I actually started working on a little application that would build the icons for you. Basically you'd select the faction (or fore/back color), size, mobility, 3 or so attributes, all the echelons, etc.
It worked ok for simple stuff, but when you started combining attributes it got insane and the system broke down.
Some examples:
- Jump infantry with mountaineer training
- Wheeled air defense artillery in an omni vehicle
- loaded drone carrier wheeled omni supply tank
- C3 *and* HQ equipment
I was doing a method that wasn't very happy with infinite combinations:
- Draw an icon rectangle border thing
- Fill it full of the faction color
- Draw the size modifier on top of the rectangle
- Choose a mobility, draw the mech/track/etc logo
- Choose up to 6 echelons, 3 vertically per outside of the rectangle
- Draw an omni bar (top of rectangle)
- Draw a supply bar (bottom of rectangle)
- Draw a HQ bar (top of rectangle, below omni bar)
- Draw the C3 marker in lower right, or HQ
- Draw the transport line on the left side of rectangle (fill the area if its a BA transport)
- Draw another transport line on the left side of rectangle, if loaded/mounted
- Draw a class identifier in the top right
- Draw a cavalry/recon line from upper right to lower left
I was thinking of adding, perhaps under the rectangle, codes for Tech base, equipment rating, experience, and loyalty. Or maybe just a small string for the unit name.
Anyway, just combine all those things, many of which are possible for a single unit, and you'll see just how cluttered the icons can get, and why I got frustrated and stopped working on it.
Oh, and I also had to draw multiple size icons, so like capital weapon air defense is one size graphic, but add engineer and it has to have a smaller version, add drone... well, I don't even know how you can mix a drone with many other types... anyway, my frustration :)
Most of the issues I found could be simplified quite easily just by extending *out* of the icon a bit. Drones could instead be a small icon mounted to the bottom of a rectangle. Transports could have 1 or 2 small triangles on the right side of an icon, or whatever.
I've got the code and a bunch of graphics I made for it if anybody wants to take vb.net and complete it. It is like 500 lines of code but the "complicated" drawing stuff is only like 50.
Bad Syntax