Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

:lol

Kinda like the bunny in the classic Monty Python movie. ;)

Edit:
Thanks HB!
You made my night. :)

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

It's the big eyes, isn't it? You're all suckers for a pair of big wet eyes. Well, you know what else has big wet eyes and suckers?

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Well, that's no ordinary dragon!

That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

:shock:


(edit)

Well okay, constructive! If you move the eyes up a bit, they will look creepier. And just a bit of downturned line at the end of the mouth would give him a sinister sneer instead of the faux-smile. :p The backward turned legs are kind of disturbing already, too. :o

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

It looks cute. And for some reason makes me think of Terry Pratchett's swamp dragons....

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Ok, here's a second draft for comparison, taking Jims advice and adding a few touches of my own.

Flood Dragon-now with more evil!:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

A little bit better, but it still doesn't have that "oomph" that the other 2 do.

I just got a flash of inspiration from comparing both versions though - if he had 4 eyes - 2 where you moved them, and 2 where they started, he would begin to develop a really horrifying visage.

And actually, if he were just a slightly darker tint, he'd look less "Puffy", ironically. ;)

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

how about something on these lines?

http://www.geocities.com/agudelo_w/Kronosaurus.jpg

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Well, I don't want him to have 4 eyes. But I'll see what I can do about roughing him up. I'd really like to explore colors other than mud, blood, and crud, though...:P

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Absolutely! But fluorescent green is a bit much somehow. And 4 eyes would be sweet. :p

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Sorry Jim, I like extra body parts as much as the next mutant, but four eyes would be a handicap from a physiological/environmental standpoint, since the extra set would have to go behind the first set. The Earth Dragon can have multiple eyes, because his eyes are on the side of his wide, massive head, rather than directly in front, so that works out.

I am making a conscious effort that each dragon be in some way abnormal-extra limbs, heads, eyes, etc. In the Flood Dragon's case, he's actually got less-2 limbs instead of four. That, and he's part caiman, frog, carp, snake, salamander, chamelion, dog, and deer.

Ok, I completely redid the head, and also did extensive detail-work on the scales, so hopefully it'll make a difference. And there's a little bit less neon green, just for you Jim :P

Here's the latest and greatest incarnation, now with 25% less cuteness!:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Ok, I did one more little touch-up. His leg was bothering me, so I extended it out a bit and played around with the muscle structure, so hopefully this version will look a little better:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

I really like it, but I can't get past the eyes. (Just my opinion HB, please don't take offense. Everybody has different tastes and beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. :) )

When I viewed your last image, I noticed a darkened section lower on the head and immediately pictured the following very cliche variation:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1219293922

(I certainly don't expect you to use it, I just wanted to share it with you.)

Keep up the good work!

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

That's not bad, Ballbarian, and it gave me an idea.
I'd have set his eyes lower, but they're meant to rise above the water he'd be floating in. I'm not handcuffing myself with biology, but I am giving quite a bit of thought to the environment these dragons actually live in, and that'll affect the way they look, to a point.

Here's the latest version.
It's cheap, but it works, and it kinda ties the colors together:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Yep, this one is slightly better. More... hmmm... not really impressive but... how would I say this... odd and ugly :p

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Well, I can live with odd and ugly. Impressive will hopefully arrive with the attack sprite, but on this one I was asking for a lot, and I think I got most of what I wanted from the pic. That I feel he fits in with the rest of the Dom3 sprites well enough that people won't be embarassed about using him in a real game was the real goal, in any case.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Hey, I'm in need for a chinese/japanese looking dragon (which will actualy NEED to be a demon too)... any chance one of the dragons you are gonna make will fit to this? (so I can steal it)?

I intend to use it as a high level summon for Jomon in dominions 3000

earthqake Dragons instant-spell ?
 

Hi HoneyBadger,
my admiration for your project.
do you plan to give the dragons automatical cast spells (like earthqake) at the begin of the battle ?
Or does this feature only work with items?

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Some of them will have special abilities-and if I can with our current mod tools, this may include spells-but casting Earthquake at the beginning of combat would be too much of a balance issue with the already powerful Earthquake Dragon-these guys *will* get spell paths, like Earth/Fire/Nature/Death, etc. So they can cast these kinds of spells, but like normal casters would do. Mostly, they'll get 1 path, with an 80 to 125point cost for additional paths. The Earthquake Dragon will probably be on the low, 80 point side, since he pretty much needs Astral if you want to move him anywhere. Volcanic Dragon, on the other hand, will have access to both Fire and Earth, but other paths will cost 125-possibly even 150.

If I give them human forms-and I probably will-then they'll also lose 2 in all paths, in dragon form, but be able to kit out with full slots.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Aezeal, I may at some point do some unique dragons-one of which will be 'The Oily Dragon'-an Asian dragon/demon ('Big Trouble in Little China 'reference). It's going to be some time until that happens, though, but if/when I do, you're welcome to use it.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

The new version of Flood is pretty creepy, I like it. He has much more of a freaky fishy ugliness to him now. No more "Puff". :p

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

That is much better HB. :)

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Thanks everybody for the great advice. Without you egging me on, It wouldn't have come out as good as it did. I'm not sure when the next dragon will come out, but I've got some ideas for the Sirocco, so that may be next.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Since the Flood Dragon required such a painful process to look right ("right" in this case meaning "weird and ugly"), I decided to make the Sirocco Dragon look as mad, bad, and dangerous to know as possible, from the start.

First of all, he doesn't have any eyes, instead employing massive heat-sinks (they also detect magic, so undead and animated creatures aren't safe) to detect his prey. So he's blind-which as I understand it, is an advantage over Darkvision. The sensitive heat-sinks are covered by a massive skull of exposed bone. He's not as physically powerful as some of the other dragons, but he has quite a few advantages: First of all, he's got access to both Air and Fire paths. Other paths cost 125 (25 less than the Volcanic Dragon). In addition to that, he's got Stealth (0) and is a good (better than the average dragon, anyway) undead leader. His breath attack doesn't do a lot of damage, but has good range and area, and causes Decay. His bite also causes Decay. Significantly, he'll have a Forestform where he loses his Stealth but his bite becomes Lifedraining and his Fear goes up to 10. He's got full Flying and the ability to summon Long Dead in battle-the bodies of those who have been consumed by the sands will rise up and fight for him-but he also loses this in the Forest. Finally, he'll have 3 misc slots (Dragon average is 2)-so as you can imagine, with dragons healing themselves, he can make a pretty mean assassin, with the right gear.

His disadvantages include: a complete inability to enter the water (even if you give him an item of water-breathing, he has an extremely weak, immobile waterform), and a very strong weakness to water/ice spells (200%). Also, he consumes much more than the average Dragon (probably Gluttony 100). He's also got a particularly weak Dominion (1 instead of Dragon average 2), and slightly lower than dragon-average MR-even lower in Forests.

Presenting the new Sirocco dragon!:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

One thing with a weak, immobile waterform - if you accidentally put him in the water you won't be able to get him out again.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Next up is the Avalanche Dragon. Feared by men and jotuns alike, the massive Avalanche Dragon is but an enormous Wyrm, without limbs or wings. Crushing huge trees in it's path to splinters, and freezing all around it, this dragon makes it's home in the vast northern glaciers, which it burrows into, creating enormous tunnels in the diamond-hard ice like a common worm might burrow into an apple.

Although quite tough and strong, the Avalanche Dragon lacks the combat abilities of many of it's brethren. As a size 6 trampler, it's fine against small troops, and it's bone-crushing bite is indeed something to fear, but at first glance, it's not the most versatile or powerful of the dragon breeds. It does have a very good cold aura, and it gains Protection in cold areas, but it's not much better than a Behemoth in warm lands, and it's slow movement (1) makes it harder to use as an SC. It also lacks magical diversity, having only Water, and all other paths at 125.
It's true might lies in two special abilities that it possesses: First of all, it has a devastating breath weapon-good range, good area, good damage, and numbness. Secondly, it has the ability to lay eggs.

These eggs are it's best feature: They have Fear (0), a cold aura, a lot of hitpoints, and also gain Prot. in cold. And they can hatch. Their Secondform-if the eggform is destroyed-is that of a ravenous Icewyrm:
size 3, Fear (2) 2 magical bites per round, cold aura, berserk, and blind. The Icewyrms will only remain for a single battle, but enough of them together can do a lot of damage, and even a single one can be difficult to take down.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

That's the idea, if you accidentally put him in the water, you need to teleport him to get him out again. In the meantime, it's quite easy for an enemy to destroy him, since he'll be defenseless. It's a much-needed handicap.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Would copystatting a vampire make it impossible for the dragon to enter the water even with weter breathing?

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

I just wanted to chime in and say great work! This looks real interesting. Will these dragons be availible as strickly pretenders, or commanders? or both?

Somebody had mentioned somewhere that dragons were lacking ,this would seem to adress that directly.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

They'll mainly be available as Pretenders, although they could also be Independents, and ofcourse they'll be Wishable.

Thanks for the compliment! It keeps me going :)

I have no idea, Gregstrom...if I could make the Sirocco unable to enter the water, I would.

Next up will be the Dust Dragon-I've got a good start on it, but I doubt I'll get it done tonight. The only reason I posted the Avalanche is because of how simple it was to color, but the Dust will be a lot more complex.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

HB - you should use GIMP instead of Paint. It's also free, and vastly, vastly superior. Just type it in Google and you can find it straight away.

I don't know how you have the patience to spend more than a few minutes using Paint. I would cry.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

HB can't DL or something due to it being his works computer or something.. I guess that goes for gimp too.

looking very good for paint though. Does that mean you have to draw pixel by pixel?

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

I can't download Gimp, and when I could, it didn't work for me. I prefer ImageForge-also free, also vastly superior.

And yes, pixel by pixel by ever-lovin' pixel... :)

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

I'm almost tempted to start a thread asking for donations so you can get a comp of your own on which you CAN DL..

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

lol I've got 500$ saved, which is plenty for a basic computer, I'm just trying to save up for a really good one.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

I just realized I haven't replied in this thread. But anyways, these dragons look (and sound) really awesome. I'm impressed that you drew them pixel by pixel; I'm not anywhere near patient enough to do that. :up:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

www.pricewatch.com !

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Thanks Foodstamp :) I have a guy who's going to build me one from scratch for just the cost of parts, and he's able to get good parts for cheap, but I want to be able to hand him around $2000, so he can have a lot of fun.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

And honestly, this is a lot of fun for me. I don't mind working with Paint. It's slow-going, but as long as the work is good work, and looks right, and I get lots of good feedback (both positive and critical), I'm happy.

So no worries!

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

The next dragon is the implacable Dust Dragon. Not the largest or the strongest of dragons, the Dust Dragon remains one of the most terrifying. Embodying the purest power of entropy, a province where a Dust Dragon has made it's home is truly cursed. The Dust Dragon lacks a breath weapon or claws, but has full flying, and it's three eel-like heads do Lifedraining damage. Creatures striking her take damage. She also has Fear (10) and is a superior Undead Leader. The Dust Dragon also grows considerably stronger in darkness, has greater than normal Pillage bonus, and causes greater than normal Unrest. Like the Sirocco Dragon, the Dust Dragon causes greater Death in provinces she's in, and consumes even more supplies (Gluttony 200) The Dust Dragon is 50% immune to both Cold and Fire, but is 150% vulnerable to Shock damage. She's somewhat slow moving for a flyer, at only 2 provinces per turn. She also only has 1 misc slot, and is cold-blooded, unlike many other dragons. She has an extremely weak Forestform (comparable to the Sirocco and water), but can enter the water normally, if provided a water breathing item.

Presenting the sinister Dust Dragon!:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Ok, after some consideration, I changed the angles of her heads around a bit, so here's a second version-let me know which one you like best?:

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

The second one. The 3rd head of the first version seems to me having a little weird angle.

BTW, I didn't find the time yet to say to you that you're really doing a good job ;)

If you are going to put them in a mod, I think they would fit perfectly as late-game unique summons - some kind of elemental royalty of the natural disasters ^_^ but requiring different paths from one to another... just my thought of course

Good job again. :up: Peace

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

dustdragon looks nice.. just doesn't look like a dragon of dust. more like a hydra of shadow.. now since you just call all these large monsters dragon while they are not classic dragons that hydra part isn't that important I'd say.. but the dust part... doesn't sound very fearsome either :D

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Okay, how about one of us puts ImageForge and GIMP on a CD and posts it to you?

Why is it you're unable to download, incidentally?

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

Dust dragon will make your apartment dusty!!11!

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

yeah avalanche and flood etc are dangerous.. dust... less so

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

I have dust dragons in my house. That is why I refuse to clean under the bed.

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

ah if they fit under the bed they must be size 1, max size 2 :D

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

This isn't the kind of dust you vaccuum up with your Hoover, this is 'dust' as in "it hasn't rained in six years or so". It's 'dust' as in "our farm just blew away, and there's a tornado headed in our direction".

This is the kind of dust I'm talking about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bowl

It's also silt and smog, pollution and dessication-and especially drought.

And for that matter-imagine if you didn't dust your house for a few decades. Eventually, it's gonna get pretty bad in there. :)

I thought about naming her a "drought dragon", but I thought "dust" sounded better. I guess I might be convinced to change it...

Actually, Aezeal, I based the 'Dust Dragon' on Ladon-a very traditional Greek dragon. 3 heads seemed more balanceable than a hundred.

Oh and did I mention I can't use CDs either? Thanks though!

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

it looks so dark.. isn't a nice sandy brown better ?

Re: Cataclysmic Dragons
 

It won't look as dark against a battlefield.

Also, you guys don't actually get to see the *exact* graphic, because I'm translating them into .JPegs so they'll post. The real graphic is somewhat more colorful-so this version is greyer than intended. I'd need the max space allowed for these kinds of graphics raised to around 50-60 whatevers (it's currently about 42 whatevers) to post them as they really are, in glorious 24 bit .BMaps