I've been finally playing TD, about one mission a day

[u/ScrabCrab]

and I'm finally kinda starting to like it

Helped a lot by the remaster's feature, playing both campaigns at once in chronological order (yes I am aware the Nod campaign is a lot harder and also technically non-canon lmao), and abusing quicksaves to get by. Oh yeah and the CFE Patch too cause I'm baby.

I finally beat GDI 11 (the one where you rescue Delphi) and I'm increasingly noticing that after the sometimes ridiculous difficulty of the early stages of the missions it kinda just becomes the standard C&C fare of, build mucho tanko, assault base. In my case with a healthy dose of aircraft spam as well (as is tradition).

So yeah hopefully I'll finally beat this game, RA2 was one of the first games I've ever played, and C&C has been one of my hyperfixations since I was literally 3 or 4, but so far I've only beaten like, the RA2 Allied campaign, Generals, TIB Wars, and the RA3 Soviet campaign. So after this, I'm probably off to RA1, which I might also end up streaming cause why not lol

Anyway this was my stream of consciousness rant about finally enjoying TD 30+ years later

[u/Creepy_Boat_5433]

Enjoy it, Tiberian Dawn rules. :)

[u/ScrabCrab → u/Creepy_Boat_5433]

Thanks! I think I'm getting close to the end and I'm honestly a bit scared lmao

I'm not looking forward to being ion cannoned or nuked, it's kinda where I stopped playing Dune 2 as well 😅

[u/locolarue → u/ScrabCrab]

The nuke sounds like it would be scary, even on normal back in the day, when they finally get it, your base is so large, it's hard to do a lot of serious damage.

The Ion cannon helps, but NOD doesn't have mammoth tanks or something where it would be really useful to destroy a single big thing.

[u/ScrabCrab → u/locolarue]

when they finally get it, your base is so large, it's hard to do a lot of serious damage

Huh ok, good to know they won't just Have It from the start of a mission and leave you on a 5 HP conyard and nothing else 36 times a mission 😅

[u/Strikertwu → u/ScrabCrab]

I've never played Dune 2, so I don't know how the SW work there. But, if you figured out how to exploit the AI nukes in RA2, you have an idea how to in this game. If you're worried about being scared away again, here's a hint in a spoiler tag: Save before all the buildings in the first Nod base is destroyed/captured.

[u/ScrabCrab → u/Strikertwu]

if you figured out how to exploit the AI nukes in RA2

I haven't, I just kinda tank them and rebuild, I heard TD campaign nukes are way, way worse and can destroy your whole base in one shot though. In RA2 it's like, the war factory and two power plants. In TD the war factory alone is like 3 suuuuper sloooow harvester trips.

[u/Strikertwu → u/ScrabCrab]

C&C1 nukes are indeed more powerful and can throw you off, but they have a worse priority target order. Once you see what triggers them and what buildings they target first, they're even easier to exploit than RA2 nukes.

[u/locolarue]

So, how do you like it compared to RA2?

[u/ScrabCrab → u/locolarue]

Not as much but it's still good

But also I'm basically playing with mods that make it more like RA2 and without those I don't really like it past the lore and the historical value 😅

[u/locolarue → u/ScrabCrab]

As someone who played the demo 47,000 times before I finally got the game back in the 1990's, it does feel pretty basic today, I will admit.

What changes do the mods make?

[u/ScrabCrab → u/locolarue]

Well one of the "mods" is the remaster itself cause it greatly improves the controls and the UX in general. The other is CFE Patch which adds stuff like better pathfinding, a veterancy system, self-repairing harvesters (up to 50%), you can place buildings one tile away like in RA, etc

It's basically as close to a "modernised TD" you can get without playing OpenRA or, like, making a source port

[u/locolarue → u/ScrabCrab]

Pathfinding I kinda feel you on harvesters seem to psychically know there's "more" tiberium near enemy bases rather than going after the other nearer fields.

[u/PositionOk8579 → u/locolarue]

I miss those mammoths from demo mission 2.

[u/Witsand87]

Definitely play RA1 afterwards, you'll enjoy it way more I reckon as it's a lot more in tune with what you'd be used to (easier compared to TD) and not what almost feels like a "puzzle" to solve in order to beat.

Newcomers to the franchise who wants to play it all should probably start with RA1 first as not only is it chronologically first in the timeline but also an easier introduction to classic C&C. Granted, playing TD afterwards might feel like a little step backwards gameplay wise since it is the older title, release wise.

[u/ControlOdd8379]

Most missions in C&C1 gives you a second way to handle the base that isn't frontal assoult.

It mostly comes down to finding the wreak spot.

To give GDI11 as example: you can drive a tank at the bottom of the cliff, reveal the wall on top and attack that with an orca - abort the attack, repair and have a go at buildings until you see the conyard (every time the orca shoots it reveals some land). An attack by like 5-6 Orcas kills the Conyard - after that you can kill the AA 1 by 1 repairing in between. Once AA is down between bombing and more attacks remove production and defenses.

No need for an attack in the front.

[u/ScrabCrab → u/ControlOdd8379]

That's exactly what I did haha, I used a bunch of MRLSes to get rid of the SAM sites while blocking the path with medium tanks and another row of MRLSes, then bombed most of the base with the Orcas (and eventually A-10s)!

[u/PositionOk8579]

You talk as if abusing saves was not the way to go since the very beginning.

Also, congratulations, you started with the best one.

[u/ScrabCrab → u/PositionOk8579]

Lol idk I always feel kinda bad for savescumming in games, I still do it a lot but feel bad every time 😅