Did Halo take a few pages from Starcraft?

[Srelex]

In terms of character, the southern redneck cowboy Terran Marines are a bit more attractive than the screaming wanked-out Astartes, IMO.

That applies only if you think that the only possible characterisation for an Astartes is a screaming fanatic, which is most emphatically not the case; they've as broad a range of characterisations as could be expected (even accounting of individual Chapters tending to the emphasis of certain personality traits - for example, the Raven Guard's emphasis of isolation and self-mastery; even their celebrations are extremely low-key and private).

Well, nonetheless, screaming fanatic is the 'generic personality' that GW seems to promote for them, but whatever--rednecks are still cooler.

[Imperial528]

How is the siege tank a lousy vehicle design? It's essentially a mobile medium artillery piece that is meant for front-line action. It's a versatile vehicle, so it isn't a specialist in either of its modes (gameplay aside), but that doesn't mean it's a crap design.

Aesthetically, I like the design of the Space Marine combat suits, but I would personally prefer the Terran Marine one, mostly due to the larger field of vision it gives the wearer.

[Lancer]

How is the siege tank a lousy vehicle design? It's essentially a mobile medium artillery piece that is meant for front-line action. It's a versatile vehicle, so it isn't a specialist in either of its modes (gameplay aside), but that doesn't mean it's a crap design.

Aesthetically, I like the design of the Space Marine combat suits, but I would personally prefer the Terran Marine one, mostly due to the larger field of vision it gives the wearer.

For starters, it has an unnecessarily large target profile, as well as a high degree of mechanical complexity that would either compromise armor coverage or necessitate redundant armoring of components (thus adding additional mass to the vehicle). If it were a rearguard artillery piece, then the former wouldn't be so glaring an issue, but the latter is pretty damning regardless of battlefield role.

[Simon_Jester]

Either mode of the siege tank might be a decent vehicle, I think. The idea of a vehicle that can do both modes is... kind of ridiculous. In practice, in the game they're used as armored self-propelled artillery, which is a sensible mission; the problem is mostly those random tank guns they put on the thing for when it's not deployed as an artillery piece.

Transforming vehicles are amusing in concept, but more trouble than they're worth in practice.

[Stark]

If it didn't transform into an artillery piece, the siege tank would probably be faster, have better armour and a gun that's more effective against heavily armoured targets. It's a fine design for backwoods militia, but it still sucks.

[Imperial528]

If the siege tank was more along the lines of the viking, I would see the point with excess components. However, it uses the same cannon for both roles, it doesn't carry two different weapons systems. The only difference between the siege and tank modes is the higher angle of the gun, the stabilizer legs, and different ammunition. Although, the new siege tank is much more complex than the original, since its barrel actually transforms into something different instead of changing its orientation.

[Literally Hitler]

So. The cannon isn't a solid piece of Future Steel, it is made of moving components that can change the calibre of the barrel. So whatever pressure comes from the Future Gunpowder will put stress on these moving components.

Still not as silly as a Jet Fighter that can afford the mass of mecha legs, but whatev. Sci fi has always followed Rule of CoolTM anyway, it's just that that cool is defined by people who think the new transformers are the best thing ever.

[Imperial528]

Yes, the new siege tank, called the Crucio, has a multi-component barrel. The old one, the Arclite, has a solid barrel which can fire out of either end. (One end is a higher caliber than the other.)

[Literally Hitler]

I know nearly nothing about guns and tanks and other tactilol trivia but if you don't find the idea of a cannon barrel being made of movable parts absurd then god help you.

[Drooling Iguana]

Anyway, something interesting I stumbled upon is that StarCraft also drew inspiration from Star Trek. For example, the Terran Battlecruiser. Iconic to it are its two wings, but I noticed that they are extremely similar to warp nacelles. I mean, they even follow the three nacelle-related design rules that Roddenberry made. (Must come in pairs, at least 50% of the nacelles must be visible from either one, and they need to be fully visible from the front.)

I suppose there might be some Star Trek influence there, but it looks a lot more like they were ripping off Battlestar Galactica.

[white_rabbit]

One thing though, StarCraft's space locust arachnoid insectoid monster menaces look way cooler than 40k's. The Zerg are more imaginative in their alienoid scariness than the Tyrannids, which seem to have just one kind of color motif and design aesthetic - those hormogaunts and termagaunts and ghostgaunts and fastgaunts and stronggaunts all look the same. While the Zerg look far more freaky deaky.

I'd have to say bollocks to that, the idea that the nids have one kind of colour motif is obviously wrong, and whats the Zerg alternative? Brown and purple ?

It brings to mind something I recall from an interview with Giger about Aliens Resurrection and the alien queen, "it looks like shit". Its all obviously a matter of personal taste, so I'd say the alien dinosaur-monster menaces of the Nids are much more interesting and varied than the zerg colour scheme of browwwn.

Well, nonetheless, screaming fanatic is the 'generic personality' that GW seems to promote for them, but whatever--rednecks are still cooler.

The "default" Space Marine, or average baseline marine is more or less always an Ultramarine. Screaming fanatic is a difficult label to apply to those chaps.

You know the generic image of a space marine is a guy fairly bereft of the huge piles of bling and so forth the more elite types festoon themselves with, and he's carrying a big gun.

[Imperial528]

I suppose there might be some Star Trek influence there, but it looks a lot more like they were ripping off Battlestar Galactica.

Hm, because the creator of the SC universe said that he was influenced by ST for the Terrans, I mean, they even use warp drives.

That and the engines (pylons, wings? I don't know what they are) on the Galactica really don't resemble the wings of the Battlecruiser, they're too dissimilar.

[Srelex]

I suppose there might be some Star Trek influence there, but it looks a lot more like they were ripping off Battlestar Galactica.

TBH the battlecruisers don't seem much like a ripoff of anything to me; just a generic scifi warship.

The "default" Space Marine, or average baseline marine is more or less always an Ultramarine. Screaming fanatic is a difficult label to apply to those chaps.

Well, going into semantics, they are undeniably fanatics, and they do tend to make a lot of noise.

[Lancer]

Well, going into semantics, they are undeniably fanatics, and they do tend to make a lot of noise.

The Ultramarines are well-disciplined fanatics, and the noise they make tends to be more high-caliber projectiles exploding in your chest cavity than berserker roars and melee charges.

[insideprawn]

TBH No. The three piece of marine, bug, and high tech alien is old and done enough to be considered generic. The designs themselves also fall on the checklist of practicality vs. cool fairly close to each other. Consequently the crossover of ideas is understandable.