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Author Topic:   Unit design contest

Talon posted 11-19-98 05:35 PM ET
After reading the preview at gamespot I started thinking out some unit designs.
Eg. Cloakable hovertank with a big-@$$ weapon
I'll give awards on
Most innovative
Silliest design
Best of Show
Worst of Show
Best design involving cloaking(why not?)
Talon's Favorite Design Award
So get cracking!!
-Talon
Gord McLeod posted 11-19-98 06:01 PM ET
While this is a great idea, I think it'd be even better once we all have the game. (or the demo.) That way we could actually implement each others ideas in context and see how well they do. Maybe even pit designs against each other in multiplayer, see what ones do well against what.
DHE_X2 posted 11-19-98 06:08 PM ET
Cloaked sinqularity hybrid mindworm/terran infantry. Kick ass
Shredder gravitank w/ landing strip and sub atomic friction reactor. kick ass
Terraforming alpha laser submarine w/ fungacidal nerve gas pods. huh boy.
Fluke posted 11-19-98 07:27 PM ET
Anti-gravity colony pod. Hawk City here I come!
Can o' Worms. Mindworms sold in enemy bait shops to get rid of those pesky recreationel activities
Cloakable spore tank. Give their women a nasty infection and reduce enemy morale by having them listen to the women bitch.
Brother Greg posted 11-19-98 10:33 PM ET
Gaian kamikaze flower beds. The first environmentally friendly anti-personnel flower bed mine. Trained from seeds to sacrifice their petals for the environment, and Gaian beliefs. Especially lethal against anyone with hayfever.
(Not that anti-personnel mines are a good thing of course - but if anyone brings up the british blonde dead princess, I'll kill them.)
UOP logic particle beam. Makes you really re-think your actions.
Okay, so the second one wasn't as good as the first. Back when I think of some more.
Brother Greg.
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 11-20-98 12:00 AM ET
Well Princess Di was.........j/k
Anyway, a needlejet plane, with singularity laser, anti-matter plate, & some mindworm bombs. Whatever those are.
A fat slob carrying a shotgun & a case of beer, with his cousin as his wife would also make some effective scouts, they seem to kow their terrain pretty good.
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
Jay posted 11-20-98 03:20 AM ET
A Huge airplane capable of carrying other troops and armed with 50-ton bombs and Inferno missiles. Heckova lot of firepower.
Or a bionically altered mindworm (with a rapid-targeting laser? ).
DHE_X2 posted 11-20-98 07:56 PM ET
anti-grav landing strip w/ bioalloy shielding and antimater/mater reactor + neurokinetic reality displacement device. and some guns
Shining1 posted 11-20-98 08:09 PM ET
Stealth anti-gravity infantry with deep-sea landing strip and singularity torches.
Iridium science jeep with Tachyons and high morale.
A couple of guys with martial arts skills + wisecracking abilities (hey, it works every time, doesn't it?)
Okay, own up, who else is going to spend the first few games designing heinously stupid sounding units?
SnowFire posted 11-20-98 09:59 PM ET
What the heck? I entered two posts in here just after DHE's. They don't appear. What devilish magic is this?
Ultra SupremePaco posted 11-21-98 03:36 AM ET
Like that smart remark made to Lady Deirdre by Morgan about her new corn stalk hybrids with flamethrowers. I know he was joking, but, anything is possible, right?
~Paco
CyberC posted 11-21-98 07:43 AM ET
What about onion-shooting plants
(Gaian version of Pepperspray)
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 11-21-98 11:44 AM ET
I want freakin sharks, with freakin laser beams attached to their heads!
Dr Evil: Now Austin, I'm now going to put you on this easily escapable, overly-elaborate, & overly slow machine. Bye bye.
Dr Evils son: But dad, aren't you gonna watch them??
Dr Evil: No son, I'm just going to sit here & assume they died.
Yadda Yadda Yadda, you know the rest, but it was still the funniest part of the movie!
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
SnowFire posted 11-24-98 08:43 PM ET
How about a cloaked spore speeder? It runs around your enemy's territory while nearly invisble planting xenofungus to ruin production and escaping detector units.
Antiam posted 11-24-98 09:26 PM ET
Cloaked infantry (preferably water resistant cloaks, hooded too) with big sharp pointy teeth and holy hand grenades.
Roland posted 11-25-98 05:31 AM ET
Gee, holy hand granades from New Antioch...
How about the Big Bee Buzz ? Huge swarms of genetically modified killer bees...
Saras posted 11-25-98 06:32 AM ET
Gaian pacifist warping remover
- no destruction, just warping the enemy back home.
UoP militarist remover
- no destruction, just warps the enemy into nothingness.
DJ RRebel posted 11-25-98 08:32 AM ET
Roland .. No bees were brought abord the Unity .. and the Unity was built in space .. so there is no chance of bee's !!!
I've never been stung by a bee .. but I don't ever want to be either !!!
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 11-25-98 04:03 PM ET
My unit will be the iceberg. It can sink large ships built by a rich company, in a land of rich, arrogant aristocrats, who ride that boat, & die in the icebergs freezing waters...
I've been stung by a bee a few times. Doesn't bother me until the day after, when it puffs up, & hurts like a daddy beating you with a tree branch!!! But I've never broken any bones in my body. I don't want to either, casts are notoriously itchy
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
jsorense posted 11-25-98 04:22 PM ET
DJ RRebel:
Concerning bees, Unity and A.C. I think that bees will be brought on Unity. There will be lots of flowering plants brought along that need to be pollinated by some vector. Honeybees do a great job at this and produce honey too.
Most affective Believer unit: sacramental wine factory.
DarkLight posted 11-25-98 04:23 PM ET
Hmmm... I have it! The cannon fodder! Specialized infantry who are designed to be hurled into the think of battle and absorb tons of damage. They would cost horrendous amounts of resources, but they have a secret ability: They can never die; at least, not permanently. The fodder is hurled out into the front of the enemy formation and absorbs all of their attacks and is subsequently reduced to his conmponent atoms. He then reappears nearby a few turns later. (watch goes off) What do you mean it would be imbalanced?
Colin: Like I said, it would be imbalanced.
It would not! I mentioned cost!
Colin: Yes, but they can allow you to devastate a decent army with very few losses.
Ummm...
Colin: They are also reusable.
Err...
Colin: They can also...
SHUT UP, WATCH BOY!
Colin: (meekly) I'll be good.
Besides, it's not a real unit, just an idea. And a really pointless one, at that.
SnowFire posted 11-25-98 07:43 PM ET
Sure, cannpn-fodder could work, simply add this: when formed one population point is removed from the city. When they "die" one population point is spent ressurecting them. And they have a really terrible offense. So you can get some damage done, at a huge cost in population (did I mention that this unit causes mass unrest at home too?).
WCT posted 11-25-98 08:06 PM ET
Excavator: lightly or not armed; uses energy to quickly extract useful materials from a space. (Maybe an upgrade or extra function of a terraforming unit?)
Game effects:
* converts small amount of energy to large amount of minerals (and maybe nutrients); the minerals (and nutrients) do not become available until it returns to a friendly or allied city
* the space it does this conversion on drops production - low or zero minerals, and reduced nutrients (and maybe also energy)
Obviously, this would best be used outside of
an area your cities exploit - say, a square
that lies between two neighboring cities' use
areas, or on enemy soil. (Morgan Industries using this against Gaia would be symbolic, to say the least.)
On a related note...
Mobile Factory: lightly or not armed; can produce and repair units in the field without having to set up a full colony. Can be used, for instance, to create a force of tanks on a contient not land-linked to your cities, without having to transport them there (although you've still got to get the factory there...maybe it should be able to hover, so as to provide a stable floor to build stuff on even when going over rough terrain).
Upgrade: Mobile City: not as efficient as a regular city in harvesting from the land, but it can run, and allow you to set up elsewhere without being completely reduced to scratch, if your teritorry gets overrun by an enemy. (*Ideal* for Survivalists for just that reason.)
You wanted a cloaked unit? How about a cloaked cruise missile? Without adequate detectors, the first (and last) sign that it's there is when it blows up in the middle of your units or city. Probably should be expensive to produce, and be detectable with tech much earlier in the tree than the last tech needed for it to be produced, if it is powerful enough to completely destroy a large city; the temptation to level your enemies with a swarm of these (and frustration if the AI does it to you first) would be extreme otherwise.
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Author	Topic: Unit design contest
Talon	posted 11-19-98 05:35 PM ET After reading the preview at gamespot I started thinking out some unit designs. Eg. Cloakable hovertank with a big-@$$ weapon I'll give awards on Most innovative Silliest design Best of Show Worst of Show Best design involving cloaking(why not?) Talon's Favorite Design Award So get cracking!! -Talon
Gord McLeod	posted 11-19-98 06:01 PM ET While this is a great idea, I think it'd be even better once we all have the game. (or the demo.) That way we could actually implement each others ideas in context and see how well they do. Maybe even pit designs against each other in multiplayer, see what ones do well against what.
DHE_X2	posted 11-19-98 06:08 PM ET Cloaked sinqularity hybrid mindworm/terran infantry. Kick ass Shredder gravitank w/ landing strip and sub atomic friction reactor. kick ass Terraforming alpha laser submarine w/ fungacidal nerve gas pods. huh boy.
Fluke	posted 11-19-98 07:27 PM ET Anti-gravity colony pod. Hawk City here I come! Can o' Worms. Mindworms sold in enemy bait shops to get rid of those pesky recreationel activities Cloakable spore tank. Give their women a nasty infection and reduce enemy morale by having them listen to the women bitch.
Brother Greg	posted 11-19-98 10:33 PM ET Gaian kamikaze flower beds. The first environmentally friendly anti-personnel flower bed mine. Trained from seeds to sacrifice their petals for the environment, and Gaian beliefs. Especially lethal against anyone with hayfever. (Not that anti-personnel mines are a good thing of course - but if anyone brings up the british blonde dead princess, I'll kill them.) UOP logic particle beam. Makes you really re-think your actions. Okay, so the second one wasn't as good as the first. Back when I think of some more. Brother Greg.
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 11-20-98 12:00 AM ET Well Princess Di was.........j/k Anyway, a needlejet plane, with singularity laser, anti-matter plate, & some mindworm bombs. Whatever those are. A fat slob carrying a shotgun & a case of beer, with his cousin as his wife would also make some effective scouts, they seem to kow their terrain pretty good. Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
Jay	posted 11-20-98 03:20 AM ET A Huge airplane capable of carrying other troops and armed with 50-ton bombs and Inferno missiles. Heckova lot of firepower. Or a bionically altered mindworm (with a rapid-targeting laser? ).
DHE_X2	posted 11-20-98 07:56 PM ET anti-grav landing strip w/ bioalloy shielding and antimater/mater reactor + neurokinetic reality displacement device. and some guns
Shining1	posted 11-20-98 08:09 PM ET Stealth anti-gravity infantry with deep-sea landing strip and singularity torches. Iridium science jeep with Tachyons and high morale. A couple of guys with martial arts skills + wisecracking abilities (hey, it works every time, doesn't it?) Okay, own up, who else is going to spend the first few games designing heinously stupid sounding units?
SnowFire	posted 11-20-98 09:59 PM ET What the heck? I entered two posts in here just after DHE's. They don't appear. What devilish magic is this?
Ultra SupremePaco	posted 11-21-98 03:36 AM ET Like that smart remark made to Lady Deirdre by Morgan about her new corn stalk hybrids with flamethrowers. I know he was joking, but, anything is possible, right? ~Paco
CyberC	posted 11-21-98 07:43 AM ET What about onion-shooting plants (Gaian version of Pepperspray)
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 11-21-98 11:44 AM ET I want freakin sharks, with freakin laser beams attached to their heads! Dr Evil: Now Austin, I'm now going to put you on this easily escapable, overly-elaborate, & overly slow machine. Bye bye. Dr Evils son: But dad, aren't you gonna watch them?? Dr Evil: No son, I'm just going to sit here & assume they died. Yadda Yadda Yadda, you know the rest, but it was still the funniest part of the movie! Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
SnowFire	posted 11-24-98 08:43 PM ET How about a cloaked spore speeder? It runs around your enemy's territory while nearly invisble planting xenofungus to ruin production and escaping detector units.
Antiam	posted 11-24-98 09:26 PM ET Cloaked infantry (preferably water resistant cloaks, hooded too) with big sharp pointy teeth and holy hand grenades.
Roland	posted 11-25-98 05:31 AM ET Gee, holy hand granades from New Antioch... How about the Big Bee Buzz ? Huge swarms of genetically modified killer bees...
Saras	posted 11-25-98 06:32 AM ET Gaian pacifist warping remover - no destruction, just warping the enemy back home. UoP militarist remover - no destruction, just warps the enemy into nothingness.
DJ RRebel	posted 11-25-98 08:32 AM ET Roland .. No bees were brought abord the Unity .. and the Unity was built in space .. so there is no chance of bee's !!! I've never been stung by a bee .. but I don't ever want to be either !!!
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 11-25-98 04:03 PM ET My unit will be the iceberg. It can sink large ships built by a rich company, in a land of rich, arrogant aristocrats, who ride that boat, & die in the icebergs freezing waters... I've been stung by a bee a few times. Doesn't bother me until the day after, when it puffs up, & hurts like a daddy beating you with a tree branch!!! But I've never broken any bones in my body. I don't want to either, casts are notoriously itchy Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
jsorense	posted 11-25-98 04:22 PM ET DJ RRebel: Concerning bees, Unity and A.C. I think that bees will be brought on Unity. There will be lots of flowering plants brought along that need to be pollinated by some vector. Honeybees do a great job at this and produce honey too. Most affective Believer unit: sacramental wine factory.
DarkLight	posted 11-25-98 04:23 PM ET Hmmm... I have it! The cannon fodder! Specialized infantry who are designed to be hurled into the think of battle and absorb tons of damage. They would cost horrendous amounts of resources, but they have a secret ability: They can never die; at least, not permanently. The fodder is hurled out into the front of the enemy formation and absorbs all of their attacks and is subsequently reduced to his conmponent atoms. He then reappears nearby a few turns later. (watch goes off) What do you mean it would be imbalanced? Colin: Like I said, it would be imbalanced. It would not! I mentioned cost! Colin: Yes, but they can allow you to devastate a decent army with very few losses. Ummm... Colin: They are also reusable. Err... Colin: They can also... SHUT UP, WATCH BOY! Colin: (meekly) I'll be good. Besides, it's not a real unit, just an idea. And a really pointless one, at that.
SnowFire	posted 11-25-98 07:43 PM ET Sure, cannpn-fodder could work, simply add this: when formed one population point is removed from the city. When they "die" one population point is spent ressurecting them. And they have a really terrible offense. So you can get some damage done, at a huge cost in population (did I mention that this unit causes mass unrest at home too?).
WCT	posted 11-25-98 08:06 PM ET Excavator: lightly or not armed; uses energy to quickly extract useful materials from a space. (Maybe an upgrade or extra function of a terraforming unit?) Game effects: * converts small amount of energy to large amount of minerals (and maybe nutrients); the minerals (and nutrients) do not become available until it returns to a friendly or allied city * the space it does this conversion on drops production - low or zero minerals, and reduced nutrients (and maybe also energy) Obviously, this would best be used outside of an area your cities exploit - say, a square that lies between two neighboring cities' use areas, or on enemy soil. (Morgan Industries using this against Gaia would be symbolic, to say the least.) On a related note... Mobile Factory: lightly or not armed; can produce and repair units in the field without having to set up a full colony. Can be used, for instance, to create a force of tanks on a contient not land-linked to your cities, without having to transport them there (although you've still got to get the factory there...maybe it should be able to hover, so as to provide a stable floor to build stuff on even when going over rough terrain). Upgrade: Mobile City: not as efficient as a regular city in harvesting from the land, but it can run, and allow you to set up elsewhere without being completely reduced to scratch, if your teritorry gets overrun by an enemy. (Ideal for Survivalists for just that reason.) You wanted a cloaked unit? How about a cloaked cruise missile? Without adequate detectors, the first (and last) sign that it's there is when it blows up in the middle of your units or city. Probably should be expensive to produce, and be detectable with tech much earlier in the tree than the last tech needed for it to be produced, if it is powerful enough to completely destroy a large city; the temptation to level your enemies with a swarm of these (and frustration if the AI does it to you first) would be extreme otherwise.