable soon though. @Fey thank you for playing through, and for your review. As always, very helpful insights - I really do appreciate it. When I have some spare time, I'll tweak this campaign, and I'll be taking lots of what you said into account. @Dark Wesker thank you. Really glad you enjoyed these missions. Yeah, the early missions were hard to do much with while keeping the original concepts. Thanks for playing through. @Krypto thank you so much, that was really gratifying to read on my return. I will evetually be releasing sets for Harkonnen and Atreides too, as well as tweaking these missions. I've actually developed my mission building a lot since making this, so it's great to hear you enjoyed it so much - I find it hard not to just see all the flaws these days.

I recently tried a fix that seems to be working, but only time will tell if it really does. I'm launching the game from the application in the folder instead of using the gruntmods launcher, just in case the compatibility mode isn't applying. So far, so good - I've gone from regular crashes within the hour to two days of gameplay without a crash. If it's a mission that can only be launched from the mission launcher, I've been starting up there, saving immediately, quitting, then launching again from the folder application, and loading from the game main menu. A little roundabout, but better than regular game crashes. Really wish Windows 7 was still readily available. It's much better for compatibility with just about everything in my experience.

Oh yeah, I noticed that before, then forgot to fix it. Thanks for pointing it out, it's now in the new update, which is ready here: OrdosCampaign200.7z This also contains the bonus mission 'How to Build a Deviator' as well as all missions (including the bonus one) playable as allied sub-houses.

Oh, hey, I didn't notice those edits, I had notifications on for replies on this post, but they didn't come up, so I didn't realise you'd replied. Sorry about that. I hadn't noticed that with the merc AI, thanks for the heads-up. They'll now start with one light infantry, and one trooper. Hopefully that'll do it. Haha, that'll be my loyalty to the original there. You expect the Starport to be attacked, until consistent attacks on the main base lul you into a false sense of security. Then, right at the end, when the player might have moved their defences, they come gunning for it. V4, the Starport will be attacked more regularly. The original mission 7 was one of my favourite missions in the campaign. My only complaint about it had been that it was too easy, and thus, over too fast, so when I remade it, my main focus was bulking up the enemy. I should have an update on the way in the next day or so, including a bonus mission, set between missions 6 and 7, based on the Ordos having received their Deviators, but not having learned to build them for themselves yet.

Just had one thought... you could avoid coming out and saying it, but hint a lot more strongly if the player thinks there's a pick-up, or reinforcements coming at the end of a timer, or just at an undisclosed time, like 'on their way'. Give the player a feeling that they're still working toward a clear objective. But at the end, have swarms of Imperials come in, and a message along the lines of 'It's too hot, can't come, just run!' or something like that. If you don't wanna put a timer in, maybe just say they'll be there soon, and trigger the end the same way as you do, when they player runs low on money.

By the second reload, I was fairly convinced that I was supposed to be overwhelmed, but I'm stubborn. I also had far too pretty a base to let it get crushed. I have indeed played Freespace. I wondered if you may have been inspired by some of the twist ending in that. It is very reminiscent of that. I would say, S2V1 is more clear as to what's supposed to happen than S2V2. V1, I'd clearly hit the objective, and then something almost comically overpowered hit me. In V2, the overpowering is a bit more subtle, and gives off more of a feeling that it's supposed to be beatable. Especially after I took down the base. I had retreated to the Fremen base before I assaulted the Imperials, but I hit them early, while they were still building. I used a couple of trikes to coax the tanks and Sardaukar out of the base, then crept in with light infantry and grenadiers. If you perhaps included some Siege Tanks that guard only, I don't think there's any way in hell I could have done it. It would also have made it a little more clear that winning was not something I was supposed to be able to do, even eventually. Given V1, I had been expecting another twist ending, but I expected to hit a clear objective first, which is what threw me. The objectives list in S2V2 does state 'Your escort must survive'. The twist ending isn't unprecedented in C&C type games either. There's the Soviet mission in Red Alert in which the Chronosphere you're supposed to capture explodes, even if you do everything right. Just to be clear, I do really love the creativity in this campaign, and aside from getting frustrated with S2V2, I've been very much enjoying it. Aside from hitting the end trigger, the progression all seems about right.

OK, I've got my write up of the first 4 missions ready. That's all I've had time to write up so far, but I'll be sure to post more in the near future. Hoe you found it useful.

Glad you're enjoying it. I'll probably tone O3V3 down a little for the next update. Was meant to be surprisingly hard-hitting for a mission 3, but I may have gone overboard That's a good point, I'll get that in the next update too. Thanks for playing and reviewing Blast. Always nice to get feedback.

I've also realised I left a few structures in control of a separate AI for SOV4, so here's fix for that. Subs.7z