New Unit : E-3 Sentry

[grand titan]

World War Two colors would seem appropriate as the unit appears to be a B-17 with a radar pod. Still, it is a good looking unit. But a B-52 put in as a Jet Bomber would be a better addition.

 

[poppert]

It would be really cool if an AWACS would increase the attacking capabillity of a nearby fighter plane.

This would simulate that the AWACS coordinates the attack.

Oh well, not possible I guess.

Good work though!

 

[tstowe]

Originally posted by poppert
It would be really cool if an AWACS would increase the attacking capabillity of a nearby fighter plane.

This would simulate that the AWACS coordinates the attack.

Oh well, not possible I guess.

Good work though!

Great point. I wish this was possible. the limitations placed on aircraft in the game is real disappointment. Granted, the abilities to recon, bombard, and conduct air superiority missions are a huge plus when compared to CIV 2. But, I would still like to see more options pertaining to the air war in CIV.

 

[Scipio Africanu]

Just to let you know this unit looks more like the E-2 Hawkeye, which was the model used between 1950's - 1970's. The E-3 is obviously like the Boeing 737/767 series. looks like a good unit for the end of the industrial age.

E-2 Hawkeye Picture

E-3 Sentry Picture

 

[Kal-el]

the unit looks great, but ...

it really shouldn't have a gun pod. this thing doesn't want to get involved in any sort of combat whatsoever.

just a thought.

 

[pesoloco]

The reason I left the gun pod was so it would be able to defend itself. On my own computer I give it an attack of 0 and defense of 12. This way units won't be able to destroy it without a fight.

 

[tstowe]

Kal-el is correct in his statement concerning the E-3 (as well as the E-2) aircraft not having any direct attack capabilities. Your intentions were good, but inaccurate. Most E-3 have fighter escort to provide their protection (I think).

BUT, not all is lost seeing that CIV III may not allow us to position fighter aircraft with our very cool E-3 aircraft so maybe an attack option for the E-3 would be a representative of the missing fighter escort. . . Either way the aircraft will be a great asset to the game. NOW, by chance that I hap-hazardly direct my E-3 inside the operational range of a fighter of an enemy city. . .will that fighter go out to shot it down?

 

[pesoloco]

Originally posted by tstowe
NOW, by chance that I hap-hazardly direct my E-3 inside the operational range of a fighter of an enemy city. . .will that fighter go out to shot it down?

It all depends how you set up the unit in the editor.

If you made it a land unit, it will be attacked by enemy land units.
If you made it an air unit, it will be attacked by either land or air units, but even the weakest land units can destroy it.

My suggestion is to leave it as a land unit with a pretty high defense. (although you can't directly fly over water, you can use the re-base ability to move to other continents - at least warriors won't bring your planes down - easily)

If you do insist on keeping it as an air unit, I would recommend keeping a strategy similar to Civ I and II (end every few turns in a city or in a space with good ground cover.)

 

[pesoloco]

Due to popular demand, I have come up with a preliminary design for an updated E-3 unit.

I have made it gray and enlarged the radar disk.
Please let me know what you think and if you guys like ti, I will continue working on the update for the animations

 

[GenPatton]

I have tried to work on graphics but they have not worked out but as a suggestion. Why not for the flic that will be used for the planes defens a smaller fighter plane swoops in and shoots. It will give more realism, but still allow the unit to have a defense value.

I think a mjor addition would be a B-52 type bomber to fit between the wwII and Stealth bombers ince there is a huge difference in the real world between the two.

 

[pesoloco]

Originally posted by GenPatton
Why not for the flic that will be used for the planes defens a smaller fighter plane swoops in and shoots. It will give more realism, but still allow the unit to have a defense value.

I think a mjor addition would be a B-52 type bomber to fit between the wwII and Stealth bombers ince there is a huge difference in the real world between the two.

Thanks for the good idea. That fighter plane swooping in would make it much more realistic since these planes really dont have any defense.

About the B-52, I think it is a good idea. Unfortunately I just started a big project - the Engineer unit, and now the updated E-3, so it might be awhile till I work on the B-52.

 

[tstowe]

I am trying to catch up on this unit creation stuff so that I can help with at least some of it. Being that I killed too many brain cells in my youth. . .that learning curve has gotten pretty damn large. haha

<-- And not necessarily in that order. haha

 

[nEo]

Do you create all the graphics straight up 2D? Or are any of the models in the game modeled in 3D and then frames rendered for an animation? Just wondering. Your first green plane looked nice, almost 3Dish, I just wondered if I created a CD model of something if it would be easy to turn it into a game unit...

 

[pesoloco]

I edit the graphics with Paint Shop Pro (a 2D editor), but it would be possible to use a 3D editor to make new ones. I believe thats how the original graphics were made.

 

[tstowe]

I hadn't put much thought to the drawings and animation themselves, but I have 3d Studio Max at the house. I will see if it can be used for the game. ??

 

[pesoloco]

good luck

 

[Kal-el]

pesoloco,

instead of redrawing the whole thing why not just recolor the existing unit. Just switch the palette using paintshop pro.

it should save you a lot of time.

 

[pesoloco]

thats a good idea. I'll try that

 

[Razorwing]

The E-3 uses the same wav files as the regular Bomber. With this modified .ini file you don't need to hang on to the doublette wav files. All I did was modify four lines of code, like so:

RUN=../Bomber/BomberRun.wav
ATTACK1=../Bomber/BomberAttack.amb
ATTACK2=
ATTACK3=
DEFEND=
DEATH=../Bomber/BomberDeath.wav
DEAD=
FORTIFY=
FORTIFYHOLD=
FIDGET=
VICTORY=../Bomber/Bomberbomb.wav

 

[pesoloco]

Thanks, Razorwing, didn't know I could use the .. in the path name
I had tried it once like this:
DEATH=\BOMBER\BOMBERDEATH.WAV
but that didnt work.
Good work.