Poll: Best new Unit March 2013

March has finally left us, and I say, good riddance - even T.S. Eliot would be looking forward to April this year. But that's my life; hope your March was better.

I'm still working on ways to dispel the curse that's been put on the pcx contest - I would have had an entry myself this month, but the biq that I was using to test it crashed irreparably just before deadline. That's what I get for having drinks with a witch.

One way to dispel the curse would be if everyone who has some graphic sitting on their desktop would please post it to the Monthly Competition Submissions Thread this month. I know that many of you are making graphics for your own mods - so how about sharing some of that artwork? It's a nice way to preview a mod-in-progress.

This month's Unit contest is all about the Sea. The nominees are:

[IMG=left]http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/iowa_7pd.gif[/IMG] Delta_Strife, Ares de Borg, Wyrmshadow, Karle94 (Subsim)
Iowa Class Battleship Modernized

Balthasar said:

March has finally left us, and I say, good riddance - even T.S. Eliot would be looking forward to April this year. But that's my life; hope your March was better.

I'm still working on ways to dispel the curse that's been put on the pcx contest - I would have had an entry myself this month, but the biq that I was using to test it crashed irreparably just before deadline. That's what I get for having drinks with a witch.

One way to dispel the curse would be if everyone who has some graphic sitting on their desktop would please post it to the Monthly Competition Submissions Thread this month. I know that many of you are making graphics for your own mods - so how about sharing some of that artwork? It's a nice way to preview a mod-in-progress.

This month's Unit contest is all about the Sea. The nominees are:

[IMG=left]http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/iowa_7pd.gif[/IMG] Delta_Strife, Ares de Borg, Wyrmshadow, Karle94 (Subsim)
Iowa Class Battleship Modernized

Good Luck to all contestants!​

Click to expand...

Only one unit is shown, looks cool though.

Both units are great, it was a tough choice.

Damn not sure if I am going to win this month

Tommy Vercetti said:

Only one unit is shown, looks cool though.

Click to expand...

Check the date of the OP.

Congratulations Delta_Strife, Ares de Borg, Wyrmshadow, Karle94! - your Iowa Class Battleship Modernized will be entered into the Hall of Fame and appear in the Unit of the Year contest.

Thanks everyone for playing along with my April Fool's joke.

The part about PCX makers getting some submissions in was very serious, though. I need everyone's help to make the contests work. This month, I've seen several units and graphics posted in the forums, but not in the contest thread; while you may not see any point to "competing", you might think of it instead as "participating". The monthly poll is also a way to build the community, and of course I appreciate your participation.

Balthasar said:

The part about PCX makers getting some submissions in was very serious, though. I need everyone's help to make the contests work. This month, I've seen several units and graphics posted in the forums, but not in the contest thread; while you may not see any point to "competing", you might think of it instead as "participating". The monthly poll is also a way to build the community, and of course I appreciate your participation.

Click to expand...

What he said.

Balthasar said:

One way to dispel the curse would be if everyone who has some graphic sitting on their desktop would please post it ... many of you are making graphics for your own mods - so how about sharing some of that artwork? It's a nice way to preview a mod-in-progress.

Click to expand...

OTOH, knowing in advance that showing a single pcx against a plain background is not as effective as presenting
an entire set in context - whether it be interface or terrain - tends to delay posting.
There's also the issue that many of us scenario makers spend a lot of time doing things like looking at 100s of units to sort out which ones meet our imaginary needs.

Balthasar said:

That's what I get for having drinks with a witch.

Click to expand...

Of this ilk? Or this? One of these? More like this? Maybe this one is worth a curse? Inquiring monkeys want to know.

Congratulations Delta_Strife, Ares de Borg, Wyrmshadow and Karle94

Blue Monkey... I like this one

Vuldacon said:

Blue Monkey... I like this one

Click to expand...

Tom Fury knows.

Blue Monkey said:

OTOH, knowing in advance that showing a single pcx against a plain background is not as effective as presenting
an entire set in context - whether it be interface or terrain - tends to delay posting.

Click to expand...

Perhaps. I'm willing to discuss it, if you really think it's hindering posting.

OTOH, I did have good reasons for the new rules. Some of the old submissions were HUGE images, and sometimes you couldn't tell what you were voting for or against, and I was as guilty as anyone in that regard. Since I changed the rule, however, the images in the poll thread have been of more uniform size, and so (in my mind) fairer. Further, I've tried to make the rule flexible: your submission can be the same size as the original file, so such things as Wonder Splashes, and advisors can be seen 'full size'. As far as interface files are concerned, I thought I came up with a pretty good solution when I submitted my Vietnam Interface by using thumbnails that link to larger images. (I'd be happy to do that for any submission by the way.)

I do understand (from experience) the problem presented with terrain sets, i.e., that a cropped screenshot (or screenshots) is necessary to properly show the terrain. Same with something like roads, borders, etc. I just want the preview to be a reasonable size. As I've said, I'd be happy to link the preview to a larger preview.
My suggestion is, if the rules are an issue for anyone, submit your creation the way you want to display it, and I, in turn, will bend over backward to try to make it work.

Nah - I admit I was being snarky. Except that I'd rather post a finished set than a single pcx on a "plain background".

As to "reasonable size": posting an upper limit for screenshots seems reasonable - you wouldn't have to be as strict as I needed to be when I did the announcements.
It seems to me that screenshots of things meant to match another person's work - say an lm forest to match with Snoopy's terrain - are fair. As long as the extraneous graphics are the bare minimum needed. Existing grassland as base for a new forest for example. Nothing extra like cities, resources, units, etc. And it needs to be clearly stated what is being posted for consideration. Both in the submissions and in the poll thread(s).

That is a really cool unit. Good job guys, all of you rock.