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C&C Mode Guide [message #270427]

Tue, 03 July 2007 08:49

R3N3G1DE
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Registered: June 2007
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Renegade
C&C Mode Guide

Renegade is Westwood Studios' first foray into the FPS genre, and quite an entry it is. Among its many features comes its highly addictive C&C Mode, an objective driven multiplayer mode in which two teams, GDI vs. Nod, duke it out on the battlefield.

The reason for this guide is that in its simplicity this C&C Mode can be a bit overwhelming for first time players, especially those that are used to that gunz-a-bazing shoot-'em-up types of games. Renegade's C&C Mode demands, in addition to the 1337 shooting skillz required by any FPS, thought. This game is all about team work, and many gameplay features are set in order to ensure and to entice people to work as teams. So it's no longer a regular FPS, it is now a First Person Real-Time Strategic Shooter (catchy isn't it?).

Team Work, Team Work, Team Work

From experience, the teams that win C&C Mode games are those teams with the best team work; nothing beats team work except for better team work. I can't stress that enough, this game is all about team work, many of its features were set to emphasize the fact that it's all about team work (makes sense doesn't it, it is a C&C after all).

One such feature is vehicle jacking, very fun indeed, simply get close to an enemy vehicle, one that the other guy worked so hard to get killing your teammates left and right to get enough credits to buy a vehicle (well, it's not that hard, you also have the Harvester to get you money), and hijack it, cool right? Yes and no.

Sure it's cool when you go around stealing enemy vehicles and because you are not as 1337 as the people writing this thing you get blown right away and then you proceed to jack another enemy vehicle just to get blow again, but that's OK at the very least you are a pest driving the opposing team nuts (that's good too, mental warfare). But, it's not that cool when you are a pest on your own team, stealing vehicles from teammates, just cause you keep getting killed and can't manage your credits to buy your own vehicle. Or when you are an Engineer that bought a Mammoth Tank and go out of it to repair a teammate's vehicle and your tank got stolen by that lame pest from your own team.

You are now asking what makes that feature encourage team work (I'm psychic)?

Well, two things you should know. One, if you are a guy that has no skillz at all in FPS (or just suck at them) and you see yourself becoming a pest in the game, know this then, you can help your team tremendously by becoming an Engineer and help in repairing base structures or even go on the offensive and repair your teammate's vehicles when they are pummeling the other team, soon enough you will have enough money to upgrade to a Technician/Hotwire and do an even better job at repairing and contributing to your team. Two, if you are a guy that thinks that driving tanks is a cool feature (don't get me wrong here, it is) and you select an Engineer/Technician/Hotwire character and also buy yourself a Mammoth Tank just so you can exit it and repair it quickly, then I have news for you, don't start crying when your tank gets stolen, and it doesn't matter if it was by a teammate or not, you shouldn't have exited the vehicle in the first place, that is the whole point of teamwork here, you go pummel the enemy just ask some engineer to back you up.

I had a game in which I bought a Black Hand Stealth Trooper character and infiltrated the GDI base only to see the Engineer driver of a Mammoth Tank exiting his tank and going to repair two MRLS nearby, needless to say that Nod won that game, if only cause while in stealth mode I got into the empty Mammoth Tank and killed the whole GDI team several times over.

Another feature set to emphasize teamwork in Renegade's C&C Mode is the balance and map design, you see unlike in mundane FPS games, in Renegade you have to upgrade your characters using your money, each character has different skills and abilities (weapons) and you can't just collect different weapons from the ground and although there is server-side option that allows for weapons spawning, it still is a very limited feature that will not destroy the delicate RTS-like balance in C&C Mode.

Unlike in an RTS, where you always have the option of rushing a gazillion tanks at your opponent and have a pretty good chance of winning (unless you are playing against a semi good player in which case rushing won't work), here you can't rush, not with only 16 units against base defenses and another 16 units, I'll remind you that rushing is the use of one type of unit in a mass swarm against an enemy, and while it's a valid tactic in any war, it is never the best (it can get results but at what cost?).

A lot of thought went into the balance of C&C Mode, this is from someone who played through the beta testing and felt the changes in the balance as they were tweaked, the game really plays like a highly balanced RTS and the only thing that can break this balance is map design, well that and when you got awful players on one team and 1337 players on the other, different maps have different strategies and favor different sides, still it makes it that much more of a challenge.

I participated in many games that started out with the two teams running to a central place on the map (like near the Tiberium field in the Under map) with nothing but basic characters: standard Soldiers, Shotgun Troopers, Engineers, Grenadiers and Flamethrowers, just to get started and get some initial frags and subsequently some initial cash, these basic characters are well equipped either with mini-guns, shotguns or the default 12 shot silenced pistol, since this game uses a skeletal hit point system, like SoF, any gun can be deadly in the right hands, especially the 12 shot pistol, just aim at the head and you can kill him with 3 shots. Engineers can then proceed to sabotage buildings or even strap a C4 on some enemy infantry and detonate it when he is with his fellows.

It is also a good idea to make runs at the enemy Harvester, the Nod Stealth Tank, Flame Tank, Flamethrower Infantry and Chemical Warrior as well as the GDI MRLS, Mammoth Tank, Patch and Sydney are excellent for this dirty job

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Renegade
C&C Mode Guide

Nod Tactics

As in the original C&C (Tiberian Dawn for all your weird people...) Nod relies on finesse and speed to get the job done, and as such most of Nod tactics will consist of hit-and-run attacks and stealth/covert operations.

An often-used tactic with Nod is Engineer rushing. On certain kinds of maps, mostly maps that have large and unprotected base entrances, you will see people trying to rush Engineers, in the very first minutes of the game, to sabotage the enemy base, considering that a Nod Buggy only costs 300 credits they can easily sand several Engineers at once for a fast, and often-times suicide, sabotage run. Engineer rushes in most cases target the base's Power Plant, taking it out will result in doubling the cost of any purchase the enemy might want to make and will deactivate the base defenses.

However, as I said before, such rushing tactics will not work against a well organized team, and in such a case the Engineer rush will most likely result in the loss of points, credits and a vehicle or two, vehicles that the opposing team will be able to use to their advantage.

As previously stated, Nod rely on stealth and speed, such are their vehicles and characters.

Since all Nod vehicles are fast and relatively easy to maneuver, a great tactic is to have a one or two vehicles with Engineer support distract the defenders of the enemy base and its automatic defenses, and then have other faster moving and less detectable vehicles get in and destroy either the defense or the Power Plant. The logical choice for the distracting vehicles would be the Artillery, these have enough armor and excellent firepower to hold its ground for several minutes if backed up by Engineers, then you can have a few Stealth Tanks roll into the base, while the only thing that can detect them (except for players standing next to them), the Advanced Guard Tower, is busy with the an Artillery or two, and take out the Power Plant, odds are that the AGT will not be the only thing defending, most of the opposing team will probably be there helping to defend it. Although getting into the enemy base with Stealth Tanks can still be tricky, need to watch out and not to run over poor defenders, or they'll know you are coming, so instead of Stealth Tanks there is always the option of using the less detectable Black Hand Chameleon.

On the defensive side, it is always easy to defend a base with only on main entrance and base defenses as long as you keep those base defenses working, but what if it's a wide-open base? How to defend then? Even with automatic defenses it is easier to attack in a wide-open area, so in order to defend a base that is placed in a large open area you need to coordinate and allocate resources carefully, i.e. team work.

Basically, defending a wide-open area is not different than any regular grand scale battle that can happen on any other part of a Renegade C&C Mode map, so you should take the next tips as tactics for both base defense and large scale battles.

I'll repeat it once again, Nod have fast and stealthy easily maneuverable vehicles, so take advantage of this, there is no point in going head to head against a Mammoth Tank even when driving a Stealth Tank.

A great way of engaging the enemy with Nod is to have two or three Artilleries or Light Tanks positioned away from each other, preferably with Engineer support, this is what people often refer to as "Divide and Conquer," this works extremely well if you can have a Stealth Tank or two flank the enemy force while they aim at the separate targets. Also, Stealth Tanks can run over any Engineers or other supporting infantry that come with the attacking force with a nice touch of that not-so-important element we call surprise. In addition if you can spot an enemy Sniper, the best way to take him out is by Stealth, either the tank or the soldier, although it's riskier with the soldier.

It's also a good idea to have a Sniper hiding somewhere to take out enemy infantry that tag along, like Engineers, Snipers, anti-vehicle personnel etc.

Flame and Chem. Troopers are great against vehicles, so having them close to the front lines is a good idea, not to mention the fact that since the Chemical Warrior receives no damage in Tiberium fields he is great at destroying Harvesters, just place a C4 and whatever is left finish off with the Chemical Spray.

The Nod Black Hand Chameleon is a great recon and sabotage tool, it is not a good idea to use him in head on fights against other infantry or vehicles (though he can inflict lots of damage on slow moving vehicles), the best way to use him is to sneak into enemy bases and sabotage buildings or even placing the Nuke Strike beacon (it's easier when the AGT is down/busy).

One of the most interesting things to do with the Chameleon is to get as close as possible to stationary or slow moving vehicles and placing C4s on them, it is really fun when you see a MRLS standing there waiting for your Harvester to arrive so it can destroy it, and then moving quickly behind that MRLS undetected and placing a C4 charge on it that will cripple it and allow you to finish it off with some blasts from your Laser Rifle.

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Renegade
C&C Mode Guide

GDI Tactics

Unlike Nod, GDI relies on heavy, slow moving beasts like the Mammoth Tank, a giant with twin barrels and two rocket launchers mounted on top.

GDI tactics are simpler and more to the point then the Nod tactics, all you need to do is to have your vehicles come with Engineers in to every battle, just make sure that the Engineers are protected from sniper fire while they repair the vehicles, it's that simple.

However, GDI also enjoy some great infantry units in their arsenal, ones that can really change the tide. Two such units are Patch and Sydney; these two have Tiberium based rifles (Tiberium Flechette Rifle and Tiberium Auto Rifle), these weapons are great against vehicles yet still precise enough to use against infantry, they can really do some damage, and they can also easily detect stealth units, so that is a definite bonus.

Another good character is a basic one; the counter part of the Nod Flame Trooper, the GDI Grenadier, this guy has a great range, yet not that great an aim since the launcher fires grenades in an arc so you actually need a good special view to hit something, but the nice splash damage makes up for it when fighting off a hoard of foot soldiers.

Again, unlike Nod, GDI tactics will not necessarily include cutting the base power in order to get rid of the base defenses, GDI can do it head on if the team itself isn't defending well enough.

Just get a Mammoth Tank to draw fire, with a Hotwire or two to repair it, and ride the faster Medium Tank into the base shooting the Obelisk of Light, obviously with a half decent team on the other side will not work well, since the Medium Tank is quite a large and easy target for anti-armor fire, that's why it's a good idea for the driver of the tank to be an Engineer or a Hotwire, then they can get close enough to the Obelisk to get into it as soon as the tank is destroyed and place some C4s on the Master Control Terminal.

It can't hurt to have other units attacking at multiple fronts while you try to disable the main base defense, maybe a MRLS (maybe two) shooting at random targets, since it has a nice fire rate and can disperse a barrage of 6 missiles at different targets at once.

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Renegade
C&C Mode Guide

Special Infantry Units

There are four special, costly and strong, infantry units in the game that simply cannot go on the offensive, at least not as the main weapon of such an offense, these four are Nod's Raveshaw and Mendoza and GDI's Prototype Assault Suite Sydney and Dr. Mobius.

Raveshaw (Laser Rail Gun) and Prototype Assault Suite Sydney (Personal Ion Cannon) can do a lot of damage with their weapons; they can kill infantry in one shot (even lines of infantry, if you can get them in a straight line) and inflict lots of damage on vehicles in each shot, but their fire rate, recharge after every shot, makes them a bit defenseless against even the weakest characters, that's why these units are best used as base defenders and as support forces to vehicles. Never should they enter a battle first.

Mendoza and Dr. Mobius both carry a Volt Auto Rifle, this little weapon is great, it has an excellent fire rate and it is almost equally harmful against both infantry and vehicles, its range is not bad either. These two characters are excellent for supporting attacking vehicle forces, cause they can pretty much handle anything that comes their way. But, while they aren't as defenseless as the first two, they still should not go on the offensive alone or even first, cause it will just be a waste of money if they get picked by a sniper before they can even do anything.

These other four characters are excellent at what they do; I am of course talking about the snipers. There are basically two sniper rifles in Renegade, the regular Sniper Rifle carried by GDI's Deadeye and Nod Black Hand Sniper and the Ramjet Rifle, a jet powered sniper rifle that inflicts some heavy damage, carried by GDI' Havoc and Nod's Sakura.

The regular Sniper Rifle is just a plain sniper rifle, a great weapon against infantry of all kinds, one headshot and your dead; you need skillz to handle a sniper rifle though. Now the Ramjet, that's a different story, in addition for it being able to cut infantry like grass (yes, you can even kill several infantries in one shot if they all stand in a straight line just for you) this sniper rifle damages armor as well, in fact if you can get two or three Havocs/Sakuras on one side of the map and they can all see an incoming vehicle on the other side of that map, they can take it out before it even reaches them.

Don't worry though, to balance the Ramjet Rifle, the design team added a trail visual that will make hiding for Ramjet Snipers that much harder, since the enemy will be able to track that trail back to its source, divulging the position of the sniper.

Finally, The End

Renegade's C&C Mode is all about the team work and going solo in C&C Mode is never the best idea or tactic (I think I said that already). Just play for the team. This C&C Mode is a lot of fun, especially if you realize that it's about the team and not personal frag count, although that helps as well.

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