Alien hoverbot

[Psawhn]

Here's a very quick blockup of an alien hoverbot:



The side things are more fans than turbines, though. They rotate around to provide foward/reverse/turning motions.

The gun is garbage - it's just there to show where the gun goes. I also figured that having the gun turret on top would make it more difficult to fire at humans that are downward.

[sitters]

Here's a very quick blockup of an alien hoverbot:



The side things are more fans than turbines, though. They rotate around to provide foward/reverse/turning motions.

The gun is garbage - it's just there to show where the gun goes. I also figured that having the gun turret on top would make it more difficult to fire at humans that are downward.

Nice.

[Winter]

Here's a very quick blockup of an alien hoverbot:


The side things are more fans than turbines, though. They rotate around to provide foward/reverse/turning motions.

Here's a proposed design change -- close up the gap between the top and bottom fans. That will make the whole thing look more solid and more powerful. The fan blades should look like those of a turbofan jet engine.

The gun is garbage - it's just there to show where the gun goes. I also figured that having the gun turret on top would make it more difficult to fire at humans that are downward.

How about a turret on the bottom?

Regards,
Winter

[Surrealistik]

Very nice. Were you inspired by the hoverbot I proposed? So far the model looks excellent. However I would definitely recommend substituting the fan turbines for something sleeker and more advanced, cylindrical anti-grav units that emit a light blue glow (similar to the colouration of the plasma blasts)  perhaps?

Been awhile since we worked together on X-Com Last Hope Pshawn, it's nice to see you again.

[Winter]

Very nice. Were you inspired by the hoverbot I proposed? So far the model looks excellent. However I would definitely recommend substituting the fan turbines for something sleeker and more advanced, cylindrical anti-grav units that emit a light blue glow (similar to the colouration of the plasma blasts)  perhaps?

Been awhile since we worked together on X-Com Last Hope Pshawn, it's nice to see you again.

The flying alien bot has been around for a long, long time. It's just never had a model.

As I've said before, UFO:AI does not have and will not have antigravity or other sci-fantasy technology. Ever. It would completely defeat the purpose of a near-future hard-sci-fi game. The only exception we're making is for FTL, because the logistics and limitations of a sublight-only invasion were incompatible with the storyline.

Regards,
Winter

[Surrealistik]

The Law of Accelerating Returns might disagree with you on anti-grav tech being the realm of sci-fantasy given the temporal setting (human tech should be bafflingly advanced by then) of UFO: AI and the vast technological superiority of the aliens, especially considering the capabilities of ultrapowerful quantum computers which should exponentially catalyze the progress of all forms of research (something which I'm certain the aliens would have), but fair enough.

[Psawhn]

Very nice. Were you inspired by the hoverbot I proposed? So far the model looks excellent. However I would definitely recommend substituting the fan turbines for something sleeker and more advanced, cylindrical anti-grav units that emit a light blue glow (similar to the colouration of the plasma blasts)  perhaps?

Been awhile since we worked together on X-Com Last Hope Pshawn, it's nice to see you again.

Hey, Last Hope! I wish that didn't collapse. (I also wish I didn't lose the source files for my alien base.)

Actually, I had this design in my head for a few weeks, now. It borrows more from here: http://ufoai.ninex.info/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=669&start=0, but I worked on integrating the dev's ideas more. They also had the requirement for a hoverbot already, here: http://ufoai.ninex.info/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1302

As far as technological progress goes, maybe there was a "semi-dark" age in regards to technology - the threat of political, environmental, and economic collapse could have taken funding away from research on a global scale.

Or maybe technology follows more of a gaussian model than an exponential one. Evolutionary refinements in technology can only go so far without a revolutionary breakthrough, as we start running into physical limits. (ie: microchips with transistors/circuits just atoms in diameter.)

Either way, there's been some progress made on this model:


Edit: And now I have a fan thing that looks spinny:

[Winter]

Hey, Last Hope! I wish that didn't collapse. (I also wish I didn't lose the source files for my alien base.)

Maybe someone else still has them?

Actually, I had this design in my head for a few weeks, now. It borrows more from here: http://ufoai.ninex.info/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=669&start=0, but I worked on integrating the dev's ideas more. They also had the requirement for a hoverbot already, here: http://ufoai.ninex.info/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1302

Yeah, kaeau is a great modeller and texturer, but he didn't seem to like working within any sort of framework. Or having to submit his work to an AD.

Maybe we should try and get some of those untextured models from him, some of them were quite good.

As far as technological progress goes, maybe there was a "semi-dark" age in regards to technology - the threat of political, environmental, and economic collapse could have taken funding away from research on a global scale.

Well, if you read the world history on the wiki or inside the game, there has been a lot of strife and collapse worldwide.

Or maybe technology follows more of a gaussian model than an exponential one. Evolutionary refinements in technology can only go so far without a revolutionary breakthrough, as we start running into physical limits. (ie: microchips with transistors/circuits just atoms in diameter.)

I'm following the idea that we're advancing, but not quite as quickly as most people seem to think or hope for. I mean, all over the 20th century, people were convinced that we'd have artificial-gravity space stations and permanent moonbases by 1984, 1999, 2001 etc. etc. None of that has materialised. We're supposed to be making second manned missions to Jupiter in 2010, for pity's sake. :p

In my writeup, humanity has several space stations, one permanent moon colony and a fleet of two or three manned spacecraft, with some of the more advanced stuff under construction. It is in the early days of commercial fusion power, but it isn't shifting postprocessor-enabled fission out of its place of power quite yet.

Either way, there's been some progress made on this model:


Edit: And now I have a fan thing that looks spinny:

Brilliant work, mate, I really like how you've pulled together that plasma gun. The spinning fan was not what I had in mind (which was static turbofan blades) but it works well enough. If only we had animated texture support.

Regards,
Winter

[PhaD]

hmm it  doesn't looks like very extraterrestrial, then it needs good movement and damage sounds! The hoverbot should be done by aliens ? with an rotating engine? That seems to be Human work! It could be better if the engine of the bot is something like antigravitation, so after you smash that bot up, you can reserach antigrav as well. Maybe you need antigravitation to research the new alien spaceship!

[Voller]

once again, anti-gravity comes up

[inquisiteur2]

Maybe fans are too large, in my opinion they should look a little more circular and thinner, like terminator 3 skynet model.

On a somewhat related note, this kind of machine must be cleaned from time to time, thus need to land in the hangar, maybe small landing gear or somehting similar need to be attached to it ?

Regarding the 2 spikes popping from the bottom of the plane, I assume they are done for planes stability purpose. Would this plane be big enough to have aliens sit on them for field transportation purpose ? (I mean if this is the case, you may arrange them to be less crude and more ergonomic for aliens buts sake ).

Finally, since its a robot, sensors somewhere may be needed.

On a very last note, how is this plane supposed to deal with ground height ? I mean if it is on a flat landscape thats ok, but if their is a stair of a hill, unless the fans are strong enough to allow it to take some altitude, you would need an additional small fan on the lower top of the plan just to pull it up when needed.

[Alex]

hmm it  doesn't looks like very extraterrestrial, then it needs good movement and damage sounds! The hoverbot should be done by aliens ? with an rotating engine? That seems to be Human work! It could be better if the engine of the bot is something like antigravitation, so after you smash that bot up, you can reserach antigrav as well. Maybe you need antigravitation to research the new alien spaceship!

Anti gravity would be a cool and fun addition if the game was set in a more heavily science fictional universe.  From what I can understand the design constraints have been finalized for quite some time, and the team is now in the implementation phase of the project.  

Going back to the drawing board to incorporate things like antigravity into the storyline (which has had many months of work put into it already) would cause major delays in the project.

But I will agree with one point - it doesn't look very alien (no offense).  It doesn't seem to have any kind of stability, wouldn't it pitch backwards and forwards on its axis?  It looks kind of chunky...  I would imagine that the aliens would be far enough advanced with materials and alloys to produce extremely lightweight but strong designs.  The overall look of the proposed model seems more of a human adaptation of the alien idea, with less refined materials and construction processes.

Whats the pointy bits at the front for?  Do they ram people and impale them on spikes?

Maybe you can find more inspiration here: http://www.moller.com/

[Surrealistik]

My only real objection to the model is the size of the turbines; other than that the model's fine, though I personally would go with a frame more reminiscent of the scanners from HL2.

[Winter]

The turbines look awesome in my opinion. This model is supposed to give the impression of speed and versatility, slightly unstable, neither too light to be a threat nor too heavy to be a believable flier. It does all of those things very well.

Remember that it's going to be only 1 square in size in-game.

Regards,
Winter

[Alex]

True, I wasn't taking scale into account.  My problem wasn't with the model itself which I believe is great (and would probably look brilliant textured), and if I try to picture it taking only one square in game, I take back what I said about it looking too chunky.