ARCHIVED: Discussion Topic - Unit Lines

[KingArthur]

Commuting can be a pain especially during the winter months and especially if you're relying on the British public transport system. Still, if you get the train and a laptop......

 

[Supa]

the goggles/glasses, as you can see, its barely, if at all, seeable:

Quite a few weeks later, but it's good general discussion I think : did you try to tune the rendering system, in order to get a little less AA and a little more details ? I'm sure you can get a crisper image than these, although part of it might be caused by the JPEG format (PNG is better for Internet preview, imoh). Anti-aliasing is a good thing but it shouldn't hide details; and, in your previews, I think AA hide more stuff than the small props size.

In Poser render settings, I usually put a Pixel Samples of 3 or less, a Post-Filter of 1, a Shading rate of 0. I also usually use a Gaussian filter, but I also try Box or Sinc, and see what's the best for each unit.

I also use the raytracing mode (Firefly render) rather than depth map. It takes longer but it shouldn't matter that much with standard-sized units. With raytracing, shadows are a lot more precises and are less likely to hide stuff in one blurb of shadow. Lowering the shadow intensity to .8 or .6 is something I try to not forget.

 

[Necropolis]

in the very first post on this thread it shows nautilus submarine in era 1. im certain that captain nemo's submarine should go in era 2. another thing is it makes more sence to include captain nemo in era 1 then instead. besides the point i feel this way casue it was already states that this modpack /scenario begins in the 1830's so it be more realistic and feasable to have nautilus submarine get discovered around in the 1850 casue it is known that this submarine was put into use in the late 1860's acording to the jules verne book. im atleast happy that turtle submarine is no longer in this mod pack casue that thing was only used once and it was long before the 1830's in the american revolutionary war. so see if theres a way if you can put nautilus in era 2 instead. as it was a very advanced submarine even by 1880's standards and probably paralells with modern submarines atleast on its sheer size.

 

[Moosezilla]

I watched the League movie yesterday and can agree somewhat, but if you use a Disney version and upgrade to "the Sword of the Ocean" it might be cooler still. Perhaps an entry in unit requests thread is needed?

 

[Balthasar]

This mod is an 'alternative history', thank goodness, so we can consider the needs of gameplay without strict adherence to historic fact. In fact, the Nautilus appears at the very end of the first era, so the timeline probably isn't as far out of whack as you imagine. Having the Sword of the Ocean upgrade from the Disney Nautilus and having that upgrade from the Verne Nautilus (all three are in the game, presently assigned to different civs) isn't out of the question, and I will give that serious thought.

For gameplay sake, we put goals at the end of each era -

At the end of era 1 you discover the Lost Worlds tech and can explore the underground Civs.

At the end of era 2 you can launch a Cavorite Sphere to the Moon.

At the end of era 3 you can launch an interplanetary rocket to Mars.

And the goal of era 4 is to complete Wells' Time Machine.

Also: The John Carter unit starts the game on Mars (Barsoom) and must get along with the inhabitants until he can be rescued, or until he can 'rescue' Dejah Thoris from the Therns.

Similarly, the Tarzan unit begins the game in the underground jungles of Pellucidar.

The Alice unit can teleport using the Mirror as early as the third era. In the fourth era, the Tardis appears and can be used as a teleport/ transport.

 

[tom2050]

I probably missed it, but is the map the max (large) size to fit all that in there? It's very cool to have distinct 'places' on the map, that is really only possible with the teleport (and airlift also I suppose)! I'm almost done with non-beta of CoMM, so once that is finished, I can get back to making units.

 

[KingArthur]

Hi Tom

The map is approx. 160 x 350 (unless Balthasar has made some changes).

I agree the layered map is cool and will make for interesting gameplay. It's a genius idea by Balth. Teleporting aside the regions on the map are separated like so:

coast - surrounding Britain for early coastal subs and ships.

Sea - between Britain and the Ocean Floor which is opened up to Submarine craft.

Underground Tunnels - under the ocean floor you go through the tunnels to reach the inner world - land units only.

Ocean - opens up the Moon and Mars. The cavorite Sphere can get lost though (i.e. sink) and space travel doesn't become safe until you get Rocket ships.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I watched the League movie yesterday and can agree somewhat, but if you use a Disney version and upgrade to "the Sword of the Ocean" it might be cooler still. Perhaps an entry in unit requests thread is needed?

"Disney" Nautilus. From the same creator as the "Sword of the Ocean".

I probably missed it, but is the map the max (large) size to fit all that in there? It's very cool to have distinct 'places' on the map, that is really only possible with the teleport (and airlift also I suppose)!

I agree the layered map is cool and will make for interesting gameplay. It's a genius idea by Balth.

One of the long term goals is to develop other scenarios/biqs that expand on these ideas - like a Barsoom scenario and a multi-planet scenario. So a lot of Balthasar's creative genius is going to be implemented many times in many ways. Which means the creative work of many contributors - like unit makers & terrain designers - will see the light of day on more than one occasion.

 

[Necropolis]

thanks balthasar you finnaly cleared up the issue with nautalis submarine. if the first eras was from 1830 to 1850 then its it diffinatly possible that nautilis submarine could be era 1. also this isnt completly alternate history its more like mythology plus some alternate history spiced in for flavor. but thanks anyway for clearing this matter up.

acording to blue monkeys latest post there is mentioning of having more than one scenario for the lost worlds mod pack. my only hope and concern on this is that all the maps and scenarios included with the mod pack will be compatible becasue i never liked having to re-install my civilization 2 each time i wanted to check out diffrent mod packs. and i know civilization 2 was a long time ago but i remember all the problem with downloading diffrent but cimilar modpacks to try to create something of my own even if it was a basic idea but i could never get anything done because i did not have any help like your getting on this balthazar its a complete team effort and i love that were all helping in some way.

febuary 25 ,
all im saying is i hated it when one modpack only had one scenario to play with it. if you can have compatible scenarios that come along with the mod pack so no re-installing of a diffrent but similar modpack then ill be as happy as a child on christmas. for instance look at kobiyashis dominion war modpack for civilization 2. only scenario that came with it was dominion war. and many other modpacks only had one scenario. im certain that with all the people on this project that a more than one scenario modpack is possibile. i just dont want to see a one scenario modpack .all scenarios for this game on one modpack its not too much to ask.

 

[Blue Monkey]

It's not a "modpack" that's going to be released all together. It's individual scenarios that will share many gameplay features such as units, similar tech trees, etc. There will be overlapping sets of Civs, etc. But the components will not be identical from scenario to scenario. Some of them will be sort of like expansions of pieces of this first scenario. A scenario set entirely on Barsoom (steampunk Mars), a Hollow Earth map/scenario, etc. Some will be settings completely beyond what is in this scenario. Hopefully we'll be able to have a consistent "look and feel" for things like research & economy, the way wonders work, politics, etc. .

Each scenario takes a different amount of work & requires different pieces to be created. For example, The Hollow Earth biq requires very careful planning of what terrain slots to use for the widely varying visual needs of the map. Once that is settled there will be lot of work involved adapting or creating new terrain pcx. Waiting for every scenario that has been discussed to be complete before releasing a master set wouldn't make any sense. For many reasons - not the least of which is how many potential players will die of asphyxiation before they get their hands on anything.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Moderator Action: All the threads in the steampunk subforum are temporarily closed while we reorganize. Expect a reopening of a new, organized improved version soon.