War of the Worlds

[Retributar]

Is there anyone who is ready to delve into uncharted territory?. I know that SC2 was designed specifically for WW2 Conflict's!.

So my proposal for a "War of the Worlds" MOD is on the precipitous edge of the 'Outer Limits'. In the original story, Earth was experiencing a World-Wide invasion of Martian Capsules. After a few-days, the Martians re-assembled these capsules into Walking Self-Propelled Attack Platforms equipped with Laser Cannon's.

This story was premised on the early 1900's, so,...no fancy missles or nuke's here!. Eventually, Earth's natural bacteria went to work against these Martian Invader's, causing these Martian's who had no immunity to the Bacteria,...to die!,..."Thus Saving Earth!".

I guess, other than a low-probability of destroying these Martian Machine's, one would be required to do a delaying action in order to save some of Earth's cities, to allow or give time for the Natural Bacteria to do their work!.

This is just a thought!, i was in the mood to bring it up and if nothing else, to provide some amusement or maybey even a Motivating Spark for the Ambitious, to toy with this idea!.

H.G. Wells' The WAR OF THE WORLDS Director's Cut_"We Can't Stop Them!". "Across the gulf of space intellects vast and cool regarded this Earth with envious eyes..." In the year 1898, critically acclaimed author H.G. Wells conceived of a tale so terrifying that it has captured the imagination of millions of readers for more than 100 years. Now for the first time ever, the true adaptation of the classic novel hits the screen with devastating effect! During a time of growth and prosperity for mankind, came the ultimate threat to our very existence. The events that were to take place at the turn of the 20th century would shake the foundations of life as we know it. The future of the human race was at stake as man's greatest fear was realized...Suddenly we are no longer alone in this universe and to preserve our species, we must be victorious in The War of The Worlds.

http://thewaroftheworldsmovie.net/#anchor_164

H.G. Wells' terrifying Sci-Fi classic comes to the screen!

When acclaimed author H.G. Wells' terrifying tale of the first ever alien invasion was published in 1898, it struck a frightening cord that has continued to resonate with millions of fans for over a 100 years! It is the end of the world. The war machinery of human-kind is no match for cold hearted alien invaders, with 100 feet tall three-legged fighting machines that shoot heat rays and poison black gas!

Of Course, these images are not the Walking War-Machines that was 'Originally' intended!, but...in lieu of that,...here is what there is !.

War of the Worlds VICTORIAN MARTIAN WAR MACHINE

http://www.tin-soldier.com/tripod.htm

[ December 03, 2006, 03:38 PM: Message edited by: Retributar ]

[Blashy]

IMHO, great idea, but we would need a full world map, which still has not surfaced, obviously because it is a daunting task.

[jokerman]

HI All,

That is weird i was literaly just thinking about a war of the worlds mods. I dont have much experiance with the mission creator yet. Can you randomize reinforcement positions?. Could be cool for martian flares. Would not have to be the whole world could be localised battles. Probably bring the time frame up to date a little as the vicorians did not really stand any chance. It was an exterminations more than a war. very cool idea indeed. Just wish i had the skills.

[Moonslayer]

This is an awesome idea... and I have loads of ideas to incorporate into such a mod. As of now I will be working exclusively on this scenario.

One of my favourite books and also one of my favourite films. No idea why I never thought of it myself!

If Retributar wanted to spark someone's interest then he has succeeded BIG time with me

I'll get right on it!

[Retributar]

More Picture's:

http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/other/other.html#models

http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/0027.html

Cockpit detail, showing heat ray and Martian pilot.

Rear View Martian Tripod

Martian

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS_SOUND EFFECTS PAGE!!!. http://www.sciflicks.com/the_war_of_the_worlds/sounds.html

http://www.tnthobbies.force9.co.uk/scifi5.htm

http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=691

Martian City

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/284415/SID/227775/blFP/1

[ December 03, 2006, 04:15 PM: Message edited by: Retributar ]

[Night]

Filthy Martains!

I think the first problem would be supply for the martains. Unless you were going to setup like somekind of "landing-site" city that they can connect to for supply.

Would the martains only have their tri-pods as units or would they have some kinda of infantry?

In all versions of the movie atleast the earth forces could not damage the martains at all, only draw them away from cities or people evacuating. How exactly would there be a conflict? In other words, if you were the Earthlings, what would your moves be? Send armies in front to block/delay the martains? That would be very boring and repetative.

From the martain standpoint, If you only have so many units to start with, you will not be able to occupy all the cities so the humans can move right in after you, sorta like cat and mouse. So you would have to add a script where cities are destroyed totally and i'm not sure that can be done.

[Retributar]

Im finding it difficult to stop posting pictures!.

http://users.adelphia.net/~alienrace/characters2.html

MARTIAN CYBORG

BRAINLET

MARTIAN GRUNT

Martian Tripod War-Machine's in Full-Scale-Assault Mode!. [The Martian Tripod's are 100ft in height!].

Martian City

[ December 03, 2006, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Retributar ]

[Moonslayer]

Don't stop! I have been gathering a few pics myself and have been creating a few bitmaps for the tripods.

The main problem so far is the height of the martians tripods. The game limits them quite severely and so they end up looking rather wimpy. So far I have been concentrating on a nineteenth century attack on london (ie a H.G. Wells version). The basic premise is the invaders need to capture key positions before the bacteria incapacitates them (ie game end). The humans have to keep hold of as many objectives as possible to lessen the death toll. If all locations are occupied before the end of the game then London is wiped out and the humans have lost.

I am working on a complete reworking of the terrain tiles to represent an urban environment. I have several ideas of how to allow the martians to cross water (the thames) without allowing humans to do the same.

This is going to be a major project which is going to sap alot of time. Any and all assistance with bitmaps would help greatly so keep 'em coming

[ChrisND]

I am still working hard on modern bitmaps for all nations, so if you do modern-day you already have the bitmaps for those taken care of; also, I have terrain/resource bitmaps for bases, airfields, and modern cities.

[Retributar]

Moonslayer!:

Before i get started, i think this size-issue should be brought to 'Huberts' attention!. It would be very convenient to be able to put in game pieces of various sizes, and for this example,...the 100 foot tall Martian Tripod's.

Now!,...i want to mention to you what i think i know,...as it has been a very long time since i knew this information...for sure!.

When a Martian Cylinder falls to earth, it...at first is basically defenseless, then a few day's later they manage to get the Laser-Cannon [Heat-Gun] operational for self-defence purposes!, then after a few more day's, the Martian Tripod War-Machine is fully assembled and ready to go!.

I think i remember that any current operational Martian War-Machines that were available would converge to wherever a Cylinder landed to afford it protection as it set's up!.

So while the Cylinder is going through it's various stages of assemblage and self-defence capabilities, it should be invisible to Earth-Forces until it is discovered by an Earth Unit running into it or by other mean's!. I mention this because i believe that i read that in the v1.05a Patch for SC2 that now Engineer's will be invisible until they are DIRECTLY uncovered/discovered, as i explained how the Martians would be uncovered/discovered!.

Some research will be needed to be done to see where and how the Martian War-Machines were destroyed by Earth Forces!, i think that i can remember that some Naval Ship's tried taking on a Martian Tri-Pod and then bringing it down, however since it was so long ago, i cannot really remember this information with any accuracy!.

I do not recall any other situation's such as the Army taking down these machine's, even though they might have if they had enough Artillery?.

So!,...for now that's it, hopefully some-one else who has had a more recent affiliation with the H.G. Well's...'War of the Worlds' can offer you more than i could!.

http://www.tin-soldier.com/wow.htm

There are a few more pictures with terrain shot's here, nothing special, but they might help?. Naval Ships and Artillery should be able to effect at least some damage or even directly incapacitate a TriPod, remember the BattleShip called DREADNOUGHT in the story?, it tried to attack a Martian TriPod, but...alas!, i think it was sunk!. http://www.tnthobbies.force9.co.uk/scifi5.htm

http://forums.eveofthewar.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0&page=204

[ December 04, 2006, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: Retributar ]

[Minty]

How about at first you can't really damage them only slow them down as they do X amount of damage per turn to various units.

The aim would be to slow them down and stop their pods (cities effectively) linking up in SC2 terms their supply stayed low and would not go up to 10. The Martians get very limited units (albeit massively powerful) at first (maybe just 2 or 3) BUT they slowly but steadily increasing MPP supply as they link up AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

And / OR MPP could represent their Energy. So yes the Martian is indestrucible at first (link a LV5 5 bar strength 15 panzer but even that needs tobe in supply). a drop in strength would represent their supply running out , not enough martian energiser batteries perhaps. So even if they can' be damaged at first if they just go on a non stop rampage without thought for plugging in again they will eventually run of of juice for their death ray and shields (represented by their Strengthc dropping as they use death beam energy hit to blow up puny earthlings - not much of perhaps none at first but as earth units got better it would take more martian energy to destroy them). If they weren't reinforced they would run out of power.

Meanwhile brave Victorians nations band together and research tech to increase their defence bonuses, motorisation to send troops on suicide missions faster them , some limited weapons which could reduce the Tripods effectiveness

the whole thing would be a race against time (or high level biowar tech if you want deviate from the book but make it a little more fun).

Can the martains meet up? build and wipe out Human resitance before the Germs kill them ( with minor and major victories depending on how much of Planet earth they destroy / conquer)

Can the puny earthlings hold out and block the Martians long enough for the common cold to kill the Martians.

[jokerman]

Yes I think in the victorian WOTW they destroyed a fighting machine using 1 ironclad {thunderchild} and also a group of artillary also took out a fighting machine. So it follows in greater numbers earthling could fight back. Maybe as they research they become more effective against the martians?......... any thoughts?.

[Moonslayer]

In the original book the artillery did take down a machine. The book, of course, was told from a single person's perspective of the war... it logically follows that the invaders would have suffered some casualties but essentially the humans were simply cannon fodder.

@ Retributar: Good idea about the engineer units but i had envisaged representing the cylinders as city resources. A defensive 'heat ray' unit would take several turns before it was fully entrenched and so provide the slow build up in defence that you alluded to. The other advantage would be that tripods would only be able to be manufactured by the cylinders... fairly realistic. I do, however, think the engineer units could be made to be pretty useful in another area

Anyway, here is a little of what I have so far:

[Retributar]

Moonslayer!,... You're Bitmap's are a WONDER to Behold!. I didn't think that the Tripod's would look anywhere near as good, and im very-impressed by the Palace!, 'Terrific Work' Moonslayer !.

"Hubert!!!", is there a way to address the SIZE-ISSUE???...as illustrated by Moonslayer?.

[Night]

Is there anyway of splitting the unit into two just for the purpose of bitmaps? Someway to link the movement together. Would be kinda cool also because you could damage one part of the massive thing and not the other, something that big isn't like knocking out a tank you have to deal a lot of damage.

[ChrisND]

I highly doubt it, I think you guys are stuck with 71 pixels max height. You can reduce the size of the human units to make them look bigger though.

[Moonslayer]

Time for an update of the work Completed so far:

1) Gathered dozens of images for both bitmap conversion and inspiration.

2) Converted several bitmaps for the game (tripods, several London landmarks, 2 Victorian buildings, road tiles, some human military units and several terrain sprites)

3) Created a scale map of central London (1 tile = 200m x 200m)

4) Started creating a library of sound fx for martians mainly.

Identified problems to overcome:

1) How best to incorporate bridges across the Thames.

At the moment the bitmaps are the main drain on my time. Don't expect this to be ready this side of Christmas folks ;p

Unless Normal Dude wants to let me in on his secret of time dilation?

[ChrisND]

Practice and a few bitmapping time-saving tricks.

[Night]

Why not make the bridges ports and lower the cost of transport to 10 or something? This way they can be destroyed as well to prevent crossing

[ChrisND]

Can't lower transport cost, you have to indirectly do it by modfying the unit cost, which also affects its reinforcement and upgrade costs.

Might get messy, trying to simulate at that scale with SC 2.

[Moonslayer]

I have been quiet but not lazy... here is a screeny of part of my map (Hyde Park and Knightsbridge). This is still early yet as I have much to do to complete the graphics but I didn't want you guys to think I had forgotten this 'little' project!

I know the buildings are not 100% Victorian but I think a little artistic license is allowed

I plan for Hyde Park to be the location of the main Martian presence and also want to put a fence around it to make it stand out a little more.

The unit bitmaps have been placed on the back burner for a while as I continue to work on getting the map of London as accurate as possible. The terrain bitmaps are also sapping more time than I had thought they would. Still, with the Crimbo hols finally here I should be able to put more time into this mod.

[Retributar]

We are "Ever-Vigilant" in our mindfullness [i am anyway!] of your effort's Moonslayer!.

Your 'Martian' project has been mentioned at least once outside of this discussion topic![i think by... 'DESERT DAVE' ].

Keep us apprised of your work, so that we can offer suggestion's or alternate idea's, in order to make this MOD, a 'MOD-to-Remember!'.