14-01-2003 12:38									#1
	List of units required Got spare money?

quote: Originally posted by Jeremy Buloch No they aren't they are helping you practice. Well I guess they are kinda useless to the project. Do some game graphics of units. -J.B.-

OK, it's undisputed mention what units will be 3D models crafted in .3ds file format. Not especialy funny format, but it will do.
So I, among other StPDT artists (anybody home?), need several things to know. Not a lot of things, though.
1) How moving parts of the units must be handled (distinct tri-mesh chunks in the only .3ds, different .3ds etc)
2) Texture format (.png, .tga or any other loseless. Or possible lossy?)
3) Texture palletes? How units of different factions will be "colored" (specific texture index, rectangular patch with faction logo somewhere etc.)
4) Texture size (256x256, 512x512 etc).
5) Texture mapping: UV is the best, but some parts may require more simplistic view; also, texture mapping for multipart units (single atlas or multiple)
6) Some prototype animation (not for 0.0.1-alpha version, of course, but start thinking about this)

And, last but not least, what units must be created ASAP for game consistency (may be not especialy fancy, like placeholders for the future fore broad range of units).

	17-01-2003 13:31									#2
	Inflate your Upload Space

Does this ignorance mean that StP currently requires no unit models?

	17-01-2003 14:05									#3
	Support Apolyton

There's no ignorance, Targon. Replies don't always come within the first minutes or hours after the thread was posted.

1. No comments. Someone else who knows that better could suggest something.
2. PNG images. This has been decided previously as stated a few months ago.
3. Hmm... I don't have any answer to this one.
4. This is solemly up to the graphics team.
5. I guess it's agreed then, unless someone has something better to propose on that one.
6. That would give a better idea the models, IMO. BTW, the version numbering goes like this:
alpha versions ... Alpha 1-x
beta versions ... 0.1-0.x
stable versions ... 1.x-1.x

	17-01-2003 14:50									#4
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

quote: Originally posted by Rasbelin There's no ignorance, Targon. Replies don't always come within the first minutes or hours after the thread was posted.

Er... days? This thread was started 14.01. OK, never mind.
The thing I suspect to recieve is something like "light tank, heavy tank, IFV, MRLS, APC, naval carrier, .... .... .... "

	17-01-2003 15:16									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

oh you want to what kind of units we need?

	17-01-2003 15:23									#6
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Yes, I the game without units will look strange, isn't it?

	17-01-2003 15:37									#7
	Full PM-box? Change here!

duh well maybe start with a colonization unit? and simple garrison units? but i dont have a clue about how they look like

	17-01-2003 15:43									#8
	Increase Your PM Length

What garrison units, BTW? I've seen some people in the StPDT list entitled "writers"; possible, they have a clue. I need't especialy detailed explanations, just a unit list with (it's good while not required) short suggestions on their general outlook ("15 m length heavy tank with two turrets and something missile-launcing" would be nice)

	17-01-2003 15:44									#9
	Got spare money?

ah ok give me a day and i will have some of those ready....come back tonight or tomorrow and i will some

	17-01-2003 17:23									#10
	Increase Your PM Length

As I'm away for the weekend, I'll have time too, so I'll try to come up with some unit descriptions too. I'll also try poking a few of the other graphics artists as we need them to wake up too. Hopefully Blake could also come up with his ideas and wishes.

	17-01-2003 17:40									#11
	Inflate your Upload Space

What? We do have other graphics artists? (*targon peeking into sourceforge page*) Wow! Lot of people! Poke them, Rasblelin, I can't do this alone.
BTW, these guys has missed couple of interesting conversations, including model format case study and some others. This lazyness delays development of the StP a lot. I think that StP is getting old for its progress level.
OK, folks, thanks for feedback. Merry weekend.

	17-01-2003 17:59									#12
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

* Rasbelin pokes them by e-mail.

Hopefully they understand the importance of this work.

	17-01-2003 20:07									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Look in the Unit think tank thread and it will provide some units but I dont have any time now so I cant provide the descriptions to all of them. Maybe later.
-J.B.-

	18-01-2003 01:46									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Garrison patrol

Consist out of 5 to 10 standard soldiers. Armed with standard 12mm high powered semi automatic weapons. Light padded body armor. One squad leader and one comminations officer stand out among the other soldiers.

Job-description:
Protect base region that they are stationed in against outside attack and act as police force when necessary.

reckon flyer

this is a light prop aircraft with up front a big bulb for the pilot and 3 observers. It has on its back an big radar, and on its belly it has equipment to make 3d maps and observe ground configuration. It has no armor or weapons. Data is directly transmitted to nearest military command.

Job-description:
it is used to extent air radar cover outside populated areas. It has besides that also the ability to map newly found land and sea while also doing a preliminary survey of the ground configuration especially looking for valuable water springs and minerals deposits. Extensive ground surveys need to be done by a geological survey team. It doesn’t have any weapons or armor

geological survey team
it is a semi wheeled truck filled with a team of experts on ground analysis. The truck itself has all the equipment onboard to fully survey the surroundings. Such as a drill and seismic ground analyzer. It also have limited mapmaking abilities. They can work fully independent of any command center and will work very fast. It doesnt have any defensive capabilities


Job-description:*
before the ground can be used at utmost efficiency you will need to know what the ground is made of. A geological survey team will study just that. It makes detailed reports about what the ground is made up of. It also searched for anomalies in the ground configuration. Like underground springs and mineral deposits. It cant give any information about native flora and fauna except if about ground fertility.

biological survey team*
it is a wheeled truck filled with a team of experts on flora and fauna. It has its own laboratory onboard to analyze samples. It also has 2 armed guards to protect it self against small threats but is has no armor. They can work fully independent of any command center and will work very fast.



Job-description:
to know something about native flora and fauna you will need this teams. It can get precise information about plant life and also about animals


* could mixed them up into one unit

	19-01-2003 06:40									#15
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

communications satellite

headquarters unit (must have 1 per army)

tactical fighter

basic infantry

light vehicle

tank

theatre ballistic missile

a bunch of other basic, modern-day stuff

	20-01-2003 12:11									#16
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

OK, thanks. I hope that units will be used in the game, rather than trashed, at least for now.
*targon downloading this page to Zip drive for use as documentation*
Under way.

	20-01-2003 14:09									#17
	Put an end to popups!

I come up with something more when I'm back, but here's a few.

Land and air

Anti-aircraft missiles
Anti-tank missiles
Armed personnel carrier
Scout
Light tank
Heavy tank
Bomber (stealth or something abit more developed)
Fighter (same as above)
Artillery (doesn't sound too futuristic, but will most likely be available in the future too)
Transport helicopter (transportation of unit stacks)
Transport airplane (same as above)

Naval

Transport (transportation of unit stacks)
Submarine (could be several different if you have any good ideas; nuclear powered and light?)
AEGIS cruiser (or something improved)
Battleship (sounds old fashioned, but these are valuable )

That's about it for now.

P.S. I didn't copy these units from civ. I'm more of an eager Panzer General player.

	20-01-2003 14:13									#18
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Under way.

	20-01-2003 20:31									#19
	Support Apolyton

why didnt you say all you need is a name.....i could come up with names too.....but nooooooo.....i had to write an intire discription......blah

	22-01-2003 12:27									#20
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

DBTS, you units are simply the 1st in my queue. It's completely due to your descriptons. Calm down.

	22-01-2003 13:40									#21
	Garrison infantry, work in progress Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Here is a really wierd rendering of the infantry model. Texturing is ~%50% done, needs some "features" like platoon signs and various small details. For curious, this character pose is usualy selected as so-called "rest position", as you could easily access any part of the model; later, this approach leads to so-called "posing" via "bones", "scelegons", "weight maps" and other arcane stuff. For realtime rendering, bone/skin animation may be an overkill, so we may fall back to simple "part pivot" animation.

Attachment: inf.jpeg
This has been downloaded 52 time(s).

	22-01-2003 14:10									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Here is its mesh:

Attachment: infantry.zip
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	22-01-2003 14:11									#23
	Put an end to popups!

...And texture, if someone is interested

Attachment: infantry.png
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	23-01-2003 15:45									#24
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

OK, now this guy is a bit improved, but I think there isn't direct necessity to waste apolyton server once more.
DBTS! Coming soon: recon flyer. Film at 11

	23-01-2003 15:51									#25
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Oops, somewhat offtopic, but I have some prior expertice in animation. Not a big, though. So, if we (a) will have nobody to use in this way && (b) this is really required (starnge for downloadable game) && (c) StPDT will beg me really hard, I'll try to animate something. Again, we should better apply someone else, but I'm Graphics Manager now and need to do a lot of dirty work anyway

	23-01-2003 15:55									#26
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

BTW, the guy above weights something around 490 triangles. Could anyone from the coder team say how big or low it is according to their estimates?

	23-01-2003 17:15									#27
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I'm not an expert, but it seems to be a little bit to much. It's quite simple unit but it's 490 tr. And maybe we wil have thousands of units on 1 map...

	23-01-2003 18:42									#28
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

yeah.....i got a unit.....btw....because they are urban soldiers green may not be there color......and yeah next unit is underconstruction

	24-01-2003 12:05									#29
	Full PM-box? Change here!

OK, Ok. You said "urban". Then, they must be gray/black or so, right? It isn't especialy easy to change their color scheme, but it isn't hard either.
Thanks for feedback.

	24-01-2003 12:08									#30
	Recon flyer, v.1 Remove this text

Here is some sample renderings of the recon flyer, as I imagine it. Of course, "flyer" term isn't much descreptive (that is it, helicopter, jet plane or something other?), so don't blame on me.

Attachment: recon_show.jpeg
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