Here is my second contribution towards western / colonization mods. The Indian Canoe! :D

I have not done any Civilopedia entries this time as this one is rushed out (I am 2 hours away from catching my connecting flight to Beijing. So anything after this one I will be posting from Beijing ;) )

The zip file contains the following:

Canoe.ini
CanoeDefault.flc
CanoeRun.flc
CanoeCaptured.flc
CanoeDeath.flc
CanoeCapture.wav
CanoeFidget.wav

Once again, any feedback on this animation is welcomed. :)

version 1 removed after 212 downloads. The new version no longer has the light shadow around the unit. ;)

Here is a view of the Canoe's run animation.

Here is a view of the Canoe's captured animation.

A view of the death animation.

Looks great, as usual. Good job, DS!

heh heh, sweet death animation

:goodjob: yeah that death animation is cool

Great looking unit! :goodjob:

Wow Dark Sheer, you sure do crank out units pretty fast. Downloading now!;)

I started a thread on this, but it's been ignored... Will someone please tell me how to get these units to work with world maps, like marla's and others? I have the multi-tool, but when I copy the units, they just won't show up on maps, not even a chance to build them, just like they're not there. But, they do work just fine on regular random maps... Please please! I would like to make this an american civ-only unit, but for me its no fun playing on random maps!

Great stuff Dark Sheer. Have you had a chance to think about that Outrigger I asked you for? I sure would appreciate it. I think I'll use this one for now at any rate. Thanks.

Willem : I got your Outrigger graphics downloaded and I will be working on it in Beijing (This post IS from Beijing ;) )

Oh, and I notice there is a light shadow around the canoe unit so I will try to remove that and post a revised version as soon as possible next week (I am leaving for Shanxi tomorrow night, so... :p )

I have gotten all the various graphics for those who have requested for some units (Viking Longboat, Humvee (Almost done ;) ) and also those fantasy units request by linkb) and I will be working on them as soon as I can (of course, when I am not playing Civ3 :D )

Originally posted by Dark Sheer
[B]Willem : I got your Outrigger graphics downloaded and I will be working on it in Beijing (This post IS from Beijing ;) )


Thanks for keeping me informed, I'm looking forward to the final product.:goodjob:

My favorite unit so far. Professional grade. A+. :goodjob:

this is definately the best unit I have seen. Very nice animations.

Great work Dark Sheer. :)

Great unit, beautiful, but, and forgive me if I sound heathen or primitive or something now, what exactly is it supposed to DO?
I mean, a boat with a capture animation?


Huh?

I plan perhaps to give it to the Iroquois and Aztecs and have it only move 1 space a turn and be coastal. In addition they won't be allowed to build triremes :p

I am thinking of adding it to my "Unit-Mania" modpack as a sort of "Sea-borne Scout" with stats
Attack 0
Defense 0
Move 2
Cost 2
"Carry None"
"Sink in Sea/Ocean"
and available at the start of the game to all Civs
(no Tech prerequisite).

This would allow the player to at least explore their coastline prior to the discovery of Map-Making & availability of Galleys.

Rationale - Primitive societies have been sailing canoes / rafts for the past 60,000 years, that's how Australia initially got populated by humans several tens of thousands of years ago - also speeds up the early discovery part of the game.

Nice work Dark Sheer :D How is the work progressing on removing the hazy background?

Thankyou thankyou for having a Capture animation!!
Your canoe is now my coracle -- in my mod, coracles can be built from the start, move 2, carry nothing, and lacks attack and defense values. So these defenseless little boats roam the sea in my world until the galley comes along; with 2 movement points, players will be challenged to move them from one continent to the next. The boats have the same ability as Pirateers too -- but in this case it means the enemy will steal them first chance they get!

Even if I find unit graphics for a real coracle, which was round and not canoe-shaped, it will make an excellent flavor unit for the Iroquis.

Originally posted by Razorwing
Nice work Dark Sheer :D How is the work progressing on removing the hazy background?

Thankyou thankyou for having a Capture animation!!
Your canoe is now my coracle -- in my mod, coracles can be built from the start, move 2, carry nothing, and lacks attack and defense values. So these defenseless little boats roam the sea in my world until the galley comes along; with 2 movement points, players will be challenged to move them from one continent to the next. The boats have the same ability as Pirateers too -- but in this case it means the enemy will steal them first chance they get!

Even if I find unit graphics for a real coracle, which was round and not canoe-shaped, it will make an excellent flavor unit for the Iroquis.

I'm not sure whether you noticed it or not, but giving 0 defence/attack means the AI has no strategy option in order to understand what do with that unit. If it ever builds one, it will just end up sitting there in the harbour doing nothing.

As for the Coracle, have you had a look at the Chinese junk? It sort of fits your description.

Willem: I knew that, but what to do? Unfortunately there isn't an "Explore" option for sea units.

I've downloaded the Junk and I'm sure I'll use it, but it looks nothing like a coracle. A coracle is a round canoe without sails. There are some nice pictures of one here: http://www.data-wales.co.uk/coracle1.htm

Originally posted by Razorwing
Willem: I knew that, but what to do? Unfortunately there isn't an "Explore" option for sea units.

I've downloaded the Junk and I'm sure I'll use it, but it looks nothing like a coracle. A coracle is a round canoe without sails. There are some nice pictures of one here: http://www.data-wales.co.uk/coracle1.htm

What I've done is give it a 1/1, no transport, then bumped up all the rest of the ships. It's not perfect, but it will have to do. I like the idea of using the Junk as China's version of the Caravel. It would add some variety to the game to have civ specific graphics for each of the units.

PS, Just had a look at the Coracle. Odd looking thing isn't it?

Originally posted by Willem


What I've done is give it a 1/1, no transport, then bumped up all the rest of the ships. It's not perfect, but it will have to do. I like the idea of using the Junk as China's version of the Caravel. It would add some variety to the game to have civ specific graphics for each of the units.

PS, Just had a look at the Coracle. Odd looking thing isn't it?

Eureka :)
I gave my coracle the Unload ability, now the AI can use it as a naval transport... except it still can't carry anything. I wonder if the game will hang because of it? The AI may loop an attempted loading infinitely? I'll have to playtest that before next release.

Btw, have you checked out my 'M3' mod? I have five flavor units as I call them, which act like UUs except they aren't better than the unit they're replacing. So the ninja becomes China's swordsman, for example. I'm probably going to use the Junk as you do, 'xept I'll have it for Japan as well.

Originally posted by Razorwing


Eureka :)
I gave my coracle the Unload ability, now the AI can use it as a naval transport... except it still can't carry anything. I wonder if the game will hang because of it? The AI may loop an attempted loading infinitely? I'll have to playtest that before next release.

Btw, have you checked out my 'M3' mod? I have five flavor units as I call them, which act like UUs except they aren't better than the unit they're replacing. So the ninja becomes China's swordsman, for example. I'm probably going to use the Junk as you do, 'xept I'll have it for Japan as well.

Well I've decided to use the Junk as my version of the Caravel. I wanted to have a military ship for that time period as well, still haven't come up with a name for it, so now I can make them look different from each other.

BTW Dark Sheer,

I tried your Canoe unit, but there's a bit of a problem with the transperancy. I can always see this shaded square around it. I'm really hoping you can fix that, I think it's great unit otherwise and would like to add it to my game.

Any animator out there would like to help me to take a look at the shadow problem with this unit? (there is a very light box around the unit due to shadow color in the palette).

I have tried to recompile this animation but Animation Shop refuse to accept the corrected palette. :mad: Each time I resave the flcs and optimize them with the new corrected palette the flc seems to continue to retain the old palette ? :confused:

Originally posted by Razorwing

Btw, have you checked out my 'M3' mod? I have five flavor units as I call them, which act like UUs except they aren't better than the unit they're replacing. So the ninja becomes China's swordsman, for example. I'm probably going to use the Junk as you do, 'xept I'll have it for Japan as well.

Razorwing (/ anyone please), how did you add these flavour units. I tried doing the same thing with the Junk making it available only to China and Japan. How I did this was to create the folder in art\units, went into the Editor (the normal one; not a hacked one as you can use alt + a to add units) and added the unit making it available to the appropriate civs and modifying the caravel entry so the same can't build it. Now to the problem: when I go into my game the Production menu in the city display has no icon next to Worker and the worker icon next to Settler. I used the caravel as the icon for the Junk and this icon is shown next to Junk. Should I have used the CopyTool? (I can't get this to run even with the appropriate VB runtime files). Should I have chosen something other than caravel for the icon for the Junk? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thks.

Originally posted by Archimedes


Razorwing (/ anyone please), how did you add these flavour units. I tried doing the same thing with the Junk making it available only to China and Japan. How I did this was to create the folder in art\units, went into the Editor (the normal one; not a hacked one as you can use alt + a to add units) and added the unit making it available to the appropriate civs and modifying the caravel entry so the same can't build it. Now to the problem: when I go into my game the Production menu in the city display has no icon next to Worker and the worker icon next to Settler. I used the caravel as the icon for the Junk and this icon is shown next to Junk. Should I have used the CopyTool? (I can't get this to run even with the appropriate VB runtime files). Should I have chosen something other than caravel for the icon for the Junk? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thks.

To get the unit icon to appear in your build que, you need to edit the units_32.pcx file and insert a new icon for any new unit you have added right after the Privateer icon. :king:

Originally posted by Dark Sheer


To get the unit icon to appear in your build que, you need to edit the units_32.pcx file and insert a new icon for any new unit you have added right after the Privateer icon. :king:

You also have to make sure that the last 8, I believe, icons remain at the end, after the ones you add. These are the era specific icons, which explains why your Settler/Worker graphics aren't showing up in the build list. They need to be pushed down to accomodate the new units you've added.

I just found the answer to my question(s) in another thread. I wont take up any more space in this thread. Cheers.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18534

Originally posted by Willem


You also have to make sure that the last 8, I believe, icons remain at the end, after the ones you add. These are the era specific icons, which explains why your Settler/Worker graphics aren't showing up in the build list. They need to be pushed down to accomodate the new units you've added.

Thanks DarkSheer & Willem I can understand the logic of what you are saying. I will try to edit the pcx file - is it possible to use the Windows Paint program to cut an image of the icon and paste/merge it in to the pcx image? - I don't have any image editing tools more advanced that Paint :( Thanks again, being able to add new units is going to prolong my interest in civ3.

Originally posted by Dark Sheer
Any animator out there would like to help me to take a look at the shadow problem with this unit? (there is a very light box around the unit due to shadow color in the palette).

I have tried to recompile this animation but Animation Shop refuse to accept the corrected palette. :mad: Each time I resave the flcs and optimize them with the new corrected palette the flc seems to continue to retain the old palette ? :confused:

I have noticed that also! I tried to fix it too, somehow there is something that is not allowing full transp. I suggest create the unit all over again:cry:
Damn!
You will figure it out ;)

I have finally managed to fix the shadow problem for the Canoe. ;)

All I need to do is create a new flc with the same dimension and import my old flc into in and resave the file using the corrected palette. Now there is no more light shadow around the unit. :D

I have updated the first post with a new zip with the fixed flc.

:king:

You the man!!!:D

Now I can finally put the Canoe unit in my game!

Good Job!:goodjob:

Yes, good news, I've really wanted an early sea vessel for Expansionist civs. So have you had a chance yet to try anything with that Outrigger I asked you for? It would be great if you would do it, and I'd be forever in your debt. :D

And here is a possible Civilopedia entry for the Canoe if anyone wants it.



#PRTO_Canoe
^
^
^The [Canoe] is the first maritime unit you can build. These tiny, primitive boats must end each turn in a
$LINK<coastal=TERR_Coast> square -- they are in danger of sinking if they end their turn in a $LINK<sea=TERR_Sea> or $LINK<ocean=TERR_Ocean> square.
If $LINK<The Great Lighthouse=BLDG_Lighthouse> is built, canoes may safely end turns at sea, but never ocean squares.
#DESC_PRTO_Canoe
^
^
^A canoe is a lightweight boat of shallow draught, pointed at both ends and easily propelled by paddles or sails.
The canoe was developed by many early cultures throughout the world. It varies in shape, size, and construction,
according to its place of origin. The oldest form of canoe was probably a tree trunk hollowed out by tools or fire.
Native North Americans created the birchbark canoe, a vessel with a frame of light wood that is covered with pieces
of bark sewn together and made watertight with melted pitch. Similar in design to the birchbark is the canvas canoe
created by the Penobscot people of Maine in the 19th century. Native Americans living in treeless regions made canoes
of tule or other bulrushes lashed together; people living on the shores of Lake Titicaca, on the Peru-Bolivia border,
still make them in this way.
^
^The Inuit (Eskimo) created two kinds of canoe, both of which had whalebone or wooden frames and were covered with
animal skins, generally from whales or seals. The kayak is completely enclosed except for an opening for the occupant,
The umiak is open. The canoe of Greenland and the Hudson Strait is flat-bottomed and flat-sided.
The dugout is still used by the peoples of Africa, South America, and Polynesia. Another type of canoe used by
native peoples of the south-west Pacific islands is made of planks fastened together. This type is often equipped
with an outrigger, a device that ensures stability in heavy seas. Many of the ancient war canoes used by Pacific
islanders were elaborately carved. While some races, such as the polynesians, made long ocean voyages in large
outrigger-equipped sea-going canoes, in the main because of its long, narrow hull, the canoe is very unstable
in all but the calmest waters, and as a consequence rarely ventured out of sight of land for long periods of time,
lest the vessel be caught in a storm and sunk.

I see that you are giving everbody a hand in Civilopedia info.
That's Great!!!!!!:D

Did anyone create any Pedia Icons for the canoe unit? Just thought I would ask.

if you can capture it, then how do you kill it?

If you can capture it then you can't kill it. :)

But the barbarian can kill it. ;)

ohhhhhhhhh..........

Umm..... are there pediaicons for this anywhere?

finally a unit for a western mod i've been wanting to get some native american units cosidering I am cherokee and all so I would love to see some more units that I can put in a western scenario.good work

For the AI strategy, can't you select it as a land unite, check explore, then select it as a sea unit? Works with giving imporvements wonder qualities, etc. Why wouldn't it work here?

-Nate

I'm not sure whether you noticed it or not, but giving 0 defence/attack means the AI has no strategy option in order to understand what do with that unit. If it ever builds one, it will just end up sitting there in the harbour doing nothing.

It can't just be flagged with the "Naval Transport" strategy? :confused:

Best,

Oz

4 and half years... geez..

For the AI strategy, can't you select it as a land unite, check explore, then select it as a sea unit? Works with giving imporvements wonder qualities, etc. Why wouldn't it work here?

-Nate
That doesn't actually do anything. The grayed-out areas are completely ignored in the saved file. It only shows up temporarily because the editor doesn't reset fields to their default values when they become unavailable. If you close and reopen that screen, you'll see that any of that information has been cleared.

And BTW, this thread was dead for 4 1/2 years...

Crap..sorry. I was looking for units to restart the mods of my personal game and noticed the question at hand was never solved, and I thought that would help.

Are you sure it doesn't save? I'm positive that I've done that for improvements and it stuck.

-nate

I've seen it work for improvements, I think.