Ship of the Line

This is a unit long in the works. It started just as an idea for some other talented unit creator to take up. Well, I decided to get my feet wet in a couple of projects. First was the modified Privateer (no skull and crossbones), then the Galleass.

All of that gave me the confidence to at least give the Ship of the Line project a chance. I delved into it, and with a lot of work and a few hiccups, it's done. It's not perfect, and I'm not totally pleased with it. The attack animation needs some work; there are some pallette problems; and the death animation was rushed. It also isn't as large and imposing as I had hoped.

This unit is passible, and I've intended it to be a gap filler until someone with more talent comes out with a better version. Until then, enjoy the unit. I don't have unique sounds for the unit YET, but I'll be working on some awesome attack sounds from my Age of Sail game! Stay tuned.

Special thanks goes out to Kal-el and Yoda Power who selflessly tested and made comments on my unit for me.


Thank you all for your support.

EDIT:A NEW VERSION HAS BEEN ADDED

Incredible thanks to the genius of Nemesis Rex for the following changes:

v1.1 Changes
------------
*Fixed shadow problem in the Flics.
*Fixed pixel offset of Attack Flic.
*Added new attack sound file. (by Colonel Kraken)

The link has been updated.


ShipoftheLine.zip


For a preview and discussion on the unit, visit this thread.

The long-awaited finally arrives! Thank you Colonel, this is a major blessing for those of us who adore the "wooden ships and iron men" period. :worshp:

Exelent I am glad you finished this.

You seem to be creating ships to fill gaps that need to be filled thanks.

You're all welcome, and I appreciate the thanks.

Nemesis Rex is in the process of "fixing-up" my SoL.

Thank you, Nemesis!! :worshp:

BeBro has offered to help as well.

Very nice. This will make a great period unit.

Would this be an accurate ship progression line?

Wargalley > Galleass > Corvette > Frigate > Ship of the Line

Originally posted by zulu9812
Would this be an accurate ship progression line?

Wargalley > Galleass > Corvette > Frigate > Ship of the Line

Click to expand...

I would say no historically. Ships of the line and frigates represent parallel strands of development, not sequential*. Also, the ship of the line was perfected and reached its maturity as a unit before the frigate. So the historical answer would be either:
(1) s-o-l then frigate (not ideal but acceptable) or
(2) s-o-l and frigate more or less simultaneously (better).

From a game balance viewpoint, however, your suggested progression makes a deal of sense - it gives a linear progression of power which fits with the game's concept of progress.

As ever, when trying to fit history and Civ together, it's going to involve a compromise. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

* The difference between them isn't a progression, but a separation of roles. The s-o-l is designed to be costly, powerful but slower, while the frigate is designed to be cheaper, faster but weaker.

Originally posted by Colonel Kraken
Special thanks goes out to Kal-el and Yoda Power who selfishly tested and made comments on my unit for me.

Click to expand...

Damned selfish of 'em!

I plan on making the the Frigate and the Ship of the Line come in together. The frigate will be cheaper and have more movement. The Ship of the Line will cost more and be more powerful.

Originally posted by zulu9812
Would this be an accurate ship progression line?

Wargalley > Galleass > Corvette > Frigate > Ship of the Line

Click to expand...

I agree with Illustrious. Frigates & Ships-of-the-Line came into existence together.

In a way, it's like WW1 and early WW2 sea power.
You have big, relatively slow, powerful Battleships, sailing in line-astern formation, whose main job is to pound other Battleships.
These are not suitable for all naval tasks; so much smaller and faster Destroyers & Cruisers supported them.

It was the same in the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries.
Ships-of-the-Line and Men-o-War sailed along in large line-astern formations looking for other big ships to fight, while the smaller, lighter and faster Frigates were more suitable for escorting merchant convoys, performing reconnaissance, chasing pirates, and delivering messages and dispatches (Frigates were frequently called "the eyes of the fleet").

Lovely unit Colonel Kraken.
(And I think that the death animation looks all right)

Before anyone asks, here is a preview.....

Originally posted by Kryten


Lovely unit Colonel Kraken.
(And I think that the death animation looks all right)

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Wow, high praise from the master himself. (Does that mean I can change my sig to Copy & Paste Journeyman?"

I have one question, Kryten. Why do my death animations (with the Galleass and now the SoL) always jump a bit from the other animations, even though I use the same unit as the basis for all the animations (In the case of the Galleass, I used the Galley storyboards. In the case of the SoL, I used the Man-o-War). It's almost as if the death animation is off a few pixels, and I'm not sure why.

Oh well . . . .


Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate all the feedback, especially historically. I hope you all enjoy it.

Cheers,


CK

Originally posted by Tacit_Exit

Damned selfish of 'em!

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Um . . . er . . . I meant . . . um . . . selfLESSLY.

aye yaye yaye I feel about this "_" tall.

Good grief. And I'm always so big on proper spelling. Sorry, Kal-el and Yoda. I meant no harm.



The first post has been edited.

Originally posted by Colonel Kraken
Wow, high praise from the master himself. (Does that mean I can change my sig to Copy & Paste Journeyman?"

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I am interested in becoming a Copy & Paste Apperentace .

Originally posted by CivGeneral
I am interested in becoming a Copy & Paste Apperentace .

Click to expand...

Originally posted by Colonel Kraken
Good grief. And I'm always so big on proper spelling.

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Have a read of this very, very old thread CivGeneral....

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?threadid=29026

....there should be enough in there to get you going.

As for Colonel Kraken's death animation pixel shift....
....I think that this is due to the original Civ3 animation being 'off-set' (have a look at the Paratrooper default for an EXTREME example).

As a cure, you could pass the animation through Steph's wonderful SBB utility, by using the 'alone' formation.
That will allow you to align it correctly.

Thanks Kryten . Hopefully this article will help me get the Gotha Bomber running .

ah so you completet it, well good job.

"Hm. Completed it, you have. Hm. Good job you have done." --Yoda Power
You must read this with Yoda's voice in mind!





Thanks, Yoda.

Originally posted by Kryten

As for Colonel Kraken's death animation pixel shift....
....I think that this is due to the original Civ3 animation being 'off-set' (have a look at the Paratrooper default for an EXTREME example).

As a cure, you could pass the animation through Steph's wonderful SBB utility, by using the 'alone' formation.
That will allow you to align it correctly.

Click to expand...

Ooh, good tip! Why didn't I thank of that? Oh yeah, I'm still an apprentice.

Nice and worth waiting for !

Your best unit so far, Colonel Kraken.
I have already added it to my scenarios.

Thank you.