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Troop Images Mod (Legends only, do not use with Shadows)

This is a small mod containing new icons for troops. I wanted troop icons that look good when scaled to tiny sizes and give some hint about what this troop is and how strong it is.

After some experimentation I settled with color coded helmet icons. The color code is the same as in all of my mods with quality going from grey as least quality to green to blue to purple as best quality. I divided the races in 4 categories of roughly the same size and gave those with the least troop strength grey icons, the next group got green, blue and the grou with the highest troop strength got purple icons.

This resulted in visually appealing icons (at least to me) that can be scaled very small and still give a hint about the strength of those troops.

Unfortunately, there are a few aspects that could not be covered. If you create a clone troop, it will always have the icon of your race even if you clone a troop of a conquered or befriended race. So if you play Atuuks and create a clone troop, it will always have a grey icon even if it really is a cloned unit of Boskarans, which have purple icons. If you recruit a unit of Boskarans on their planet, you will get troops with purple icons. Additionally, I left the robotic troop icon as it is so they can be easily discerned.

Should your troops gain experience in battle and increase their strength value, the icon is not going to show that. The icon is a simple race-color correlation, so it is entirely possible to have grey-iconed Atuuk elite shock troops with a higher strength than a regular purple-iconed Boskura noob squad. (The thought of Atuuk elite shock troops rounding up Shakturi regulars that are 4 times their size amuses me.

Installation: Extract contents into your favorite mod directory found in Distant Worlds/Customization/[your favorite mod] Be careful not to overwrite possible troop images already there.



The mod is attached to this forum post

Character Roles Icons Mod (Shadows compatible)

This is another small mod containing new character role icons. While the old icons were not bad, I just couldn't stand a pink icon for intelligence agents. And while I was at them, I made new icons for all roles.

Installation: Extract contents into your Distant Worlds/images/ui/chrome directory. The mod contains a directory named old with the old icons, but making a manual backup never hurts.



A preview for the 2 new icons that came with Shadows will come soon(TM)

The mod is attached to this post.

Small mod, but very nice result. Thanks!

Are the colored helmets indicating troop strength just for the players troops or every empires troops? This is a great idea. Because the new Shadows expansion will have much more detail for ground combat, I hope these types of improvements will be included.

ORIGINAL: Fishers of Men

Are the colored helmets indicating troop strength just for the players troops or every empires troops? This is a great idea. Because the new Shadows expansion will have much more detail for ground combat, I hope these types of improvements will be included.

The colored helmets replace every races troop icon - currently, they are all the same, a tank. There is a colored icon for every race in the mod, the preview only shows 4 because the others look exactly the same with a different name. So whenever a player or the AI builds a troop it will have this icon, it doesn't matter to whom it belongs, Atuuks will have a grey icons, Boskarans a purple.

Should your troops gain experience in battle and increase their strength value, the icon is not going to show that. The icon is a simple race-color correlation, so it is entirely possible to have grey-iconed Atuuk elite shock troops with a higher strength than a regular purple-iconed Boskura noob squad.

Regards, Sirian

Thank you for the character icons; I really like the Ambassador/Leader role.

Thank you tjhkkr! The Ambassador was a hard one to design, I tried 3 different approaches and none was satisfying. The last one, however, got me. I too like it very much. The Leader icon is more or less the same as the original, I just clipped and replaced the background. Originally I wanted to make a crown as leader symbol, but the star is a much better symbol, so I stayed withit.

Character icons for Shadows added (see 2nd post)