Fallout: Hawaii?

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Is this Mod up and running? i want it!

He's still working on it bro. A mod this big is gonna take a long time to make.

Understatement. That big Ka Lae fortress easily ate >20 hours and isn't halfway to where I want it to be... and I doubt I'm using any of it... :wallbash:

The problem is that I can't focus on anything for such lengthy periods of time, and as I'm going solo...

I've probably spent more time theorizing than working, and end up tossing what I start.. I still have the old file, but it's too unwieldy...

Is this Mod up and running? i want it!

Sorry. I've basically given up on mod work for the moment :wallbash: as height map importing and editing is really a chore.. and the GECK is worse.

it doesn't help that I can't stare at a black boxed landscape and picture where it is relative to google earth....

 

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5879/worldspacehilo.jpg

 

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9669/blackboxm.jpg

 

Too much thinking, not enough working, but... the old file (and concept) of several little empires is too unwieldy. If it were a matter of static structures (once I have a bearing, I pour time into it, but finding that landmark...) I'd probably be done by now, but a big, empty expanse is too broad for me to focus on. I keep worrying about what goes where, the fear being that I'll place a city block miles east of where it should be, and end up running out of room/having to rework the entire map, because the river that was over there is now too close to here....

 

So....

paring down the plot (and worldspace) is, hopefully, going to work things out. I'd always known that Hilo (or Hawaii) was the first place; that the player starts there, gets a quick and up-front intro to the cold war/rebellion (situation dirt side) and eventually ends up in Honolulu/Oahu, the "Capital of civilization" as a conqueror, mercenary, ally, whatever...

 

Rather than several old-world empires, there's a single Orwellian empire (of sorts) using UAV blimps to spy on everything across the isles, also with colonies in Asia, etc. (i.e. plenty of possibilities for a future colony worldspace) which are basically just strip-mined of resources to send back for the nest egg in Oahu... the airship idea just overlapped with everything and really opened up a lot of possibilities- aside from the standard I see three or four big zeppelins with laser cannons and/or vertibird squads for "keeping the peace" when local despots and floating air cameras/gunships aren't enough- and having 5 plus military powers in a "fragile" 200 year old power struggle, and an intact, mansion airship (among other things) somehow undiscovered (if the empires had found it, they'd take it, probably reequipped for the military) and it just isn't worth the effort to code all of that.

So it's one big, HRE empire (from a creative standpoint, I love the HRE's government structure; it's just so open to nuanced politics, grey-grey morality standoffs and seemingly overwhelming power and development restrained by equally imposing realpolitik) spying on you the whole time. It also makes the "make or break" struggle more potent, and condenses the diluted (IMO) "burn it to the ground and rebuild from ashes r sell your soul and minimize the damage" dynamic I'm aiming for; after landing, the player immediately needs to side with either the rebels or the empire, with the latter setting up a possible coup de tat to "reform" from within.

The key is that, while the rebels/peons live like dirt relative to the fully aware and utterly corrupt elite, they still live with more safety, health, and food than any wastelander, and the people higher up (even the middle class) live better than just about anyone... it's the last pre-war civilization, but also the worst pre-war civilization, so to speak.

Edited April 11, 2012 by TrooperScooperMKII

[flashman63]

I have an interesting suggestion; that you can use the rebreather, and at the bottom of the sea, a super advanced luxury sub, with a quest much like the story of 10000 leagues; ie getting advanced tech, exploring the bottom of the sea in speacial armor, fighting savages, and in the end fighting a battle with the enclave.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

It's a nice suggestion; however, there are some big conceptual inconsistencies that I have with such a thing: the Enclave aren't on the island, aside from the squad you hitched a ride with, so that's a no-go. A submarine base doesn't really offer too much, IMO- why bother placing a base underwater and not underground, or just above ground? They were building a country, not a warzone. Also, there's already a crapload of custom materials on the list; while I definitely would like an undersea (or at least, naval) salvage mission or the like, a major battle/base is kind of superfluous... the rebels don't have the resources to build one, and the government doesn't need one- the whole point is that Hawaii was sold out to a huge collection of fat cats who built a private war-proof microstate all to themselves, and the "military" hardware is just an outgrowth of that- for instance, the airships could be retooled from transport/luxury vessels using the considerable on-site industrial infrastructure (it's supposed to be self sufficient for 200+ years, far beyond run of the mill farms and factories) and some of the missile defense grid's lasers; they don't have tanks, warships, or even soldiers, really, just insane amounts of capital/resources and the best pre-war tech they could buy, build, or steal.

 

It's a phenomenal capital investment, but not a blank check money-pit. While a bit of the US military gear in Oahu (IE Pearl harbor) or various bunkers, stockpiles, etc. might not have been "thoroughly demilitarized" there isn't going to be a lot of raw firepower hanging around; I want a cold war for/against an Orwellian paradise, not World War IV.

[regade1]

Pearl harbour, major navel base of the american pacific fleet... Battleships, aircraft carriers, sea faring navel vessels with mighty big guns... If sustained properly or restored properly could serve nice purpose.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

Yes, it WAS (and is, IRL) a major military base, but not in the mod; remember, the "founders" want this place to survive the war; while they certainly could have built a suitable missile defense grid... China would nuke it long before they started work, if it was still a base, that is.

They don't want a nuclear war- they want to stay low profile, and be left alone to build their little paradise; the military, the government, everything tying them to a conflict- all of it has to go.

Aside from providing a nice chunk of lore- a "demilitarization treaty" to remove most of the government presence and placate the Chinese (and also keep military weapons etc. out) an "ocean refuge" and whale-free zone to keep ships out, and "wildlife buffer zone" (i.e. the non-developed parts of the islands are "national" parks" which also lets the rich-boys keep their nice, island landscape purty) and a general "resort overhaul" to handwave the rest- it also keeps the raw military hardware to a minimum, which is exactly what I want.

This place needs to be simmering but stable for ~200 years; major military weapons would lead to a war rather quickly... hence my musings on "repurposing" the lasers in the missile defense grid, etc. for "military" purposes.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

I'm such a sadist. :P

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2858/worldspace.png

 

google Earth and geck convinced me to narrow things down a bit...

 

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/7210/googleearth.png

I'm doing things mathematically now, because, I'm CDO OCD when it comes to numbers....

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9959/photoshopgrid.png

Simple ratios between coordinates in Google Earth and the GECK and/or Photoshop can give a rough location for the considerable array of interesting crap I've found...

Google Earth, is hands down, the single greatest reason for this mod's existence. It's just too, much, fun to zoom around the Isles and mentally divide the island into warring factions, etc.

 

And then, there's gems like this:

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/08/12/travel/artcx.jpg

Aristocratic wage slavery, here we come!

 

Locations in the Hilo Worldspace:

Hilo Airport.

University of Hawaii, Hilo (main?) campus.

Joint Astronomy Centre, on the campus.

Banyan Drive, the "Walk of Fame" along the Hawaiian Coast, which strikes me as very reminiscent of New Vegas' main corridor...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Banyan_Drive%2C_Hilo_Bay.jpg

Several gardens

one (mostly) walled off autonomous plantation in the southeast, which the locals steal food from on occasion.

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/12/ee/c5/rainbow-falls.jpg

Rainbow Falls

Shipman Estate, the probable seat of one of the "New Pacific Empire" (working Title) nobles, and his surrounding gardens/plantations; the aforementioned Reeds Island is (I Think) on the northern extreme of that, and at least one building/area will be a potential player home if he sides with the lord (self interest, "fix from within" utilitarian/pacifist reformer, or anything in between) and/or stages a coup against him.

At least one additional manual labor style plantation, probably in the west, maybe southwest.

Kaumana Cave, a probable resistance hideout

Waiakea, a suburban/city area to the southwest of Hilo proper.

Edited April 21, 2012 by TrooperScooperMKII

[TrooperScooperMKII]

:wallbash:

I don't know what the f*** I'm doing....

It's the landscaping, I can't relate to it; it's too big for me to take in, and I can't figure out what goes where. I tried an excel spreadsheet, but it's almost as bad as the height map editor window; too big, too vague, and nothing like google Earth. Can someone help with the landscaping, please? I need a landmass, guideline, map, grid, advice, anything to help me anchor the individual cells.

I can do statics and local trimming, but if there isn't anything to build it on...

Anyone want to join a team?

[Nintii]

You know I'm just a bit fed up with all the sand and rocks and snow ... we need some jungle, we need some green ... heck I don't care if we get bright colored irradiated birds that want to fly around and picks bits off of us just so long as it's in a green setting.

Bring on your jungle cats and monkeys that have more brains than people ... I couldn't care, just some green for a change pretty please.

Hawaii gets the thumbs up ... hallelujah ... yeah, thtat's a wow idea ... maybe some Marley rhythms ... one love, one heart, let's get together and feel alright a wo wa wo ...... starting de partee ...

[TrooperScooperMKII]

I know, but calling this a WIP is overstating it, to say the least. I'm kind of oscillating between enthusiasm/bubbly joy and depression/rage at the moment; I've spent hours tweaking a height map, and at least as much time just.... staring at the geck, and trying to picture what goes where...

seriously, it's driving me insane, I'm too nitpicky with details to handle the meta map but I can't stop daydreaming about what the airport will look like, and I stall on mental "work" over the height map editor's blue blobs.

Also, my Photoshop trial has about eight days left; considering that I knocked out three height maps in the time GECK takes to load a new worldspace (or make one) whereas the early stages had me running in circles with TESAnnwyn's command prompt and Google earth etc. and I can't see how I can keep modding this without it now. Setting aside the existing worldspace, any new/edited areas will either be scratchbuilt in GECK (it's hell just to load the dang thing, let alone use it), buying Photoshop or having someone else do the new heightmaps.

I'm personally hoping for the latter; I'd personally like to focus on the individual cells have someone else handle the height map as a whole.

[TrooperScooperMKII]

For the moment, I'm working from the bottom left corner, where there's a lot of open, fertile ground for a big plantation.

 

 

Aside from being somewhat important, the plantation is anchored in a vacant area which can be easily razed reworked if need be...

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2103/processingplant.png

 

and, as with Nellis, it forms a convenient "barrier" for the worldspace.

Which didn't stop me from starting an over-elaborate gate.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9715/reargate.png

 

It's good practice. :teehee:

 

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5791/officemonorail.png

Though this particular facility will be mostly automated (i.e. robots work the fields) there's an office building for workers from the Wiakea suburbs, who have a nice monorail for the commute, just in case the peasants get any subversive ideas.

 

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8824/tooktoolong.png

 

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7159/floatingoffice.png

Presumably there are other walled in cell-farms to the north, east and west, which may or may not have gates between them; in which case, this farm is a hub of sorts for its cell group, hence the monorail.