Guide for converting SMAC icons to Civ4 buttons (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=298083)

I think there are too many tech strategies and building uses and effects to be able to compress them in only four different colours, and still keep some consistent meaning to these colours.

So I figured instead each tech and building belonging to a certain theme could get the same colour.

I was thinking of seven different colours/themes:

Terraforming: Believer orange
Enclosed Biosphere/Naval/Space: that pressure dome colour
Centauri: SMAC Explore green
Industry: SMAC Build gold/yellow
Physics: SMAC Conquer red
Computers: SMAC Discover white
Genetics: PK colour

I have drawn up a list of the SMAC icons which would be immediately useful when 'Rubinized' (Rubin being the person who told me what pattern, bevel, etc... to use). I also included what colour they should have according to the themes mentioned earlier. I placed a few question marks though.

If I used two question marks, it means I'm not sure what theme/colour I should give to the tech or facility.
If I used one question mark, it means it's obvious what theme the tech/fac belongs to, but, because I'm used to seeing the icon in a different colour, I have my doubts if the icon would look good in that new colour. Of course this may just be a matter of getting used to the new colour, nothing inherently wrong with the colour.

So perhaps if you want to Rubinize these buttons, you should only focus on those without question marks for now? Or if you do want to do the 'questionable' ones, make sure to make an xcf save before applying the pattern. So if we want to change the colour of a couple later on, the workload is reduced. What are your thoughts on this matter?

Here's the list:

fac018 RejuvenationTanks Genetics
fac023 PunishmentSphere Computers or Genetics?
fac036 Solar Power Transmitter Enclosed
xfac037 Subsea Trunkline Enclosed
(list layout seems to get lost unfortunately)

GIMP is a program I can't get heads nor tails from. :crazyeye:

That's why the guide was made 100% dummy-proof. http://eventis.ws/images/smilies/nod.gif

Well, knock yourself out then. :mischief:

I tried to re-do the Renewable Energy icon using a softer red (html: ed624f) than the Conquer theme.
I have attached a screenshot with a comparison: the original Conquer red is on the left, the softer red is on the right.
I personally prefer the Conquer red, it is clearer to see on the techtree too.
What do you think? Maniac?

For the datalinks, I actually prefer the new button you made. But for the tech tree, I agree with you the old Conquer-red button is more visible.

In response to this I tried meddling somewhat in GIMP myself. I wanted to have a noticable change of colour within the icon (which, together with the bevel, adds more life and 3D to it), yet at the same time not make the colour too bright.

I finally figured out how to make the lighting effect more localized. By increasing the Shiny from 0.00 to 0.20 (which increases the spotlight intensity) and decreasing the Polished setting from 27 to 10 (which makes the spotlight more localized), I managed to create some colour variety within the icon, but still somewhat keep the original Conquer red in the lower part of the button. Perhaps experimenting somewhat more with Shiny and Polished can create better results.

What do you think about this one?


Anyway, most new buttons seem to have a problem being distinguishable on the tech tree screen. I think the problem may be the transparency. Buttons with transparent background look better than a completely black background (as in the old draft buttons) in the datalinks and the city screen etc, but worse on the tech tree. Reason is probably because there's not enough contrast between the button colour and the tech screen colours. In the datalinks/city screen, there is enough contrast, because the background is dark blue or opaque black.

So I was thinking, perhaps in the tech screen we could let two buttons be displayed on each other. The bottom button could fully consists of a black shadow of a certain opacity, with curved corners, and the opacity becoming fully transparent near the edges. On that could our tech buttons be displayed. Thus creating a better contrast.

I wouldn't know right now how to create such a shadow button though. :-s

I finally figured out how to make the lighting effect more localized. By increasing the Shiny from 0.00 to 0.20 (which increases the spotlight intensity) and decreasing the Polished setting from 27 to 10 (which makes the spotlight more localized), I managed to create some colour variety within the icon, but still somewhat keep the original Conquer red in the lower part of the button. Perhaps experimenting somewhat more with Shiny and Polished can create better results.
What do you think about this one?
The new experiment you made is nice... maybe just a little too shiny? I tried to do a little variation, setting Shiny=0.1 (you used 0.2) and Polished=10 (as you did), the result is in attachment.
Which do you prefer?
In any case, all the icons would need to be done with the same system, so the few icons that have already been made should be re-done (but I can do that, no problem).


So I was thinking, perhaps in the tech screen we could let two buttons be displayed on each other. The bottom button could fully consists of a black shadow of a certain opacity, with curved corners, and the opacity becoming fully transparent near the edges. On that could our tech buttons be displayed. Thus creating a better contrast.
I wouldn't know right now how to create such a shadow button though. :-s
If you could discover how to do it, it would be great! :goodjob:

The new experiment you made is nice... maybe just a little too shiny? I tried to do a little variation, setting Shiny=0.1 (you used 0.2) and Polished=10 (as you did), the result is in attachment.
Which do you prefer?

I prefer the 0.20. With Shiny 0.10 I once again hardly notice there is any colour gradience.
Do you prefer buttons with or without colour gradience by the way?

In any case, all the icons would need to be done with the same system, so the few icons that have already been made should be re-done (but I can do that, no problem).

Not all buttons would need to be redone. The reason for this added shininess is because the lighting effects and bevel* is hardly visible on dark colours. On lighter colours it is visible. So only those with dark colours would need to be redone. I guess that means the Conquer theme, and possibly the Terraformer techs. (I already redid the Rare DNA buttons - still look kinda crappy IMO, but somewhat better than before)

* In fact, even with this added shininess, the bevel seems unnoticable. I think I'll experiment with adding a radius 1 "shadow" which adds light instead of darkness. Would look similar to a bevel. In that case perhaps there needs to be a little less shiny. I'll have a try and report back.

Well, here's another go.

Shiny is 0.10.

After having resized to 64x64, just before you'd normally save, I added a...

drop shadow: x:0, y:-2, radius: 1
Colour/Brightness-Contrast... Brightness: 50, Contrast: -50 (with the new layer selected)
Toolbox/Alignment Tool (once again select the new layer, this time by clicking on the image itself!!)
Toolbox/Alignment Tool/Align middle of target, Offset 2
Layers Box: set the new shadow layer mode to 30% saturation

Giving this result:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/TehManiac/Renew3.jpg

The extra shadow makes it look a bit similar to just using Shiny .20. :hmm: When not using any Shiny at all, neither does the drop shadow make much of a difference... Weird graphical interactions. :dizzy:

The latest experiment seems very good!
If you could please explain better the steps you followed, I will try to do one of the light-colored icons to see how they appear with this method.
Once a final method is decided we could begin to create the buttons!

Hmm, not sure how to explain it better.

What I write below, should be done where I place the stars in this extract of the guide. You can now doubt also do it before resizing to 64x64. But that would require finding different Offset X/Y and Blur Radius values.

Filters/Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Material: Bright: 0,80; Shiny: 0.10; Polished: 10.00; rest 0,00
...
Layer/Merge Down
Image/Scale Image...: WidthxHeight = 64x64; Interpolation: Cubic
***
File/Save as... : Name: ButtonX.dds; Save
Save as DDS: Compression: BC2/DXT3; no mipmaps!!!

Filters/Light and Shadow/Drop Shadow: Offset X: 0; Offset Y: -2, Blur Radius: 1: 80% opacity; uncheck 'Allow resizing'
Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Layers: select the new shadow layer
Colour/Brightness-Contrast... Brightness: 50, Contrast: -50
Toolbox/Alignment Tool
Click on the new layer, on the image itself!!
Toolbox/Alignment Tool/Align middle of target, Offset 2
Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Layers (select the new shadow layer) Mode : Saturation 30%
Layer/Layer to Image Size (not sure if this is necessary)
Layer/Merge Down

Hmm, not sure how to explain it better.


Hello Maniac, I tried to do the "holographics" button following your instructions but the result is very different, the shadow doesn't show at all.
I have attached the file with the two un-merged layers, maybe you could understand what did I miss!

Hmm, I think you didn't do anything wrong. It's just, what that low saturation 'shadow' does, is make the colours whiter. However the Discover colour with the Bevel applied to it already is almost completely white, so there wouldn't be any additional effect from the shadow. Hence why this extra shadow is probably only needed for dark colours, on which the bevels have insufficient effect for some reason.

Btw, talking about shadows, I discovered a while ago that I didn't do the main shadow* on the Renewable Energy button as according to the guide. I forgot to change the offset, which left them at Offset X: 8; Offset Y: 8 instead of the Offset X: 0; Offset Y: 0 the guide recommends. I kinda like how the shadow with offset 8 makes the button look though. What do you think?

*this step:
Filters/Light and Shadow/Drop Shadow: Offset X: 0; Offset Y: 0, Blur Radius: 45: 80% opacity; uncheck 'Allow resizing'

Btw, talking about shadows, I discovered a while ago that I didn't do the main shadow* on the Renewable Energy button as according to the guide. I forgot to change the offset, which left them at Offset X: 8; Offset Y: 8 instead of the Offset X: 0; Offset Y: 0 the guide recommends. I kinda like how the shadow with offset 8 makes the button look though. What do you think?
I don't know, I tried to experiment a little bit more with the holographics icon, but if I select "saturation" on the shadow layer the shadow basically disappears.
I am yet unable to get samples to compare, what I get is always almost the same as the original guide.

I don't know, I tried to experiment a little bit more with the holographics icon, but if I select "saturation" on the shadow layer the shadow basically disappears.
I am yet unable to get samples to compare, what I get is always almost the same as the original guide.

There is a misunderstanding. With the new step I described for dark-coloured buttons, two shadows have to be applied. I bolded them in this extraxt of the guide.:

Filters/Light and Shadow/Drop Shadow: Offset X: 0; Offset Y: 0, Blur Radius: 45: 80% opacity; uncheck 'Allow resizing'
Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Layers: select the shadow layer
Layer/Layer to Image Size
Layer/Merge Down
Image/Scale Image...: WidthxHeight = 64x64; Interpolation: Cubic
Filters/Light and Shadow/Drop Shadow: Offset X: 0; Offset Y: -2, Blur Radius: 1: 80% opacity; uncheck 'Allow resizing'
Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Layers: select the new shadow layer
Colour/Brightness-Contrast... Brightness: 50, Contrast: -50
Toolbox/Alignment Tool
Click on the new layer, on the image itself!!
Toolbox/Alignment Tool/Align middle of target, Offset 2
Windows/Dockable Dialogs/Layers (select the new shadow layer) Mode : Saturation 30%
Layer/Layer to Image Size (not sure if this is necessary)
Layer/Merge Down
File/Save as... : Name: ButtonX.dds; Save
Save as DDS: Compression: BC2/DXT3; no mipmaps!!!


In the part of my post you quoted, I am talking about the first shadow, where I was thinking about changing the offsets from 0 to 8 or so. You do not need to change the mode of that shadow to Saturation. Just leave it on Normal.

In the part of my post you quoted, I am talking about the first shadow, where I was thinking about changing the offsets from 0 to 8 or so. You do not need to change the mode of that shadow to Saturation. Just leave it on Normal.
And what light settings should I use? The ones from the guide or the ones from the posts above? Are these the settings you used for the new icons added in the latest patches?

For darker colours such as conquer red I use
Filters/Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Material: Bright: 0,80; Shiny: 0.10; Polished: 10.00; rest 0,00

For the rest I still use the old lighting effect settings.

Hmm, I guess the guide might be becoming a little hard to follow with all those "do A if B, else do C" added recently. :(

Hello Maniac, I would like to give another try at buttons editing.
Is the guide available here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=298083) updated? If it is not, could you please update it to the latest version, the one you used for the latest buttons?
Which button could I try do to first? Thanks! :)

haven't updated yet
saturday I might be able to

I updated the guide. I hope it's a bit more readable now.

There now are good lighting values for the Explore, Build, Conquer, Genetics and Enclosed themes.

Not for the Discover colour though. I tested out the usual values on the Virtual World button, and the button becomes practically complete white. So for that colour we'd need to do the opposite of the Conquer theme: reduce the effect of the lighting.

I updated the guide. I hope it's a bit more readable now.

The guide is much clearer now :goodjob:
Do you like this Childrens' Creche button?

Looks great, thanks! :goodjob:

Here they are the buttons for the Biology Lab, the Research Hospital and the Infirmary (Genetics - my own concept - comment please and don't forget the XML file!! :p).

Maniac, I need to ask you a couple of things to facilitate my work on the other icons:
1- Which color theme did you use for the "pressure dome" and "recycling tanks" buttons? Is it 659888?
2- Which color themes can I use for "recreation commons", "command center", "maintenance bay" and "genejack factory"?
I would suggest "physics/conquer" for the "command center" and "industry/build" for the "genejack factory", the "maintenance bay" and all the other factories too. Don't know about "recreation commons".

Could you please color gray or highlight in some other way in the first post the buttons that have already been made?

After a good number of buttons have been made about Build, Explore, Peacekeeper and Enclosed I will start to do some of those with the Discover and Believer themes in order to compare them with the others, and then perform some experiments. I would like to make more experiments on the Conquer theme too.

Here they are the buttons for the Biology Lab, the Research Hospital and the Infirmary (Genetics - my own concept - comment please and don't forget the XML file!! :p).

Thanks! You read my mind on the Infirmary button. :goodjob:

1- Which color theme did you use for the "pressure dome" and "recycling tanks" buttons? Is it 659888?

2- Which color themes can I use for "recreation commons", "command center", "maintenance bay" and "genejack factory"?
I would suggest "physics/conquer" for the "command center" and "industry/build" for the "genejack factory", the "maintenance bay" and all the other factories too. Don't know about "recreation commons".

I agree with everything, including not knowing yet what to do with the Recreation Commons. ;) That button can always wait of course. If no inspiration is found, I'd go with Build as well in SMAC tradition.

What did you have in mind for the Maintenance Bay by the way. One idea I had was to use an adjustable spanner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjustable_spanner). I have an icon of that derived from System Shock 2.

Another I had was to follow the theme of the Command Center, Naval Yard, Aerospace Complex... That is, that garage on the bottom, and on top of that an icon representing what the building boosts. For the Maintenance Bay that's treaded units. Unfortunately we don't have an icon for the treaded unitcombattype yet. I have attached an option I had in mind.

Could you please color gray or highlight in some other way in the first post the buttons that have already been made?

'kay.

i'd be game to try doing the upgrades and weapon options. i'm also preparing a treatise on unit types. i just need to do some work on the white-board, and figure out how i want to present everything.

Thanks! You read my mind on the Infirmary button. :goodjob:
Please remember the XML file :p
Some new buttons are in attachment.

One idea I had was to use an adjustable spanner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjustable_spanner). I have an icon of that derived from System Shock 2.
That was my idea as well, but now that you say it I think it's more correct to go with the command center theme: the Maintenance Bay provides too great a benefit to treaded units to be ignored, it is more a training facility than a factory. I will probably use the image you attached.

About the Conquer/Physics theme in general: with your permission I think I will make some more experiments. The idea of adding two shadows doesn't sound good to me, it seems more correct to add a single shadow effect using the right settings.

A little question: which color theme did you use for the "Ultraponics" tech?

Last thing: I tried to make the "network node" and the "hologram theatre" buttons with Discover White using the standard guide and they don't look bad compared to the others... what do you think? Shall we use the standard settings for Discover white too?

[i]i'd be game to try doing the upgrades and weapon options.

You mean change the blue, as you mentioned on Apolyton? A consistent style is important. So if you were to do that, you'd also somehow have to recreate many of the existing promotion buttons. And that's rather complicated as this thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=307493&highlight=promotion) shows. Even more work than the current fac/tech button project. So I'm wondering whether this is worth it, especially considering I don't understand what's wrong with the current blue colour (of course that may change if I know what you have in mind as an alternative). I'd say working on Datalinks information is more important, in case you're still planning that.

Some new buttons are in attachment.

Thanks!

About the Conquer/Physics theme in general: with your permission I think I will make some more experiments. The idea of adding two shadows doesn't sound good to me, it seems more correct to add a single shadow effect using the right settings.

It's impossible to merge those two into one shadow. They do different things!! One shadow adds black darkness to the button. The other one, with saturation 30%, makes the surface it's on lighter!

A little question: which color theme did you use for the "Ultraponics" tech?

That's the Pirate colour. It was an experiment, with a result I didn't like. The colour is too flashy compared to the others used in the interface. And for some reason with that colour too bevel and lighting doesn't seem to have any effect.
I've attached the source file for that button, for the record. That tech obviously belongs to the Enclosed Biosphere theme.

Last thing: I tried to make the "network node" and the "hologram theatre" buttons with Discover White using the standard guide and they don't look bad compared to the others... what do you think?

Judging from my own experiment with the Virtual World button, the lighting effects make the button too uniformly white. I'd like to experiment with the lighting effects some time.

The "recreation commons" button is attached.
Judging from my own experiment with the Virtual World button, the lighting effects make the button too uniformly white. I'd like to experiment with the lighting effects some time.
I have made another experiment with the Discover theme. Since the lighting effect makes the buttons too white, the straightforward solution is to reduce the Intensity. I have re-made the "Network Node" button using intensity 0.70 instead of the default 0.90, getting a darker icon. The result is in attachment. I have NOT remade the "Hologram Theatre" button that is still with 0.90 intensity.
What do you think? Compare the preview with the previous one; I can decrease further the intensity of light if you like (at 0.00 intensity you get a black icon).

I'll have a deeper look at the Discover theme. For now thanks for the rec commons button.

You say 0.90 intensity btw. Is that a type? The guide says 0.80.

I'll have a deeper look at the Discover theme. For now thanks for the rec commons button.
You say 0.90 intensity btw. Is that a type? The guide says 0.80.
No no that was correct, "light intensity" is set at 0.90 in the guide. Perhaps you are confusing it with "material brightness" that is indeed set at 0.80. From the guide:
Filters/Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Light: Point type light; X-Pos: 0,50; Y-Pos: -0,20; Z-Pos: 1,00; Intensity: 0,90
Filters/Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Material: Bright: 0,80; rest 0,00
"Light intensity" is the most direct approach to get a lighter or darker button. If the intensity is set to a very high value the icon becomes essentially white; if it is set to 0.00 the icon becomes black.
If the Discover buttons are "too white" using the standard guide, the simplest solution would be to decrease light intensity as necessary. Tough decreasing it too much could make it difficult to distinguish the color from the "genetics" or "enclosed" themes. We could always try to bring back the Angel color for computers...

I think that "light intensity" could be manipulated at good effect for the darker colors too, for exemple for the "Conquer" theme. Using a more-than-standard light intensity would make the icon lighter without doing any other modification to the standard guide. It would be simpler, easier and more consistent.

Looking back at the old private messages I have found that you were already thinking something of the sort:
This is also a problem with the red Conquer colour btw. The effects don't seem to have that much of an effect. Perhaps there is a solution for this (increase the lighting effects or so?), but being a graphics noob, I wouldn't know what it would be.
I think your idea was correct and that "light intensity" is the key.

Yes you're correct on the intensity-brightness confusion.

In fact I think light Intensity might be the culprit why I thought the Virtual World button was too white. I think I must have forgotten to put it at 0.90 instead of the default 1.00. As a consequence it looked much whiter. I just tried creating a new Virtual World button with the correct default guide settings, and now it looks ok to me.

So I'd say it's no longer necessary to find a different set of values for the Discover theme. :mischief:
I'd love to have a closer look at your Hologram Theatre button btw.

So I'd say it's no longer necessary to find a different set of values for the Discover theme. :mischief:
I'd love to have a closer look at your Hologram Theatre button btw.
Ok. I have attached the "Hologram Theatre" and "Network Node" buttons, made using the standard settings (light intensity 0.90). You can see a preview in the screenshot attached in this post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8036514&postcount=26).

After that, I have made an experiment about the Terraforming/Believer theme. I have made the "Tree Park" button using the standard settings and a second, lighter version using light intensity 1.10 (instead of 0.90). The results are in attachment. You will find a screenshot preview for both (standard/dark at left, light at right) and a rar file with the actual buttons.
I prefer the darker icon, the one made using the standard settings (intensity 0.90). The lighter one (intensity 1.10) is too similar to the "Build" theme. What do you think?

On the button thing: is it normal that in patch 8b the Ruins use the deer button?

.

I'll give feedback later, but for now, thanks for the buttons! :)

On the button thing: is it normal that in patch 8b the Ruins use the deer button?

Yes, none is available yet.
For the button I could always take a screenshot of the improvement in-game (won't be as detailed then of course than if others took the screenshot :D)
No idea what could be the gamefont icon

Thanks for the buttons! They all look good to me on the default 0.90 intensity setting.

Btw, a note on naming conventions: Most stuff that is named x_x.dds is not done by me. I'm using the naming convention. XX.dds. For instance network_node becomes NetworkNode. It also gives a quick method to see what art has been 'modernized', and which hasn't been yet.
Could you please use that modernized naming convention too, when you have to give a new file a name anyway?

New buttons attached.

Could you please use that modernized naming convention too, when you have to give a new file a name anyway?
No problem. Keep in mind in any case that filenames are case-insensitive in Windows, so for example if you reference them completely in small-case in the XML it will still work.

I have seen you have re-done the "Virtual World". I have attached another version, where the round border is thicker, as it is in other buttons ("Temple of Planet" for example). In this way the button is more consistent with the others.

I have noticed too that you have added the border to the "Park" button I previously submitted. I should say that that work was a bit raw, as it was my first full-square button, and indeed it didn't fit exactly in its border in the city screen (screenshot in this message (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8053814&postcount=32)). Now I have re-made that button making it fill exactly the proper border, whitout having to add a border myself. It looks good on the city screen and much better in the datalinks. Check that in the attached screenshot, where it is displayed my own concept for the "Hydro Plant" too.

I will now make some experiments with the Conquer/Physics theme. Which graphical settings did you use for the "Dimensional Gate"?

Buttons downloaded - thanks! Will reply to your post later.

New buttons attached.

Thanks for the Energy Bank & Assembly Hall buttons!
I have some remarks or questions about the others.

I have seen you have re-done the "Virtual World". I have attached another version, where the round border is thicker, as it is in other buttons ("Temple of Planet" for example). In this way the button is more consistent with the others.

The thick circle is the symbol for Planetmind, or a little broader the planet Chiron, or even broader: Ecology. The Virtual World is a virtual world, so that way I guess you could argue there is a connection to Chiron, but for the rest the facility doesn't have any connection whatsoever to Planet or Ecology. So one can argue that making the Virtual World circle identical/consistent to the Planet circle is in fact NOT desired.
I don't feel that strongly about it either way, but I figured I'd share the view. What do you think after having read this?

I have noticed too that you have added the border to the "Park" button I previously submitted. I should say that that work was a bit raw, as it was my first full-square button, and indeed it didn't fit exactly in its border in the city screen (screenshot in this message (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8053814&postcount=32)). Now I have re-made that button making it fill exactly the proper border, whitout having to add a border myself. It looks good on the city screen and much better in the datalinks.

I agree the button not having a frame makes it look more consistent in the datalinks. I wonder though, what changes did you make? I haven't yet put it in the game, but at first sight it seems that the size of the icon is the same and no pixels have been turned transparent. :confused:

Check that in the attached screenshot, where it is displayed my own concept for the "Hydro Plant" too.

Looks great!
I think the Hydro Plant belongs to the Enclosed tech theme though. Did you save an xcf file before starting to applying the foreground colour?
Where did you get that Watermill icon from btw? I'd love to have an xcf of that. Might come useful for other stuff too.

Btw, I noticed there are two transparent pixels to the upper right of the plus and minus. Do you see those? Is that intentional by you? Seems kinda strange.

I will now make some experiments with the Conquer/Physics theme. Which graphical settings did you use for the "Dimensional Gate"?

I followed the guide on the Conquer theme.

The thick circle is the symbol for Planetmind, or a little broader the planet Chiron, or even broader: Ecology. The Virtual World is a virtual world, so that way I guess you could argue there is a connection to Chiron, but for the rest the facility doesn't have any connection whatsoever to Planet or Ecology.
You have a point. I will explain why I tought of adding a thick circle: I have noticed that many buildings buttons in SMAC have frames and there are mainly three types of them: house-shaped frames (with either round or triangular top), beaker-shaped frames and circle-shaped frames (they are indeed for Chiron-related building). What hits me is that all these differently shaped frames have the same thickness. So it seemed strange to me to have a button with a thinner frame, it seemed at odd with the others. Anyway I don't feel very strong about it so you can chose the one you prefer :p

I agree the button not having a frame makes it look more consistent in the datalinks. I wonder though, what changes did you make? I haven't yet put it in the game, but at first sight it seems that the size of the icon is the same and no pixels have been turned transparent. :confused:
I will explain the problem. This is a general issue with full-square buttons such that you might want to modify the related part in the guide after you read this.
I am sure you noticed the problem with the first version I submitted, the icon didn't fit exactly the border in city screen, and a black line was clearly visible on the right side of the button, between the icon and the border. The problem was that the original icon in SMAC was not a perfect square; after I copied the icon (that is, the colored part) and pasted it in a new image, I saw that the size was 210x213. Following the guide, I expanded the canvas (213*64/56 rounded up) leaving the icon at its center. So the actual icon was larger in height than in width. After I resized all to 64x64 I had an icon that was still smaller at its width (not the canvas itself, only the orange part) so it didn't fit perfectly.
To solve the problem I had to modify the original SMAC button making it a perfect square before applying all the other processing steps. The new version now fits perfectly because height and width of the icon (the orange part) are the same.
Tell me if it sounds clear :p

Looks great!
I think the Hydro Plant belongs to the Enclosed tech theme though. Did you save an xcf file before starting to applying the foreground colour?
Where did you get that Watermill icon from btw? I'd love to have an xcf of that. Might come useful for other stuff too.
Btw, I noticed there are two transparent pixels to the upper right of the plus and minus. Do you see those? Is that intentional by you? Seems kinda strange.
I am saving all the xcf's for the original buttons and the other material I have used for all the buttons I have made. I have attached the entire pack related to the "Hydro Plant".
The small dots at the top of the plus and the minus come from another SMAC button, xfac038.pcx. It is included in the pack too.

I have painted the "Hydro Plant" with the Terraform color because putting dams on a river is indeed a terraforming work. Our "Hydro Plant" has the added function of providing fresh water in those bases where there isn't another source, but that function has always striked me as weird, not really right. I think the real, proper function of a hydro plant is to increase production on river tiles trough dams, hence it sounds like terraforming.
What do you think?

I followed the guide on the Conquer theme.
I will soon present a small experiment about that :p

Anyway I don't feel very strong about it so you can chose the one you prefer :p

I'll go with the thick circle to make you happy. ;)

To solve the problem I had to modify the original SMAC button making it a perfect square before applying all the other processing steps. The new version now fits perfectly because height and width of the icon (the orange part) are the same.
Tell me if it sounds clear :p

Thanks, I get it now. :D
I looked at the Park & Hydro Plant buttons in-game, and I did notice one small thing bugging me. The icons are perfectly square, and as a consequence look a little out of place between all the rounded corner frames and buttons. So I think they too should get their corners rounded. Probably manually before bevel is added.
No idea how much exactly they should be rounded though. Do you have any ideas? Or shall I go experimenting? :scared:

I am saving all the xcf's for the original buttons and the other material I have used for all the buttons I have made.

I'd love to have those xcf's too! You never know when it comes useful.

The small dots at the top of the plus and the minus come from another SMAC button, xfac038.pcx. It is included in the pack too.

I see. I don't really know what those double circles are supposed to stand for. A 'degree' symbol to indicate the Thermocline?? Whatever their meaning, when the button is resized to 64*64, they just become a single pixel. So I'd just leave them out.
Using your HydroPlant.xcf I've already made a button without them myself, but it'll probably need to be redone again for the rounded corners. :-s

I have painted the "Hydro Plant" with the Terraform color because putting dams on a river is indeed a terraforming work. Our "Hydro Plant" has the added function of providing fresh water in those bases where there isn't another source, but that function has always striked me as weird, not really right.

When the base doesn't have access to fresh water, you're supposed to think of the Hydro Plant as a water recycling center. That function does belong in the Enclosed Biosphere theme.
But anyway, I think I'll keep it in the Terraformed colour as you suggest. The Centauri Hydrology button should be in the Enclosed colour, and having all contents of a tech always use the same colour as the tech button, might look a little monotomous on the F6 screen.

In attachement you will find a pack with all the buttons I have made, re-made using tha correction I have proposed for the buttons guide.
There is also included an experiment I have made with the "Conquer/Physics" theme, with related screenshot. I did not quite like the method you propose (:p) because the icon appears too shiny and with too much "reflection effects", it really seems at odds with the others. I have experimented a bit with the lighting settings, and I have produced a button where the effect is visible and that, at the same time, is more consistent with the other buttons.
In the screenshot you can see my button on the datalink and at left in the city screen, while your button is at right in the city screen.
I obtained this button just by applying custom light settings, without adding a further "shadow layer". The settings are:
Lighting Effects/Light: Point type light; X-Pos: 0,50; Y-Pos: -0,60; Z-Pos: 1,00; Intensity: 0,90
Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Material: Glowing: 0; Bright: 0,90; Shiny: 0,10; Polished: 4.00

Do you like it?

I'll go with the thick circle to make you happy. ;)
Ihihih :p

I looked at the Park & Hydro Plant buttons in-game, and I did notice one small thing bugging me. The icons are perfectly square, and as a consequence look a little out of place between all the rounded corner frames and buttons. So I think they too should get their corners rounded. Probably manually before bevel is added.
That is an interesting suggestion! Probably it should be done before light too. I have already some ideas and I will present some experiments soon.

I'd love to have those xcf's too! You never know when it comes useful.
My idea was to send you the entire pack with all the supporting material when the button work is completed. I would not like to overload you with files since I think that you have already your hands full with all the Planetfall stuff :p
But if you want I can send what I have at the moment.

I see. I don't really know what those double circles are supposed to stand for. A 'degree' symbol to indicate the Thermocline?? Whatever their meaning, when the button is resized to 64*64, they just become a single pixel. So I'd just leave them out.
Yes perhaps they are a bit too small. You will find a version without the circles in the pack I am attaching. The version with curved corners will come later :p

When the base doesn't have access to fresh water, you're supposed to think of the Hydro Plant as a water recycling center. That function does belong in the Enclosed Biosphere theme.
In your shoes I would leave open the option of transferring that function to another facility in the future, it really sounds weird associated to a hydro plant, they are two completely distinct things.

Lighting Effects/Light: Point type light; X-Pos: 0,50; Y-Pos: -0,60; Z-Pos: 1,00; Intensity: 0,90
Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Material: Glowing: 0; Bright: 0,90; Shiny: 0,10; Polished: 4.00

Do you like it?

Great! :D I'll update the guide with these settings.

My idea was to send you the entire pack with all the supporting material when the button work is completed. I would not like to overload you with files since I think that you have already your hands full with all the Planetfall stuff :p
But if you want I can send what I have at the moment.

I'd prefer having your current files already. I'm sure my harddisk can handle it. :D

Yes perhaps they are a bit too small. You will find a version without the circles in the pack I am attaching. The version with curved corners will come later :p

Thanks for all the buttons!

New buttons attached.
As you can see in the screenshot, the "Conquer/Physics" buttons look very good with "bright=0.80". The 0.90 I initially suggested was too light. Would you please modify the guide to that effect? I have uploaded a revised "Dimensional Gate" too.

I have attached all the material I have used for the buttons done so far, please inform me when you have downloaded the file.

I will now work on adding rounded borders on full-square buttons.

Question: is it possible to modify the actual tech screen and to make the rectangles representing technologies of a different color? Instead of the actual light green and blue some darker colors could be used. This kind of buttons would look much better on a darker background.

New buttons attached.¨
...
I have attached all the material I have used for the buttons done so far, please inform me when you have downloaded the file.

Thanks - downloaded!

As you can see in the screenshot, the "Conquer/Physics" buttons look very good with "bright=0.80". The 0.90 I initially suggested was too light. Would you please modify the guide to that effect? I have uploaded a revised "Dimensional Gate" too.

I was waiting to see a Conquer button before doing so. :D I'll change it now.

Question: is it possible to modify the actual tech screen and to make the rectangles representing technologies of a different color? Instead of the actual light green and blue some darker colors could be used. This kind of buttons would look much better on a darker background.

It's possible. In Python/Screens/CvTechChooser.py (Plf has that file) there's this:

if ( gc.getTeam(gc.getPlayer(self.iCivSelected).getTeam ()).isHasTech(i) ):
screen.setPanelColor(szTechRecord, 85, 150, 87)
self.aiCurrentState.append(CIV_HAS_TECH)
elif ( gc.getPlayer(self.iCivSelected).getCurrentResearch () == i ):
screen.setPanelColor(szTechRecord, 104, 158, 165)
self.aiCurrentState.append(CIV_IS_RESEARCHING)
elif ( gc.getPlayer(self.iCivSelected).isResearchingTech( i) ):
screen.setPanelColor(szTechRecord, 104, 158, 165)
self.aiCurrentState.append(CIV_IS_RESEARCHING)
elif ( gc.getPlayer(self.iCivSelected).canEverResearch(i) ):
screen.setPanelColor(szTechRecord, 100, 104, 160)
self.aiCurrentState.append(CIV_NO_RESEARCH)
else:
screen.setPanelColor(szTechRecord, 206, 65, 69)
self.aiCurrentState.append(CIV_TECH_AVAILABLE)

It's possible. In Python/Screens/CvTechChooser.py (Plf has that file) there's this:
Many thanks. I will experiment with that after some more tech buttons are made.

I have attached the "Hydro plant" and "Park" buttons with rounded corners. I have added all the support material and a screenshot (where, btw, you see the Park Datalinks entry without the proper description! :p).
The corners are 6 pixels in radius on the 56*56 icon. I did them on scale on the original button before applying all the effects.

Oops, it seems I forgot to reply I had downloaded the buttons. :o

Anyway, I wanted to say it's also possible to change the background of the F6 screen should you so desire.

Two new buttons attached: the Human Genome and the Unity Library projects.
The Unity Library is my own concept (Discover theme), my idea is to include the shaken hands in all the Unity-projects buttons. Do you like it?
This time I have attached not only the buttons but the support material too.

Question: which color themes should I give to the "Hydroponics Bay" and the "Reactor"?

Two new buttons attached: the Human Genome and the Unity Library projects.

Thanks! :D

The Unity Library is my own concept (Discover theme), my idea is to include the shaken hands in all the Unity-projects buttons. Do you like it?

I don't really like the idea of using the shaking hands as the Unity symbol.
Hmm, how about using the laurels from the Planetary Council/Peacekeeper symbol? By removing the stuff between it, you get a nice area to put some other symbol in. I've attached an xcf file in which the laurels are isolated.

For the record, using a circle within a rotated square as the symbol for a secret project means there are at 64*64 resolution few pixels left to create a meaningful symbol. So I think we shouldn't stick to that circle-within-square convention for the Unity bays. Using a symbol inside the laurels, without anything else, sounds clear enough to me as a recognizable button.

Question: which color themes should I give to the "Hydroponics Bay" and the "Reactor"?

Hydroponics Bay is the orange Terraforming theme.

The Unity Reactor. Hmm, given its enabling tech Conquer/Physics red would best fit. But given its effects the yellow Build/Industry theme might fit better. I don't really have a strong opinion on this one. Go for Build??

Hey, I'm not a big fan of GIMP, so I tried to adapt the button guide to a photoshop template (with a bit of GIMP use to produce the initial marble pattern). So, to my eye, my results look very, very close - but especially for the bevel, I needed to do a bit of guess-work and tweaked until it "looks right".

Which, obviously, makes me biased. Instead of just ploughing forward, I thought it would be best to make a small sample of buttons and upload them - so you guys can take a look whether it's really "as good as the same".

I tried my hand at the Pholus Mutagen, the Superconductors and the Planetary Networks (basically the first three non-question-marked points on the list with different colours). And it is a quick process - it takes 30 seconds to a minute or so per button if I have a shape (like the one I directly get from the SMAC/X files).

If it looks right, then I can do more buttons (and you get three buttons immediately)... if not, tell me what's wrong and I can try to retool the process.

Cheers, LT.

I made a Pholus Mutagen button myself for comparison purposes, and it confirms my initial impression: The lighting effects and bevel are much more noticable with the GIMP method (according to my probably equally biased eye of course). The Photoshop buttons look rather flat to me.

In case anyone cares, I prefer the one on the right. Is that the one we're cheering for? ;)

I made a Pholus Mutagen button myself for comparison purposes, and it confirms my initial impression: The lighting effects and bevel are much more noticable with the GIMP method (according to my probably equally biased eye of course). The Photoshop buttons look rather flat to me.Hmmm... yeah, I compared them by directly overlaying them and looking at the differences.

The two main things: Yours is slightly bigger, meaning I missed the size (used the 52 pixel size from your guide - I basically worked through your guide in GIMP and recreated it alongside in PS). Second, the resizing made the main difference. PS has different algorithms for resizing - I've used bicubic, which should be the same as cubic in GIMP - but also smoothed out the edges a bit more. Need to experiment with the resizing a bit more, that's the main thing, or perhaps make the edges crisper beforehand (than in GIMP) to compensate for that.

Cheers, LT.

Just a heads-up - I haven't (totally) forgotten this thread, I'm still fiddling around occasionally, now I'm a stage where I seem to be closer to 100% recreation... but not quite. The bevels are now a bit too crisp and visible. Anyway, as a side-effect, I produced some buttons in GIMP (as reference) - so I uploaded them. They're done 100% by the guide and should be right (and if not, that may just be what I've done wrong when I tried to translate it to PS).

Cheers, LT.

Thanks. I'll make one of the buttons myself too and compare them.
For the record, since you're not sure if you are following the guide correctly, are you aware Conquer buttons need different light effect settings than the other colours?

I made the Superconductor and Fusion Power buttons for comparison purposes.
The icons of your buttons are smaller. Is it possible you're forgetting the first step?:

File/Open... some SMAC icon
Select/By Colour : the icon
Edit/Copy
Edit/Paste as New Image

I made the Superconductor and Fusion Power buttons for comparison purposes.
The icons of your buttons are smaller. Is it possible you're forgetting the first step?Ah, crap, that's it - I always kept the transparent border of the SMAC icon itself!

Thanks for checking - I feel dumb now. :blush:

Cheers, LT.

In case you feel like making more promotion buttons: I do not plan to add special abilities for native life. Rather I was thinking similar abilities could be given by promotions only available to native life. To make these promotions more recognizable when looking in the Datalinks for instance, I was thinking these should have the red (instead of blue) background which can be found in all Civ4 button makers I've seen.

For starters, would you be interested in redoing the Planetmind and Walk with Planet promotions with the red background? I'm afraid I can't find source files for these promotions though. :( So the icons would need to be extracted from SMAC again. The Walk with Planet icon is derived from the Centauri Preserve. The Planetmind icon comes from this pic IIRC:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/TehManiac/Planetfall/Counter1.png

For starters, would you be interested in redoing the Planetmind and Walk with Planet promotions with the red background?Done! This stuff is thankfully easier to do, so I can do it rather fast (unlike the satellite). :)

Stuff attached - preview images and the actual dds files... tell me if anything is wrong - or whether you need more! ;)

By the way, would that mean that native line may get its own promo line? Then it could grow again with certain promos - the return of the demon boils! Would sound and look nicer than "mindworms with combat III" or so...

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!

By the way, would that mean that native line may get its own promo line?

Yes. But the difficulty is inventing names and buttons for these promotions.

For instance, do you have any idea what button could be used for a 'Spore Cloud' promotion for the Spore Launcher, which could give a bonus against air units and a collateral damage reduction?

Edit: Other current native life-exclusive promotions that have unfitting buttons are Hidden, Wild and Psychic Terror.

For instance, do you have any idea what button could be used for a 'Spore Cloud' promotion for the Spore Launcher, which could give a bonus against air units and a collateral damage reduction?

A stylized Spore Launcher (or two of its "launch tentacles") with little fluff overhead?

For instance, do you have any idea what button could be used for a 'Spore Cloud' promotion for the Spore Launcher, which could give a bonus against air units and a collateral damage reduction?

Edit: Other current native life-exclusive promotions that have unfitting buttons are Hidden, Wild and Psychic Terror.Tried to do some buttons for them... (in same order as the preview pic):

Hidden: Wanted to re-use the theme of the stealth special ability - and I know that the heart doesn't symbolise Planet but rather 'Empath' - but the planet circle wouldn't look too good with it and thanks to the planet attitude icons, the association of the heart with planet is partially given.
Psychic Terror: ...just the good old dream twister symbol! Fits rather well, I think.
Spore Cloud: The dots in the middle for the spores... the frame could symbolise the six tubes of the spore launcher or the cloud, take your pick! ;)
Wild: Since the "wild" promo can just be taken by human-controlled native life, I think the frame makes sense, with the mindworm icon for native (instead of a skull, compare the special ability-version of it)

I tried to keep doing what I did for the special abilities - re-using and re-arranging the original SMAC/X icons, because they are rather well done, nicely abstract and using them over and over again - together with the techs and special abilities - helps to keep the Planetfall buttons consistent... and gives them a rather distinct "SMAC"-feel, I hope.

Furthermore, I think the mindworm icon would make a nice flag for native life, I could do one... but that wouldn't really fit with non-native barbarian units, so any thoughts about that?

Cheers, LT.

By the way, would that mean that native line may get its own promo line? Then it could grow again with certain promos - the return of the demon boils! Would sound and look nicer than "mindworms with combat III" or so...
Cheers, LT.

That visible increase in danger would give a huge boost of atmosphere for me.

The way I imagine it, there would be seven promotions with the original SMAC names, first giving +10%, then +20% and so on...if a more advanced one is reached, the old is removed - that would prevent demon boils unit information cluttered with seven different strength promotions.

BTW, I really like the new icons - the red colour together with better symbols make it a lot easier to see with one glance what you are facing :)

Tried to do some buttons for them...

Thanks. I'll include the Spore Cloud promotion in patch b (because adding promotions breaks savegames) and the other ones in patch a.

For the record, I do find it odd you've chosen the eye to represent visibility rather than SeeInvisible. Of course I don't have any idea myself what else could represent Invisible.

Furthermore, I think the mindworm icon would make a nice flag for native life, I could do one... but that wouldn't really fit with non-native barbarian units, so any thoughts about that?

Unfortunately I can't think of any solutions for that.

Can you create flags by the way? :woohoo: I didn't know that.

Can you also edit gamefonts? Those are not buttons of course, but it fits in the broader interface design, so I'll post it in this thread:

How would you feel about adding seperate icons for the Planet Attitude and Psi Potential (total planet value as it is named in unpatched v11 in the PA widget)? Could clear up some confusion.

The base's planet value could still use the heart icons.
The Planet Attitude could be represented by the Walk with Planet/Centauri Preserve icon, red and green version.
Psi Potential could be represented by a red and green letter Psi. To create a further distinction with the Psi combat icon, a capital letter Psi could be used, like the one Deon once made (see attachment).

For the record, I do find it odd you've chosen the eye to represent visibility rather than SeeInvisible. Of course I don't have any idea myself what else could represent Invisible.Oh, you're not the only one. Even for the special abilities I only chose it because it was the only thing that I could associate with the concept of visibility - I don't really like it, but couldn't come up with a nicely visible icon for "invisible". The re-use of the eye here is just for consistency with the special ability. If I'll ever think of something better, these two buttons are the first thing to go!
Can you create flags by the way? :woohoo: I didn't know that.

Can you also edit gamefonts? Those are not buttons of course, but it fits in the broader interface design, so I'll post it in this thread:For the flags: I can do both types of flags - the two-colour decal flags as they're used now (of course, this means I'm bound to the colours you set for the civ) - and full-colour flags (see Dune Wars as an example). For the gamefonts file... never tried, but there's a guide floating around somewhere, so I think I can try my hand at it, but I need to do some investigating on that! :)

Cheers, LT.

Hey, I've inserted the capital psis into the gamefont file (see attached), after the combat psi. Since I worked on the file, I was wondering why there are tree icons in the file - wouldn't they make nice icons for the base's planet value? Unless they're too closely associated with the tree = terraforming theme (which may be the reason why they're unused).

Cheers, LT.

Thanks for the psi icons! These should become more used later, when for instance defying a Concordat/Whites Pines council resolution could decrease your Psi Potential.

The tree indeed is too associated with terraforming. The first four icons of the last row in the gamefont can be over'written'.

The tree indeed is too associated with terraforming. The first four icons of the last row in the gamefont can be over'written'.Ah, okay - good to know. Though I'm not sure about using the worm icon for attitude - I think the heart fits attitude rather well (because of the whole concept of "attitude" and so on). I feel that the worm is something that's more closely associated to Centauri and natives in general. Wouldn't it fit better for the effects of bases/improvement/etc. as this describes the effects *on the native life*, while keeping the big heart as symbol for the attitude? Anyway, I'm going to add it to the gamefont file, once I get it scaled down nicely (a bit fiddly to get it that small and still looking good).

In other news, the stealth symbol kept bothering me, but I think I found a nice symbol that fits "stealth" - the X for secret, after all that's the point of stealth! ;) Plus this frees up the eye for "seeing" again - at some point I might revise the deep radar/resonadar with symbols incorporating the eye to symbolise the extra visibility range.

In the attached file and screenshot, I made some new buttons, as the new patch shuffled around some special abilities:
1st column: New stealth buttons for subs and natives
2nd column: Medic special ability and the promotion follow-up
3rd column: Navigation special ability and the promotion follow-up

As always... post complaints, wishes for tweaks etc., if anything comes up! :)

Cheers, LT.

Ah, okay - good to know. Though I'm not sure about using the worm icon for attitude - I think the heart fits attitude rather well (because of the whole concept of "attitude" and so on). I feel that the worm is something that's more closely associated to Centauri and natives in general. Wouldn't it fit better for the effects of bases/improvement/etc. as this describes the effects *on the native life*, while keeping the big heart as symbol for the attitude? Anyway, I'm going to add it to the gamefont file, once I get it scaled down nicely (a bit fiddly to get it that small and still looking good).

I too think that the Centauri Preserve icon would fit better for the Planet Value rather than Planet Attitude. There are two reasons why I suggested otherwise:

1) Like you I see, I wasn't sure the Centauri Preserve icon would still look good at such a small size. In this case I thought it would be better to use the best looking icon for the most mentioned concept: Planet Value.

2) Planet Attitude is at the moment IIRC only used three times in the interface. Planet Value numerous times. It would be much less work to change the icon for Planet Attitude than change all references in XML, Python and SDK to the Planet Value icon. :dizzy:

Of course the heart icons could be copied to another spot in the gamefont, and the Centauri Preserve icons drawns over where the hearts currently are. But I don't know how time-consuming that would be. I've heard the gamefont be referred to as the 'pain font', and that it takes several hours to do a single icon??

So anyway, I'd say what icon to use for what concept depends on how good the Centauri Preserve icon will look at small size, and how easy it is to copy icons to other spots in the gamefonts.

In other news, the stealth symbol kept bothering me, but I think I found a nice symbol that fits "stealth" - the X for secret, after all that's the point of stealth! ;)

Great idea! :D
Thanks for the buttons.

So anyway, I'd say what icon to use for what concept depends on how good the Centauri Preserve icon will look at small size, and how easy it is to copy icons to other spots in the gamefonts.Copying icons is relatively easy to do, one just needs to do it carefully, I can do moving around relatively fast, as long as it's only one or two icons at once.

The gamefont is mainly a pain to work with because of three things:
1) you work on a rather small size, so it's often literally pixel-pushing and automatic re-scaling doesn't work that well on such a small scale...
2) it's very dependent on your alpha channel, so it's even more pixel-pushing/double-checking and...
3) you have to do everything twice. Makes working with it a bit tedious for relatively small gain (an icon isn't remotely as flashy as a new unit etc.). And oh, for religions/corps, the order is important...

Anyway, I think I got a nicely looking worm for now - but you may want to take a look for yourself. I attached a screenshot and the gamefont-files for testing. I temporarily replaced the hearts (because that way, both versions show up rather often, nice for testing). In my opinion, the round shape of it makes it work well in the city screen and in the datalinks, because it fits in well with the other round icons there (health/unhealth, happiness/unhappiness), but as attitude icon at the left top corner, it's not 100% fitting. But it's more of a work in progress, so I'd like to get your feedback and suggestions first before I continue.

In any case, replacing/swapping icons is something I can do rather quickly, just the creation of a new icon takes time to get the look right.

Cheers, LT.

Yeay, looks great!
So let's use the worm for Planet Value, and the hearts for Planet Attitude!

Yeay, looks great!
So let's use the worm for Planet Value, and the hearts for Planet Attitude!
Okay, I put the hearts into the file - the worm replaces the old slot of the hearts (for less editing, as you said above), the hearts are the first and second entry in the last row (as the first four are obsolete).

Also, I've made three promo buttons for the legendary, alpha and omega promotions, so they don't use the elite icon over and over again. ;)

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!

Thanks!Since you wanted to expand the promo line for natives - would you consider splitting them off completely, so that natives don't share any promos with non-natives, even if this means there are some duplicate promos (like flanking - which could be, for example, called "swarming" for natives)? Then all of their icons could be red and planet-ish names - having the mix is a bit weird, I think.

Cheers, LT.

Yes, that is the intention. Do you have further ideas for names?

For general strength increase promotions, SMAC had the following lidecycle levels:
#MORALE
Very Green, Hatchling
Green, Larval Mass
Disciplined, Pre-Boil
Hardened, Boil
Veteran, Mature Boil
Commando, Great Boil
Elite, Demon Boil

The first three don't make sense as promotions (Hatchling to Pre-Boil), so that leaves four. Who knows that may be enough - there are/will be plenty of other promotions to pick.

Any ideas for a rename for Amphibious and Barrage (problem here is that besides the Spore Launcher a naval unit should also be able to pick this)?

Oh by the way something I noticed: with your gamefont the big green Planet Attitude heart icon 'upper left corner of map screen) is partly transparent. That makes the icon harder to see on certain backgrounds (eg in a city screen, when floating over black undiscovered land). Did you change the transparency, or accidentally inherit changed transparency of the icon that was there before, or so?

The first three don't make sense as promotions (Hatchling to Pre-Boil), so that leaves four. Who knows that may be enough - there are/will be plenty of other promotions to pick.

Any ideas for a rename for Amphibious and Barrage (problem here is that besides the Spore Launcher a naval unit should also be able to pick this)?Oh, nice! I looked at the list before and had some ideas to expand it (mainly to bump off the non-fitting ones) and ended up with:

Swelling Mass -> Nascent Boil -> Boil -> Mature Boil -> Great Boil -> Terror/Nightmare Boil (either one would be fine) -> Demon Boil -> Apocalypse Boil

An alternative for Barrage could be Miasma - could refer to toxic spores or the effluvium keeping IoD afloat (I'd also like Toxic Effluvium or something in that manner, but it's long, Miasma is short, concise and sounds organic). Amphibious - well, I think one could just use it, as human units use the pods. But possible names could be Aquatic (rather simple), or for more flavour I'd choose Cilia or Flagella (akin to the ones bacteria use to move through water - the idea of tentacled, water-crossing, brain-eating mindworms is scary), which both sound like something organic.

Cheers, LT.

Miasma and Flagella sound great!

I'd disagree with Terror/Nightmare Boil and Apocalypse Boil. Terror Boil shares a word too many with Psychic Terror. I also figured Dream Twister would be a good name to keep in reserve for a promotion - that one would be too close to Nightmare Boil. Lastly, Apocalypse Boil seems a little TOO dramatic IMO. ;) I like the other ones though. :)

I also plan to add a Fat Layer promotion for Sealurks by the way. It would allow them to move through impassable terrain (meaning Icepacks) and see certain invisible units such as subs in trenches.

Did you change the transparency, or accidentally inherit changed transparency of the icon that was there before, or so?Apparently, I did change it, though not on purpose, no clue how this sneaked in! :blush: I've attached a fixed version.
I also figured Dream Twister would be a good name to keep in reserve for a promotion - that one would be too close to Nightmare Boil.Actually, the Dream Twister was the reason how I arrived at "Nightmare"! ;) Alternatively, "Dread Boil" could work as well, feeding into the same theme, but with a different word.

I guess I should start thinking about some buttons! :)

Yes, that is the intention. Do you have further ideas for names?

For general strength increase promotions, SMAC had the following lidecycle levels:
#MORALE
Very Green, Hatchling
Green, Larval Mass
Disciplined, Pre-Boil
Hardened, Boil
Veteran, Mature Boil
Commando, Great Boil
Elite, Demon Boil

The first three don't make sense as promotions (Hatchling to Pre-Boil), so that leaves four. Who knows that may be enough - there are/will be plenty of other promotions to pick.

Any ideas for a rename for Amphibious and Barrage (problem here is that besides the Spore Launcher a naval unit should also be able to pick this)?

In case you need an extra adjective to go with Boil, how about a Rampant Boil?
Barrage: Collateral or simply Bombardment?
Amphibious is a tougher one. But according to the v11 Datalinks only infantry units can use it? But if native life will use it to, the only thing right now that pops up is Coastal Incursion.

A proposal for the city garrison promotionline. How d'you feel about renaming it Perimeter Guard and let it be active only in a base with a perimeter/tachyon defense and in a fort/bunker? ;)

I spent a bit more time on the tech buttons... enough to get sufficiently familiar with GIMP. The reason why I wanted to do it in PS was that I was faster (knowing the shortcuts and all) - but by now, GIMP feels pretty good to use as well. So I just went ahead and did all tech buttons without question mark in GIMP directly, following the guide (and finally caught the little bit at the start :blush: ). Attached them... should prove useful and make the tech tree more pretty! ;)

Cheers, LT.

Thanks! :D I also made the Voice and Homo religiontech buttons now.

Thanks! :D I also made the Voice and Homo religiontech buttons now.Cool! :goodjob:

I worked through the ones you flagged with a question mark as well. I think they look good, but seeing the aerospace complex... I think I need to get used to that for a while! ;)

I also made the buttons for Social Psych and Factionalism using the Genetics colour, because I think the PK colour works well for it and considering that Memetics are coloured in that colour as well, I'd say you could say that the Genetics theme is sort of a "Humanity", "Bio-Ethics" or "Self-Improvement" theme as well. More fitting than anything else.

I also added a Neural Grafting button using two colours - for computers and genetics. They fit nicely, but I'm afraid it could end up a bit too gimmicky and inconsistent, in that case, tell me and I'll do one with a single colour of your choice (I think Genetics would be a bit more fitting, as it's main concern is "just" adding something to a living nerve).

Furthermore, I made icons for the early Centauri Geology and Hydrology techs with the appropriate colours, both using the planet circle to indicate Centauri. I replaced the hammer with a mineral icon, fits better, I think. The hydrology has a wave from the pressure dome inside. I like it more than just wavy lines, it sort of looks neat!

That also freed up the aquafarm facility icon to be used for the algaeculture tech, but I also included another alternate take on it, in case you want to keep the aquafarm icon for hydrology.

Finally, I converted the Xenoempathy Dome icon - in hope that it can be used for the planet attitude secret project you mentioned in the v11 feedback thread - and in hope that I can persuade you to call it "Xenoempathy Dome" instead of "Centauri Preserve" - because the former sounds way more like something to make Planet pleased with you - the latter sounds like a small park (and I also think that the name is too good to waste). ;)

EDIT: Disregard the Xenoempathy Dome button, it looks too fiddly and thin in-game, ditto for the Tachyon Field in the previous attachment. I need to redo them with a thicker frame (did so for the resonance wobbles of field modulation already).

By the way, do you prefer my or GeoModder's names for the native promos? Just asking, because I'm thinking about some shapes how the promo buttons could look - and knowing the name might help! ;) On the other hand, if you're undecided, I could also do more tech buttons - it's fun! :D (I love using the SMAC symbols, they're just so evocative *and* you can use a lot of them in a mix-'n-match fashion!)

Cheers, LT.

EDIT: Disregard the Xenoempathy Dome button, it looks too fiddly and thin in-game, ditto for the Tachyon Field in the previous attachment. I need to redo them with a thicker frame (did so for the resonance wobbles of field modulation already).Just finished this - I made all of the tachyon field lines a 2 pixels thicker, which helps a bit with the scaled down icon, I think. For the dome, I didn't change the outer frame (to keep it consistent with all other secret projects), but I removed the extra ring around the heart symbol - looks better now, I think.

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!

I've used Flagella and Miasma I, II & III.

Re the Xenoempathy Dome, myself I've never been a big fan of that name. The name is just meaningless - it doesn't give any indication or explanation for why that Dome would provide its secret project effects. With Centauri Preserve you at least you have the connection with Lal's quote "for our own survival as a species depends on our ability to strike a balance on this world".

If the secret project was moved higher up the tech tree to Personality Transcription as you suggest, I'd call it the 'Voice of Alpha Centauri' by the way (VoP unfortunately already taken).

Re the Xenoempathy Dome, myself I've never been a big fan of that name. The name is just meaningless - it doesn't give any indication or explanation for why that Dome would provide its secret project effects. With Centauri Preserve you at least you have the connection with Lal's quote "for our own survival as a species depends on our ability to strike a balance on this world".

If the secret project was moved higher up the tech tree to Personality Transcription as you suggest, I'd call it the 'Voice of Alpha Centauri' by the way (VoP unfortunately already taken).Hmm... I always thought it was one of the nicer bits of SMAC not to overexplain stuff with technobabble and leave these bits to your imagination, especially with the more advanced techs - but that's a matter of taste! :)

But "Voice of Alpha Centauri" sounds nice as well (though it looks long, not sure how it would look in the screens - Voice of Chiron or Voice of Centauri may fit better, size-wise).

However, I still like the icon for the dome. ;)

Cheers, LT.

Voice of Chiron FTW. IMO. You have a voice, you get a name. :)

Downside of Voice of Chiron is that it isn't mentioned in SMAC.
Three names are used in the SMAC interlude:
Voice of Alpha Centauri, but that's rather long.
VoAC, the abbreviation, may be too short and unimpressive.
And Psi Projector, but that may be too bland and also unimpressive. Plus if I were to add a spy mission which temporarily reduces a base's Planet value, I'd call it 'Plant Psi Emitter'. Psi Projector may sound too similar to that.

Some further ideas for tech buttons:

The proj017 Cyborg Factory head could serve for Cybernetics.

Unless there are better ideas, the current AdvMilAlgorithms icon in terraform colour for Defense Logistics?

The current Recycling button without the Planet circle and in the enclosed/water/space colour seems good enough to me for Recycling.

Would you be interested in redoing the InfoNets button in the discover theme colour?

Doctrine: Mobility doesn't really belong to any theme, but it does lead to the Centaur theme tech Archeology. So we might as well keep it to in its original explore green colour.

Use the Progenitor Psych icon for Archeology? At least until/if I add a Progenitor Psych tech.

I'll add a Doctrine: Air Power tech in the future. Any ideas what button that tech and the Needlejet tech could have then? Two air themed techs but only one button.

Okay, here are the some new tech buttons, I'm going through all of them, because not all are straightforward conversions (and a list is easier to read):

Archeology - the Progenitor Psych icon, I think it looks nice and fitting (for now, at least).
Atmospheric Processor: This should fit better into Planetfall than the current icon - I re-used the dots from the hologram theatre - this sort of "generates" the weather as the theatre "generates" holograms...
Atmospheric Transformation: Rather straight forward - the weather symbol from weather paradigm seems to fit atmosphere stuff. By the way, the tech name is very long - can I suggest changing it to "Atmospherics"? Would fit in quite nicely with the other "-ics", like Photonics, Kinematics, Memetics etc., which I all like a lot.
Cloning: I'm using the "applied" chevrons with with the cloning vats heads, looks nice, I think - but the "applied" chevrons are usually used for physics, so you might disagree with the use. Problem is just that using the cloning heads alone alone don't really fit the more square-like ratios of most other buttons.
Cybernetics: I feel Cybernetics between Neural Grafting and MMI is a bit strange, so I figured that it's also sort of an "ethics" or "philosophy" tech about machine-human-hybrids (fitting, as it founds The Consciousness as well), so I included a small homage to the "ethics" scale and the Cyber-Ethics button. I know you don't like the techs like "Cyber-Ethics" etc., so I also included a more neutral version. I didn't use the head from the cyborg factory because I noticed that the techs almost never show a head from the front, whereas facilities/projects do that fairly often (compare Rec Commons and Social Psych).
Doctrine: Air Power - just the straightforward conversion, I think it still works well.
Doctrine: Defense - I like the doctrine names and associate it a lot with the frame... but again, it's a matter of taste. I felt the AdvMilAlg icon looks to aggressive for something that's essentially concerned abot defence, so I used the Citizen's Defense Force shield as center icon - seems to embody the whole concept of a defensive force a bit better (this icon would, of course, work with the current name as well ;) ).
Doctrine: Mobility: as requested.
Information Networks: as requested.
Needlejet: Again, I used the applied chevrons, together with the air triangle. It looks nice, I think and hopefully slightly reminiscent of Gravitonics (because both are about things going UP!), without being to close to be confused. Plus, I didn't want to use the gear symbol again - it's used very often already, and I'd rather keep it in reserve for some other techs (like the various physics techs).
Ultraponics: Because I read the thread and the pirate cyan is still too eyecatching! ;)

Of course, I can redo them in another fashion or colour, if you want me to - I also have all the shapes saved as PNGs, so just ask and I can post them too, if you need them for anything. :)

Cheers, LT.

Thanks, they all look great. :)
I'll rename to Atmospherics.

Some native promos... two for Swarming I + II (could be a flanking replacement), one for flagella (you could interpret the wavy lines either as flagella OR as water, there is some ambiguity on purpose) and the miasma I, II, III.

Cheers, LT.

Thanks - downloaded!

I thought the Ruins could really need a new button/icon - especially as the deer is quite... confusing! I've attached a quick idea I had, what do you think? It'll probably need some changes - so only a quick screen shot.

Cheers, LT.

I wouldn't actually call the gamefont icon pretty, but that can of course be kinda hard to do at that size. It's recognizable, and that's the most important thing. So the icon looks fine to me.

Same counts for the button. Though I'd be equally ok to have a button showing the nif graphic instead. Like the Manifold Nexus and Garland Crater does.

I think it would look better showing 6 "nodes" instead of 8. As it looks now its a bit cluttered (IMHO of course).

I think it would look better showing 6 "nodes" instead of 8. As it looks now its a bit cluttered (IMHO of course).Oh, gooood idea! I need to try this!

Cheers, LT.

Oh, gooood idea! I need to try this!Sadly, this didn't work out - it looks too similar to the pholus ridge resonance wiggles (apart from the colour). After a lot of pixel pushing, this is my newest attempt - I think it looks better and distinct enough to be recognisable. What do you guys think?

Cheers, LT.

Definitely better.

Definitely better.

QFT

PS: Tetris!

It's more recognizable now.

Okay, I refined it a little bit (the small icon is less white now and the big one less cropped by the resource circle) and attached it - I think it's good to go.

I also made an button for the fat layer promo - it's deliberately a bit similar to the deep pressure hull special ability icon, but with the organic circles that are used occasionally.

Furthermore, I tried my hand at a combat-style line of icons... again used little circles, this time to symbolise that it's organic and, more importantly, a swarm of worms that grows. Plus the shape is somewhat reminiscent of the native life "maw" (I wanted to use that one for the main promoline, but it's taken already... - for the Planetmind promo and the flowering counter as well).

[side note: I had the idea of using the rose in the centre of the Gaian faction logo as fungus/planetmind/flowing counter symbol, freeing up the worm-maw... but I think that would be too much of a change now]

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!
Using the rose is a great idea. An idea to keep in reserve when more buttons are needed.

Lord Tirian, would you be interested in making a native Life/red backgound version of the Empath Song and Hypnotic Trance spec promotions. It's striking me increasingly silly that pro-Planeteers are encouraged to research the submarine and cruiser techs to most effectively capture naval native life. I'd like to try and allow these two promotions for the IoD. Available at Centauri Empathy and only allowed for Voice of Planet followers, so the barbarians won't pick them.

Lord Tirian, would you be interested in making a native Life/red backgound version of the Empath Song and Hypnotic Trance spec promotions.Done, I also finished some other buttons, for the bioenhanced promo, the snow camouflage spec ab and the various unity projects. I hope you like them, otherwise, I can still change them. :)

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!!!!!!

New round of buttons:

Base Guard I + II: Derived from one of the secret projects. I hope with the round shape, it looks more in line with the nerve stapler and generally looks more "SMAC"-ish.
Centauri Preserve: Because it's a secret project, it needs the diagonal square frame.
Hive and Spartan: It bothers me a bit that they look different than other promos. Of course, you might disagree and just keep the current ones, which would be fine with me as well.
Scavenger: Used the wrench-shape from SMAC that was, AFAIK, intended as early university logo. I think it fits and I always wanted a way to work that in. :)
Troop Transport: Kinda obvious. The eagle is the symbol for armed forces on land in general (see command centre), I like that more than using the human head, because it is always used in conjunction with humanities, social sciences and cybernetics, i.e. "human advancement", I don't want to muddle this theme with warfare.
Artillery Units: The final frontier symbol in bigger, it makes rather clear what artillery units are about! Additionally, this matches the symbol of the maintenance bay, so you instantly know what it's about.
Boat Units: Interpret the shape as boat-shape or as submarine hull, in any case I think it makes "boat" clear. I also wanted to use the anchor to make the connection with the naval yard.
Bunker Units: Looks stationary and has a defence shield. This is one that's really fitting, I think.
Cruiser Units: Waves and the anchor above it to show the purpose: Killing other ships, i.e. naval superiority against human ships. Is also rather distinct from the boat icon, I hope.
Flamethrower Units: As requested and fits well.
Infantry Units: This one was harder, due to my reluctance to use the head. I think this one fits, because it's a bit of a generic "military" symbol and infantry is sort of the base military you get. Additionally, the command centre uses the symbol and gives infantry the spec ab slot, establishing some connection between the symbol and the unit category (similar to the connection for artillery and naval units).
Needlejet Units: The cloud academy symbol, because the triangle for air power alone was a bit boring. The wings make it more interesting, though it provides some potential for confusion with the infantry eagle. If you think that's problematic, I'd recommend just using the current air-plane symbol, it's not a bad fit - I just wanted to get some the connection to the aerospace complex.
Cavalry Units: This one was hard, but I think the mobility arrows combined with the circle look distinct and sort of say "mobile on planet", i.e. fast units with some terrain ignoring capability (later on, at least). I'm not happy with the name, though, I'd call it "Recon Units" or "Mobile Units" (but I understand that they do fill the role of cavalry, I just associate it too much with horses :blush: ).

As always, critique welcome and I'm open for suggestions, changes, etc.

Cheers, LT.

Damn LT, that's some nice work again. You're right about the Centauri Preserve. My only thought is that the faction and unit type promotions should stick out from the regular promotions. I think another color scheme would be good.

Since red and blue are already in use, I propose green., or purple. Or maybe black.

just set aside a background color that's not currently used, and use it only for that.

New round of buttons:

Great! I've put them all in the game, with two exceptions: the Hive and Spartan buttons. They're not regular pickable promotions like the others, so I don't see the need to fit in with the other promotions.

Cavalry Units: This one was hard, but I think the mobility arrows combined with the circle look distinct and sort of say "mobile on planet", i.e. fast units with some terrain ignoring capability (later on, at least). I'm not happy with the name, though, I'd call it "Recon Units" or "Mobile Units" (but I understand that they do fill the role of cavalry, I just associate it too much with horses :blush: ).

I'm not particularly fond of the name myself, but I can't see a better alternative. Recon only covers a small part of what these units are good for, and the mobile name is too wide for just the cavalry units IMO. If it weren't for the Rover unit being included in the unitcombattype, I could call them the more fitting Air Cavalry. But alas.

***

Btw, would you be interesting in making a special ability version of the Guerilla button?
Edit: and a native red background version?

I'm not particularly fond of the name myself, but I can't see a better alternative. Recon only covers a small part of what these units are good for, and the mobile name is too wide for just the cavalry units IMO. If it weren't for the Rover unit being included in the unitcombattype, I could call them the more fitting Air Cavalry. But alas.Yeah, it's a rather broad category - what about "Skirmishers" or "Vanguard"? Both are military terms and sound like they might fit.

Cheers, LT.

I'm not particularly fond of the name myself, but I can't see a better alternative. Recon only covers a small part of what these units are good for, and the mobile name is too wide for just the cavalry units IMO. If it weren't for the Rover unit being included in the unitcombattype, I could call them the more fitting Air Cavalry.

You could split the line again.

Armored units
- Ground units, can use river and magtube movement
- Unity Rover (1/2), Armor/Skirmisher (3/2), Hovertank (5/2), Dragon/Gravtank (8/3)

(Air) Cavalry units
- Flying units, ignore terrain cost and elevation changes, can fight in territorial water, can't reveal unexplored tiles, inherent retreat
- Unity Chopper (1/2), Copter (2/2), Rotor (4/3), Warbird/Gravship (6/4)

Artillery units
- Ground units, can use river and magtube movement, inherent Defensive strike ability
- Unity Laser (2/1), Artillery (3/2 @Superconductor), Goliath (5/2), Behemoth (8/2)

Skirmisher sounds good, but it sounds even better for the withdrawal ability.

Hmm, Vanguard I like a little less than Skirmisher, but it could still fit.

Really, Vanguard would make more sense than Skirmisher.

You could split the line again.Sounds like big change, directly after the whole tech tree was redesigned... I'd rather like to see the current set-up kept for a little while, at least to get a feel for the ramifications of such a change.

But personally, I'd like to see hovertanks that are *not* flying - in all pictures you see of them, they hover a meter above the ground at best - the hovering is more like an all-terrain wheel than "flying over canyons". But that's a concern with the flavour and feel - so I'd rather see a fitting game-play implementation than that little quibble.

Cheers, LT.

Great! I've put them all in the game, with two exceptions: the Hive and Spartan buttons. They're not regular pickable promotions like the others, so I don't see the need to fit in with the other promotions.After reading the other comments, I now think it's the best way to go - I made the buttons to be consistent, but since there's a need to distinguish them from pickable promos by another style, the consistency is out anyway! :lol:

By the way, what's up with all these promos you actually *cannot* pick and look like some remnants of the unit workshop? Like Doped Gain Medium, Logistics, Missiles, U-238 shells etc.? Left in because it would break something or just no time to remove them?
Btw, would you be interesting in making a special ability version of the Guerilla button?
Edit: and a native red background version?Done and attached.

Cheers, LT.

But personally, I'd like to see hovertanks that are *not* flying - in all pictures you see of them, they hover a meter above the ground at best - the hovering is more like an all-terrain wheel than "flying over canyons". But that's a concern with the flavour and feel - so I'd rather see a fitting game-play implementation than that little quibble.

Cheers, LT.

i agree here. Hovertanks shouldn't fly. But they should ignore terrain costs, and if possible, terrain defences when attacking.

Really, Vanguard would make more sense than Skirmisher.

Yeah I agree.

But personally, I'd like to see hovertanks that are *not* flying - in all pictures you see of them, they hover a meter above the ground at best - the hovering is more like an all-terrain wheel than "flying over canyons". But that's a concern with the flavour and feel - so I'd rather see a fitting game-play implementation than that little quibble.

I wouldn't want to change the hovertank unless it becomes a unit line, and not an isolated unit. And then the question becomes what techs would give hovertank-like units. I don't have any ideas. :dunno:

By the way, what's up with all these promos you actually *cannot* pick and look like some remnants of the unit workshop? Like Doped Gain Medium, Logistics, Missiles, U-238 shells etc.? Left in because it would break something or just no time to remove them?

Never got around to removing them.

Done and attached.

Thanks! :)

I wouldn't want to change the hovertank unless it becomes a unit line, and not an isolated unit.I thought hovertanks could fit nicely together with rovers in one single unit line (both are fast ground units - these would be the vanguard units), while choppers and gravships form another line (both are actually flying above the ground, ignore terrain completely and act as "gunships" - perhaps as gunship units - AAA Tracking could work against these).

Anyway, I just had some free time and worked through the button list - I made the solar power transmitter with the build colour, I feel it's more of an economic booster/industrial undertaking (plus it produces some variety in the tech screen, like the hydro plant and the bioreactor etc.), but I included an enclosed version as well. I redid the energy nexus, because the old one was made directly from the SMAX icon - and the SMAX icons have thinner lines than the SMAC icons, but for small buttons, the SMAX thinness results in very thin lines that look very good, I think.

By the way, the current recycling tanks... are very late in the tech tree and effect-wise, I don't think they fit very well. Perhaps you could rename them to "Sky Hydroponics Lab" - fits the effect and the enclosed theme very well, in my opinion.

Cheers, LT.

Really great buttons.

I'd agree that hovertanks are closer to rovers than to choppers in my opinion, so I'd like to have a different line for flying units (with a possible additional flier for a late game).

Nice buttons, as always :)

By the way, the current recycling tanks... are very late in the tech tree and effect-wise, I don't think they fit very well. Perhaps you could rename them to "Sky Hydroponics Lab" - fits the effect and the enclosed theme very well, in my opinion.

That was my reaction as well, when I discovered how late they enter the game now. It just does not feel right - Recycling Tanks feel like something I should get when researching the Recycling tech ;) I wonder, if it would be possible to bring back the old SMAC effect of increasing the base tile output (was 1/1/1) or maybe something related to the size of a base? 0,1 of each tile yield per citizien? Or give the Recycling Tank a special use when running EB...

I thought hovertanks could fit nicely together with rovers in one single unit line (both are fast ground units - these would be the vanguard units)

The strength gap between rovers and hovertanks is too big.

Anyway, I just had some free time and worked through the button list

Thanks! :)

That was my reaction as well, when I discovered how late they enter the game now. It just does not feel right - Recycling Tanks feel like something I should get when researching the Recycling tech ;) I wonder, if it would be possible to bring back the old SMAC effect of increasing the base tile output (was 1/1/1) or maybe something related to the size of a base? 0,1 of each tile yield per citizien? Or give the Recycling Tank a special use when running EB...

Do you mean the name doesn't fit for that tech level (which I agree with), or do you think that the building effects don't fit for a Recycling Tanks (which I don't understand why you would feel that way :confused: )? I was thinking Arcology would be a good name. It isn't SMACish, but it's less bland than Hab Complex.

The strength gap between rovers and hovertanks is too big.Ah, I see. Perhaps inserting another unit in between? I could see something more militarised than the rover in between, something a bit like the Tumbler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tumbler_in_Toronto.JPG) (just less... batmobile-ish) as more robust, more weaponised version of the early rovers that were made for exploration.
Do you mean the name doesn't fit for that tech level (which I agree with), or do you think that the building effects don't fit for a Recycling Tanks (which I don't understand why you would feel that way :confused: )? I was thinking Arcology would be a good name. It isn't SMACish, but it's less bland than Hab Complex.For me, both. Recycling tanks are really something that should come early. And the effect of getting extra health from algae? Sounds more like some farm or cultivation than something you get from a recycling tank.

The Sky Hydroponics Lab (gosh, it's long, perhaps it should be shorter - in its blurb, Deirdre is talking about "Sky Farms"), however, would fit the line (enclosed and comes after orbital engineering), feels high-tech, is a nice throwback and fits the effects very well (extra food from the farms, more algae gives you more strains to cultivate in the hydroponics => more variety and health).

Cheers, LT.

Do you mean the name doesn't fit for that tech level (which I agree with), or do you think that the building effects don't fit for a Recycling Tanks (which I don't understand why you would feel that way :confused: )? I was thinking Arcology would be a good name. It isn't SMACish, but it's less bland than Hab Complex.

Mainly the former (a Recycling Tank doesn't sound so advanced). I'm fine with the health bonus for algae ressources; I just remembered that SMAC had a more spread out bonus on the various tile yields - recycling things would give you a small bit of everything instead of just food. A 20% nutrient boost for a Recycling Tank sounds a lot.But Arcology is a fine idea - it creates the vision of a something inside a base, which is at least partly autonom and a strong nutrient boost is more credible (I first came in contact with the word "Arcology" in Sim City 2000, where they had 4 different ones, including a green one, where I could imagine gardens and greenhouses inside and on top)

Ah, I see. Perhaps inserting another unit in between? I could see something more militarised than the rover in between, something a bit like the Tumbler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tumbler_in_Toronto.JPG) (just less... batmobile-ish) as more robust, more weaponised version of the early rovers that were made for exploration.

I think 2 units would be needed, of strength and tech levels 3 and 5. However I can't think f fitting techs to place them.

Made some new buttons - the Centauri Ecology uses the Gaian flower, seems fitting, I think. Green Nanonics is all about using nanotech to terraform things, so I assume the orange colour fits best. The Longevity Vaccine is a straightforward conversion - and of course the SA version of woodsland camouflage.

Cheers, LT.

Thanks! :)

Beautiful detail on the first three, LT. Especially the first button.

Just noticed the Skirmisher spec ab needs a button fitting the follow-ups, flanking I + II. Also - I finally could think of something for the ECM spec ab.

Cheers, LT.

Cool thanks!

Done some buttons I started a while ago and never got around to finish (going from left to right, from top to bottom):

Academy: The GP special buildings irked me a bit, because they break the consistent use of symbols in the datalinks for buildings, so this is one of the academy. Rather straightforward (I used the infirmary as inspiration). Makes me think a bit of a library, though.
Arcology: Pretty simple use of the original SMAC icon with the enclosed theme.
Basic Technologies: I used the big square shape to show that it's basic and used the civic theme to show that's more of a fundamental thing that encompasses the entire faction (just like civics). It only shows up on the Dawn of Man and Datalinks screens anyway... again, mainly done to make the use of symbols more consistent.
Living Factory: The industry shape with the genetics symbol (and theme) - I think it pretty much makes clear that it is some kind of bio-engineered thing.
Mass Driver: The current icon... rubinised.
Military Academy: As academy above, just different theme.
Bloom Promotion: I think the Gaian flower is the right thing for something blooming! :D
Longevity Vaccine button + gamefont icon: IIRC, it was yellow in the secret project video. This should look a bit better than the hollywood movie-resource.

As usual, if you dislike something or want something changed, just ask. :)

Thanks I love them! Included for the next patch.

Lord Tirian, IIRC you sometimes like to modify secret projects a little. Do you think the Citizens' Defense Force, Planetary Datalinks, Neural Amplifier and Telepathic Matrix icons can be converted like they are, or do you think they need some modifications?

Lord Tirian, IIRC you sometimes like to modify secret projects a little. Do you think the Citizens' Defense Force, Planetary Datalinks, Neural Amplifier and Telepathic Matrix icons can be converted like they are, or do you think they need some modifications?I think they should all come through fine, except for the Planetary Datalinks - the thin extra transparent/purple ring between the inner circle and the outer frame might look off. I'll have a try - if you tell me what colour you want the other icons, I can do them as well. Straightforward conversions are usually rather fast.

Cheers, LT.

CDF Conquer red
PD Discover whitish
NA Terraform orange
TM Centauri green

Done! You'll see that the PD aren't 100% sharp - it's because the book icon is one of the fiddlier ones (the straight PD icon, with an even smaller book, came out way worse) - I edited the alpha channel a bit (you can't see it in the attached preview), in-game it should look a bit better.

I know that the icon with the inverted book looks a lot like the Network Backbone - but they're too similar (I'd rather try to come up with a better one for the backbone, if it's required at some point) and the small lines from the grid from the backbone wouldn't be visible in Civ4 size anyway. Plus, having the cut-out book distinguishes it more from the Unity Library, which uses the normal book (though the laurels are more than enough distinction).

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!

LT, awesome icons. Thank you :). I really enjoy Maniac's mod and with all your great art in it it looks really professional, consistent and simply nice!

I'm afraid I hadn't linked the new secret project buttons to the game yet when compiling the patch. They'll be in the next version/patch.

Any ideas what button could work for the Naval Fortress spec ab?

Perhaps that Range2 button with a couple waves at the bottom of the button?

Perhaps that Range2 button with a couple waves at the bottom of the button?I was rather thinking of using the bunker button (the promo-style unit category one) and replace the shield by an anchor. Take a look and see whether you like it, if not, I'll try the Range2 + waves idea.

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!

Barrage Spec Ab, as requested, attached.

Cheers, LT.

Thanks!