Hovercraft tutorial

[aubergine]

I'm thinking of putting a tutorial together about hovercraft. I used to always think they were too weak to use and thus generally pointless but, having practised with them a little, I've realised they are actually really rather good when used properly.

What advice would you give about getting the most from hovercraft?

I plan on creating a sort of "cinematic trailer" type of video, with full soundtrack, to visualise the advice and wrap a little story around it.

Here's some screenies from the opening sequence where the commander is on a transport headed for LZ-HT1, the beginner's hovercraft training camp.

Transport journey to LZ-HT1:

Click for large view

Animated satellite map as mission data downloads:

Click for large view

Tutorial mission briefing (this will change before final version):

Click for large view

The transport has narrowly avoided faceplanting a scavenger-controlled mountain and has just detected enemy camper vans on it's sensors:

Click for large view

That's the first 30 seconds of the video, there's a whole load of other stuff happens in that time that I've not shown here.

The transport will be shown landing at the training camp and then a series of manoeuvres will be carried out to show how to get the most from hovercraft.

...I just need to know what those things will be before I can record the last part of the video.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Other than that Hovercraft are fast enough to easily withdraw from battles that it's losing, they can carry heavier weapons than tracks without slowing down thanks to their lighter weight.

[NoQ]

They can hit-and-run, getting undamaged when recharging, thus giving incredible power to low-ROF weapons like lancers or MRAs.
They can keep distance when outranging the enemy, like HMG hovers against flamer cyborg spam.
All the rest is much less important.

[aubergine]

Thanks for the infos, I will include that in the video.

I have a preview of the intro sequence on youtube now - watch in Full Screen HD mode for best quality:



It ends abruptly because I've not even started on the hovercraft section of it yet heh. I'm trying to get a more cinematic feel to my videos so would appreciate any feedback on the intro...

[aubergine]

Updated preview now available - lots of cleanup and improvements to camera moves:

[JDW]

You make good clips.

[Giani]

You make good clips.

+1

[Searge-Major]

Really nice vid!

Maybe could do with some more improvements, but it'd take a far better person than me to tell you what.

You make good clips.

+1

+2

[aubergine]

Preview #4 is up, with the beginnings of the hovercraft training now added:

[Giani]

Isnt this thread supposed to be in showcase?

[aubergine]

it might be better there now, yes. but i don't have privs to move it

[aubergine]

Preview 5 is now up, with an awesome sk-startup satellite map view by Mysteryem:

[iap]

Actually, I'm waiting for the full video and trying not to be tempted to see the preview. Like a start trek fan who refuse to see any information about a new movie...

[aubergine]

Yup, you'll get a better first impression if you wait until the final video.

I thought about waiting until completing the video before upload, however I decided to release previews of it's progression for the following reasons:

1. Releasing regularly seemed to work very well for NoQ's NullBot AI add-on, I guess once something is out there it's easier to keep updating it through to completion.

2. I'm writing a series of tutorials explaining all the tricks I used to make the cinematics so I wanted a series of previews to show how work progressed.

And thanks for all the positive feedback people, producing this video is a lot of hard work and the encouragement is much appreciated!

[Giani]

In the video it says this: "Despite being weaker, speed is their streength"
That sounds like if hover is weaker than wheels.