Alexander's Conquests development thread

Keroro said:

Oz - your sources are Roman, from about 700 years after Alexander. The Clibinarii were more Sassanid era rather Hellenistic, they were rather similar to european knight AFAIK.

Click to expand...

Woops! Given the plethora of sources I was skimming without enough coffee, I foolishly assumed "BCE" not "CE" for the date.

C'est la guerre,

Oz

Well I have decided to make the Cataphract and Companion horse units next for you Keroro. I do not know when I can get time to do them, but I shouldn't be too long getting them done.

Before I make them though I need an opinion on something. I want all the converted units to be of relative size to one another, yet I am not sure if the horse units will be too large.

Is this unit (Roman Equites) oversize for civ3 or not?

Gaias said:

I want all the converted units to be of relative size to one another, yet I am not sure if the horse units will be too large.

Is this unit (Roman Equites) oversize for civ3 or not?

Click to expand...

The rider looks in scale to the other figures. If you do decide to "shrink" it, I wouldn't reduce by more than 10% at the most.

As blue says, the rider is about the right size, though it looks like the horse itself is a little bigger than the firaxis ones. I'm happy with the Equites as it is personally, though I think that a 5 - 10% shrink might look better alongside the other cavalry that exists for civ 3. The reason that I'm not too worried is that IIRC European horses tended to be a bit bigger than Asian and Persian ones anyway, so it's not unrealistic.

On the units you're getting round to next - the companions would be brilliant, thanks, much needed here. The cataphracts from Rome are pretty good too, though they will probably only be featured briefly at the end of this scenario. Personally I'd prefer the Hypaspist infantry. It's up to you though, obviously. How much longer do you find the cavalry units take you compared to the infantry?

Keroro said:

Personally I'd prefer the Hypaspist infantry... How much longer do you find the cavalry units take you compared to the infantry?

Click to expand...

Well I can do the Hypaspist unit easy enough. I mentioned the cataphracts as I thought it was a unit that you were wanting (misread the above posts I guess). Not that I have counted how long it takes me to convert a unit, but I would guess anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. Thing is, I am too meticulous when converting these units, and go over all the process involved 3 or 4 times. My perfectionism gets the better of me when tweaking the animations and rendering out each frame. Considering I have to do two sets of renders for cavalry (horse then rider), it takes half again as much time to do.

I will see (though no promises) if I can get the Hypaspist unit done for you this weekend. The companions unit may be a little while longer as I wont have much time next week to work on these.

Before I continue on with making the hypaspists, I wanted you opinon on the unit.
Is this what you where looking for the unit look?

Hmm. You know, the problem is that with some of these units the other ones I'm using start to look a little bit chunky and clunky. :d If you're not careful I'll have to request a phalanx as well. I like it though, the overhand action of the spear is (I think) new for any civ 3 unit. I think that several people have requested an overhand spearman in the past, so it should be popular.

I know that it is a work in progress so maybe you haven't had time to sort this out yet, but two bits of hypercritical comment:
1 The feet seem to slide a touch as the spear is thrust forward.
2 Does it have any civ colour?

Well as long as you are satisfied that this unit will be a good representation of the hypaspists. All I was wanting was confirmation that you liked the look of the unit before I proceeded any further.

The preview is merely for demonstration purposes only, and does not represent the final rendered unit. Its safe to say that I suck as animations and I am using the animations that are found in Rome Total War. The best I can do is tweak it slightly as to link together more smoothly, or work in unison when making a cavalry unit. So if there is a few 'glitches' in the animation, there isn't much I can do about it until I am able to create them on my own. I do plan on adding civ colour to the unit, as I usually add the colour to their clothing areas.

Gaias said:

Before I continue on with making the hypaspists, I wanted you opinon on the unit.
Is this what you where looking for the unit look?
View attachment 148782

Click to expand...

I just soiled myself!

Gaias said:

Well as long as you are satisfied that this unit will be a good representation of the hypaspists. All I was wanting was confirmation that you liked the look of the unit before I proceeded any further.

The preview is merely for demonstration purposes only, and does not represent the final rendered unit. Its safe to say that I suck as animations and I am using the animations that are found in Rome Total War. The best I can do is tweak it slightly as to link together more smoothly, or work in unison when making a cavalry unit. So if there is a few 'glitches' in the animation, there isn't much I can do about it until I am able to create them on my own. I do plan on adding civ colour to the unit, as I usually add the colour to their clothing areas.

Click to expand...

More than happy. No-one quite knows exactly how the Hypaspists were equipped and what fighting style they used. In this scenario I'm going for a sarissa (pike), with a sword as secondary weapon. The overhand animation will contrast them from the Foot companions nicely. I was just trying to find something constructive to say with the movement of the feet - it's hardly noticeable. Are you having any trouble with the frame size for the unit?

NB - This is actually the way that the classical Greek hoplites would have fought. Firaxis messed up when they made hoplites attack underarm. The Macedonian Phalanx was different again, since their sarissa was about 15 - 18 feet long and used (as you would expect) with both hands.

Cimbri said:

I just soiled myself!

Click to expand...

Like I said, it should be quite popular.

Keroro are you still working on this project.?

dferrill said:

Keroro are you still working on this project.?

Click to expand...

Certainly am, there's a playtest thread here. I've had a few problems, and got a promotion at work, so time has been short for me recently, but I've booked another day off over the Easter break and will try to get a v 0.99 out for some testing.

Hopefully it won't be too long before a proper release. Thanks for the interest.

Keroro said:

Certainly am, there's a playtest thread here. I've had a few problems, and got a promotion at work, so time has been short for me recently, but I've booked another day off over the Easter break and will try to get a v 0.99 out for some testing.

Hopefully it won't be too long before a proper release. Thanks for the interest.

Click to expand...

I would be interested in testing a little when i get the time.I just started a game havent got very far noticed 2 things right away its in debug mode which i fixed by unchecking it in editor and also all the leaders have the same name Alexander, there is a simple fix for that but cant remember where i read it.I like your terrain its the same as i use really cool looking.I think this scenario has alot of potential.I really like Pinks Rome scenario it has gotten me interested in that time period.I will check yours out some more when i get the time I have several games going now but will check this out some and give you some feedback if you like.I would like to see someone do a Hannibal conquest like your doing with Alexander that would be cool.I have a question.I noticed there is 2 macedonians in the game is that on purpose and which one do you play?I chose macedonia in my game and right next to me is another macedonian civ which i assume is Alexandria sorry if this is a stupid question but im not real familiar with this time in history.

Hey, dferrill!
As to what you have found:
-The scenario is in debug mode so that some of the testers can check what the AI is doing
-The leaders only have the same name if you are player 1!
-You ply Alexandria The 2 Macedonia civs are there because Alexander didn't really have much time for the actual Macedonia!

Virote_Considon said:

Hey, dferrill!
As to what you have found:
-The scenario is in debug mode so that some of the testers can check what the AI is doing
-The leaders only have the same name if you are player 1!
-You ply Alexandria The 2 Macedonia civs are there because Alexander didn't really have much time for the actual Macedonia!

Click to expand...

Okay thanks ran into another error Art/Units/Tiarii/base/flc**not found game will now exit.is that because i played the wrong civ.?

dferrill said:

Okay thanks ran into another error Art/Units/Tiarii/base/flc**not found game will now exit.is that because i played the wrong civ.?

Click to expand...

Sorry that it took so long to reply dferrill - I missed your question when it was posted and only just noticed it when I came here to bump the thread. I've answered your problem here. In addition to what Virote has told you above you should know that only Alexander's civ will be playable in the final version, and the names of the leaders are sorted out when the other civs are not available to play.

In other news, I've found some time to do some work on this mod, and a couple of map alterations came first. A couple of screenies:





These areas have been made far more mountainous, and though they are still, no doubt, not entirely perfect, I'm fairly happy with how they turned out. Any suggestions for improvement are still welcome of course.

Well, you could start by renaming "New Knossos"

Looks good! Should make it much harder to invade Scythia and parts of Macedonia now!

Ok Keroro thanks for your help.I downloaded your fix. do you know about how long it will be?for the next update for scenario.thanks in advance.

Virote_Considon said:

Well, you could start by renaming "New Knossos"

Click to expand...

Oops. Done! Thanks, it's back to Chersonesos now.

dferrill said:

Ok Keroro thanks for your help.I downloaded your fix. do you know about how long it will be?for the next update for scenario.thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

I'm in two minds about the new version. On the one hand I have got quite a bit done over the last two days and an update would help. On the other hand I'm tempted to wait until R8FXT's phalangite and Plotinus' workers are available. I might try to release the last playtest patch on Tuesday night.

Keroro said:

I'm in two minds about the new version. On the one hand I have got quite a bit done over the last two days and an update would help. On the other hand I'm tempted to wait until R8FXT's phalangite and Plotinus' workers are available. I might try to release the last playtest patch on Tuesday night.

Click to expand...

Oops again. Obviously that didn't happen. I've pretty much decided to wait for Plotinus' workers, though Shirou and Rob have caused uncertainty for me by both deciding to do a new Alexander LH. You wait for one, then two turn up at once etc, etc.

Anyway, some advice is needed. I'm rearranging the LHs in the game, and this is what I've come up with - but I'm open to suggestions.


Alexander III of the Alexandrians
Antipater of the Macedonians
Cersobleptes of the Thracians and Illyrians
Leosthenes of the League of Corinth
Agis III of the Spartans
Timoleon of the Western Greeks
Alexander I of Epirus
Mithridates of the Pontic Greeks


Darius of the Persians
Azimilik of the Phoenicians
Spithridates of the Eastern Greeks
Bessus of the Bactrians
Spitamenes of the Sogdians
Sabaces of the Egyptians
Battus (?) of the Kyrenaicans
Gerrha (?) of the Arabs


Marcus Valerius Corvus of the Romans
Pontius of the Tyrrenians
Hamilcar of the Carthaginians


Taxilas of the Gandharans
Porus of the Pauravas
Sandrakottus of the Mauryans
Kuveni of the Tamils
Zhaoxiang of the Qins


Chorienes of the Scythians
Zalmoxis of the Dacians
Toutatis of the Keltoi
Odin of the Germanoi


Buktu of the Africans
Akhraten (?) of the Nubians
Nastasen (?) of the Merotes

I'm not sure about whether I should be using the female LH for the Merotes, if I do then the name will have to change. Likewise for the Kyreaican and Arab LHs, I will need new names if I use these. Any ideas? The present Alexander LH will most likely be used to replace the Pontus LH (it's a duplicate at the moment) when I get my grubby little hands on Rob or Shirou's new LHs. Kuveni of the Tamils should be out soon, Shirou has just been putting the finishing touches to her I believe. If anyone has a better idea for the Germanoi or Keltoi then I'm happy to hear it. I'm a bit unhappy about having red haired LHs for both of them.

EDIT - ooh, whoever posts next please quote my post so it's available at the beginning of the next page.