Tientia: Naval Engagement

% Complete Estimate: 100%!!! Look for a released map topic REAL soon!

To do list:

Change the sky (new sky, blue moon)
Add custom vehicles, not neccessarily from the Convo Pack (but no MTT's. We can't have units spawning over open water. For the same reason, no command vehicles of any sort.)
Delete GCW mode
Add more units (Tientian Pirate side added and localized! )
Add more props/terrain (volcanoes, even extinct ones, don't have the terrains the map has at the moment. That definitely needs a rework. Also, I'll try to get weeds and whatnot on the basin's floor.)
Diving Tanks


Red = not done
Blue = done
Green = partially done


Well, this will be my second-ever map, and I've changed a few things around to make it (hopefully!) better than the first. For one thing, it has 4 cp's instead of two. Like Maveritchell said in the review of the first one, winning by conquest with two cps isn't much fun.


Now, to address a small thing: to some of you, the name of the map might seem familiar. That is because Tientia: Naval Engagement is essantially the next stage of Kazzaraa. Kazzaraa was a beta. Here is what will be the full version.



Setting:
Tientia was a relatively small and unimportant world in the CW. It resides in a sector known for minor pirate activity. Occasionally, Republic intel drops a few agents in, but the CIS presence there is low, so they take no interest until their scouts report a large gathering of pirates in one of the planet's extinct volcano lakes. Further investigation shows that the small pirate groups in the area have, in a largely un-piratic way, cooperated and agreed to form one large crime sydicate, the Tientian Conglomerate.

Separated, the groups were powerless. United, they start edging toward Separist loyalists. The Republic cannot allow the CIS to gain such a large amount of reinforcements, and so they send down an Aqueous Division of the All-Terrain 364th Legion to wipe them out before anything can start. Upon landing on a lake platform, the troopers realize that they made a large miscalculation. The Conglomerate's forces were larger than Intel anticipated. Harassed, they begin a desperate struggle for their lives upon the lake-base on Tientia IV.



Showcase:

Here is where I point out features that I feel are unique to this map. They might have had a predecessor, but I either never say it or it had problems of a sort that this map manages to bypass. If anyone knows of any predecessors to the things in the showcase, please PM (or post) the link so I can check them out. I learn by example.

Anyway, the showcase:

First off, the map concept. We've had naval battles, yes, but in those cases the word "naval" translated to "space". This is a true naval map in that the battle is fought on water. It exploits the fact that hovering vehicles float just above the water. Each side has hover tanks, barcs/staps, etc., and I will add more from the Convo Pack assets. There are also several Kashyyyk platforms in the center.

It was brought to my attention that a similar map once existed, but I was unable to find it. It used water, but too much water unfortunately crashes the game; so that map used Kamino water, since Kamino is pretty much all water. There were problems with that, mainly that the vehicles sank. This map uses Kashyyyk water, and gets around the problem by putting the setting in a volcano. This tactic allows me to fill just the volcano with real water, make the edges of the cone too high to get over, and paint the outside with normal, extinct-volcano terrain. The vehicles float, the setting is original, the water works and doesn't crash.


Second is something that has been attempted before, but never truly achieved (as far as I know):

Diving units!

I know there is a Mon Calamari map. That map has units, and they are underwater, and they do "swim". But the water is fake, and they have unlimited oxygen (where's the fun in that?). There is also an "underwater" Kamino map that uses the same concept.

My 364th Diving Scuba Trooper is different. For one thing, he dives in real water, not land with a murky and blue lighting. For another, he has a limited supply of oxygen, which is much more realistic, and fun in its own way. It puts an edge to the diving move. When you play Mon Calamari or Kamino: Serene, (and let me stress that they are very well put together and fun maps. I do not mean to demean them) then you're underwater, but it doesn't always feel like it. You can stay there however long you want; indeed, you have to stay there, the entire map is underwater. When you go down to Davy Jones in Tientia, however, you know you won't be staying. You have to keep an eye on your oxygen levels. Under the sea becomes a refuge, a time-out room: a place you can hide in from all the blasters and rockets, but also a place you can never stay in. A forbidden land that accepts you grudgingly.


You might ask yourself, how does Fiodis give a unit a "Diving Bubble Generator"? The answer is really very, very simple. Just give him the Droideka's shield! Then you have a bit of localizing to do, but it's all very simple. As long as you activate the Diving Bubble Generator before you go below, you will have a bubble of "oxygen" around you that supports you in the netherworld of water. You will be able to walk around on the volcano crater-lake's floor among the weeds. This is an idea I'm proud of, because it opens up a whole new lane of possibilities. For instance, my next project after this will use this concept to create - ah, I'm getting ahead of myself. A WIP will be posted on that once it's ready, not before. In the meantime, enjoy Fiodis's 364th Diving Scuba Trooper!


Next along the line in the showcase: an ARC Aqueous, wielding a compressed water rifle. This bit I'm sure has been done before (for instance, the droid on the Old Republic side in the Convo Pack had something similar), but I'm proud of it never the less. I'm so happy with it because it was my first major attempt at odf-editing. I fooled around with the odf's and .tga's and .fx's. I localized and munged it. I was sure it would never work, because I was doing it without any tutorial; but it worked, and I was pleased.


NEW:

A favorite weapon of mine, the "Ice Bolt Caster". Check out the pics below. I created this one by accident. It shoots a stream of "ice discs" at enemies. They stab and stick to vehicles and people, bounce off everything else.

That's all in the showcase for now. More will be added when the % Completion rises somewhat.


And now, a few pics:

364th Air Support Unit: 364th Recon Operative, on a stolen STAP: ARC Aqueous, shooting his compressed water rifle: 364th Diving Scuba Trooper, with his Diving Bubble Generator activated. He's standing on a BARC, floating above the water, preparing to dive. The BARC is operated by another 364th Diving Scuba Trooper. 364th Aqua-Compatible Tank, executing evasive maneuvers: 364th Aqua-Compatable Tank, executing some more intense evasive maneuvers: AAT executing INSANE evasive maneuvers: AAT Popping 6 feet into the air after its underwater evasive tricks: AAT diving 26 meters down to the way bottom: AAT popping 10 feet into the air after its voyage to the crater floor: Same pic as the last one, from a different angle: New sky, with a blue moon: Gungan Diver unit, Bubble Generator on hovering above the water: Gungan Diver unit below the water: New vehicle that replaced the AAT, not sure what to call it: ZeroEditor Screenshot: The Rouge Gungan Spec. Ops.'s unit's Poison Canister Launcher: The Rouge Gungan Spec. Ops.'s unit's Anti-Infantry Laser: The Rouge Gungan Bombardier's Waterspout Grenade: The Rouge Gungan Bombardier's Anti-Tank Orbital Snipe (not strike): Note ~ It does a decent bit of damage, but has a very small damage radius. Perfect for anti-tank maneuvers. Imagine.....run up, place the beacon on the tank, run away. The tank floats off, then is hit by a laser from space. Great sabotage.

The Forward Attack Triwheel (FAT) Droid: The Mercernary's Ice Bolt Caster: The Tientian Slaver: The Pirate Captain, with his Repeating Trail Caster: Note ~ See how he's holding it? Not underhand, not on his shoulder, not like a pistol - like a rifle. Looks good, too.

The Pirate Captain shooting his Repeating Trail Caster: Note ~ Ordance does rifle-style damage, I'm trying to get it to make a splash effect upon impact.

The Pirate Captain throwing his Stick Nade: Note ~ It's a lightsaber handle!



That's all for now. Tune in next time for Tientia: Naval Engagement headlines near you.

Thank you.

*And now, a message from our sponsor:*

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Does the diving suit work like a reversed jetpack or something? and do you have swimming anims or just hovering?

Not sure what you mean by the diving suit. The diving bubble functions as, well, just that - a diving bubble. To get back up, you use the jetpack. Unfortunately, animations are not my area of expertise, so there are no swimming anims - yet. That would be really awesome.

Completion upped to 68 with a little discovery of mine. As far as I know, no one has ever tried to put a tank over really deep water. As a result, no one knows how a tank above really deep water will behave. I can testify that it will be able to roll on it's side, under the water, to avoid enemy missiles. From that position, it can actually dive all the way to the bottom. Check the pics for, well, pics.

EDIT - Pics are uploading, but taking a bit of time. Give me a minute or two.


EDIT 2 - Pics are up.

You definately need to change the sky, perhapes a dark sky, with thunder and rain would look cool. Swiming animations usually look really bad, so i suggest you forget about them. What would be really cool, is if underwater, they had a short tunnel that leads into cave with a secret base. Here's an example of what I mean.

Fiodis wrote:Not sure what you mean by the diving suit.

Oh, OK. By diving suit I simply meant the SCUBA trooper. Does he only dive when the bubble is on, or is it perpetually on? And here's an idea I had if you're interested: Since (I'm assuming) the droids do not have an underwater trooper, why not give them a special vehicle with this weapon arrangement or similar one: 1st seat pilot, perhaps light blasters; 2nd seat scout, with underwater probe (which possibly has depth charge self-destruct or sea-to-air missiles if you plan on adding flyers); and 3rd seat, depth charges (which work identical to mines, but slightly underwater). Just thought it would be interesting.

I considered the cave idea, but didn't implement it because I don't know how to make caves in ZeroEditor. If someone gives me a hint, I might incorporate it.

And the sky's definitley going, I agree; how do you think a Felucia one would look?


As for the droids, I was trying to avoid editing their side because it would increase the filesize; but I'm bored, so why not? I'll probably replace the droideka with a diving unit. Note that the Diving Scuba's weapons do not work underwater. I tried giving him vehicle lasers (which do work underwater) but it crashed the game. I tried giving him a small diving knife, but I couldn't find any msh that would look good. Does anyone know if some short lightsaber models have been released? Barring a lightsaber, I suppose I could give him a Gammorrean's axe and localize it a "Diving Hatchet"....


.....Or give him an Ewok's rock, reskin it to be blue, and call it a "Water Balloon"....

As for the vehicles.....keep in mind that I'm a newbie modder. With something like that, there's only two things I can do: drop the idea, or go get help.

oh Ok then.

For caves, you use terrain cutters if you can't make your own, here's some you might want to use http://www.gametoast.com/forums/viewtop ... 64&t=14771 .

The map itself looks - right now - still a little sloppy and bland (mono ground texture, Yavin sky, wide open props), but I like that you're doing a little bit of thinking outside-the-box and trying to make something different. Keep polishing and you could have a pretty cool map.

Wow, looks nice. An improvement from your previous version.

Nice work on the scuba trooper. Also, how you getting AAT to dive???

how you getting AAT to dive???

That's the beauty of it all. Aside from putting a vehicle spawn in for the AAT, I don't have to do a thing. It does that by itself. It's awesome. If you try to move sideways, instead the AAT does a cool roll that brings it underwater. And I didn't change anything. It was an accident, really.

And yeah, the texture's bad....retexturing now. ]

Thanks for the terrain cutter link. I'll experiment with those shortly.

EDIT - New sky is in! I retextured the old Yavin sky. Check out the pics. Also, it's been reterrained.

Okay, this looks awesome, but does the diving bubble REALLY protect from teh water hurting you?

Lol, you do not believe me?

Step 1: Activate diving bubble.
Step 2: Jump in.
Step 3: The bubble will begin to take damage (your "oxygen levels" going down). You, on the other hand, will not. As long as you have enough oxygen, you will not get hurt.

Also, I'm replacing the CIS with a new side, mainly Gungans. Any ideas on what I should call it?

Sweet! I knew hat shields protected fall damge, and wasn't sure if they protected from water. Also, you can just take the lightsaber, shorten it to about .1 or .2 meters, and then reskin its blade to look liek a knife. I'm not sure if it's possible, but I think you can make it stay on when you crouch. I know, its more complicated than the vibroblade model, but I don't think that's short, now, is it?

Ah, but how do you shorten it without using XSI?

the blade can be shortened via ODF. I can't remember the line for it, nor can I take a quick look in the odf to see what it is, but the line, (I believe) says and to make it .1 or .2m long, you change the value from 1 to .1 or .2, so it should look somthing like this: Correct me if I'm wrong.

Fiodis wrote:Lol, you do not believe me?

Step 1: Activate diving bubble.
Step 2: Jump in.
Step 3: The bubble will begin to take damage (your "oxygen levels" going down). You, on the other hand, will not. As long as you have enough oxygen, you will not get hurt.

Also, I'm replacing the CIS with a new side, mainly Gungans. Any ideas on what I should call it?

Unless of course you use the cheat console...

...but where's the fun in that?

And thanks for that saber tip; it's helpful, but unfortunately it crashes the game. Any ideas why?

Fiodis wrote:...but where's the fun in that?

Infinite health = ton of killage.