Nepleslian Military Uniforms

[raz]

Just a quick idea, but why doesn't the IPG just change their piping to Nep green? They'd still look imposing and evil, but not look like Reds.

 

[Legix]

Wouldn't it just make more sense to put tank personnel in coveralls? Back when Nepleslia was part of the Uesureyan Star Empire (pre-Yamatai), tank operators wore a coverall/jumpsuit with a traditional flak vest. An example of this uniform is the male in this artwork:

The sketches look more like a dress uniform with a "suit jacket" with lots of buttons and a fancy collar and lapels, it doesn't look like something designed for combat in the sweaty, sooty interior of a tank.

I don't think they'd want to mimic those filthy cat-snugglers, but I understand AND appreciate the input/nod to their origins. I'm likely going to have the sleeves adjusted cuff-wise and the buttons reduced, but I mean... there's good reason as to why they can be a bit stylish with their new uniforms.

Remember this uniform, with all its buttons and nice collar? Along with its fancy short sleeves? The sort of uniform type isn't unseen in Nepleslia, it's just that the grunts haven't had style. I do totally agree on sprucing it down, but overall I think the fancy collar and double-breasted look (maybe I'll have it changed to simply appear styled in that manner so it loses the buttons? Like an optical illusion) are far from outlandish. We will definitely see the return of coveralls, however, as there WILL be wintergarb that could easily fill that mark. Not to mention there's room for navy coveralls to see action if I can't get that one suit transformed into a proper piece of Nepleslian attire.

 

[Legix]

An update for those following this: our previous artist has said he'd be slow/super busy from this point on... so I'm gonna be trying to take the concepts and get 'em handled/finished out by someone else (volunteeeeeeers maybe? :3), but also hold out we will slowly get the stuff rolled out too.

In the meantime, I've begun reaching out to another artist (here) for some nice art... but in the same regard I need peepers to keep their eyes out for some people in similar art styles.

If anyone has a Nep character they'd like to commission and possibly be in some of these, that'd also be helpful for us puttin together more artwork of the new ones. Lookin' forward to updating the thread soon with some new stuff, even if it's not mine, as soon as I can get muh grubby hands on it =3=7

 

[Gallant]

As far as the filthy cat snugglers, I feel like I should point out that, in the beginning the Grand Star Army and Nepleslia didn't have dissimilar tech levels. If my recollection serves me, in fact, though they grew apart technologically due to different war philosophies and capabilities, the old GSA armor heavily resembled the bulletproof vests and armor of the Nepleslians originally as well - that particular armor was actually almost identical to it (Ithink?) which is probably why Wes mentions it.

Again, I could be wrong - this was many, many years ago, and I'm just echoing what you've already said in that regard, anyway. When I had that artwork commissioned, part of it was that Kim and I wanted to throwback to "those old days" that weren't well documented or arted, since it factored into the history of some NPCs.

It's also fun to commission artwork. Har. ;3

I would actually recommend asking @Gunsight1 to do some uniform commissions for us; he does fairly detailed uniforms, and is good at brainstorming them. I've already commissioned him to come up with the Nepleslian Police's uniforms (they're based off the standard Marine uniforms). He's reasonably priced, and would stick with us until it's finished, as long as he isn't too busy. When we get done on it I'll toss a sketch on up here and we can use it as a test bed for the others you want arted/changed, see how well we can forum it up.

Whatchu say, Gunny?

And if not gunny, I do know that Foxtrot is still willing to do artwork, and he used to be Nepleslia's go-to artist, though as he left with the Kampfer bloc of players I don't know how comfortable he would be returning to the forum to talk over the uniforms - but if we had specific requests, he would work quickly and privately.

 

[Legix]

As far as the filthy cat snugglers, I feel like I should point out that, in the beginning the Grand Star Army and Nepleslia didn't have dissimilar tech levels. If my recollection serves me, in fact, though they grew apart technologically due to different war philosophies and capabilities, the old GSA armor heavily resembled the bulletproof vests and armor of the Nepleslians originally as well - that particular armor was actually almost identical to it (Ithink?) which is probably why Wes mentions it.

Again, I could be wrong - this was many, many years ago, and I'm just echoing what you've already said in that regard, anyway. When I had that artwork commissioned, part of it was that Kim and I wanted to throwback to "those old days" that weren't well documented or arted, since it factored into the history of some NPCs.

It's also fun to commission artwork. Har. ;3

I would actually recommend asking @Gunsight1 to do some uniform commissions for us; he does fairly detailed uniforms, and is good at brainstorming them. I've already commissioned him to come up with the Nepleslian Police's uniforms (they're based off the standard Marine uniforms). He's reasonably priced, and would stick with us until it's finished, as long as he isn't too busy. When we get done on it I'll toss a sketch on up here and we can use it as a test bed for the others you want arted/changed, see how well we can forum it up.

Whatchu say, Gunny?

And if not gunny, I do know that Foxtrot is still willing to do artwork, and he used to be Nepleslia's go-to artist, though as he left with the Kampfer bloc of players I don't know how comfortable he would be returning to the forum to talk over the uniforms - but if we had specific requests, he would work quickly and privately.

Foxtrot has been contacted about potential work. The main goal of this project is, as I've stated, to initially provide concept art and then seek out commissions and officiate it. None of the artists on SARP have been overlooked. The only one I've not contacted at this point is likely Gunny, and that's because Gunny IS busy and I've also personally set-up a trade for other things. Throwing commissions out also isn't cheap. This is the reason we're looking initially for cheap/free concepts (as the last concept was astounding, I feel like it works), so we can make sure we have strong references for the artists we KNOW can deliver amazing artwork.

To reiterate, this update has been going on and been fairly transparent between those interested/involved. The level of things we've achieved is slow, but this is due to the sake of wanting things to be done properly and in amazing styles. If we want to bring up new uniforms for Nep-Police, however, that's not what this thread is for. I know you were mentioning it as a witness to Gunny's abilities so don't assume I'm trying to bash on it. All I'm saying is that the reason we're not using these bigger artists is because we are working to get references and solid concepts. Foxtrot, Gunny, and Zairyo are all people we can consider for the official commission, but if we're going to spend the bigger money then we need to make sure we got a great reference to go off of.

Edit: To clarify, the current artwork concepts have been handed to Zairyo to include on Juno (The next on the list), so we should be getting it relatively soon. It was also partially taken and repitched to our concept artist for a new attempt at a normal marine BDU upgrade. You can contact me or Gunhand if you want to know more, since we've been working on this mostly ourselves =3=7

 

[Gallant]

I wasn't arguing with your method, but if you would prefer I don't include the police uniform in this thread, I won't.

I wasn't actually accusing you of being opaque, either; I'm not sure where that came from. But, if you want feedback from other players or GMs, that's why I decided to post feedback in this thread, and offer assistance.

 

[Legix]

It's actually pretty cool to look back at this discussion, especially given the little progress of new equipment and the crewman jacket. I know there's talk of further stuff like a winter jacket/coat, but all that aside there has been a focus on Nepleslian uniforms and the things for it recently. In particular, this is a cool thing to know there's been work to even bring Nepleslia up to par to box and tussle with the more fleshed out Yamatai list.

I guess maybe we can use this for a more official "what people would like to possibly see in Nepleslia's uniform and accessory" thread. The update has definitely slowed/finished itself out, but another spurt of life definitely ain't impossible.

 

[Ethereal]

Give me Freenepper uniforms or give me death
*the men and women of the Ichaival Collective proudly serve the Nepleslia*

 

[Kim]

Nicoy still very much does commissions! He did the Chiyo and Voss one and the Autumn and Lenz chibis.

 

[Ametheliana]

We have been kicking around the idea of a couple of uniform updates for Nepleslia. Any discussion is good discussion here.

Woodland Camo


Arctic Camo



There was discussion about a cold weather uniform since we already have the cap and it has been ongoing! Ideas about that?





Any other ideas?

Let's chip in ideas and see if we can't also get an art fund or have some SARP artists, myself included, come up with some references and then I can do art trades for the new uniform art!

 

[Gunhand4171]

 

[Legix]

I wanna point out that there's some things we wanna make sure about a "cold weather" uniform. Primarily, I think we could make a slightly modified version of the standard uniform is best.


This image was thrown up by @Bilgecrank in a sorta joking manner that brought the idea back up to the surface. Big things I note are things like the shawl, the scarf, and the jacket-like nature it takes on instead. A new pair of paints and insulated boots that maybe have fur at the top could make a cool look. Fur is on some aspects of Nepleslian uniform (or at least fur look-alike material) and I think it's something that is sorely untapped in a nation as harsh as Nepleslia. I mean, these guys live on urban worlds... so slaying wild beasts on their frontier worlds provides an incentive for non-heavily industrialized worlds as well as giving an economic strength to less developed or harsh-environment worlds that might lack traditional economic strength.

 

[Legix]

https://i.imgur.com/ORLcMqQ.png

Ame requested I throw this up. It's a Digital Alpine/Mountain camo I threw together with some new tools I got on my Paint.NET. I think it looks fairly good, though it was complicated to follow the guide I found on making camo.

 

[Ametheliana]

Primarily, I think we could make a slightly modified version of the standard uniform is best.

Gunhand and I talked about this design in particular and want to move in a diff direction than it. If Wes says sticking to the standard uniform is the end all be all, then we'll work from there but right now this isn't where we're going.

 

[Legix]

Gunhand and I talked about this design in particular and want to move in a diff direction than it. If Wes says sticking to the standard uniform is the end all be all, then we'll work from there but right now this isn't where we're going.

Well, my main thing with posting it was my thoughts. If we're looking for an entirely different thingo, tho, then I'm interested. I mean, ideally we can at least keep the good ol' Nepper hat. Seeing references and ideas you two are considering would be heckin' p cool, too. It's quite likely the uniform would end up in my plot (unless Inquiry gets to a snow-world first) first, so seeing and getting hyped for it is p awesome.

 

[Ametheliana]

The references are up above. The all white one would look really good with a green top and woodland camo bottoms sans the flak vest and some of the pouches.

 

[Legix]

So I figured I'd take a look at the effectiveness of the camo pattern I made. And... well, the results aren't awful.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/370384421934596108/375158986028351498/mambaalpine.png

This is the Mamba, a future WIP light combat/recon suit.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/370384421934596108/375161452996329473/test1.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/280038594759098369/375162002689097748/test2.jpg

These are the two tests I used. I shrunk the images in a hope to simulate distance (especially considering a real image with art tends to have high contrast), but the first test showcases the camo'd Mamba without its stealth systems on. The second test showcases the camo in coordination with the suit's stealth inhibitor working at a slow sneak.

When you pair the two, you should be able to pick up on the fact that the prior one takes a few moments (I think 3 seconds is likely the amount of time before detection), while the latter might take you longer (it takes my eyes about 2-3 seconds to pick it up even knowing where it is). This is actually a pretty solid window, considering the operator can completely vanish when stationary... so this camo, at least, provides the suit and non-stealth technology with a rather simple camo that could likely work in better placement (such as laying down versus standing up).

I'll also test the Mamba's normal camo design (as the pattern was a conversion versus a straight-print) which should put the effectiveness of the pattern to work. If I can find a darker arctic backdrop, I'll try out the other two we listed, too. After all, the one I made is more winter forest/alpine environments versus arctic plains and snowy peaks.

 

[Wes]

The traditional Nepleslian way was to add an insulated coverall under their traditional flak vest. Historically the Uesureyan Army used sage green coveralls, sometimes with black tiger stripes. The coverall only came in the sage green year round (think UCP) but there were 3 flak vests worn seasonally: The main one was traditional Nepleslian forest green (hence "the greens"), bit there was also a tan one with black irregular bars on it used for fall/dry grass/desert and a pure white snow vest.

You can see an approximation of 2 of these on the right 2 figures here:

The shape and colors of the Nepleslian Army/Marines uniforms are directly inspired by the green vest with the pointed hemline and the tan became the pants.

I am not convinced that Nepleslian uniforms actually need changes or camouflage, though.

 

[Edto Xar'Sivaree]

Creating a camo pattern in a "Digital" style isn't necessarily hard. It's identifying what it is you want it to do and doing it. This is the catch. There is no such thing as a "Universal Pattern". Yes, the US Military has the UCP but has anyone seen it to effectively work in a "Universal" environment.

The old school patterns have been noticed to be very good at concealing at ranges. Because the larger blotches don't blend with each other at ranges, because of their size, they still allow the pattern to break up your silhouette, which is important.

The "Digital" pixel looking patters we see in Canadian and American use, as well as other notable countries, has a slightly different problem. It's awesome at around 50 feet if the person ain't moving and it was designed for the environment, but outside that, because the small blotches, at longer ranges the uniform becomes one solid color, and well... That doesn't break up your outline.

There are currently fractal patterns coming out which are really... really... complicated. Though I've been awake for a really long time now so my brain is borking out.

Camo theoretics over, now onto practical application.

You want to pick 3-5 colours with hues that match the enviorment.

This is CADPAT forest for an example, currently the premier camouflage for north american forests during the spring and summer.

Notice the base is as solid color. It's the Olive Drabish color that can be somewhat hard to focus on. Then the other colors are layered on top. Do note, the black isn't black. It's a REALLY dark green. Pure black shouldn't be used in camo's, because pure black absorbs WAY too much light, where as very dark shades of other colors don't absorb much light. Pure black also rarely happen in "Nature" and require some level of intervention to achieve.

Funny story of the SAS and their pink willies jeep! I'll save that for later!

Now, because this is for art, I can't exactly give much more help. If you want to make your own camo then... Just do this. lots of pixelly dots on a page until you get obscure not-shape shapes and slap it on. This is sci-fi, you aren't actually going to make this and use it in a combat zone, so it can look like whatever Effectiveness does help though.

 

[Legix]

snip

but why make a Camo purely for looks if we can make it also effective? Also, camo definitely has uses even in SARP. @Wes can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe most PA pilots can only see through one type of vision at a time? There's more situations than one would think where a simple camo design could actually provide RP tools and logical escape tools.

Just one example is that I'm sure not all species utilize thermal detection or whatever tech there might be to spot them. That already makes camo effective. And the idea isn't far-stretched as the technology isn't required to achieve space travel.

Also: I don't think that the camo is going on the traditional uniforms. Rather, it'd be an option for their gear/suits/armors/vehicles? I can't imagine us turning the standard duty uniform into something covered with camo.