Button thread

[Lord Tirian]

Okay, I refined it a little bit (the small icon is less white now and the big one less cropped by the resource circle) and attached it - I think it's good to go.

I also made an button for the fat layer promo - it's deliberately a bit similar to the deep pressure hull special ability icon, but with the organic circles that are used occasionally.

Furthermore, I tried my hand at a combat-style line of icons... again used little circles, this time to symbolise that it's organic and, more importantly, a swarm of worms that grows. Plus the shape is somewhat reminiscent of the native life "maw" (I wanted to use that one for the main promoline, but it's taken already... - for the Planetmind promo and the flowering counter as well).

[side note: I had the idea of using the rose in the centre of the Gaian faction logo as fungus/planetmind/flowing counter symbol, freeing up the worm-maw... but I think that would be too much of a change now]

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

Thanks!
Using the rose is a great idea. An idea to keep in reserve when more buttons are needed.

 

[Maniac]

Lord Tirian, would you be interested in making a native Life/red backgound version of the Empath Song and Hypnotic Trance spec promotions. It's striking me increasingly silly that pro-Planeteers are encouraged to research the submarine and cruiser techs to most effectively capture naval native life. I'd like to try and allow these two promotions for the IoD. Available at Centauri Empathy and only allowed for Voice of Planet followers, so the barbarians won't pick them.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Lord Tirian, would you be interested in making a native Life/red backgound version of the Empath Song and Hypnotic Trance spec promotions.

Done, I also finished some other buttons, for the bioenhanced promo, the snow camouflage spec ab and the various unity projects. I hope you like them, otherwise, I can still change them.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[Lord Tirian]

New round of buttons:

• Base Guard I + II: Derived from one of the secret projects. I hope with the round shape, it looks more in line with the nerve stapler and generally looks more "SMAC"-ish.
• Centauri Preserve: Because it's a secret project, it needs the diagonal square frame.
• Hive and Spartan: It bothers me a bit that they look different than other promos. Of course, you might disagree and just keep the current ones, which would be fine with me as well.
• Scavenger: Used the wrench-shape from SMAC that was, AFAIK, intended as early university logo. I think it fits and I always wanted a way to work that in.
• Troop Transport: Kinda obvious. The eagle is the symbol for armed forces on land in general (see command centre), I like that more than using the human head, because it is always used in conjunction with humanities, social sciences and cybernetics, i.e. "human advancement", I don't want to muddle this theme with warfare.
• Artillery Units: The final frontier symbol in bigger, it makes rather clear what artillery units are about! Additionally, this matches the symbol of the maintenance bay, so you instantly know what it's about.
• Boat Units: Interpret the shape as boat-shape or as submarine hull, in any case I think it makes "boat" clear. I also wanted to use the anchor to make the connection with the naval yard.
• Bunker Units: Looks stationary and has a defence shield. This is one that's really fitting, I think.
• Cruiser Units: Waves and the anchor above it to show the purpose: Killing other ships, i.e. naval superiority against human ships. Is also rather distinct from the boat icon, I hope.
• Flamethrower Units: As requested and fits well.
• Infantry Units: This one was harder, due to my reluctance to use the head. I think this one fits, because it's a bit of a generic "military" symbol and infantry is sort of the base military you get. Additionally, the command centre uses the symbol and gives infantry the spec ab slot, establishing some connection between the symbol and the unit category (similar to the connection for artillery and naval units).
• Needlejet Units: The cloud academy symbol, because the triangle for air power alone was a bit boring. The wings make it more interesting, though it provides some potential for confusion with the infantry eagle. If you think that's problematic, I'd recommend just using the current air-plane symbol, it's not a bad fit - I just wanted to get some the connection to the aerospace complex.
• Cavalry Units: This one was hard, but I think the mobility arrows combined with the circle look distinct and sort of say "mobile on planet", i.e. fast units with some terrain ignoring capability (later on, at least). I'm not happy with the name, though, I'd call it "Recon Units" or "Mobile Units" (but I understand that they do fill the role of cavalry, I just associate it too much with horses ).

As always, critique welcome and I'm open for suggestions, changes, etc.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Keeper_GFA]

Damn LT, that's some nice work again. You're right about the Centauri Preserve. My only thought is that the faction and unit type promotions should stick out from the regular promotions. I think another color scheme would be good.

 

[WarKirby]

Since red and blue are already in use, I propose green., or purple. Or maybe black.

just set aside a background color that's not currently used, and use it only for that.

 

[Maniac]

New round of buttons:

Great! I've put them all in the game, with two exceptions: the Hive and Spartan buttons. They're not regular pickable promotions like the others, so I don't see the need to fit in with the other promotions.

 

[Maniac]

[*]Cavalry Units: This one was hard, but I think the mobility arrows combined with the circle look distinct and sort of say "mobile on planet", i.e. fast units with some terrain ignoring capability (later on, at least). I'm not happy with the name, though, I'd call it "Recon Units" or "Mobile Units" (but I understand that they do fill the role of cavalry, I just associate it too much with horses ).

I'm not particularly fond of the name myself, but I can't see a better alternative. Recon only covers a small part of what these units are good for, and the mobile name is too wide for just the cavalry units IMO. If it weren't for the Rover unit being included in the unitcombattype, I could call them the more fitting Air Cavalry. But alas.

***

Btw, would you be interesting in making a special ability version of the Guerilla button?
Edit: and a native red background version?

 

[Lord Tirian]

I'm not particularly fond of the name myself, but I can't see a better alternative. Recon only covers a small part of what these units are good for, and the mobile name is too wide for just the cavalry units IMO. If it weren't for the Rover unit being included in the unitcombattype, I could call them the more fitting Air Cavalry. But alas.

Yeah, it's a rather broad category - what about "Skirmishers" or "Vanguard"? Both are military terms and sound like they might fit.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Keeper_GFA]

I'm not particularly fond of the name myself, but I can't see a better alternative. Recon only covers a small part of what these units are good for, and the mobile name is too wide for just the cavalry units IMO. If it weren't for the Rover unit being included in the unitcombattype, I could call them the more fitting Air Cavalry.

You could split the line again.

Armored units
- Ground units, can use river and magtube movement
- Unity Rover (1/2), Armor/Skirmisher (3/2), Hovertank (5/2), Dragon/Gravtank (8/3)

(Air) Cavalry units
- Flying units, ignore terrain cost and elevation changes, can fight in territorial water, can't reveal unexplored tiles, inherent retreat
- Unity Chopper (1/2), Copter (2/2), Rotor (4/3), Warbird/Gravship (6/4)

Artillery units
- Ground units, can use river and magtube movement, inherent Defensive strike ability
- Unity Laser (2/1), Artillery (3/2 @Superconductor), Goliath (5/2), Behemoth (8/2)

 

[Maniac]

Skirmisher sounds good, but it sounds even better for the withdrawal ability.

Hmm, Vanguard I like a little less than Skirmisher, but it could still fit.

 

[Keeper_GFA]

Really, Vanguard would make more sense than Skirmisher.

 

[Lord Tirian]

You could split the line again.

Sounds like big change, directly after the whole tech tree was redesigned... I'd rather like to see the current set-up kept for a little while, at least to get a feel for the ramifications of such a change.

But personally, I'd like to see hovertanks that are *not* flying - in all pictures you see of them, they hover a meter above the ground at best - the hovering is more like an all-terrain wheel than "flying over canyons". But that's a concern with the flavour and feel - so I'd rather see a fitting game-play implementation than that little quibble.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Great! I've put them all in the game, with two exceptions: the Hive and Spartan buttons. They're not regular pickable promotions like the others, so I don't see the need to fit in with the other promotions.

After reading the other comments, I now think it's the best way to go - I made the buttons to be consistent, but since there's a need to distinguish them from pickable promos by another style, the consistency is out anyway!

By the way, what's up with all these promos you actually *cannot* pick and look like some remnants of the unit workshop? Like Doped Gain Medium, Logistics, Missiles, U-238 shells etc.? Left in because it would break something or just no time to remove them?

Btw, would you be interesting in making a special ability version of the Guerilla button?
Edit: and a native red background version?

Done and attached.

Cheers, LT.

 

[WarKirby]

But personally, I'd like to see hovertanks that are *not* flying - in all pictures you see of them, they hover a meter above the ground at best - the hovering is more like an all-terrain wheel than "flying over canyons". But that's a concern with the flavour and feel - so I'd rather see a fitting game-play implementation than that little quibble.

Cheers, LT.

i agree here. Hovertanks shouldn't fly. But they should ignore terrain costs, and if possible, terrain defences when attacking.

 

[Maniac]

Really, Vanguard would make more sense than Skirmisher.

Yeah I agree.

But personally, I'd like to see hovertanks that are *not* flying - in all pictures you see of them, they hover a meter above the ground at best - the hovering is more like an all-terrain wheel than "flying over canyons". But that's a concern with the flavour and feel - so I'd rather see a fitting game-play implementation than that little quibble.

I wouldn't want to change the hovertank unless it becomes a unit line, and not an isolated unit. And then the question becomes what techs would give hovertank-like units. I don't have any ideas.

By the way, what's up with all these promos you actually *cannot* pick and look like some remnants of the unit workshop? Like Doped Gain Medium, Logistics, Missiles, U-238 shells etc.? Left in because it would break something or just no time to remove them?

Never got around to removing them.

Done and attached.

Thanks!

 

[Lord Tirian]

I wouldn't want to change the hovertank unless it becomes a unit line, and not an isolated unit.

I thought hovertanks could fit nicely together with rovers in one single unit line (both are fast ground units - these would be the vanguard units), while choppers and gravships form another line (both are actually flying above the ground, ignore terrain completely and act as "gunships" - perhaps as gunship units - AAA Tracking could work against these).

Anyway, I just had some free time and worked through the button list - I made the solar power transmitter with the build colour, I feel it's more of an economic booster/industrial undertaking (plus it produces some variety in the tech screen, like the hydro plant and the bioreactor etc.), but I included an enclosed version as well. I redid the energy nexus, because the old one was made directly from the SMAX icon - and the SMAX icons have thinner lines than the SMAC icons, but for small buttons, the SMAX thinness results in very thin lines that look very good, I think.

By the way, the current recycling tanks... are very late in the tech tree and effect-wise, I don't think they fit very well. Perhaps you could rename them to "Sky Hydroponics Lab" - fits the effect and the enclosed theme very well, in my opinion.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Deon]

Really great buttons.

I'd agree that hovertanks are closer to rovers than to choppers in my opinion, so I'd like to have a different line for flying units (with a possible additional flier for a late game).