Act of War: High Treason

Mercenaries

Instead of introducing a fourth faction, Eugen Systems have introduced a different kind of feature wich 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.

The nine mercenary units range from close assault troops with Beneli shotguns, to Roland SAM systems, SU-25 Froogfoot CAS aircraft, and even F-117 stealth bombers that can be called into any part of the map.

New units and upgrades

For extra variation in the basic game each of the three factions also receives 2-3 new units and as many new upgrades; in some cases they will cover previous holes in the tech tree, in others just reinforce the strength of each side or introduce a new use for existing units and upgrades. Examples are Stinger infantry and Kiowa recon helicopters for the U.S. Army, SCUD launchers and Hind AT-6 Spiral missiles for the Consortium, and GUOS mine upgrades and experimental BLU-144 bombs for the joint Strike Fighters of the Task Force Talon.

The expansion brings significantly improved graphics and AI to Act Of War along with major enhancements o the online gameplay, and also for the single-player Engagement (skirmish) and Operation (campaign ) modes.

New 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 the 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 on the rooftops of Manhattan), new A.I. takes the game up a level (more below) 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.

New multiplayer mode and options

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

The are now options for simple things like game speed and map wealth, but also more interesting options such as X minutes no rush, superweapons on/off, POW 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.

Improved A.I.

The skirmish 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 it will sell buildings if it runs out of money: it is able to analyze terrain features and adapt its tactic accordingly and much, much more.

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 and 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( shadow model) 1,2 and 3 shaders.