[Release] Coop Campaign - Ixian Revenge

[Cm_blast]

This is it, the "sequel" from my previous coop campaign, the Ixian Invasion

Like that one, this wasn't with new maps or anything like that but, instead, I picked multiple missions scattered from the multiple campaigns, with the addition of a couple of missions in there wasn't any ally, but now there is a second player there; or even switching who the player is (player 1 being one of the AI allies instead the one that you play in the single-player version of that mission).

I took in consideration that two humasn harvest more, so there are lots of more spice everywhere, both players and enemies.

STORY:
Well, since online/coop games doesn't have any sort of briefing and I don't want to add extra .txt files to read for every mission; the generic story goes that once the Ixian got defeated in the previous campaign, they are trying to use all kind of tactics to bring whatever houses defeated them last time.

CAMPAIGN:
This campaign just reuse most of the events, like reinforcements, spaws and stuff like that. It has been removed certain parts that didn't make sense for a coop mission, but for the most part the missions were straigh-foward anyway.

The main difference here is that the tech available is overall higher. On the previous campaign you only get tech 5 (gun turrets) not until mission 5, and you don't get the final tech (special tanks + palace + rocket turrets) not until mission 8; on this "sequel" you get the gun turrets tech on mission 4, and by mission 6 you already have special tanks and rocket turrets to use.

About the objetives in every mission, it will pop up a in game message as soon as the mission starts. with exceptions, the overall goal is to destroy all the Ixian bases, but sometimes it is needed a previous step or the objetive just goes to destroy a specific structure/s to win.

This time; I won't give the starport for missions in which the player can get free units. Unlike the previous campaign, it is not the norm, so I decided to simply not giving the starport for free. Game will warn if a starport will deliver free stuff for any of the two players. If player X is about to get endless loops of units, a free delivery will be given as soon as the mission begin.

The enemy Ai values are very similar on what the enemy used to have in the vanilla campaign, although considering that there is a second human player (more usefull than an AI) I made the enemy to increase their speed production after all/most the enemy drops are done.

HOW TO SET UP GAMES:
I tried to be as simple as possible, and as clear as possible, so I don't want to bring a ultra-high explanation or plenty of screenshots to set up every mission. Instead, the name of the maps will tell you exactly what kind of IAS you are to face.

Like this: Ixian Revenge 1 [Coop 2P] (Easy) Vs 4 Ixian
This means that on your lobby, you need to set up 4 enemies (after the 2 human), and that those Ais need to be "Atreides" wearing the light-brown color.

If a mission is called like this: Ixian Revenge 7 [Coop 2P] (Easy) AND Smugglers Vs 4 Ixian
it means that, after the 2 human players, the next AI MUST be the smugglers (Ordos wearing dark-brown color) and, after that, 4 more extra ais being Atreides with their light-brown color. <-- Remember, smugglers must be before any Ixian AI set up.

About what the player choose. There are not restriccions for this campaign either.
Players can play as Atreides, Harkonnen or Ordos. It could be reccomended to use the cannon colors of the main 6 (Atreides blue and/or grey, Harkonnen red and/or purple, Ordos green and/or yellow). The only colors that are banned are the dark-brown (smugglers) and light-brown (Ixians).

There are not specific drops this time, so player 2 can play as Harkonnen and begin the map with a few Ordos combat tanks (As they are spawned, not placed with the editor) or picking Atreides and having 1 deva early. drops won't change either, but you can still choose any side you want to play with.

OTHER OPTIONS TO SET UP:
things like "tech - credits - units" it doesn't matter, the .ini will give every player their thing; sometimes the first player will start with 6000 credits while the second player with 10000 (because it has a different set up: some buildings for player 1 and only the MCV for player 2). 

You need to activate sandworms; they will forced into the game.

I suggest to keep active the turrets, even if for challenge purposes you don't want to use them; at least gave the AI the option to rebuild them.

EASY AND HARD DIFFERENCES:
Two difficulties have been added, one intended for people that simply want to play this coop campaign with a friend for fun, and the other for more skilled players.
Easy: The missions are pretty much the same as the originals. The enemy Ai values are roughly the same as they had (or a bit slower-faster); after all the enemy carryalls have stopped dropping units, these ais will increase their speed production. Anything else is the same.

Hard: Enemy Ai has be altered to build really fast on most of the situations. Enemy reinforcements or deliveries may be bigger, or may have extra units and/or turrets around the base even for maps where the tech is not enough to build turrets. Sometimes the ais have more factories or other extra structures; it depends on the map itself.

FINAL NOTE:
I didn't play this on coop with anybody, although I checked as much as I could. Mistakes can happens, so if something is wrong please report to me.

FILES:
Coop 2 players Campaign Ixian Revenge Easy & Hard.rar

Both difficulties are added to the zip. All share the same name but "easy/hard"

This time the name of the file was simplified, but the lobby still should tell you how many Ixian Ais are needed to set.

File updated with new versions and balancing problems.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Cm_blast