Start of a 2000AD/Megacity One Project(Biker Chick 16/3/19)

[Argonor]

Blimey, another great thread I've managed to completely miss until now... 

Going to Watch this with much interest!

[Vermis]

FWIW, Ezquerra has said a few times that the curved organic look to MC1 architecture is intended to make it look like uncontrolled mushroom growth.

Now you mention it, it jumps right out. It's like a metallic version of the jungle out of Nausicaa.

[Andym]

WOW! What a response guys! You can always count the LAF for help!

From the stories you hear most A&Es should have loads they've 'removed'.

With your threads, Cheetors and Mr Saturday you've got me back interested in this (I know I'm supposed to be doing Old West but that will now double as a Cursed Earth settlement (thanks for the idea Paul!)). I've been looking back at the MC1 images we discussed last time and wondering how to achieve those iconic building forms. From talking with Mr Bibbly at BLAM it got me thinking about using carved blue foam to accentuate a basic box structure.

Thats how we get you Steve!  

I'm not sure blue foam will work Steve.   How do you get rid of the bubbly/rough texture of the foam? There is a thing called balsa foam. It seems to be for this sort of thing. Never used it myself and it seems dam expensive. Honesty i think hoovers will work. The shape of Dysons and Henrys and stuff would work. Just the plastic covers mind you, but I'm struggling where to find broken vacuums.....

Agree with James about angles.

Does this help?

http://www.gf9.com/Default.aspx?tabid=288&art_id=1971

Maybe another lower walkway underneath and some low rise buildings beneath those?

Could you have a building (maybe curved) in that dead corner space under the flyover? Then have the walkway going diagonally across the board.

As beautiful as it is, the problem might be the big footprint of the main tower building.

It's still all gorgeous though!

Thanks Karl. I think you've shown me that website before. Some really good ideas on there. The Tokyo board isn't relly the way i want to go (though thats what i seem ti have ended up with so far!) My ideal Megacity will (hopefully ) look more like this....

What if the main tower internal flooring didn't start until the upper walkway level and had two floors' space of playable table? Perhaps it could be a park,  market,  waste disposal area, etc?

It would mean partially dismantling an otherwise lovely building though  
I'd agree with Karl's comment about having a lower walkway too, maybe connected by a maintenance ladder?

The building is fully playable Steve. Each floor will have stuff in it. Any other buildings made will be the same mate.

Just my two tuppence (and taking into account you're a lot better at this shit than I am Andy  ) looking at it objectively, its all a bit angular. As you already mentioned the fact that the pedway and flyover line up with the side of the building doesn't really scream Mega-city to me. I feel that town planning takes a bit of a back seat in 2000ad and they just build stuff where they can fit it.

As Jim has suggested already, setting the flyover off at a jaunty angle will solve some of this. Maybe having it wider at the near side and tailing away near the building? Which brings me onto the next bit...

The other thing that stands out is the building, the supports jutting out of the corners look great, but, it's just too square. And dare I say it... small. Buildings in Mega-city are BIG, bloody big, they house thousands. The one on the board would work as a porch, or entry point, but I think it needs the suggestion that there is something bigger behind it, in my opinion. Maybe adding curve surfaces to either side of the main building joining to the edge of the board would work?

I know it would increase the buildings footprint and I don't know how much it would affect playability, but as I say its just my opinion.

By the way, please don't take any of this as criticism of your work, I be proud to churn out terrain a tenth as good as your output.  

Why would I take offence? Honesty, this is the sort of stuff i need.

I don't think the buildings need to be full scale, Megacity size. I think any of the stuff we use in wargaming (apart from figs and tanks etc) are true scale. Think of any of the wee farmhouses or homes you fight around. I think if they were true scale they'd look huge. I think i just need to make my buildings bigger than your average wargame building. I think the upright part of a vacuun cleaner would be a great size and shape to represent a skyscraper of Megacity One.

I don't think you want to angle things around too much as that will make marrying up to other boards much harder.  I would suggest "the look" of Megacity 1 is in more, more, more!  So more detailing on the building (think neon, think more adverts, thing funny vents and tubes and pipes and fans and stuff) agree with some sort of external turbo lift.  More ground level stuff - an eatery, planters, basic small low level buildings, etc.  The walkways look really good - the cross sections are very fitting.  

Don't worry about the detailing. That will come. Its more the layout at this point I'm disgruntled with. The neon lights and adverts are a must mate!

FWIW, Ezquerra has said a few times that the curved organic look to MC1 architecture is intended to make it look like uncontrolled mushroom growth.  



That idea suits his style too, and its what often gives that crowded, overlapping look in distance shots.  As for representing that in miniature, its difficult.  Multiple levels on the table are a must I think.  Representing this in miniature on a table that can actually be gamed on is a difficult proposition.



My MC1 terrain is still WIP (I have enough buildings to cover a 4 x 4 finished, but I have a lot more that I want to add yet) and far less ambitious that that shown.  Nonetheless, I tend to imagine the tabletop it as being far above ground level, that some of the buildings visible are really just the top or middle of the massive structures shown in the distance in the comics.  Its easy to treat the entire table as the interior of a single block anyway, complete with its own road system.

I think that the white (foamcore?) building in the image could be improved by adding a variation in width on some floor(s), make it wasp-waisted.  It doesnt have to be curved necessarily, just stepped in and out perhaps, like these:



I really like the walkways shown, they look just right to me.  They remind me of a specific piece of Henry Flint art from Total War in fact, but I cant find the image right now.  Ill try to dig it up.

Thanks Cheetor.

I agree with higher up theory of things. I was thinking of a couple of things to cover this.

1. Make terrain pieces to represent holes in this level. Basically just  concrete walls surrounding the hole. The hole could have a printed satellite picture of New York at night to look like the level below? Anybody who can fly (or steal a flying car) could move between to of these points on the board.

2. Just a simple rule to represent Megacity One. So you don't have to make hundreds of lifts and stairs, just say that anybody who leaves the board at one point can come back on at any point (higher, lower or a different side) in 1d3 turns. This represents elevators, lifts and other transport just off the board.

That's a dangerous statement. In my experience, Andy's know no bounds!

If only that were true! My limits are called my wife! ".....and where do you think you're going to store that! ?!?"



Thanks again gents for ALL your great help!

[pocoloco]

Both your #1 and #2 are great ideas AndyM!

Maybe the horizontal move off-board could happen in one turn with a help of turbo lifts and such but a move from one side of the board to the opposite takes a tad longer?

Have you checked local 2nd hand markets and whatnots for used hoovers? If you don't find similar hoovers as you have pictured, maybe more round shaped ones can be used to form base of a building?

[Elk101]

Fair point about the texture though some of the comic strip images seem to show an almost rendered finish. What about charity shops or recycling centres for broken hoovers? I know there were a few at the local recycling place near me last time I was there.

Hadn't appreciated that the building was fully playable,  that's impressive!

[Mason]

Dont you know an alarm engineer?
 

If he does large sites get him to ask for any old broken hoovers.
 

In fact, bearing that in mind: Old PIR's, detector units etc would work well for detailing buildings etc too.
 

[YPU]

And this is why I love LAF. Discussions on what hoover would work best for a style of building.  , also a AndyM topic which was not yet in my regular update list, shame on me.

[whiskey priest]

Thanks Cheetor.

Right.....I'm not happy!! My board isn't going the way I like. I may have to seriously re-think my build strategy. I'm not sure if its the flat base board its all on (maybe it should be more up and down?), the straight walkways (they're more curved in the comics, but I thought this might be better for game play ) or the square-ish building (it maybe looks to much like an MDF kit). Now....... the building is going to have a big, odd shaped roof to relieve the squared off look, but even so.....

I've been thinking about what you could add to the above layout to give it a busier feel. As well as the idea of moving things around so that yo have different angles I thought of a couple of other additions.

The middle walkway could be widened to include a row of shops/vendors/stalls that are cantilevered to over the roadway. You could still have the entrance to the walkway to the building but have it as a gap between the stalls/shop with a sign above it.

You could add a walkway next to the top road section and have transport stop (like a bus stop but for something more MC1). From that walkway you could have an escalator connecting to the building entrance walkway, kind of like the transport link for the building.

Another escalator or a zigzag stair (or a spiral ramp!) from the road end of the central walkway down to ground level would be useful as well as hanging a set of pipes (big diameter for this is megacity 1) under the road to represent amenities along with a service walkway  for access. In fact you could put that under the central walkway as well and have a little ladder coming off the walkway to access to pipes service walkway.

Just my thoughts!

[gamer Mac]

Just looking at that last photo with your board against the wall. How about a nice very busy back drop might make it look busy with out being busy?

[Elk101]

Just looking at that last photo with your board against the wall. How about a nice very busy back drop might make it look busy with out being busy?

That's a very good idea. Perhaps some low relief building frontages?

[Silent Invader]

Andy, I don't know the genre but when I look at your board and that you want more, I 'see' one of those spiral car ramps that come with 'matchbox' car garages, etc 

[Andym]

Both your #1 and #2 are great ideas AndyM!

Maybe the horizontal move off-board could happen in one turn with a help of turbo lifts and such but a move from one side of the board to the opposite takes a tad longer?

Have you checked local 2nd hand markets and whatnots for used hoovers? If you don't find similar hoovers as you have pictured, maybe more round shaped ones can be used to form base of a building?

What about, which ever side of the board you leave from, you can only change level/re-enter on that side?

I haven't had much chance yet. I managed to get to 2 charity shops yesterday, but neither had anything.

Fair point about the texture though some of the comic strip images seem to show an almost rendered finish. What about charity shops or recycling centres for broken hoovers? I know there were a few at the local recycling place near me last time I was there.

Hadn't appreciated that the building was fully playable,  that's impressive!

I think (personally) I'd rather go for the metal or smooth concrete look. Its just the look i remember from my days of reading 2000AD.

BTW does anybody still read it to this day? What's the modern comic like? Any good?

Dont you know an alarm engineer?
 

If he does large sites get him to ask for any old broken hoovers.
 

In fact, bearing that in mind: Old PIR's, detector units etc would work well for detailing buildings etc too.
 

Yes.....me!

PIRs are a bit small. Even external ones like Redwalls and stuff arent quite the size I'm going for.....though they might work for smaller structures. I seen this modular board that i like the look of. The apartment blocks on it kinda look like PIRs. I also like the different levels and the lift from another level. I imagine my board being similar with bigger buildings and higher walkways/roads.

And this is why I love LAF. Discussions on what hoover would work best for a style of building.  , also a AndyM topic which was not yet in my regular update list, shame on me.

Welcome to the jungle. Dyson Vs Hoover is the current topic!

I've been thinking about what you could add to the above layout to give it a busier feel. As well as the idea of moving things around so that yo have different angles I thought of a couple of other additions.

The middle walkway could be widened to include a row of shops/vendors/stalls that are cantilevered to over the roadway. You could still have the entrance to the walkway to the building but have it as a gap between the stalls/shop with a sign above it.

You could add a walkway next to the top road section and have transport stop (like a bus stop but for something more MC1). From that walkway you could have an escalator connecting to the building entrance walkway, kind of like the transport link for the building.

Another escalator or a zigzag stair (or a spiral ramp!) from the road end of the central walkway down to ground level would be useful as well as hanging a set of pipes (big diameter for this is megacity 1) under the road to represent amenities along with a service walkway  for access. In fact you could put that under the central walkway as well and have a little ladder coming off the walkway to access to pipes service walkway.

Just my thoughts!

I think you're right about extras. The pipes and bus stops are great ideas. I need to try and keep it open a wee bit for play though. I don't know if more walkways or shops on the walkway  woukd get in the road or not. I'll need to get more ladders in there too.

Just looking at that last photo with your board against the wall. How about a nice very busy back drop might make it look busy with out being busy?

I think a back drop might get in the road too much. Definitely for photos though.....

I might steal your idea and make shop fronts that'll take up some space.

That's a very good idea. Perhaps some low relief building frontages?

Exactly, maybe some Chinese restaurants or tech shops? Maybe have some vents above the shops and cables hanging loosely along the front too?

Andy, I don't know the genre but when I look at your board and that you want more, I 'see' one of those spiral car ramps that come with 'matchbox' car garages, etc  

Dam it!......and i threw away me old matchbox toys!!

I've started buying gubbins to fill all the rooms i plan to have. I seen this stuff a while ago and loved it straight away. The cheapest place I've found it so far is Element Games if that's any help to anyone.

http://elementgames.co.uk/search?q=spartan+scenics+accessories

[gamer Mac]

Like the bits

[OSHIROmodels]

You know, looking at this thread I'm wanting to change my Akira project... 

Maybe just the odd building... 

cheers

James

[Mason]

I like those Spartan bits, mate.
I had forgotten all anout them.
Reckon I will have to pick a few up at some point.

On another note: Check out the lamp posts on this link (scroll down until you find them):

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/escenorama-sci-fi-line/x/1193149#/

They scream MC-1 to me.
What do you think?

They are not available on their site last I checked but I got some from their Indigogo campaign....eventually (two year wait!).
If you are interested, let me know, as I doubt I will use them all in my sci-fi project.