I know it looks like you can tweak the rules to anything you like, just wondering if anyone has any idea how creating your own units etc like in Civ II will work in Civ III.

Will they supply an editor or tips or soemthing as the graphics look pretty swanky, and adding your own dodgy units would spoil the look of the game unless you redesigned everything, so I was thinking they might not let you do it at all. Also units are all based on 3-d models and high tech stuff like that so might be out of the reach of mere mortals like I!

Any ideas or heard any rumours about this side of things much appreciated. Sorry if this has been discussed before or anything

laters

It was stated somewhere (I'm getting worse and worse at finding links.....) that you can use 2d sprites for units just like in Civ2. Obviously that would result in the "dodgy units" that you mention, but its better than nothing I suppose.

For the 3d units, I'm sure you will need some pretty heavy-duty professional graphics program. It would be nice if Firaxis either provided a "stable" of extra units with the game, or released extras online now and then for all the scenario makers that have little or no graphic talent.

Firaxis will not be suplying any software to creat new units or to edit existing units

Well, if you have a good idea how to shade the graphic so that a normal 2D graphic will look like a 3D item then all you need is animaton shop which actually comes with PaintShopPro.

I did all my units with only PSP and Animation Shop. But of course you will need to draw those units to get a basic frame for each of the eight direction first. ;)

If You like to draw like me, then you will find it a very cheap alternative as compared to those other 3D program out there. You can take a look at the tutorial on how to make a unit without using any 3D program at the tutorial section of the forum or at www.civ3.com. :D And trust me, the final product is as good as what a 3D program can generate.

Just think of it this way, in the old days animators do not have 3D program to work with. Is the old animation any worst off than what we have today? ;)