NanoBlobs 0.41 + NTAI 8.0.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 02 Apr 2006, 17:30

It *should* be scary- it's the Demon

AF · Post by AF » 02 Apr 2006, 17:36

Watching a game against NTAI on green comet basic I could see a mass of square rooks I had marching towards the enemy with lots of knights in and amongst and it reminded me a lot of the shot of the monkey lord with the smaller cybran spiders scurrying around them.

If another unit much bigger than the square rook was there it'd look sooo much better though showing off the sheer scale of the larger unit.

Also as for square rooks being an offensive unit but it not working out that way, I find that once a few knights get close to the thing it gets blown up in seconds, a single knight can blow it up in 5 secs.....

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 02 Apr 2006, 17:43

Yeah, Knights *should* counter Squares. If you're not countering Knights with massed Archers, then your attacking units will tend to get blunted pretty easily.

As for size... I can't go much higher, until Spring supports better pathing and 3D collision detection. Just won't work, the way things are right now. I can make things like Wolves smaller, but then they'd be practically invisible.

I have two last units planned for this mod, then I'm working on a point-based game, where people have only what they can deploy at the beginning, and no more, tabletop wargame style. Which should present a whole new set of challenges for AI developers, among other things

Archangel of Death · Post by **Archangel of Death** » 02 Apr 2006, 22:56

...

then I'm working on a point-based game, where people have only what they can deploy at the beginning, and no more, tabletop wargame style.

Argh, I shamelessly accuse you have taken that straight from my B-Tech plans.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 02 Apr 2006, 23:19

... then just get it done- it's not like I don't have other ideas

Heck... you could use 3DO Bleacher and get all the mecha from MechPack Improved (see my website) ... steal a few tanks, infantry and APCs from various 3rd-party unit packs, and you'd be 90% of the way to a basic, starting Battletech mod, if you're not obsessive-compulsive about stealing... er, I mean, "faithfully adhering to" FASA/Wizkid's art (not that they ever really bothered to be visually consistant, other than the work of Mr. Loose). Really- building a mod that re-uses existing units and stuff is very easy. I built the initial NanoBlobs (0.1, which had terrible gameplay) in about 3 hours, while basically giving instructions to a friend the entire time. So long as you aren't concerned with scripting (which is, really, pretty easy to get around, for a lot've things) you can build mods with old content really fast, so long as they were built well in the first place.

Don't like the shiny colors? A lot've people never got what I was doing with that (long story short, it was an experiment with OTA's shading system, and I was actually kicking around dynamic shading through scripts when I lost interest- people just didn't like the gameplay of the mod, which I designed to address a lot've OTA's flaws, and I went on to other things). At any rate, it's no biggie to fix. Just put OTA textures on them- since you don't have to do the false shading, it'd be a snap. They're cleaner, script-wise, than the original versions (by S.T.A.R. and others- they're credited in the FBIs, etc.), and fixing the textures is really trivial- you could do it in an hour or two, if you know what you're doing, and in four if you have to sit down and read the manual for 3DO Builder +

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 02 Apr 2006, 23:39

Yeah...its so damn easy to work on mods that I have ~3 projects running currently. One of them I can probably say is done with, since player interest was non-existant (Low fat FF), but the other two (AATA and Spring Deathmatch) still have a ways to go.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 03 Apr 2006, 00:42

Yup... the only thing that's actually pretty hard, and time-consuming, is making new, pretty models using S3O, new sounds, new animations, and other brand-new content. There isn't any way to make that fast, other than being sloppy or having a lot've artists working on the project at once, who will all meet good quality standards.

Min3mat · Post by **Min3mat** » 03 Apr 2006, 03:49

Yeah, Knights *should* counter Squares. If you're not countering Knights with massed Archers, then your attacking units will tend to get blunted pretty easily.

what about rooks? they own knights (cost for cost)

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 05 Apr 2006, 03:02

I am still preparing 0.4 / 1.0. I have two more units planned, and now that I am aware that certain things will be in the next Spring update, I'm going to wait a bit before releasing it, and begin my next project.

The Demon is done, and I am reasonably happy with it (I made a nice sound-effect for the beam-cannon, and the rocket-launcher's just about right now, but I'll be continuing to test/tweak for awhile), but I will also complete a MegaSheep (I think that there should be a path to increase resource efficiency at the high end, with risks, of course), and I now have the chainguns on the SquareRook, which make it more effective at wading through units on the ground. I think people will enjoy it, although I really don't see anybody playing the mod at all, which is a bit disappointing, given how much work has gone into polishing it. Ah well.

krogothe · Post by **krogothe** » 05 Apr 2006, 10:56

Id love to if my comp could handle it (and i have a 3.5Ghz, its the crappy 5600 FX), or if i was motivated to code KAI atm (since its been unsupported by spring :/)

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 05 Apr 2006, 16:44

As I head to 1.0, I will be developing a slower-paced version for the graphically challenged, that will embrace micro, instead of macro. The faster, default version will remain intact, of course.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 06 Apr 2006, 00:16

Sweet, looking forward to it.

...
Yeah, what he said. My comp doesn't suck, its graphically challenged.

Drone_Fragger · Post by **Drone_Fragger** » 08 Apr 2006, 15:42

Kekekeke more units.

I would of played last week. But i was on holiday.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 27 Apr 2006, 19:57

Mecha Sonic requested that I upload the current build of NanoBlobs (0.34b) to FileUniverse. This has been done.

Here's the link.

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 27 Apr 2006, 20:13

are you sure it is not .35b...?

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 27 Apr 2006, 21:13

Yes. I have heard that somebody is passing around one of the versions of 0.35b that's still on my website. So far as I am concerned, they're welcome to do so, but that is not anything like an official release- it's poorly balanced, and doesn't reflect some of the changes coming with the next official release.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 29 Apr 2006, 20:04

A new unit is born:

This is the Strider. It's definately in keeping with NanoBlobs' design goals, so I'm including it (that, and I hate wasting the effort of building a whole new model and then not using it for something).

The Strider has a gun that fires about as quickly as the Wolf, but does about 4X the damage, in a very limited arc. It is very vulnerable to units above it, units coming at its sides, and to Archers. However, it has enough hitpoints to take a few hits, and if it can open fire, it can take down many units with ease. An interesting tactical weapon, the Strider requires a certain amount of finesse to use, but I suspect that people will find all sorts of niche play for it.

Min3mat · Post by **Min3mat** » 29 Apr 2006, 20:08

a small red square blue triangle and green circle? either u forgot how to make units or you didnt give a proper link :D

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 29 Apr 2006, 20:10

LOL... yer not supposed to catch me mis-writing an image link that fast

Here's a light assault force, capable of taking down many static defenses. With proper screening from Wolves, and distance protection from Archers, Striders are quite capable of opening a hole in a defensive line in a big hurry. I'm not sure they're really balanced yet, but they're definately playing in a very interesting way- like a rapier's point, instead of a hammer. Micro'd, they work very well.

Drone_Fragger · Post by **Drone_Fragger** » 29 Apr 2006, 23:07

The WAlk animation needs work. Its a little odd at the minute.

Can you give a muzzle flash similar to the one in half-life 2? :D

"STIRDEERRRRSS!!!"

*Stab*

*FDie*

Spring RTS Engine

NanoBlobs 0.41 + NTAI 8.0.