ECA update: Ultima Ratio Regum news - Rise of the Reds mod for C&C: Generals Zero Hour

Happy Sunday Generals!
We hope you've all had a great week. If not, then the following update should at least put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. At least, we can hope it does anyway. This week we are back for another exciting ECA update, featuring the Trident multirole artillery and the much anticipated Prometheus missile launcher. Before we jump into their lore, we want to quickly explain the purpose of these and create some context for their creation.

It's no secret that the ECA is a faction designed around its artillery, it is after-all one of their core themes. However, over time we have noticed a shift in the way the ECA has been played and players have been prioritising the use of howitzers above all else in-game. It is extremely common to see 1.87 and earlier versions pretty much follow the same script when it comes to ECA: Game starts, ECA rushes mid, sets up a wall of Gun Turret and just enough other defences to force the opponent to go for artillery as they transition to Tier 2, The ECA then uses a few Tigers to hold back any advance and zone off enemy artillery, and then spams secondary economy and a massive amount of howitzers as they farm experience to get to rank 5.

Whilst this is certainly on brand for ECA, gameplay like has been noted to be extremely frustrating to play against, and also foregoes the majority of the ECA unit roster in favour of just getting more and more howitzers. So as a part of 1.9, we have decided to mix up ECA's backbone and core, and make some pretty far reaching and somewhat controversial changes to try and mix up the core of how ECA is played. We want to see is more emphasis on using units to defend and hold the line, and more aggressive army-based all-in attacks over all matchups, rather than the standard play being focused on building base defences. So, what are these changes?

Those who have been following MaelstromX103's streams will already know, but for those that haven't been tuning in: Howitzers are limited to 4, Gun Turrets and Mortar Pits have been placed in separate Generals Powers and are no longer available by default, and the Fenris cryo tank is now a default crowd control option available from the Vehicle Assembly. These changes have already pushed ECA to be far more reliant on units for defence than previously, however there is still a huge gap in their roster in this setup. With no ability to scale howitzers indefinitely, and with no precision aircraft to make up the difference, ECA lacks a major backbone artillery unit to engage in counter artillery batteries, and cover themselves when their Howitzers are on cooldown.

This is where the Trident comes in. This new multirole artillery fills this hole and gives ECA the range it needs to engage in mid-late game artillery combat in a replayable way that Howitzers simply can't, turning them from the core that ECA is played around, to the force multiplier, and splash damage solution they were always intended to be.

Against the backdrop of the Global War on Terror in the 2020s, the Ukrainian government invested heavily in the modernisation of its armed forces and military industries. One result of this was the Trident, a uniquely modular artillery system: The armoured 8x8 chassis was originally conceived for a personnel carrier by the famous Morozov Design Bureau and can change between a howitzer and a six-tube rocket launcher in the field with minimal setup. The howitzer fires Western standard 155mm shells, ideal for the destruction of buildings and infantry, while the launcher accepts a unique type of rocket-launched, glide-capable guided munition optimised for precision use against tanks and other vehicles. Originally sourced from Germany and the US, the howitzer and rocket launcher were later built under licence domestically within Ukraine. By the early 2040s, this latest version of the Trident saw service with the Ukrainian Army as well as numerous export customers including Poland, the Baltic states and a number of Middle Eastern and African countries. During this time, the government applied for membership in the European Continental Alliance, though the process was cut short by the Russian invasion of Europe in 2045. Nonetheless, Ukraine entered the war as a co-belligerent of the ECA, defending its own territory and thereby frustrating Russian ambitions in the Black Sea and south-eastern Europe.

Render Description by MARS2588

As we said above, the Fenris becoming a default unit also created an exciting opportunity for us to create a new Pandora Protocole unit. We wanted something that could play into the increased emphasis on Ballistics as well as something that could play into the idea of the Pandora Protocole being a devastating desperate show of force - like it was the final option the ECA were throwing at their enemies. As such, we created the Prometheus.

The fall of Paris in mid-2047 marked the third major defeat of the ECA after the early success of the Russian invasion of Poland and the surrender of Germany following the battle of Berlin. Both prior events saw little involvement of France, whose forces were largely tied down by a resurgence of GLA offensives in north-western Africa. Thus, by the time the brunt of the French Army arrived to partake in the defence of Europe, fighting had already reached Metropolitan France itself. With the German and Benelux forces in exile forced to recuperate, the defence of Paris fell largely upon the French themselves. Fighting for the city was ferocious in a battle that was widely named the "Stalingrad of World War III." Despite fierce French resistance however, following a successful Russian encirclement, the city fell and with it much of the French Army, exposing more of the country to further Russian offensives. It was after this disaster that ECA high command considered the most desperate and distasteful options, such as the deployment of weapons of mass destruction. Under the direction of the Pandora protocol, strategists drew up competing plans for the use of chemical nerve agents or tactical nuclear weapons. The former was ultimately discarded, due to prohibitive mass production and safety concerns, in favour of the nuclear option. In addition to the experimental Pandora railgun artillery, ECA forces now fitted nuclear warheads on their existing stocks of the Prometheus, a road-mobile, short-range ballistic missile developed in the 2030s as a counter to Russia's tactical missiles. Most commonly used were low-yield warheads distributed to allied forces by France and Britain, though some would also use special neutron warheads, which not only destroy targets through heat and blast, but also produce a surge of intense radiation that penetrates even the heaviest of tanks, killing their crews in a matter of moments. In May 2048, the box of Pandora was opened...

Render Description by MARS2588

In reading these and other render descriptions you may have noticed seeming contradictions of previous lore. Assume these to be never by error and always deliberate, as we are taking the opportunity to introduce a few retcons and modifications to the lore as we go forward. We do this because much of the story was written a decade or longer ago at this point and during that time, the range of knowledge, perspectives, story-telling style and composition of our writing team naturally haven't remained static, but changed as well. Rest assured that the core character of the ROTR story and world-building remain the same, but changes to certain specific details of the timeline will be made, by way of render descriptions and future expository texts, to declutter, streamline and generally improve the narrative, flesh out underexplored aspects of the setting or adjust certain bizarre or reductive portrayals of entire countries or conflicts. Despite the highly fictionalised and video gamey nature of ROTR, it is after all a piece of fiction that invokes certain real world motifs, which should not be painted with too broad a brush, given the wide range of perspectives within our highly international audience.

So, that's all for this week. We hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned for more updates and we will see you soon.
Till next time Generals!