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If you love your classic RTS games, especially those from Westwood like Command & Conquer and Red Alert, you need to play the OpenRA mod Command & Conquer - Combined Arms. This standalone game mod for the open source OpenRA bundles in so much it's crazy.

Going over the changelog, it's quite ridiculous the amount that's included in this update. There's new artwork and visual effects, various new units across each faction, new structures, new gameplay mechanics and the list goes on.

One of the major additions is a change to the ranking system and upgrades. The Soviet side has an entirely new ranking system with more depth, while the Allied and Scrin factions now feature mutually exclusive upgrade paths, offering greater variety and strategic choices in the high-tech endgame. These enhancements will provide fresh tactical options and new ways to customize your forces.


Pictured - Command & Conquer - Combined Arms

The full changelog is only in their Discord, so copied below for your convenience, it's long!

Full changelog, click me

# General
- In Multi-Queue Scaled mode (now renamed "Competitive") buildings and defenses are single-queue.
- Gem density increased from 3 to 8. Value reduced from 50 to 38. Blue Tiberium changed to match (worth 1.5x ore/green Tib, down from 2x, but exhausted more slowly).
- Construction Yard, War Factory and their equivalents take 15% reduced damage from aircraft.
- Added a minimum distance to paradrop powers so they don't emerge instantly near map edge.

# Faction Changes

## Allies
- New "Coalition" system.
- New Allied structure "Allied HQ" which is required for choosing a coalition.
- 3 coalition countries to choose from:
- Greece: Zeus Artillery, Helios Bomb support power, Hoplite (replaces Enforcer).
- Sweden: Cryo Trooper, Cryostorm support power, Cryo Rockets applies to Longbows (not the case by default anymore).
- South Korea: Black Eagle, Patriot Strike support power, Improved Helipad (repairs without SD, increased HP).
- New unit: Enforcer. T3 infantry with high HP and light armor, and armed with a short range shotgun.
- Chrono Harvester upgrade now requires Allied HQ instead of Ore Purifier.
- Advanced Ore Processing upgrade removed.
- Ore Purifier HP reduced from 120k to 100k. Power requirement reduced from 150 to 100. Grants +15% income (up from 10%).
- Peacemaker requires Allied HQ instead of Tech Center.
- Removed SEAL C4 cooldown. Restore auto targeting buildings in attack anything stance.
- Increased Raider APC damage vs light armor & defenses.
- Increased Harrier speed. Reduced HP from 25k to 22.5k. Increased damage vs infantry, light armor and aircraft.
- Increased Black Eagle speed & damage. Increased cost from 1600 to 2000. Increased ammo from 2 to 3.
- Increased projectile speed of AA Gun.
- Rocket Soldiers with Cryo Rockets no longer apply chill to buildings.
- Reduced Peacemaker splash radius vs infantry. Reduced turn rate slightly. Reduced HP from 40k to 36k.
- Entrenchment upgrade moved requires Radar Dome rather than Tech Center. Increased cost from 750 to 1000.
- Engineer entrenchment deployment time reduced from 5s to 2s. Walls can also be built within radius.
- Reduced IFV and Missile IFV damage vs buildings and defenses.
- Renamed Cryo Rockets to Cryo Warheads.
- Removed USA's Cryo Missile upgrade (Nighthawk & Strafing Run gain their missiles from Cryo Warheads).
- Added "Advanced Airborne Training" upgrade for USA. Reduces build time of airborne (dropped) units by 25% and grants them rank 2 veterancy.
- Increase Battle Fortress HP from 130k to 135k.
- Chrono Tank & Chrono Prison can no longer teleport while chronoshifted by Chronosphere.
- Mirage Tank replaces Scout Tank instead of Medium Tank for England (rebalanced accordingly). Deals additional damage when firing from disguised state.
- Gap Generator (structure) is able to fire beam at aircraft as well as ground units.
## Soviets
- New "Doctrine" system.
- Player gains ranks via experience, and
- 3 Doctrines to choose from:
- Infantry: Troop Crawler 1★ unit. Overlord Tank 3★ unit (upgrade for Mammoth Tank). Cloning Vat T4 structure. Heroes of the Union support power (2★). Improved Paratroopers/Mutation Bomb upgrades (2★).
- Armor: Rhino Tank 1★ unit (replaces Heavy Tank). Apocalypse Tank 3★ unit (upgrade for Mammoth Tank). Industrial Plant T4 structure. Tank Drop support power (2★). Reactive Armor upgrade (for Rhino Tank & BTR) (2★).
- Artillery: Grad 1★ unit (replaces Katyusha). Nuke Cannon 3★ unit. Munitions Plant T4 structure. Kill Zone support power (2★). Rocket Pods upgrade (for Grad & Hind) (2★).
- New unit: Rad Trooper (Iraq only). Precursor to Desolator. Replaces Shock Trooper. Upgradeable to Desolator.
- New unit: Tesla Trooper (Russia/Ukraine/Yuri). Upgrade for Shock Trooper.
- New upgrade: Terror Dog. Attack Dogs have explosives attached to them, allowing them to damage vehicles and buildings.
- Commissar buff bonuses reduced slightly. Now has an additional level; second level can be granted by a combination of a Commissar and either an Overlord or Troop Crawler.
- Desolator - New appearance. Reduced time between pulses when deployed.
- Removed V2 Upgrade for Katyusha.
- Added V3 Upgrade (upgrades V2 to V3).
- Rapid Industry upgrade removed.
- Industrial Plant & Apocalypse Tank only available with Tank Doctrine.
- V2/V3 damage increased. Splash radius reduced. V2 range increased by 1, projectile speed reduced. V2 cost increased from 850 to 900.
- Increased AA projectile speed of BTR & Gattling BTR.
- Reduced Flamethrower speed.
- Katyusha reload time reduced. Damage per missile reduced.
- Boris airstrike will spawn at a fixed distance from the target, and will be cancelled if the laser is no longer on the target.
- Increased Apocalypse Tank HP from 110k to 125k. Reduced damage from 17.5k to 15.8k.
- Reduced Tesla Tank damage vs heavy armor.
- Chaos cloud duration reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.
- Reduced Chem Tower rate of fire.

## GDI
- New unit: Zone Trooper. Bombardment only. T3 infantry with a jetpack, armed with a railgun.
- New unit: Zone Raider. Seek & Destroy only. T3 infantry with a jetpack, armed with a sonic grenade launcher.
- New unit: Zone Defender. Hold the Line only. T3 infantry with a defensive shield ability, armed with an ion rifle.
- JumpJet Trooper/Bombardier - New appearance. Reduced HP from 8k to 6k. Increased damage vs infantry and light armor. Takes additional damage from Rocket Soldiers and Disintegrators.
- X-O Powersuit now on vehicle queue and only available to ZOCOM (still available to Talon via X-O Drop). Replaced machinegun with coilgun. Added leap ability. Reduced damage vs infantry, increased vs light armor. Increased range by 2. Reduced HP from 32k to 26k.
- New unit: Wolverine. Available at T3 for Talon only.
- Pitbull now available at T3 for Eagle only. Can attack aircraft. Rockets apply short duration blind.
- New unit: Jackknife. Available at T3 for ARC only.
- Mobile EMP now immune to EMP. Increased turn rate. Reduced shockwave delay from 2s to 1s.
- Increased AA projectile speed of Vulcan & static AA.
- Increased Guardian Drone projectile speed and damage vs light armor.
- Reduced Upgrade Center cost from 2000 to 1800.
- Reduced Disruptor HP from 70k to 66k. Increased cost from 1400 to 1600.
- Increased Battle Drone damage (so DPS matches Battle Tank).
- Don't apply seek and destroy speed bonus to Aurora's while afterburner enabled.
- Reduced Orca Bomber HP from 38k to 32k.
## Nod
- New upgrade: Laser Tanks. Gives Light Tank/Battle Tank a laser weapon. Increased damage vs infantry/light armor, reduced vs heavy armor.
- Rhino replaced with Cyclops.
- Pitbull replaced with Basilisk.
- Black Eagle replaced with Phantom.
- Howitzer - Significantly increased projectile speed. Reduced splash radius.
- Mantis - Now takes reduced damage from aircraft. Increased mobility.
- Increased Vertigo damage vs defenses. Decloaks 2 cells closer to target.
- Chem Mortar deals additional damage vs cyborgs.
- Increased Kamov damage.
- Increased Cyberscrin health and beam sweep length.
- Black Hand Trooper HP increased from 13k to 16k.
- Reduced Airstrip HP from 220k to 200k.
- Increased rate of fire of Cyborg Elite Reckoner by 20%.
- Subterranean Strike now unloads 3 Acolytes, 1 Rocket Soldier, 1 Flamethrower, instead of 4 Acolytes (3 Templar, 1 Reaper, 1 Chem Warrior with Temple Prime).
- Shadow Operatives throw Shadow Beacons rather than plant them, and have 2 instead of 1. Increased pistol rate of fire slightly.
- Inferno Bomb charge time increased from 6:00 to 6:30.
- Reduced Hacker range by 1.
- Reduce Comanche HP from 18k to 16k.

## Scrin
- New "Allegiance" system. Once 4 Refineries are built, player can choose either Loyalist or Rebel allegiance.
- New upgrade (Loyalist only): Eviscerator. Upgrades Ravagers, increasing their HP and rate of fire, at the cost of reduced speed and higher price.
- New upgrade (Rebel only): Impaler. Upgrades Ravagers, increasing their HP, range, and giving them high single-target burst damage that slows targets, at the cost of reduced speed and a higher price.
- New unit (Loyalist only): Obliterator. Heavy artillery whose projectile damages everything it passes through.
- New unit (Rebel only): Nullifier. Heavy long range hover tank which blinds targets. Strong against infantry and light armor.
- New support power (Loyalist only): Overlord's Wrath. Calls down a Tiberium meteor.
- New support power (Rebel only): Gateway. Opens a wormhole that sends waves of reinforcements.
- New unit: Watcher. Cloaked when not moving. Can tag enemy vehicles and structures so that they temporarily provide vision. Gains blink with upgrade.
- Reduced Ravager HP. Will now prone (not proning was an odd exception, only Nod cyborgs don't prone, along with Brutes, Dogs and Bursters due to being melee).
- Increased AA projectile speed of Gun Walker.
- Increased Atomizer projectile speed.
- Increased Devourer damage vs light armor.
- Reduced Signal Transmitter cost from 2000 to 1800.
- Reduced Burster cost from 600 to 550. Increased speed from 80 to 92. HP reduced from 7k to 5k. On exploding, will only do 25% damage to other Bursters.
- Ion Surge moved to Tech Center.
- Increased Greater Coalescence healing rate.
- Buzzer Swarm applies blind to any units caught within it.
- Interlopers gain shields with Shield Generation upgrade (renamed from Fleet Shields).
- Reduced Intruder splash radius slightly.
- Reduced Stormrider price from 1750 to 1650.
- Increased PAC damage by 10%.
- Suppression Field radius vs aircraft increased slightly (as it can be hard to target moving aircraft).
- Reduced Gun Walker & Shard Walker HP from 33k to 31k, and 40k to 38k respectively.
# Fixes / Misc
- Fixed content installation sources. Added Steam Ultimate Collection as a content source.
- Added CA music to main download. Added Retaliation tracks.
- Use player colour for all range indicators where owner is significant.
- Fixed Hackers not undeploying if target dies or changes owner while hacking.
- Fix queued orders cancelling Aurora afterburner.
- Mission 9/10/18 crash fixes.
- Fixed Jamming Field blocking building repairs.
- Fixed Tomahawk not firing when attack moving.
- Fixed decoys crushing fences.
- Fixed driverless transports moving around.
- Fixed glitchy rift fade out animation.
- Fixed Rocket Soldier rate of fire not being increased by Commissar buff.
- Fixed incorrect stolen tech unlock for Nod from a Legion Weapons Factory.
- Fixed Chrono Harvesters being emptied at the point they're upgraded.
- Upgrades tab will remain accessible after all upgrades are completed.
- Fixed Subterranean APC unloading being interrupted.
- Fixed Tripod beams not doing full sweep in melee range.
- Fixed Shock Troopers auto attacking disguised spies.
- Fixed PACs/Devastators being destroyed when a slave is freed directly beneath them.
- Fixed Grizzly Tanks shooting while parachuting.
- Fix Composition Tournament for 5+ players.
- Player coloured selection box for disguised spies.
- Leechers no longer heal via crushing husks.
- New beacon notification sound.
- Fixed Harvesters not upgrading to Chrono Miner if given an order at the exact moment the upgrade completes.
- Added large parachute for vehicle drops.
- Support power buttons are scrollable if they would previously continue off the screen.

You can download it from the Mod DB page. It's a fully standalone free game thanks to the free release of the classics by EA a long time ago. The download includes an AppImage for Linux, so it's simple to get playing.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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I play this very often, such a great game. I love that the FOSS community can take something so old and not only keep it alive, but make it thrive!
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