Unit of the Month: October 2006

[WildWeazel]

Ok, fair enough...
Hmm.... troll eating his foes anim... suddenly I wonder if I should make another disgusting alternate victory animation. Hmmm.... have to think about that one. Would be funny, but would be a boooger to animate.

I imagine making him lunge forward and pull back with a chunk of grisly meat to stuff in his face would get the point across.

 

[Wyrmshadow]

The Bedouin is bringing up the rear, a real challenge for 2nd now.

 

[Bjornlo]

The Bedouin is bringing up the rear, a real challenge for 2nd now.

Yeah, looks like I'll soon be dropping from 1 vote from the lead to 3rd place..
I checked yesteraday and the Troll had a sudden surge and looked as if he might finally break the curse of the green skins and come out on top. He had come from 4-5 behind to tied and next time I checked, total reversal... sliding away, and not even gonna be in contention.

 

[CrazyboB]

What is the big deal with the Empire Swordsman? I know I dont get it because I am kinda new here.... but I've been lurking for months now. Only registered to get in the lottery.
but is seems to me that this swordsman is almost exactly like 40 or more other units. But stuff like the arab, atzec and in fact every other unit in the list is more interesting and different from all the other stuff.
No offence, but I already have lots of swordsmen in my game... I just can't figure out why y'all so nuts for what seems so boring to me.

 

[The Thud]

The swordsthingy is boring, but at least I can use it.
WTH can you do with trolls, zombies and shyte like that in a regular civ game?

Moderator Action: Warned - language.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Stormrage]

I see so much potential for negative answers on future requests

The Thud? HTF plays regular civ games?

 

[The Thud]

I see so much potential for negative answers on future requests

The Thud? HTF plays regular civ games?

huh?? HTF is a what?
I play killem all. I like some of the mods here, but I havn't tried them all.

 

[Gojira54]

Well, I am looking for real or alternate (but possible) historical units - preferably those with an animal unit joining them or an animal theme. That made the Aztec the unit for me hands down.

I agree we seem to have a glut of similar units like the swordsman being made, and I do wish more creative units were being made, but everyone is looking for something different. The Empire Swordsman is a great unit, and I can see it as an excellent Death Swordsman in many mods, but it just doesn't stand out as much as the Aztec and some of the others - simply because there are so many similar ones out there to choose from.

 

[Bjornlo]

The swordsthingy is boring, but at least I can use it.
WTH can you do with trolls, zombies and shyte like that in a regular civ game?

Can't you just feel the love here?

 

[Bjornlo]

Well, I am looking for real or alternate (but possible) historical units - preferably those with an animal unit joining them or an animal theme. That made the Aztec the unit for me hands down.

I agree we seem to have a glut of similar units like the swordsman being made, and I do wish more creative units were being made, but everyone is looking for something different. The Empire Swordsman is a great unit, and I can see it as an excellent Death Swordsman in many mods, but it just doesn't stand out as much as the Aztec and some of the others - simply because there are so many similar ones out there to choose from.

I can understand and respect the desire for historical to semi-historical units. No problems with that at all. Just that every once in a while it is fun to play with stuff a little different.
And, while it is true that there are a lot of swordsmen already in the game, the one in this lottery is rather good. And, it is designed for a particular (and popular) mod, the Warhammer mod.

 

[Gojira54]

I understand completely. I like all the units, love the warhammer mod, and the swordsman was a second for me.

My epic mod focuses on living off the land and explores some historical what-ifs, so animal and animal-themed human units are central. So my choice was slanted that direction. I might use the swordsman, too.

And, I might add, with my Modzilla project I have a great respect for fantastical, mod-specific units as well!

 

[CamJH]

My apologies for making such a boring, run-of-the-mill unit.

 

[Gojira54]

*sighs*
Not what I meant at all. It's a great swordsman, one I might use....

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Well, your "boring run of the mill" unit is much better than my stupid, crappy, but original, Elven Marine....

Oh, well... As Herman Melville once said (and a quote oft repeated by my art professor in college), "It is far better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

And I'm also going to say officially that this is my last entry in the unit competitions, and, due to the fact that I only get the same 4-5 people responding to my unit postings, I'm considering not releasing any more units for public consumption (the said 4-5 people who actually have use for my modernistic fantasy units will get any that they can use via email). I'm just sick and tired of every unit I enter in this competition, no matter how hard I worked at it, finishing dead last, on top of the fact that hardly anyone around here actually seems to appreciate the hard work I put into my units.

I'll still release any buildings, wonders, and LHs I make, since some people actually appreciate and use them, but I've just about had it with my units.

 

[Bjornlo]

Well, your "boring run of the mill" unit is much better than my stupid, crappy, but original, Elven Marine....

Oh, well... As Herman Melville once said (and a quote oft repeated by my art professor in college), "It is far better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

And I'm also going to say officially that this is my last entry in the unit competitions, and, due to the fact that I only get the same 4-5 people responding to my unit postings, I'm considering not releasing any more units for public consumption (the said 4-5 people who actually have use for my modernistic fantasy units will get any that they can use via email). I'm just sick and tired of every unit I enter in this competition, no matter how hard I worked at it, finishing dead last, on top of the fact that hardly anyone around here actually seems to appreciate the hard work I put into my units.

I'll still release any buildings, wonders, and LHs I make, since some people actually appreciate and use them, but I've just about had it with my units.

Seriously, put the same effort into a human male that was semi-conventional, and I think your units are good enough to win. I suspect the problem is not the crafting of your units. The animation and modeling are top notch. The problem, I am only guessing here, is that not everyone has a use for Elven units. And, people have a bias to vote for things they think they have a use for. Consider Aaglo's units. He is unquestionably one of the best unit creators on the board. Yet his units always stink up the charts. They get decent downloads, so they are getting used... just people are not voting for them.
I know how hard you work on your units. I know how careful you are with the little details. I use the same tools as you, and so maybe more than most can appreciate your reasonable pride of accomplishment.
I'm betting more than the 4-5 voters are DLing your unit. I'm betting if you made more universally useable units you would see the numbers of DLs and votes really jump.

It is like I said earlier. You have to figure out which is most important to you. If you want your units to be more popular, make them more like the ones that are winning (pink skinned males with historical to semi-historical gear). Or, you can elect to do as Aaglo does. Make as you damn well please, and accept that the result may be a lower showing in the polls than the quality of the unit would seem to indicate.

I really slaved over this troll unit. I made multiple animations, custom sounds which are synched to match the animations, etc... The unit is highly animated. It is, in my opinion, my best unit yet. But, it is probably going to lose this the competition. While my fun, but not quite as good (again personal opinion) viking did win. He was a human male and fairly convetional. Took 1/3 the time to put him together less than 1/3 the time to animate. The sounds were easy. The troll was maybe 10times the work once you add up all the little bits and pieces.
While with the easier unit, I was either leading or contending in the polls from start to finish (was back and forth with Navydawg's Sherrif as I recall). While with this far more challenging and better unit I have only been in contention occasionally.. Last I checked I was looking to finish no better than third... and grateful for the support that allowed a troll to even make a token effort to break the curse greenskins.

Cheer up. And try what I said. You will no doubt be pleasently surprised.

 

[Yorgos]

Is that epidemic Hikaro? Barwnos made a similar announcement on the PCX poll thread. I still think these completions are mostly for fun and no one should be hurted for not winning. Though I understand the feeling that you're not rewarded for your efforts, not getting many replies or votes doesn't mean that your work isn't appreciated. Thus I would like both of you to keep publishing your work and joining the completions. They would be much poorer without your entries, after all.

 

[Mirc]

@Hikaro,

The fact that your units do not get votes in this competition should in no way discourage you from releasing new ones. The whole point of this competition is to encourage further creations, not to stop people from releasing those who don't rank highest here.

I hope you will change your mind in the near future.

Edit: Crosspost with the 2 posts above. I don't know why I took me so much to post this...

 

[NavyDawg]

HT, don't use this poll as a baseline for people's interest in your units. If users could have more than one vote, I think it would look 100% different. I've d/l'ed every unit you have made and use them in a variety of mods. Your originality is refreshing and always appreciated.

 

[Mirc]

Agreed with NavyDawg (and with Bjornlo and Yorgos). If you could have more than one vote or if you could give points to units in the competition, the results would be very different.

 

[Stormrage]

Honestly, Hikaro, I can`t imagine your units (or LHs) anywhere else than in the FFmod. They are made specificaly for it and it shows. I wish you had more free time to create something for the "pop culture of unit consumers", but since you listed all those things that keep you buisy, I`m just gonna enjoy Cam & the gang`s PDMs, my favorite unit type, and wait patiently for your mod.

I`m sorry to see you leave the competitions, more entries, more fun for us voters, but you really need to change your race horses. On the other hand, I`d much rather see you stay true to yourself and your style than "waste" time on some competition, thats only for fun.

Sorry if I got lost along the text

Xpost with Mirc, Dawg and Yogurt