Let’s look at the reactor!

I’m sure that all of you recall the Tremulous reactor. Large and bulky, it provided power to the human base, and when destroyed it made a large explosion that often took out attacking aliens with low health. It was easily one of the more recognizable human structures, considering that in addition to the reassuring spinning of its arms during operation, the structure was also required to actually build and use things. Much time would be spent finding the correct placement of turrets to defend it, but of course, nothing was truly foolproof. Ultimately, a zapping marauder or barb-launching dragoon would take out enough to leave it vulnerable.

With our own reactor, we wanted to go with a design that both invoked the older one, while at the same time bringing a more detailed, polished look that fit in with the remainder of our human artwork. We finished the concept stage last fall, with a few designs to choose from. Each one took the original model in a different direction. After some discussion, we decided to settle on the third design shown above as the general shape for our new reactor. The other designs give you a sense of other directions we could have taken, although it is likely that we will use the first one for a repeater.

Now, after months in the making, our reactor is finally finished! I can say with absolute certainty that it will be in this coming release next Sunday. Modeled by chris807, who also did our turret and grenade models and is now working on some weapons, the reactor is, as one would expect, the largest and most impressive human structure. Echoing its predecessor, the new reactor also has three spinning arms rotating around the central power core, with an abundance of pulsating, glowing lights to keep those turrets and your jetpack running. It has some fantastically complicated texture work as well, and will even be taking advantage of the gloss map texture feature that we will be adding in this coming release.

There will likely be some other surprises, too! Follow @UNVofficial on Twitter for all your Unvanquished news.