Stealth Cybran nerf in the v3255 patch
This probably flew under most people’s radar, but there was a huge stealth Cybran nerf in the v3255 patch whose ramifications are just now being felt. This nerf was the complete removal of the Cerebus, the Cybran’s T2 point defense! Now you probably didn’t realize because it was replaced by a seemingly identical, deceptively named unit the “Cerberus”, but trust me, they’re not the same at all. They’re two completely different transliterations.
So boo on GPG for stealth-nerfing the Cybrans. Why are they always picking on the oppressed?
June 27th, 2007 at 7:19 am
It is, of course, beyond question that in a fight, Cerebus could beat the living crap out of Cerberus. Drunk.
I suspect the change was forced upon GPG, though, on account of the fact that the longer they left Cerebus running, the more frequently gameplay was interrupted by enormous incoherent error messages full of misogynist ranting.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Cyde, I already told you while we were listening to the first TUC shoutcast:
Cerberus > Cerebus, the Aardvark :P
June 27th, 2007 at 9:11 am
sooooo, what is the difference between the new PD and the old one (Cerebus vs. Cerberus)?
June 27th, 2007 at 9:18 am
The old one was a misanthropic Aardvark.
The new one is a misanthropic three-headed Dog.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:22 am
So, basically, it’s all the difference in the world.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:26 am
… haha ya i have no idea what that means, lol (new to the game :P) does it affect DPS, range, hp or just looks?
June 27th, 2007 at 9:28 am
It affects nothing so trivial as DPS, range, HP, or looks — it affects something much more deep, the unit’s very soul.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:09 am
R.I.P. Cerebus , and hello to our new overlord Cerberus!
June 27th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I for one am happy with the change, i had figured that it was a long-running typo. who ever heard of cerebus? how are the cybrans supposed to intimidate their enemies with a guard aarvark?
June 27th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Would you all stop bringing up aardvarks? Cerebus has nothing to do with an aardvark. It is simply an alternate translation of the same figure from Greek/Roman mythology, and it happened to be used as the name of a cartoon aardvark. If ten years down the line another object somewhere is named after Cerebus you’re not going to say it was named after the Cybran T2 point defense turret, would you?
June 27th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Cyde Weys:
You know what? I just might.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
> It is simply an alternate translation of the same figure from Greek/Roman mythology
Says who? I can find no evidence supporting this view, and considerable evidence against it.
Dave Sim has stated that he originally meant to call his Conan-parody aardvark “Cerberus”, but just got it wrong back in 1977, and the name stuck. The only times the word was ever been mentioned before then was when someone else spelled “Cerberus” wrong, and the misspelling never became an accepted alternative, as far as I can see.
Presumably GPG made the same mistake, found it funny, and left the aardvark-named turret in the game, before changing their minds and patching it out again. Maybe Sim threatened to sue them, or something; he’s nutty as a fruitcake these days.
In response to the “who’s ever heard of him” people, I think you’ll actually find almost every dork in every single comic book store in the English-speaking world (and plenty elsewhere) has heard of Cerebus. It’s the longest-running comic series ever created by one (two-man!) team, by a very wide margin indeed. Cerebus sold several million copies in total, and that’s not even counting the giant trade paperbacks.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
This changed in v3251, not v3255. :[
June 27th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Daniel Rutter: Alternate transliteration, not necessarily a correct one. You yourself admit that the aardvark was named after Cerberus.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
It’s even in the patch notes.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
> You yourself admit that the aardvark was named after Cerberus.
Um, yes. And he got it wrong. And, in so doing, created a famous separate character that now has that name.
So “Cerebus” most definitely does “have something to do with an aardvark”, because that is that fictional bad-ass alcoholic aardvark’s name, and has been since 1977.
I recommend the comics highly – well, until about three quarters of the way through, anyway. Sex, drugs, philosophy and sword-fights, with excellent art too.
Later on, when Sim’s giant manifestoes about the evil female species start outnumbering the art pages, that’s a good time to move on to something else :-).
June 27th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
BTW, here’s proof of what I said, assuming the unit database is as accurate as I suspect it is.
http://supcom.hacked.in/unit_list/r3251/normal
It’s called the Cerberus there in v3251 but Cerebus in all previous iterations.
:P