Tartan-class Patrol Cruiser image - Rise of the Mandalorians mod for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
The Empire has fallen and a New Republic is born out of the conflict. But in the ashes of civil war, yet another life stirs...
Designed to secure outer-rim or low priority targets, the Tartan is a small and lightly armed corvette that is not intended for heavy fighting. It's capable when used against groups of fighters (originally designed to combat pirates or smugglers) but against larger units or a talented squadron of bomber pilots, it is a mild threat.
RotM will include more corvette classes than the original game and therefore, Tech levels will represent this class in a more appropriate way. Imperial Tech 2 will feature the Tartan, for example, while Tech 3 Introduces the Carack-class, Tech 4 shows the Broadside, etc.
The new turrets you see DO rotate and pitch, as all RotM turrets will...they aren't just for show.
Sweet, looks like a pretty good model :)
Thank you :)
Nice to see the Tartan class cruiser upgraded. Up to now I have considered them little more than cannon fodder...
Well, not upgraded but it has been more appropriately tiered :) Originally, it was meant to be the Imperial equivalent to the Corellian Corvette but in-game, it just didn't stack up that way. Rather than make it more powerful, I've simply made it less expensive, a tad smaller, and available at an earlier tech level than it's counterparts.
It's meant to be an early-game, anti-fighter unit that can double as a scout or picket ship in later game.
Later corvettes will still be primarily anti-fighter/bomber but will also be somewhat effective against light frigates, if using hit and run tactics or attacking in groups. the CR-90 will fall into this group, as it should.
You made the turrets swivel, and gave the Tartan an awesome look. For me, this qualifies as an upgrade.
Good to hear :)
Ooh, glad to finally see such a pretty revamp for the Tartan.
Any plans for what their Tech 1 corvette will be?
Currently there are not corvettes in Tech 1. At least in Skirmish... I don't test in GC so I'm a little rusty on what tech each ship is introduced in... Suffice it to say though that the Tartan will be the weakest of the imperial corvettes and so, will appear in whatever their earliest corvette-bearing Tech Level is.
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It's nice that you got rid of that ugly laser cannon on one side of the cockpit, it was hideous and made little sense. Very good revamp, overall.
Agreed. If it were more of an antenna, that would make sense but as a gun... Yeah, it was odd.
Love the work on all of your models, I've always thought they give off a "comic" effect.
Thanks :) I'm glad you like my artistic style.
I like it too. The way you make this game look like a cel shaded one is wonderful
I don't see cell-shading in the work. "Comic book" I get because I use deep shadows and bold normal mapping, which makes panel lines and rivets, etc really stand out. Cell shading is an entirely different technique that renders all elements is blocks or hard-edged.
I could just be saying this because I'm a 3D animation major so I know the technical differences between cell shading and otherwise...
In the end though, each will see something a little different...that's how art works. And I'm glad you like what you see :)
I also think (though I don't do much in terms of visual art) that cel shaded models tend to have much darker lines on edges and the like.
Yes, typical cell shading does tend to "outline" things but that's not part of the cell shading mechanics so much as its just an artistic choice. If we're strictly talking shaders...as in...code and how they are programmed, cell shading renders light and shadow and color in a very different way than conventional shaders.
Basically cell shading (which actually, btw, is called Cel...with one L) takes traditional pixel-shading (light and shadow calculated per pixel on the screen) and "quantzes" the result...essentially, it "dumbs it down" to fewer colors, giving it the blocky look. Turn your Windows color setting to 256 colors instead of "millions of colors" and you get a similar effect. Rather than smooth transitions between colors, its hard edges...one color abrubtly shifts to another, rather than gradually transitioning to it.
wonderful redesign and the turrets rotate now!splendid indeed. For some reason when i played Empire at war for the first time this unit got stuck in my head the most lol.
I always liked this unit too, even though it was made exclusively for EaW. Glad you like :)
Sad to see it'll be the lowest of the Imperial corvettes.
If you read the Wiki, it does describe the Tartan as a really light ship intended to thwart pirates and the like. Also, the Carack-class is actually canon so I wanted to give it a little more love.
I recall bypassing this unit whenever I played as the Empire. Usually because it was easier (and cheaper) to rely on the free fighters from larger imperial ships to act in an anti-fighter role (and the sheer amount usually made it easy to overwhelm anti-fighter ships anyways). Although, with it being cheaper and lower tier, I might actually use it more. That, and iirc, the Acclamator and this were in the same skirmish tier, so I usually went for the Acclamator on the grounds that it had fighters I could use in an anti-fighter role.
Yep, same. Acclamator is being removed though, since it really wasn't ever used outside the Clone Wars. That and the other changes will hopefully make this a more viable unit.
Around the time of the vanilla game, wouldn't the Acclamator have been phased out for the Venator or even the Victory anyways?
Well the Venator was technically another class of ship, like comparing battleships to destroyers...similar but one is much larger and more powerful. Anyway, yes, the Acclamator was completely phased out of the Imperial Navy by the time of new Hope. Any models that still existed were sold off to other organizations.
On that note, will the Acclamator/Venator show up in defense fleets?
Yes. They are slated to go with factions like the Hutts, Corporate Sector, and others.
The small factions will likely not appear in release though and will be supplied as an "expansion pack" or...DLC (shudders at the word). Unfortunately it just takes a long-*** time to properly model all these units by myself. I'm happy with the quality and wouldn't have it any other way...I'm just glad the mod watchers are mostly patient. Lol
Just do what game companies used to do, and call it a patch, rather than expansions/dlcs/whathaveyous.
I, personally, totally prefer to have groups of Tartans along with the free fighters. When you pop the attack power ability, they present a rock-solid wall to any swarms of bombers (or fighters) headed for your capital ships.
Never felt like they were worth it, though. At least in skirmish. GC was a bit different (but there I could sell unused units...or reassign them to the Outer Rim/quieter or safer planets).
True that the pwr-to-wpn ability made them quite deadly against fighters but their defensive capabilities were so poor that I found it hardly mattered. Far better to just send in an Acclimator and a hero unit.
the bane of any rebel fleet.