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**Slice** · #1 03-03-2008

Flechette gun creation
Hello everyone, welcome to the first developer diary for Sourceforts 2.0, codenamed "Haven". In this thread you will see the process through which I have created one of the weapon models that will be used in the first phase release. These models all retain a visual style suitable to the Half-Life universe, and this weapon is no exception. It has been working-titled the "flechette gun", although this probably won't be its name in the final release. The gun is intended as a highly accurate suppression weapon for ranged use by the "defense" class. This is another title that will be changed prior to release, but I'm sure it gives you some insight as to the classes role. Please note that there are no plans to incorporate a scope into this weapon, and that any gameplay information presented is subject to change due to conclusions that will be drawn in future testing sessions.

I have started this diary a bit late (the weapon is now nearly 30% modeled), however the diary will describe the process from the beginning.

Below you can see the original concept, drawn from Iraqi soils by our concept-artist, o_nobody_o, who remains dedicated despite military obligations.

This weapon is somewhat more organic than other weapons in the HL2 universe, yet a lot of inspiration has been drawn from the 'Hunter' present in HL2: Episode Two. The texture I plan on using is a modified version of the Hunter's body.

Anyway, onto the model:

I prefer polygonal modeling technique (starting from plane and adjusting every single polygon) which i used in this case. One of the most important things was to give the model an organic look, so when I finished half of the model I made some deformations to the mesh (you can see them on the second picture). Adding the second half of the part was very easy because of two views of the model on the concept. I used symmetry modifier to make a mirrored copy of the model. This part doesn't have small details (in fact there is only one piece) so I only concentrated on the shape. The small nozzle-like object extending from the front of the weapon is a laser-sight; whether this will be incorporated into gameplay has yet to be seen, but removing this aspect of the model is not a complex procedure.

Steps I'm going to take in this project :
->Modeling the mesh
->Texturing the model
->Rigging
->Animations

Current model polygon amount : 3178

Thank you for reading, updates will be posted as often as I make progress with the model.

**Louti** · #2 03-03-2008

Opposing Forts. This gun looks like an alien gun.
Wait, with that inspiration, that's normal. Though I don't think it fits more that concrete theme in a SF Like mod.

SANTARII · #3 03-03-2008

well sf 2.0 seems to be going futuristic so you should expect that,

what type of bullets does this fire?

also gun name: mr.flech?

nip · #4 03-03-2008

finally, thx for the diary slice

imo this is more halo than hl2 universe

kas · #5 03-03-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by nip

finally, thx for the diary slice

imo this is more halo than hl2 universe

What do yuo mean? The visual style is so close to that of the hunters/striders. Granted I haven't played a Halo game since I was 13 but still.

nip · #6 03-03-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kas2

What do yuo mean? The visual style is so close to that of the hunters/striders. Granted I haven't played a Halo game since I was 13 but still.

i dont have a valid reason for this, just my first impression OK?

TommieV · #7 03-03-2008

Lol. It reminds of a bee, but at the same time of a motorcycle.
Besides that it reminds me of that gun in HL1.
It sure is organic, nice job on that!
But it could be a bit more themed junk scifi - rebels vs combine (if that would be the theme - if otherwise, awesome, cant wait to see the textures).

Saxywolf · #8 03-03-2008

Quote:

Flechette rounds were developed for small arms for a number of reasons. Being very small and light compared to traditional jacketed lead or steel bullets, flechette ammunition weighs less per round, and thus an infantryman can carry more. Second is the issue of recoil — for the same amount of kinetic energy, a lighter bullet (with a higher muzzle velocity) produces less recoil, and thus less shot dispersion in automatic fire. The last reason was the emergence of lightweight, flexible body armor for the average infantryman. A very high velocity, small diameter projectile is able to easily penetrate body armor. Also its mass-to-piercing-area ratio was much better than that of regular bullets.

However, the flechette has a number of weaknesses that limit its effectiveness as small arms ammunition. They tended to penetrate heavy armor less deeply than heavier, higher momentum rifle bullets. Their extreme light weight caused them to be deflected extremely easily; a single leaf, or even a raindrop, could destabilize a flechette and cause it to tumble wildly. Because of the hard nature of the flechette, it does not deform on impact, and while it penetrates extremely well, it produces very little tissue damage. The last issue with small arms flechettes is accuracy. To fire the finned flechette out of a smoothbore requires the use of a sabot. Since flechettes do not achieve sufficient stability when spun by rifling alone, the main source of stabilization is the fins. When the sabot separates, it can disturb the effectively unstabilized flechette, and cause deviations in its flight. Experiments to reduce problems associated with sabot separation have been performed, such as placing the sabot on the forward portion of the flechette, rather than the rear, and by fitting a sabot stripper in the muzzle to remove it with less disturbance to flight.

An interesting variation of the flechette that addresses its difficulties is the SCIMTR, developed as part of the CAWS project. Also, in 1989 and 1990 the U.S. Army experimented with the Steyr ACR. However, the rifle did not achieve the necessary performance to be considered a viable avenue to pursue.

-Wikipedia

Thank goodness the biology of the Hunter was incorporated to make this a field effective weapon

Nice work.