Okay I have been doing alot of tutorials for 3ds max. (A friend email me alot of cool pdfs stuff like 3ds max bible, a set of quicktime movie tutorials, etc) I think i am ready to try and tackle my first project.

I have a general idea of what i want. For my mod I need a unit for water. It would be under a technology called "AquaMorphs" Basically a biological unit for the water, using genetic manipulation.

The problem i see with this is not the model itself but with animation. Also i have a problem with the logic of a giant squid being able to take on a battleship. Most of the "biomorphs" i am creating have a good withdraw prob and regeneration ability, more movement but low strength (bonus against mechs though) so they would be good for hit and run tactics. also cannot capture cities.
I was thinking of a modification of either squid or whale. (the idea of whale i like because it can make whale a required resource for producing this)

Currently i am going to work on the idea of the whale (some sort of genetic alteration making it a lot more volatile), but I want get some ideas from the community and if some can think of something cool. Or if they have seen something from some fantasy show or a book they read etc...

Also which is considered the "front" of the model. X, y, or z?

The ships front points in the negative direction on the Y axis (in other words you are looking at the ships front in the front viewport).
The guns should turn and fire to the left (port side) - the positive orientation on the X axis to make the side-by-side combat animations work right.
The water level corresponds to 0 on the Z axis.

Thanks Refar. Wouldnt you know it my front view is staring straight at my creature's rear. Now i am just trying to decide what an animal's "guns" should be. I started out with a whale as a base. (blue whale) and just altered it as i drew splines. Then extruded. Was turning out great until i realized it was backwards.

Having it backwards is not a big deal - you can just spin it around, then realighn the pivot to world. Just do it before you start animating, as it is a bit of a hassle afterwards.

You can also allways export a un-animated preview version and check the alighnment/position in the game, before continuing.

Perhaps a whale would hit stuff with it's tail ?
You must not make it fire (attack) the side - the comment on the firing direction only matters if you want your unit fire broadsides - like many naval units do.
There are also units that will move in and/or attack frontal (melee, submarines).

I was thinking a bit about the frontal attack. Animating the the head to biting perhaps. (you have to remember this a genetic alteration of a whale so some wiggle room is allowable bigger than a whale and altered head) Using the tail and fins for moving animations if possible.

okay the model is done(unless i think i need something), need to work on animation now though.

I sure someone knows this because i have seen this but i cannot find in the forums again. Point me to or tell me where i can get the animation flow charts. I need to know the amount of frames i get to work with per each animation state. Also if one of states has to be certain amount of frames etc...

The flowcharts are with of the Example files released by Firaxis - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159481

You can allways make sequences shorter than the flowcharts suggest. Making them longer will cause minor glitches. It samples with 30 fps btw.