Multiped Vehicles

[Freeza-CII]

Ok So here is the Deal.  

Walking is another form of locamotion.  Legs instead of wheels.  This DOESNT make these units UBER they just walk.  They would all have the same properties of the wheel vehicles.  So they wouldnt be slower or faster and mantain that balance.  And they would also have simular turret set ups.  If your afraid people are only going to use that colony because they think the walker units are "Uber" then that is there problem as they would be balanced other wise.

Now I plan on making the 3 attack units and the other colony vehicles so there will be a whole Colony of walkers so every thing will click together nicely.  The names of the units I might leave up to other people maybe.

The Weapons I do put on the units are just to show where the weapons will be They may or may not be in the game i dont know dont b****.

This is like the MLAV only more extensive and more balanced.

[zanco]

A colony whom units are "Ped-vehicle"? Not all by maybe parts of it. Intersting.
This might bring some kind of diversity in the game.

I can picture it instead of Lynx-Laser, we will have "Dodo-laser" or whichever biped animal you want to use.-- Just kidding but something of the sort.

The problem is to know if it will be more economical and/or feasible to build Multi-Ped vehicles instead of wheeled vehicles.

The discussion is opened and everyone is welcomed to take part in it.

[Freeza-CII]

Well I Think if the vecs are made right they will work with legs.  Even the Convec will have legs its body style would vastly different.  And I think that with the Wheeled vecs the Looks of the vecs will tend to be simular.  Having the very differnt look will make for a interesting game.

[zanco]

I understand what you mean. And this is quite an original idea. I just want you to come up with a believable reason as to why they will use Biped units instead of wheeled units.
Remember they already have the technology of the wheeled unit giving that they also come from Earth.  

[Freeza-CII]

Yes Wheeled units from earth but Wheeled units may not work so well on a different planet or in the particular area that this colony happen to be.  Plus a Leg can walk over some thing rather then just trying to roll over it.  Some one might bring up the fact that a Standing unit will be more likely to fall over.  Well for the sake of game play i would say no it wouldnt it would be treated as a lynx and such.  Plus we have legged robots right now that wont fall over even if there kicked.  I know it doesnt seem likely that they would use Legged robots instead of wheeled ones  But the terrain of the planet might call for such a thing Or perhaps the terrain of there landing zone was so hard on the wheeled units they had some thing new had to be delevoped or brought back to life from the Earth Database.  Legged prototypes have been around for a long time.  

With a 3d environment it does present the challenge of having the units walk right on a slant.

[Freeza-CII]

Ok screen shot time.

Scout


Light Unit


Medium Unit


Heavy unit


Convec

[dm-horus]

I have to say that these units looks extremely delicate. I would have to suggest that the colony that uses these would have to go with the whole mentality of "weak but cheap" and make up for their delicate construction in numbers. something that is delicately balanced on two legs would not be able to field a very large weapon as simply tracking a target would set it off balance. Also these need to look beefier. I see no room in the legs for whatever mechanism propels them. I also personally think more than 2 legs looks a bit more realistic unless the 2 legged units are very beefy and close to the ground. After all, the terrain they are on is very rugged and that was the purpose for the spiders with their 4, 6 or 8 legs or whatever theyve got.

[Freeza-CII]

Yes and There are turrets that fire lasers and lightning.  You cant expect every thing to be total realism.  Plus these legs are not run by Hydraulic pneumatic or Electric rams.  They are powered by Survos. which take up less space and can fit on the inside of the joints.  And being powered by a cool fusion plant there isnt a shortage in power needed to move these units.  And i am trying my best not to mimic Mechwarrior or Earth Seige or mimicing units like spiders.

Forwarning the Next set of units will look a bit more unusual in appearance but its only because of there function.

[dm-horus]

Yeah actually the design of these is in close keeping with the style of op2. if they were beefier theyd look a little too mechwarrior-like and i see youre avoiding that. Actually, these look alot like something you would see in Total Annihilation.

[zanco]

Yes and There are turrets that fire lasers and lightning. You cant expect every thing to be total realism

Very well put. I think some time we care too much about realism.

You did a good job illustrating your idea. Those units look extremely good given that they were made in a short amount of time. Kudos. The convec looks a lot like Viking 1





I guess we could consider Maesis having those Legged Units. And an argument might be (as DM-Horus put it) that the terrain was extremely "bumpy" thus making it difficult for wheeled vehicles to drive around. But again, I don't think that New Terra ewas a smooth planet either and wheeled vehicles did get by. Even on a rough terrain, wheeled vehicles might work:
Here is a "palpable" example.


We could work a little bit on the mechanism and improve it. And we could also work on the design; to me those look too much like Star Wars. Maybe som more opi-ish?

[Freeza-CII]

Legs are legs normal, reversed, or double reversed.  if i put Normal straight legs on them it makes them look very skinny and top heavy.  double reverse legs just look ODD.  and the Reversed legs keep them from looking to tall and top heavy.

Yes this is the problem.  The other colonies have used wheeled vecs and that is what every one is used to.  And since they already could drive over already bad terrain it doesnt make sence to have legs and just stick with wheels.

But lets say the colony landing in a spot that was like the badlands of the planet with the kinda terrain that would destroy wheels.  Here is where the legs would work.  Because your not going to send a bulldozer out to flaten every thing so you can have a patrol or exploration.

The Mars rover ya that is a very small vec and going over the rocks is easy due to its suspention but that kind of suspention is not a good idea to have on a combat vec as it would pretty much get blown off.  That is if we wanted to be completely anal about realism in the game.  For the sake of game play it doesnt make a bit of damn difference if there is legs or wheels because the terrain will never have that much detail.  But with the real factor legs are a possiblity.  Remember op2 uses science and fact.  OP3 must as well or its just not going to work.  

And just because star wars ATAT walker had reverse knees doesnt make it the same  and there wont be any giant cat looking one either.  And I think my convec more resembles a frog with a folding crane on its back.

You must remember that theses are just basicly rough drafts of the walkers i envision.  Right now there to blocky and sharp i rather have rounded corners and such.

[Betaray]

how about a hybrid of wheels and legs

such as shown here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=61...ng+robot+hybrid

[Combine Crusier]

I like legged units. Not just because they look nice but also because they can manuver terrain easier and are very adaptable to thier environment. For instance, on earth a standard tank wouldn't be able to cross through a river that is 10 feet deep where as a legged unit such as this could walk through it whether the river bed was flat or not. The consideration that when it is tracking a target is easily recktified as you can have a stabilization system that would use a form of liquid balast to put weight in the sections of the chassis that are lighter and would cause the vehicle to tip. For instance, if the unit is turning it's torso to a 90 degree angle the balast would move to the back and center of the torso.

[Freeza-CII]

i dont think there are going to be to many rivers.  of water any way.

OK Like i said those pic above are basicly rough drafts.  There too squar and sharp.



There is something more to what i see.  Those guns are just fancy placement to display where the guns go.

[Combine Crusier]

The guns look like PBW (particle beam weapons)! Man you are a good designer. Wish I could do that....

[zanco]

Freeza-CII I am impressed with your design. Just good work. Wonderful work!
Kudos.

Edit: Also I would like to see you rendition of non-military units.

[Freeza-CII]

Ok now this one is a bit unusual and it needs a bit of scaling.





And then there is the surveyor



That thing on the under bellie is the Bore laser and Mass spectrameter.



A small sence of scale maybe not accurate but close enough to give the idea.  Some things need readjusting just because i want them right.

[Combine Crusier]

Holy Short! Sweet!

[Freeza-CII]

Ok a revision of the Miner because it was just to damn small to beable to fill a cargo walker.

Undeployed


Deployed with a Cargo Walker to show the grand size.


That Tube is retractable.  So the walker can stand up and move.

[zanco]

Very Interesting. I see that you are putting a lot of thoughts into it.
Don't build a whole colony by yourself. But now I see what you were referring to, and this is doable AND believable. ( *glances at Combine Cruiser ).

Now  how many polys did you use for this one?

[Freeza-CII]

1876

[Stormy]

mmm.... I think I'm liking htis idea more and more

The arguement about the terrain being rough is a very good one...

and Freeza, that kind of design for the robo-miner is extremely helpful; we could base the miners for the other colonies off of that (except with wheels instead  of legs)
I know it's obvious that the parts would have to extend... but OP2's screenshots aren't very descriptive no?  :heh:

[Freeza-CII]

Ya Every thing needs the right scale instead of all the same size.

[Combine Crusier]

The idea of the terrain being rough for vehicles is good....... Perhaps this colony could have landed in a geologically active spot. The grounds in their landing spot is so fragile that vehicle literally would get stuck in the mud or whatever it is.....

Excellent Freeza-CII, The idea is Freezing together already.

[Tramis]

I like the idea of a legged robo-miner, but I don't think the entire colony would use walkers - they wouldn't be terribly fast.  Spiders are fast because they have a very light load to carry - foil armor, tiny chassis etc.  larger walkers with much larger weight to carry would be extremely slow in comparison to the other colonies' equivalent vehicles.

Also, you have to consider that if the ground is too rocky for Maesis to use wheeled vehicles, then it's too rocky for Genesis to do so either, and having 2 of the 3 colonies using walkers almost exclusively, would get un-Outpost-ish in a hurry.