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Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:03 pm
by MetalcoreRancor
Since we have an out of the box weapons thread, and I need ideas for an out of the box character design.. Voila. A thread for thinking up different ways of making things fun and innovative with the characters who use guns! Or combos.

But I start this off, with a line of thought involving bosses. Particularly in the fashion of using a combination of .combo work, weaponry and odf lines to make things interesting and fun while a challenge. Most of all, engineering such a boss to be played by the ai.

I did this successfully once, and rather than copy and paste, I want to explore/seek out new possible ways of fighting.

But again, this topic is not made specifically to help me alone, but for everyone to discuss their own ideas of weird characters.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:43 pm
by Jodandotson
How about like a shape shifter. I have no idea if it is possible but it would be so awesome to play as or fight something that could change like that. It would especially be cool if you could get the weapons to change with it. As I said before though, this is probably impossible.

Another thing I thought would be cool is random animations. That way the boss would swing its weapon a bit differently every time. This would be a lot more realistic and it would look cool, but I am really not sure if it is possible. I have seen some amazing things done before though so maybe you could figure out a way.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:43 pm
by Nihillo
A summoner. He woud have many types of creatures to create and he would have to keep "channeling" this "spell" to keep them in this "realm", so he wouldn't be able to move while a summoned creature is around; the summoner would have direct control over the creatures.

I'm basically speaking of a Recon Droid turned into a Rancor sort of beast, same principle.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:57 pm
by EA711
A ghost unit. A unit that can travel through walls and can enter other units ie. you see a dark trooper and you can take him over and become him.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:01 am
by Sky_216
Oooh! Sky has some!


"Bomber" - throw explode on contact nades of some kind (primary weapon), also have melee moves (other primary weapon). Will only use melee if you get close.

"Shielder" - main weapon - "melee" with only one move, block (as idle so on all the time?). Secondary weapon is some sort of powerful ranged attack/explosion/melee move - when used he will be exposed to attack so you can damage him. To control the secondary weapon you can use "Barrage" properties.

"Leaper" - very slow but has big (fast) leap attack (ai are good at jump attacks) with either slash air attack or wampa style slam.

"Keeper" - normalish unit, lots of health, secondary weapon deploys squad of mini units to attack player. Can be done with lua coding found in the everything you need thread.



Will try to think of more....

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 8:48 am
by MetalcoreRancor
Ironically, I've tried the leaper, and it didnt work as well as I thought it would.

Block can be put in idle state yes, I have that already for some zombies.

I also have setup one that explodes himself and everyone around him, when he gets close.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:23 am
by Fiodis
EA711 wrote:A ghost unit. A unit that can travel through walls and can enter other units ie. you see a dark trooper and you can take him over and become him.
Way impossible. I know Rancor experimented with the walk-through walls part but not the take-over-bodies part. Both came to nothing.

That being said, it's easy to make a unit look like a ghost:
Hidden/Spoiler:
Image
But not much beyond that.

Elemental:
A floating, unanimated 1cm by 1cm cube. With a completely transparent texture. How do you see it? It has an effect attached to it, so it resembles a floating ball of burning fire, or a miniature star, or a whisp of smoke....etc. Element-related attacks.

Perhaps it would be better to have it about as large as the effect but still with a transparent texture, so that it's easier to hit it. Who would be able to hit a 1cmX1cm cube in the middle of a small blizzard, anyway?

I experimented with this myself, using the Bothan's Incinerator's damage effect and this setup to create a floating cloud of evil nanites. Worked out fairly well.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:29 am
by Eggman
Nihillo wrote:A summoner. He woud have many types of creatures to create and he would have to keep "channeling" this "spell" to keep them in this "realm", so he wouldn't be able to move while a summoned creature is around; the summoner would have direct control over the creatures.

I'm basically speaking of a Recon Droid turned into a Rancor sort of beast, same principle.
I really like this idea, and it's completely doable in Battlefront. If you've ever played Ocarina of Time from the Legend of Zelda series, it reminds me of the first boss you face (the big spider-ish thing with the one eye as it's weak point that drops eggs/babies every now and then). I imagine it would only be possible to deploy one remote-creature at a time, though, so it would have to be something big and nasty rather than lots of little pests.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:41 am
by Ping
How about a suicide bomber unit? Might be fairly difficult to do, and it's probably impractical, but it might be fun to do.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:20 pm
by Fiodis
Ping wrote:How about a suicide bomber unit? Might be fairly difficult to do, and it's probably impractical, but it might be fun to do.
Been done. I know Rep's got a thing called a "fanatic" or a "zealot" or somethign similar that has a 50% chance of exploding on death. And Rancor's got zombies whose only point in life is to give you a hug and subsequently blow up.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:07 pm
by Sky_216
Fiodis wrote:
Ping wrote:How about a suicide bomber unit? Might be fairly difficult to do, and it's probably impractical, but it might be fun to do.
Been done. I know Rep's got a thing called a "fanatic" or a "zealot" or somethign similar that has a 50% chance of exploding on death. And Rancor's got zombies whose only point in life is to give you a hug and subsequently blow up.
That was me (Rebel Fanatic, was on Sraiden at one point) and it was never released in any map or asset.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:16 am
by Fiodis
Skyhammer_216 wrote:
Fiodis wrote:
Ping wrote:How about a suicide bomber unit? Might be fairly difficult to do, and it's probably impractical, but it might be fun to do.
Been done. I know Rep's got a thing called a "fanatic" or a "zealot" or somethign similar that has a 50% chance of exploding on death. And Rancor's got zombies whose only point in life is to give you a hug and subsequently blow up.
That was me (Rebel Fanatic, was on Sraiden at one point) and it was never released in any map or asset.
Ah, sorry. For the record, I don't think Rancor's Suicide Zombies were released, either. The whole point of my previous post was to point out that it's been done, not to direct him to any assets.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:26 am
by DarthD.U.C.K.
in authraws awesome polus:hidden cavern map you can play an ewok armed with a selfdestrucionweapon

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:56 am
by Fiodis
Now that I think about it, it's extremely easy to make a mortar launcher that drops a single grenade which immediately falls down and explodes at your feet, essentially a suicide weapon. But the more we discuss it, the more it seems it would fit in an unconventional weapons thread. :wink:

To return slightly to the gist of this topic, how about an "assassin" unit, one that has invisibility and short-range melee weapons (or long-range sniper weapons), a small shield, and a bonus waiting for it if it assassinates a certain "target" unit? Not too creative, but I'm low on coffee atm.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:07 am
by Maveritchell
Nihillo wrote:A summoner. He woud have many types of creatures to create and he would have to keep "channeling" this "spell" to keep them in this "realm", so he wouldn't be able to move while a summoned creature is around; the summoner would have direct control over the creatures.
http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... said;85697
Fiodis wrote:Elemental:
A floating, unanimated 1cm by 1cm cube. With a completely transparent texture. How do you see it? It has an effect attached to it, so it resembles a floating ball of burning fire, or a miniature star, or a whisp of smoke....etc. Element-related attacks.

Perhaps it would be better to have it about as large as the effect but still with a transparent texture, so that it's easier to hit it. Who would be able to hit a 1cmX1cm cube in the middle of a small blizzard, anyway?
http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... said;85697
Ping wrote:How about a suicide bomber unit? Might be fairly difficult to do, and it's probably impractical, but it might be fun to do.
Fiodis wrote:Been done. I know Rep's got a thing called a "fanatic" or a "zealot" or somethign similar that has a 50% chance of exploding on death. And Rancor's got zombies whose only point in life is to give you a hug and subsequently blow up.
http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... said;85697

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:50 am
by Devastator77
lol Mav!, I knew those concepts sounded familiar...

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:56 am
by YTF
Mav's always one step ahead. :wink:

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:05 pm
by MetalcoreRancor
So, I tried to make a sarlaac tentacle into a unit.

Anyone care to guess why it failed? I thought it would of been a great thing.

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:35 pm
by Fiodis
I got the Tentacle in-game with no anims, as a kind of strange worm that crawls on the ground. Told you about that, Rancor. :wink:

Re: Unconventional unit ideas

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:29 pm
by GangsterJawa
Maveritchell wrote:
Nihillo wrote:A summoner. He woud have many types of creatures to create and he would have to keep "channeling" this "spell" to keep them in this "realm", so he wouldn't be able to move while a summoned creature is around; the summoner would have direct control over the creatures.
http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... said;85697
Fiodis wrote:Elemental:
A floating, unanimated 1cm by 1cm cube. With a completely transparent texture. How do you see it? It has an effect attached to it, so it resembles a floating ball of burning fire, or a miniature star, or a whisp of smoke....etc. Element-related attacks.

Perhaps it would be better to have it about as large as the effect but still with a transparent texture, so that it's easier to hit it. Who would be able to hit a 1cmX1cm cube in the middle of a small blizzard, anyway?
http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... said;85697
Ping wrote:How about a suicide bomber unit? Might be fairly difficult to do, and it's probably impractical, but it might be fun to do.
Fiodis wrote:Been done. I know Rep's got a thing called a "fanatic" or a "zealot" or somethign similar that has a 50% chance of exploding on death. And Rancor's got zombies whose only point in life is to give you a hug and subsequently blow up.
http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... said;85697
That's odd... I remember the "summoner" unit, but not the elemental or suicide one... :?