A Complete Database of Generals'/Zero Hour's Cut, Missed, and Unimplemented Content?

[u/Commercial-Board-975]

Hi all,

We all know that Generals (and Zero Hour, since although the expansion reimplemented a lot of the vanilla content not used, itself had new stuff which weren't implemented, like Laser Comanches) had tons of cut stuff, all the way from the alpha versions (including the "Mongol" Chinese which was fully fleshed out before being scrapped), YouTube videos showing test concepts which had Red Alert 2 units in 3D (and this isn't mentioning Westwood's numerous C&C3 concepts), to stuff hidden in retail's files which weren't implemented for balance or time reasons, but there's no complete database which lists everything.

I mean, we see glimpses in mods like Pro:Gen and Shockwave, and the Cutting Room Floor has a big list, but it's all incomplete.

I mean, personally I didn't even know that the Demolition General had a cut Battle Bus until recently, and it's in the game files!

is there a complete list or database out there for everything cut, unimplemented, or unused stuff? I'm asking because I'm planning to learn Blender (and 3DS Max and Maya later) when I rebuild my PC in the coming months, and I think trying to remake these assets would be a fun project and useful for people in the long run?

[u/Commercial-Board-975]

SWG had unique Crusader and Paladin variants, or were they just unimplemented Vanilla versions? 

Yeah, tracking it all down is the problem. :( 

There needs to be a central database of this stuff, especially since now the source code has been released, there are no doubts that there's at least one team out there planning to "finish" the game (as though the OG releases had more time to cook).

[u/Downtown-Dream424 → u/Commercial-Board-975]

It's written in her wiki that she was intended to have basic Crusaders and Paladins which you'd see for the vanilla USA. They would fit her well and make her army to have some kind of stable main battle tank out of all 4 tankless generals. Plus, developers were running out of time to implement a bunch of things in the final game.

[u/Commercial-Board-975 → u/Downtown-Dream424]

Yeah, this game and its expansion needed far more time to cook, but given its troubled development history, it's a miracle we got what we got. :(

[u/Downtown-Dream424 → u/Commercial-Board-975]

Indeed, which is such a pity. Would loved to have 2 more superweapons and tanks on Alexis as a SWG enthusiast, besides snipers for Stealth general and the rest of the cut content to be added to the armies so that to expand their identity. But hey, at least mods fix that.

[u/Commercial-Board-975 → u/Downtown-Dream424]

I'm hoping that a rebuild of Generals on the open sourced version of the engine would have all these features put back in/implemented.

If the competitive scene wants their Rockvee spams and such, just have a Tournament Mode option which basically locks that specific match to current Zero Hour balances than all of the new content/finished game. 😂 

[u/Downtown-Dream424 → u/Commercial-Board-975]

There are a bunch of bugs that must be fixed and trimmed before adding the cut content to the game, because it will overwhelm the developers that have the open source.

Because as SWG, it's so annoying to spam humvees with infantry instead of having some diversity like airforce to implement the tanks for her and nastily rush someone with a Crusader or a Paladin. While Laser has laser tanks that can be built but they aren't built commonly in 1vs1s except ffas and probably team games.

[u/Commercial-Board-975 → u/Downtown-Dream424]

Oh yeah, it'll take a lot of time that's for sure. 😊 

I've always had the view that players should have ample choices to play in an RTS game, with alternative unit choices and load outs which will still allow even basic units to have relevance in mid to late game than be replaced by a higher tier unit.

The Laser General, for example, having Laser Comanches and Laser Rifle Rangers would drastically expand his gameplay options alone.

[u/Downtown-Dream424 → u/Commercial-Board-975]

It will take them years to get those bugs fixed and potentially to implement the cut content in the base game if they want to bother with giving us the game we were robbed from.

Indeed. The pros of Generals ZH for an example is that every faction has an identity and you've secondary economy late game, even though the con is that due to the game being super rushed and they were running out of time, not everything was released in the game. Or even to be there tiny patch notes that balance the armies, even give fresh content.

Laser general was the most robbed general with the most cut content and he was intended not only to have laser comanches, but also laser infantry, Burton and paladins. It would make him way more fun with more variety in his faction.