Command & Conquer: The Tiberium Conflict

Command & Conquer: The Tiberium Conflict
Studio	Westwood Studios
Publisher	Virgin Interactive
Senior Developer	Brett W. Sperry
Erstveröffent- lichung	August 31, 1995
platform	DOS , Windows , Mac OS Classic , PlayStation , N64 , Sega Saturn
genre	Real-time strategy
Subject	Military science fiction
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer (Internet & LAN via TCP / IP and IPX )
control	Mouse & keyboard , game controller
system advantages preconditions	CPU : 60 MHz RAM : 8 MB 512 kB graphics card (DOS) 40 MB  HDD space 2 × CD-ROM drive
medium	2 CD-ROM , cartridge , download
language	English German
Current version	DOS: 1.22 Windows: 1.04a, 1.06c ( unofficial patch ) Mac: 1.72
Age rating	USK PEGI

Command & Conquer: The Tiberiumkonflikt ( English Tiberian Dawn , Tiberian dusk ' ) is the first computer game of the Command - & - Conquer series. It appeared in 1995 and contributed significantly to the establishment of the real-time strategy genre . The Tiberium Conflict was also one of the first games to be released on two CD-ROMs because of the lush video cutscenes at the time.

action

background

The backstory takes place in an alternate world story in which a mysterious, fast-growing mineral reaches the earth from space . It is known as Tiberium after its location on the Tiber ( Italy ), but according to Kane it was previously baptized by him after the son of the Roman emperor Tiberius , Tiberius Drusus Julius Caesar . Tiberium is able to extract important minerals and metals from the soil, which makes it very energetic. However, staying near Tiberium is fatal very quickly, as it is highly toxic to living things. Nevertheless, all nations are very interested in Tiberium mining, as the minerals removed from the soil can be easily mined in this way. An ancient sect, the Brotherhood of Nod , around the charismatic leader Kane, who also describes himself as the "Messiah", has taken a large part of the Tiberium holdings through his private army and is now trying to rule the world through mass media propaganda, terrorist attacks and military actions to tear yourself. The GDI , a multinational United Nations force , stands in the way of Nod.

GDI campaign

If you choose the GDI, you have to drive Nod out of Europe. You start in the Baltic states ( Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania ), slowly fight your way through Eastern Europe ( Belarus , Ukraine , Poland , Slovakia , Czech Republic , Austria ), continue in Italy and Greece until you circle Nod in the Balkans and it in Sarajevo comes to the decisive battle in Bosnia . You can choose between different areas of application at several points, although the objectives may differ slightly. However, this has no influence on the general course of the campaign.

Nod campaign

If you opt for the Nod campaign , on the other hand, you will fight against the GDI in Africa at the same time. From there you begin in Libya and “liberate” Egypt and West Africa first. After that, the fronts became clear and neutral states practically no longer exist. Now one tries to take Africa from the north, which finally succeeds by destroying the last two GDI bases in South Africa. To top it off, you steal the access codes for the ion cannon and at the end of the Nod video you have the choice of which important (western) building you want to destroy as a "symbol of the suppression of the GDI" ( Eiffel Tower , Brandenburg Gate , White House or the Palace of Westminster ).

Confusion was caused by the fact that both ends were sometimes called correct. It seems that Kane would die if the temple in Sarajevo were destroyed. He later becomes a character in the next part of the game series. The events of the Africa campaign preceded the events in Europe.

Gameplay

General

The player has to decide at the beginning of the game whether he wants to play as Commander of the GDI or the Brotherhood of Nod. Both campaigns are divided into several missions in which the enemy bases and units must be destroyed. There are missions both with and without a base structure and thus limited troop contingents. Missions are usually initiated with a video sequence in which the commanding officer (GDI: General Shepherd / Nod: Seth or Kane) outlines the objectives of the operation.

Both armies rely on Tiberium as a raw material for basic construction and unit production, which is harvested on the field with the help of so-called collectors and converted into monetary units in Tiberium refineries to finance the expansion. The Tiberium harvest thus forms the backbone of every mission with basic construction. For this reason, the heavily armored but unarmed Tiberium collectors are a popular target to disrupt the enemy's production chains. Protecting them is accordingly one of the main tasks of the player. However, Tiberium is also described as harmful, which is why infantry units are damaged in its vicinity. Tiberium fields can thus form barriers for the player units, especially in missions in which only a limited number of infantry troops are available.

Weapons and units

There are essentially three types of weapon: infantry (German version: androids , original version: people), vehicles / tanks and flight units. Naval units such as the GDI missile cruiser or hovercraft troop transport appear in some single player missions, but are controlled by the program and cannot be controlled, influenced or manufactured by the player. They only serve as support troops or, for example, when the troop contingents are limited, they bring new units to the player. Only the aiming device of the GDI cruiser can be operated by the GDI player so that he fires at selected targets.

GDI

The GDI has a strong but more expensive army, which mainly uses missiles and firearms. The strongest GDI units:

• The mammoth tank, which is the heaviest battle tank in the game. He can destroy buildings in seconds with his twin cannons and also shoot down planes using rockets.
• The air attack, which is available for free after a certain time after all flarak positions have been destroyed, and can attack any point on the map with napalm bombs.
• The Orca, a fast, helicopter-like aircraft that is, however, very vulnerable to enemy anti -aircraft positions.

As a super weapon there is the ion launcher, which is in earth orbit and from there can precisely attack any target on the earth's surface.

GDI's tactics are more geared towards strong frontal attacks.

Brotherhood of Nod

The brotherhood has a weaker, but cheaper army, which has a wide variety of sometimes exotic weapons (rockets, lasers, flamethrowers, firearms).

• The Nod-Mod, a motorcycle with a rocket launcher, the fastest unit in the game
• The Obelisk of Light, a laser defense tower that destroys most units with one shot, provided it has enough power.
• The cloak of silence, an invisible, lightly armored vehicle that is only visible when fired.
• The Torch of Enlightenment, a flamethrower tank that is very effective against infantry and buildings.

The super weapon is the nuclear missile with great explosive power.

As a Nod player, you have to pay more attention to micromanagement (control of individual units). In addition, hit-and-run tactics and acts of sabotage are required due to the weak units. This is taken into account by the fact that many node missions have to be mastered without construction possibilities or one has to “get” them first. Behind this is the aspect that Nod does not have any large donors like the GDI ( UN ). All Nod vehicles are flown in, while those of the GDI are produced on site in a weapons factory.

Development history

Concept origins

Command & Conquer was originally intended to be set in a fantasy scenario, but it was re-designed into a game of modern warfare mainly due to the events of the Gulf War . Command & Conquer was mechanically significantly influenced by Westwood's predecessor Dune II - Battle for Arrakis . With Dune II Westwood had laid down the basic principle of real-time strategy. The developers had already introduced many concepts there that were later used in C&C , for example the concept of the power struggle over a resource. As an important innovation to Dune II , in which each unit had to be moved individually by the player, Command & Conquer introduced the so-called rubber frame for the quick selection of several units, which could now be given collective commands.

Publications

The original game was released for MS-DOS , which used a screen resolution of 320 × 200 pixels . In spring 1997 an improved SVGA version for Windows 95 was published. An implementation for the Nintendo 64 with 3D graphics took place in 1999, versions for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn were also released .

The SVGA Windows version was released for free download by the manufacturer Electronic Arts on the occasion of the twelfth birthday of the series in September 2007 ( freeware ).

Excerpts of the source code were published on GitHub under the GNU GPL as part of the remastering .

Extensions

The extension of state of emergency (Engl .: The Covert Operation ), which was published in April 1996, extends the main game to fifteen (seven of the GDI and eight of Nod) (according Westwood) very difficult single-player missions, ten new multiplayer maps and seven pieces of music . Atypical for the game series, all missions are freely playable and do not have to be unlocked first. On new units at Nod there is the chemical warrior with spray, which causes great damage and even etches away masonry. He's the only soldier in the game who isn't weakened by Tiberium. There is also the Apache , which is equipped with a machine gun, a new combat helicopter that is exclusively available to Nod as a counterpart to the GDI Orca combat helicopter. Finally, there is a long-range surface-to-surface missile launcher . No new units have been added for the GDI.

In addition, the expansion also added a hidden mini-campaign in which you have to fight dinosaurs.

Later, due to changes in the IPX implementation under Windows XP and Windows 2000 , problems with the multiplayer functionality arose ; multiplayer games via parallel or serial port were not affected. Westwood Studios released a patch that simply disabled the LAN functionality to prevent crashes when starting the game. However, a community patch later became available that retained the functionality. This patch packs the network data into the UDP protocol.

With the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions, additional extra missions were published compared to the PC version, called 'Special Operations'. These were later integrated into the unofficial patch 1.06b for C & C95, which adds these ten missions to the mission list of the Covert Operations .

reception

Reviews

Command & Conquer received a very positive response when it was published in the trade press. The PC Games (edition 9/1995) awarded a game fun rating of 90% and presented the game with the PC Games Award . The editors' opinions on the quality of the game emphasized different aspects: Petra Maueröder commented that Command & Conquer did not offer overwhelming innovations compared to Dune II - Battle for Arrakis , but rather sensible detail improvements. In addition, the game is characterized by its “merciless levels” as well as the video sequences and the soundtrack; However, the lack of an SVGA mode was criticized . Oliver Menne found that Command & Conquer had succeeded in "bringing the tension of an action game and the intellectual challenge of a strategy game under one roof."

The Power Play (issue 9/1995) rated the game with 88% and awarded the distinction : Particularly recommendable . Frank Heukemes called the cutscenes "increasing the fun of the game" and found that the game "facilitated access for strategy beginners with its appealing graphics and the reduced variety of objects", but also stated that there was "only an insignificantly different game" compared to Dune II C&C "rightly [carry] the title that" Dune 2 "would have deserved at the time." His colleague Knut Gollert, however, commented that he had "expected a little more from a worthy" Dune 2 "successor." The balance between strategy and action is not very successful, and you can tell in the game that "everything, but really everything, is based on" Dune 2 ".

In PC Player , Command & Conquer was rated 91% better than the competing product Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and was presented as the cover story of issue 8/1995. Editor Jörg Langer wrote that he had "seldom experienced comparably exciting missions", which was also due to the behavior of the computer opponents. Heinrich Lenhardt praised the game for its "stylish presentation, exemplary control and [...] gripping atmosphere" and called it an "ingenious compromise between demands and accessibility".

The Windows version of Command & Conquer , published in 1997 , also received positive reviews. In PC Player (issue 5/1997) Jörg Langer gave a rating of 5/5 stars and wrote that the game had hardly lost any of its appeal. In addition, the SVGA resolution has made it even clearer and easier to use, but it does not offer any significant advantages. In PC Games (issue 5/1997) the new edition was rated with 88%. Petra Maueröder laconically commented that all statements made about the original publication could be adopted unchanged. However, this was restricted to the effect that the game "still has significant deficits in terms of AI [...], but these are cleverly concealed by the atmosphere and the sophisticated mission design."

indexing

In the German version, all human combat units - with the exception of the officers in the campaign videos - have been redeclared as androids (incorrectly called cyborgs in the game ) and some video sequences have been changed to protect minors . The course of the game was hardly affected by this, but the plot of the game was changed significantly afterwards in Germany. The Tiberium Conflict is a game based on realism combined with high-tech equipment, this effect was canceled by the androids. Red blood has been changed to black oil, instead of the death screams of the infantrymen you can hear small explosions or, when run over by tanks, the sound of metal being crushed.

Open source reimplementation

OpenRA is a free re-implementation of the game engine . This allows the game to be ported to other platforms such as Linux , as well as to supplement the game with a modern multiplayer mode via the Internet and to balance the game mechanics. Command & Conquer: Red Alert and The Tiberium Conflict are supported by the engine.

Web links

• Westwood Remembered (Archived from the Westwood Studios Official Website from 1997)
• Command & Conquer: The Tiberium Conflict at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ System requirements of Command & Conquer: The Tiberium Conflict . In: cnc-inside.de. Archived from the original on February 9, 2008 ; Retrieved April 9, 2012 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Free download version of Command & Conquer - The Tiberium Conflict . In: cnc-inside.de. Archived from the original on June 15, 2009 ; accessed on April 9, 2012 (English). 
3. ↑ Andreas Sebayang: High-Res-Patch for Command & Conquer 95 - Classic can now be played in higher resolution. In: Golem.de . May 27, 2008, accessed April 3, 2011 . 
4. ^ ^{A b} Command & Conquer Gold Project 1.06. In: Nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com. June 16, 2009, accessed March 15, 2010 . 
5. ↑ James E. Smith: Command & Conquer retrospective part I - We take a look at the series that put RTS on the gaming map. In: mygaming.co.za. February 22, 2010, accessed April 12, 2011 . 
6. ↑ planetcnc.gamespy.com: Detailed summary of the history of the Tiberium Wars ( Memento of February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
7. ^ First Tiberium War. In: cnc.wikia.com. Retrieved May 16, 2018 . 
8. ^ Will Porter: Command & Conquer - Origins. In: ComputerAndVideoGames.com. February 28, 2008, archived from the original on December 28, 2010 ; Retrieved on April 2, 2008 : “ Dune has spice, which made perfect sense - and it was also used when we came to the idea of ​​tiberium. It became the anchor of the C&C universe because people were arguing over a limited resource that represented wealth and power [...] " 
9. ↑ Ben Kuchera: EA gives away Command and Conquer Gold - EA wants to celebrate the 12th anniversary of Command and Conquer, and they ... In: Ars Technica . September 2, 2007, accessed December 25, 2012 . 
10. ↑ EA: Command & Conquer-Classics as a free download! ( Memento from March 30, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
11. ↑ EA publishes the source code of the Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection
12. ↑ Westwood Studios (February 6, 1996): "Official Command & Conquer Read Me v2.7", C&C: The Covert Operations on the expansion CD-ROM
13. ↑ Experience report C&C Fieber - Part 2 for expansion. (No longer available online.) In: ciao.de. February 19, 2008, archived from the original on December 31, 2015 ; accessed on December 1, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ Understorm: Command & Conquer 95 and Red Alert 1 LAN Patch. In: Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008 ; Retrieved March 15, 2010 . 
15. ↑ Censorship report on The Tiberium Conflict . In: schnittberichte.com. November 11, 2008, accessed December 1, 2015 . 
16. ↑ What is OpenRA? In: OpenRA developer site. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .