War of the Worlds Mod

[Revan9190 132]

Along with my Command & Conquer mod, and the Army Men one (though the progress on this is a tiny bit halted, but will definitely continue it. Just have a lot of time constraints), I've always been curious at how a War of the Worlds mod could work in the engine. It would probably be extremely difficult to get the Fighting Machine (Tripods) to not topple over unless they're weighted properly.

 

I've always had a hangup about there not being any good period accurate movie adaptations (set in 1898-99, which the books were written), and the only close thing we can get to this is Jeff Wayne's Musical Version - which is amazing, but I would like a non-musical movie set in this time. Also there's a very...low-budget, poorly acted movie I've seen.

 

The mod here would feature British military with gear appropriate to that of 1898-early 1900's (so early 1900's would be acceptable too). And then there'd be the gray ironclad "Thunder Child", which is AN ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT, and maybe some generic ones. The Tripods, or Martians, however, are a different story altogether. This is all left to interpretation, and would there be smaller ones too to give the Martians a bit of unit variety? Also as to the design, I am not sure what description or picture reference we'd go off of. There's the book, some various art pieces for said book, the 1953 movie (set in the U.S...which, is not the aim here, but that's fine...and it IS a good film and a classic, but you know), the 2005 Spielberg film (those Tripods were actually really wicked looking, and still creep me the heck out), Jeff Wayne's versions (which are, I'm sorry to say, a bit akin to a walking pair of breasts, but are also still freaky, so don't get me wrong...if I look past that [someone mentioned it once, and I couldn't unsee it], it's actually a really cool design), and then a couple of versions from some...not so great adaptations (namely the one with Jake Busey...I like Jake Busey but it's not a great movie, sorry). I'm uncertain as to what versions of the Martians to go with, but maybe in the end one could use any version they'd like.

 

If you'd still like to go with a more modern take on it, I'd still suggest the modern British Armed Forces - it'd be interesting to see a group of Challenger 2's going up a hill to fight off the awaiting Martians, and one could use the UKF mod folder in conjunction with the Martians. Of course, the Martians' heat-rays would absolutely wreck anything thrown at them. But I have been imagining an OFP/CWA campaign of missions as either a civilian or a soldier trying to survive the Martian offensive. Still, a period accurate mod is more interesting to me, and I'm mostly typing this to see if anyone would like a mod like this in the future (if I get tons better at modeling, scripting, etc). There is that Space Invaders mod and it has the 1953 "Manta"-type Martian in it, so not sure about what type of Martians should be involved here.

 

I would love a proper Martian War in the game and I think ultimately this would be a great idea if it can be pulled off. I'm interested as to the discussion of a mod like this.

Edited July 26, 2017 by revan9190
typo*

[Marc13Bautista 56]

HECK YAH!!!

[Lenyoga 326]

Ahh, those Tripods are possible! If they're based on the man class, they can pretty much do all they need to. The closest established examples would be HL2 striders I did a few years back, or Macser's AT-AT. The only drawback is the jumpy reaction to explosions, I'm not sure if a scripting solution has been found yet, but it shouldn't be too hard with hit eventhandlers.

 

[Revan9190 132]

My interpretation of the Tripods are going to be a mix of Jeff Wayne's and Spielberg's, I'm thinking. With some design elements from early drawings from the books. As far as the HMS Thunderchild, I was thinking the design will be a cross between late 19th century ironclads and WW1 dreadnoughts. And the soldiers and equipment will be completely time period accurate. Might throw some advanced troops in who salvaged and reused the Martian heat rays. My thoughts are the war will keep going into mid-1910's, so it will eventually be WW1 equipment with some heat ray troops vs the Martians. Not only will there be Fighting Machines, but also the flying ones and the Handling Machines. Of course being a human soldier will be difficult against the Tripods (big and small versions). I'm also interested in putting down crater props with the cylinders. Also a deployed heat ray version for initial invasion staging areas. I was also thinking the Martians would place down some sentry turrets.