Total Annihilation Core Contingency v3.1 Bug Fix patch
Dated: April 13, 2004
Version: 1.7 beta 5
LITE INSTALL VERSION! (this means you still need the old rev31.gp3)

This version NO longer requires TA Bugfix v1.6 FINAL be installed!
I've incorporated all the changes into 1 installer file.

There are INCLUDED BATCH files for installing this, but
DO NOT RUN THEM IN CONJUNCTION WITH TA BUGFIX V1.6 FINAL'S BATCH FILES!!!
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I have REMOVED ][BF16_OldWeapons.ORG from v1.7 betas, as the used/unused weapons are in a state of flux.

Map changes:
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CHANGED the Acid Foursome start locations so that the players aren't so bunched together. (particularly #5 and #6!)
CHANGED the Painted Desert start locations so that players 6-10 aren't all in a 'knife fight' over the center!
CHANGED the Rock Alley start locations so all Players #1-4 are near the edges!

AI fixes:
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Another bug fixed by this patch is making map OTA's use a better ai profile. Original pre-TA:CC maps were particularly bad about their choice of ai profiles that they used. This should make the ai's at least slightly more effective on those maps than originally.

Map OTA               Did use    Now uses
-------               -------    --------
Biggie Biggs          AirBattle  AirWind
Red River             Hover      UrbanWin
Red River North       Hover      UrbanWin

Various unit/weapon changes:
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BUG in ARMMMKR caused it to open when shot! (DOH!) <-- FIXED!

ALL lasers now have either a 16 AoE or 30 AoE if BLoD, also they have edgeeffectiveness=1; so they are less likely to pass harmlessly through targets.

Tolerances on many weapons have been reduced to reasonable values.

Footprint+yardmap+corpse+heap shrinkage (of 1 point left-right) on the Core Gantry (also reduced length top-bottom on Gantry) and BOTH sides Vehicle Plants. This lines up their graphics with their used footprints.

Core Immolator's metal cost has been reduced and its corpse metal value raised to put it closer to OTA's corpse metal value -- I would've kept the original's corpse metal value, but that'd mean making the turret only cost 165 metal! I put the Immolator's cost halfway between that and the current value. They still suck except against pure Flash/Peewee swarms.

File Changes in GAMEDATA dir (in REV31.GP3):
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Help.TDF is the help file viewed from inside the game. Some of the new commands added are now listed in the help menu. Page 1's FIRST line should tell if TA Bugfix is installed or not and what version TA Bugfix is installed.

Previously, TA Bugfix installed message was on page #3 of the Help menu.

To-do list:
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Pelican now has mid-movement stops in its walk script <-- FIXED and tested!
Amphi tanks leave passable corpses in the water that LOOK like corpses <-- FIXED and tested!
More Core Pyro script and weapon changes probably needed... <-- looking a lot better now.
Core Storm, Crasher, and Can scripts no longer get 'jiggly' legs <-- FIXED and tested!
ARMMAV's gun deploy/shoot can get messed up, cause unknown -- condition is VERY rare <-- NOT FIXED YET!
Same thing happened ONCE with the new Core KROGOTH (CORKROG) script! <-- NOT FIXED YET! (probably game engine bug...)

Graphical glitches with:
-----------------------
Arm C-Vehs nanolathe opens/closes too quickly <-- NOT FIXED YET!
both sides c-ships nanolathe while nanolather closed <-- NOT FIXED YET!
solars/mexs told to turn on/off too rapidly can suffer a graphical glitch. <-- NOT FIXED YET, seems an engine issue!
NEED to do fibber-like trick with hit-by-weapons close/reopen scripts! <-- NOT YET DONE!!!
CORDOOM can't make up its mind when to close... (RestoreAfterDelay freaks out when called by all 3 weapons.)
ARMSILO corpse not 5x5 footprint <-- was fixed by v1.6 FINAL, just not documented!

Pop-up On/Off not working well to tell them to close in combat. Need something to disable aimprimary immediately after close! <-- done, but encounters game engine issues with them not forgetting previous target orders. Need to give them a hold fire/STOP command as well!

Arm Vulcan barrel rotation speeded up (but not actual rate-of-fire) so the animations can keep up with the firing actions at high vetran status. (like 1+k kills...)

Some c-units and factories build a tiny bit faster:
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C-hovers now build a little faster:
I raised their workertime from 80 to 90 and increased their buildspeed from a c-kbot's speed to a c-veh's speed!

Decoy Commanders also build a little faster:
I raised their workertime from 30 to 60 and increased their buildspeed from a c-air's speed to a c-kbot's speed. They're almost useful now. :p

Adv c-vehs are no better than farks -- despite Adv C-Vehs having 200 and farks having 180 workertime due to this 'bug'!

I upped the hover plants and seaplane plants from 200 to 210 workertime as well. (notice even 30's...)
It is more modest than it seems, but I won't do it to other factories (other than krog gantry) due to it being 'tradition'.
Hovers and seaplanes take 2-5 times longer to build than regular/similar units.
However, it'll mean the freedom fighter can REALLY be pumped out of Arm's seaplane platform -- at 233% regular rate without assistance. (as opposed to 200% in OTA.)

Sound changes:
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Bug in the SOUNDS.tdf file -- untdone.wav and untdone1.wav instead of unitdone.wav which actually exists...
...unitdone.wav was too 'noisey', so it was replaced with beep4.wav or beep5.wav.

Core Neutron weapon change:
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areaofeffect=362;
to
areaofeffect=512;
to match all the other nuclear weapons.
Unlike ALL the other nuclear weapons (even the EMP stunner missile), the Core Neutron can ONLY affect mobile units -- which it is VERY unlikely to catch in its original small area of effect if they're moving.

Nuke+Antinuke changes:
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Nuke silos now work for the ais due to the use of a hidden weapon in the 3rd weapon slot that only the ai can fire.
Core Neutron also uses the same ai-only nuke as the Core Nuke silo -- this is to save weapon slots and because the ai is HORRIBLE at choosing targets for its weapons.

LOTS of work has been done on the nukes and antinukes to add a little randomness in their rate-of-fire if ordered to fire them repeatedly in a row. This was done to TRY to combat "Ghost Nukes" in multiplayer, where invisible nukes pass through all antinuke defenses and do damage to a well-protected base when they shouldn't. I do NOT know how effective it will be...

Orphaned mission units are reused as ai-only bombers!
----------------------------------------------------
ARMDEV1	->	ARMTHUND
ARMSCORP	->	ARMPNIX
CORBEAC	->	CORSHAD
CORSS		->	CORHURC
So ARMDEV1 is actually an ARM ai Thunder bomber!

These units are still used in missions:
ARMBEAC
ARMGATE
ARMSS
CORBUILD
CORDEV1
CORGATE
CORSCORP
CORTRUCK

Commander Explosion Changes:
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I'm not going to change the d-gun so that it won't kill coms or most any unit with even 1 grazing hit. (Although I may see if I can get it to leave krog rubble sometimes. :)

Now I stand by my opinion that in 1 case, the atlas-borne com-bomb attack to force a draw, may well be facilitated primarily by a game bug/limitation. And that bug is LAG. Even if the AA can shoot down the Atlas at their max LOS range, it's generally too late on a small map as lag lets the atlas still get close enough to the enemy com on the ground to kill him.

Even in many cases if the AA is radar-targetted at the Atlas before it gets into range, they still often fire too late to stop the atlas from getting the airborne com close enough to the com on the ground to kill them both. This same tactic may even work on a LAN with little lag if the AA missiles take too long to get to the Atlas.

So my fix is to reduce damage commander explosions do to other commanders to about 3,800 -- I haven't worked out the final value yet -- so that it will take an atlas carrying a com to be much closer to an enemy com to kill it while STILL doing massive damage in a huge area. AND also 1 com d-gunning another will still be close enough to die from the other's explosion.

This won't remove the above-mentioned atlas lag problems, but will make it so an atlas com-bomb will need to be much closer to the enemy com to kill it.


This change, along with the 'random antinuke/nuke firing rates', may not be put into TA Bugfix v1.7 FINAL as REAL in-game testing is needed to determine their relative effectiveness. If they aren't very effective at eliminating communication problems and/or other game limitations, then I will probably remove them for simplicity's sake alone.


I tested the commander explosion change and it made possible for a commander to survive by d-gunning from max range and running away from an enemy commander especially if the elevation change was great enough.