Pulp Race Credits.  1 July 2003

by Hrothgar



I've collected a large number of cover scans from pulp magazines, and they inspired me to make a race for SEIV.  Having little artistic ability myself, I cropped sections from the magazine covers and manipulated them with Paint Shop Pro to fit the graphic parameters of an SEIV ship set.  Although most of the artists [and all of the magazines] are gone, I thought I should give credit to the sources of my ship set.  The list below has the name of the image, followed by the artist's name and the title of the magazine from the cover of which I took the image.  All the magazines, with the exception of the one from which I got the flag and the one I used for Elite Infantry [both from the early '50s] were published in the 1930s and 1940s.

Pop: Earle Bergey for "Startling Stories"
Flag: Kelly Freas, "Planet Stories" 
Battlecruiser: Bergey, "Startling Stories"
Battleship: Frank R. Paul, "Air Wonder Stories"
Battlestation [and Warstation (neo-standard)]: Paul, "Science Wonder Stories"
Carrier: I can't find the source
Carrier Heavy[and Massive Carrier (neo-standard)]: ?, "Science Fiction" [Canada]
Carrier Light: Paul, "Wonder Stories"
Colony Ship [and Colony Ship Large (neo-standard)]: ?, "Astounding Stories"
Cruiser: Paul, "Dynamic Science Stories"
Destroyer: Paul, "Science Fiction"
Dreadnought [and Dreadnought Heavy (neo-standard)]: Paul, "Wonder Stories"
Drone: ?, "Astounding Stories"
Escort [and Scout(neo-standard)]: ?, "Amazing Stories"
Fighter Large, Medium Fighter: ?, "Astounding Stories"
Fighter Small: ?, "Science Fiction" [Canada]
Frigate [and Corvette (neo-standard)]: Paul, "Wonder Stories"
Light Cruiser: Paul, "Dynamic Science Stories"
Mine: Paul, "Science Wonder Stories"
Satellite: Paul, "Science Wonder Stories"
Space Station [and Resource Station (neo-standard)]: Paul, Amazing Stories"
Starbase [and Baseship and Heavy Baseship (both neo-standard)]: Paul, "Air Wonder Stories"
Transport [and Medium and Heavy Transports]: Paul [I think], "Amazing Stories"
Large Troop: Paul, "Amazing Stories"
Medium Troop: Paul [I think], "Startling Stories"
Small Troop: Paul, I think, but I can't find the source
Weapon Platform [all three]: ?, "Future Fiction"
Race Portrait: Bergey, "Thrilling Wonder Stories"
Pop Portrait: Rudolph Belarski, "Startling Stories"


Other Neo-Standard Graphics

Destroyer Heavy: can't find source
Cruiser Heavy: Paul [I think], "Science Wonder Stories"
Carrier Tiny: ?, "Amazing Stories"
Barge: ?, "Astounding Science Fiction"
Resource Ship: Paul, Amazing Stories"
Transport Tiny: can't find source
World Ship: Paul [I think], Amazing Stories"
Troop Huge: Paul, "Wonder Stories"
Fighter Huge and Fighter Massive: ?, "Astounding Science Fiction"
Troop Infantry: Allen Anderson, "Planet Stories"
Troop Elite Infantry: Anderson, "Planet Stories"




In order to justify the graphic diversity of my ship set [most, if not all, other ship sets have a clear graphic theme which runs through all the images], in the race description I indicated that the Pulps were the remnants of a once thriving race who inhabited another galaxy, but were forced to flee before an implacable, and unstoppable, foe.  Their escape was effected in a motley fleet of whatever ships the refugees could collect, from all of the surviving independent planets and small alliances which togther made up the Pulp civilization.  Hence, when they began to rebuild in this galaxy, they reconstructed the wide variety of ship designs which had brought them here [and which had been cannibalized to provide materials for the first generation of colonists].

The source for the names of the Duke and his wife, as well as the "aged scientist" who discovered the means of their escape from the other galaxy, should be apparent to anyone familiar with pulp SF.  And everyone will recognize the Pulps' inhuman enemy, which, in real life, helped destroy the pulp magazines by revolutionizing popular entertainment. 

As for the AI files, I began with the Terran AI files for standard SEIV, since the heroes of the pulp magazines were, after all, Earth men [and women].  I modified these files to make the Pulps behave the way I wanted them to [at least, that was my intention].  Subsequently, I discovered the TDM Modpack, and, knowing that it was designed to get better performance from AI-controlled races, I used files from it [the Terrans, again, if I recall correctly, plus the Space Vikings,and the Pyrochette primarily], as the basis for reworking the Pulp AI files.  So, credit is due anyone who contributed to the TDM Modpack Race AIs, especially Mephisto, Rollo Dogscoffson, and Master Belisarius.

Finally, I made a pulp.txt file for the Dsgnname folder.  Knowing that the AI can run through a lot of names due to its penchant for constantly recreating old designs with new names, I included the name of almost every pulp magazine I could find, plus several dozen authors and artists who contributed to the pulps, and some character and place names from their stories. Titles should, in most cases, be obvious, authors and artists in the list are identified by surname only, and characters by full name.  Of course, most pulps were not science fiction magazines [although they were among the most popular], so titles like "Railroad Stories" appear in this list.  However, if I was going to stick with pulp-related names in the list and still have a decent number of names, I didn't have much choice--plus, after all, it's only a game!





  
