Act of War: High Treason

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Act of War: High Treason

Developer(s)	Eugen Systems
Publisher(s)	Atari
Designer(s)	Alexis Le Dressay
Latest version	1.00 (April 13, 2006)
Release date(s)	March 24, 2006 (EU) April 4, 2006 D2D May 30, 2006 (NA)
Genre(s)	RTS
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 16+ ESRB: Teen (T)
Platform(s)	Windows
Media	DVD (1)
System requirements	Intel Pentium 4 1.5 GHz or equivalent CPU, 256 MB RAM, 7 GB hard disk,DirectX 9.0c, 128 MB video card with pixel shader support.
Input	Keyboard, Mouse

Act of War: High Treason (abbreviated as AOW:HT) is a first expansion pack for the critically acclaimed Act of War: Direct Action. It is developed by Eugen Systems and published by Atari. It introduces a massive amount of new features and content to enhance and extend the overall experience. Significant enhancements have been made to the online gameplay, and also for the single-player Engagement (skirmish) and Operation (campaign) modes. Some of the improvements include, speed-scrolling, ability to abort airstrikes, and ability to scatter units easily.

Act of War: High Treason takes the visuals a step further, whilst simultaneously raising the bar in terms of gameplay. The wealth of original features include modern naval combat with bump-mapping and physics, fully customizable multiplayer games, mercenary units, improved control system, new units, revised aircraft and artillery, an entirely new campaign set in a new real-world location, new maps, and additional multiplayer enhancements.

[edit] Plot

On the eve of the U.S. Presidential election, terror strikes again in the worst possible way - as both candidates are attacked, the sitting president is assassinated. As America tumbles into turmoil, confusion and chaos, only one man can save the nation from a threat that's growing more frightening by the day. In this expansion pack we follow major Jason Richter and his Task Force Talon on a desperate race against time to unravel a gigantic plot to cripple the world's only super-power, with connections back to the Consortium, the shadowy organization we got to know in Direct Action. Aside from theaters of war ranging from New York and Manhattan to Cuba, Mexico and Florida, in this installment we also take the fight to the murky waters in between - as we're introduced to modern naval combat in the same ultra-realistic style as we did on land in Direct Action.

[edit] GamePlay

[edit] Single Player(Campaign)

The new campaign features the characters from the original game, plus a number of new ones. In classic techno-thriller manner, a group of super-villains have concocted a devious world-threatening scheme which the player must foil. At the start of the game we find ourselves on the eve of U.S. Presidential elections when simultaneous terrorist attacks hit both candidates. Clues point to corrupt elements within the U.S. military and on to the Consortium, and as the story unfolds with one incredible plot-twist after the other, we slowly lose any connection to the real world - as in the best examples of the techno-thriller genre. Aside from that fact that the new single player game uses the new units (naval and mercenary) and some amazing new real-world locations (including a battle of the rooftops of Manhattan), new A.I. takes the game up a level and introduces a new increased difficulty level. Whereas the original game had standard scripted A.I., this expansion pack relies on a "real" A.I. in the single-player campaign.

[edit] Multi Player

Eugen Systems have listened closely to feedback from fans of the original game and as a result have increased the number of multiplayer game customization options in this Expansion Pack on a massive scale.

There are now options for simple things like game speed and map wealth, but also more interesting options such as "X minutes no rush", super weapons on/off, POWs on/off, resource harvesting speed, unit lethality (increase if you want a shorter game; decrease if you want a game where you're required to use specialized units for all situations). They've also introduced two brand new game modes, a "Marine One Down" mode where the POTUS is basically eliminated to filling the role of a football that has to be captured and carried across the battlefield, and "SCUD Launcher" where the opposing sides will need to locate and capture a SCUD launcher that will only re-arm once every 3-5 minutes.

[edit] Naval Combat

The new naval combat in provides a fully-fledged modern naval RTS within Act of War. With over a dozen new units designed specifically for naval warfare - from Tarawa class carrier, Typhoon submarine and SH-60 Seahawk anti-sub helicopters, to Harrier attack aircraft and Zubr class amphibious assault hovercraft - this feature alone promises to make this expansion pack one of the most interesting new RTS offerings in 2006.

To support the naval combat feature, Eugen Systems have developed brand new real-time physics technology to simulate waves and the heave of the ships, ballistics code for ASROC's, Tomahawks, Harpoon missiles and other maritime weaponry, and normal mapping and deep parallax water surfaces for the waves.

Note:- Naval Combat is not available in skirmish you can use Salsifi AI Special Force mod mod to use the naval.

[edit] Artificial Intelligence

The A.I. has had a massive overhaul with a wealth of enhancements made. The improvements include: the A.I. now will adapt its production queue to what the player attacks him with; it will use units and upgrades that it apparently didn't in the original game; it will sell buildings if it runs out of money; it is able to analyze terrain features and adapt its tactic accordingly.

[edit] Improved Visuals

Act of War:Direct Action was the first RTS to use a number of advanced graphical features - high precision shadow maps, reflection mapping, Bump Mapping, specular mapping, soft lighting, environmental volumetric occlusion, and advanced programmable pixel shaders 2.0 - on top of having unprecedented poly count and texture resolution for an RTS game. Even nine months after release it's the most advanced RTS engine available, and Eugen Systems are raising the bar another notch with this expansion pack.

New advertised visual features include post-treatment bloom effects, per-pixel and per-vertex, Shadow mapping, per-pixel lighting with multiple light and Gloss mapping, Volumetric lighting and support for SM (shader model) 1, 2 and 3 shader.

[edit] Factions

[edit] US army

The strongest Army in the world, this Army knows no defeat. They use modern high tech weaponry to keep the world at peace. They can be deployed anywhere within 12 hours. In the game the US Army consists of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Though the same as we saw in direct action, the US army will be both friend and foe as you progress through the single player campaign and as the plot begins to unfold.

[edit] New Units

[edit] Land Units

FIM-92 Stinger, an infantry unit carrying a stinger Anti-air missile launcher.

Electronic Fighting Vehicles (EFV), The EFV's are deployed out of the Heavy Armor Depots. EFVs have no weaponry and weak armor.

The EFV has three special abilities. You have to manually switch them on.

Stealth Mode: All nearby allied units (except other EFVs) gain stealth capacity.
EMP Mode: All nearby buildings (including own and allied) are powered down. (This will have ripple effects; if a TFT FOC is powered down, all structures powered by that FOC are also powered down.)
Advanced Targeting Mode: Increases all nearby allied unit's damage. Effects are cumulative if several EFVs have this power switched on. They go up by .25x damage for each EFV.

Note:- Using any one of these special abilities will require 30 MWs from Field Power Generators.

MLRS, The MLRS has had an enormous increase in range, and is classified as "heavy artillery"(note, the piranha has also received this change), and the farther away targets are, its accuracy will decline.

Note:- This Unit exists in AOW:DA. It is an upgrade for this game.

US Marine, You now upgrade US Marines individually with an M203 grenade launcher.

Note:- This Unit exists in AOW:DA. It is an upgrade for this game.

M2A3 Bradley, You can now toggle between the Bradley's 25mm Chaingun or its TOW Launcher which is upgraded by selecting it in the Light Armor Depot.

Note:- This Unit exists in AOW:DA. It is an upgrade for this game.

[edit] Air Units

OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, The Kiowa helicopters are deployed at the helipad. Kiowa have stealth capacity while not firing its rockets or using its Ping radar.

You can manually activate the Ping radar, which will increase the vision range by 2x and reveal enemy stealth units for ten seconds. It takes 1 minute to recharge this ability.
Kiowa's can manually fire short-range rocket salvos, which are mostly effective against infantry targets. It takes 30 seconds to recharge this ability.

A-10 Thunderbolt, The A-10 now uses its nose-mounted GAU-8/A seven-barrelled Gatling gun against ground targets(including infantry). It can also be upgraded from the Air Force Control Tower for $2500 to drop CBU-87 Cluster bombs. It also still fires four AGM-65 Maverick Missiles.

[edit] Naval Units

Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC)

It has eight transportation slots.
To load a unit in the LCAC, move both units close to the shore, select the unit(s) to load and right-click the LCAC. If it doesn't work, move the ship and the unit(s) to load closer.
To unload a unit, move the LCAC close to the shore where you want to unload and click the Unload button. The units will automatically end up on the shoreline. You can also click unload first then click where you want to unload it, it will move and unload for you.
LCACs are very vulnerable to enemy fire and are unarmed.

FFG-7 Oliver Hazard Perry (Missile Frigate)

It detects stealth units including submarines.
It deploys one SH-60B Sea Hawk helicopter which, while hovering, will suspend a Sonobouy that also gives stealth detection.
By deploying several Sonobouy (i.e. dropping it in the water), a Sea Hawk can reveal large areas of fog of war, and also giving stealth detection. A Sea Hawk can deploy one Sonobouy every 15 seconds, at no cost if the Sea Hawk finds an enemy submarine it will drop one MK50 homing torpedo.
Sonobouys remain deployed for 90 seconds.
Lost Sea Hawks can be replaced at a cost of $1000.
The Oliver Hazard Perry has a light Mark 75(76mm) deck gun capable of rapid indirect barrage fire, its main offensive weapon however is a long-range RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile that can be launched once every ten seconds.
The Oliver Hazard Perry has a powerful MK15 PHALANX auto cannon as anti-aircraft defense.
This Frigate can launch two MK46 homing torpedoes at enemy submarines.

LHA-1 TARAWA Class (Amphibious Assault/Support Ship)

The Tarawa deploys up to four AV-8B Harrier II close-air support aircraft ($2000 each).
For all intent and purposes, Harriers perform as helicopters.
The Tarawa itself only has an MK15 PHALANX auto cannon as anti-aircraft defense, but the Harriers also carry AIM-9 Sidewinder Air-to-Air missiles.
Harriers also carry AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-Ground missiles along with one AGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missile.

Has the ability to launch an LCAC loaded with several units:

U.S. Marine($200)
Javelin Anti-tank missile system($500)
Stinger Surface-to-Air missile system($1200)
M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle($1800)
Avenger low-level air defense system($1000)
M113A3 Armored Personnel Carrier($1200)
M1A2 Abrams main battle tank($3000)

SSN-688i Los Angeles Class (Attack Submarine)

It has stealth and stealth detection capabilities.
When attacking, a Los Angeles submarine will launch two 533mm homing torpedoes against its target every 15 seconds. These will loiter around in the target area for 20 seconds, or until they find a target.
BGM-109 Tomahawk Land-Attack Cruise Missile for which it has to surface and loses stealth capability until it submerges again.

DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class (Guided Missile Destroyer)

The Arleigh Burke destroyer can deploy one SH60B Sea Hawk
By activating its Ping radar, the Arleigh Burke destroyer can see very far. While activated, it can also be seen from far away.
The Arleigh Burke can deliver Medium range barrage fire with its powerful Mark 45(54 caliber) deck gun, its main offensive weapon however are twin long-range RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missile that are fired once every nine seconds.
Has very powerful Anti-Aircraft defenses(Aegis System) with two MK15 PHALNAX auto cannons and SM-3 Medium range Anti-Aircraft missiles.

[edit] Task Force Talon

Task Force Talon is a secretive elite branch of the US military. They utilize futuristic weapons and technology to fight terrorism anywhere quickly.

[edit] New Units

[edit] Land Units

Objective Crew Served Weapon - OCSW

They can switch between two ammunition types; High-Explosive (vs. infantry) and Armor-Piercing (vs. vehicles and structures).
Lightly armored.

Future Force Warrior - FFW

Holds a XM-29 Wolverine Assault Rifle which is very powerful and launches a devastating grenade every 4 bursts.
The FFW is superior to the Task Force Commando in every way: speed, armor, and firepower.
Upgraded from a Task Force Commando for $550 but requires a S.H.I.E.L.D. Control Center.
Task Force Commandos and FFW both now launch one GUOS Mine each instead of the GUOS Spy Drones these will blow manually or when an enemy is near dealing a great blow of damage in its blast radius.
GUOS Mines cost $200 and can only be deployed once per FFW or Commando until one minute after it's destroyed.

Spinner Titan Launcher

Ordered for $3,400 from the Spinner Command Center.
Can not change its form.
Makes up for Task Force Talons lack of Artillery.
Fires one big Tacit Rainbow rocket each which will loiter around the target area forever until it finds a target or is shot down. When destroyed another Tacit Rainbow will immediately appear back on the Titan Launcher.

[edit] Air Units

F/A-35A Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter)

F-35As can now be upgraded from the Air Control Tower to drop BLU-144 bombs for $3500.
BLU-144 bombs knock out power in buildings they don't destroy which is good for taking out multiple turrets.
These bombs also make ripple effects by knocking out generators or Forward Operations Centers.

[edit] Naval Units

LCAC Barge

Same as US LCAC.

SSN Seawolf Class (Attack Submarine)

It has stealth and stealth detection capabilities.
When attacking, a Seawolf submarine will launch three homing torpedoes against its target every 15 seconds. These will loiter around in the target area for 20 seconds, or until they find a target.
Naval Radar: the sub surfaces to considerably extend the sub's visual range; but it reveals the ship's position to the enemy.

DD(X) Class (Land Attack Destroyer)

It has very powerful twin long range platform guns for both heavy barrage fire and naval warfare.
It has one RIM-116 RAM SAM.
It can deploy 2 comanche stealth helicopters (which can be upgraded from the Vehicle Command Center for $3500 to fire on vehicles, helicopters, and ships).
It has one BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile.

LPD-17 San Antonio Class (Amphibious Support Ship)

It fires a long range RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile.
It has one RIM-116 RAM SAM for self-defence.
It carries two F/A-35B Lightning II's (Joint Strike Fighter)(work the same as US Harrier IIs).
It also carries one SH-60B Seahawk(works the same as the US one).

The San Antonio can also launch LCACs loaded with:

Task Force Commando($450)
Heavy Sniper($900)
OCSW($1000)
Stryker ICV($1200)
Spinner Drone($3200)

[edit] Consortium

Terrorist group bent on raising oil prices to cause global panic and economic poverty. Their "army" consists mostly of mercenaries, extremists, terrorists etc. from all over the world. Their technology and weapons are also from all across the world, however, mostly Russian and cancelled US projects. In High Treason, the shadowy Consortium is back with a new plot to cripple the worlds only superpower, and over the course of the campaign, you learn that the Consortium is truly more than simple terrorists with extraordinary deep wallets.

[edit] New Units

[edit] Land Units

Polaris

Fast buggy equipped with a sniper and a driver.
Light armor and vulnerable, but effective against infantry and light vehicles.

Piranha

It has greatly increased range and power.

Note:- This Unit exists in AOW:DA it is a upgrade in this game.

[edit] Air Units

Mi-35 Hind-D

Besides the usual YaK-B 12.7mm chaingun and Hydra-70 rocket pods, Mi-35s can now be upgraded from the Chopper Pad for $3000 with Spiral Wingtip Missiles for Air-to-Ground and Anti-Helicopter.

Ka-58 Black Ghost

Anti-Air Stealth Helicopter with a Kh-29T rocket launcher.
Can shoot down Aircraft.

Tu-160 Blackjack

Consortiums new heavy fast bomber.
Flys as fast as the US F-15 Eagle and does almost as much damage as the US B-2 Spirit but in a more spread out area.

[edit] Naval Units

Project 1241 FSG Tarantul Class (Missile Corvette)

Has one AK-176 DP(76mm) light deck gun.
Has two long range SS-N-22 Anti-Ship missile.
It has no Anti-Air defences at all.

Project 941 SSBN Typhoon Class(Ballistic Missile Submarine)

Has stealth and stealth detection capabilities.
Launches one 650mm Torpedo every twenty seconds which loiter around the area for 25 seconds.
Must surface and reveal itself to launch its two R-39 Land Attack Cruise Missiles(It says BGM-109 in the game, but that's an American weapon).

Zubr Class(Heavy LCAC)

Has 2 30mm AK-630 Close-In Weapon Systems

The Zubr can create the following vehicles inside of it to deploy:

AK-74 Troop($150)
Kornet Anti-Tank Group($900)
SA-7 Soldier($1000)
AMX-10RC($1800)
Tunguska($1900)
BTR-80($1500)
Akula($3200)

IX-529 Sea Shadow (Light Stealth Carrier)

Is fast and has stealth capability.
Launches one X-32 JSF.
Excluding the JSF the Sea Shadow is completely unarmed.

K31 Visby (Missile Corvette)

Has stealth and stealth detection capabilities.
Has ping radar(Same as US Arleigh Burke).
Carries an EC-175 Cougar(Same as US SH-60B Sea Hawk).
Launches two TP 45 homing torpedoes against submarines.
Launches one Raytheon Advanced Seasparrow Missile for Air-defence.
Launches one long range Saab Bofors Dynamics RBS-15 Anti-Ship Missile.
Has a Bofors 57mm 70 SAK Mark III general purpose deck gun.

[edit] Mercenaries

Instead of introducing a fourth faction, Eugen Systems have introduced a different kind of feature which promises to mix things up considerably during different phases of the game - mercenary units. The concept is simple: these are units for hire. Only one player at a time can hire each mercenary unit, and to hire a mercenary team you need to pay a hefty insurance policy. If the mercenaries are injured or even killed, you won't get a full refund of your insurance deposit at the end of the contract. There are three tiers of mercenaries, and one can access the Unofficial and Illegal tiers by upgrades at the mercenary outpost, a buildable building. The price of the mercenaries goes up with each tier, and so does their effectiveness.

[edit] Official Mercs

All Official Mercs cost $5000 to deploy (Insurance) and $100 to maintain (Rolling fee). Rolling fee for any type of merc is charged every 5 seconds

Schwartzer Hund

Consists of five Close Assault Troops.
Very effective at close range.
They carry the SPAS 12 Full-Auto Combat Shotgun.

Grizzly Rescue Team

Consists of five medics.
Can heal Infantry once per unit.
Can repatriate your POWs.
They carry a .44 Magnum.

Dogs of War

Consists of two Roland II Anti-Aircraft systems.
Very effective vs. aircraft and helicopters.

[edit] Unofficial Mercs

All Unofficial Mercs cost $10,000 to deploy and $200 as a rolling fee

Iron Rain

Consists of three SU-25 Frogfoot Close-Air Support Aircraft.
Very effective vs. vehicles.

Burning Legion

Consists of three T-80 Main Battle Tanks.
Very effective vs. vehicles and structures.

Death Wing

Consists of three SU-27 Flanker Air Superiority Fighters.
Very effective vs. aircraft and helicopters.

[edit] Illegal Mercs

All Illegal mercs cost $15,000 to deploy and $300 as a rolling fee.

Rawhide

Consists of three Smerch Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
Fires like US MLRS except it has a much higher rate of fire.

Shadow Hawk

Consists of one F-117A Shadow Hawk.
It's a stealth-equipped aircraft that can drop a single devastating bomb on a structure.

Fireworks

Consists of one civilian truck with a backpack nuke.
When released the nuke has stealth capability and is manually detonated.
This powerful Merc does as much damage as a US Wolverine Tactical Weapon.

[edit] Mini Games

Marine One Down: The Marine One Down mode is where President has to be captured. Anyone that gets a unit within a couple (screen) inches gets possession; once you have possession, your objective is to move the POTUS unit to a pre-defined evacuation base at the edge of the screen (each of the 2 teams, each with 1 to 4 players, has its own evacuation point). There's no base building, instead you get reinforcements by occupying bunkers scattered around the map. Some bunkers will give you infantry, some will give you light vehicles, some heavy vehicles, etc.

SCUD launcher: The SCUD launcher mode is basically the same as a regular death match game, but with a twist. All players are unable to build Tactical Weapons, but in the middle of the map is a neutral SCUD launcher with a circle around it. Anyone who gets within the circle gains control of the SCUD, this allows that player to fire the SCUD every 2 minutes. Should the launcher be destroyed, it will as good as level everything within "one and a half screen" radius, which prevents players from keeping the launcher safe in their base. This allows for more dynamism over the course of the battle.

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Patches

Atari and Eugen Systems have released the first patch for Act Of War: High Treason with lots of fixes. The Size of the patch is 175 MB.

The Patch 1 includes:-

New Map Editor & Modding Tool.
Improved path finding for naval units.
Invisible helicopter bug in network games is fixed.
Naval Replays fixed.
Miscellaneous performance improvements, particularly on lower-end systems.

AOW:-High Treason Patch1 Download

[edit] Modding

[edit] Tools

Map Editor:- In this tool you can create your own map and it is included in the Patch. You can even convert Act of War: Direct Action maps for use in Act of War: High Treason.

Map Tutorial From Eugen System

Modding Tool:- In this tool you can add your own units, buildings and tweak anything you like by using 3dmax 7+. The modding tool is included in the Patch.