C&C Generals: Rise of the Reds 1.85

[Anonymous]

Rise of the Reds is, as far as I can see, the most actively developed mod right now, so unlike Contra and Shockwave it’s a lot easier to find videos with it. Still, I’d love to share such a good mod with the entire world.

Snipped from my review at Moddb:

Rather than having 12 fractions with a lot of similarities, there are now five radically different fractions. Unlike ZH, there are no one-trick ponies among them. All have some basic cornerstones in their army, but they all feel like unique variants. Ex: All have APCs (BMP, Lynx, Humvee, Troop Crawler, Technical), MBTs (Kodiak, Leopard, Crusader, Battlemaster, Scorpion), Tier 1 AA, Tier 2 AA, and at least two types of artillery.

In addition to the basic cornerstones, each of the fractions adds a lot of specialized units and buildings fitting their theme. For example, Russia have the MTP Recovery Vehicle which can recover destroyed allied vehicles. GLA, on the other hand, has the Recycler which can use destroyed *enemy* vehicles to upgrade itself and its allies, with two unique upgrades for each fraction they salvage from. ECU can build a solar plant supplying 1 000 000 units of energy, but can never have more than one.

All the unique differences really make the fractions feel radically different. This breathes a of fresh air into a pretty old game, and gives the potentially a lot of longevity.

Stealth is also re-hauled; very few units/defenses can detect stealth. This is a good change, in my book.

Do I have any complains so far? Not really. I have not played long enough to detect any problems yet. I miss the unique sub-fractions, but a variant of that feature will be added in 2.0. The game also has a pretty good wiki and an active community, not to mention it is in active development.

So, the only remaining issue I have is “What do you want from a mod?” Rise of the Reds lies somewhere between between a full conversion mod and an “extension” mod. Shockwave, for example, is closer to the original design philosophy, both for good and bad. Contra is further away from the original design philosophy, but closer than Rise of the Reds. All three are excellent mods, I just need to figure out what I personally want. Or just play all three to death. Except for the fact that the amount of time I can dedicate to gaming is less than a tenth of what I had when I originally played Zero Hour around ten years ago.

Useful resources includes the Rise of the Reds Wiki, and a fan-maintained spreadsheet of the entire arsenal (be sure to click on the 1.85 tab, if that’s what you’re looking ). The forums are also fairly active, unlike the other two mods.

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