Units of the Mars Mod...

Here is where I'm going to post some units for the martian colonisation Mod. They will be posted in the order they apear in the game. Many people may find them usefull for other space based mods. At the moment there are no sounds or INI files, I'll post them when they get made for the mod.

#1 Martian Settler
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/jeep.gif
Download here; (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/jeep.ZIP)
(Jeep model modified from an original model by Psionic Design from Turbo squid)

#2 Martian Civil Guard
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/stickman.gif
Files for download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/stickman.ZIP)

#3 Riot police
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/riotciv.gif
Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Riotman.ZIP)

#4 Martian Paramilitary
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/paraciv.gif
Files for Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/paramilitary.ZIP)

#5 Mars ROV worker
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/rovciv.gif
Files for download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/roverone.ZIP)

#6 Commando
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/commciv1.gif
Download here (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/commando.ZIP)

#7 Shock trooper
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/darkciv.gif
Files for download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/darktrooper.ZIP)

#8 Sentry Gun by Vbraun
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/sentry.gif
Download files (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Sentrygun.ZIP)

#9 Utillity Vehicle
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/diggerciv.gif
Downloads (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/digger.ZIP)


#10 Rocket Mortar support
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/supportciv.gif
Files found here (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/support.ZIP)

See further down for extra Units...

EDIT; Because of a limit on the number of pictures that can be displayed in each post I've only got room for posting 2 more units in this format, so I'll use a post further down for previews and some later units.

Over the coming weeks you will see more units, and some previews. For now though its's back to work on the mod...

I'm liking the civil gaurd but how to use it :hmm: cant wait to see the setler and riot police.btw First post! :D

I geuss this means you've stopped with 40K? ehhhh....

More units;
#11 Leviathan Tank
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/leviciv.gif
Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Marstank.ZIP)

#12 Stealth Spy
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/stealthciv.gif
Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Stealthman1.ZIP)

#13 Elite Soldier
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/shrikeciv.gif
Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Soldier.ZIP)

#14 Armoured Gauss Rifleman
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/rocmanciv.gif
Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/rocmanciv.ZIP)

#15 Turbojet Bomber
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gasplane.gif
Download files (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/turbojet.ZIP)

#16 GreatGlider Bomber By VBraun New

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Marsplane.gif
Download flicks (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Spaceplane.ZIP)

EDIT; Too many pictures in the first post so I've had to move the previews to here.
I'm going to post some selected previews here as they get done. For now here's the paramilitary guard, I've used a texture for the ground to make it look better (than pink);
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/military.gif

And the work vehicle, this would be good for other scenarios, as it is just a heavy duty eath mover;
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/diggerprev.gif

A bit of a preview of the elite soldier running from a different angle...
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/elite3.gif

I geuss this means you've stopped with 40K? ehhhh....

Well when Muffins posts his Spacemarines I may go back and finish the Eldar troops I've done...

Excellent work Smoking Mirror.

It's great to see a mod concept be so quickly talked about and then start seeing the units and such come out to the public.

I like it when the designers decide to release their units to the starving modding community - it gives us something to feed on.

Keep up the great work and I can't wait to see other units/terrain when available.

Sincerely,

Gaultesian

Looks cool! :) I'm looking forward to see the other ones...

ohhh soo cool

the paramilitary looks great!

Ever since that Mars scenerio in Civ2 I've been dying to get my hands on more Mars stuff for Civ, and this looks great so far. Can't wait

EVERYTHING'S looking very good, SM! :goodjob:

I think they're incredible... In-cre-di-ble... That long work of yours is paying off.

Looks nice, cant wait to see the mod.

Hey ive tried to get these units to before but never can how do i get it into the game.

You will have to make an INI file, you can copy one from another unit, and edit it in Word. You just need to link each animation to it's required action.
Example;
RUN; rovrun.flc

Once that is done you could find some sounds and follow one of the tutorials for adding units to the game. I've released these realy for modmakers rather than people looking to add one or two units to their standard game.
The other way to get them in game is to wait for the Mars mod to get finished. :)

I'll help you with the Mod. What shall I do? :crazyeye:

Well... Sound files are going to be a big requirement. You should have a sound editor program that comes with windows or your sound card. Even something basic like "windows sound recorder" will do.
Try stitching together some of the sound files from the civ III units or other games, or look for some sounds on the web. There are plenty of sound banks where you can download short samples.
That or making INI files... :)

Very, very nice, Smoking Mirror (as always)!

Very cleaver Smoke, now I see why you posted the preview at 128 pixels instead of including them with the file.

Nice work on the Rover its my favorite.

do you have any other units?

Try Kinjboat's dragon sounds. they work good for mech type units.

Those are amazing units, and that ground is pretty interesting too. It seems a bit dark so far but I like the mottled effect - the colors are very rich.

Made some Rover1 sounds for all; I'm not to happy with the run sound though.

-EDIT for some reason I cant upload crap here so the sound file may be found at evo-games.net

Made some Rover1 sounds for all; I'm not to happy with the run sound though.

-EDIT for some reason I cant upload crap here so the sound file may be found at evo-games.net

Where about are they? Can you post a link to the thread...

Just posted two new units. :)

The Rover1 sounds may be found here:

http://www.evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?t=401

Very Very Very Coollllll

oh behave ! :eek:
but, where is the mars-mod ??

Oh right, cool. What kind of sounds do you want then, because I can find them easy.

The Rover1 sounds may be found here:

http://www.evo-games.net/Home/viewtopic.php?t=401

Sounds good. :) I put together a new run sound using the radar artillery from CIVIII, increased in speed by 100%, doubled up and then played in reverse, came out quite nice. I've also increased the speed of the death sound, but they are all good.

Howcome there seems to be a dark haze surrounding all the units? Is it something to do with the terrain or something?

Howcome there seems to be a dark haze surrounding all the units? Is it something to do with the terrain or something?

What animation are you seeing the haze in? I don't see any during game play.

@Smoke:
Hay where is the new sound located?

I'm just opening it in Media Player Classic.

Hmm.. The dark haze effect should only show up in flickster, it's an artifact caused by the fact that alpha blending works differently in the game than it does in flickster. If it does show up in game please post an example, I've used the same pallette for all the units so far so it shouldn't be too difficult to go back and fix any issues caused by this.
It all comes down to the fact that I'm using Anti-aliasing on thses units, which I've not usd before. It causes a slight halo around the figure which should just be a neutral blend in game, but shows up as white or grey in flickster.

Here are the sounds I adjusted;Rover sounds (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/roversound.ZIP)

Vbrauns Sentry gun is now finished and should be found in the first post.

It's probably alright then. Just thought I should report it.

I Love the new sounds and the stationary gun nice job; what format are you using to model and animate them?

I'm using Open FX, which can use 3ds format. Vbraun made the senty gun, and he uses blender.

I use Blender to Model and Render Animations. I used YafRay to render the civopedia pic.

Very nice guys. :goodjob:

Settler is now posted, I found a nice low poly Jeep over at Turbosquid that I just couldn't pass over, so I decided to make them motorized. :)
I'll probably use Civ Army's lunar settler as a UU or wonder spawned alternative, it's just too yellow for a main unit.

nice job, mirror! cant wait for the mod!

I like the mech worker guy. I would use these stats 0.0.2 150 worker strength if anyone else wants it.

New unit posted, see first post. People may find him useful as a high tech near future TOW infantry man.

love the new unit! I will use the unit as a upgrade for TOW Infantry.

Tank looks awesome! I cant wait till this mod comes out, you're definitely piquing (sp?) interest!

just noticed the spy unit! these are amazing, mirror! how is the mod coming?

Well, many of the units are done, the terrain is mostly done, as are some of the terrian buildings, there are some city improvement buildings and some possible static leaderheads. Still a lot of work to be done, and the biggest biut will be pulling all of it together in to a working mod, but it is on the road to success.

Well, many of the units are done, the terrain is mostly done, as are some of the terrian buildings, there are some city improvement buildings and some possible static leaderheads. Still a lot of work to be done, and the biggest biut will be pulling all of it together in to a working mod, but it is on the road to success.
wow! I didnt realize you had that much done.

Very impressive. That's a lot of good work! Kepp it up. When can we expect this mod?

Very impressive. That's a lot of good work! Kepp it up. When can we expect this mod?
are there any more units to be expected or is this it?

There are some more expected, Including a futuristic great leader and Army unit. I'm going to make them fairly generic so they will be useable for a number of different scenarios.

There are some more expected, Including a futuristic great leader and Army unit. I'm going to make them fairly generic so they will be useable for a number of different scenarios.
great!


ten characters

New unit posted, a futuristic elite soldier...

Work progresses on the Army unit. Getting the pallette right is not so easy.

New unit posted, a futuristic elite soldier...

Work progresses on the Army unit. Getting the pallette right is not so easy.
I can help with your army palette. I have three tutorials for converting normal unit palettes to army palettes: one from Kinboat (the easiest and shortest tutorial), one from Neomega (the kind-of-confusing second shortest tutorial), and one from Vuldacon (the best and most comprehensive tutorial).

Lemme know (preferably via PM) if you want to see these tutorials. Also, I can probably answer your questions knowledgably. If not I can always refer you to one of the tutorials or their authors.

Hope I can help! :D

BTW, your Rocket Mortar Support is no longer new....

Dont know if you care but I thought I'd mention it.

Still working. Lots of units near to completion, just taking some time to do the last few animations.
On a possative note I've found a way around the Antialias problem that was stopping me from using the glow post-pro. So the later units that have heavy special effect weapons will be more effectivly portayed.

Here is one more unit I'm thinking of including as either a UU or a great wonder spawned unit, it's based on the elite soldier but is armed with an experimental energy weapon;
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/laser2.gif

I'm still not sure what to do about UU's at this point. They require a great deal of extra production and ideas but I guess If I just use an existing unit with a different scin and a slightly different model or animation to create somthing similar but different that may be OK. Anyone got any ideas for UU's?

Heres a list for the first scenario;
Russia- Junk Crossbow (a replacement for the riot guard or paramilitary armed with a crossbow & equipement made from junk and recycled materials. early unit will require no resources and have a lower cost to represent the russians great inventivness and resourcefullness).
China- Work vehicle (a mass produced worker vehicle, again cheaper than the normal version but with a higher worker rate).
Europe- Neopanzer (An armoured vehicle as an alternative to the leviathan, smaller and faster than the leviathan but with good armour and guns).
America- Jetpack trooper (a high tech replacement for the paramilitary trooper).
India- Guerilla (a low tech but effective alternative to the Stealth Spy late in the scenario they use local survivalist knowlege and cheap tech to raid the enemy. Weaker that the stealth spy, about the same as the commando, but with both hidden nationality and stealth attack).

Any alternatives?

Hi Smoking Mirror

I'm enjoying the development process for your mod ...

Have you considered a small wonder (or more) that could represent multi national corporations which have been lured by the governments to set up a R&D department/base/lab in return these corporations would 'spawn' units, economic benefits, research bonus, etc in the cities that they are based ...

eg
Yamaha or Mitzobishi would spawn some early mech unit
Hilton would spawn some economic/tourism advantage due to having exclusive Mars hotel resort

Upto you to run with this idea if you want ... you could get really bent with these government/corporation mergers ... the golden arches on mars vs KFC, Pepsi vs Coke

Just musing

Heres some ideas(SMOKE PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE)

India: Ashura Tank: Small, powerful tank armed with experimental energy weapons can convert into a Gun-Turret/Anti-Aircraft Gun, in which it stands upward.

China: N-35 Nightengale Fighter: State of the art Fighter craft designed to operate in the thin atmosphere of Mars. Operates in squadrons and acts as standard security component in Chinese Martian Controled areas. Armed with experimental solar-powered energy weapons, as well as traditional Machine-Guns and missiles.

Only Five Civilizations? You should have atleast Eight, preferably sixteen or more.

So, here are 16 Civilizations with UUs...

America- Jetpack trooper - I'd have it replace the elite soldier or something. And Paradrop.
Argentina- Gendarmeria -Similar to the Paramilitary trooper, since the Gendarmeria is a paramilitary force.
Brazil- Guerilla -a low tech but effective alternative to the Stealth Spy late in the scenario they use local survivalist knowlege and cheap tech to raid the enemy. Weaker that the stealth spy, about the same as the commando, but with both hidden nationality and stealth attack, as your idea for the indian Gureilla. You could probably get a better name from Civ Army.
China- Dragon Fire Rockets - A Replacement for the missle trooper that has a calliopie of small rockets and fires them in rapid succession.
France- Peacekeeper - A Replacement for the Riot gaurd with one of thoes big clear Riot police shields and a defensive bonus.
Germany- Neopanzer -An armoured vehicle as an alternative to the leviathan, smaller and faster than the leviathan but with good armour and guns. You know, your Original European UU. I can see why you made Europe as one civ, but to have more nations we should split 'er up.
Great Britan - Gyrospecter - A Helicopter kind of Unit It would have the same A.D.M. scores as the basic version but would have both invisibility and stealth attack. Helicopter units should be land units with the treat all terrain as roads flag.
India- Ashura Tank- Small, powerful tank armed with experimental weapons can convert into a Gun-Turret/Anti-Aircraft Gun, in which it stands upward, as Swoggy said. He had it have energy weapons, but I don't thinks so... sicne this would be more of a mid game unit.
Indonesia - Tentara - A Simple relacement for the Paramilitary with better weapons and training. The Tentara are Proffesional soilders.
Israel- Meir Cannon - A Large Self propelled Artillery piece that shoots a Special Cluster Munitions- High Bombard and Rate of Fire.
Japan - Amaratsu - A Techlogically advanced battle suit in the shape of a brillaint glden female. Would have some sort of (energy?) sword and a Gattling Cannon. Maybe an Elite Soilder replacement. Named after the Shinto Sun Goddess.
Korea - Myeongseong - Hopefully by the time man settles on Mars Korea will have been united. Taking the military technology of the North and the reasearch, technology, and Commerical Savvy from the South, the Koreans have put together the Myeongseong Tank, a levithan replacement. This would have a heavy energy cannon and maybe smaller gatling type weapons as well. Named after the last Ruler of Imperial Korea, Empress Myeongseong of Joseon, who was Assasinated by the Japanese in 1895.
Pakistan - Karachi Howitzer - An All terrain truck with a powerfull field howitzer on the back. This would be avilaible before other nations had fast moving artillery.
Russia- Junk Crossbow - As You said. But I would have it enslave to more Junk Crossbows. If it defeats an enemy in battle, theres all the scraps to make more weapons....
Saudi Arabia- Prospector - A Replacement or upgrade to the standard Work Vehicle. More expensive, but better at the woking thing, and has armaments to defend itself! Not great weapons, a small machine gun or two, but it won't get captured.
South Africa- Gazelle - A Scout Car replacement designed to better handle the flat but rough open terrain of mars. An extra move point.

awesome martians!

@ Goldflash
Like the list ... I would rename the French UU to Legionaire as a reference to French Foreign Legion ... so maybe Offworld Legion

Only Five Civilizations? You should have atleast Eight, preferably sixteen or more.

So, here are 16 Civilizations with UUs...

America- Jetpack trooper - I'd have it replace the elite soldier or something. And Paradrop.
Argentina- Gendarmeria -Similar to the Paramilitary trooper, since the Gendarmeria is a paramilitary force.
Brazil- Guerilla -a low tech but effective alternative to the Stealth Spy late in the scenario they use local survivalist knowlege and cheap tech to raid the enemy. Weaker that the stealth spy, about the same as the commando, but with both hidden nationality and stealth attack, as your idea for the indian Gureilla. You could probably get a better name from Civ Army.
China- Dragon Fire Rockets - A Replacement for the missle trooper that has a calliopie of small rockets and fires them in rapid succession.
France- Peacekeeper - A Replacement for the Riot gaurd with one of thoes big clear Riot police shields and a defensive bonus.
Germany- Neopanzer -An armoured vehicle as an alternative to the leviathan, smaller and faster than the leviathan but with good armour and guns. You know, your Original European UU. I can see why you made Europe as one civ, but to have more nations we should split 'er up.
Great Britan - Gyrospecter - A Helicopter kind of Unit It would have the same A.D.M. scores as the basic version but would have both invisibility and stealth attack. Helicopter units should be land units with the treat all terrain as roads flag.
India- Ashura Tank- Small, powerful tank armed with experimental weapons can convert into a Gun-Turret/Anti-Aircraft Gun, in which it stands upward, as Swoggy said. He had it have energy weapons, but I don't thinks so... sicne this would be more of a mid game unit.
Indonesia - Tentara - A Simple relacement for the Paramilitary with better weapons and training. The Tentara are Proffesional soilders.
Israel- Meir Cannon - A Large Self propelled Artillery piece that shoots a Special Cluster Munitions- High Bombard and Rate of Fire.
Japan - Amaratsu - A Techlogically advanced battle suit in the shape of a brillaint glden female. Would have some sort of (energy?) sword and a Gattling Cannon. Maybe an Elite Soilder replacement. Named after the Shinto Sun Goddess.
Korea - Myeongseong - Hopefully by the time man settles on Mars Korea will have been united. Taking the military technology of the North and the reasearch, technology, and Commerical Savvy from the South, the Koreans have put together the Myeongseong Tank, a levithan replacement. This would have a heavy energy cannon and maybe smaller gatling type weapons as well. Named after the last Ruler of Imperial Korea, Empress Myeongseong of Joseon, who was Assasinated by the Japanese in 1895.
Pakistan - Karachi Howitzer - An All terrain truck with a powerfull field howitzer on the back. This would be avilaible before other nations had fast moving artillery.
Russia- Junk Crossbow - As You said. But I would have it enslave to more Junk Crossbows. If it defeats an enemy in battle, theres all the scraps to make more weapons....
Saudi Arabia- Prospector - A Replacement or upgrade to the standard Work Vehicle. More expensive, but better at the woking thing, and has armaments to defend itself! Not great weapons, a small machine gun or two, but it won't get captured.
South Africa- Gazelle - A Scout Car replacement designed to better handle the flat but rough open terrain of mars. An extra move point.

Good ideas Gold... :goodjob: good idea to have only early to mid era UUs, since most people don't play to the last age..(and I rarely get there either.. :mad: darn Firaxis..)

Well thank you, Fellows! I spent my whole lunch break on this.

Good ideas Gold... :goodjob: good idea to have only early to mid era UUs, since most people don't play to the last age..(and I rarely get there either.. :mad: darn Firaxis..)
Thats where a little bit of simple editor-based modding comes in..... :lol:

This mod is progressing in an excellent way, if I may say so, judging by your units. :)

HAHAHA, So far with lots of work and effort I have a total of 14 finished units so a sugestion of 16 UUs is a little optimistic. :)

There are three reasons why I have chosen just a few civs for the first scenario, firstly, there are only a few likley candidates for a martian colonisation mission (I'm still wondering about including a "nation of Islam civ" as they are not all that united, and it is mostly ecconomically small countries, apart from perhaps south east asia and pakistan). Secondly, I don't want to have to make that many UUs or leaderheads.

Thirdly I don't think you need that many civs for a good game. Most often the civs furthest away from you will have little effect other than slowing down your game and making it easier for the player. Its actualy quite fun playing against three or four evenly matched powerfull AI civs than dozens of weak non-runners. Lately I've been experimenting with small numbers of civs with quite alot of flavor and it can be a much better game, it makes it more challenging but without the blatant cheating and basic unfairness found in the harder difficulty levels.
The second scenario will just have three or four civs but with each of them having individual flavoured units.

Some good ideas for UUs though, will have to look at the list and make some models. No ideas for planes yet, Vbraun was going to make a mars plane, but hasn't yet... :)

No ideas for planes yet, Vbraun was going to make a mars plane, but hasn't yet... :)

I should start that. ;) :blush:

Well if you want me to do the storyboards for that other plane/spaceship you were working on I'd be happy to. I'm going to do a few early mars planes today just to see how they turn out.

The way I see it the progression would be;
Solid rocket booster plane (long and thin, good at break through attacks not a good interceptor, very high speed but fairly short range due to the fact that the engines cannot be throttled down or up).
Turbofan Gas-turbine marsplane (fairly cheap compared to other mars planes, this is a stock plane with very large engines to deal with the thin atmosphere and broad wings to provide maximum lift, not a lot of room left for weaponary so it is mostly a recon plane)
Liquid fuel rocket plane (a fairly good all round plane, converted to military duties from a civilian template. fairly expensive).
Liquid fuel bomber (converted from a ground to space cargo transporter and launched from a Maglev mass driver ramp. large plane, very expensive).

So, it looks like I'm making the Turbofan Gas-turbine marsplane? (after looking at the picture)

I don't think thats optimistic at all. It will just take time and effort, commodites people don't seem willing to spend these days.

Currently I'm using my mothers computer, on the 13th of next month I'm moving to Leeds. Perhaps in a few months I will have saved enough money to buy a new computer but untill then I have a deadline that cannot be changed.

I spend about 5-7 hours a night on Civ III related stuff, model making, animating, texturing etc... on top of the eight hours a day I spend at work. It's amazing how you can spend that much time and at the end of it only have made one model with textures or half a dozen animations, every thing takes about ten times as long as you would hope...

Vbraun; I've had a bash at the turbofan jet already today, but two versions would be nice. One could be a UU.
Alternativly you may want to work on the Liquid rocket jet or bomber, as these will be fairly high tech and a bit more fun to model and animate.

Heres the preview of the turbofan jet, I've chosen a broad delta winged design with a boxy fuselage and canards for easy manuvering, flaps wouldn't really be up to the job in such thin atmosphere;

I was just going to make something like the picture you posted in the Gradius preview thread.

A preview of the Mars plane is in my avatar. Just the basics. Any comments on it?

Nice! But IMHO it looks like a U2 plane, not a wide-winged, large-engined stock plane.

Its sure as hell better than I could do but it doesnt look like it fits the mold.....

So I should make the wings bigger or the body smaller?

IMHO:

I guess the body looks good. I would make the wings wider like this:

+
++
+++
++++
+++++
+++++
+++++


bad diagram but all I can do right now. IMO the triangles are too acute. Try making them almost right triangles. The tail also looks "boxy". Other than that its good.

Please take this as constructive criticism. I dont mean to pick apart your work. I cant do anything close to that. Good luck!

Please take this as constructive criticism. I dont mean to pick apart your work. I cant do anything close to that. Good luck!

I take all critisism as constructive unless it plainly says "that sucks". This was really just 20 minutes of work and want to see if I'm going in the right direction (that includes starting over once because of a crash).

I can see what you mean by saying "boxy". I'll work on it more tommarow.

I would suggest moving the wings slightly forward. And the tail section to be more matched to the "swoopy" forward wings. As is they seem a tiny bit at odds.
Perhaps posting a larger preview would help?

I dunno, I think the preview looks good. Will need some big jets in the same sort of position as the A10 or a single jet in the same sort of set up as the V1...

Actualy the U2 spyplane would be a good starting point for design, as it is engineered to fligh at high altitude in the thin atmosphere. All round good work, I think it'd be good to have a light starting plane made of superlight materials for scouting and very light bombing.

do you need any help with tech, building or wonder icons? coz i could help if you want me to

Yo. Smoking Mirror.. Are you working off of a list or just making units as the idea hits you? If working off a list, could you post it?

well, generaly I will make a model with some options (different guns, equipment etc...) and see how many usefull variants I can make from it. So I have a kind of a list based on those variations that I have not finished animating.
Sometimes a new variant will become aparent after the main model is finished that wasn't imediatly obvious before, while sometimes an idea that I had before turns out not to look as good as I thought.

Intresting Approch... but you may want to set down what you need and what you don't need or you'll never get the mod finished.

What types of ground vehicles do you plan to have?

just a few, I want most of the units in the first scenario to be Infantry (with the idea that most of them will be transported from place to place using civilian rovers).

There will be one or two mostly specialised military units, such as a missile launcher artillery and a converted civilian tank. There will also be a generalised rover unit used exclusivly for scouting.

Sounds good. Don't forget that the AI can't figure out land transports.

It's OK, They are not going to be transported by a land transport unit. The extra movement will be factored in to thier stats, In the early years you wouldn't be able to make any journeys by foot. You would be baked by radiation, trudging through a near vacumm of frozen air with no way to go to the toilet, I think you'd get about 5-7KMs before you had to turn back.

Lightly armed units will be able to move faster because it takes less time to load & unload thier equipment and supplies from the rovers.

I've finished the Jet plane, I'll post it in a minute or two. The default for the air units is going to be a landed plane & I've included two small bomb explosion animations.

@vbraun -- I like the plane :thumbsup: although I wonder how it would look with canards (small wings well forward of the main wings to give extra lift in the thin Martian atmosphere).

Best,

Oz

Heres a little update. Hopefully the wings look better. I'm not convinced by the tail. Any suggestions?

Heres a little update. Hopefully the wings look better. I'm not convinced by the tail. Any suggestions?

IMHO it looks fine, tail included.

-Oz

The tail looks to be placed bellow the backburner(if that's how you call that), upper would be more logical, IMO. If you've done it already(assuming it's a different version of the latest plane), it still looks fine. Just input you asked for.

Looking good so far, I like the cannards, they would allow you to change the flow of air over the entire wing, and so give a great deal of control, even in thin atmosphere.

With the tail, how about if you lifted it above the forward wing using some fins mounted on the wing itself? That would leave room for the engine to mounted in the main body of the plane. That way you could make it a rocket plane...
However, if you want to make another turbo jet you will need to find a good way of mounting some extrnal engines.

Heres a prety rough example of what I mean, I think you should keep the overall light-weight look though, this preview is too chunky and blocky;

Of course you may want to ignore all advice and carry on with it in your own way, it's your vision after all. Thats what I usualy do, Ha! what do other people know? Philistines!

I'd imagine planes would be very useful on Mars with the lower gravity. That would mean they could take off easier. Also, heavier, larger aircraft designs on Mars would be possible, since the higher gravity of earth wouldn't be present. It would be interesting to see what you come up with for later eras Smoke..

I'd imagine Zepplins could also find a use on Mars(preferable of some new non-exploding design :mischief: don't want an extra-terrestrial heidenburg)

(preferable of some new non-exploding design :mischief: don't want an extra-terrestrial heidenburg)

It would give new meaning to "the shot heard 'round the world."

According to Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Mars trilogy balloons, dirigibles, and zeplins would be especialy usefull on mars. They have extra lift because of the low gravity, and don't burst in to flames when damaged because of the low amounts of oxygen in the atmosphere (fans of flamethrowers and fire bombs take note; No fire on Mars- at least until later in the games). The real problem is direction, with the thin air and high winds it is difficult to make a balloon go anywhere but where the wind wants it to go.

I guess rocket engines would be good, but propellors won't be so useful. With propellors they will need big blades and lots of them, perhaps ten on each rotor in sets of five counter rotating hubs. Actualy somewhat like the assembly inside a jetengine, the only advantage to a propellor would be less fuel consumption. Heres what a propellor for a zeplin on mars may look like;
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/propengine.gif
Actualy that would look quite good at the back of a plane as an impeller, driving the craft forward, you could even have a real wing behind it...

I think I got the tail right. Also I added a cockpit window and engines (not yet completed).

Take a note: It probably won't look this good in game becasue I'll be using a diffrant rendering engine. (So I don't have to wait 5,000 hours for it to render all of it. :p )

very very nice, vbraun!

What the100thballoon said. :)

-Oz

Hell, if i was a pilot, I'd love to drive one of those babies! :lol:

That is one weird-looking propeller...

Looking good Vbraun!

That's a funky looking dirigible :thumbsup:
And a funky looking plane :thumbsup: - altough shouldn't the wings be larger due to the thin atmosphere?

I'm not an aerodymics expert, but I think the wings would need to be a little more forward... or the canards a bit larger. As is, it looks like it would be hard to keep the craft from going nosedown. I would guess that moving both the canards & wings forward and increasing the wing surface area a little would (if it were real) give it better flight characteristics.
Every unit takes some artistic license. So, my comments are not a criticism. I like it. It has incredibly smooth lines. It is very pretty.
So what is this new renderer you're using?

Or instead you could enlarge the forword stabiliser wingette thingies just behind the cockpit ...

Both units look fantastic

well done

Vbraun; I think you should keep the wings as they are. It may be that they aren't big enough for mars but I think it's important for the first plane of the game to be under engineered for use on mars. Later planes will be better designed for the thin martian atmosphere through the experience gained from early atempts at flight.

Agglo; I actualy meant it to be just a close up of one of the flight engines, but I guess if it had another flight bladder on the other end and giant blades in the middle (they would have to be in counter rotating sets to stop it spinning out of control), it could be a good balloon...

So what is this new renderer you're using?

Its not really new. But the one I'm using to generate the previews and the civopedia is a really good raytracer (YafRay (http://www.yafray.org/)). This does have its disadvantages such as high rendering times and no halo effects (ie no smoke/explosions). For the animating I just stick to the default Blender Renderer which is faster and can do Halo Effects.

Is this a good size for in game? Also is the texture good?

Is this a good size for in game? Also is the texture good?
LOVE IT, vbraun!

Is this a good size for in game? Also is the texture good?

Yes; and yes!

-Oz

Looks cool, could maybe use some more civ colours though... :)

How bout adding some letters on the wings?

I'd make the trailing edge of the tail beam civ color, too.

Does this work?

Yeah! I think it looks good.

Almost looks like a Predator Drone, but not quite... :)

Hmmm ... For Civ color, rather than letters, I think I'd rather see stripes on the wings, a la those used for the Normandy Invasion.

-Oz

Stripes are a tad harder to do, but I'll see what I can do.

Stripes are a tad harder to do, but I'll see what I can do.
That's the spirit :)

Like this:

Early animations: Fidget-->run/bomb-->Death

The bomb animation isn't needed. Heres why: civ 3 has Seperate animations for dropping bombs. They don't have the unit in it.. So how it works is that the game draws the plane flying over the target then, once it is over the target, plays the bombing flc. So.. seperate the bombs from the main plane. In the .ini the bomb.flc goes in the victory slot.

Thats how I have it. I just wanted to show what it would look like in total.

Oh, okay. Cool, then.

Looking pretty good. :) I kinda liked the letters idea, though European Space Agency is a little specific... I usualy just use a letter and number military designation, like M(for mars) P (for plane) 5 (I think it'd take at least 4 prototypes before you got a working model :) ) B (a secondary variant) to give MP5B.

Actualy for designations I've been thinking that even though all the civs are seperate much of thier technology would be shared between them, so many designs would have similar designations. The same with earth.
I think KA is a good general designation for martian tech, It's an old work for mars and many old earth languages share the same letters in thier names for Mars.

For planes you'd want an extra letter to avoid confusion perhaps an F (for flier). Dirigible would be B for balloon. An alternative for numbering would be to have ground vehicles numbered with even numbers (KA2, KA6, KA44 etc...) and fliers numbered with odd numbers (KAF3, KAF7, KAB33 etc...).

Ummm.. perhaps this is getting a bit over complicated for design purposes but I like to be thorough... :)

How bout on one side: MP5 then the other AB7

Origninnaly it was 32A then NIX

Oh, thats cool. I thought it said ESA (european space agency...).
I think letters are cool, or stripes. I think civ colours look best when they follow part of the design that is already there, like a stripe that runs allong the leading edge of the wing, or down the sides of the body or something. This can be difficult to get right though, so what ever you feel looks best and is the easiest if fine. :)

Here is the the death. Main diffrance is that its twice as long but plays twice as fast. I think the front wings and the tail flying out is a little weird.

Here is the the death. Main diffrance is that its twice as long but plays twice as fast. I think the front wings and the tail flying out is a little weird.

Yeah, I'd leave the canards on but the rest looks good :goodjob:

-Oz

Final animations are posted below. I'm going to start making it for in game tommarow, unless any one finds anything wrong with it. :)

Looks awesome but...

are the default, run, and fidget animations just static flcs?

In the preview it actually goes Fidget-->Run/Bomb-->Death

The fidget is the elevator moving slightly.

In the preview it actually goes Fidget-->Run/Bomb-->Death

The fidget is the elevator moving slightly.
I see it now. It goes through the anims kind of fast. I will be able to see more clearly when I can open it in FLICster.

The Fidget animation is ready to be palleted and made into .flc :)
Run ready.
Bomb ready.
Death ready.
Default ready.

I will make the .flcs tommarow.
Here is a preview of the civopedia pic:

Cool, thats perfect.

Didn't get anything done this weekend cos I was playing "Ghost in the shell" on PS2, anyway, completetd that now (playstation gmaes suck, it only takes about two days to finish them, I've been playing civilization for about 8 years and I'm still not bored of it.) so should get a bit done this week.

It's given me some ideas about synthetic bodies, like if you had a synth body you could walk around on the surface of mars with no special suit...
Something to think about for later eras.

Cool, thats perfect.

Didn't get anything done this weekend cos I was playing "Ghost in the shell" on PS2, anyway, completetd that now (playstation gmaes suck, it only takes about two days to finish them, I've been playing civilization for about 8 years and I'm still not bored of it.) so should get a bit done this week.

It's given me some ideas about synthetic bodies, like if you had a synth body you could walk around on the surface of mars with no special suit...
Something to think about for later eras.
thatd be cool.

@vbraun
When can we dl the unit? (and where?)

@vbraun
When can we dl the unit? (and where?)

When ever SM feels it should be downloaded. ;) In other words as soon as he fixes all my pallete stuff (if he can).

sounds good.

Not sure if you want it ... but I with assistance from vmxa, are engaged in the frustrating process of compiling an easy to read list of the tech tree and descriptions used in MOO3 ... if you want I can post here as well ... may be good for tech ideas ... let me know ...

Hey that turned out quite beautifully, vbraun...great work :)
Fe3333au, when you're done with the list, if possible include it in your sig, for a while, so we can spot it easier.

Just Posted Vbrauns exelent Mars Plane. I've edited the default animation to show the plane parked on the ground. It's allways got on my nerves the way the air units in Civ III float in the air when not on missions, not at all agreeable.

Cheers Vbraun, it turned out great. :) I can also post the original files if anyone wants them, with the Plane floating in true CIV III style, usefull for other mods...

OK as promised a breakdown of the MOO3 Tech Tree Here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2771771&postcount=9), a zip with text and excel documents.
Hope it helps :)

thanks for these units I might use them!

the resurrection of a 3 year and 7 month old thread...wow I am amazed. CiaranB123, let me be the first to break this to you easily before someone else jumps you for this bad no no....Never, ever, ever, post on a thread that is old and dead. You new so I'll give you a little advice, Always look at the date of the last post to see if the thread is still alive. The only reason you should ever post on an old thread is if you have a problem, viable question about the unit, scenario, utility program, etc, or any other difficulty.

I dont understand how these threads are resurected, do these newbs actually start reading the forum from the beggining (meaning last page)? :p
CiaranB123 (is just Ciaran in use?) let us know when you reach the latest threads! Lots of good stuff there ;)
And welcome to civfanatics!

Searches are a normal way to stumble on these threads and just because a unit is old doesn't necessarily mean its not just as good as the new stuff.

Never said these units werent good...

I was merely saying that there's nothing wrong with browsing the older units as opposed to the new. :)

It is a bit of a problem bumping them though, because it's quite annoying :)