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ATLAS: Sci-Fi Mod

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ATLAS: Ascension (working title)

A new Sci fi Total conversion.

What is going on:

The year is 2318, following several expansions of research into interstellar transport and several breakthroughs in weapons and armour technology, The people of planet earth decide to make their exodus to planets similar to their own, since the year 2170, the human population across the galaxy has grown exponentially, with the estimates now at roughly 1.2 trillion.

While the human race colonizes and expands, a new threat is uncovered, an extra terrestrial race known among the others of the galaxy, as the Vulkartai, a dangerous and territorial race, their people have been growing more and more restless and reports of attacks on some human colonies have come in. The IPDF, responsible for the protection of the human race and its allies, has decided to take action, an all in combined arms assault on the Vulkartai is about to begin. It is down to you, as a member of this assault, to command your squad to victory and protect your race from this new upcoming menace.

Who is involved:

IPDF: The Inter-Planetary Defence Force. The primary volunteer armed forces of the human race, they mainly defend human settlers and researchers as they move to and/or terraform planets in preparation for colonisation. Their secondary task is to provide assistance to allied species across the galaxy in peacekeeping efforts.

GST: Global Special Tactics. The ground based special forces of the IPDF, They are the spearhead of the Volunteer army, having completed years of specialized training, making them extensively knowledgeable in almost any warfare tactic. They are normally the first into a combat situation as part of the agreements in the Galactic Contribution Treaty. The GST divisions are the best trained and the best equipped ground forces available to the treaty planets.

There are 12 divisions of the GST, with roughly 10,000 members per division, they have normally been genetically enhanced to better accentuate their combat capability.

While each GST division has a speciality, all of them are combat ready as infantrymen when necessary.

GST-4: The primary Armoured division of the GST, with the best vehicles and crew available they support the infantry in their advances using superior tactics and fire-power to wear down and defeat their foes.

GST-12: More affectionately known as the 'Silverbacks' they are the cream of the crop. The first to go anywhere, it is their job to spearhead all operations, seek out viable routes for movement and supply, and they are in charge of protecting support groups and armies of other races, as and when they require it. The Silverbacks are the only division to have a mix of light, medium and heavy troop types based on their specialised role. They are also the best prepared for a change in environmental conditions. Making them perfect for harsher changes in climate and atmospheric conditions.

GST-12 can be identified by the 3 red stripes present on their armour.

silverbacks_promo_by_zeealex-d8ak1s4.jpg

The Volunteer Army: The general infantry of the IPDF responsible for the protection of human and allied race settlements across the galaxy, they are not as well equipped for hostile environments as the special tactics divisions; at most, they are equipped for oxygen deficient atmospheres. By the point of deployment of the general infantry, the target planet's atmosphere is almost suited to human life.

Render:

gi_by_zeealex-d89zcra.jpg

The Volunteer Navy: Equipped with large spacecraft, the volunteer navy engage in both combat and general transport roles across the galaxy, When in combat, they can orbit a planet and provide orbital strike packages to ground forces requiring a barrage of devastating fire-power, or conversely, they are capable of engaging in ship to ship combat, a common feat among quarrels with notorious pirates or insurgencies.

They are also partly responsible for the safe travels of civilians to and from human settlements, often providing escort through unsafe systems or providing the travel itself.

IPMC: Inter-Planetary Marine Corps, specialized in zero gravity, zero oxygen warfare, often employed during ship to ship boarding or during search and rescue operations on destroyed craft. They are also the second unit on the ground following the GST in global combat, and will normally provide the bulk of the fighting force if the atmospheric conditions are not suitable for the volunteer army.

The Vulkartai: A territorial race of creatures that communicate telepathically, very little is known about them, They are primitive technologically, but very intelligent, while human forces generally do not find them difficult, an elusive subspecies known as the Hamarkartai, tend to cause difficulty, as they can interfere with most radio frequencies and electrical systems, rendering them completely inoperable, this includes the small computers that regulate the oxygen exchange tanks in a soldier's armour system.

The Vulkartai were found to communicate on a UHF radio band, meaning their could be received via radio, while the communications are not understandable. The radio acts almost like a Geiger tube, the closer a Vulkartai is, the higher the frequency of their signature clicking noise is. However, at proximities closer than 2 meters, the sound received by the radio has been known to deafen and on rare occasions, brain damage users. So the proximity gauging technique must be used with care.

Concept:

archosa__head__concept_by_zeealex-d85a4q9.jpg

Insurgents: Normally human, insurgents are normally high in numbers, but not well armed or equipped, they generally gravitate towards terraformed planets due to their lack of equipment suited for hostile environments

Soldier Classes:

Recon: A light unit, capable of faster travel and low detection, their exoskeleton system is tailored to low weight bearing and high running speed, while they can run fast, they are the most vulnerable class, they have very little armour and their personal defence weapons are not suited for standardized infantry combat.

Sniper: Similar to the Recon class, except their exoskeleton is modified to enable better handling of heavier sniper rifles.

Medium/Standard Infantry: A firm balance between the recon class and heavier classes, the medium class infantry are capable of medium range ground combat, unlike the Recon units, their exoskeleton is hidden under their armour, and their protection and armament are far more superior. Their exoskeleton is balanced between weight bearing and speed. Mostly, it is set up to provide a higher combat endurance rate. They can be equipped with a multitude of weapons ranging from light sub machine guns, to rocket launchers.

Heavy: The Heavy troops are almost literally armoured to the teeth, with incredibly heavy armour that cannot be penetrated easily by standard ammunition. They are usually equipped with heavy shoulder mounted .50 calibre chainguns, heavy anti-materiel rifles or AT/AA missile launchers. Due to their high armour, however, they cannot move quickly, and they cannot see as much of the battlefield. As a result they can be very vulnerable to close range or side-on attacks and as a result are normally protected by sentinel infantry.

Basic WIP Render:

heavy_helmet_2_by_zeealex-d8ak28i.jpg

Sentinels: a medium armoured, highly aware infantryman that protects tanks or heavy infantry from close quarters engagements as they advance. They are easily distinguished by their helmet, which has a very high field of view.

Screenshots:

107410_2014_12_14_00010_by_zeealex-d89rir3.png

107410_2014_12_16_00001_by_zeealex-d8ak30q.png

Comments and Suggestions welcome!

Edited by zeealex
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It reminds me too of Mass Effect...it would be great, especially if someone will create a mod to have aliens and new planets map...a futuristic Arma, why not ;)

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I did take some inspiration from mass effect, it is one of my favourite games of all time! :) but it mostly just took on that look as a "practicality over style" sort of approach

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Freaking awesome!

I would love to see this but am really curious and wanted to know if you can also make something like Call of Duty Advanced Warfare EXO-Skeleton as an expansion of a scifi mod?

I just watched "Edge of Tomorrow" and Elysium, and then noticed your thread. Don't forget the "female" versions as well. Now we just need some totally bad ass Aliens to go up against.

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Looks like something out of metro 2033 to me (never a bad thing); would be a lot of fun to use in game! Keep up the great work!

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Awesome! I think the helmets would look better with plastic rails and other misc (strobes, batteries, flashlights) like in Titanfall. :)

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For the chest armor i would suggest to increase the heigth differences between the armor plates/layers. Not exactly sure what it is supposed to be for a material, but those tiny differences like now won't be noticeable at all at a normal viewing distance, making it look very flat. It's the same with the helmet, there is barely any difference and at "not-in-your-face" viewdistance it will look completely flat. Such small differences are better stored in a normal map. Additionally, it often looks better if the angles between all the details are not just 90° all the time, because the edge will be more visible.

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Freaking awesome!

I would love to see this but am really curious and wanted to know if you can also make something like Call of Duty Advanced Warfare EXO-Skeleton as an expansion of a scifi mod?

I just watched "Edge of Tomorrow" and Elysium, and then noticed your thread. Don't forget the "female" versions as well. Now we just need some totally bad ass Aliens to go up against.

I am looking to expand with exoskeletons funnily enough ;) I'd probably make different troop types, heavy, medium, light, and recon.

Recon and heavy will have noticeable exoskeletons, however heavies have protected exoskeletons, where as recon has the tech exposed in favour of lower load.

Awesome! I think the helmets would look better with plastic rails and other misc (strobes, batteries, flashlights) like in Titanfall.

Kind of like a hybrid of current helmets and this maybe?

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=27261

Here is a mod to complement your idea, Zee.

Now, everyone...let us start dreaming !!!! 8)

ohhh yes, the cosmos engine, It'll make space battles possible! :D

For the chest armor i would suggest to increase the heigth differences between the armor plates/layers. Not exactly sure what it is supposed to be for a material,

It's already in my books, the material is boron carbide coated with an outer layer of titanium

Additionally, it often looks better if the angles between all the details are not just 90° all the time, because the edge will be more visible.

it looks flat in game at the minute because the shadows were turned off due to a non-closed shadow lod, the idea was that the smaller details in there can be accentuated with a normal map, making the model appear much less flat, I was working from a specific concept that I’d already done(at much lower quality)

the body armour has 90 degree angles at the moment, because I was always taught, get the basic shape down first, THEN start altering the smaller areas, and some of the segments don't actually go all of the way around, they stop at the side as I'm adding further details there.

Either way, once I'm finished with it, it SHOULD look okay. I've got plans for it, don't worry ;)

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Really looking forward to this zeealex. Cant wait to film a machinima with this mod :-)

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Really looking forward to this zeealex. Cant wait to film a machinima with this mod :-)

thank you, can't wait to see it! :)

Made a few minor improvements to the edging and the height difference between the armour plates, I also raised the rear of the neck's blast shield, it looked a bit exposed and exposed=not protected

some ultra high res blank renders here if you want to paint out any suggestions

untitled_by_zeealex-d88oy5x.jpg

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/338/2/e/untitled_by_zeealex-d88oy5x.jpg

crazy_big_render_2_by_zeealex-d88oz78.jpg

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/338/d/8/crazy_big_render_2_by_zeealex-d88oz78.jpg

I've also planned out an expansion onto the shoulders, it's basically removing the piddly shoulder protection that's there and beefing it up with something more functional and allows for more mobility.

expansion_by_zeealex-d88p0bg.jpg

and while I'm here. I've got an idea in my head for a defence turret/artillery piece... did somebody say 'railgun'? aaand also a couple of dismounted infantry weapons, including but not limited to, a shoulder mounted, exoskeleton loaded chaingun, AKA, the SMELC; the SMELC gives the dips in the upper torso/shoulder armour a purpose; as a chaingun mount/hydraulic operated recoil buffer, I'll fill that out with proper detail when I've started the chaingun model.

caio!

Zee

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Exoskeleton chaingun! Yum!

What about shoulder mounted HE mini missile launcher a la Ghost Recon Alpha Future Soldier?

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funnily enough, I did consider an early future soldier-esque style mini rocket launcher for medium AT/AA specialists, and then I thought about equipping a Heavy AT/AA specialist with a quad silo missile launcher.

The thoughts would then be to have the chain gun the rocket launchers and anything else use the same mounts, essentially, the exoskeleton system that holds them is a universal system, changing the weapon mounted on the skeleton is as simple as unbolting it and bolting on the new weapon.

The only major problem I'm seeing, is I have no idea of where to even start configuring the weapons.

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Got the body armour in and working just needs further refinements. I'll get some screenshots later :D

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I know it is asking a lot from the Arma engine, but it would be great to see some truly alien enemies along the lines of the Kharaa from Natural Selection or the Prador from Neal Asher's books.

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Got the body armour in and working just needs further refinements. I'll get some screenshots later :D

Can't wait, just curious to see your work :)

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well, it's a day late, my apologies, I got caught up elsewhere.

Successes:

Armour is fully segmented, meaning individual plates move independently and rigidly(AKA, it doesn't deform)

The segments also behave as expected (see screenshot 3)

body armour works fine with the target uniforms (mostly)

The mod will be named Atlas

The faction will be called IPDF- with the group displayed being known as the Global Special Tactics(GST) division 12 or 'Greybacks' as they are nicknamed.

Improvements to be made:

the chest piece will be split up into further segments near the shoulders to allow for clipping-free movement of the arms

the body armour will be appropriately scaled

An ammo belt will be added along with further plating under the body armour, and on the legs

Normal maps and specular maps will be added to simulate shadows.

initial screenshots:

atlas___arma_3_screenshot_1_by_zeealex-d89h57w.png

107410_2014_12_11_00006_by_zeealex-d89h6h5.png

107410_2014_12_11_00007_by_zeealex-d89h6oj.png

Displays the expansion of the shoulder rear upper plates and the independent movement of the separate plates.

Model Renders:

rigged_render_1_by_zeealex-d89h71c.jpg

untitled_by_zeealex-d89h7ap.jpg

back_new_render_segmented_by_zeealex-d89h7q6.jpg

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Those units from the screenshots make me think of the Enclave from the Fallout games. Badass!:cool:

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Those units from the screenshots make me think of the Enclave from the Fallout games. Badass!:cool:

you think so? I think the heavies will be more reminiscent of the enclave; I'm basing their helmets from various gas masks, so they'll have that sort of look about them.

So I've made a couple of adjustments:

Ambient Shadow maps have been added to the models, vastly improving their looks

The glass has now got correct specular and reflective properties based on the target render.

107410_2014_12_14_00010_by_zeealex-d89rir3.png

Comparison of AO map(left) vs No AO(Right) map:

difference_by_zeealex-d89qwk1.jpg

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AO looks better. Must more detailed!

In some twisted way, I can see these as the Elite Cobra Vipers Commando units from the second GI Joe movie (not cartoons). That is a complement!

Edited by Valken

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More I see those pics, more I get addicted to this mod too^^ I admit, I was not so interested at the beginning as I am now :D

I also found some maps made for a Star Trek mod. They could be a start for modders who wish to create appropriate missions for this unit.

Just a feedback at first sight: make the uniform more dark grey, the red more vivid and add some red stripes on the body armor too. It would be great to find a picture as I'm imagining them now to show you...but creativity is something you don't lack for sure ;)

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AO looks better. Must more detailed!

In some twisted way, I can see these as the Elite Cobra Vipers Commando units from the second GI Joe movie (not cartoons). That is a complement!

haha! they do! I can't un-see it now XD It's amazing what the AO maps do, they essentially just add shadows where the game engine wouldn't bother. But it works wonders to the textures.

More I see those pics, more I get addicted to this mod too^^ I admit, I was not so interested at the beginning as I am now

I also found some maps made for a Star Trek mod. They could be a start for modders who wish to create appropriate missions for this unit.

Just a feedback at first sight: make the uniform more dark grey, the red more vivid and add some red stripes on the body armor too. It would be great to find a picture as I'm imagining them now to show you...but creativity is something you don't lack for sure

Yeah, to be honest I wasn't exactly expecting anyone to be very excited about it, firstly, there's not much information on it at all, I just kind of opened up the post with "I'm working on this, here's a few pictures" I haven't really explained what the heck is going on, and if you don't know what's going on, there's not much to be excited about. And Secondly, you've got mod WIP's like the Eridanus Insurrection, which is looking really fleshed out now, I'm excited for it's release, it's based on a pretty popular sci fi game, so naturally people are going to want to go for something they know, rather than something new and not nearly as fleshed out. It's understandable ;)

I hope to create a few missions, provided I can get clued up on scripting or find a scripter to collaborate with, I'm going to aim for a Total Modification, once I actually know what I'm doing with it myself I can spare some details. I may even bring in the Aliens as 8ft tall great big huge things with their own custom defined RTMs and what have you.

And more onto your feedback, I agree, I'm actually toying with the idea of Camo variants for Recon troops as well, feedback is appreciated on that idea.

I've got the first idea in the works for the heavy troop's helmet, it's not looking too bad at the moment, I'm just playing it by ear really, but it's looking pretty okay all in all :)

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