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Model Request (BIG BERTHA HOWITZER)

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Experienced Model makers and animators required.

Hello again, Hive!

So here's what im looking for:

Big Bertha!

Dicke_Bertha.Big_Bertha.jpg


Essentially its a huge howitzer, which is by design between a cannon and mortar in its firing trajectory.

As far as the design and animations go, I have a few requests:

1.) That it be of considerable size(not REALLY a big deal, seeing how it can be scaled up or down in the editor)

2.) That it have a real impressive firing animation, i.e, big boom, big bang, smoke, etc. Maybe rolls back a few feet from the force of the shot before rolling back into position slowly, so it should have an attack animation of between 3 - 10 seconds. These things weren't machine guns after all.

3.) No firing crew is necessary, seeing how i may just use it for some of my goblin oriented maps... Goblins like big cannons, and just having a firing crew of Goblins reloading the weapon wouldn't be fair to others if they wanted to use it for somethig more historically accurate, but then in anycase, its all optional. (and a Goblin firing crew -would be pretty epic...)

4.) a real important aspect of this Howitzer is that it's HEAVY, and thus couldn't be self-propelled(it couldn't move by itself), or just be dragged around by a couple of dudes on a leisurely stroll, historically, guns like this were either disassembled and reconstructed on the spot, OR preferably, towed by horses (and later trucks). Historically, in WW1, most large guns were still towed by horses, so i'd like to see that, besides, there is the in-game pack horse model available for convienant use.

Thus: I'd Really like to see it have an unpack/pack set of animations, Note: This would make it a stationary weapon in its firing mode!

- The horse train can be small, maybe just two horses towing the weapon backwards, then when unpacked stand a few feet away(But far enough away to let the gun rotate without clipping into them!). The clipping issue can further be solved by keeping the gun's barrel aiming way up like in the picture, so it'd shoot way over them, rather than through them. This gun had -very- long range, and wasn't used for direct-fire.

- As i just noted, the weapon would be stationary when in firing mode, so it would need to 'swivel' or rotate independantly from the rest of the model components (like the pack mules and sandbag emplacements place in a circle around the gun)

- To further signify that the weapon is stationary, i'd like to see the firing model model be 'entrenched' somewhat, i.e. the gun itself would rotate independantly to fire, but there would be stationary, unmoving components(they wouldn't rotate with the gun), i'd like to see sandbags placed in a circular barrier around the gun, and if you like, maybe an ammo crate or two, but thats purely optional.

Note: The sandbags and crates would be appreciated, but are optional.

Here's an example of what the entrenchment could look like, and the position of the gun in it:

25_pounder_Gun_Howitzer_02.jpg


Note: The design of the gun in picture immediately above is -not- what im looking for, see the picture at the top of the thread for a better example for the gun itself.

Now seeing how I like Goblins, and that i'll most likely use this model in regards to them, i wouldn't mind seeing some 'artistic liscense' with this model. You can use ingame 'Goblin-y' Textures to help you out, and the Team-coloring should be obvious, but not painful to the eyes.

Also, if you could manage to keep this whole thing under 500 KB, not only would I be eternally grateful, but damn well impressed.

Here's a little bit of footage of same-era artillery-firing to better get you folks in the mood for some good old-fashioned death from above.


Good luck, Hivemeisters!
 
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Level 21
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Mar 18, 2007
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Well I think that the main issue is that what you're requesting is pretty demanding. It's more like a whole set of models that you'd need (gun, horses, entrenchment). It'd also need a bunch of animations that would be tasking to create. And, not to mention, models for requests are rarely made. I could maybe, maybe, make the gun and the entrenchment. As for the horses/packing/unpacking, that'd take too much time to do. I'm working on another request right now though.
 
Level 2
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Apr 30, 2012
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Wow! That looks great so far!

So much as to answer your question, when entrenched its barrel could angle upwards so as to fire at over-the-horrizon targets, other than that it'd just need to spin! I hope that answers your question!

Keep up the fantastic work!
 
Level 2
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Jun 14, 2012
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Hey man, here's a work in progress of the model. The howitzer itself is pretty much almost done, model-wise. What do you think? Also, I'm not really sure how I'd make it become entrenched.

Model looks amazing, I am so taking this :p with everybody's permission, of course.
Still I'd probably be only using it in a pet project (never will see the light of day through me)
 
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