XS Harpy

[Xyx]

The Harpy
an XS Vehicles production
Full release 1, 2008-10-18

[shot]http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/43096/16.jpg[/shot] [shot]http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/43096/13.jpg[/shot]

[shot]http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/43096/3.jpg[/shot] [shot]http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/43096/6.jpg[/shot]

[shot]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/43096/Harpy/Wallpaper_Harpy_2_2048_1536.jpg[/shot] [shot]http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6320/gunshipexpoyf2.jpg[/shot]

Features

• Harpy VTOL aircraft.
• Tractorbeam with custom locking mechanism, automated impact hammers, energy shields.
• Animated maw, spine, arms, engines, thruster, landing gear and tail.
• Custom everything; visual effects, sound, HUD, damage effects, flight behavior.
• Full net support and bot support.

Controls

• Primary fire controls the tractorbeam. Target lock speed depends on accuracy, distance, target weight and target type.
• Altfire controls the shields. Hammers auto-charge and auto-fire while shields are deactivated.
• Mousewheel controls camera distance. Mousewheel instead controls tractorbeam length while the beam is active.

Credits

• Xyx
  Concept, gameplay design, weapon code, HUD code, bot code, project organization.
• T-Shinzon
  Concept art, 3D-modelling, sound, promotional media.
• Farseer
  Texturing, animation, visual effects, netcode, weapon code, packaging.
• Captain Snarf
  Vehicle Replacement mutator.

www.xsmod.com

Download

• FilePlanet
• MediaFire
• FileFront

Installation

Copy the UTGame folder into your Unreal Tournament 3 folder, then select a method to get the Harpy into the game:

• Enable the XS Vehicles: Harpy mutator to replace flying vehicles and Nightshades with Harpies.
• Enable the XS Vehicles: Harpy replaces all mutator to replace all (non-turret) vehicles with Harpies for extra tractorbeaming mayhem!
• Install and configure CaptainSnarf's Vehicle Replacement mutator for full control over vehicle replacement.
• Enter the following console command to spawn a Harpy:
  summon xs_harpy.harpy

[shot]http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/43096/1_Poster.jpg[/shot] [shot]http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/43096/Harpy_XS_JPEG_12P.jpg[/shot]

[Wilce]

Holy ****, this thing is a blast to use. The modeling and animations are dead sexy. Surprisingly well balanced considering it can instantly kill pretty much anything on the battlefield

I have at least one issue with it, however. It needs to be a bit more obvious when you have one of these eying you; as it is, there is very little warning before you get rudely launched from the battlefield into a couple of thousand damage, haha. An AVRiL-style lockon warning would do a lot for balancing it.

Great work.

[Xyx]

The tractorbeam has a warmup mode with a "softer" beam that kicks up dust. You can tell exactly where bots are aiming. The hammers deal a combined 350 damage, not "a couple of thousand".

[iced-fang]

Xyx did u get my last comment that i posted last night

[Mackinator]

I LOVE IT! It's original and fun.

[Xyx]

Xyx did u get my last comment that i posted last night

You mean in the beta thread? I replied to that here, in the beta thread.

[Cr4zy]

****ing amazing!

I hardly ever download custom vehicles but this. Is something else.

[Shinamori]

I'm gonna try this as soon as I'm patched to v1.3.

[HideInLight]

No crashes in this one, working great. With some practise you can actually throw your alied vehicles on top up of buildings etc

[Callyste]

My feedback concerning this vehicle:

pros:
- Very original concept
- Great realisation, both modelling and texturing
- Fits UT3 universe very well, that's rare enough to be noted

cons:
- There is no way to force servers to use it. There should be a law voted for that!

[Tailsnake]

I love this vehicle, this is the single best user created vehicle so far. Nothing compares to dodging tank shots while trying to pull a tank into the river on suspense.

[Setheran]

I can see myself using this one a lot in my botmatches. It'd be nice if its appearance was a little more consistent with the other vehicles in the game, but other than that it's really impressive with the attention to detail and HUD stuff.

I actually had much more fun releasing the tractor beam early to fling my targets overhead instead of letting them hit the hammers. It's cool that you can use it as a way of quickly moving friendly vehicles around too.

[Wilce]

The tractorbeam has a warmup mode with a "softer" beam that kicks up dust. You can tell exactly where bots are aiming. The hammers deal a combined 350 damage, not "a couple of thousand".

Yeah, I noticed that after playing a few more rounds with it. After getting used to it, I think the dust effect works well enough... and is very intimidating when you notice it, haha. I really like how the shields work too, especially how they close together when you reverse.

My point remains, this is a top notch release. If Epic had released this out of the box as a Necris vehicle, it would have fit right in.

[Doc Shock]

Whoa! There I was, minding my own business, deciding to take a quick look at the epic forums and what do I see? A more-than-awesome next-gen XS release! I really don't believe it, every time I take a break from my regular visits to this forum, something incredible like this happens. Well, not exactly like this, as this is the the best thing that happened to UT3 so far, but you get the general idea... Really, I know there were a lot of releases for the MSUC, but I don't really care about most of them. Just give me XS and the stuff from Runestorm and I'm perfectly happy.

Converting the Neo-Gunship first was the best way to go, indeed. Imo, it definitely was the best vehicle of the UT2k4 set: innovative, versatile, balanced and just plain fun to use.
So, which one will be next? According to the modeling progress on your site, it seems to be either the Epsilon or the Colossus, right?
I must say, that the Epsilon would be a really fine choice, the 2k4 beta was very good. The mechwarrior-style controls were a bit hard to get used to (pain in the *** to make it stand still), but it gave me a nice feeling of nostalgia. The only thing I didn't like about it was the narrow room of adjustment for the main cannon, I always had to cut corners in order to be able to aim at something.
But of course the Colossus would be great as well. If it is still planned that it will work as a forward command post, that is. From the first time that concept started to take shape, I was really exited about the new possibilities it could bring to the game. Being able to watch the battlefield from an RTS-style point of view and dropping supplies and waypoint markers for your team would add such an immense strategic depth to Warfare that it would feel like a whole new gametype (so you could actually achieve what Epic did not: To make it feel like it wouldn't just be Onslaught with orbs 'n boards).
You know, I'm quite curious how the main weapon's functionality will turn out, as there were so many concepts over time. I for one would prefer the reflected beam, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that I was the one who had that idea. From a non-biased perspective, a different method would be better, especially when taking a closer look at the differences between UT2k4 and UT3. Considering how fast most vehicles die in this game, an indirect-fire insta-hit beam of obliteration would be way too powerful. There is a reason epic dropped the Ion beam cannon as a superweapon. Redeemer's can be shot down, but you can't do much against an orbital laser. Cool for single player (that's why they put something like it in GoW), but unfair for mp. Farseer's concept art of the firemode still rocks, though:


Argh, once again I just couldn't stop typing more or less useless stuff after expressing my main point. To get this post back on track, let me state once more that this was the single most anticipated UT3-release of mine and I'm glad that it finally came to pass. Even more so because it turned out to play, look and feel so incredibly well done.

Xyx, Shin, Farseer: Congratulations to all of you, keep up the great work.

[chilau1]

Hey Xyx i dont see the mutator either the vehicle in the vehicle replacement mutator???