Terra Centauri: Last Stand BETA 0.5!!

[John.d.h]

Good job making another stunning-looking mod that pushes the boundaries of what can be done with the MegaGlest engine.  My one critique so far would be that the Flier unit looks like the wings were tacked on as an afterthought, like the unit was originally meant to crawl on the ground like a slug.  If you give wings to a slug, it still doesn't look like something that should fly.  I'm not sure what gives me that impression when I look at it, but it could be the proportions.  If it's meant to be a somewhat fast, agile unit then maybe a more sleek shape like a dragonfly would be more fitting.  Otherwise, perhaps something shaped vaguely more like a ladybug or death's head moth?  They are both basically organic battle tanks that can fly.

[Ishmaru]

I have to say I really love your UI. Any procedure in particular you used there?

Basic design were done with a brush set I purchased just for this interface and the menu, with the the light effects done in Photoshop.

Good job making another stunning-looking mod that pushes the boundaries of what can be done with the MegaGlest engine.  My one critique so far would be that the Flier unit looks like the wings were tacked on as an afterthought, like the unit was originally meant to crawl on the ground like a slug.  If you give wings to a slug, it still doesn't look like something that should fly.  I'm not sure what gives me that impression when I look at it, but it could be the proportions.  If it's meant to be a somewhat fast, agile unit then maybe a more sleek shape like a dragonfly would be more fitting.  Otherwise, perhaps something shaped vaguely more like a ladybug or death's head moth?  They are both basically organic battle tanks that can fly.

Thanks the devourers are all supposed to be worms of some sort or another, but i do agree that flyer and others really need a re design.  Right now the models are more like placeholders till i can design something better Death's head moth is defiantly a good inspiration thanks!

So great mod hope it will be balanced. Because thats most important i think

So this game wil have a different set up than Annex or Glest, Devourers will deliberately be stronger, but currently only the Valkyrie faction is playable, but makes up for it with tons of tactual options, that is the plan at least.

[Ishmaru]

Ok so lack of a proper development computer really stalls the creative process, but trust me I'm iching to get back to Terra Development.

Here are additions that I forgot to mention,

Primals

So as stated before Terra has neutral creeps on its levels, however, not all are passive. These Aggressive Primals capture defenseless Valkyries. You can rescue them by attacking their cages. These Primals are much bigger and stronger than Valkyries, but their lack of technology limits them to stone tools.

They (and their captives) spawn randomly in maps. They will aggressively defend their captives from both Valkyries and Devourers. To free the captives simply attack their restraints, just be careful with heavy weapons.  Note Devourers will seek Primals and eat both hostages, and Primals, so quick action is necessary. Haven't made a decision as to weather or not Primals can actively capture Valkyries, and if so how such a feature would work.

Armored Devourers

Armor Devourers, have plenty HP, and are resistant to all but the heaviest weapons. They do unfortunately lack the attack strength of their un-armored counterparts.

EDIT: Forgot these two below!!

Sensor

Sensor Arrays are surveillance structures. They have large vision radius for early devourer warnings. Additionally they will give surrounding units *25% attack strength when fully charged. You can charge them with an Energy Vortex, Energy core, Power Node, or a Recharge Drone.

Nuke Silo

Silos only spawn from randomly placed drop pods, much like the Orbital Uplink. Once given a power source they will fire a powerful warhead at any devourer target on the map, typically with a long cool down between shots. You are unable to see exactly which unit is targeted. Beware devourers can make short work of these structures, so be ready to defend them.

[Ishmaru]

After a long break due to hardware and lack of reliable internet, Terra development is back on!

The game is really shaping up to be quite epic. Expect More posts to come!

These images shows latest look of Terra, improved effects lighting and very colorful environments!

[Hagekura]

Fantastic!!!
Your units modelings are really superb. I'm always amazed by your skill.
Is there any plan to release Terra Centauri public?

[titi]

Wow, the screenshots look really good and very interisting regarding the features.

What should be improved is the texture of the big rock on the right in first screenshot, you should use a more hires texture so that resolution fits to to the other objects/ground textures.

[wciow]

Excellent mod! 

The environments look awesome and great looking particle effects. Its nice to see a total conversion, I know the massive effort that it takes to produce a quality faction let alone a whole TC.Would love to give this mod a try to see how the gameplay works.

[Ishmaru]

List of announced units 3/30/15:

INFANTRY

WORKER

Builds Structures, Harvest Resources, Repairs Vehicles/Structures, Heals Infantry. Light attack capability.

LANCER

Basic Maylee unit. Short range, average armor but fast attack rate. Good in numbers.

RIFLE

Basic Ranged unit. Slower attack speed than Lancers, but longer ranged and can attack Air units. Can also deploy mines.

GUARD

Armored Maylee unit. Weaker attack than a lancer but can deploy an energy shield to protect itself and near by units. Shield activates automatically when engaging enemies. While weaker shield effect than the Shield Generator, no no EP is consumed. Shield effect stacks when Guards are placed next to each other.

JETPACK

Light Air Scout. Attacks both ground and air foes with a light minigun.

BEAM

Heavy sniper unit. Attacks from far distance with a concentrated beam projectile. While powerful, the weapon requires energy to fire, and has a slow fire rate. Vulerable to close range attack.

ROCKET

Heavy Siege Unit. Fires a barrage of close range incenerary rockets, causing massive dammage, with a large splash raidus. Requires a large amount energy to fire. Warning while powerful, they can easily kill their own allies if used carelessly.

VEHICLES/DRONES

EXO MECH

Armored, and armed with twin miniguns. Can dish out lots of dammage very quickly. Not effective VS armored foes. Its slow walking speed can be offset with they ability to be airlifted to any part of the map.

Tank

Heavily armored, altillery unit. High damage output, long range, and large blast radius, but with a very low rate of fire. Requires a lot of Energy.Warning while powerful, they can easily kill their own allies if used carelessly.

Glider

Armored Flight Unit. fast speed, and high attack vs air and ground units. Requires a lot of energy. Great for hit and run attacks.

Stun Drone

Recon unit. Emits an energy pulse which stuns devourers temporarily.

Recharge Drone

Self destructs on command releasing a regenerative beam that heals HP and restores EP to nearby units.

Still more coming in the next few days!

[Ishmaru]

List of Announced Units 4/13/15:

Devourers

Devourers are the main antagonists of Terra. They are parasitic organisms spreading throught the universe. They usually spread from world to world my Meteors. Once they infect a plannet they consume all organic matter and mineral matter till the world disintergrates and rides the debris to the next world. It is unknown where the devourers originated from.

Home

Primary Devourer. Stationary, and spawns worker Devourers. "Homes" originally arrived on Terra from the great Meteor fall. Stores a good amount of food, "Organic" resource.

Nest

Spawns most devourer types, Increases population cap, and stores a small amount of food.

Cannon

"Turret" devourer. Launches "Bomber" devourers at long distance. Bombers explode on impact causing massive damage, especially to vehicles. Can attack air units.

Devourer

"Worker" devourer, can spawn Homes and Nests. These are Omnivorous meaning they consume both all living things including plants. "Organic" matter is the primary resource of the Devourer. Each Devourer can store a limited supply of food in its gut.

Hunter

Basic offensive devourer. Attacks by eating its prey. Any eaten creature gives food (organic) resource to devourers. High HP and HP regeneration. Can mutate into a larger "Alpha" variety.

Spitter

Small offensive devourer. Spits acid at long range to dissolve its target. Weak defensive rating is compensated with its ability to attack Air Units, and its numbers. Can mutate into a larger "Alpha" variety.

Flyer

Arial devourer. Attacks by eating its prey. Any eaten creature gives food (organic) resource to devourers. Can only attack aerial units.

Digger

Special devourer. Travels underground to evade damage. Must surface to consume prey. Any eaten creature gives food (organic) resource to devourers. Vulnerable to attack when surfacing.

Bomber

Suicide devourer. Self destructs, igniting area around itself on fire. Fire damages any unit in effected area over time.

Splinter

Long range attacker. Bombards target with a barrage of acidic spines. Can attack air units. Can mutate into a larger "Alpha" variety.

Shocker

Special devourer. Emits a powerful EMP blast. Aside from damaging nearby targets, it also drains their EP. Possibly paralyzing Valkyries, if their EP drops zero. Can mutate into a larger "Alpha" variety.

Armor

Armored devourer. Attacks by tackling target. While relatively low attack, they are highly resistant to light and melee attacks. Can mutate into a larger "Alpha" variety.

Titan

Massive devourer. Heavily armored with a powerful jaw that can crush even the heaviest armor. Any eaten creature gives food (organic) resource to devourers. High HP and HP regeneration.

Mother

Special devourer that carries a nest of smaller "Pest" devourers. When in range releases dozens of Pests to attack target.

Pest
Weak devourers. works in groups to assault target. Only effective against infantry. Fast speed easily evades heavy weapons.

[Tiel]

A lot of them look like turds with legs or wings attached

[filux]

Seriously I almost choked laughing .

It is impressive when it moves.
For me the idea is related with "Dune" worms and I like it. 

[Ishmaru]

I uploaded an official trailer for the upcoming Terra Release! Check it out!

[kagu]

WOW, it really looks great, also great gameplay. Can't wait for its release.

[titi_son]

 

Looks amazing. I this designed to let the cpu play bugs and you play humans only?
In addition you could optimize the dying particles of the bugs. At the moment it looks a bit weak compared to the other great models and particles.
Maybe some kind of splatter using this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGjIlm57OTY and add some "bug parts" as splatter to it. Like on this picture but in green:
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/xmicro_gf2mx/images/ut_2.jpg

[Ishmaru]

Thank you!
Yes currently only the Valkyries are playable, but there are plenty of units to play with.
The current devourer models are more like place holders, rather than final versions. I want to update them once the game play is pretty solid.

[Ishmaru]

List of Announced Units 5/18/15:

Environmental

Aside from the main factions, there are other lifeforms, and intractable objects scattered across the world of Terra. Some of these are very valuable for the player. As a general rule these are randomly scattered throughout the stage on each play through (there are some exceptions) so the levels is never the same twice. So go explore!

Primal

Usually lives in mountainous or desert regions. Primals have a primitive society that relies on stone tools. They are quite strong and very territorial. They will attack any Devourer and Valkyre that they spot. They have been known to occasionally capture lone Valkyries and imprison them back at their camps for food.

Alpha Primal

Older, wiser, stronger and leader of the primal tribes.

Captured Valkyries


Valkyre workers captured by Primals. Attack these to break them out of their prisons. (get a free worker unit) Subject to being a free meal for the Devourers.  Expect there to be some Primals guarding them, but you may be lucky and arrive while they are out to hunt.

Chests

You will find these scattered across all maps. Attack them to break them open. Chests may contain crystals or ore, or free experience points to the attacking unit.

Jelly

Lives in or near large bodies of water. can be found as an individual or in large schools. Harmless to Valkyries, will attempt to flee if anything comes close.

Phansis

Harmless grass feeder. Usually found in small heards in grasslands or forest biomes. Will attempt to flee if anything comes close.

Life Stone

You will find these scattered across all maps. Emits an energy that greatly restores HP of any unit that is close. Its a good idea to take note of their locations as they are vital points to stage an attack from or retreat to. Can also be destroyed for extra crystal resources.

Energy Vortex

You will find these scattered across all maps. Emits crystal energy that greatly restores EP and greatly increases unit production (for production facilities). Can also be destroyed for extra crystal resources.

Cannon

On certain stages Cannon Devourers may be randomly placed on loading.
"Turret" devourer. Launches "Bomber" devourers at long distance. Bombers explode on impact causing massive damage, especially to vehicles. Can attack air units.

DROP POD

Break open (by attacking) to get free unit upgrades, or a special Valkyre Structure.

[Ishmaru]

I'm off to Comic-Con to showcase Terra, maybe Chasm too, oh wait did I not mention that one ...

[tomreyn]

I hope you had a good time at ComiCon!
And those games are developing great - nice video, as always.

[Ishmaru]

NEWS: Terra Centauri Beta 0.5 will be released on June 30 2015!

[titi_son]

wohoo 
Along with ARK: Survival Evolved for linux

[Ishmaru]

NEWS: Terra Centauri: Last Stand v0.5 Beta is currently out! Download at Terra's patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/2744242

Note: Those who pledge $10 or more has early access to 3 extra stages for next release!

[titi_son]

Just had time for a really short test and played the very basic "How to play" tutorial 
The look of Terra Centauri is indeed amazing
Can't say anything about the gameplay cause i didnt play any "real" match until now but it looks really promising.

minor Bugs (don't get this wrong i just want to help you ):

• on linux you need to run megaglest/terra centauri with the "start_megaglest" script because this searches for libs. You need to adjust this (replace ./megaglest $@ with ./terra_centauri $@ at the end)
• Typo in the Scenario (see how_to_play_english.lng): [...] WHITE=Ore, YELLOW=Experence.
• if i start the "how to play" scenario the message about heal stones instantly pops up (before the Welcome message)
  this is because in the if-statement the value for hunters is one too high: if unitCountOfType(0, 'hunter')==3 and levelc ==0 then
  You could also use a cell trigger event for this
• in the credits its said that terra centauri uses megaglest 3.9.1 but if i use ./start_megaglest --version it says "v3.11.1"

[Ishmaru]

Ok ill look into that thanks!

[titi_son]

Ok i played a game now... was easy for an experienced mg player  (played islands)

Just one more question: Of course i "hacked" that i could play devourers once and i saw that you can't build the cannon. Is it intended that you use the xml file without be_built skill so cpus does not built them? because there is a "correct" one in the folder

[titi]

  nice mod, a lot stuff to play, I need more time in my life!

linux:
Linux package made some trouble, because  the start script start_megaglest tried to start megaglest, but the binary was renamed to terra_centauri so it did not find it.
To fix it rename the file terra_centauri to megaglest. Then start the game with ./start_megaglest.

I made a new package were it is fixed:
http://titi.megaglest.org/terra_centauri/terra_centauri_fix1_Linux64.tar.xz

In case it does still not work, I included the bugfix which is needed on more recent linux versions; https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=9701.msg91855#msg91855