ARCHIVED: Discussion Topic - Technology

[Blue Monkey]

Thank you both for the prompt & extensive replies, and the compliments on the icons -

* World-wide Commerce
I’ll add it to my “look abouts” list.

* provide some character sketches for some of the the less well known characters
I’m most curious about what you have in mind for Alice - pedia entry, animations, abilities.

* If we're starting from scratch, can we make the Wonders in the wider format? Pretty Please?
I assume you mean Pounder’s style? But a version in that wonderful Steampunk Interface? If so, did you want the images 568x320, leaving room for the annotations, or a full 570x390?

I originally picked images with the idea of getting something square from them, but there are many that I could probably cut into a good oblong composition. If you could, make a list of splashes you need me to redo, or do.

* I'd have preferred a Stage Magician unit
Sounds like ruby_sauce needs an invite to the tea party - may not have looked at the threads. And seems like that's the sort of "no box" mind that could create some of the other needed units.

* I quite like the name Practical Invention too but not so much the icon
Well, I can add that to the list of hopefuls, as well.

* Another missing icon for the list is Portable Beam Weaponry.
I had not included the sequence of Teleforce, Portable Beam Weaponry, Forcefields because you had images there, but they can certainly go on the list.

So this is my understanding of where the queue of needed tech icons is at:

Done
Bartitsu
Armaments Industry
Stratospheric Flight
Mesmerism

Needed (* I have possibles on the first three)
Landships *
Armoured Bulkheads *
Asylum Districts *
Turbines
Air Tactics
Wireless Telegraphy
Mechatronics
World-wide Commerce
Practical Invention
Portable Beam Weaponry
Forcefields
Teleforce

Wonders???

I hope everyone understands that this list is for anyone interested in contributing icons.

 

[KingArthur]

I've added a to do list for techs and wonders to posts #2 and #3 respectively. I will add a list for Improvements soon.

As BM says these are open to anyone who wants to contribute. Even if you can't make the images you may be able to scour the forums for completed work that may fit or find images that can be converted from the wider Internet!

 

[Balthasar]

You're in green this time.

Thank you both for the prompt & extensive replies, and the compliments on the icons -

You're welcome. I repeat, this wouldn't be half as interesting if you hadn't have provided those icons...

I’m most curious about what you have in mind for Alice - pedia entry, animations, abilities.

We're imagining a grown-up Alice - think of a princess with a blue and white dress, and long blonde hair - who, quite by accident, follows a white rabbit into a scientist's lab and discovers that her ability is teleportation.....

* If we're starting from scratch, can we make the Wonders in the wider format? Pretty Please?
I assume you mean Pounder’s style? But a version in that wonderful Steampunk Interface? If so, did you want the images 568x320, leaving room for the annotations, or a full 570x390?

The Full Monte: 570 x 390, please. That would allow us to diddle with the details.

I originally picked images with the idea of getting something square from them, but there are many that I could probably cut into a good oblong composition. If you could, make a list of splashes you need me to redo, or do.

The Wonders are listed below, with descriptions.

* I'd have preferred a Stage Magician unit
Sounds like ruby_sauce needs an invite to the tea party - may not have looked at the threads. And seems like that's the sort of "no box" mind that could create some of the other needed units.

Exactly. All we have to do is steal him from the Star Trek Forum, where I last saw him making Klingons.

* Another missing icon for the list is Portable Beam Weaponry.
I had not included the sequence of Teleforce, Portable Beam Weaponry, Forcefields because you had images there, but they can certainly go on the list.

We had an icon for forcefields?

So this is my understanding of where the queue of needed tech icons is at:

Done
Bartitsu
Armaments Industry
Stratospheric Flight
Mesmerism

Needed (* I have possibles on the first three)
Landships *
Armoured Bulkheads *
Asylum Districts *
Turbines
Air Tactics
Wireless Telegraphy
Mechatronics
World-wide Commerce
Practical Invention
Portable Beam Weaponry
Forcefields
Teleforce

Wonders (SW = small wonder)

Royal Albert Docks - provides a Warehouse in every city. Every good yarn needs a docks.

The Penny Dreadful (SW) - um, maybe you might want to add Adventurism to the tech list and use your Penny Dreadful image for this.

The Royal Exchange - our colossus. Was the center of world commercial trade for a century.

The Universal Library - um, ok, add Applied Research to tech needs too, if you use your original icon for the wonder splash.

Around the World in 80 days - whatever you want it to be. Provides a private club (temple) to every city.

Home Office (SW) - a forbidden palace. We're from the government, and we're here to help.

Scotland Yard - where gentlemen learn the Art of Crime Fighting.

Illuminati - you can have fun with this one.

Iron Works (SW) - self-explanatory.

The Gold Bug (SW) - From Poe's story of cryptography - acts as an intelligence agency

Ada Byron Institute - Ada gets a science wonder.

Das Kapital - Which Karl Marx wrote in London. What, he didn't like rich Englishmen?

Baker Street Irregulars (SW) - the street kids who had Holmes' back. We use it as a military academy.

Lloyds of London - "Smith's trading post" for gentlemen. Ah, the good old days when insurance reduced costs.

Krupp's Armaments Factory - the Victorian military industrial complex - produces artillery every few turns.

The Salvation Army - the army's down the road; salvation ala mode with a cup of tea... Hanging out with Major Barbara grants suffrage effects.

Predictive Engine - your own idea. "Theory of Evolution" effects - we could have used Darwin, but that would've been too normal.

The Crystal Palace - People still talk about Prince Albert's architectural ode to technology. There are some great images available of this.

A Christmas Carol - I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

Edison's Lab - an Applied Science wonder.

Red Cross (SW) - the one good thing to come out of the Crimean War: Florence Nightengale invents battlefield medicine.

Wardenclyffe Tower - Google this. Tesla's tower is too cool for New Jersey.
Grants Hoover dam effects.

Bedlam - the asylum so bad it became a synonym for bad. Its existence makes everyone happy, though.

Bensington & Redwoods Elixer - or Honey, I enlarged the Rat - you thought giant vermin were invented in the 1950's? H.G. Wells did it first. This batch, though, mirrors the Longevity Wonder.

Sandorf's Armory - Verne's Mathias Sandorf was rich and lived on an island fortress full of advanced weaponry. Much more useful than Leonardo's Workshop.

Public Call Stations - England's little red telephone boxes were actually the original internet. Oh-oh. It's Kiefer Sutherland for you....

Invisibility Formula - the only way to ditch the missus on weekends.

The Weldon Institute (SW) - another idea from Verne's Robur the Conqueror
in our world it doubles as the pentagon.

Mars & Moon Foreign Offices (SW) - wireless transmitters allow trade across space. Only available with martian or lunar resource, it acts as a forbidden palace on distant planet.

The Violet Ray - was too good an idea to just be a tech. Happy wonder.

Stock Exchange (SW) - victorian Wall Street.

Dr. Frankenstein's Monster - Mary Shelly liked 'em tall, dark and stiff.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show - came to London for the Golden Jubilee, starring Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull & little Annie Oakley. She never missed. Never. Happy Wonder.

Orbital Telescope - the victorians would've loved to look down on everyone. I mean, literally. Reveals the whole world.

The Time Machine Project (SW) - if you can't read instructions, this isn't for you. Our equivalent of the Space Race. We haven't decided which piece is which, yet.

Magikal Cabal (SW) - an Occult Science Wonder.

The Roch Fulgerator - A Manhattan Project for the 19th century - allows Verne's Weapon of Mass Destruction.

Dimensional Portal - this nasty little project builds trans-dimensional Demons.

Torchwood (SW) - to protect mankind, courtesy of a certain Timelord.


So, there you go. Off with you now, get cracking.


I hope everyone understands that this list is for anyone interested in contributing icons.

I second that. Keep it Victorian, please. Violators will face the Fulgerator.

 

[jlvfr]

Around the World in 80 days - whatever you want it to be. Provides a private club (temple) to every city.

I'd suggest something related to movement cost, ie, halving all movement costs for all land/sea/air units. Or, maybe, using it as a sort of airfield/harbour, for instantaneous transfer of 1 unit per turn to one of your cities anywhere.

 

[KingArthur]

I think it's actual effect is to Double the Happiness of all Private Clubs - e.g. giving the members of the Reform Club something to celebrate.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Quick question on the "Turbines" tech - would an image of a cavitating propeller, such as was used on the Turbinia, be appropriate? I think I have found a period engraving that will give me a suitable close-up.

 

[Blue Monkey]

We had an icon for forcefields?

Coppola's version is my favorite filmed "Dracula". I really like effect of the blue flame barrier guarding his castle. I thought that might make an interesting image for the Forcefield tech. These are just 2 quick & dirty tests, but would something along these lines be suitable?



In the film the scene is very dark, but it would probabably be possible to superimpose a vivid blue barrier over a lightened & therefore more visible background.

 

[Balthasar]

Quick question on the "Turbines" tech - would an image of a cavitating propeller, such as was used on the Turbinia, be appropriate? I think I have found a period engraving that will give me a suitable close-up.

You can't go wrong with an engraving.

Coppola's version is my favorite filmed "Dracula". I really like effect of the blue flame barrier guarding his castle. I thought that might make an interesting image for the Forcefield tech. These are just 2 quick & dirty tests, but would something along these lines be suitable? In the film the scene is very dark, but it would probabably be possible to superimpose a vivid blue barrier over a lightened & therefore more visible background.

I rather like that idea.

 

[Moosezilla]

reminds me of an aurora borealis

 

[Blue Monkey]

reminds me of an aurora borealis

Energetic ionized particles guided along magnetic lines of force? Colliding with atmospheric nitrogen to create a blue glow?

Most human tools are an artifice for the intensification of a natural phenomenon in order to achieve a desired effect.

 

[KingArthur]

The cavitating propeller will fit the tech very well.

The idea for the forcefield is also excellent.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Here's a first pass at the Orbital Telescope wonder. The image I was working from is vertically oriented, so to get the desired dimensions I had to rotate it. IMHO it works well, though - emphasizing that it is in orbit, not just in flight. The icon itself has the 256 palette with reserved colors. But what do the rest of you think?

 

[jlvfr]

Here's a first pass at the Orbital Telescope wonder. The image I was working from is vertically oriented, so to get the desired dimensions I had to rotate it. IMHO it works well, though - emphasizing that it is in orbit, not just in flight. The icon itself has the 256 palette with reserved colors. But what do the rest of you think?

Looks very VERY good! Congrats!!

 

[Balthasar]

But what do the rest of you think?

Holy s**t! I love this! Without the white border, I hope. You're right, it actually looks more like it's orbiting when it's on its side.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Holy s**t! I love this! Without the white border, I hope. You're right, it actually looks more like it's orbiting when it's on its side.

The border is just for displaying the preview. I find it easier to see what the icons look like if they are on a background rather than just displayed on the pale grey forum post background. The actual image is the 570 X 390 dimensions.

 

[Moosezilla]

why think when i can just enjoy? excellent!

 

[Blue Monkey]

I'm unhappy with the results of trying to superimpose the forcefield over the carriage because of the quality of the original images. I can either give you just the blue field as previously posted (on the right below) or a somewhat similar image from a 1915 magazine cover ( on the left)




Secondly, how's this for portable beam weaponry? I think I can go back to the original, which is quite large, and end up with a little more definition if you like the basic idea.

 

[Balthasar]

I think I like the second forcefield. I also like the particle beam weapon.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I think I like the second forcefield. I also like the particle beam weapon.

Okay, those are in the Q.

At the moment I'm working on -

• the new forcefield tech - indexed palette plus small icon
• portable beam weaponry tech - redo for greater detail, then index small & large
• wild west show - wide version splash

More to follow...

 

[Blue Monkey]

Here's a preview of the current version of Forcefield (indexed palettes):