Battle Craft - mod in development

[Relinquished]

Battle craft is a mod by Relinquished, P3374H, and Apollo_13.

(sorry for the weird formating, It looked good in notepad, I just don't know how to keep the format).

We're hoping to make a mod that has a playing style like War Evo. but also involves some OTA style, where you can build some buildings and attack units. But to win, you almost have to use your main unit.

I've tested all the ideas for weapons and such, some may seem weird, but they work.

FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO READ, PAST HERE IS JUST THE UNIT LIST.

Currently the unit list looks like this:

Races: (all races and units need names) -
All command units (even the air specialty one) are tanks.
Command tanks are the strongest unit in the game, but huge swarms of attack units should be able to take one down.
The focus of this mod is around combat like in War Evolution, but it also allows players to build some light defences and attack units.
Some units (all the command tanks do) have two weapon sets, selectable with the on/off feature. Most of these weapons use the
same turrets, they just fire a different type of weapon. For example, when on, a rocket tank may fire 1 rocket every 4 seconds, but
when off, the same tank will fire half strength rockets (1 per 2 seconds).

Laser Specialty (name needed) - uses laser weapons, good balance of speed and power

* Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- fusion generator (creates energy)
- heavy laser defence (good against ground)
- light laser defence (good against air)
- factory (produces attack units)
- heavy laser tank (good against ground)
- light laser tank (good against air)
- laser ground/air attack plane (2 turrets, 1 good against ground, 1 good against air)

Fire Specialty (name needed) - uses fire weapons, more powerfull than fast

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- solar collector (creates energy)
- flame turret (medium against ground and air)
- anti swarm flame turret (two weak flamethrowers)
- factory (produces attack units)
- light flame tank (single flamethrower tank)
- heavy flame tank (twin flamethrower tank)
- fast flame tank (good against air)

Lighning Specialty (name needed) - uses lightning weapons, faster than strong

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- particle accelerator (creates energy)
- light lightning turret (good against air)
- heavy lightning turret (good against ground)
- factory (produces attack units)
- fast lightning plane (good against air)
- ground attack lightning plane (good against ground)
- mobile lighning tank (good against ground)

Plasma Specialty (name needed) - uses plasma weapons, stronger than fast

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- solar generator (creates energy)
- flak cannon (good against air)
- plasma cannon (good against ground)
- factory (produces attack units)
- flak tank (good against air)
- plasma tank (good against ground)
- bomber plane (good against ground)

Rocket Specialty (name needed) - uses rocket/missile weapons, good balance of speed and power

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- solar collector (creates energy)
- missile tower (good against air)
- rocket tower (good against ground)
- factory (produces attack units)
- fighter plane (good against air)
- rocket tank (good against ground)
- missile tank (good against air)

========== everything after here is for later, finish top five races first ==========

Power Specialty (name needed) - very strong, very slow

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- fusion plant (creates energy)
- heavy rocket tower (good against ground)
- heavy missile tower (good against air)
- factory (produces attack units)
- heavy laser tank (good against ground)
- heavy flakker fighter (good against air)
- heavy bomber plane (good against ground)

Speed Specialty (name needed) - very fast, very weak

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- solar generator (creates energy)
- light laser defence (good against air)
- rocket defence (good against ground)
- factory (produces attack units)
- fast plasma tank (good against ground)
- missile tank (good against air)
- fast lightning fighter (good against air)

Air Specialty (name needed) - most units are air based

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal) - can we try to make this unit look like it's flying? (just an elevated ground unit?)
- solar generator (creates energy) - can we try to make this unit look like it's flying? (just an elevated ground unit?)
- medium laser defence (good against ground) - can we try to make this unit look like it's flying? (just an elevated ground unit?)
- missile defence (good against air) - can we try to make this unit look like it's flying? (just an elevated ground unit?)
- factory (produces attack units) - can we try to make this unit look like it's flying? (just an elevated ground unit?)
- bomber plane (good against ground)
- laser fighter (medium anti air/ground)
- missile figer (good against air)

Ground Specialty (name needed) - most units ground based

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- particle accelerator (creates energy)
- flame tower (good against ground)
- flakker turret (good against air)
- factory (produces attack units)
- flakker tank (good against air)
- lightning tank (good against ground)
- missile tank (medium anti air/ground)

Artillery Specialty (name needed) - most units designed for long range strikes

Command Tank (two weapon sets, on/off)
- metal extractor (creates metal)
- solar collector (creates energy)
- anti air laser (good against air)
- rocket defence (good against ground)
- factory (produces attack units)
- plasma artillery tank (long range plasma)
- rocket tank (long range rockets - fly randomly, like the arm rocket spider's rockets)
- missile fighter (good against air)

And yes, you read correctly, there are going to be 10 races. Before we get to work on the last 5, I want to get the first 5 fully working.

Right now we have P3374H moddling/texturing all the units, Apollo_13 is doing the sound effects. And Relinquished is doing the scripting/weapon files and unit files.

We will (hopefully) be releasing the first version with at least some semi-working units, enough so that you can get a feel for what the finished mod will be like, by the 25th of August.

[Peet]

If someone would kindly do some unit design (concept sketches and such), it would make things go much faster, as currently, I'm doing both design and modelling.

[AF]

people always set up a build tech tree before they've even posted unit designs. It should be the other way round. You should design your units then build the techtree then modify the units accordingly.

[unpossible]

is it going to be centred around static bases or mobile bases?
will some of the specialities have dramatically different play styles apart from the different weapons (eg all terrain, hovering, more 'mobile' bases)?

are these planes going to be seriously weak compared to the commanders? (the bombers for instance might be a little overpowered against certain other factions)

what kind of scale are the units/how many of them will there be in a standard game, 10's or 100's? (i think tens would be better...more tactical value for each one, but that makes buildtimes difficult to manage unless you deviate from the standard resource system quite a bit. commander for supply supplemented by mexxes?)

[HawkMan]

"people always set up a build tech tree before they've even posted unit designs. It should be the other way round. You should design your units then build the techtree then modify the units accordingly."

You must never have learnt programming or system desing at uni.

You plan FIRST, then you start working on the pretty details. designign units before you even know what units you're goign to need and use. that's a bad idea. and probably the single biggest reason many TA mods died.
there was never a plan just ideas like
"ooh this unit would be cool" and "ooh this thing looks cool, wonder what we can use that for".

He's starting the right way. idea and a basic list for a v 0.1 of a workign mod first, then you can come out with the design ideas and start modeling and creatign the mods.

If more mods would be started this way, they'd be finished a lot faster and they'd be balanced a lot earlier too :p

[j5mello]

i think what AF is trying to get at is that checking to see if ur unit designs can even work in spring is important. Spring has a lot of "unique" features and foibles that a designer needs to know before they set out on trying to make a mod.

For instance i don't think any type of flamethrower weapon will be good as anti-air. I ve never tested it but i have a feeling that they would't be very effective.

Oh HawkMan can new members not use quotes or something? ive noticed in ur posts that u don't actually use the quote function. Much easier to read if u use the quote function.

[Guessmyname]

mod designing != programming

programming is a part of mod designing

[Peet]

For instance i don't think any type of flamethrower weapon will be good as anti-air. I ve never tested it but i have a feeling that they would't be very effective.

We're only doing the first 5 (all ground based) races for now, we MIGHT (read: probably won't) get to the next 5 anytime soon.

[Snipawolf]

o.0 I already got mine planned but no units

level 1 = infantry, light vehicles

level 2 = light-medium vehicles,

level 3 = heavy vehicles, light-medium mechs

level 4 = heavy mechs, really heavy vehicles

level 5 = Super weapons

Note these may be subject to change...

[Peet]

This thread is for BC discussion, not general modding discussion >_<

[j5mello]

For instance i don't think any type of flamethrower weapon will be good as anti-air. I ve never tested it but i have a feeling that they would't be very effective.

We're only doing the first 5 (all ground based) races for now, we MIGHT (read: probably won't) get to the next 5 anytime soon.

The fire race is one of the top five and u list a flamethrower weapon as an anti-air weapons yes? that is what im talking about. Unless the Fire Specialty Race should be listed there?

[Aun]

You plan FIRST, then you start working on the pretty details. designign units before you even know what units you're goign to need and use. that's a bad idea. and probably the single biggest reason many TA mods died.

The main reason that many Spring mods have died is because they make a plan and... stop.

[Snipawolf]

Agree with aun, I think a flamer AA weapon would look weird

[PK Maximoo]

An incendiary missile of some kind might be appropriate.

[unpossible]

An incendiary missile of some kind might be appropriate.

wouldn't be too difficult...nothing to worry about.
planning first is definately a good thing but as it's been said you WILL encounter weird problems. unless you copy already existsing mods and just change the graphics...but that's not much fun .
have a play and most of all keep it simple

[Peet]

For instance i don't think any type of flamethrower weapon will be good as anti-air. I ve never tested it but i have a feeling that they would't be very effective.

We're only doing the first 5 (all ground based) races for now, we MIGHT (read: probably won't) get to the next 5 anytime soon.

The fire race is one of the top five and u list a flamethrower weapon as an anti-air weapons yes? that is what im talking about. Unless the Fire Specialty Race should be listed there?

The flamer units would probably have air only attack missiles as a secondary.
And, now that I'm fully paying attention, I do see that there are some other air units...go Peter...

[SwiftSpear]

people always set up a build tech tree before they've even posted unit designs. It should be the other way round. You should design your units then build the techtree then modify the units accordingly.

EWEWEWEWEWEWEW!

This statement is VERY NOT endorsed by the principles of intelligent game design.

i think what AF is trying to get at is that checking to see if ur unit designs can even work in spring is important. Spring has a lot of "unique" features and foibles that a designer needs to know before they set out on trying to make a mod.

For instance i don't think any type of flamethrower weapon will be good as anti-air. I ve never tested it but i have a feeling that they would't be very effective.

Oh HawkMan can new members not use quotes or something? ive noticed in ur posts that u don't actually use the quote function. Much easier to read if u use the quote function.

I think the problem there is bad unit design once you get around to designing your units, not bad overall design practices. Building your build tree you should leave yourself open enough by using common sense design principles and building based on gameplay, not story or coolness. If you need an AA unit design your unit as an AA unit considering all limitations and only consider your storyline/plot last. It's absolutely PARAMOUNT that you have your build tree's designed first so you know what units you need and why. A poor build tree that just fudges a bunch of incoherently designed units together crushes a game. Units need to ebb and flow with each other in a well designed RTS, this is impossible unless you know the roles the units you are designing need to fill before you design them.

New forum users have the ability to use BBS code functions, I think it's more likely that they just don't know how to use them and aren't familiar with forum structures.

[SwiftSpear]

Moved from other thread:

So basically the premise is lots and lots and lots of playable races with small unit/building sets? It's interesting... I'll reserve final judgments until I play it but it's not the kind of project I would be interested in working on...

[Optimus Prime]

We're hoping to make a mod that has a playing style like War Evo

hm when i read your mod concept i can see none parallels except the point that you can switch weapons and that you have a stronger unit right after start.
War Evo is planned as a team game. The classes in a team are all nearly as usefull as the others, but all play very different. So a team with only engineers is very bad at attacking and would lose against a team of flamers if both have the same skill. So a mixed group is the key to a win (after 150 or more games i think i can say that).
This mod sounds more like a modified EE or AA variant with a super commander at start.
This is only one (big) difference between both mods.

But wish you good luck with this! The more mods, the better

[unpossible]

but if you actively limit the number of units you can get then you'll have a more restrained battle type that'll focus on the units you have instead of building masses and masses.

limit the numbers by making all units use metal when on (without making them onoffable?). without metal income you won't be able to build any more, effectively putting a cap on the population.

metal income from two/three places
1: the Com is big and produces some hefty resources (enough to build it's protectiong squad)
2: the com can plant some mexxes to supplement these resources enough to create more squaddies, but not that many.
3: use Geo's as advanced mex sites (modify the geo to give a fixed amount of metal)

you could even set a maturity time on freshly built units that could paralyse them (with script sleeps) for a little while after they're built..though i'm not sure what that could be used for specifically.

that should stop the game turning into AA without the unit variety
also keep the scale large