Adding Soviet Hero Infantry: Volkov

[blackhandcommando]

Volkov was often a request in openra, but got shot down quickly each time.

Some reasons he was removed:

• He didn't solve a problem
• Soviets need no Hero because Races are asymmetric
• Give supertank instead
• He wasnt balanced

What I think about the reasons:

• Making Supersoviets and Superallies didnt solve a problem in rabhc either, instead its a different approach on faction design
• I don't agree with the asymmetric argument, because its not looking at the topic in depth, Tanya is anti Infantry+Building, Volkov is anti Vehicles, which is asymmetric enough in my opinion
• Having two mammoth tanks with different stats/armaments doesn't seem right to me, Volkov would be a new unique unit
• We will work something out, so he can be usefull, just like Tanya

Any feedback on this thought? Im also going to review this matter with our community on the next community friday.

[dedmen]

Do the Allies even have a Hero? Tanya is russian isn't she?

[blackhandcommando]

Tanya was always the Allied infantry hero, in ra as well as in ra2 and ra3.

[dedmen]

So do soviets have any hero unit? I like the Idea. I guess the hardest part will be getting the textures for the unit and the sounds. The rest should be easy.

Edit:

Actually https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/commit/c2ec8cd37259d6cffb338878891f6a821fb92cd3 Volkov was in OpenRA previously. So we can just grab the old files and add him back

https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/tree/90d30005f6f81b1e370ec67a93dc777bb5cbf95f/mods/ra This version has volkov included. This is right after https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/2498 was merged

https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/commit/0f75679e0ba4e966ed3acbb3dbeb262fd16c0261 This is the commit that removed volkov. We can just go to https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/tree/7a89740ad6fa57ce243fa8f2e2dea4432cb9b571/mods/ra and grab all these files and put them back into openrabhc.

Maybe we also want https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/commit/d76d53bee2b7997d0b063b847d65bc06299aa427 back.

[abcdefg30]

You could use the GNRL unit. It is already there and was used as Volkov before iirc.

[blackhandcommando]

So we got allready all we need.. Thats great. I'll make a poll on friday about it. Thanks for the help @abcdefg30, @dedmen

[blackhandcommando]

Maybe we also want OpenRA/OpenRA@d76d53b back.

Its better to leave them out, because there is no freeware license on these files.

[blackhandcommando]

The community is open for the general idea of this. Expections differ, but most feedback mentioned he should be able to tank a lot of damage and be effective against tanks with anti infantry capability. As for the previous Volkov version, he was allready into the right direction.

I'm currently working on it and trying to balance things out. Problem is to create a purpose for Volkov to be cost effective like Tanya. While Tanya can be cost effective in very short time, I think Volkovs tank capabilitys are whats needed to create the cost effectiveness in long term.

I'll upload a version when I got things sorted out.

[dedmen]

While watching your test I also felt that he was taking damage too fast. Can Tanya also C4 buildings in OpenRA like she can in RA2? If so I think Volkov should also have that ability.. maybe. Could also make him too Strong. Because his Anti-vehicle capability already makes him kinda effective against Buildings.

[blackhandcommando]

I changed a lot on the balance and now hes quite tanky. I'm almost done, uploading this version soon. I didn't give him C4 so far, hes AT seems good agains defense and is okay against buildings.

[blackhandcommando]

Added Volkov with 50ec49a924773c16b009f11bfcb77437846eb578 Allready found a bug, hes listed in allied barracks, but they can't build him because he requires soviet tech tree. Need to remove him from allied list.