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Change current Legion sprite (to CtP1 Legion sprite):
After spending some time comparing the current Cradle Legion with the CtP1 Legion sprite, I decided to use the latter in Cradle 5.1. Among the reasons for doing this:
1) The sprite art is a good representation of an Early Republic Legion in both armor and weaponry, and the colors (red & bronze) match as well. Conversely, the current unit uses the Alexander scenario's Darius sprite, which features silver armor and a blue shield.
2) The attack animation is the historically correct stabbing motion of a Roman "gladius-type" sword, while Darius has a "swinging sword" animation.
3) The sprite has 4 animations, including "Idle", so it already has full on-map motion.
4) Although the walking motion looks a bit weird when you study it up close in the Editor, in-game it looks fine.
After making the change, I spotted a glitch with the Idle animation in which the unit shrinks in size from 58 pixels tall to 48 whenever the animation runs. Not only does that appear strange, but it leaves the unit looking smaller than others on the map (see red circle) - even though all the other animation images are the correct size. In addition, the unit did not have a Death animation, but instead had the CtP1 "Victory" animation which never appears in CtP2. Since it's a superior sprite in most other respects, I bit the bullet and disassembled it (4 animations using 216 images) and fixed the Idle animation. At the same time, the Darius sprite was also taken apart and its Death animation was borrowed and edited to match the new Legion's colors. The end result is a much improved sprite, and a nice addition to Cradle 5.1
After spending some time comparing the current Cradle Legion with the CtP1 Legion sprite, I decided to use the latter in Cradle 5.1. Among the reasons for doing this:
1) The sprite art is a good representation of an Early Republic Legion in both armor and weaponry, and the colors (red & bronze) match as well. Conversely, the current unit uses the Alexander scenario's Darius sprite, which features silver armor and a blue shield.
2) The attack animation is the historically correct stabbing motion of a Roman "gladius-type" sword, while Darius has a "swinging sword" animation.
3) The sprite has 4 animations, including "Idle", so it already has full on-map motion.
4) Although the walking motion looks a bit weird when you study it up close in the Editor, in-game it looks fine.
After making the change, I spotted a glitch with the Idle animation in which the unit shrinks in size from 58 pixels tall to 48 whenever the animation runs. Not only does that appear strange, but it leaves the unit looking smaller than others on the map (see red circle) - even though all the other animation images are the correct size. In addition, the unit did not have a Death animation, but instead had the CtP1 "Victory" animation which never appears in CtP2. Since it's a superior sprite in most other respects, I bit the bullet and disassembled it (4 animations using 216 images) and fixed the Idle animation. At the same time, the Darius sprite was also taken apart and its Death animation was borrowed and edited to match the new Legion's colors. The end result is a much improved sprite, and a nice addition to Cradle 5.1
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