"War School"-A Map/Mod W.I.P.-locked sticky

[whippersnapper]

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Some more Cinéma vérité caps...

[whippersnapper]

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I'm also "retro-fitting" the Heavies with purloined Alien Tech.





And BTW.... If you haven't already surmised, War School will entail a learning curve because in a number of ways I'm re-inventing stock GPMs.... however necessary, I will endeavor to make that process inherently an enjoyable act of discovery and delightful revelation and not at all frustrating.

Attached below are XANAX's original Alien Faction Units.
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[whippersnapper]

Yet another info-link UPDATE to new WZ art assets by community artists...... PLUS, more useful info links on HOW to exactly work at creating new art with PieSlicer and such...

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I have decided to use XANAX's Mechs as part of the Alien Presence in War School.

There were several ways that the Mechs could be introduced into game play but I have ultimately chosen this particular way for several reasons. The principal reason being to shift the emphasis of game play some from what I call the "Rote Clerical Click Fest Arms Race Twitch" to the "Battle Field Tactic Leadership" of coordinated multiple vectors and combined-arms..

So, as a part of that decision, I will provide "Opportunity Mechanics" to "Capture" the Alien Mechs and thus garner your gaming edge through a successful execution of field tactics and leadership gumption rather than the aforementioned conventional "Rote Clerical Click-Fest Arms Race Twitch".

To achieve the "Alien Mech Capture" part of the mechanic will necessitate deploying the new "Airlift Mechanic" and your buffed-up Scav Ally Forces.

In-game screens will be forth-coming over the next day or two that will display graphically what I'm talking about here.

Please note:

As XANAX has generously shared & made available publicly all his newly created art assets ANYONE is FREE to use them in ANY WAY they see fit to suit visions that can surely differ entirely from what is being done in War School.

As a convenience here are the links to .......

XANAX's new art assets:

Mech Prototypes WIP

New 3D Scav bloke & Cyborg with animations

Altered HQ works

New Body & Struct Set

Cyborg Design WIP

EDIT addition 9/25/09:

Prop Animations


i-NoD's new art assets:

Hi-Res textures

Just another Scavenger art

EDIT addition 9/25/09:

i-NoD's TCMask mod first presented HERE and UPDATED and further discussed HERE... as well in XANAX's Prop Animations


Astorian's new art assets:

Modeling Request - i do it!


Black Project's new art assets:

Scavenger Mod V1.1 ALPHA Released!

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

M1A2 Abrams in WZ2100 (I was bored )

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

Ultimate Warfare V2.0 for 2.1.x Released!


Mysteryem's new art assets:

New Features

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

Original walls

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

I got bored… Update .... New Fortress Art

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

Mysteryem's Model Package

EDIT addition 9/25/09:

UPDATED Features discussed with links, screen caps and downloads in Lav_Coyote's thread entitled - wip - forestfires -no trees yet...needs input AND Also carried forward HERE


Elio's new art assets:

New Base Structures Mod

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

driving mode interface

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

interface proposal


Olrox's new art assets:

NEW STRUCTURE MODELS

New feature: Gates

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

"New Turret".... original creator of thread and art, member thelion

EDIT addition 9/10/09:

"Upgraded Truck model/texture needed!"..... thread creator Zarel... also includes art by members Avestron, Safety0ff as well as member Olrox..


EDIT addition 9/10/09:

MaNGusT's new art assets:

models by MaNGusT


EDIT addition 9/12/09:

Avestron's new art assets:

Bodies - Meshing

AND......

Let's remember milo christiansen's valuable new WIP Utility - Warzone 2100 Mod Manager

EDIT addition 9/25/09:

Speaking of Milo's new Tools here is his

New "Text Editor" Proggy:

Read about it and check out the download in Milo's thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&p=37440#p37440

ALSO...... Zarel's scrupulous and critical:

The 2.2 -> 2.3 Rebalance Thread

A Note on the War School Dev Roadmap:......

I have decided to include both Flying Constructor Droids and Jump Borgs because I think I've figured out how to balance them with all else.

I'm not sure yet about including Multi-Turrets as much as I love 'em. Just may be beyond my abilities to integrate with all else going on. But, we'll see.

"War School" is focused on expanding the diversity of opportunities in the realm of Battlefield Field Tactics in specific ways associated with making Asymmetric Warfare viable.

At the same time, I am also deeply committed to enhancing what I call the War Preparation GPMs vis-a-vis optimizing non-combat (as well full-blown combat) "switch-tasking". BUT that aspect will not fall within the scope of "War School" because I need an already fully developed BetaWidget / LUA in order to realistically proceed in that direction. I only mention it here because it should be understood that this is an integral part of the development mix as I perceive it in a best case scenario outcome but rather than wait to be able to tackle enhanced simultaneous multiple vectored Command Group UI / AIs I have gone forward with what I believe to be viable, interim, work-a-rounds that will also serve "proof-of-concept" ends.

Regards, whip

ADDITIONAL useful GFX creation info:

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Someone knows if there's any already existing guide for that?
:rolleyes:

Dancing Moogle's guides and tuts are still quite usful IMHO:

DM's Modding PIE Overview Guide

DM's Part 1 PieSlicer Tutorial

DM's Part 2 PieSlicer Tutorial

Then dovetail with the WRP's wiki entries:

http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/Artwork

http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/Creating3DContent

http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/PIE_models

http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/PIE_format

http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/TxtEditing

Regards, whip

BTW: DM was / is a superb artist, modder-coder and A.I. scriptor.. He created the first WZ Mechs 6 years ago but never released 'em. He moved on to work on FPS because of the advanced GFX possible with 'em compared to WZ. He also had (has still, no doubt) a great sense of humor.

In "Where to get PIE editor ?" thread HERE -

I have not so completely understood this still, what must one do so that one can open and edit the current PIE files with the PieSlicerDX? It was PNG use and PCX no more but how shall one surround this?

It's very straight forward.

First open the .Pie file with a simple Text Program like Word Pad.

Look at the texture page file ending. If it's .PNG that means you can open the associated texture page in any Graphics program and that the .pie is ready to be used in-game. The geometry model itself could have been created in any of a host of progs that support 3ds output and then converted with the "3Ds 2 Pie" utility OR the geometry could have easily been done in PieSlicer itself, along with the texturing and then the .Pie itself opened in Word Pad have the referent texture page file ending changed from .pcx to .png and of course that referred to texture would have to be provided for the game binary to use in .png format in the .mp.wz or base.wz - making any changes to .wrfs that may be needed if you create entirely new texture pages.

Now to continue...

IF you want to use that .png .pie in PieSlicer simply change that texture page file ending from .png to .pcx.

Now that assumes you are working with the stock Pumpkin texture pages.

However if that .png .pie is using a new custom .png texture page then you also have to create a .bmp copy of the .png texture page for PieSlicer to use when you open the .pie file that is referring to that now changed .pcx texture page referent in the .pie file itself. Place that .bmp in PieSlicers main directory.

After making those .txt changes to the .pie file you of course also have to create an association with PieSlicer itself which is just a matter of directing the .pie to wherever PieSlicer is resident.

That's it.

Regards, whip

Ok, but the PieSlicerDX say "invalid PIE format". I cant open the PIE files from the base.wz, but i can make new mods with this change. :-S

Ah that...

Well you can get the original .pie files from the retail source release available for download some where, you can decompile v.1.10 .wdg yourself with 'WdgExplorer' & get them that way and, if I recall correctly Strata's WZ Customizer Kit download comes with the original .pies too.

Regards, whip

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Then there is the "3DS 2 Pie Converter".. if you'd rather use your favorite 3D Proggy instead of "PieSlicer"...

Down load Coverter r5209 from THIS thread - it's an executable that works right out of the box beautiful - no compiling necessary...

Here is how it looks after I took the files out of the .zip archive and just put 'em in a folder I named "3DS 2 Pie Converter" and launched the executable:



Regards, whip

ALSO: I am in the midst of writing a brief but comprehensive Tutorial on What can break Mods, Maps & A.I.s, Now and in the Future, and by extension "How To Fix Them To Be Compatible" throughout that continuum of transformation-development...

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[whippersnapper]

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My Scavs, who I have dubbed the "Seven Nations" of 2120, have "Chop Shops" (thanks for that cool idea Avestron ), have roamed the battlefields in the aftermath of conflicts between The Project and the other factions of 2100 for years and, gathering parts from this and that faction's abandoned wreckage, build composite retro-fitted stuff like the following WIP:




Now... back to some map-making and scripting for a spell away from .Pies and .Txt editing.

Regards, whip

[whippersnapper]

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Oh yea.... on my last post here I wrote elsewhere:

First of all: I like the Idea of having APCs. Here's my two cents on it: The point in having APCs in the real world is that vehicles are faster than men. In WZ, cyborgs can keep pace with just about anything. Giving players a reason for using such ground transports would involve slowing cyborgs down in relation to vehicles.

There is truth in all that so it would be foolish to argue those points.... however, it is NOT the whole truth - certainly not in the SF game world year of 2100+ and what can be made credible via Hard Sci Fi tropes. I can definitely make 2100+ WZ APC's viable without scaling back Borg propulsion. But seeing is believing and when hard-shell Turtles start seeing their lovely crafted fortress bases being ripped to shreds from the inside-out then your PoV will, maybe, have to be re-considered - or not. In the greater scheme of things it's not of any real consequence one way or another as far as I can see.

And btw - that last scenario I just painted was NOT for an APC full of Borgs (though I could do that too) but rather a Scav APC for my buff Seven Nations Scav Faction - you can see my .Pie WIP for said Scav APC in my last post in the "War School" thread. xD

Regards, whip
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As an addendum to that comment -

I have not yet decided on the weapon package for the Scav APC but what I am doing prop-wise is giving it "Tumbler" ability. The "Tumbler" is the Dark Knight's cool-slick ride from the last 2 movies. My Scavs got their "idea" from watching grasshoppers and locusts, in particular, during ravaging rampages when they swarmed cultivated fields. Indeed, my Scavs call their APC "The Locust".
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[whippersnapper]

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.......... "In the beginning was story and we tell ourselves stories in order to live"

I firmly believe that. Without "story" most artistic endeavor would vanish. Indeed, without story, you cannot be a fully functioning human being and that is no hyperbole; this has vast support in both philosophic aesthetic tradition going back millenia to the dawn of civilization as well the latest mainstream sciences of mind, brain and society.

......though "War School" has it's own accompanying illustrated e-book called "Truce" (some of which I have also shared in this thread early on) there are a host of other back stories I've written like "Mastar of the Scar" (also published in this thread) that fit within the framework of my own very much filled-out and detailed Time-Line that I may go ahead and post in this thread like:

"Redemption",
"The Lesser Evil",
"Crude In Sur Amerika",
"The Wager Lost by Winning",
"The Goodness of Dr. Reed",
"Queen of the Collective"

.......... In many cases these yarns amount to "Origin Stories", a term I first learned from my days of reading and collecting comic books... but which I later understood has a long history going back to when bards sang their epic tales and the thought of writing them down was a purely alien notion.

Many of my WZ yarns are too long for a BB posting but some are of a suitable length like -

The Goodness of Dr. Reed
"The Birth of Nexus"


He'd kept his family safe since the thwarted kidnapping. Even if his wife Amelia still had that perpetual look of a doe in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, his son Jason had survived unscathed all these years after.

Yet for all the money and security resources at his disposal, it wasn't enough. Could he ever do enough ? Or were all his efforts no better than a parlor magicians bag of tricks. That's what it all came to this morning, when he got word of the bombing at Cal Tech. When his heart dropped like a stone to the pit of his stomach and he felt as vulnerable as a helpless newborn.

The knock on his study door shook him suddenly out of his head, back to the firm wooden chair at his desk, all the surrounding plasma monitors dark. Whatever it was, especially a body bag, he couldn't stand to hear it in broadcast NEWS, like just another cool occasion to entertain, to titillate, the masses always on the verge of boredom.

"Come in."

Who else but Fitz and from his tight-lipped look, it wasn't good.

"I'm sorry Alan."

"Give me the worst of it, Fitz."

He stood up, walked around the desk to stand at arms length before his old friend and business partner.

"Both legs gone. That's the worst. Good news is no brain damage & spinal column 75% intact."

"Where is he now ?"

"I have him in route to Bethesda. Should be there within the hour. What do you want to do from there ?"

"You tell Selene yet ?"

"No. Straight to you, Alan. What about Amelia ?"

"Thanks. No. I don't know how or when to tell her."

Reed turned to look out the frost crusted, gilt filigreed, bay windows. Peaceful, beautiful, a harvest moon in a white swirl that was still just a light dusting. Forecast was it would start piling in heavy tomorrow, on the eve.

"Have Sky Dancer ready to roll. She'll make it through this storm no prob. I'll get the prognosis at Bethesda first hand before I decide when to move him over to our Borg Med Unit at Synaptics Labs."

"Good. I'll see to it."

Fitz got the door part-way open before catching himself and closing it again. He turned back to Alan, who had started pacing like a caged animal, the thick carpet totally absorbing his hard stride, not betraying an iota of his pent-up anger.

"Alan...we have that Camp David trip scheduled the end of the week. You know - the New Paradigm initiatives the President wants us to go over with his inner sanctum, Skull and Bones chums. You think you'll still make it with this situation in play ?"

"The New Paradigm", Reed thought to himself, "maybe it doesn't go far enough in dealing with those fanatical Luddites." Of course these were misgivings he'd have keep to himself for now, till he had a chance to sort it all out in his head, then he could possibly share it with Fitz... But maybe not.

Instead he said:

"If you can handle it without me Fitz, I'd be grateful. I wanna stay focused on Jason's care. You understand ?"

"Sure. Of course. I'll just tell 'em the situation, they'll understand, then cover the ground we've rehearsed already. Piece of cake. Don't worry about it. Anyway I'll have 'em call you from the hangar when Sky Dancer is ready to fly."

"Thanks, old friend. Mind turning the light switch off on your way out ?"

Fitz nodded and left a darkened room in his wake.

Reed walked over to the bay window.

Up here in the Catskill mountains the stars were always brighter, diamond hard, the constellations seeming somehow closer, as if you could reach 'em within a few hours travel and not a journey of many life-times.

He could make his son, Jason, whole again, stronger even. That was a certainty and it didn't trouble him as did those New Paradigm initiatives. They seemed too reactive now, too restrictive, too focused on chit after the fact.

Again he looked upon the stars for solace, unconsciously connecting the jeweled points of light that made-up the Huntress, the Bears and the Big Dipper. What he was witnessing had passed eons ago. What was it at this moment ? There was no way of knowing unless you could make the trip through a wormhole.

Yet something else was taking form in his head like connecting constellations except it was more like neural pathways, ganglia, axions & synapses.

What if, what if you could harvest enough COM data ?

These Luddites planned their acts, they communicated over time, layed the ground work, acted just a wee bit out of the norm, basically, unintentionally, left a trail of crumbs.

What if there were a network of receptors & filters dedicated to looking for those patterns and when finding them, initiating a preemptive strike force ?

Of necessity, it would have to operate outside conventional law and order, even the Constitution. But this would surely be one of those rare exceptions, a case were most would agree the means justified the ends.

He would need access to the entire planet's COM LINKS. All of 'em, totally unrestricted. Outside civil law sure, but this was WAR and think of all the innocent lives saved, the mass destruction of critical infrastructure averted, it would be worth it. Yes, it would.

What was that saying ? The one 'bout getting stronger ? Ah, yes, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

He would have to think of a special name.

The phone played Moonlight Sonata.

"Speaker on. This is Reed."

"Dr Reed, Sky Dancer is clear for take-off."

"I'll be over in fifteen."

A special name.

It would come to him. Things always came to him without having to toil through every step. He imagined it was the way The Bard wrote his sonnets.

Yes. Maybe this would be his real legacy in a world going to hell in a hand-basket and not those ever popular sexy house-cleaning domestic bots that made Synaptics, Inc. the poster child for Wall Street hedge funds, and him wealthier beyond anything he ever imagined at Cal Poly brainstorming with Fitz when they were just young egg heads.

[zoid]

A little anti-aliasing would improve the effect of the screenshots dramatically.

[new paradigm leader]

The Goodness of Dr. Reed
"The Birth of Nexus"


He'd kept his family safe since the thwarted kidnapping. Even if his wife Amelia still had that perpetual look of a doe in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, his son Jason had survived unscathed all these years after.

Yet for all the money and security resources at his disposal, it wasn't enough. Could he ever do enough ? Or were all his efforts no better than a parlor magicians bag of tricks. That's what it all came to this morning, when he got word of the bombing at Cal Tech. When his heart dropped like a stone to the pit of his stomach and he felt as vulnerable as a helpless newborn.

The knock on his study door shook him suddenly out of his head, back to the firm wooden chair at his desk, all the surrounding plasma monitors dark. Whatever it was, especially a body bag, he couldn't stand to hear it in broadcast NEWS, like just another cool occasion to entertain, to titillate, the masses always on the verge of boredom.

"Come in."

Who else but Fitz and from his tight-lipped look, it wasn't good.

"I'm sorry Alan."

"Give me the worst of it, Fitz."

He stood up, walked around the desk to stand at arms length before his old friend and business partner.

"Both legs gone. That's the worst. Good news is no brain damage & spinal column 75% intact."

"Where is he now ?"

"I have him in route to Bethesda. Should be there within the hour. What do you want to do from there ?"

"You tell Selene yet ?"

"No. Straight to you, Alan. What about Amelia ?"

"Thanks. No. I don't know how or when to tell her."

Reed turned to look out the frost crusted, gilt filigreed, bay windows. Peaceful, beautiful, a harvest moon in a white swirl that was still just a light dusting. Forecast was it would start piling in heavy tomorrow, on the eve.

"Have Sky Dancer ready to roll. She'll make it through this storm no prob. I'll get the prognosis at Bethesda first hand before I decide when to move him over to our Borg Med Unit at Synaptics Labs."

"Good. I'll see to it."

Fitz got the door part-way open before catching himself and closing it again. He turned back to Alan, who had started pacing like a caged animal, the thick carpet totally absorbing his hard stride, not betraying an iota of his pent-up anger.

"Alan...we have that Camp David trip scheduled the end of the week. You know - the New Paradigm initiatives the President wants us to go over with his inner sanctum, Skull and Bones chums. You think you'll still make it with this situation in play ?"

"The New Paradigm", Reed thought to himself, "maybe it doesn't go far enough in dealing with those fanatical Luddites." Of course these were misgivings he'd have keep to himself for now, till he had a chance to sort it all out in his head, then he could possibly share it with Fitz... But maybe not.

Instead he said:

"If you can handle it without me Fitz, I'd be grateful. I wanna stay focused on Jason's care. You understand ?"

"Sure. Of course. I'll just tell 'em the situation, they'll understand, then cover the ground we've rehearsed already. Piece of cake. Don't worry about it. Anyway I'll have 'em call you from the hangar when Sky Dancer is ready to fly."

"Thanks, old friend. Mind turning the light switch off on your way out ?"

Fitz nodded and left a darkened room in his wake.

Reed walked over to the bay window.

Up here in the Catskill mountains the stars were always brighter, diamond hard, the constellations seeming somehow closer, as if you could reach 'em within a few hours travel and not a journey of many life-times.

He could make his son, Jason, whole again, stronger even. That was a certainty and it didn't trouble him as did those New Paradigm initiatives. They seemed too reactive now, too restrictive, too focused on chit after the fact.

Again he looked upon the stars for solace, unconsciously connecting the jeweled points of light that made-up the Huntress, the Bears and the Big Dipper. What he was witnessing had passed eons ago. What was it at this moment ? There was no way of knowing unless you could make the trip through a wormhole.

Yet something else was taking form in his head like connecting constellations except it was more like neural pathways, ganglia, axions & synapses.

What if, what if you could harvest enough COM data ?

These Luddites planned their acts, they communicated over time, layed the ground work, acted just a wee bit out of the norm, basically, unintentionally, left a trail of crumbs.

What if there were a network of receptors & filters dedicated to looking for those patterns and when finding them, initiating a preemptive strike force ?

Of necessity, it would have to operate outside conventional law and order, even the Constitution. But this would surely be one of those rare exceptions, a case were most would agree the means justified the ends.

He would need access to the entire planet's COM LINKS. All of 'em, totally unrestricted. Outside civil law sure, but this was WAR and think of all the innocent lives saved, the mass destruction of critical infrastructure averted, it would be worth it. Yes, it would.

What was that saying ? The one 'bout getting stronger ? Ah, yes, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

He would have to think of a special name.

The phone played Moonlight Sonata.

"Speaker on. This is Reed."

"Dr Reed, Sky Dancer is clear for take-off."

"I'll be over in fifteen."

A special name.

It would come to him. Things always came to him without having to toil through every step. He imagined it was the way The Bard wrote his sonnets.

Yes. Maybe this would be his real legacy in a world going to hell in a hand-basket and not those ever popular sexy house-cleaning domestic bots that made Synaptics, Inc. the poster child for Wall Street hedge funds, and him wealthier beyond anything he ever imagined at Cal Poly brainstorming with Fitz when they were just young egg heads.

a nice backstory for NP reminds me of "enclave" in fallout

[new paradigm leader]

i always thought of new paradigm as being too inadvanced for a government agency they always seemed expeditionary as though they were from elsewhere... that is to say they have decent technologies but its as if they were more recent and experimental than anything.

[whippersnapper]

.......

In my much expanded WZ Time Line "The Goodness of Dr Reed" takes place about 5 years before The Collapse so it's quite possible to build a scenario werein your conception can hold as well as mine without any inconsistencies. Like from my time frame to just before The Collapse the original NP covert govt. org. could have withered on the vine through under funding and then splintered off independent of its official govt. sanctioned origins and essentially become rogue.

A good wordsmith / yarn spinner can make just about anything credible as part of an over arcing story spell, I honestly believe. Imagination - it's a wonderful thing.

Not familiar with "Enclave" - I'm curious now so I will try and look it up to see what you mean.

@ Zoid: I usually only work that aspect (along with my shaders, etc.) when I do a final render of my FMVs / Cinematics. Perhaps I should with my quickie screen caps as well. I'll take it under advisement. Though my working habits are such that it is unlikely to change - what I mean is because I don't enable anti-aliasing or shaders I can do a lot my WIPs initial work on my lap-top and then when I'm ready for truly high-end needs & goals I transfer my files to my DT Quad-Core-Sli (& don't take that as an "e-genitalia" effusion) from which I'll do my final renders as well

Regards, whip
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[whippersnapper]

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@ NP: Well I read everything I could find on-line about Fallout 2 and 3's "Enclave" back story. Very interesting stuff. What I see in common is what I would call "a loving attention to detail". Though it is hard for you to tell from just the one story, take my word, our over arcing plot details are totally different. If I publish my detailed Time Line that would be more obvious. Also, imho, my stories are deeply character-driven, in the sense that my central characterizations drive the plot were as in the Fallout back story it's obvious to me that plot events were conceived first and characters built to fit those already created plot milestones. The craft is VERY different in those respective approaches to spinning story. Indeed before I started writing stories about Dr Reed I wrote his "biography" and went all the way back to creating his parents just before he was born ! I won't get into the differences between the craft techniques anymore than that.

I am glad you made the reference because I'm tempted now to play FO 3. I only played the original FO 1 as a Mac Port way back in '97 I think. I recall enjoying it. Never played 2 and have only heard lavish praise for 3 so I take this as a "sign" to explore 3 hands-on.

Thanks for the input & the heads up to look into a game I'll likely very much enjoy.

Regards, whip

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[new paradigm leader]

ah well its more i like the irony of british empire scavenging american (probably japanese invented/british invented like most weapons are these days) gotta love british technologies xD well lets hope they dont turn into the dystopian view of what life will be like by 2525 or else its really not worth the hassle with nexus as he wins anyway

[whippersnapper]

ah well its more i like the irony of british empire scavenging american (probably japanese invented/british invented like most weapons are these days) gotta love british technologies xD well lets hope they dont turn into the dystopian view of what life will be like by 2525 or else its really not worth the hassle with nexus as he wins anyway

Interesting.

I will tell you up front I am not so much interested in portraying Utopian or Dystopian visions of the future in the context of Warzone 2100 or otherwise.

What actually interests me much more is the nature of evil and its depiction through a credible and compelling character whose influence on human affairs is powerful and sweeping. Here let me quote from my own expanded WZ Time Line Doc:

* The "Dr. Reed" characters portrayal in the original Campaign and back story is stereotypical, cardboard, & derivative of the worst of melodrama. Totally one-dimensional and straight outta the 1930's pulps, a variant of the demonic "Fu Manchu".

* HOW will it be redressed in "2120" ?

* Like all truly great & memorable villains, "Dr. Reed" has to be conceived as a character that could have been purely good, purely heroic, but for a fatal flaw, an ACHILLES Heel, that led him down the road, bit by bit, of unmitigated, unrepentant EVIL and further away from any possibility of redemption.

* In that manner, "Dr. Reed" is to be conceived as a Tragic figure, in the classic aesthetic sense of "King Lear" or "Prometheus" or "Oedipus"...... or, even, some of the best villains of Super Hero comics or anime or SF / Fantasy epic stories-movies like the original Star Wars trilogy or the LOTR of Peter Jackson, to pick 2 examples from a deep pool of mainstream cinematic art works.

* Or how about, something along the lines of Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis, Professor Moriarty - one of my all time favorite villains. (As well think of Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground" or Knut Hamsun's "Hunger".)

* So that while Dr. Reed and his cohorts MUST be fought he also becomes a somewhat sympathetic figure & an adversary of complexity in the sense of - "there I go but for the grace of fate...."

* At least, that is my core goal in dramatic terms, what passionately interests and drives my re-visioning towards a lasting mythos.

So in addition to my first-hand encounters with "evil types" in RL and the aforementioned portrayals in World Lit - Mythologies and in contemporary cinema, anime and comics.... I have supplemented my understanding with at least a score seminal non-fiction studies.

Here is a short list that may be of interest to the 1 or 2 peeps out there who still find an autodidact edification in reading works of philosophy, history and science.

Screams of reason : mad science and modern culture by Skal, david j.

Escape From Evil by Ernest Becker

Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti

The Anatomy of Evil by Michael H. Stone, M.D.

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

The Social Construction of Reality by Peter L. Berger & Thomas Luckmann

A Criminal History of Mankind by Colin Wilson

Dark nature : a natural history of evil by Watson, lyall.

A Blue Fire by James Hillman

A Philosophy of Fear by Lars Svendsen

The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror by Michael Ignatieff,

The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen

Rising Up and Rising Down: Some thoughts on Violence, Freedom & Urgent Means by William T. Vollmann

Evil : an investigation by Lance Morrow

Our Faith In Evil: Melodrama & the Effects of Entertainment Violence by Gregory Desilet

The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil & the Power of Good in History by Jeffrey Burton Russell

The problem of evil in the western tradition by Joseph f. Kelly

Evil in modern thought : an alternative history by Susan Neiman

Facing Evil: Confronting the Dreadful Power Behind Genocide, Terrorism, and Cruelty by Paul B. Woodruff and Harry A. Wilmer

Evil : inside human cruelty and violence by Roy f. Baumeister

The monster show : a cultural history of horror by David j. Skal,

Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War by Barbara Ehrenreich

The History of Hell by Alice K. Turner

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt

Athens and Jerusalem by Lev Shestov

The above list is NOT intended to be definitive or to say that my work or PoV is more credible than an others because I have these studies under my belt. At most it is intended to suggest a journey for those interested in the topic and also denote some the road marks that have stood out in my own on-going journey to understand evil a little better and hopefully have enough craft and talent to invest my dramatic fictions with the results of those experiences - and I include my re-visioning of Dr. Reed and my emboldened expansion of the WZ back story, pre and post "Collapse", a central part of that self-ascribed aesthetic mission.

Also - I strongly believe that while reading Wikipedia articles can be of some usefulness it is by no means to be construed as any substitute for studying works of the caliber listed above.

Regards, whip

.

[yamar]

Question: I probably missed it, but is there an expected release date for this map/mod? because it looks amazing, and sounds really fun.

also: it kinda seems like you are just using Warzone 2100 to run a "separate" game, due to all the mods you are putting in there.

Cheers, Yamar

[Powzone]

I was reading and reading and reading for a long time now and asking myself the same question...

When will it be done?

But I think, it will be like "Duke Nuke'em Forever"!

"It's done, when it's done!"