Game Balancing

Game Balancing (Original)

Terminology

In the following we introduce terms relevant for the construction logic:

Term	Description
Tech Tree	A Tech Tree is a research level tree: Building specific buildings enables building new buildings and units, that weren't buildable previously. This means it's the basis of buildings and exists in every mission. The Tech Tree is furthermore getting individually limited and extended during a mission, dependent on the mission criteria. Thus it's modifying the default tree in any mission.
Prerequisites	These are the preconditions required for establishing a specific unit or a particular building.
Tech Level	The tech level seems to be important only for the multiplayer, to give this a limit of development, since the mission objectives of the single player mode are not relevant here.
Build Level	The build level corresponds in about to the mission progress with a few exceptions. This isn't available and doesn't exist in the OpenRA project. We've found this feature in an in-official patch.

Build-order & Comparison

We know which units and buildings are buildable in the individual missions. What we need to know is how these fit into a basic sequence context. Each unit and building has one or more preconditions, without which they cannot be explored and therefore not be built. They accordingly don't immerse in the build menus, but are choosable in custom order during the missions. Custom order means in this context that for example after building a power plant you have the option to build a refinery first, or a barrack when available.

The following build orders have been documented so far:

GDI

Buildings

Type	Enables	Prerequisite	OpenRA ID	File	Mission (>=)	BuildLevel
Construction Yard	Power Plant, Sandbag Barrier, Chain Link Barrier, Concrete Barrier	-/-	FACT	structures.yaml	-/-	1
Power Plant	Refinery, Barracks, Weapons Factory, Advanced Power Plant, Repair Facility	Construction Yard	NUKE	structures.yaml	1	1
Barracks	Guard Tower, Helipad	Power Plant	PYLE	structures.yaml	1	1
Refinery	Communications Center, Silo	Power Plant	PROC	structures.yaml	21	2
Communications Center	Advanced Communications Center, Advanced Guard Tower	Refinery	HQ	structures.yaml	3	3
Silo	-/-	Refinery	SILO	structures.yaml	21	2
Sandbag Barrier	-/-	Construction Yard	SBAG	structures.yaml	8	5
Guard Tower	-/-	Barracks	GTWR	structures.yaml	7	7
Advanced Guard Tower	-/-	Communications Center	ATWR	structures.yaml	13	13
Weapons Factory	-/-	Power Plant	WEAP	structures.yaml	7	5
Chain Link Barrier	-/-	Construction Yard	CYCL	structures.yaml	9	9
Advanced Power Plant	-/-	Power Plant	NUK2	structures.yaml	13	13
Repair Facility	-/-	Power Plant	FIX	structures.yaml	8	8
Helipad	-/-	Barracks	HPAD	structures.yaml	10	10
Concrete Barrier	-/-	Construction Yard	BRIK	structures.yaml	13	13
Advanced Communications Center	-/-	Communications Center	EYE	structures.yaml	13	13

¹ After takeover of an opponent's building, which is true for the preconditions.

Units

Type	Prerequisite	OpenRA ID	File	Mission (>=)	BuildLevel
Minigunner	Barracks	E1	infantry.yaml	1	1
Grenadier	Barracks	E2	infantry.yaml	3	3
Engineer	Barracks	E6	infantry.yaml	3	2
Rocket Soldier	Barracks	E3	infantry.yaml	8	3
Humm-Vee	Weapons Factory	JEEP	vehicles.yaml	5	5
Harvester	Weapons Factory, Refinery	HARV	vehicles.yaml	7	7
Medium Tank	Weapons Factory	MTNK	vehicles.yaml	7	7
APC	Barracks, Weapons Factory	APC	vehicles.yaml	5	5
Mammoth Tank	Weapons Factory, Repair Facility	HTNK	vehicles.yaml	13	13
Transport Chinook Helicopter	Weapons Factory, Helipad	TRAN	aircraft.yaml	-/-	98
Orca	Weapons Factory, Helipad	ORCA	aircraft.yaml	10	10
Commando	Barracks, Advanced Communications Center	RMBO	infantry.yaml	-/-	98
MRLS	Weapons Factory, Advanced Communications Center	Renamed to: MSAM	vehicles.yaml	13	11
MCV	Weapons Factory, Advanced Communications Center	MCV	vehicles.yaml	15	15
A-10 Ground Support Aircraft	Destruction of all Nod S.A.M. Sites (in Mission)	A10	aircraft.yaml	3	0
Gunboat	-/-	BOAT	ships.yaml	-/-	99
Hover Craft	-/-	Renamed to: Landing Craft (LST)	ships.yaml	-/-	99

Nod

Buildings

Type	Enables	Prerequisite	OpenRA ID	File	Buildable from Mission	BuildLevel
Construction Yard	Power Plant, Sandbag Barrier, Chain Link Barrier, Concrete Barrier	-/-	FACT	structures.yaml	-/-	1
Power Plant	Refinery, Hand of Nod, Repair Facility	Construction Yard	NUKE	structures.yaml	2	1
Advanced Power Plant	-/-	Power Plant	NUK2	structures.yaml	12	13
Hand of Nod	Turret, Sam Site, Helipad	Power Plant	HAND	structures.yaml	2	2
Refinery	Communications Center, Silo, Airfield	Power Plant	PROC	structures.yaml	2	2
Communications Center	Obelisk of Light, Temple of Nod	Refinery	HQ	structures.yaml	3	3
Silo	-/-	Refinery	SILO	structures.yaml	2	2
Sandbag Barrier	-/-	Construction Yard	SBAG	structures.yaml	5	5
Turret	-/-	Hand of Nod	GUN	structures.yaml	8	8
Sam Site	-/-	Hand of Nod	SAM	structures.yaml	5	5
Chain Link Barrier	-/-	Construction Yard	CYCL	structures.yaml	9	9
Repair Facility	-/-	Power Plant	FIX	structures.yaml	9	8
Helipad	-/-	Hand of Nod	HPAD	structures.yaml	131	10
Obelisk of Light	-/-	Communications Center	OBLI	structures.yaml	11	11
Airfield	-/-	Refinery	AFLD	structures.yaml	5	5
Concrete Barrier	-/-	Construction Yard	BRIK	structures.yaml	13	13
Temple of Nod	-/-	Communications Center	TMPL	structures.yaml	13	13

¹ After takeover of an opponent's building, which is true for the preconditions (on the oppponent's side). The Helipad and the accompanying units are only buildable in the multiplayer for the Nod.

Units

Type	Prerequisite	OpenRA ID	File	Mission (>=)	BuildLevel
Minigunner	Hand of Nod	E1	infantry.yaml	2	1
Flamethrower	Hand of Nod	E4	infantry.yaml	5	5
Rocket Soldier	Hand of Nod	E3	infantry.yaml	3	3
Engineer	Hand of Nod	E6	infantry.yaml	2	2
Recon Bike	Airfield	BIKE	vehicles.yaml	5	5
Harvester	Airfield, Refinery	HARV	vehicles.yaml	7	7
Buggy	Airfield	BGGY	vehicles.yaml	5	5
Light Tank	Airfield	LTNK	vehicles.yaml	5	5
APC	Hand of Nod, Airfield	APC	vehicles.yaml	51	5
Flame Tank	Airfield, Communications Center	FTNK	vehicles.yaml	9	9
Stealth Tank	Airfield, Communications Center	STNK	vehicles.yaml	11	12
Mobile Artillery	Airfield	ARTY	vehicles.yaml	9	9
Transport Chinook Helicopter	Helipad, Airfield	TRAN	aircraft.yaml	-/-	98
Apache Attack Helicopter	Helipad, Airfield	HELI	aircraft.yaml	-/-	10
Chemical Warrior	Hand of Nod, Temple of Nod	E5	infantry.yaml	-/-	99
Commando	Hand of Nod, Temple of Nod	RMBO	infantry.yaml	-/-	98
SSM Launcher	Airfield, Temple of Nod	MLRS	vehicles.yaml	-/-	98
MCV	Airfield, Temple of Nod	MCV	vehicles.yaml	-/-	15
Hover Craft	-/-	Renamed to: Landing Craft (LST)	ships.yaml	-/-	99
Cargo Plane	-/-	C17	aircraft.yaml	-/-	0

Sources

• Original CnC Manual
• OpenRA YAML-Files
• CnC Gold Let's Play
• CnC Gold Walkthrough
• Extracted CnC-Variables incl. BuildLevels