Kane's Wrath EA Community Summit 2007
More About The Game

Subfactions:

The subfactions are all specialized with some unique units and powers. When I interviewed Jim Vassella, I asked about the problem of some of the new unique units replacing old units. For example, loading up a hammerhead with rocket troops replacing an orca. He said they were very careful about this. For that situation, rocket troops in a hammerhead is more expensive, and the rockets don�t do as much damage. Also, ZOCOM gets an orca that shoots sonic grenades, which are more powerful. The orca also has its pulse scanner as well. I also asked Sam Bass and Jim if there are any advantages to being the standard GDI, Scrin, or Nod factions. Each regular faction has some special units, and each subfaction lacks a power. For example, ZOCOM has no rail gun units, and the Steel Talons lack infantry and commandos. These changes were made for story purposes as well as balance purposes. I think that the subfactions add a ton of depth to the gameplay Overall, the new units have very important purposes, in which they hope will fill gaps in the combat chain, and help your normal strategies out immensely, as well as add a huge amount of new strategies.

Global Conquest Mode:
I cannot comment on the story. I will say that I think its going in a very good direction, and is better than the CNC3 story with some twists and such. The story starts at around 2034 and ends in the 2050�s.

There is only a Nod campaign, but you can play global conquest mode with any faction for fun and still get some objectives. You can pick what kind of forces you want, then drop down into battle to take over the area. We didn�t learn too much about this mode, because it is still heavily in the works, so I don�t know a ton about what you can do.

The mode is very hard for them to create so it is taking some time. It is not simply just linked skirmish maps though. Some may have objectives. You pick what kind of forces you want, and the units you come out with are the units you can send into the next battle.

The 360 version will have this and everything the PC version has, and they are hoping to ship them simultaneously.

XBOX360:
I tried out the new radial interface and it is much easier than the current system. You can do things quickly from anywhere on the battlefield, like the PC Version. They are hoping to get reverse move into the keys, as well as being able to make groups of units. I know there are concerns with the game getting patched to fix problems. Luckily, there isn�t a set release date for KW yet, so they will most likely have time to fix glaring issues before release. The problem with patching through Microsoft is that you cant add new data, but you can basically fix small bugs. I hope this info is what some XBOX fans want to know about!

Random Things Before I Get Into The Subfactions (based on questions from the forums):

Hover units are not affected by ion storms, GDI found a way around it. Hover units will not be hovering over water.

For those of you wondering about support powers, there are many new ones, which I will address with the subfactions at the end of my report.

I did not get into the disconnect issues CNC3 has because I have told Aaron through email many times that we all hope they can get their own servers to track disconnectors. Also, they know we want arranged 2v2 because it would help with a 2v2 ladder season which they want to do in the future. They know Redzone Rampage is a pain in the butt, and many devs said they hated it, they are thinking of having the blue fields start dry. I told them about possibly having Wrecktropolis without the silo being ranked, and they thought it was an interesting idea.

The MODSDK and Worldbuilder will both be updated for KW.

I don�t know if any avatar balance changes will happen, they are still looking into it. There is a new avatar though called the purifier for a subfaction. It is an avatar that comes with a flame thrower, and all units around it get health and damage increases.

I told them about the Nod War factory animation and it�ll be looked into but I don�t know if anything will change.

I don�t know if there will be a KW public beta or demo, the somewhat good news though is they said there is no set release date yet, so hopefully they can take some time to test it better than CNC3.

They didn�t say anything about this being the first of two expansions. I mean you can guess that there may be one for each storyline, but I don�t think that will be the case. The story in this game is geared more towards unifying the canon, which can be best done through a Nod campaign, since there isn�t much missing in the canon for GDI and Scrin weren�t even around before this game.

I don�t want to comment on balance because it will change. The main worries I saw were the mechapede dominating everything, and the awakened EMPing every tank you have and then killing your infantry.

Its hard to get expansions while a Nod player is getting them at the same time, the awakened will EMP all your tanks and kill infantry, and its such an early game unit.

Factions/Subfactions
Note: I didn�t get any unit prices because they are all subject to change. Although they have a good start on balance, they said they have a long ways to do with it. Price is tied in with build time so most prices and such will change.
 

Standard GDI:

Slingshot: Midgame anti air hover unit. Very fast and fragile. If you tell it to attack a ground unit with a bunch of tanks, it will go right up to the ground unit and get killed, so they need to be micromanaged. It can also be upgraded to be the best anti air in the game
Shatterer: Mobile sonic emitter. Slow and powerful. Not as powerful as the defense turret. Shoots pretty far. Fragile.
MARV: GDI Epic Unit. Has its own tier 4 building to build it (the same building can make all earlier tanks as well). 4x the size of the mammoth, has 3 rotating barrels that shoot a sonic bomb that destroys a large area. Can be garrisoned with 4 infantry that shoot out of it. Very very slow and very heavily armored. Can run over tiberium and it will be harvested automatically and the money goes right into your credits (no need to go back to a refinery). Built from Reclamation Hub.
Hammerhead: Anti infantry vehicle that can only shoot ground, but doesn�t have to reload. Can load 1 squad of infantry into it. Picks up the infantry very quickly. If you put rocket infantry in, it can attack aircraft. Does not replace the orca, since this combo is more expensive and the unit is less heavily armored. It also does not have the orca pulse scan.

Upgrades:
Tungsten AA Shells: AA Turret and Slingshot do much more damage
Hardpoints: Orcas and firehawks carry 50% more missiles.
AP Ammo: Bullet weapons do more damage.

Support Powers:
Thors Hammer: A laser from the sky appears over the area for 5 seconds and then the bombardment begins. Kills buildings targeted, but it is hard to do over units because they can easily see it coming and move away.
Supersonic Air Attack: Super-speed jets fly in and drop a sonic bomb that destroys all aircraft in the area, but not ground units
Sonic Repulsion Fields: Place it around a building and then engineers can not get in.

GDI --- Steel Talons --- Experimental Garrison Faction:

Has: Slingshot, MARV, Hammerhead, as well as same support powers and upgrades as standard GDI except railgun accelerators.
Does not have: Zone Trooper, Commando, Sniper, Armory, Stratofighter Upgrade from Standard GDI.
Combat Engineer: Engineer with a gun. He even says �what? They gave me a gun?�. Good for gunning down other engineers trying to get the same spike as you.
Wolverine: Fast anti infantry unit. Can be upgraded with AP ammo to be the best anti infantry in the game. Does not replace the pitbull
Titan: Slower, more armored wolverine. Can get railgun upgrade, and can crush tanks.
Mobile Repair Transport: APC that repairs surrounding tanks with a repair drone
Heavy Harvester: Replaces normal harvester, can be garrisoned with infantry. Extremely effective at getting expansions because it can kill the other harvesters and buildings.
Bohemoth: Juggernaut that can have one squad of infantry garrisoned in it.
Mammoth Tank: Starts Veteran

Support Power:
Railgun Accelerators: Increases attack power and rate of fire to a group of rail gun units, but causes damage to them overtime.

GDI --- ZOCOM ---- Red Zone Policing:

Has: shatterer, slingshot, MARV, hammerhead, and same support powers as standard GDI
Does not have: Railguns, stratofighter upgrade from standard GDI.

Rocket Harvester: Harvester with anti ground and air rockets
Zone Raider: Replaces zone troopers. Has sonic grenades that do splash damage, and anti air rockets, as well as jet packs.

Upgrades:
Sonic Field Suits: Rifle and Rocket soliders as well as Grenadiers are resistant to the effects of tiberium fields
Sonic Grenades: Allows grenadiers to have sonic grenades

Standard Nod:

Reckoner: Nod APC. Can carry 2 infantry squads. Can be deployed into bunker, or becomes bunker when destroyed. Only shoots in bunker state. HP boost when in bunker state. Can not be airlifted. Can not be repaired in bunker state. Currently cannot be cleared with buzzers or other building clearing units, but is subject to change.
Specter: Long range artillery that needs to be deployed to fire. When it is mobile it is cloaked. It is cheaper and faster than the Juggernaut, but not as powerful.
Redeemer: Nod�s Epic Unit. Based off of CABAL core defender. Has massive laser that is extremely powerful. Has a rage generator that makes all nearby units attack each other, causing it to be a very feared unit. Can also have 2 squads of infantry garrisoned in it which can shoot out of it, but can not be taken out of it. It also has a buff effect for nearby units. Built from tier 4 Redeemer Engineering Facility.

Voice of Kane: Suppresses enemy infantry and boosts armor of your own infantry.

Air Tower: Building that can hold extra vertigos so you don�t need multiple airfields.

Upgrades:
Tiberium Core Missiles: Stealth tanks, attack bikes, and SAMS do more damage
Dozer Blades: Now researched from operations center
Quad Turrets: Allows all hub defenses to have 4 sections instead of 3.
Charged Particle Beam: Awakened and Venoms do increased damage. Venoms no longer affected by laser upgrade.
Disruption Pods: Allows venoms to drop a beacon that cloaks units in the area.

Support Powers:
Laser Fencing: Place this on a building and engineers can�t capture it
Redemption: All militants and rocket squads become the awakened cyborg when they die.

Nod --- Black Hand ---- TS Era:

Has: Reckoner, Specter, Redeemer, Tiberium Core Missiles, Charged Particle Beam, Quad Turrets, Laser Fencing, and Redemption from Standard Nod.
Does Not Have: Air Tower, Venoms, Vertigos, Shadow Squads, Disruption Towers, Laser Capacitors, Stealth Tanks, or Voice of Kane from Standard Nod.

Black Hand, Rocket Squads, Confessor CABAL start veteran. Commando starts heroic.

Confessor CABAL: Militant squad of 6 confessors with AK47s. All infantry around it get increased health and rate of fire. You can also target which infantry attack each other with the hallucinogenic grenades. Can be upgraded with black disciples upgrade which adds a black hand infantry to the squad.
Purifier: Avatar that starts with flamethrower and does area of effect buff. Can not upgrade it like a normal avatar. Also has a suppression buff for nearby enemy infantry. Its art is from early avatar concept art. Costs around the same as normal avatar. Can be upgraded with purifier flame to do more damage.
TANKTANK: We did not get to use this unit, it is still being developed to make up for this subfaction not having stealth tanks to attack aircraft. It is going to be a small tank that shoots anti air rockets, but it fragile and not stealthed. Well, at least that was the plan during the summit for it. TANKTANK is the codename.

Support Powers:
Power Signature Scan: Shows location of all power plants on the map
Decoy Temple: Deploy a fake temple of Nod that reveals the shroud around it and starts a cooldown timer, but it is actually a fake.

Nod --- Marked of Kane ---Tiberium Evolution and Mutation:

Has: Reckoner, Specter, Redeemer, Laser Fencing, and Redemption from Standard Nod.
Does not have: Tiberium Core Missiles, Quad Turrets, Charged Particle Beam, or Disruption Pods from Standard Nod.

The Awakened: Replaces militant squad. Has EMP that costs money, but disables nearby tanks. Has anti infantry machine gun.
Tiberium Trooper: Replaces black hand, more effective against infantry, but not as effective vs tanks and buildings. Clears garrisonable structures.
Enlightened: Elite cyborg squad. Comparable to zone troopers, but cannot fly. They have large particle beams that are extremely strong, and a larger EMP effect.

Upgrades:
Super Charged Particle Beam: Very large damage increase to venoms and the awakened.
Cybernetic Legs: Saboteur, Tiberium Trooper and Enlightened run instead of walk

Support Powers:
Magnetic Mine Drop: Same as mine drop only they attach to units and follow them slowly doing damage.
Tiberium Vein Detonation: Detonates underground tiberium vein to do extreme damage. One of the most powerful support powers in the game.

Standard Scrin:
Ravager: Elite infantry that shoots shards of tiberium. Also has a tiberium agitation power that does damage to any tiberium based unit or structure such as harvesters and refineries.
Mechapede: Starts as a very fast head. You can add segments for currently 100 credits, and you can add up to 8. A shard segment can be added for anti infantry. A disk launcher segment can be added for anti tank, or a tiberium segment which can clear buildings. At the time of the summit it was extremely overpowered and pretty much killed everything but aircraft. The disk launcher is like the seeker�s weapon, so it may hit aircraft but I�m not sure.
Eradictor: Scrin�s Epic Unit. Shoots a weapon like the devastator, and can carry four infantry that give the eradicator their weapons to shoot. It gets cash back for units it destroys. Built from the tier 4 Warp Chasm structure.

Upgrades:
Attenuated Forcefields: Adds a light forcefield to seekers and gun walkers.

Support Powers:
I unfortunately did not play Scrin much so I don�t know if they have any new support powers that are only for standard Scrin. Look at the subfaction powers though listed below, as standard Scrin may have some of them.

Scrin --- Reaper 17 --- Tiberium Harvesting
Has: Eradictor, and Attenuated Forcefields from Standard Scrin, as well as the Scrin support powers.
Does Not Have: PAC, Devastator, Mastermind

Shard Walker: Replaces gun walker, shoots shards, more effective.
Shielded Harvester: Harvester with a shield.
Reaper Tripod: Scarier looking tripod that can suck up tiberium and do more damage with its beams, very very powerful.

Growth Stimulator: A growth accelerator that gives you a few credits per second. Not much money increase so its good to get these early.

Blue Shards: Upgrades shard weapons to do more damage.
Conversion Reserves: Allows reaper tripod and devourer to hold much more tiberium.

Support Powers:
Shock Pods: Blinks in three veteran shock trooper squads.
Ichor Seed: Same as Nod ichor seed only shoots it from a laser from the sky. I think it is larger than Nod�s tiberium seed.

Scrin --- Traveler-59

Has: Ravager and Eradicator from Standard Scrin.
Does Not Have: Shields or Devourer Tanks from Standard Scrin

Cultists: Mind control infantry. Captured humans with a huge bug on their head basically. Mind controls squads of infantry or tanks.
Prodigy: Mastermind that has a power to mind control all units in a small area. Also has blink pack teleportation.

Upgrades:
Traveler Engine: Increases speed of PAC and devastator warship.
Shard Launchers: Increases damage for seeker, photon cannon, and plasma disk launcher.

Support Powers:
Overlord�s Wrath: Two small meteors hit an area and then a bigger one decimates it.
Infestation: Place a structure on a tiberium field crater that damages all units on the field until it is killed. It gives the enemy no units under attack warning. Extremely powerful power as it can kill all their harvesters.
Temperol Wormhole: Slows down the rate of fire on all units in its area.

I am not so sure with all the Scrin factions. Some may have some more support powers, or some the standard Scrin don�t have.

If you have any questions to ask me about KW, feel free to ask me here

The only answers I can not answer are about the story!

Hope you enjoyed the read, and Ill see you on the message boards!


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