Condor MkII - Heavy Hover Tank
Created by Xietanu
The Condor MkI was created when a team composed of the country’s finest engineers gathered together to design a new generation of stealth aircraft. The first in the family was to be the Condor, a strategic bomber, as it was deemed to be the perfect platform to house the experimental flight system was to revolusionise flight and allow unprecidented attacks in the heart of enemy territory.
The MkII was created when the MkI was scrappred, having never been able to lift more than a few feet above the ground, and its stealth systems heavily compromised by the eery glow the engines gave off that could be clearly seen for many miles and the constant, unidentifiable (but no less detectable) radiation the drive core emitted. Too much money had been sunk into the project at this point, however, so armour plating and a main gun were quickly retrofitted onto the existing design; the Condor MkII was born and sent to the front.
Some concerns have been raised about the safety of operating the MkII, but the MoD has been quick to respond that the mysterious and sudden deaths of 64% of the test crews were not in any way related to the still unidentified radiation the craft emits, and that the rumours of the corpses reanimating and shambling about three days after death were entirely German propaganda. The Condor MkII is the safest and most advanced tank ever deployed.
DESCRIPTION:
This is a new unit for GTB, a heavy tank that hovers. It was created mostly as a way for me to learn about what is needed to add a new unit to the game, and see what was possible through modding. The reason I chose a hover tank was because it wasn’t something the game already had, but I thought it still fitted with the retro-futuristic, rather silly aesthetic of the game.
The Condor uses the same modules as a heavy tank, but its experimental flight system and ultra-modern materials give it a greatly reduced effective weight (putting it somewhere between a heavy tank and a heavy mech). However, the drive core is somewhat fragile and unstable, which has reduced the strength of the internal structure (giving it internal hitpoints that are again between a heavy tank and a heavy mech).
Due to its nature as a bit of an experiment on my part, I haven’t heavily tested to ensure that its a balanced unit, though I don’t see why it shouldn’t be. The main reason I’m putting it out is so that anyone else who might want to see what’s needed to create a new unit has some reference to start with, should they want it. In that regards, feel free to make use of any/all files that come with this, though if you include any of my work in your own mod, I would appreciate credit.
NOTE: I have no idea what using a modded unit in an online challenge would do, but I imagine there’s a good chance it would not go well. So probably best if you don’t.
DOWNLOAD:
REMOVED WHILE I WORK OUT THE ISSUES (See below)
INSTALLATION:
Unzip the contents of the zip file into your Gratuitous Tank Battles folder (the one in Program Files that contains the GTB.exe, not the one in My Documents).
From there, find the ‘data’ folder, then then ‘hulls’ folder (Gratuitous Tank Battles\data\hulls). In that folder is a file called ‘hulls.cvs’. Open that in a text editor such as notepad, and the first line should begin ‘#,name,guiname,…’. AFTER that line, add the following line:
#,heavy_hover_tank_condormkii,Heavy Hover Tank (Condor MkII),180,120,TANK,HEAVYTANK,default_damage.dds,0,todo,largexp1,SQUASH,12,dropnewunit_huge,data/sounds/lb_heavythud8.ogg,data/sounds/lb_heavytank_engine.ogg,1,SMALL_DUST,SMALL_SNOW,SMALL_SAND,0,39,1.4,1735,333,110,
(You can also open up this file in Excel or something similar which makes it a lot more readable and is better for modding, but makes the copy and paste a bit more tricky.)
To then make the hull unlock in the game, go to ‘My Documents/My Games/GratuitousBattleTanks’, and find the file ‘unl.dat’. Open this with a text editor, and at the end of the list of unlocked items, add the line:
heavy_hover_tank_condormkii
NOTE: If the hull disappears after an update to the game, it’s likely because the update replaced the hull.cvs file. In that case, just repeat the steps to add the line back into it.
UNINSTALLATION:
First, delete all designs that make use of the hull. Then, simply remove the line you added to hull.cvs and, optionally, delete the other files that came with the zip.
Feedback and thoughts are welcome.
Excellent!
Thanks for letting me know the issue, anyway.