Core Construction Vehicle +1

[Fanger]

AF warlord's point was that the vehicle itself follows general conventions that can be understood by people, such as the layout of the vehicle, and its manner of propulsion.. given this the best way to relate its function to people is again the use of a convention that can be understood by people.. Regardless if this makes sense based on the actual "fluff" of said universe or a thought experiment on how that universe would function or progress through history..

[Warlord Zsinj]

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up, Fanger.

My argument was on a game-logic basis, not a game-backstory basis. The relevance of sci-fi universes lies in it's distortion from the world we live in, not it's total abstraction. Artistically, players are more likely to identify and to recognise/understand a unit with tracks as a heavy tank, a unit with a cockpit/cab at the front as it's 'front', and a yellow coloured unit with warning stripes on it as a construction unit.

[Zpock]

Another thing to consider is that artistically it can be problematic to put on color on stuff. The "gray metal" usually comes out ahead in "coolness", over colorful. Also when you alredy have teamcolor and details like the red stripes on the front, you need to be careful of the "gay rainbow" effect that makes it even harder to beat some metallic shades. However next to blue, yellow is probably the easiest color to get working. For example the protoss stuff in starcraft is all yellow and goes fine with teamcolor and blue crystals. Also note that teamcolor doesnt have to be some neon colors, a player can perfectly well choose white, black, beige or something like that so I don't think you should worry about teamcolor making things look like ass.

Also I really see no need to follow TA graphics religiously like people do with s44, gundam or starwars... Really most of it is just some random texture squares thrown togethet... Big berthas and vulcans made of bricks anyone? Just copy it as a base but change anything whenever it comes to mind if it looks good and increases clarity.

[Warlord Zsinj]

While I think it's reasonably clear that steel, metal and gunmetal are essential elements of any warmachine, and as a base colour they work well - you have to be really careful about your units being too grey. Those definitely wash out at a distance, and what's more, they don't feel real either. Real military units do have colour on them, if it's the dirt on the tracks, the finished paint job on the barrel, the warning sign on the side, etc etc. A good metal texture needs to be broken up by areas of colour. It's up to the skill of the particular texturer to make sure it doesn't look like a rainbow. A tinted metal texture also works nicely, such as a navy blue, or a dark green/olive.

[Warlord Zsinj]

Here's a closer look at one of my yellow coloured con units

Hope this attach function offers a thumbnail rather then the whole pic...

[Zpock]

Yeah putting some small amount of color in the metal instead of plain gray is always great idea. I was talking more about full on saturated color like how I colored the construction vehicle.

[yuritch]

...Also I really see no need to follow TA graphics religiously like people do with s44, gundam or starwars...

Explain that please. What in S'44 is 'following TA graphics religiously'? S'44 units are quite accurate representation of real-world vehicles, where's TA graphics in that?

[Gnomre]

He's not saying S44 is like TA, he's saying that S44 (as well as SWS and gundam) follow things already designed in detail. His point is that TA isn't exactly the same level, especially since most of the art consists of low-poly models and a handful of high-poly renders, so it's easier to deviate from it.

[Zpock]

Yeah exactly, it was meant to say that s44 etc follow references accurately.

[yuritch]

Well, must be a language problem on my part then (English isn't my primary lang). My apologies.

[TheRegisteredOne]

chip the paint at the edges

this is what I mean: