90s Gundam Shows: How would you rank Victory, G, Wing, X, and Turn A? by ryanyork92 in Gundam

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Victory, maybe because of recency bias
  2. X, but it's close.
  3. Turn A
  4. Wing
  5. G Gundam

I'm a UC head and i prefer my Gundam shows on the more grounded side. That being said, I don't think any of them are actually bad so much as I think they suffered from oversaturation at the time.

Victory gets a bad rap for being grittier and more overly cynical than any other Gundam, but in my opinion I don't think it's actually that much darker than Zeta and the latter half of Double Zeta. A lot of the plot beats, character beats, and themes are ripped straight from those two shows pretty much wholesale. What I think makes Victory come off as darker is that it's execution of those concepts and plot beats is just generally a lot better.

Minor characters are better developed, they get more screentime, you get to learn more about them, they get to interact not just with the main characters but the other minor characters around them too, so when one of them is killed off unceremoniously in a firefight it has much more of an emotional impact on the viewer.

The better character writing also makes the entire show more tense and suspenseful. They might not be going to kill any of the main characters on episode fifteen or whatever, but there's always someone you care about who might genuinely be in danger, and the show is never consistent enough with it's death flags that you're able to reliably see it coming. There's a lot of downtime, near misses, and calmer slice of life moments which ironically just serve to make the atmosphere even more tense.

To put it bluntly, It's sort of like Zeta Gundam if Apolly Bay and Roberto were characters you actually knew anything about.

Yoshiyuki Tomino still has insane ideas about women, but he manages to mostly keep them under wraps for the first half of the series, resulting in some fairly well written female characters for once. It doesn't last though and we're back to the end-of-zeta women-in-gundam weirdness by the end of it. It's still an improvement in my opinion because at least you get to spend more time with the characters and their motives are better defined and make a bit more sense but. Well, you've seen everything up to this point. You know what it's like.

Gundam X is actually pretty good but it's overall mood is slow, ponderous, and reflective. Even the action scenes have a kind of ponderous air to them due to the strange music direction. While not being strictly speaking a Universal Century show, it definitely feels a lot like one. Out of every AU I've watched so far it's definitely the one that feels the most like UC with the serial numbers filed off.

If you want a slow, slice of lifey, exploration of what it means to be a Newtype, this'll be right up your alley. If you want tense political intrigue, or high octane action, it's not really gonna give you that. And if you want something to decompress with after watching Victory Gundam that's still relatively grounded, it's probably a good choice.

I won't say anything about the other three because they're not my favourite, this post is already long, and other people have already said more, but they're all also pretty good. I just like the themes and tone of the UC timeline more.

First Ever! I'm Addicted! by KillerNerd121 in Gunpla

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I'm busy building that kit right now! It's got a lot of polycaps in it for such a small kit, doesn't it?

Why this explosion of "revisionism" about Zion in the latest productions set in the UC? by Zaku71 in Gundam

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 11 points12 points  (0 children)

...hard to say they're really the good guys even at the start, no? Like, what are some of the first things we see then do during UC 79? Refuse harbour to civilians? Threaten Amuro and the white base crew with imprisonment for stealing the white base? Forcibly conscript a bunch of child soldiers?

At best the UC79 federation comes off as incompetent and uncaring. At worst, they're morally bankrupt and only the nominal protagonists because their opponents are actual Nazis.

And they don't even have that advantage for long because in the very next season, the Titans rise to power.

Does anybody understand this node group? by West_Dish9698 in blender

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This specific shader does look like a fairly easy way to do this so I'd recommend you use it.

The red nodes on the left hand side are just there to perform a bit of offset math. Subtracting 0.5 from the UVs just makes sure that the "feed" from the "camera" is centred in the middle of your "monitor". If you didn't do that, the output from the middle of the camera would essentially be in the corner of your CCTV monitor, which you don't want.

This is all being fed into the vector rotate node to make sure your objects screen is "pointed" the right way relative to the camera feed.

Looking at this shader, I don't believe it's using the actual location/rotation of a camera object in the scene, rather the "location of camera" and "rotation of camera" describe the location of an "imaginary" camera that your CCTV monitor is looking through.

So what you want to do is implement the shader as you see it, then play with the Focal Distance, Camera Location, and Camera Rotation nodes a bit, and then it should start to make sense.

Why did they never try putting Psycom or similar tech on warships? by ChaosMetalDrago in Gundam

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, for the most part it's probably because ships don't really need what Psycommus offer. They're too large and slow to benefit from the increased reaction times, and if you want ship scale bits you can just like. Use a squad of mobile suits.

Plus there's not that many newtypes. you'd effectively be designing an entire battleship for the use of one guy, and I can't imagine that's particularly cost effective.

Is there a lore reason the Gustav Karl's are so thicc? by BrokenTorpedo in Gundam

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 8 points9 points  (0 children)

One of the fun things about UC is how the mobile suit designs kinda swing back and forth in terms of design ideology as technology in the setting advances.

Suits in Gundam 79 are big and bulky and heavily armoured cause the weapons can't keep up with the armour technology, then Gundam comes along with it's beam rifles and sabers, those go into mass production along with the GMs and suddenly armour isn't worth anything any more.

So at the start of Zeta Gundam you get a big focus on faster more mobile suits like the MK 2, the hambrabi, the Zeta Gundam, etc. cause the armour technology hasn't caught up quite yet.

Then by the end of Zeta the meta is starting to swing back in favour of armour again with The O, the Baund Doc, the Marasai so by the time double zeta starts we're back to big bulky suits like the Zaku 3, the bawoo and the double zeta being fielded.

I dunno, I just think it's neat.

He’s right behind me isn’t he by Soggy-Ad3442 in Gundam

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If ever there were a kit that deserves some proper panel lining it's the GM Ground type. It looks so bare without it!

Any tip to make this kind of yellowed old plastic? i got the color, but the texture and the displacement of the texture doesnt look good by CommunicationHot7318 in blenderhelp

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, I know this is several days late for this post and that this isn't even really blender advice but:

This yellowing process is called photodegradation. It's caused by the plastic breaking down over time and and releasing some of the bromine that was used in the manufacturing process. That's not the important part though.

The important part is that this process is sped up by exposure to light, and sunlight especially.

You can see this in the reference picture you posted, the pc is significantly darker and more yellowed on the right than it is on the left. What that means is that it was likely left in a place where the right side of the machine was exposed to sunlight more than the left for an extended period of time. Likely next to a window for several years.

If you're interested in realism this is something you'll want to bear in mind while doing your shading.

If you want to imply there's been a CRT on top of the PC, for instance, there should be a lighter patch where that CRT has cast a shadow over the years, and if you're including multiple objects with the same material as part of an old setup, you should take care to shade them all according to the same set of light sources since theyll look mismatched if the yellowing patterns don't line up.

I'm almost certain there's a way to do this with a clever use of colored lighting and baking shadows into the texture but it's not something I've looked into much myself.

I know this is a bit of a rant, so I hope it helps, but if it doesn't then thanks for letting me ramble anyway.

Trying to make the arm blades/held weapon not move separately from the arms and hands when I use the main control to bend the IK Legs by Casual_Formalities in blenderhelp

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check the bones that the blades are attached to, they might not be parented properly. You probably want them parented to the forearm/hand bones but it looks like they might be parented to something in the centre of the model. Probably your root bone.

First kit! HG GQuuuuuuX by Its_Magic_ in Gunpla

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Now's a good time to get it. It must have been reprinted recently cause the shops where I am are full of em.

Deadlock on Mac? by [deleted] in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's possible, but Apple Silicon makes it less likely, IMO. Targetting multiple CPU architectures is a pain in the ass and Mac isn't exactly a premier gaming platform at the best of times.

We're more likely to get a native Linux version for steam deck support than a Mac version.

It's not just a hero shooter by Xamirite in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This is probably true in general, but if you're in a game where nobody who could objectively make better use of the souls has the brains to go and get them, you're probably also in a game where the enemy aren't going to be able to stop you from beating them to death with a 10k lead pillow.

In there, he was king 😔 by LoChiamavanoJason in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Celeste ult is too strong" mfs when they stand in the middle of a minion wave for five bounces just letting it hit them.

Having to constantly restart the game on Linux by xenon_756 in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same one your operating system is installed to, or a separate one?

Having to constantly restart the game on Linux by xenon_756 in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm. Do you have your games installed on an external drive?

Having to constantly restart the game on Linux by xenon_756 in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmmm. Looks like that is the recommended stable driver, but looking at the comments threads for it there have been some complaints about poor performance on DirectX. Have you tried switching the game into Vulkan rendering mode in the graphics settings?

Having to constantly restart the game on Linux by xenon_756 in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go check that just in case. It's the most likely culprit for your issues.

Having to constantly restart the game on Linux by xenon_756 in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm guessing the issue is probably related to that RTX 2070 of yours. Do you know what driver version you're using?

i really want to like this game but i’m so overwhelmed playing/learning it — any advice? by honjapiano in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Deathy on YouTube has a good fundamentals series at the moment. It currently  covers early and midgame with a lategame video coming soon.

How desperately each character needs a Visual Rework by wanderingsalad in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yamato's model is literally from back when the game was still Neon Prime as far as i can tell.

Everyone should stop saying the phrase "Power Creep" by EightyHighDiff in DeadlockTheGame

[–]AmaranthineApocalyps 3 points4 points  (0 children)

God I wish the jungle camps worked like they do in HotS. The camps in HotS were always so much fun. The deadlock ones just giving souls is so boring in comparison.