BSTRAT 2001
==========
-Rage replaced with Hunter. Pretty cool vehicle, weapons-wise. Thx to DragonMOD
-Sweep model replaced with Cobra model.
-New Dropship icons.
-smoke from damaged vehicles is a lot more noticeable. Very large black plumes of smoke come out of you when you're heavily damaged....... even moderate damage will give off a good smoke. Doesn't seem to do too much to the frame rate because I lowered the emitRate.
-chain gun and laser assault for ISDF is patched up. Before,
chain gun was basically superior to laser in every way.. now you'll want to
use Deflection shields for chain, absorbption for Laser (like it should be!)
-EMP (Combat) shoots out to 75m and the AI will use it at the correct range.
-SPStab/ATstab have been given trail graphical effects. pretty neat ;)
-The Broadsword has been given a twin Rapid fire Plasma weps. The wep is
only available
on the default BSword, and can't be acquired in any other way. It shoots 3 bursts
of plasma
rapidly. It's slightly weaker than double Plasma Combat used by the Atilla
-Stinger Combat doesn't alternate in firing anymore. That means
if you have two Stingers (Rage), you'll shoot them both at the same time. Plus
it takes up less ammo. SPSTAB, ATSTAB, and FAF have also loss their alternate
firing mode.
-Multilock 2 now has a thick trail..
-several assault weapon fixes.. Stinger assault, mlock 2 assault, Resin mouth
assault, sonic assault, arc assault....... many of these weapons had range problems
to where the AI would shoot its weapon too far away from the target, thus wasting
its salvo. The AI should now close to the correct range when firing assault
weapons........ so watch out!!
-Resin mouth was too powerful in BS 2000. It should be ok now.
-Atilla price raised to 57/mod 68. The price/stats of the Atilla just didn't
match what I gave the Titan. I felt the Titan's prices were ok, so the Atilla
needed changing.
-Since the release of BZ2, the Plasma has been inferior to the SPSTAB in just
about every way except range. It absorbed twice as much ammo and did half the
damage in all shield/armor categories. I've made the Plasma something you'll
want to use against Scions that use Deflection shields. Plus the Plasma, which
comes online later than the SPSTAB, is the ultimate in dogfighting cannons for
the ISDF against the ISDF. The SPSTAB does far more damage to heavy armor however,
and of course, Absorb shields.
-Scavs/Harvesters have their original stats, less health
though (about 40% more health than BS 2000 still). This should keep them from
falling off cliffs..
-Service trucks for both sides have been given original stats too..
BSTRAT 2.0 (and others)
===========
All changes are Scion related. Mauler/Rage easier to buy. Sonic Blast /Arc cannon harder to buy. Sonic Boom ammo consumption multipled by 6 or so. Arc Blast ammo multiplied by 3 or so.
-Broadsword tank added in 1.8 or 1.9 or somethin.
Archer fires twice as fast. -"Black Widow" replaced with "Sentinel"
unit.
-super stabber can be bought after s-bay goes up
-plasma can be bought after s-bay and armory goes up (used to requrie a tech
center)
-rocket bomb range lowered below 200m
V1.7 changes
============
==healer/service truck heal much faster
-healer has larger heal radius.. S-truck has longer range
==UBER DEATH CANNON! The final charge of the MAG Cannon Assault now does
8000 damage. It travels 20m per second and has a range of 230m or so. Check
out those wicked effects :) Oh yea, it completely drains the AssTank of its
ammo.. and the explosion does very little damage (so a puny pilot-controlled
Scout could 'intercept' the blast by jumping into it.. thus saving a building!)
==some graphical enhancements
==sabre/warrior prices raised to 26/23 or so
==Shadower Combat locks on faster
==Unit default loadout changes, designed to give players a reason to upgrade
some vehicles
-Scion Titan defaults to Sonic Blast instead of Arc.
-ISDF Attila defaults to Plasma instead of Blast.
-ISDF Scout has SITE Camera installed default. If SITE use crashes your computer,
don't use it and report this to me.. if it's too problematic i'll remove it.
-ISDF Interceptor now has a use.. intercepting stuff! Default loadout now has
MITS mine (with new enhanced sphere graphic) and many more rockets. With its
great speed, the Interceptor is great for taking out Scavs or Extractors.. but
its main purpose is to be piloted by a human who can cut off enemy assaults
by dropping a MITS mine on something (MITS mines create magnetic fields that
keep the target bolted to the floor for a while. Only activates on enemies).
==APC troops are much stronger and faster. Still not too hot ;)
V1.6 changes
=============
==fixed huge scrap cheat 'bug'
-most units in previous BS versions could be ordered for a low price, then cancelled,
and the refund would be too high ($5 tug, $30 refund when cancelled). This has
been fixed. Most refunds are 25% of the cost.
==missile scout/jackal can be built in Recycler; sentry/black widow can be built
in Matriarch
==Valkyrie power lowered. Thruster weaker, strafe attribs lowered, reverse attribs
lowered, Val's gun takes up much more ammo
==Pilots survive ejections
==Gauss Assault ammo consumption increased. Now only the Guardian can use it
often
==guardian/rattler ammo tripled, ammo recharge rate tripled
==Rage hardpoints fixed, no more cannons
==Pilot run/fly speed doubled. Lookit 'em go!
==Blast Assault now has a huge explosion.. with a lot of kick and a little bit
of damage. it's cool lookin' :)
==new load up screen. nifty glowing "Strat" text
==icon for Rage
==new EMP, combat/assault
V1.5 changes
===========
==modified many graphical effects, such as..
-archer howitzer shoots cool now! :)
-stinger trail enhanced, much nicer
-brighter smoke contrails of all ISDF weaponry
-enhanced Gauss effects
==Many price changes
==added "Sonic Boom!" and "Arc Blast" weapons
-these replace the Sonic Blast/Arc Cannon assault modes
which were very annoying and useless in the hands of the AI. The new weps are
designed to be poor dogfight weapons (slow) but devastating to slow targets.
-also, Sonic Blast/Arc Cannon fire rates increased. Many people, including me,
believed Scions to be totally outmatched in previous Bstrat games. I think the
races are pretty evenly matched now, but we'll see.. won't we :)
==added Multilock II missile, created by Aero
-ML2 locks up to 10 different targets (or all 10 missiles on ONE target)
-ML2 replaces the original Multilock
==added the Black Widow test unit.
-The Widow is a cheaper, faster, more agile, but more fragile Mauler. At 15
scrap, and 1/4 the health, it's a kinda "Zergling" unit
=new Gnat "Valykrie" unit. This is Gray's new Gnat, has an awesome
chain gun for taking out assault vehicles.. uses FAFs effectively in dogfights.
=new load up screen! cool! plus new login screen thanks to Jabbapop.
=Blast Assault weapon has a slower velocity
=Stinger damage, speed increased
=Gun Spire attack speed doubled
=Gauss Assault gun greatly enhanced. Perfect weapon for backing up those Spires
with Gauss-equipped Guardians
=added Wall object for Scion Builder. Costs 20 scrap and has about 4000 health.
Face floor at different angles to place wall differently (only x-y axis, sorry!)
=Archer speed greatly increased. Cruise altitude lowered so you can hunt them
down with Vals/Rages from SATCOM.
V1.4 changes
==========
--many price changes. Modified battle tank prices are only about 15-20% higher
than stock prices. In previous versions, they were about 33% (not worth the
upgrade!)
--The Gnat has been returned to its original physics.
But the fighter has been renamed "Valkyrie" (after
the Robotoech/Macross anime fighters) and the weapons
have been changed to two assault chainguns and one
combat AP-STAB. I renamed it so Gray, creator of the
Gnat, would not be held responsible for BStrat's "Gnat"
--Valkyrie/Rage prices slashed. The AI seems
pretty capable of using them, so their prices are just
slightly higher than a combat tank's. However, their
modified prices are quite high (33%+).
--Razor given extra minigun. Price lowered to 12.
--Turret prices lowered to 12 & 13. Hopefully this will help counter the
ease at which a 'strike' can be done successfully. Battlestrat seems to favor
the attacker too much (AI has a hard time attacking other units that are moving,
but hitting a immobile target is no prob).
--Stock Rocket Tank no longer has Hornet equipped. Now uses Salvo.
V1.3 fixes
===========
--1.2's explosion physical effects were way too powerful. Fixed this. Plus now
the explosions damage you a lot more than they used to. You will lose 30% of
your health in a Scion Scout if you destroy something at point blank (and have
no shields). Deflection does the best at protecting you (lowers damage to about
5-10%)
V1.2 additions
==============
--enhanced explosions actually added in. shockwave tripled in strength
--new "Air Titan" (called Rage) for Scions. Physics modelled after
the Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship.
V1.1 additions
==============
--Got Novum's BZ2 Enhancement patch and applied "Battle Strat" to
it. Also added Gnat aircraft and Razor vehicle to the ISDF inventory. Novum's
patch readme is at the bottom of this page.
========================================================================
4.What's changed? (quick summary)
===============
--lowered vehicle prices (and halved build times)
--weakened armor on some vehicles
--modified scrap extraction/scrap holding/upgrade price, different for each
race
--enhanced vehicle explosions
--lowered Gun Spire/Tower prices
--Constructor/Builder can now be passed to teammates in MP games
What's changed? (long description!)
===============
--All the vehicle prices have been decreased (and halved build times)
I have tried to create a more balanced game through pricing as well. For example,
many people consider the Scion Scout to be better than the ISDF Scout. So, I
made the Scion Scout twice the price of the ISDF Scout (20 vs 10). I also thought
the Scion Sentry to be basically the same thing as the ISDF Scout, so I lowered
its price to 12. The ISDF Missile Scout is often seen as weaker than the Scion
Lancer, so the MScout is at 15 while the Lancer is at 20. The ISDF Sabre is
superior to the Warrior, in my view, when both are at standard builds. But I
think the Warrior takes the lead when it is modified. So the Sabre is more expensive
at standard load (20) than the Warrior (17), but when the Warrior is modified
(34), it is more expensive than a modified Sabre (30).
Also, the game has a much stronger emphasis on AI fighting. For this reason I made the Mortar Bike a pricey item at (25). I feel the Bike's AI/weapon combo make it much more powerful than a Scout, so I jacked up the price.
--Weak armor on many vehicles
I always thought the Scav was too hard to kill, so it's very fragile now, with
66% reduction in health points. They're at $10 now, so that's no biggie.
But remember: once the Scav turns into a extractor, it's armor increases dramatically.
The idea is that Scavs deploy some more durable armor once they transform and
"dig in" :) The Mortar Bike is also very fragile now. I hope the price
change AND armor reduction doesn't hurt the Bike too much. The Healers are now
weaker too. You can pop them pretty quickly now.
--Modified scrap extraction rates for both races
I decided to mess around with the scrap extraction rates, making the rates different
for each race.
Scion Extractors now extract $1 at 0.8 seconds, whereas the ISDF extracts $1 every 1 second. The idea here is that the Scions are more organic.. more familiar with "biometal". But when the Scions upgrade, they only drop an extra 0.2 seconds (0.6 rate), while an ISDF upgrade drops 0.6 (0.4 rate). The idea here is that the ISDF has more technology that can beat the Scions... just a higher price.
I don't know how well balanced this is into the game..i just think it's really weird and confusing, which means it is good :)
--Enhanced vehicle/bomb explosions (longer 'boom')
--Gun Spire cheaper, Gun Tower cheaper.
--Constructor/Builder can now be passed to teammates. Teammates can only
demolish stuff with them though.
=========================================================================
contact info....
Battle Strat and other mods/maps/stuff can be found at "Mr. Roboto", my webpage for BZ2.
http://www.yaysoft.com/ku/roboto/roboto.htm
NOVUM'S PATCH README
====================
The Battlezone II Unofficial Strategy/IA Enhancement Patch
By Novum (edward.pinniger@redhotant.com)
This is an unofficial patch for Battlezone II designed to enhance multiplayer
strategy and single-player Instant Action
games. It enables various weapons/units previously only available in multiplayer
deathmatch games, changes the cost and
stats of some units and weapons for improved balancing and gameplay, and adds
various other tweaks, small bugfixes and additional features.
It aims to make strategy games of BZ2 more balanced, varied and interesting,
and encourage use of different weapon and unit
types.
This patch requires the current official patch (1.2) to be installed in order
to function properly.
Note that this patch is NOT designed for deathmatch games. As it changes the
balancing of quite a few weapons (Flash Cannon
is weaker, Rocket Bombs use more ammo, for example), it may unbalance deathmatch
games somewhat. However, it doesn't change the stats of any deathmatch vehicles,
as these use different ODF files to the standard ones.
Also note that if you want to play this patch over the Internet, both players
must have it installed on their computer, otherwise you will get "bad assets"
errors.
This patch is compatible with any other third-party mods that add new vehicles or weapons, but do not modify the existing ones. For example, the Dragon Mod, or Grizely1's weapon pack.
To install the patch simply unzip into your Battlezone 2 directory.
To uninstall it, delete the bz2enhancements.pak file from your Battlezone 2
directory.
These are the current features of the patch:
- New units and weapons. Most of these were previously available in deathmatch,
CTF, etc. games, but the patch
enables them to be used in strategy and Instant Action games. The new weapons
can either be built by the Armoury/Stronghold or fitted to units with the Factory/Forge
customisation screen.
UNITS:
Interceptor (ISDF)
Costs 70 scrap standard, 90 modified
Built by Factory, requires Tech Centre, Armoury and Relay Bunker
Hardpoints: 2 Rocket (C),1 Mortar, 1 Special. Default: Rocket Bomb,Mortar,Prox
Mine
The Interceptor is a hover vehicle midway in power and stats between the Rocket
Tank and Bomber in Battlezone 1.
It is a useful alternative to the Tank, and is quite useful for destroying turrets
when equipped with rocket bombs.
Fury (Scion)
Costs 120 scrap standard, 150 modified
Built by Forge, requires Overseer Array, Stronghold and Dower
Hardpoints: 2 Cannon (C), 1 Rocket (A),1 Shield. Default: Arc Cannon, WASP,
Stasis Shield
If you've played the single-player missions in Battlezone 1, you've probably
encountered these! Extremely fast
and well-armed, they are ideal for hit-and-run missions or surprise attacks.
They usually move about by flying
up to a great height and then descending on their target position, which allows
them to bypass terrain obstacles
or defences easily. This makes them rather hard to pilot, although they can
also be driven about on the ground
like a regular vehicle. The drawbacks of Furies are that they are EXTREMELY
expensive (a customised Fury requires
5 deployed scavengers simply to store the scrap needed to build it!) and not
particularly tough, although they can
be equipped with shields. Default Furies are fitted with a special rocket weapon,
the WASP, not available on any other
units. It is similar in behaviour to the assault-mode multilock missile, but
more powerful.
Heavy Gun Tower (ISDF Building)
Costs 120 scrap.
Built by Constructor, requires Relay Bunker, Armoury and Tech Centre.
Hardpoints: 1 Cannon (A). Default: Blast Cannon.
The Heavy Gun Tower is a well-armoured structure armed with a very powerful
and accurate assault-mode Blast Cannon. It's ideal for dealing with heavier
attackers such as Assault Tanks, but due to its long reload time is less effective
against faster units.
WEAPONS:
Flash Beam/Flash Burst (Scion)
Cannon
Requires Stronghold, Dower and Overseer
This is a medium-ranged continuous-fire orange laser beam. It is not particularly
powerful, but is very
ammo-economical and its instantaneous, continuous-firing nature make it useful
against faster enemy vehicles.
The assault mode is the Flash Burst, which fires several beams simultaneously
for several seconds, and takes
a while to recharge between bursts.
Rocket Bomb/Heavy Rocket (ISDF)
Rocket
Requires Armoury and Tech Centre
Very similar to the rockets carried by bombers in Battlezone 1, the rocket bomb
is a powerful but completely unguided
long-range rocket weapon. It is useful against turrets and large vehicles such
as walkers and assault tanks. The assault
mode (only available on Rocket Tanks) is extremely powerful, but slow-moving.
Sandbag Missile/Sandbag II (Scion)
Rocket
Requires Stronghold
Another weapon which Battlezone 1 players will probably remember, the Sandbag
Missile is essentially a missile version
of the EMP Lockdown weapon. The missiles do no damage but slow down the target
unit considerably. The assault mode fires
rockets which travel much more slowly, but slow down the target for a considerably
longer period of time.
Flamethrower (ISDF)
Gun
Requires Armoury and Tech Centre
The flamethrower is a powerful but short-ranged (50m) gun. It is quite effective
against units with light or no armour, but generally not much use against heavily-armoured
units (although the assault mode, on turrets, is somewhat better against heavy
armour than the combat mode). Flamethrower turrets can be very useful as short-range
defence for recyclers, etc., but definitely need a Service Truck or two to keep
them supplied with ammo!
Neutron Gun (Scion)
Gun
Requires Dower
The Neutron Gun is the earlier model of the Ion Gun,also found in the BZ2 demo
and on some of the Scion Sentries on Pluto in the single-player missions. Whilst
not quite as efficient or rapid-firing as the Ion Gun it does quite a bit more
damage (especially vs. armoured units) and the assault mode has a considerably
longer range. A useful alternative to the Ion Gun in the early game.
JAX (Scion)
Special
Requires Stronghold and Antenna
A strange defensive countermeasure weapon, this rapidly drops bouncing green
spheres behind your vehicle, which explode after a while, or when they hit an
enemy vehicle.
Shotgun/Plasma Rifle (ISDF)
Pilot Weapon
Requires Training Centre, Armoury and Tech Centre
This is a useful alternative to the Bazooka as an upgraded pilot weapon. The
standard mode is a shotgun, similar to a
weaker version of the Pummel vehicle weapon. The secondary mode is a rapid-fire
mini plasma cannon, about as powerful
as a Chaingun. As with the other pilot weapon secondary modes, it can only be
fired when stationary.
Satchel Charge (ISDF/Scion)
Pilot Pack
Requires Training Centre and Tech Centre
This weapon is encountered in some of the single-player missions. It is a powerful
explosive charge (about 75% as powerful
as the bombs dropped by the Bomber), which can be placed on the ground or on/in
an enemy building, and will then detonate
after a 30-second countdown (during which you'd be advised to get as far away
as possible!) You can only carry one Satchel Charge at a time. As with all pilot
packs it is activated by pressing the C (deploy) key.
Other significant changes in the patch:
- Recyclers have increased hit points (150% ISDF, 200% Scion), and regenerate
hit points slowly. This makes them less
vulnerable to early rushes.
- AI units have greatly increased engagement ranges, and are far more aggressive
(no more sitting there dumbly whilst
you bombard them with plasma and mortars!).
- Turrets now cost 30 scrap standard, 35 modified. This makes defending against early rushes much easier.
- Scouts now cost 30 scrap standard, 40 modified (Scion 35/45), and are far
more useful in the mid/late stages of the
game.
- ISDF Missile Scouts now have light armour, and so are now quite a bit more useful; they are now midway in firepower and cost between Scouts and Tanks and make useful "light tank" units in the mid/early stages of the game.
- A number of previously unused unit speech samples are now used, for example,
Service Trucks/Healers now say "Repair
engaged" when asked to repair something, and the ISDF Recycler building
now says "Yes sir" when
selected (or "Building" if it's building something).
- Many new sounds. All of these have been created by me by modifying sounds taken from sound library CDs and the Internet. None of them are taken from other games.
- All ISDF vehicles now have their proper names, such as the Avenger, Sabre, etc. rather than being called "Tank", "Missile Scout","Walker",etc.
Other miscellaneous small additions, tweaks and fixes:
- All units cost more, and generally take longer, to build when modified
- Scion Sentries now cost 45 scrap unmodified, 50 modified
- ISDF Plasma Cannon now requires a Tech Centre
- Blast Cannon is considerably more powerful
- Scion Guardians and Maulers regenerate health (slowly)
- The Assault-mode AT/SP/PL Stabbers and Chaingun are more powerful
- Comet Cruise missiles are longer-ranged and more powerful. They also have
their own engine sound, rather than using
the Scion Wasp sound. Also fixed the bug with the Comet's explosion (typo in
.ODF file) which prevented its explosion shockwave from appearing.
- Wasp missiles have slightly more hit points, inflict more damage when exploding,
and have a new explosion effect
- Splinter mortar now requires a Tech Centre and is more effective against non-
and light- armoured units, but is still
ineffective against units with heavy armour
- Fire and Forget missiles have a slightly longer range.
- Pummel Gun fires alternately, rather than firing both guns simultaneously
- Gauss Gun is more powerful
- MAG Cannon uses less ammo
- Static Charge uses much less ammo
- Blink uses more ammo
- Hornet Rocket has its own firing sound, rather than using the FAF Missile
sound
- ISDF Plasma has its own ground impact sounds, and creates more splash damage
in assault mode than combat mode
- SP-Stabber has its own vehicle impact sound
- Assault mode Minigun (on turrets) has its own fire sound
- Armouries/Strongholds can build repair and ammo packs
- Scion vehicles can be equipped with proximity mines in the Forge/Kiln customisation
screen
- Scavenger vehicles now have an "isAssault=1" flag, so Scion vehicles
will use assault mode to attack them
- ISDF Assault Tank now has a cockpit
- ISDF Walker has around 25% more hitpoints and twice as much ammo, and costs
120 scrap when modified, rather than 105
- ISDF Rocket Tank has the Hornet rocket as default in its assault hardpoint,
and costs 5 more scrap in its standard configuration.
- ISDF APC has heavy armour and costs 10 more scrap
- Scion Archer is somewhat faster and costs 60 scrap (not 65) in its standard
configuration
- Upgraded extractors now have ambient sounds
- Buildings make a much louder sound when destroyed
- ISDF Tugs now cost the same as Scion ones, 30 scrap rather than 45
- ISDF Service Trucks use the correct repair sound (iserv03.wav rather than
mnu_empt.wav)
- Scion solar flare powerups no longer cost 1 scrap (they now cost 20, as do
ISDF ones)
- Modified empty scouts cost 35 scrap, not 60
- Scion pulse rifle is now called the Ion Rifle, and has new sounds
- Scion "bazooka" is now called the Plasma Shotgun/Seeker Launcher,
and has new sounds
- Satchel charges now make a louder explosion sound when they detonate
- Deployed Scion Matriarch is now called "Matriarch" rather than "Recycler"
- and any other changes which I forgot.
5.Contact info
==============
email: jerryku@houston.rr.com
web: www.yaysoft.com (MR. ROBOTO!)