[era]Beyond Southern Hells - new empire faction ready

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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

Sorry your shotgun doesn't get a good using.. As for the animation, that is exactly what I was trying to do, I guess I could tweak it and then see the end result? Like I said, second attempt at animation... and I sucked horribly, like a true noob :doh:

EDIT: Do these look any better? I added more movement to the shield in the second frame, and made the leg come up as if he is using it to tilt his weight forward through the thrust.
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StDrake
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by StDrake »

the body and shield dispositions aren't bad, but he could wind up a little before swinging the sword and..I think you're aware the legwork is terrible - main thing being that he's putting them wrong. Don't put both feet in a straight line, notice that the hexes go either ne or se, so you'd want him to make a short step with the forward foot landing a little higher or lower, but probably lower. Look at what the loyalist swordman does with his legs, that might give you a clue. Overally you've picked a hard thing to start animating from - digitigrade legs are not so easy for beings used to single knees.
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Felinian faction is part of the Beyond Southern Hells era
kitties need sprites! art topic here
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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

Yeah, the legs just kill me (hence why I said not to shoot me, I already did).

After a good night's rest I am going to scratch the anim completely and try it again... I wonder if tsi or Zero had this much trouble starting out..... :lol2:
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StDrake
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by StDrake »

Ask him about drakes, that's where they could have no reference - digitigrade legs and wings working flapping in directions in which nature didn't try doing the same with real creatures.
Meanwhile I should spill some info on intended imperial and dragservion units

as of now imperials have a rather narrow choice - their army doesn't spend much effort on imagining things. Being bloodthirsty idiots for the most part suits them well enough with a concern only to hurt a lot, or to hurt lots. It's just a way to pretend they're strong - with mindless brutality.
-conscripts being lv0 units and definite cannonfodder, purely melee oriented, with weapons that perhaps could look like a combination of blade and bow, but that just makes it ugly to use and impossible to shoot..well at least without ammo. *wink* to the red army :)
-regulars are the embodiment of imperial war "philosophy" - big axes being a weapon of choice, thus mostly swinging bardiches and the likes around. Higher levels may use more exquisite or comfortable weaponry, but would rather not stray far from the path. More intelligent ones may however discover the word "defence".
-archers not being able to show off much strenght from a distance (and preferring not to show how they can't reach the enemy with a thrown spear) go with a wastey way of just gathering in a group and sending a lot of shots without aiming much. When you're throwing a cloud of arrowtips some are bound to hit after all. Higher levels capable of..just notching more arrows at a time and not thinking more than necessary, plus naming themselves as elaborately as "rainbow"..no they don't have happy, colourful thoughts, nor imagination or considerance what they actualy say - they understand it as being able to send a rain of arrows.
-squires and the black knights and cataphracts (got any more suitable name?) are quite a furious bunch, liking to simply ram through enemy lines, trampling them with heavy hooves along the way and slashing heavily from the high position of their saddles. If you can imagine viking cavalry in heavy armors and barding you're on the right track. Nasty habit of overruning and continuing the carnage further if their initial target proves too soft.
-phants and mammoths..a rather dumb thing to use closer to the desert, effective battering ram however. The sight of those lumbering beasts crossing the battlefield can be a horrifying experience indeed..and lasting a bit since they're not that mobile, making a rather bankrupt mans cavalry in terms of speed.
-officers - highest concentration of IQ in an imperial army, they just couldn't refuse a chance to get themselves some position through conquest, and the chance to tell others how they should (mis)behave.

and last but not least

-honorable inquisition..err honosomething my a**, filling the folks minds with horrible stories of witches and heretics is actually just a cover to eliminate those who might be inconvenient for their rulers, and some stray wizards and innocents while they're at it - just for the thrill of it. Now where do we know that from..

Considering dragservion I've not much of a clue what units to make, but a few ideas would be
-hill saurians, for some reason trying to pretend being dwarves with hammers and armor
-firebeasts - a kind of "fleshy" elementals - starting at something similar to a fiery lizard and advancing to heavy quadrupeds of stone and flame or blazing birds of burning fun..phoenix anyone?
-some fanatical human followers, treating their dragon masters as deities
Last edited by StDrake on February 8th, 2011, 9:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Like cats? I've made a whole faction of them to kick ass with!
Don't like cats? I've made a whole faction of them to kick their asses! So everyone's happy :)
Felinian faction is part of the Beyond Southern Hells era
kitties need sprites! art topic here
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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

Oooh, writing! Now *that's* what I am good at! :D

So the imps are not much more than a loosely defined army of like-minded individuals who have no real training whatsoever, and by like-minded I mean mindlessly brainwashed into thinking they serve a greater good? Sounds a lot like a loosely organized band of thieves, just with armor and no real skills to bargain for....

Dragservion sound like they could easily fit the saurians into their ranks, maybe even a drake or two?

My question is, since I really have not been here long... nor am I really helping with this era too much (unless ya'll would like the help, of course) are the dragservion "good" or "bad"?
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StDrake
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by StDrake »

blasphymer wrote:mindlessly brainwashed into thinking they serve a greater good? Sounds a lot like a loosely organized band of thieves, just with armor and no real skills to bargain for....
cross out the "good" and you're home. Rather civilised barbarians than thieves, but i guess so.
Perhaps if i say 'skinheads' or 'football pseudofans' will it explain the situation?
are the dragservion "good" or "bad"?
you could call them morally grey - the are whatever their dragon master is or wishes them to be, though dragons are known in Wesnoth as rather unpleasant individuals
Like cats? I've made a whole faction of them to kick ass with!
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Felinian faction is part of the Beyond Southern Hells era
kitties need sprites! art topic here
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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

So its safe to say, from an American perspective, of course, that the imps are for all accounts, a slightly more organized gang?

As for the dragservion, I do think that I understand what you mean, they aren't so good as they are bad, correct? So, say a dude is walking down the road at any one given moment. If the head hancho wants his money, the dragservion would do it without question. If the head hancho wanted to eat the dude, they would grab him, fry him up, and present him as a three course meal? (obviously humorized, but ya get my point...)

Is there any way I could write out some of their descriptions?
Currently working on a morally gray campaign, Cry of the Assassin... Working on: storyline Completed: Two scenarios and one cutscene, resprites, and a few customized units
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StDrake
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by StDrake »

I guess you're getting the point.
As for descriptions..well you could try of course. I like doing those myself, but don't feel like doing all the work xD so if yours turn out good I'd fit them in.
Like cats? I've made a whole faction of them to kick ass with!
Don't like cats? I've made a whole faction of them to kick their asses! So everyone's happy :)
Felinian faction is part of the Beyond Southern Hells era
kitties need sprites! art topic here
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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

I'll do my best! I actually was doing a roleplay and it came down to needing a bestiary for the sake of newcomers, so at least I have a little experience. :wink: I'll write them out and post back once I have them done.
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tr0ll
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by tr0ll »

i would be fascinated to see more dragon development, but there are a couple existing threads i think should be taken into account or integrated or perhaps explained why they are not relevant:
0) dragons. are they children of the gods or elements or where did they come from? perhaps they should be OP against normal factions, but evenly powered vs currently not existing "epic" factions (ugh avoiding certain trademarks which i wont name).
1) drakes. are they descendants of dragons or a distinct lineage?
2) elemental powers. see Rise of the Elementalist UMC, where the author seems to be working toward a unifying theory of elemental spirits and powers.
3) speaking of OP dragon variants, how about draco-liches 8)

hmm maybe this should be a whole new topic
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wesfreak
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by wesfreak »

Before you start worrying about animations, I suggest you at least use some art that's original within the era. I would prefer if all the different units that could be recruited had different sprites with no animation rather than a faction in which all the recruits are fully animated footpads with different stats.

(There was another faction with 4 different mage units that look exactly the same, which you should probably also fix.)
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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

Wesfreak, are you talking to StDrake, or are you referring to my (painfully poor) animation attempt? I only ask because I see no other animation attempts within this thread or the UMC.... I could be wrong though, as I usually am
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wesfreak
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by wesfreak »

I didn't look at your animation attempt. I'm referring to the 2 factions in which most of the recruits have the same sprite when there are dozens of existing sprites that could be used to replace them. (In one faction most of the units have footpad sprites and so I assumed they had footpad animations too, which is why I mentioned the animations.)
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blasphymer
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by blasphymer »

Whew, than I am off the hook!

.... I don't like feeling like the newbie, even when I am the newbie.... yeah....

EDIT: so that this is still on topic... I have the human unit tree for the dragservion done, their descriptions of course. They for some reason sound like a fanatical sect of religious freaks....
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Reepurr
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Re: [era]Beyond Southern Hells - available at last

Post by Reepurr »

wesfreak wrote:I didn't look at your animation attempt. I'm referring to the 2 factions in which most of the recruits have the same sprite when there are dozens of existing sprites that could be used to replace them. (In one faction most of the units have footpad sprites and so I assumed they had footpad animations too, which is why I mentioned the animations.)
:annoyed: Yes, yes, the Eregath Faction looks awful. I was trying to redo the whole, 1-year-old, thing, hurriedly, because StDrake committed it instead of looked at it.
He has better sprites now (only the two magi are identical, and only L1s are done) so next update they should be there.
tr0ll wrote:0) dragons. are they children of the gods or elements or where did they come from? perhaps they should be OP against normal factions, but evenly powered vs currently not existing "epic" factions (ugh avoiding certain trademarks which i wont name).
We thought that up last page.
"What do you mean, "a dwarvish dragonguard with marksman is overpowered"?"

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