Shipset Challenge: Xiati

[Fyron]

I don't know about you, but personally, I despise the Xiati in SF/SE5 (http://www.spaceempires.net/home/modules.php?set_albumName=wallpapers&id=Xiati_Spla sh&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view _photo.php). They just look like a goth's wet dream, all red and black and spiky... In SE4, they were quite awesome looking. The bigger ships had that keen 3 wing configuration going. Pretty much every ship (save the stations) had a sleek, dangerous look to it. Even the colony ship looked dangerous! SF/SE5 version... meh.

It's not so much that the SE5 version is so bad per se, it just doesn't measure up to the SE4 Xiati, I think.

So, I propose to you, the shipset modeler, a challenge: Rebuild the SE4 Xiati for SE5 usage! Let's see who can come up with the best adaptation.

[dogscoff]

I agree with you about the Xiati, and feel the same about some of the other races as well - the sergetti for one. They seem to have gone all angular and jaggy.

Also, the race portraits have really changed. All my hard-worked interpretations have suddenly become invalid- Compare: http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/452618-DogscoffVsSE5.jpg

I made mine as close as possible to se4's race descriptions, but in se5 I guess the se5 ppl had the luxury of re-writing the descriptions =-)

I do like most of the new race artwork- certainly none of it is in any way *bad*, and even the ones I don't like are well above the standards of my own artistic efforts, it's just that in some cases where their artwork is superior, I prefer my vision (even if that vision is rendered in an inferior fashion). But then I would, wouldn't i?

I especially like their versions of the races I was never able to draw very well for myself (the Norak, for instance). However, I still prefer my squiddie Cuecappa, blue merman-sergetti and curvier, less-praying-mantis Xi-Chung to the se5 versions. Their Ukratal wins over mine though, definitely.

I'm not *****ing and picking holes here btw - I'm really looking forward to playing se5 (haven't got round to installing the demo yet) and I'm sure it will blow the socks off of se4. I guess I was hoping for a closer continuity between the games, but then I'm just a geek like that, and I'm sure I'll get over it.

I also think it's a shame they dropped some of the other races. I mean I don't think anyone would have picked the piundon or the praetorians as their favourite races but what happened to them? Where did they go?

And if the Texrak have disappeared I'll be really upset...

</bizarre, mostly pointless ramble>

[Azselendor]

Hopefully they are being saved for a future expansion

[Ed Kolis]

I like the SE5/SF Xiati ships; they look nice and evil http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
The race portrait on the other hand - it's OK if you look at it one way (think really hard about the SE4 Xiati being there) but if you look at it another way (which is a lot easier for me) it looks like a cute little mecha-kitty or maybe an Ewok or one of the Sand-people! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Baal]

They do look a bit gothic. They remind me of FS Shivans. In fact, when I get the game I'm going to rewrite the race description and change the pictures to reflect their shivan-ness.

[StarShadow]

The Xiati in SE4 are my favorite (stock) shipset, the race portrait was pretty cool as well, what with the cybernetic look.

[Katchoo]

There's still no way to export/convert DoGa files into a compatible .X format for SEV, right?

I have a model for a Xiati Frigate that I made for PBC awhile back:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sergemorrison/XiatiFrigate.jpg

[Baron Munchausen]

Very nice. A whole 3D shipset rendered in that style would be a great addition to SE V.

[Fyron]

Doga models can be converted to .X format.

[AgentZero]

Yeah, but the textures go all funny, and last I checked no one had figured out how to fix it yet

[Azselendor]

I thought Doga had the ability to export UV Maps? Maybe I'm thinking of moray.