Nanolathe Changed?

It would appear the nanolathe animation was changed to appear less like liquid and more like something digital. I must say I thought the liquid flowing looked better in most cases. Particularly moving nanolathes, like the air factory. That said, I do like the new animation as well. Perhaps there's a good middle ground?

I know some people thought it looked like "green vomit" but I think the liquid effect really brought life to the game and was an interesting effect.

Thoughts?

I agree, I really liked the fluid's movement. It gave the construction a more... Alive look.
I'd really like if they would bring it back. The digi-blocks in creation now just does not have the same look. Just my thoughts.

I like it. The old style makes the commander look like a backwards firefighter

They should do it like this...

Could probably be achieved by drawing a line from lathe to building and passing a flowing goo texture over it...

Or they could give different commanders different styles?

This is a good idea.

Why, thank you!

I also think it would be nice.

That would be cool, but I would want my factories and engineers back to spraying liquid. Maybe the player could have control over their animated style from 2-3 types? That would be cool. Otherwise, I like your idea.

Well, custom commanders should be a 'bonus' / 'upgrade', right? They'll come with a unique skin - their main feature - and a set of abilities that you can (probably) change to any other possible set. So why restrict them to a single nanolathe?

Custom commanders are a reward. They're everything a normal commander is, and more. So yeah, if there are multiple nanolathes at all (kind of doubtful, but...), then I suppose you should be able to choose your own nanolathe, depending on which custom commanders you have.

Remember, the red ones go faster.

Potentionally genius idea; (custom) commanders can also set their own nanolathe colour.

However, this, in all likeliness, wouldn't influence the build-up animation of structures and units (which'd be green). That'd be too much effort for Uber I'd say.

Anyone got any zoomed in before/after pics of this? Tried looking on youtube, mostly zoomed out stuff. I gather by "digital" you mean it looks more like the pixelly TA nanolathe?

It looks like it came out of the classic Tron movie as opposed to Nickelodeon meets Goosebumps.

It looks much more like TA now - I love it.

I don't dislike it, I just think the previous animation was more suited to the art style the game has taken. It felt more alive.

This isn't a TA sequel, after all. It is simply made in the spirit of TA.

bump

honestly though, why was the old nanolathe removed in the first place?

Cannot.. Resist.. Urge..


Removed? I don't remember it ever having a different one.

Edit: of course this could have happen but it's been a while.

The old lathe was more fluid and less 'blocky'. You'll notice that the current lathe is just square bits with trails, it used to look like spray. Additionally, this was back when there was an NDA so most people never got to see the old nanolathe.

This one?