Defcon

[N0ught]

I am very proud to announce my first complete mod:

Arrakis. Dune. Desert Planet. This mod is based on the novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert, with graphics inspired by the 1984 movie.

Here are some screenshots:

Notes:
*For two-player battles. Re-enact the bloody feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen!
*Only 45 cities per side, based on the Frank Herbert's map of Arrakis. I still need to scale the city populations randomly, but this will do for now.
*Large map (alright, it's really an image of mars) allows for maximum strategic flexibility - send your ships around the planet, or straight across "the void" for some deep space combat.
*Fiery explosions for dramatic effect!
*New graphics for some units. New descriptions for all units.
*I haven't had a chance to play this mod with anyone, so please, play some online games and let me know what you think!

These screenshots don't even do this mod justice! Download "Battle for Arrakis" here (13.8MB) from my new fileserver:

http://www.orlafan.com/celticmeav/N0ught/Arrakis.zip

My other mods will be uploaded and available from this server soon! Stay tuned.

Last edited by N0ught on Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:54 pm; edited 6 times in total

[Spacemonkey]

cool, looks nice.

I actully had an idea of a dune mod a while back, except I was thinking about doing a land based one.


Altough you one doesn't look to go with a picture of mars, should change it to a more dune looking like planet, also the middle border line looks a bit out of place, it should be more squiggly.

[KingAl]

I like the use of Mars - but I do think the perfect bisection looks a bit naff (unless, of course, it's accurate to the source). Otherwise, great looking mod.

EDIT: One other thing - does the map require a visible black line around Mars to work properly? Because if it doesn't, it could look good without it.

[martin]

personally I've got to say:

amazing!

I'm currently i the middle of the dune books - thankyou!

[xander]

martin wrote:

personally I've got to say: amazing! I'm currently i the middle of the dune books - thankyou!

There is only one Dune book. The others never existed.

xander

[N0ught]

As far as the black lines go, they work well, because they are definitive and they also match the backdrop of space. I plan on making a whole new theme (complete with new gui graphics) during which I will try some other colors - but I think the black is going to stay, for the coastlines. It is unobtrusive.

And yeah, I need to get around to reading the other books in the Dune series... the first one comes to such a definitive end I've never really felt the need.

I'm glad you like the mod! Vote "Battle for Arrakis" for best space mod of the year!

NOTE: I am having trouble with my picture files - does anyone know a good place to host images?

[Montyphy]

http://www.imageshack.us
http://www.photobucket.com

[martin]

xander wrote:

martin wrote: personally I've got to say: amazing! I'm currently i the middle of the dune books - thankyou! There is only one Dune book. The others never existed. xander

wtf? out of the original series there were several, and then his son has written a load too!

[xander]

martin wrote:

wtf? out of the original series there were several, and then his son has written a load too!

Because the original was so good, and the sequels were so bad, I deny the existence of any sequels.

xander

[N0ught]

Awesome, photobucket works great.

[martin]

xander wrote:

martin wrote: wtf? out of the original series there were several, and then his son has written a load too! Because the original was so good, and the sequels were so bad, I deny the existence of any sequels. xander

...

we clearly have a very different taste in books - I thought the sequels were at least as good as the original dune; some of the prequels and legends of dune are a bit ropey but still ok.

[rome87]

gd job nice mod i just tryed it rlly nice work

[xander]

martin wrote:

we clearly have a very different taste in books - I thought the sequels were at least as good as the original dune; some of the prequels and legends of dune are a bit ropey but still ok.

This is where I would generally say something to the effect of: "Of course we have different tastes -- I like books that don't suck." However, I shall refrain. In terms of taste, Dune was okay. I generally prefer sf authors such as Ursula Krober LeGuin, H G Welles, Jules Verne, and Ray Bradbury. If you have not read those, you should. Each of them exemplifies what is best in sf for their time and place. I have always thought of Dune, and its sequels, as being overly pretentious, and kind of pop-corn. But, hey, that's just me :)

xander

[shinygerbil]

Hehe, I also wanted to do this mod: I mentioned it here!

I had, like Spacemonkey, envisaged a land-based mod, but I like the idea of this. It might even be possible to somehow add the Spacing Guild to this mod (seeing as it's, err, in space), but I can't see precisely how to do it as yet. Of course, that might ruin the aesthetics of the game, but it would mean that more than two players could play at once

Nice work, anyway!


xander and martin: The first book is really all you need. I loved it. Then, forget about it and read Asimov's Foundation - which could be another source for awesome mods!

[martin]

xander wrote:

martin wrote: we clearly have a very different taste in books - I thought the sequels were at least as good as the original dune; some of the prequels and legends of dune are a bit ropey but still ok. This is where I would generally say something to the effect of: "Of course we have different tastes -- I like books that don't suck." However, I shall refrain. In terms of taste, Dune was okay. I generally prefer sf authors such as Ursula Krober LeGuin, H G Welles, Jules Verne, and Ray Bradbury. If you have not read those, you should. Each of them exemplifies what is best in sf for their time and place. I have always thought of Dune, and its sequels, as being overly pretentious, and kind of pop-corn. But, hey, that's just me xander

hmm, well personally I think that dune is one of the best Sci-Fi series I've ever read (and I do read a lot of Sci-Fi), I've only heard of Jules verne put of those three and didn't particularly like his stuff - I prefer the more modern "epic" Sci-Fi; hence the fact that I like Dune, books by Stephen Baxter,the pandoras star series etc (actually I'd really recommend trying Stephen baxter books and the pandoras star series)