Sorting the
build options
This topic is about what you might fix with the original build options, not how
to actually do the sorting. To learn more about how to sort, check out the 'Cameo
Sorting' topic at modenc.
Original order of
build options:
Building:
Power Plant
Refinery
Barracks
War Factory
Air Force Cmd.
Naval Yard
Service Depot
Battle Lab
Robot Control
Ore Purifier |
Tech Level:
1
1
2
2
3
4
6
8
10
10 |
Cost:
800
2000
500
2000
1000
1000
800
2000
600
2500 |
Building:
Tesla Reactor
Refinery
Barracks
Naval Yard
War Factory
Radar Tower
Service Depot
Battle Lab
Nuclear Reactor
Industrial Plant |
Tech Level:
1
1
2
2
2
3
6
7
9
10 |
Cost:
600
2000
500
1000
2000
1000
800
2000
1000
2500 |
Building:
Bio Reactor
Slave Miner
Barracks
War Factory
Psychic Radar
Naval Yard
Battle Lab
Grinder
|
Tech Level:
1
1
2
2
3
4
8
9
|
Cost:
600
1750
500
2000
1000
1000
2000
600
|
From the table it
is clear to see that the Soviet Naval Yard has been given the wrong TechLevel.
That is why, as part of the core fixes, we changed the Soviet Naval Yard's TechLevel
to 4.
It also seems that the Soviet Battle Lab should have a TechLevel
of 8, not 7, but this doesn't seem to make any difference so why worry?
In Red Alert 2, the Cloning Vats appeared on the structures menu. In Yuri's
Revenge it was moved to the armory menu.
Why?
By removing it from the structures menu, all three sides have an even number of
build options.
So? What does that matter?
Let's see shall we...
Note: For this example, I'll assume that we have already changed the Soviet
Naval Yard's TechLevel.
Step 1.
We are Allied. We've built everything Allied.
We get a Soviet MCV. We build everything Soviet.
How does the structures menu look?
Power Plant |
Refinery |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
Air
Force Command |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Robot
Control |
Ore
Purifier |
Tesla
Reactor |
Refinery |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
Radar
Tower |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Nuclear
Reactor |
Industrial
Plant |
Looks pretty neat
doesn't it?
But if Allied had an odd number of structures then it would mess up the nice
symmetry.
So there IS a reason why the Cloning Vats was moved - so that Yuri could have an
even number of build options in the structures menu.
However, there are several problems with this idea of symmetry in the menu as we
shall see...
Step 2.
We get a Yuri MCV. We build everything Yuri.
How does the structures menu look now?
Power Plant |
Refinery |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
Air
Force Command |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Robot
Control |
Ore
Purifier |
Tesla
Reactor |
Bio
Reactor |
Refinery |
Slave
Miner |
Barracks |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
War
Factory |
Radar
Tower |
Psychic
Radar |
Naval
Yard |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Battle
Lab |
Grinder |
Nuclear
Reactor |
Industrial
Plant |
Oh dear. Looks
like another mistake.
The Grinder should really appear earlier, in-line with the Service Depot.
So we should set the TechLevel
of the Grinder to 6 (NOT part of the core fixes).
How does the menu look now?
Power Plant |
Refinery |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
Air
Force Command |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Robot
Control |
Ore
Purifier |
Tesla
Reactor |
Bio
Reactor |
Refinery |
Slave
Miner |
Barracks |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
War
Factory |
Radar
Tower |
Psychic
Radar |
Naval
Yard |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Grinder |
Battle
Lab |
Battle
Lab |
Nuclear
Reactor |
Industrial
Plant |
Not bad.
Step 3.
Now we're going to see what the menu would look like if you originally chose to
be Soviet.
Tesla
Reactor |
Refinery |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
Radar
Tower |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Nuclear
Reactor |
Industrial
Plant |
Power
Plant |
Bio
Reactor |
Refinery |
Slave
Miner |
Barracks |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
War
Factory |
Air
Force Command |
Psychic
Radar |
Naval
Yard |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Grinder |
Battle
Lab |
Battle
Lab |
Robot
Control |
Ore
Purifier |
Not bad.
Step 4.
Now we're going to see what the menu would look like if you originally chose to
be Yuri.
Bio
Reactor |
Slave
Miner |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
Psychic
Radar |
Naval
Yard |
Grinder |
Battle
Lab |
Power
Plant |
Tesla
Reactor |
Refinery |
Refinery |
Barracks |
Barracks |
War
Factory |
War
Factory |
Air
Force Command |
Radar
Tower |
Naval
Yard |
Naval
Yard |
Service
Depot |
Service
Depot |
Battle
Lab |
Battle
Lab |
Nuclear
Reactor |
Robot
Control |
Ore
Purifier |
Industrial
Plant |
Oh dear. D'ya know
what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that at some point during the production of
Yuri's Revenge they just stopped caring.
If they wanted the order to be right, they would not have allowed the 'other'
two sides' structures to be mixed together at all.
Before we try to fix things any further, we should consider something else:
What if you're on a map where there's no water and the Naval Yards have been
disabled?
Answer: The whole symmetry falls apart.
Solutions?
1. Make Naval Yards completely unavailable, make lots of other building changes
to make sure there are an even number of build options (Yuri's Cloning Vats
could be moved back to structures, Allied and Soviet would each need a building
added or removed).
2. Provide in your mod a modified copy of all the necessary official maps to
allow the building of Naval Yards even when there's no water.
3. Prevent player's from gaining access to other sides' build options.
4. Sod it. The build options are going to be disorganised.
Personally, I think #4 is your best option.
You may wish to reorder some of the buildings (such as the Cloning Vats, Grinder
and Robot Control) but that's entirely up to you.
I'm not even going to bother looking at the armory menu because there's super
weapons to consider, Allied have one less defense but two 'special-function'
buildings, if you're France you get the Grand Cannon, it's a total nightmare.
I don't think the armory menu places your own side's build options first - I
think they're mixed up just like they are for Infantry and Vehicles. I'm not
sure about that without loading the game up to check.
And all of the above is without any of your own building additions.
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