Ufo Design

[Vaaish]

Well, firstly I am talking about 2 seperate models, one entire model for all the floor and 1 model for the wall chunk curving down to the floor. Basically the reason is that it is going to be very difficult to replace the model exactly where the previous one went without leaving a seam hense causing unnecessary clipping problems between the walls. In this way whatever new models are created will be completly offset by the lack of a destroyed tile model for each wall tile we have, that could get very complicated.

 

I personally think that this is a good idea, will save work and space when it comes to peeps downloading which is a good idea. Considering the only real way to destroy UFO walls is from the UFO crashing IIRC then it should be a good enough effect considering the bonuses we can get by doing this.

ok, I se what you mean now. so one model is only the floor tiles or the entire floor and the second is the wall chunks that are placed around hte edges of the floor model. That would probably be the most efficient at making the interior with the fewest pieces.

 

Also think about having ceiling cap pieces, could even use the floor and retexture it.

 

at the very least the top of the wall needs to look like it's supporting a ceiling.

[Cpt. Boxershorts]

Are we going to have destructable ufo floors? If so, It can't be in one piece then, right?

 

As for my 'ridges' idea...rather then physical ridges (which I understand about being to difficult), could it be textured in?

 

-The Captian

[Guest Jim69]

Well, nothing is impossible and if it is a seperate model then it could happen, it's not like we are rushed here we have a good couple of years to get all the models done and the UFO's are a big part of that, they have to look good because you see them nearly every mission and spend a lot of time traversing around them. I think the biggest concern would be poly count.

 

AFAIK the floor is indestructable, I never remember being able to blow it up I only remember the UFO walls being destroyed when they are blown to crap and crash land.

 

I was giving some thought to the ceiling. What if we use where the rings intersect with each other as an oppotunity to put a pillar system in? They mostly intersect at points that could be used for that purpose and on the large scout drawn the only additions would be towards the back of the craft, possibly having the powersource merge into both the floor and ceiling?

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Well, I think you are right about the floors Jim. They were invlunerable. IIRC that is.

 

But I remember blowing ufo walls down with 2-3 well-placed blaster bombs.

[Guest Jim69]

Well, I guess the remaining question would be how would UFO walls look when they are destroyed?

[Breunor]

I would stay away from debris chunks, rather have the walls melted down. Like the alloy's compounds just broke down and started to melt away. Ever burn the end of a nylon rope? You could have that almost-polished, melted look along the upper edge of the remains, with a scarred texture on what remains of the sides perhaps. The wall could be about ankle high, or as high as a step so we know the units can get over it.

[Guest Jim69]

The problem being that if we do that the above problems are still relevent. Maybe the problem could be solved by replacing the wall chunk with a pile of goo that is the alloy wall and have a scarred texture on the walls either side. Then only 1 extra model is required and we save ourselves the time and effort, and space, of having a destroyed chunk for each wall section.

 

Edit: Maybe this goo could stick to the soldier foot prints and put a texture on the floor as they walk, it could fade the more steps they take.

Edited September 30, 2003 by Jim69

[Breunor]

That's a good point, a generic 'puddle o goo' would be the easiest option, so long as it looks good when you have several of them next to each other. The tracks could be interesting too, are you thinking of something like the balistae tracks in Warcraft3? They stick around for like 5 seconds then fade away. It could be interesting, but you'd have to determine if a foot hit it, and then track those details for the duration, unlike the War3 version where it's a constant thing during movement. Probably more programming than it's worth IMO, possible v1+ item tho.

[Guest Jim69]

True about the goo. Would need a few models so they don't look too generic as well. Not sure if it would be best to have quite a small puddle on the floor and just have it be 40 odd poly's with an oil like texture. If it sort of mounded then it could look alright next to each other, would need some experimentation to work out. Maybe the best option would be to create smoke around the piles to hide the defeciencies of them being next to each other, that would sure solve the problem.

 

Can anyone actually say for certain if they remember interior walls in a UFO being destructable by a human rather than them just crashing?

[j'ordos]

IIRC interior walls could be demolished by heavy plasma's, at least (never tried the rifles ), and BB's for sure.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Found it! Here is a floor plan, based on J'ordos' medium scout floor plan, which was itself based on Himmler's medium scout concept. My head hurts.

[Puasonen]

Nice picture you have there

Well it's clear enough to get the idea and if not, check this out:

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?sh...t=0entry59065

 

And see the j'ordos' picture there..

[Kamikazee]

i didn't read the previous posts here so if this makes no sense then ignore it.

for terror ships i thout you could have a small base (so it can land in terror missions and save space. and then the top layer or two of the ship would be much wider with alien elevators in each corner so troops could be dropped straight into the city with a devastating effect.

* = lift

 

bottom Top

_______ _____________________

I I I I

I I I * * I

I_______I I I

I I

I I

I I

I * * I

I____________________ I

i guees making pics with text dont work

ill post an image later

Edited January 29, 2004 by Kamikazee

[Kamikazee]

well here it is! the red blobs are lifts and the arrows represent the mutons jumping out onto sombody's house

[[[Micah]]]

If you want spaces, you have to type these characters without the dashes: &-n-b-s-p for each space.

[Kamikazee]

yeah me knows, non breaking space.

i just thought that this being a forum it would let me do more than one space

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I like that idea! Plus, it looks a lot like the delivery method of the Xcom 1 intro!

 

Edit: Here is a color coded concept of the insides.

 

Colors:

Blue=Door

Dull Yellow=X-122 Power Source

Green= Gravlift up

Red=Gravlift stop (connected to a gravlift up on the previous level)

Grey and White=Walls

Purple=Special Terrorist deployment hatches.

Edited January 29, 2004 by Cpl. Facehugger

[Puasonen]

Why would aliens make it so hard to get in upper levels? One lift up, walk through the whole ship, one lift up, again walk through the whole ship, one lift up...

Makes no sense Would you make a ship like that?

 

I get your point though, this would be harder and more interesting to play at.

[Whitewashed]

Why would aliens make it so hard to get in upper levels? One lift up, walk through the whole ship, one lift up, again walk through the whole ship, one lift up...

Makes no sense  Would you make a ship like that?

The aliens surely have twisted minds that go beyond the human common sense :o

[Breunor]

I've always been partial to the chokepoint/kill pocket idea. You have a small air lock kind of room with a single entry from there, and a much larger area beyond that. As you step through you would likely be greeted by several aliens that are spread out in an overwatch position.

[Anthraxus]

Also, since we are trying to make V1 close to the original Xcom, it harkens back to the original UFO floorplans.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

See! It is a good idea!

 

And as for the sheer madness of walking around in something like that... We can say that the terror ship was designed to be really hard to attack.

Hmm...Perhaps the small ships have less chokepoints and other aggressive defensive features, while the bigger ones are deliberately hard to attack? Just a thought to stick with my make big ufos more aggressive and darker in color idea.

[Kamikazee]

bot wouldn't the aliens want large spaces to carry troops? maybe a big metal door which you must blast down to get into the ship?

[Whitewashed]

Well I think the exuse that the aliens want to make their ships hard to attack is way off. The aliens think they are superiour, they think they're invincible. They don't count on getting their crafts shot down or being attacked straight on while on missions.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

How do you know?

 

Hmm, we could explain it away as that sort of arrangement is aesthetically pleasing to the overmind.

[j'ordos]

Well, maybe those UFO's aren't designed specifically against us, but they're the standard alien design, and designed for every eventuality, like superior enemies (nothing like mankind, mind you )

[Cpl. Facehugger]

*Cough, former Vaaish race Cough*

[Kamikazee]

this is off topic but.

wouldn't it be cool if enemy and xcom craft had automated defense turrets.

eg. that entreance room at the bottom of the ship could have a turret in the center defending the room. in order to defeat it you have to pick the door that will come out behind it (or get slaughtered)

[Puasonen]

I've always been partial to the chokepoint/kill pocket idea. You have a small air lock kind of room with a single entry from there, and a much larger area beyond that. As you step through you would likely be greeted by several aliens that are spread out in an overwatch position.

Do you remember the medium - harvester ufo from the original? It perfectly fits your descriptions

That's a good idea..

[demich]

Maybe when they realize that they aren't superior they will start using ufos that are harder to capture. Aliens will build their ships by creating chokepoints etc.