[UNIT] Mighty Ships Et Al

[PPQ_Purple]

I just tried your ironclad in my game and I got an odd error. Take a look.


I used your XML, only modified to point to a different folder path since this is going into my module.
The only edit to the unit beyond that were the textures which I made slightly darker and that shader thing.

Any idea what's happening? It seems the ship is at the totally wrong angle/position AND the cannons are just out in the void. Like, it almost looks like the shadow is where the unit wants to be but the main hull just isn't tracking it where as the other bits are. Could the fact that the unit whose art I am replacing with this used to use frigate animations have something with it? Is there something I should change in the unit defines?

 

[MightyToad]

I just tried your ironclad in my game and I got an odd error. Take a look.
View attachment 576108

I used your XML, only modified to point to a different folder path since this is going into my module.
The only edit to the unit beyond that were the textures which I made slightly darker and that shader thing.

Any idea what's happening? It seems the ship is at the totally wrong angle/position AND the cannons are just out in the void. Like, it almost looks like the shadow is where the unit wants to be but the main hull just isn't tracking it where as the other bits are. Could the fact that the unit whose art I am replacing with this used to use frigate animations have something with it? Is there something I should change in the unit defines?

Yeah, its the shader. I thought for sure it would be the animations. I saw something similar when I accidentally put the new coordinates for one of the guns to the ships main bone instead. But no not that.
Apparently, you have to remove the skin partition when you change the shader from gloss to "TCiv4MechNonShader". I didn't know that. So that's all you got to do.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Thanks, that did it. Now I can finish up turning it into the Ironclad for FFH dwarves.

 

[rtt4a]

Thanks, that did it. Now I can finish up turning it into the Ironclad for FFH dwarves.

Sounds cool ship, hope you upload it

 

[Matsuda123]

Speaking of mighty ships, anyone have some ideas for African (NOT Egyptian, Carthaginian, or Nubian) ships? That area is sorely lacking, and I think it's time I made some What If ships for their group(s) too. What does an African Galley look like, or a Frigate, or even an Ironclad for that matter? Have any ideas, I'd love to hear them, and I will begin drawing up concepts and making the models.

 

[MightyToad]

Here is the Polynesian Canoe. Also did the Maori warrior to go with it.

https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/polynesian-units.28572/

Speaking of mighty ships, anyone have some ideas for African (NOT Egyptian, Carthaginian, or Nubian) ships? That area is sorely lacking, and I think it's time I made some What If ships for their group(s) too. What does an African Galley look like, or a Frigate, or even an Ironclad for that matter? Have any ideas, I'd love to hear them, and I will begin drawing up concepts and making the models.

Other than Egypt and Carthage... Well i suppose cultures on the east coast would use ships typical of Arabia and the Indian Ocean in general. Lateen, tanja, and crab claw sails. Other than that I don't know a damn thing about the rest of the continent. I suppose they would just use dugout canoes like the rest of the world.

 

[<Nexus>]

Here's an interesting article:
https://face2faceafrica.com/article...ncient-malians-sailed-to-the-americas-in-1311
There's a nice picture that may be a good start.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Jesus what did I just read. That article is just bonkers. Not only does it propose that the Malians built ocean going ships and founded transatlantic colonies before the technology to do so existed (you could stumble on it like the vikings did but not establish an actual trade empire) but it proposes that it was africans who taught the natives how to build pyramids and create calendars. That's some ancient aliens level nonsense.

 

[<Nexus>]

I should have warned everyone not to read it.
But the ship on the picture looks good IMO. Could be a good start for the look.

 

[Matsuda123]

The article is definite crap, like the Zheng He nonsense too, but like Zeta says, great pic for a possible African Galley inspiration. Like yeah, you can get around the oceans prior to Caravels and stuff like that, but not consistently, not without great difficulty. Polynesians did a great job, but it was still really tough and took it's toll on them.

I found something called an Mtepe, which might play a role in this too.

Another side note, anyone have ideas for an Egyptian Ironclad or Airship? Yes, I wanna tackle airships too. Already got some ideas for Japan and Sino culture groups.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

You could get there. Issue was that without caravels and the like you couldn't get there reliably, maintain and supply a presence and trade home. And that last one is crucial if you want to convince someone to pay for your expedition and colony.

As for Ironclads they are a huge period and can of worms. Primarily though they come in two varieties. You have your armored sailing ships like the Gloire which are literally wooden ships of the line with iron armor on top. And than you have purpose built ironclads like HMS Warrior. So depending on your taste you could either take what ever african ship models you make and paint them iron or try and merge the warrior art style with that one. Honestly the entire era is woefully badly done in vanilla civ. They basically took the monitor and ignored the entire European development of ironclads.

Also I personally dislike the images in that article. They look like something made out of rope or straw lashed together and not the solid logs you'd need for a sailing ship.

As for the rest honestly it depends on how fantasy you want to go with these things. Airships are shaped like they are for a reason. You aren't going to get much ornamentation or a different hull design for the same reason why you don't see jet fighters made to look like birds or dragons. Not that a Chinese lantern style airship wouldn't be ultra cool to see.

 

[<Nexus>]

Another side note, anyone have ideas for an Egyptian Ironclad or Airship? Yes, I wanna tackle airships too. Already got some ideas for Japan and Sino culture groups.

Some quick scratch for brainstorming

And a goa'uld Egyptian Ironclad

 

[MightyToad]

And a goa'uld Egyptian Ironclad
View attachment 576368

Something like this?

Anyway, I briefly glanced at that page before my screen was taken over by ads and popups. It looked like an ancient Egyptian reed river boat.

 

[Matsuda123]

As for Ironclads they are a huge period and can of worms. Primarily though they come in two varieties. You have your armored sailing ships like the Gloire which are literally wooden ships of the line with iron armor on top. And than you have purpose built ironclads like HMS Warrior. So depending on your taste you could either take what ever african ship models you make and paint them iron or try and merge the warrior art style with that one. Honestly the entire era is woefully badly done in vanilla civ. They basically took the monitor and ignored the entire European development of ironclads.

I grasp this. But, currently I'm mostly sticking to the generalized era units for the game... I'm thinking ships along the lines of American Civil War era Ironclads, or shortly after. I've got some ideas for an Egyptian Ironclad. Take a look at this Industrial Era Egypt someone else did. I'm not going to do exactly like this, but maybe influenced.

Also I personally dislike the images in that article. They look like something made out of rope or straw lashed together and not the solid logs you'd need for a sailing ship.

Yeah I'll never be making any kind of straw or papyrus like ships. My ships will be timber and steel/iron based, depending on the era. I like the patterns a little though, but probably won't go with that exact thing.

As for the rest honestly it depends on how fantasy you want to go with these things. Airships are shaped like they are for a reason. You aren't going to get much ornamentation or a different hull design for the same reason why you don't see jet fighters made to look like birds or dragons. Not that a Chinese lantern style airship wouldn't be ultra cool to see.

I'm going to attempt to remain fairly realistic, with slight artistic license. I will adhere to general Airship, Fighter, Bomber shapes. But I still don't think they would exactly resemble the Western models, which also varied throughout time. Early Fighters of WWI offer a lot of freedom, as their shapes were often drastically different. I don't know about how I'll do anything past WWII, since it will be difficult, sadly. But I definitely want up to WWII units covered in different What-If stuff.

 

[<Nexus>]

Something like this?

Did you just "build" those ha'taks?
Well... I rather thought of a regular ironclad ship body with a pyramid gun turret. May not be the most practical but is authentic IMO

Yeah I'll never be making any kind of straw or papyrus like ships. My ships will be timber and steel/iron based, depending on the era. I like the patterns a little though, but probably won't go with that exact thing.

Maybe it's a stupid thing but I can imagine larger ships whit a strong wooden frame covered with straw piles. Would be a different evolution of shipbuilding.
But I'm not good at ship building, it's just brainstorming
However the patterns on the sails are things that could be used IMO.

I like that Egyptian steamer very much

 

[MightyToad]

Did you just "build" those ha'taks?
Well... I rather thought of a regular ironclad ship body with a pyramid gun turret. May not be the most practical but is authentic IMO


Maybe it's a stupid thing but I can imagine larger ships whit a strong wooden frame covered with straw piles. Would be a different evolution of shipbuilding.
But I'm not good at ship building, it's just brainstorming
However the patterns on the sails are things that could be used IMO.

I like that Egyptian steamer very much

No, I didn't make the model. I have a couple gigs of sci-fi models from the big three (star wars,trek,gate). Most are too high poly to use in a game.
So, not much effort to take it off the shelf and rig it to the ironclad skeleton.

Pyramid shape isn't exactly hydrodynamic, but excellent shape for sloped armor. I like the idea to use it for turrets.

 

[<Nexus>]

Another brainstormer pic:

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I grasp this. But, currently I'm mostly sticking to the generalized era units for the game... I'm thinking ships along the lines of American Civil War era Ironclads, or shortly after. I've got some ideas for an Egyptian Ironclad. Take a look at this Industrial Era Egypt someone else did. I'm not going to do exactly like this, but maybe influenced.

That's the point. American civil war era was the era of Warrior and other proper ironclads. The monitors used in the default game are an american made thing that existed in parallel with actual proper ironclad warships and only existed in america and only because of their very specific need to fight all their battles next to the coast. Using it to represent ironclads is literally as bad as using camel riders to represent all cavalry.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Another brainstormer pic:

Oh I like that african stuff......

As for Egyptians they had a unique ship style. A canoe would probably be standard but early sailing ships would develop the distinctive style. Be cool to see Egyptian medieval war galleys, and age of sail ships. But again, that african picture..wow

 

[Matsuda123]

Yeah I saw that African one, very pleased with it, gives me some ideas too. Maybe I'll model it or something similar.

I got an idea for a beautiful Egyptian Battleship. Be drawing all those very soon...

@MightyToad I thought of another possible good Civ V conversion. The Korean Hwacha. in Civ IV, it's really cartoony and strange, but 5 looks much more real, I think. Possibly.