Big Zaku Project

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    Hello, I'm sorta new to the game and I'm working on a mech, because starmade needs more mecha. Right now it's just a shell and some basic systems, because like everyone else I'm holding off until the new power system goes live to deal with that. All the same, there's tons of work to be done in the mean time. Here are some shots of my progress thus far.
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    Source-
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    My goal in posting this to kind of show what I have so far, and take some suggestions for how I might improve it, and what considerations I might need to make down the line. A heads up about any issues you think I might encounter would be helpful.

    Partially Completed Features-

    The Zaku is Watching- The eye is a turret, which allows it to follow Targets.

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    Somewhat accurate hatches- Work about like they do in the series.

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    Durable Docking- Having been warned that dockers are extremely vulnerable, I've encased the important ones in advanced armor.
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    Planned features:

    Standing and flying poses (legs) - I've made a demo rig that'll make this pretty easy, once I've finished making the legs.

    Active skirt armor (docked skirt parts move to make room for legs) - The Skirts will raise and lower with the legs. Automating it might be convoluted. I'm going to try to make a system where it reads the current position of leg to determine where the skirt should go.

    Alternate leg / Zaku Kick (pulse weapon attack)- Probably not the most effective weapon, but potentially a very satisfying one.

    Missile Launcher Alternate Legs/Shield--Missile weapons on the shield or on the sides of the legs, like this guy has.
    latest.png

    Machine gun turret arm. (Right)
    Alternate Bazooka Arm (Right)
    Alternate Big Rifle Arm (Right)
    Alternate Beam Rifle Arm (Right)

    Heat Axe Arm (Pulse weapon) (Left) - Like the Zaku Kick

    Throwing & Gesture arm (Left) - This arm will be able to make a few gestures and hand signals, and will hopefully be able to "throw" things with the torpedo system.

    Potential Features:

    Space Truck - As much as is possible, the zaku will be designed for combat. I'd like to make a slightly bigger ship with a docking that'll carry extra, less important systems like a jump drive and salvage equipment.

    On-board computer/Super Fancy cockpit- Might try to setup display switching/commands to make a fancy interface for it. As this seems likely to take a lot of space, the end result will probably not be so complex.

    Equipment swapping dock mechanism- Since I'm planning to have a lot of alternate limbs, a system to swap them out would be clutch. Not sure how I'd work it though.

    Completely unnecessary walking/running animation- Probably not going to make it into the design, but I've made a walking animation with my test rig, which could be applied to the Zaku. It's possible that I could link it up with a moving arm on the ship it docks to or something similar to make it actually move forward as the animation plays. Would be a lot of work, wouldn't do anything important, but would look awesome.

    Thunderbolt backpack - It seems likely that the frame I'm building will not be able to do all the things I want it to, and perform in combat. It doesn't need to be "Top teir OMG the best" but it can't suck. To offset this I might increase the volume of the main entity with a large backpack pictured here.

    latest.jpg

    Weapon Swapping- The Thunderbolt backpack mentioned above also has smaller arms that are intended to switch out your weapons. Right now the current plan is that all of the interchangeable weapons I'm making are going to include a chunk of the arm to make the turret mechanics cooperate, so that's probably not going to viable, but I'm interested in seeing what it would take to move an entity from one dock to another on a separate parent entity.

    Warhead Bazooka (Torpedo Launcher)- Because Torpedoes.

    Phew. That's all for now. Any feedback at all is appreciated, and I'm open to ideas for new features. Let me know what you think!
     
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    Thanks! The huge scale will help make the legs look accurate. Motion will be a bit rigid, hips will only have 1 rotation axis, so they'll be straight up and down, no "wide stance" like in the picture, but it should be good enough for just standing and flying.

    And I noticed your Sazabi--it looks awesome. I think you and I will get along. I run clan Neo-Zeon that started in robocraft and is slowly bleeding into this game.
     
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    Hello.

    Me and my friends...well some of them anyway...are huge Universal Century fans. We have been trying to adapt some ships for use on a PvPish server.

    These are not only beautiful, but I hope you will load the blueprints so that we can hopefully talk our non fan friends into allowing us to mass produce some Zaku.
     
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    Hello.

    Me and my friends...well some of them anyway...are huge Universal Century fans. We have been trying to adapt some ships for use on a PvPish server.

    These are not only beautiful, but I hope you will load the blueprints so that we can hopefully talk our non fan friends into allowing us to mass produce some Zaku.
    Well thanks! I appreciate your comments. I do have every intention of putting it on the dock once it's a bit more done, as well as continuing on with a few variants. The Strike Freedom in the background is another clan mate of mine's, I may be able to get him to upload it when it's done as well. I've made some more progress on it since I first posted. Right now I'm working on the legs.

    20171126033512_1.jpg

    You and your friends might also find my skins interesting. I made 3 zeon pilot suits.
    Resources from ProfDriftwood

    I also have another UC project you might enjoy. It's probably too big.

    20171104023504_1.jpg
    The colony doesn't have much inside yet, but it does have a gravity elevator transit system that orients correctly for whichever face of colony you're standing on.

    If you like this stuff, you (and your Gundam friends) should join the Neo-Zeon Clan Discord. We're originally a Robocraft Clan, but we've got a handful of gundam fans who are building various things in starmade, and I'm looking to expand. More Zaku Pilots would make me happy.
     
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    I appreciate your support. If you want I'll upload what I have of the colony. But to keep this thread on subject, I'm to the point where I want to code the legs. The skirts have been simplified to 3 parts, on in front of each leg, and a large one in back that spans both legs. To simplify all leg animations, I want them to move automatically and appropriately when the legs are triggered. I imagine the logic will look something like this.

    The circuit has 4 states per leg.
    0 - Back : Leg rotates back 45*, Rear Skirt is raised. Since back skirt spans both legs, it will need to respond to one or both legs without raising the skirt twice. Also won't let you rotate back any further.
    1 - Standing : Leg straight down, skirt straight down.
    2- Forward : Leg 45* forward, front skirt raised 45*
    3-Kick/Sit: Leg Straight Horizontal, front skirt horizontal. Won't let you rotate forward any further.

    This way it'll ignore commands that would have it rotate farther than it's supposed to in the event a leg animation doesn't work as intended, and once completed I shouldn't have to think about how the skirt moves at all anymore, only where and when I want to move the legs. Should also make it possible for to use a button command to realign the legs in the event of a skipped rotation.

    The goal would be to do this in the fewest as possible for space conservation purposes. It seems doable but I'm having a hard time visualizing how to assemble it. If anyone has some suggestions as to how to lay that out I'm all ears.
     

    Asvarduil

    Builder of Very Small Ships
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    • Community Content - Bronze 1
    • Purchased!
    Obligatory:

    "We've got two more objects inbound!"
    Bright: "What are they?"
    "It appears to be two mobile suits, but one of them is moving way too fast to be a normal Zaku!"
    Captain: "It can't be...it must be Char!"
    (Cue above music)
    "You don't mean the Red Comet!?"
    Captain: "Char sank five ships at the Battle of Luna...my pants have never been so full!"

    (For posterity: Source)

    Please share that dank blueprint when you're done :D
     
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    MS-06C Zaku II Early Type I have released the first edition. The initial upload has very little logic in it, but now that I finally have the chassis done I can work on trying to make it do fancy things. I'm Going to let this thread die after this, since it didn't really evoke much logic discussion, but I wanted anyone watching this thread to know that this project is entering the next phase.

    Expect to see updates coming for the uploaded Version. More details will be added, as well as some basic logic systems to get the legs and skirts moving. Once the shell is tip-top-shape, I'll be working on an MS-06F Zaku II Mass Production Type, which will be uploaded separately and include working systems. Thanks everyone who was interested!