OpenRA Resource Center

Description:

This is my remake of the map, Under, from Command & Conquer: Renegade and Renegade X.

The map is almost symmetrical aside from a few minor details with two starting areas, one GDI and the other Nod.

I included all of the tunnels connecting the two bases in the form of narrow mountain passes. Like the original map and it's Renegade X remake, the map is overshadowed by a massive mountain (which took roughly 2-3 days to complete).

In terms of gameflow, it plays almost identical to its original.

I'm still relatively new to OpenRA so I didn't have any actual people to test the map with. Because of this, I instead had to test playing both the GDI and Nod sides against the game's AI. I ran multiple test runs against each of the games AI difficulties to see how each of them performed both in pathfinding and strategy.

The Cabal AI is probably the weakest of the three because it has a tendency to "stagnate" (sit around waiting for supplies) due to the lack of Tiberium in the immediate starting area.

All of the other AI performed relatively well. The only two things holding them back is (one) their inability to produce Engineers to capture tech buildings.

The other thing being the fact that the AI units have a habit of taking the most immediate path available to reach the player's base. In the case of Under, it would be the 'tunnels.

I took some influences from the Renegade X iteration of the map in order to add some additional elements to the map.

One aspect I implemented was the "silo" located in the center of the tunnels. Because silos don't produce additional resources like they do in Renegade X, I included two Oil Derricks (as well as a silo).

Since you can't exactly make tunnels with obstacle crates in Tiberian Dawn, I worked around this by making the central hub of the tunnel into a small village with a road leading north to the silo.

I also included the infantry paths that follow alongside the map's major vehicle paths (the ones that intersect at the Tiberium field). I did this to prevent congestion in the tunnels or stalemates on the main paths (something the Renegade version was prone to due to the lack of viable routes that avoided the base defenses). I even went as far as to include the two sniper perches but, since the infantry paths are large enough for vehicles to use, players could easily use the sniper perches for Artillery and MLRS placements.

As an added bonus, I placed a Biological Lab where there center field bunker complex was located in Renegade X to give infantry yet another reason to use alternate paths to reach the enemy bases while also giving the center more strategic value (outside of it being the only source of Tiberium).

The center Tiberium field also provides more than enough resources to sustain both teams even if they were to spam Harvesters. The field contains two 2x Blossom Trees and one 3x Blossom Trees. On top of that, the Harvester driving distance to and from the field gives the Tiberium more than enough time to regenerate before the Harvesters return.

Originally, I was going to place Oil Derricks to the map's outlying pathways based on where the oil pipeline appeared in Renegade X but, I decided against it because it took away value from the ones in the center, however, I did try to include the pipeline in the form of Oil Pump stations.

Again, going back to lack of real players to test the performance of the map, I couldn't see how rushes or feuds over the Oil Derricks would play out. Based on what I've learned playing both Renegades, I have a feeling the rush for control of the 'tunnel' Oil Derricks will be pretty real.

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This is the second in my series of Renegade map remakes for Tiberium Dawn.

I'm planning on creating re-imaginations of all of the Renegade multiplayer maps to see how they play on an RTS scale as opposed to the FPS style that they were intended for.