As you might have heard or read, the original plan of mine for patch 3.3.4 for Mental Omega was to have it contain the conclusion of the Act Two storyline - the remaining 7 missions, the names of which you already know. After some thought and some recent developments, I've decided to switch the plans a bit and release new content to the players sooner, since I've known for a while that these final missions of Act Two would take more time and effort than usual to be completed, and a release earlier than in December would not be possible (and this date is not final either). As such, there's going to be an additional patch in Summer - the 3.3.4 update will become something different than I initially intended.
 

 
Thanks to the efforts of our mission designers, both veterans and newcomers, we've prepared 9 completely new singleplayer missions for this surprise update! They are as follows:

• Allied Covert Op Mission Fullmetal
• Allied Covert Op Mission Gridlock
• Soviet Covert Op Mission Eclipse
• Soviet Covert Op Mission Dawnbreaker
• Soviet Covert Op Mission Brothers in Arms
• Epsilon Covert Op Mission Taciturn
• Epsilon Covert Op Mission Nightcrawler
• Epsilon Covert Op Mission Survivors
• Foehn Origins Mission The Great Beyond

The Great Beyond is the 2nd out of three additional missions for the Foehn Origins. Back when I first announced Nobody Home for Foehn, I intended for the Origins campaign to have 3 missions total, however, thanks to Esther and Ollerus, the final number of missions in it will be 6, with the last 2 missions to be released alongside the finales of Allied, Soviet and Epsilon campaigns.
 
While Covert Ops are mostly side stories, Dawnbreaker and Brothers in Arms are both part of the final Soviet story arc: the liberation of Russia from Yuri's hands. As the Soviet task force on the Moon is preparing for their counter attack, the forces that remained on Earth after Meltdown begin the grand operation ahead of them, preparing the grounds for the major siege of Moscow.
 
Eclipse is a Chinese mission which takes place during their invasion of Japan in Act One. Survivors shows what Malver has done after Obsidian Sands, while Nightcrawler does the same for Rahn. Taciturn takes place between Act One and Act Two and is about Yuri's forces chasing down a Chinese agent who has found out the big Russian secret. The Allied Covert Ops, Fullmetal and Gridlock show what challenges the other task forces from the Paradox Expedition had to face, while the Paradox Engine itself was moving towards Cape Town.
 

 
In addition to the new Foehn Origins mission and Covert Ops, another Challenge map will be added:

• Firestorm Challenge against the Wings of Coronia armies with a Blasticade stronghold

As usual, new skirmish/multiplayer maps will also be available. They are as follows:

• '(2) Closed Wide Open', '(2) Golden Spiral', '(2) Inferno Galore', '(3) Easter Island', '(4) Blood Feud Redux', '(4) Blue Hawaii', '(4) Dune Petrol',  '(4) Double Shredder', '(4) Goldshire', '(4) Tetris', '(4) The Well', '(4) Woody Island', '(6) Avalanche', '(6) Black's Big Bluff',  '(6) Death Stranded', '(6) Metallic Madness', '(6) Rorschach', '(6) Winter Desolation'

Out of the all planned bugfixes and changes, I believe the following are the most noteworthy:

• 'Free for All' can be chosen again as a game mode, it blocks the ability to make alliances before and during battle with no exceptions
• the Built statistic has been added to the Statistics screen, which can now be completely cleared through a new button in the client
• players can now choose a 'Random subfaction from a specific side' option in skirmish/multiplayer
• Observers can now see a player's current production or money by clicking on their buildings
• all amphibious transports are now immune to EMP weapons (but not freezing weapons)
• several of Foehn infantry had their transport size reduced from 2 to 1 and can form IFV combos
• Allied Co-Op map 'Low Rider' fully works again

You can see the complete list of upcoming new additions, proposed changes and bugfixes under the following link:
 

Patch 3.3.4 Changelog

 
Send us all the feedback regarding the proposed changes for the new update at the usual places. Long live Command & Conquer!
 

 
The developer playthrough of Mental Omega campaign continues on our YouTube channel. Ahead of its release, you can already take a look at the Epsilon Covert Op Taciturn:
 

That's all for now, stay tuned for the 3.3.4 release and more news to come! 
 

 
If you'd like to help develop Mental Omega further, write an e-mail to mental.omega.apyr@gmail.com
We always welcome additional Voxel Artists, 3D & SHP Artists, Mission Scripters and Voice Actors.
Single contributions are also welcome and will speed up the development of the mod.
 

• Allied Act Two Mission Insomnia
• Allied Covert Op Mission Obstinate
• Soviet Act Two Mission Meltdown
• Soviet Act Two Mission Earthrise
• Epsilon Act Two Mission Machinehead
• Epsilon Act Two Mission Unthinkable
• Epsilon Covert Op Mission Blood Rage
• Foehn Origin Mission Nobody Home
• Foehn Origin Mission Kill the Messenger
• Foehn Origin Mission Tainted Empire
• Epsilon Co-Op Mission Metaphor (replaces Cornered)

• Heroslayer Challenge against the enemies with a powerful "army of clones"

• '(2) Big Little Lake', '(2) Obsidian Knoll', '(2) Poisonous Milk', '(2) Route Sixty Six', '(3) Medusa', '(3) Don't Cross the Streams', '(4) Extra Small', '(4) BizarroGrid', '(4) Ivory Wastes', '(4) Mentalopolis', '(4) Not Without A Boat', '(4) Practice Yellow', '(4) Red Sun Canyon', '(4) Scorpion Trail', '(6) All the Fury', '(6) Alert Status Red', '(6) Ant Arctic', '(6) Blizzard Peaks', '(6) Cold Hard Crash', '(6) Frostburn', '(6) Paradise Warfare', '(8) Pacific Rim Mega', '(8) Tic Tac Toe'

• a new unit has been introduced into the Foehn navy, the Whipray: it is an anti-aircraft drone ship with a confusion rifle and a 'Golden Rocket' launcher, which requires a Cloud Piercer to be built. With its introduction, the Swordfish loses its AA capabilities, but also gets a price decrease to compensate.
  
  

  
  Foehn Whipray by Mevitar

• you can now check the game host's ping in the CnCNet lobby
• the AI has been heavily revamped, especially in the special game modes
• when starting a match or mission, you should no longer spawn into the original game's main menu and crash
• most of Co-Op maps have been updated to feature difficulty changes
• new Statistics window in the client logs your skirmish/multiplayer battles
• multiple new IFV modes have been added to the game, Mercury IFV mode has been removed, each hero now has a mode of its own
• Experimental Warpshop build limit has been increased from 1 to 2
• firepower of all capturable tech defenses increased by 10-20%
• price of all T2 defense towers decreased from $1200 to $1000
• cloaked objects no longer get uncloaked when hit with effects, which don't affect those objects
• stat buffs are now applied to objects, which are under the effect of Iron Curtain/Force Shield, most of nerfs still are not
• you will now be given a proper amount of starting cash in Epsilon Co-Op Backbitten
• choosing United States in Contagion Challenge will no longer give your MCV to the enemy instantly

Patch 3.3.3 Changelog

• Allied Act Two Mission Paranoia
• Allied Act Two Mission Relentless
• Soviet Act Two Mission Power Hunger
• Soviet Act Two Mission Thread of Dread
• Epsilon Act Two Mission Obsidian Sands
• Allied Co-Op Mission Hypothermia
• Soviet Co-Op Mission Ravages of War
• Soviet Co-Op Mission Combustion
• Soviet Co-Op Mission Cyberanatomy
• Epsilon Co-Op Mission The Cardinal
• Epsilon Co-Op Mission Mind Over Matter
• Epsilon Co-Op Mission Neuromancers
• Epsilon Co-Op Mission Backbitten

• Contagion Challenge against the Scorpion Cell
• Madness Challenge against the Haihead
• Revolution Challenge against all 3 Soviet subfactions
• Heavyobject Challenge against the defensive subfactions

• '(2) Hamlet Mirror', '(2) Hanamura', '(2) Spratly Island', '(4) Dragon Harbour', '(4) Hail Mary's Revenge', '(4) Transistor', '(4) Warhead Junction', '(4) Winterspring Redux', '(6) Gryphon Paradise', '(8) Central Quad'

• Soviet mission 'Noise Severe' has been moved, along with 'Archetype', to a new section in the mission selection screen called Covert Operations. Any additional missions that are not part of the main story in Act One and Act Two will appear there from now on. Since 'Noise Severe' does not affect the main story in a major way, I've decided to move it and make room for one more Soviet mission between 'Earthrise' and 'Death's Hand', which will be called 'Fatal Impact'.
• Stolen tech units now require infiltration of both the advanced technology building (Tech Center, Soviet Lab, Pandora Hub, Cloud Piercer) and the respective side's ConYard.
• The mod should now properly default to English to prevent launch errors if Mental Omega files were extracted to a directory with the version of the game in a different language.
• Superweapons toggle is no longer permamently set to 'yes' in Challenge mode, except for the 'Superweapons Challenge'.
• Mental AI Boost makes the AI even more difficult now.
• The CnCNet message that says 'Modified files detected! This person could be cheating!' should be more reliable now, so if you get one in 3.3.2, there's most likely something wrong with someone's Mental Omega setup and they could in fact be cheating with modified files.
• Thanks to Ares updates, units can no longer be used to block War Factory or Refinery entrances with the use of ALT key.
• Foehn MCV prerequisite has been changed from Nanofiber Loom to the Cloud Piercer.
• Haihead AI will now properly use the M.A.D.M.A.N. against you.
• EMP Mines, M.A.D. Mines and Genomines are no longer instantly active after their placement, they require a few seconds to become armed.

Patch 3.3.2 Changelog

Tech Reinforcement Pad by Nooze


Allied Paladin Tank Destroyer (mission unit) by ONEX


Allied Super Thor (mission unit) by Azri_Apoc & ONEX


United States Riot Trooper by Trans_C


Yuri's Statue (mission structure) by Donut_Arnold


Scorpion Cell Malver by Trans_C

So, in case you missed the big news, Mental Omega 3.3 has been released over a month ago.
 
First of all, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to everyone involved in the development of this new version, most notably: AlexB, the current developer of Ares DLL, Nooze, the designer of majority of the new side's visuals, World Beyond, the artist behind new side's soundtrack, Rampastring, the developer of the new client, Mevitar, ONEX, Azri_Apoc, the designers of majority of new mechanical units, Seoras, De'Lante, for voicing so many units added after 3.0 and also Toveena, Alstar, Lovalmidas,  Cesare, Sandman, Esther, iForce, Martinoz, Ollerus, Nolt for designing maps, missions, various story and gameplay elements and of course lots and lots of testing. For the full list of credits please visit this section of our website. Thank you, you made it possible to take this project this far!
 
The new release adds an entirely new faction - the Foehn Revolt - to the previously heavily modified vanilla sides from Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge, which were already divided into 3 subfactions each, the new one being no exception. Haihead, Wings of Coronia and the Last Bastion are the subfactions of Foehn and each comes with its unique units, buildings, support powers and heroes. There are also new additions for the Allies, the Soviets and Yuri's Epsilon, as well as new missions, skirmish maps and game modes.

What's also important is that the new release makes use of Rampastring's client, originally created for Dawn of the Tiberium Age mod, which allows us to do some interesting things. The most important thing this client has given to Mental Omega, is the possibility to use version 5 of CnCNet for multiplayer services. Since the release, there've been many players on our server with the amount of players peaking at around 150 at times. According to Rampastring, there've been 44 000 unique users of the client in a month since the release, which I think is nice for a mod.
 

The new Mental Omega version arrived with an updated soundtrack, to keep the tradition of giving each of the factions a unique one. The soundtrack for the Foehn Revolt is an album called "Mindshell" created by World Beyond, which is available for download on his Bandcamp page in best quality. You can also listen to it on his YouTube channel.

Now would be a good time to discuss what's ahead.

We are aware there is a group of players who can't start missions at all, this is one of the fixes that will be included in 3.3.1 in a form of an Ares DLL update. Initial 3.3 release did not contain all of Act Two missions, so there's more of those to come for sure. We have several missions more already finished, but they require additional polish and internal tests before they are included in one of the Mental Omega updates. Speaking of those, we've been following your feedback and comments in all places possible and so here's a proposed changelog for the first mod update, for which there is no date just yet. Keep in mind this is not final, discuss it here.

Patch 3.3.1 Changelog

 
One thing we want to expand for sure and already in patch 3.3.1 is the Challenges mode. These are quite fast and fun to make and it seems like many people are trying their best not to lose those battles. These challenge maps are made with an uncontrolled difficulty mindset, meaning that don't expect a balanced fight getting into those. Remember that you can adjust the difficulty and handicap of challenge maps using standard skirmish settings, and like with everything else, there's three difficulty options and the additional Mental AI toggle, which replaced the Meteor Shower mode in 3.3.
  

 
New additions to the arsenals of Mental Omega factions are a possibility but not a priority right now, but if you have suggestions in regards to what you'd like to see next in the mod, let us know.
 
That's all for now, stay tuned for more announcements! 

 
If you'd like to help develop Mental Omega further, write an e-mail to mental.omega.apyr@gmail.com
We always welcome additional Voxel Artists, 3D & SHP Artists, Mission Scripters and Voice Actors.
Single contributions are also welcome and will speed up the development of the mod.
 

This is mostly a quick heads up about all the recent more or less stealth updates on MentalOmega.com.

I have updated the information pages about the Structures, Infantry, Units & Tech Trees of the three original sides. This information now matches the state of the mod that it is currently in and will most likely be released as in the upcoming months. The Allied/Soviet/Epsilon Info pages that open the Factions information will be updated last as they'll contain lore and updated storyline details for each of the subfactions. The Foehn pages will be up shortly before the release so that the surprise is not (entirely) spoiled, and the new Stolen Tech page will appear last. There will also be a new trailer before that happens, in which you'll be able to see the Foehn subfactions in their full glory, including their bases with all their structures.
 
Quite an important update to these pages is the one made on the Tech Tree pages. You can now click on the icons to go directly to the object's/support power's profile.
 

 
If you'd like to help develop Mental Omega further, write an e-mail to mental.omega.apyr@gmail.com
We always welcome additional Voxel Artists, 3D & SHP Artists, Mission Scripters and Voice Actors.
Single contributions are also welcome and will speed up the development of the mod.
 

All Yuri's Epsilon subfactions & Confederation on '(4) Eternal Alliance'

All Soviet subfactions & Euro Alliance on '(4) Double Patrol'

All Allied subfactions on '(3) Mystery Town'

• The Allied subfactions receive a unique Tier 3 infantry each. USA gets the Riot Trooper, Euro Alliance gets its Sniper back in skirmish and Pacific Front receives a redesigned Suppressor with new looks by Holy_Master who uses experimental chrono technology to reverse the damage of enemy units.
• The Allied Cryocopter in action with its abilities to freeze and immobilize moving objects while also heavily decreasing the durability of any object under its influence. This freezing effect is not instant, it requires time to fully take effect and the size of its visual changes depending on the size of the target.
• The Allied Hummingbird requires an Experimental Warpshop to be built and unlike Cryocopter, its effects are quick and instant. It is the fastest jet in the game and its time warp weapon, which halves both speed and firepower will affect all targets in a selected area, instead of a single object. It does not work against buildings though.
• The Euro Alliance Coordnode, mentioned before, replaces the old Comet Fence and will increase firepower of defenses nearby by 10%.
• The Pacific Front gets a new support power called Hunter-Seeker which essentially works like the GDI one in Tiberian Sun. If you construct 5 Robot Ops Control Centers, you can fire 5 Hunter Seekers at once for the same price. It is the maximum amount of H-S drones that you can release.
• The Black Widow support power, available from the Tech Center, will release an unmanned stealth aircraft which will send jamming signals that decrease the effectiveness of enemy defenses and disrupts the signal of anti-aircraft defenses, making your aircraft nearby resist more damage, as shown by the small green circles around them. With a very strong armor, the Black Widow will also be able to tank in plenty of anti-aircraft fire before it is redirected at your other aircraft.
• The Robot Tank will now use lasers against its targets, making it an early anti-infantry weapon on par with Terror Drones and Stingers.
• New design for the Pacific Front's basic tank Kappa. Its strength & speed stats have been "swapped", it is now lighter but just as fast as the Robot Tanks and Tsurugis.
• The redesigned USA Basswave becomes a Red Alert 3-styled Athena Cannon which connects to the Mercury Satellite to coordinate powerful orbital laser strikes with a short pre-delay. When a Mercury Strike support power is used nearby your Athena Cannons, it becomes easier to recalibrate the orbital weapon, which increases the unit's firepower for a short period of time.
• As a sidenote, the Battle Fortress, being a unit of Pacific Front will lose its scottish accent.

• All Soviet subfactions receive a Tier 3 jet which can release smoke screen over its enemies, called the Dustdevil. The smoke screen will decrease the enemy accuracy, which will result in less damage being dealt to your units. The Latin Confederation still keeps its unique Smoke Bombs support power, the duration of which is much longer.
• The Latin Confederation's new Fury Drone can be deployed to dig into the ground and become unseen to the enemies. When an enemy approaches, it will launch itself at it and explode violently, dealing plenty of damage to the target and anything nearby. It does not replace the Terror Drone.
• The Latin Confederation also receives the Arsonist, which is a Tier 3 infiltrator who can set enemy buildings on fire and disguise as the enemy soldiers.
• The Fury Drone and the Arsonist replace Latin Confederation's unique Drakuv and Hijacker. The Hijacker is no longer a Soviet unit, while the Drakuv becomes available to all Soviet subfactions. It is accessible through a support power that can only be accessed when both Field Bureau and a lab has been built.
• Updated Drakuv Prison Vehicle can abduct enemy troops which have been wounded in battle and escort them to the Field Bureau. If the player sends them to the Field Bureau, he will get the ability to train the imprisoned soldier type. However, if a Spy infiltrates the Field Bureau, access to that technology will be lost.
• The Saboteur's radiation field created upon his explosion has been removed to reduce its effectiveness in killing Dogs & Spooks.
• China receives a new support power called the Wallbuster, which is an earthquake-generating missile fired from their unique laboratory, the Atomheart. The Wallbuster is extremely effective against enemy defenses and will destroy any walls it touches.
• All Soviet subfactions receive the Iron Guard which is a small Iron Curtain that turns all vehicles nearby invulnerable with short delays where these units are suspectible to damage. Only two of these can be built at once, after you construct the Iron Curtain itself.

• The Epsilon Dog is replaced with the Spook, a terrifying creature which.. does everything a man's best friend can do.
• The Epsilon Aerodome gives access to two jets, one of them being the Dybbuk-Attacker, which can continuously fire its A.R.O. projectiles at ground targets, however no longer without an ammo limit. It is a very fast jet which is effective against enemy armor. The other one, is a high tech Dybbuk-Evolver available after a Cloning Vats is built. It drops a series of bombs filled with gas, the particles of which trigger a mutation reaction on the soldiers killed in battle. It is also relatively effective against all other targets.
• With the chaos gas tech for Epsilon no more, the Weaver has been repurposed into the Bloatick, which is a walking poisonous bomb, quite effective against all sorts of targets, especially in large groups. The Scorpion Cell's Molebomb support power has been replaced with the Bloatick Trap which deploys several of those anywhere on the battlefield.
• A new support power for the PsiCorps, the Magnetic Beam is a weapon fired from.. the sky, I guess, which will trap and slow down all metallic units. It is active for a short period of time and can be moved around the battlefield just like any other unit, in a similar fashion to C&C Generals Particle Cannon.
• Virus is no longer a stolen tech unit and is available to all Epsilon subfactions after they construct the Cloning Vats.
• The Stalker loses its immobilizer weapon. It is replaced with a special projectile that upon firing at enemy infantry, will heal your troops around that specific soldier, which is especially effective when Brutes, Bloaticks or any other short range infantry is involved in the battle. The infantry immobilizer tech became a Foehn weapon.
• The Invaders can now shut down the power plants again, however they will only be able to shut down a single power instead of the entire base power grid. Nuclear Reactor users beware!
• Not exactly shown in these videos I think, Headquarters receive a new Tier 3 stealth mine, the Genomine which releases the mutating gas upon exploding.
• Headquarters also receive a mobile stealth generator in the form of the Hazequad. Just like the Chimera Core, it can only turn units & infantry invisible.
• The Rage Inductor support superweapon has been modified and will no longer kill your infantry. Instead, it will heal them rapidly and will work on a larger area.