Tank!

Yeah, I had a mad idea for a tank in IVAN. It's complicated and probably never will be implemented, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

It's essentially a chest. You "a"pply it to get inside. Once inside, your character is overlaid with the tank unit. It can attack in melee ("running over", well, more like ramming) and can be "z"apped to fire the cannon, which is basically a really weak, but infinite charge, wand of fireballs. Once the tank unit is damaged to the point of destruction, it explodes and leaves behind a lump of metal and you (if you survive).

That sounds like a great idea.
You could possibly make it that by (a)pplying the tank, you turn into a tank (sneaky creature change) that has a "Gun" equipped as the arm or head part which can be zapped. When you get out of the tank, it would simply replace the tank object on the ground and place you on top of it, making it look as though you were always inside the tank and not polymorphed into one.
The running through walls ability would be easy to implement, due to it already being in the game (Elpuri, Vlad).

The tank would obviously look hideously out of proportion if it was a 1 tile object. Therefore, it would need to be a 4 tile gigantic object, and thus would destroy most of UT and GC and probable not be able to work on the world map.

Also, how is the sprite going to work? The tank is obviously going to have to stay facing one direction (like all IVAN creatures), thus making it look really weird when the fireball comes out the oppisite side of where the tank's barrel is pointing.

Melee would be simple because it would be a creature. It would, of course require it's own attack flag to provide a "You ram Rondol the kobold patriach!" rather than a "You strike Genetrix Vesana the Mother Carnivorous Plant".

Regardless, i'm sure it would work out in the end and it does seem like a great idea. Especially for my AtomicIVAN battle fields. I would be happy to try and create it for you.

There is already a tank-like graphic in char.pcx.

Z the problem with that graphic is that when you go to use the (z)ap to fire the cannon, it will look extremely odd to see the projectile coming out the tank's ass. Or roof. Or tracks for that matter.

Oh, and the problem with having the tank being a huge monster is that when it zaps anywhere but upwards, upwards-left, left or downwards-left, it hits itself due to the fact that it fires from the small red square which is placed at the top-left of the character.
And if it was a 1 square monster it looks horribly out of proportion.

Maybe it shouldn't be a tank... maybe a 1 tile mech or something.

Hey, it was just a half-assed idea, but if someone wants to impliment it, go right ahead

I happened to have made a "deathball" from this half-assed idea. It's basically a huge metal ball that tries to run you over. I'll post pics as soon as I can be bothered.

Ha, what you just said reminded me of this:

Yes, there are more problems with graphics in IVAN. For example, unicorns are always facing to the left. When I am fighting an unicorn, and standing to the right of it, it is hitting me with its hooves, and when I am standing to the left of it, it is hitting me with its horn.

This is quite reasonable for an unicorn. But why does my dog go backwards when I am walking to the right? More importantly, why I am walking backwards when walking to the top of the screen? And how does a bunny attack with its rear side?

Also, when I am above that unicorn, and wielding a dagger, the game says that I am hitting it with that dagger. I don't know why would I use the dagger in this situation, it seems more reasonable to kick it.

Anyways, I see another problem with this tank image. It's all OK when attacking in a diagonal direction, but when shooting upwards, is it shooting on its left side or on its right side? I don't see any intuitive way of solving this problem.

I suppose if there was some way to change the script to allow rotating it with an action...
Or we could take the cheap-arsed way out and make a stupid spherical tank that has cannons pointed in every possible direction and no sign of tracks in the graphics.

I don't actually think that's such a big problem, Z. The only real problem I see with it is that you can't tell which direction you're facing. I do believe that someone said it's possible to be hit in the back, and that it actually makes a difference?

Ahahahaha Z, your sarcasm knows no bounds.
You were intending that to be "who gives a shit. IVAN's full of that graphics thing" in long and drawn out form, right?
Regardless, it made me laugh.

Yes... I didn't know whether your issue was intended as a serious one or a joke, so I responded with a joke.

I don't think there is a problem with facing, in IVAN monsters have no facing and I think there is no reason for the tank to be different. Also, you can use missiles in 8 directions in IVAN, and the tank shooting should be no exception either.

TT..........x......
TT...............y..

But in this picture, if the tank covers the four T's and shoots right, does the missile go on the top row (hitting the 'x' monster), on the bottom row (hitting the 'y' monster), randomly, user-selectable (not good since it is a special case in UI and it breaks the 8 direction rule), in between (hitting both, but also being blocked by walls in both), or what?

I suppose the "in between" option is actually OK, but it required some thinking to discover. Wow, 2x2 monsters + 8-directional shooting = trouble.

Currently, it would fire along the "x" path in your diagram, due to the player box being placed over the top-left square of the graphic. And hit itself.

I was thinking of the tank being a top-down graphic (unlike all the other IVAN monsters), and thus it would look like crap with a missile coming out the reverse-and-slightly-upwards side of the barrel. Also, i'm getting sick of shooting myself

Pray tell, what is wrong with a 1 tile mini-tank anyway? I mean, hell, most corridors in the game are only 1 tile wide anyway, so more often than not you'd have a chunk of wall blocking your line of fire anyway.

Well the only problem I have with it is that it would look horribly out of proportion, as mentioned.

Like bears and mammoths don't look out of proportion?

It's perfectly possible to fit this on one square

Ok ok whatever.