Firestorm 1.8 Update news

Hello everyone! Sorry for the extremely long wait, I have been busy with IRL, and only modding here and there in my free time. Though, I think you guys might like the significant changes from the previous 1.7 version.

Starting off, almost everything in the mod has been tweaked and edited, the mod comes with many new maps, new units, a few new structures, and some new abilities and powers. The balance has been massively tweaked from 1.7, and many bugfixes and polishes have been made, with a very huge changelog if anyone wants to look into the details of what has changed when the next version releases.

Special thanks and credits go to many people who have helped me make this version (either directly or indirectly like providing public assets or modding help):

• -- Carnius: Owner of Tiberium Essence Mod (Tiberium Essence Mod)
• -- Stygs: Owner of Tiberium Wars Advanced Mod (Tiberium Wars Advanced Mod)
• -- Masterleaf: Owner of KW 4k patch, KW R19+R20 patch, and a pro KW player (Masterleaf's Youtube)
• -- theHostileNegotiator: Owner of Kane's Wrath Bandage mod ( Kane's Wrath Bandage Mod) / GitHub: (Kane's Wrath Bandage Github)
• -- Kella_(Verhoatzer)/Predatore/Mac/CSC/Christopher Kurtz and The Spiral Studios/Reymama/M3tro/Lukasvot (Who converted some KW maps to TW)/Joseph Visscher/Eclipso (These guys are map makers)
• -- Darth Jane: Owner of WrathED and a few other tools that massively helped the modding community (Darth Jane's Github)
• -- CGF123: Owner of KW 1.03 patch and previous versions of 1.02+ patch up to R18, and also owns Command Post (Command Post)
• -- Mjjstral: Owner of Sage Meta Tool: (Sage Meta Tool)

So we have a TON of new maps that are now included in the mod, some are newly created, while some already existed for quite some time on cncLabs or moddb by known authors:

Symmetrical Maps:

• 2 Players:
  1. [FS] Battlebase
  2. [FS] Desert Storm
  3. [FS] Infested Rift
  4. [FS] Smashed Decision
  5. [FS] Snowplow
  6. [FS] Tournament Airstrip
  7. [FS] Tournament Stadium
  8. [FS] Tournament Odyssey
  9. [FS] Tournament Underground
  10. [FS] Twisted Arena
  11. [FS] Twisted Tunnels
• 3 Players:
  1. [FS] The Pit
• 4 Players:
  1. [FS] Asteroid Outpost
  2. [FS] BlueZone Battle
  3. [FS] Blasted Rock
  4. [FS] Fields Of Isis
  5. [FS] Hurricane Lands
  6. [FS] River Oasis
  7. [FS] Tournament Arena 2v2
  8. [FS] Tunnel Turmoil
  9. [FS] Unfriendly Skies
  10. [FS] Wasteland Dam
  11. [FS] YellowZone Carnage
• 6 Players:
  1. [FS] Brimstone Flower
  2. [FS] Dire Retribution
  3. [FS] Hostile Dawn
  4. [FS] Mountain Pass
  5. [FS] Tiberian Gardens VI
• 8 Players:
  1. [FS] Fields of Fury
  2. [FS] Nod's Gardens
  3. [FS] Tiberian Gardens VIII
  4. [FS] All That Glitters

The minimaps for the symmetrical maps are represented here:

Asymmetrical Maps:

• 2 Players:
  1. [FS] Divided Haven
• 4 Players:
  1. [FS] Forsaken Sands Of Tiberium
  2. [FS] Golden Oasis
  3. [FS] Grassy Knoll
  4. [FS] Jaded Serenity
  5. [FS] Limited Access
• 5 Players:
  1. [FS] Tiberian Gardens V
  2. [FS] Unfair Advantage 2v3
• 6 Players:
  1. [FS] Beachhead II
  2. [FS] Cityscape II
  3. [FS] Night Of The Mutants
  4. [FS] Pockets II
  5. [FS] Scorpion Canyon
• 8 Players:
  1. [FS] A Path Beyond
  2. [FS] Forest Fires
  3. [FS] Lacuna River

The minimaps for the Asymmetrical maps are represented here:

Now onto the new content:

So every faction has received new units, 7 new units each faction, and a new unit in the Mutant Hovel. In addition, 2 new neutral structures:

Starting with the neutral structures:

There are 2 new neutral structures, an Observation Post, and a Dropship Bay

The Observation Post acts similar to the RA3 Observation Post which when captured, reveals the fog in a huge distance, and also detects stealth in a huge area around itself.

The Dropship Bay is the main hub for the new units in the mod! When captured, depending on the type of engineer that captured the building, will unlock the respective units. (Even if you are playing as GDI and get your hands on a Nod Saboteur, the Dropship Bay's unit queue will be of Nod units)

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Now moving on to the units themselves!

GDI:

• Starting with infantry, Jetpack Troopers have made a comeback, same with the original EA Commando, and a new unit: Zone Defenders!
  • Jetpack Troopers: Now a tier 1 unit, and is not as tanky as it used to be. However, it is still armed with a really powerful machine gun and is a bit cheaper.
  • Zone Defenders: They are like Zone Troopers in terms of toughness and are a tier 3 unit, however, they are armed with a long-range sonic cannon, good vs Infantry and Vehicles.
  • The Commando is a special unit, armed with a gun that instantly kills most infantry and a C4 charge designed to bomb structures and vehicles, instantly killing them.

• Onto vehicles, there are 4 new vehicles:
  • Titan MK1: They are the Titan walkers from KW, more expensive than Predator Tanks, but are deadlier. However, they don't shoot over structures like they do in KW.
  • Armadillo APC: Nod's Reckoner, GDI version. They are slower and tankier than the Reckoner pre-deploy, but when deployed their armor bonus is much lower than the Reckoner's. However, they have a powerful machine gun armament and support 3 infantry slots.
  • Disruptor: Tiberian Sun fans you might like this one. The Disruptor is a vehicle with a really powerful sonic cannon that can decimate Tiberium Crystals, and anything caught in its constant beam will suffer massive damage. It is however only meant to be used vs. Infantry and Structures here.

GDI also received a replacement for their Bloodhounds support power, now instead of calling into the battlefield 2 Falcons and 2 Wolverines, they will now call in Paladin Tanks! Paladin Tanks are Predator Tanks that are armed with a machine gun instead of a rocket pod.

As for aircraft, there aren't any new aircraft units, but the Orca Rig has been moved to the Dropship Bay from the Airfield.

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Onto Nod, they've also got new toys:

• For infantry, they have new cyborgs:
  • Decimator Cyborg: A tier 1 cyborg armed with missile launchers and a web launcher that stuns infantry that get caught in it
  • Obliterator Cyborg: Tier 3 cyborg comparable in strength to Reaper Cyborgs, cheaper, and armed with Tiberium plasma blasters similar to the Banshee. Nothing tops the Reaper Cyborg though, but these guys are no joke either.
  • Cyborg Hijacker: A cyborg that can infiltrate enemy vehicles, kill the crew of said vehicle, and steal them giving control to the owner of the cyborg. It is also equipped with a personal cloaking generator similar to the Cobra Commando.

• Onto vehicles, they have some vehicles reminiscent of Tiberian Sun:
  • Avenger Tank: Reminiscent of the Tiberian Sun Tick Tank, armed with a cannon turret, they can dig into a more armored unit. In this mode, they are the strongest tier 1 tank, even able to 1v1 a Titan MK.1 with ease. However, they lose all their mobility and are vulnerable when deploying and un-deploying.
  • Contaminator Tank: Similar to the Devil's Tongue, they can dig into the ground and emerge after traveling long distances underground. They are however not armed with flamethrowers but with Tiberium sprayers. This weapon is devastating to infantry turning them into Viceroids, it slows down vehicles, and can even heal cyborgs.
  • Spider Drone: Nod scientists have made a new version of the stealth tank: silent, light being able to hit and run, and are always stealthed. Armed with a laser cannon that deals massive damage, these units can be considered the next generation of stealth tanks. One weakness of these units is aircraft, as they can't shoot up.

In terms of aircraft, Nod has equipped their Venoms with rocket launchers, called Cobras. More expensive than a normal Venom, but is capable of dealing massive damage to armored targets.

Nod has also received a new support power: Phantom Army

3 Carryalls are called into the battlefield carrying 3 Veteran Stealth Tanks

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Time for the changes to the alien faction, they have a few unique and interesting units:

• For Infantry:
  • Terminators: Similar to Nod's Cyborg squads in terms of strength, these units can withstand a lot of firepower before they die. They are slow but are armed with a plasma gun that can shoot both ground and air.
  • Cultists: For anyone who has played against Traveler-59 in KW, these units are annoying to deal with, especially when moving extremely fast. Their strength is similar here, with the exception that their squad is formed of 4 members instead of 5 and they are a tiny bit more expensive to produce.
  • Seismic Troopers: Now this new type of infantry has a weapon that can make the ground tremble and shake under enemies like an earthquake, instantly killing most infantry units and dealing massive damage to vehicles and structures. However, they are slow and expensive.

• In terms of vehicles, Scrin's firepower is a force to be reckoned with:
  • Ichor Guardian: This tank is armed with a plasma blaster that can be further supercharged with Tiberium crystals similar to Devourer Tanks to deal massive damage to enemies. Strength is comparable to Predator Tanks but move much slower.
  • Ichor Irradiator: Red alert 2 players might recognize this one. A soviet infantry unit that was able to deploy creating a massive radiation field around it, instantly killing infantry and massively damaging vehicles, and is mainly a nightmare to allied players; the Desolator. Well, the Ichor Irradiator is reminiscent of the Desolator, being able to deploy a massive Ichor radiation field.
  • Reaver: As for the Reaver, it is a unit capable of shutting down any mechanical unit with its long-range EMP Laser. It is also capable of teleporting with Blink Packs.

In terms of aircraft, infantry transportation is now possible by air through Scourge Gunships

In terms of support powers, Power Signature Scan has been replaced with Spectral Scan. Similar to Power Signature Scan revealing enemy Power Plants, Spectral Scan reveals enemy and neutral tech structures!

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In the Mutant Hovel, Ghost Stalker has made an appearance! Available when building each faction's respective Tech Center

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That's most of the content covered! As I said at the start of the article, there are many more things to discover as you guys play! Enjoy! Again, the changelog is massive, if you guys want to have a read, it will be in the download when the next version releases!

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A few random screenshots:

EMP units and abilities are game changer units and abilities. The EMP Grenades upgrade and EMP Retrofitting upgrade (Renamed EMP Coils) are now available at tier 2, changing the game flow

The Nod Marauder that was added in 1.6 was a good unit but had massive balancing issues, which led me to bring back the normal buggy. The buggy however has a new model:

Nod Hand of Nod has a new look, and the Saboteur got a model change for his helmet, the color now changes with the player's color

Yes, as you have read before, the GDI Commando can blow up vehicles! Similarly, the Cobra Commando can now do that:

Decimator Cyborgs firing their webs at enemy GDI Riflemen

Contaminator Tanks spraying Liquid Tiberium over a building with one of them using its grinder ability

Seismic Troopers' attack (all 9 of them are firing in this image)

Ichor Irradiators in the back firing their normal attack, with the 2 at the front deploying a corrosive field

Showcasing the Reaver's EMP laser

Disruptor firing at a Tiberium Field:

Black Hand Squads now buffing nearby infantry!

Thanks to Masterleaf, GDI and Nod Harvesters Tiberium bars now display the color of the Tiberium crystal they harvested!

Grenadiers' grenades now bounce similar to Tiberian Sun Disc Throwers!: (Youtube video)

Purifiers and normal Venoms have received a new look when stealthed! In addition to showcasing the new Energy Shield upgrade on purifiers!: (Purifier Youtube Video) (Venom Youtube Video)

New ability for expansion units to repack!: (Youtube Video)

Scrin's new upgrade: Retribution Storm! (It doesn't affect Shock Troopers, but for demonstration, I added it to Shock Troopers in this video: (Youtube Video)

For Scrin, Repair drones have been completely removed since units now heal from Tiberium radiation and Tiberium crystals. So 2 changes have been made:

First is changing the Reconstruction Drones support power to a new power called Infestation Spore Pod:

The second is adding Tiberium Radiation to Power Plants!

Tier 1 vehicles for all factions can now enter the Subway Tunnels!

GDI Combat Engineer can now lay mines!

To end it all off, the AI has been tweaked massively with new names even! Nightmare personality as many people have requested, has been re-added similarly to the huge amount of starting credits going up to 1 million (similar to how it originally was in Tiberium Insanity)

This is the end of the article, but with all good news comes some bad news. In terms of mod stability, it might seem that I have reached the limit of what the TW engine can handle in terms of assets. While testing and playing, out-of-memory crashes have been appearing randomly despite the usage of the 4 GB patch. So, I advise that you don't panic if something like that happens and that despite these crashes if anyone faces them, you enjoy the mod. Good Luck Commander!

These crashes I guarantee I will work on fixing them soon.