Naval Units Rework Project

@TB

Ok here is a more simplistic break down. Let me know what you think


Notes
- Walker Droid is Rrenamed to Walker Robot.
- Add Automated Robotics where Droids was.
- Droids tech is moved right before Androids tech.
- Humanoids tech is renamed to "Sapientroids" tech

I think we've got the techs and naming guidelines defined perfectly at this point. (Sentroids as a term opens up at Binary subconscious then? That could work for me.) Would Sentroids only be referring to more advanced Human-like droids or would they refer to both? Would there be a term for the generic Sentroid and one for the human formed ones or not?

Further debate would be regarding the need to have Droids (non-humanoid shaped robotics) in the Infantry line. Two things I'd suggest if you really want that branching (which I'm not against if we take these measures):
1) Make sure the Droids aren't depicted as humanoid so we need to get somewhat creative. They could be a morph stage between Humanoid form and whatever they're about to become down that upgrade path. Probably Medium - Large size at most.
2) Droid Infantry and Android Infantry are quite close and divergent in upgrade path structure so a Warbot Infantry should upgrade to one or the other and the Droid should not then be able to upgrade to an Android.

I could see a similar branching point from the Android into a Cybernetic Infantry around the point of upgrade to Centroid Infantry as well. I have been turning a bit of a blind eye towards Cybernetic advances here as I'm trying to stay focused on what's relevant to the naval units.

But I think we're doing a very good job establishing some solid naming conventions and the mod has desperately needed that. A summary of term conventions should be put together from this discussion somewhere and linked to the modders and players pages!

Can an interested third party help with that by chance?

I think we've got the techs and naming guidelines defined perfectly at this point. (Sentroids as a term opens up at Binary subconscious then? That could work for me.) Would Sentroids only be referring to more advanced Human-like droids or would they refer to both? Would there be a term for the generic Sentroid and one for the human formed ones or not?

Click to expand...

I would say Sentroids would included non-humanoid machines that were self aware. Thus you could have a Dolphin Sentroid and it would basically be a Robotic Dolphin that can think just like a real dolphin.

Further debate would be regarding the need to have Droids (non-humanoid shaped robotics) in the Infantry line. Two things I'd suggest if you really want that branching (which I'm not against if we take these measures):
1) Make sure the Droids aren't depicted as humanoid so we need to get somewhat creative. They could be a morph stage between Humanoid form and whatever they're about to become down that upgrade path. Probably Medium - Large size at most.
2) Droid Infantry and Android Infantry are quite close and divergent in upgrade path structure so a Warbot Infantry should upgrade to one or the other and the Droid should not then be able to upgrade to an Android.

Click to expand...

Here is an updated table where the graphics are moved a little ...

I could see a similar branching point from the Android into a Cybernetic Infantry around the point of upgrade to Centroid Infantry as well. I have been turning a bit of a blind eye towards Cybernetic advances here as I'm trying to stay focused on what's relevant to the naval units.

Click to expand...

Well the Cyborg should be able to crossover at some point. And in theory one could have many types of cyborgs depending upon the level of technology.

But I think we're doing a very good job establishing some solid naming conventions and the mod has desperately needed that. A summary of term conventions should be put together from this discussion somewhere and linked to the modders and players pages!

Click to expand...

I agree. The robot classification is the backbone to all this and thus Naval, Areal, Tank and Mech can all benefit knowing where things belong.

Thunderbrd said:

much like it was for computing when windows really opened things up to greater standardization.

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Sorry but I can't let this go by unchallenged... Microsoft stole Apple's OS and put it on cheaper inferior hardware, thus "cornering the market". The regression from the Apple Mac's 68000 chip to Intel's 8800 series set computer hardware back a whole decade!

Back vaguely on topic, yeah so you have sapient apes and dolphins, sapient machines, and canis superior. The only ones who don't seem to be evolving is us humans. What's with that?

On yet another vaguely on-topic topic, I do like Arakhor's sapiAInt. I see some more puns there, as in "sap I ain't" (admittedly the slang word 'sap' may be ancient history by then). Then if 'sap' became the 'machinemen' derisive word for homo sapiens, it would work on one more level.

Still, maybe too clever for our purposes here. But when the AI-sentients (it's getting harder and harder to find terms for them that they won't take offence at lol) discover gangsta rap, someone of them is sure to pick this up and run with it.

As I recall, there is a Homo Superior tech and an Ascension Gate tech for a Scientific victory (which, bizarrely is not at the end of the tech tree). As for the Spaceship victory, apparently it's possible to achieve technological singularity, physically transcend mortal space and still have not yet been able to send a spaceship to Alpha Centauri.

Yudishtira said:

Back vaguely on topic, yeah so you have sapient apes and dolphins, sapient machines, and canis superior. The only ones who don't seem to be evolving is us humans. What's with that?

Click to expand...

Humans do though, at Homo Superior (x109) tech, however Humans do have various enhancements before that and after that.

Clones
- Clone Infantry = Mainstream Cloning (x100) - Best Fit Humans are Cloned
- Automatons = Bionics (x103) - Computer Controlled Clones
- Genetic Soldier = Regenerative Medicine (x105) - Humans Genetically Designed to be better and can regenerate.
- Super Soldier = Homo Superior (x109) - The best of cloning and cybernetic enhancements in one.

Cyborgs
- Powered Exoskeleton Infantry = Powered Exoskeleton (x94) - A human in a Powered Exoskeleton.
- Cyborg = Bionics (x103) - Half Human and Half Machine.

I also have been wanting to add Chrome Infantry. As seen here ...

Hydromancerx said:

So I have been thinking about clone units and here is a though outline.

? -> Chrome Infantry -> Clone Infantry -> Automatons -> Genetic Soldier -> Super Soldier

Chrome Infantry (New)
Req Tech: Gene Enhancement
Summary: Genetically Designed Soldiers who have the best genes. They are not truly "clones", but are designer babies grown up.

Clone Infantry (New)
Req Tech: Mainstream Cloning
Summary: The best chrome soldiers were cloned. Similar to Star Wars.

Automatons
Req Tech: Bionics
Summary: Clones enhanced with bionic technology to be controlled more like a machine than a man.

Genetic Soldier
Req Tech: Regenerative Medicine
Summary: An Automaton that can quickly heal and is enhanced with other genetic splicing.

Super Soldier
Req Tech: Homo Superior
Summary: The ultimate fusion of the genetic soldier with the bionics of a cyborg and a powerful exosuit. The fusion of many technologies into a single super unit.

Click to expand...

Note that beyond Super Soldiers would be ...

Transhuman Infantry = Transhumanism (x113) - A little bit more human than Anthroids.

Beyond Anthroids and Transhumans would be a new lifeform which has the best qualities of humanity and technology. What this would be called, I am not sure.

Droid Infantry Droids (x104) B2 - Battle Droid

Isn't this a little too humanoid to be called Droid?

Thunderbrd said:

Droid Infantry Droids (x104) B2 - Battle Droid

Isn't this a little too humanoid to be called Droid?

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Actually I think its just the rigth amount of humanoid vs non-humanoid to be a good transition unit. Its enough you can see the upgrade into androids but also not completly human in its design (ex. no neck, exaggerated proportions, guns for limbs, etc).

Ok... I can work with that.

On the Sentroid, isn't that supposed to be a bit non-human in shape/appearance too? Can we use the T-800 for the Anthroid and something less human for the Sentroid?

Thunderbrd said:

Ok... I can work with that.

On the Sentroid, isn't that supposed to be a bit non-human in shape/appearance too? Can we use the T-800 for the Anthroid and something less human for the Sentroid?

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Well Android, Sentroid and Anthroid are all suppose to be all humanoid in appearance. The T-600 is just a more primitive version of the T-800 so its a good progression. The Anthroid should be the most human-like of all.

You said:

I would say Sentroids would included non-humanoid machines that were self aware. Thus you could have a Dolphin Sentroid and it would basically be a Robotic Dolphin that can think just like a real dolphin.

Click to expand...

So I guess Sentroid is just the wider term for any humanoid or non-humanoid forms provided they are Sentient. It's a small range of time between Sentroid and Sapientroids/Anthroids.

Perhaps Senthoid (Humanlike) and Sentroid (Non-Humanlike) could be the differentiation?

Why not Senthoid Mk I and Senthoid Mk II? Those are shorter file names and show a clear delineation in times?

Arakhor said:

Why not Senthoid Mk I and Senthoid Mk II? Those are shorter file names and show a clear delineation in times?

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But it would not be a Senthoid anymore. Its basically Sentient < Sapient. Calling the latter Senthoid would not make any sense since it looses the Sapient reference.

OMG... fleshing out some things in the transfer between Transhuman and Galactic to aid with weapons, defenses and invisibilities/visibilities is really showing some VERY interesting progressions. Exciting stuff! I'm sure some of it will be questioned but it really fits with the weapon systems of the mid-galactic era so it should be quite interesting. Expect some revelations on that coming soon.

I'll be mostly out of commission after this week as we've got some visitors coming to town for that week. So be patient with me here. Still planning quite a bit. You really opened up a pandora's box with your requests and feedback H! But it should help to flesh the mod out a lot.

I have been having trouble finding graphics for the Automated era. Here is an outine for the Cruisers (robotic path).

@TB

Some graphics from EE2 are here.

Which include ...

- XShip
- Leviathan
- Manta
- Sea Archer

The Manta is already used for our Fusion Submarine.

The Sea Archer could be used for some sort of future Aircraft Carrier. I am not sure which era or if it should be manned or unmanned.

Thus the XShip and Leviathan I have no idea what type of ship they are suppose to be.

Manned or Unmanned I agree that the carrier would make a very cool near future carrier model. The Xship and Leviathon - well... I'm not sure which is which. One (the tan one) strikes me as an unmanned Destroyer or possibly an unmanned Corvette. Late game corvettes will have landing room for VTOL aircraft like helicopters and it looks like it's got that so it might be perfect for a late game corvette role. The other (the one with the red stripes) almost looks like a sub but perhaps would be best as an automated Destroyer or something.

Great layout so far. I'm praying we can find a whole lot more to easily fill in the gaps!

@TB

The problem is there are a whole lot of WWII ships and a whole lot of Spaceships, but not much in between. Even modern ships are hard to find. And the models you can find are already in C2C.

Note that Final Frontier ships do look great and are used as Fusion Ships currently, but they can only be used of one era.

@TB

So here are some Mass Effect ships but as you can see they are at the very least anti-grav ships.

- Mass Effect: Alliance Dreadnought
- Mass Effect: Alliance Cruiser
- [BtS] SR-2 Normandy no team-color

And here are more of the Final Frontier type ships.

- Homeworld2 ship graphics (Final Frontier)

I think because of how the Final Frontier maps work that these ships will sit on the surface of the water. This means they are pre-antigrav if we are using any. Note we already have a bunch like this from Final Frontier already.

@TB



Here is an outine for the Destroyers (robotic path). As you can see a lot is missing.