Looking to commission an artist for a Western...

[Harry Tuttle]

I know this is probably going to be fruitless as many of us are to busy to sit down and make a go at something so painstaking, but I thought I'd try anyways.

I need someone to create a city, terrain, and unit set for an era specific, but fictional, scenario set in the 1870's in the lawless portion of the western United States. Think of the new HBO series "Deadwood".

The scenario will be based around a gold rush town, complete with prospectors, gunfighters, saloon owners, and prostitutes. I hope to include some memorable legends in there too.

The basic jist of it: Move in, build up your fortune, run the town, force your competition out, and become the richest mother you can. Oh yeah, and it has to be multiplayer.

Gold mining will be either a "attack and gain money" or "attack and gain trade unit" operation.

New people arriving in the town can be "bribed" by your prostitutes and saloon keepers and brought back to your saloon (city) to be disbanded for cash.

City improvements will be "acquiring new amenities" for your saloons.

Research will not be a "given" based on the terrain your saloons are on. Instead, you must pay for it by increasing your science allocation and paying for the research out of your stash (treasury). The tech tree, because it will be supported by how much money you can sustain it with, will allow you to research better goons and prostitutes for your town-wide empire.

Terrain improvements will be in the form of other buildings that compliment your saloon, like hotels, general stores, and hardware stores.

Indians will be a nuisance, if not a calamity, as well the U.S. cavalry, which will bust up your illegal settlement.

I'm putting my other multiplayer scenario on hold for the mean time. It will take a lot more work to get it where I want, so I decided to work on something that has a definite, concrete theme.

So there you go. Would anyone like to give this a go?

Oh yeah, here's a link to the HBO series. I like its style.

http://www.hbo.com/deadwood/

[Arthedain]

Sounds like a cool idea Harry! I call the slot for the Town drunk!

[Gagliaudo]

Really nice idea, Harry!
Very, very original!!!

It remember a bit "Mafia: prohibition" and "Taking of Chicago" scenarios (about the concepts), but is different and really NEW !
Good work!!!

[fairline]

Intersting idea Harry. I've got a few US cavalry graphics knocking about if you want 'em.

[Harry Tuttle]

Hey thanks everyone.

I think it will be a fun diversion. The Wild West has always been a favorite of mine.

@Fairline: I was counting on it! I like the look of your 19th century units. They should fit in nicely. Any suggestions?

[POTUS]

Is the US Cavalry going to be 1 soldier=1 unit, or mutiple soldiers=1 unit?

[Harry Tuttle]

A bunch of mounted units (1 horse to a unit) will show up every so often to harass. Having just one unit pop up isn't much of an assault force when you have a bunch of goons running around your town.

[Boco]

I gotta stay awake during a Deadwood episode! The last one I crashed midway through seemed good and gritty. Is this going to be a build-the-blank (ship to AC) scenario or warlust? If it's the former, and you want help with DLL gifs, I'd be glad to assist. Even with warlust, you could make some fun diplo screens.

[Harry Tuttle]

Originally posted by Boco
I gotta stay awake during a Deadwood episode! The last one I crashed midway through seemed good and gritty. Is this going to be a build-the-blank (ship to AC) scenario or warlust? If it's the former, and you want help with DLL gifs, I'd be glad to assist. Even with warlust, you could make some fun diplo screens.

Thank you so much Boco! DLL screens would be incredible!

I think the scenario can have both a "wonder victory" and a "warlust victory". Great idea. The ship to AC could instead be "Taking the Empire to Chicago". If you thrive in the sceanrio and manage to become so sophisticated that the town is just not enough you can have the option of packing up and moving to the big stakes in the great Cattletown to the East! Perfect!

[Boco]

Okay there are about 42 gifs in SS.DLL to account for the various spaceship configurations and 2-3 for the space launch. There must be a tip sheet on this somewhere. If not we could probably deduce a lot from the GL. If no one else does it before tax day, I'll summarize the possible builds. Then a alternate scheme that uses the same numbers of building blocks needs to be worked out, e.g. build a luxury train car, a Chicago mansion, plan a sendoff gala, or whatever. At that point it'll take some good art with a limited palette to assemble the contraption. It looks very ambitious to me , but possible.

Does RESHACKER work with MGE (is that your version)?

Diplo screens are far less ambitious. Just need to know the civ/characters. Palettes are a little odd though.

[Harry Tuttle]

Haha, tax day still isn't the end of it. There are extensions to file too...

Anyways, the spaceship pics don't have to be to elaborate. Whatever works.

How are the gifs layered? I'm thinking that it could be layed out like a puzzle would be, with each spaceship part being a piece of some larger pic. Or if the pieces all layer on top of each, we could do a sort of collage?

Don't worry to much about palette, we have a wde assortment of B&W, tan, and color pics to choose from, this being a Western and all.

I think Reshacker does work with MGE, but I've never used it before. And yes, I do all my stuff using MGE.

Alright, this is picking up Thanks for your help Boco!

[Boco]

~23 Structural gifs showing a building progression. Module gifs are multiple frame gifs. So specific frames are excised and overlaid on the appropriate structural framework. Two planet shots. The last 8 or so gifs look like firing engines that are overlaid on a structural frame. Mebbe that's for the spaceship enroute. Don't know where the gifs showing the spaceship shooting off the earth are stored.

When's the next episode of Deadwood?

[Valuk]

Just posting to say:
GREAT IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally a civ2 scenario designer who *doesn't* worship WW2.

[fairline]

Originally posted by Harry Tuttle
Hey thanks everyone.

I think it will be a fun diversion. The Wild West has always been a favorite of mine.

@Fairline: I was counting on it! I like the look of your 19th century units. They should fit in nicely. Any suggestions?

Well there are only a couple of US Cavalry gfx that are of use. I guess I could have a go at some cow-pokes as well Harry. Drawing a prostitute could be fun as well

We don't get Deadwood over here in Blighty, so perhaps you could post a link to some sites with pics of the show...

[Harry Tuttle]

@Boco: Ok cool, layering will not be a problem. You know, a "paint by numbers" diagram of the screens could come in handy. That way I can start looking for some decent photos of the Old West and pick out some decent candidates that will mesh well. Unless of course there's someone out there who wants to show off a rendered pic?

And the next episode is April 4th at 10pm Eastern Standard U.S. time on HBO #1. Swearengen gets some competition!

@Valuk: Thank you for the compliment. It's nice to branch out once and awhile.

@Fairline: Alright, cool! Remember, the dirtier the prostitute the better.

And here is your link to the HBO series. I don't think there are any fan sites out there yet, as the show just had its pilot three weeks ago, but I might be able to find some more stuff out there that isn't on the HBO site.