[Sigma957]

Looks great Mav

[I_E_Maverick]

and another one: the EA Explorer

model is pretty finished, though it is at 8036 polys. i hope this is ok. also i dont exactly what to do with the connecting parts, i have cubes now and want to use transparent textures to do the framework, but i dont know if this is possible.
anyway, here a pic:




edit: i also found another older wip, maybe anyone wants it, but it is also a bit high poly for its geo, 1540 polys:

[Primus]

Very nice, Mav. Keep 'em coming.

[aipz]

i also found another older wip, maybe anyone wants it, but it is also a bit high poly for its geo, 1540 polys

It's the Avenger- an older EA Carrier fo 48
Starfuries, served through Dilgar and Minbari Wars... an older Poseidon
Non canon from B5Wars...
The design itself isn't too pretty, but it's an important ship...

Wolf's shipyards has a picture of the ships
side view...

[Fury]

Granted, it looks like a big brick.

[IPAndrews]

Originally posted by JanCS
Btw. are there some guidelines on how much polies capships and fighters can have in TBP

Pick a ship that's already in the mod and about the same size as the one you want to make. See how many polys it has. Add up to 25-30%. Try not to waste polys.

[I_E_Maverick]

i am again a bit too high poly i think, but i am really not into this.

1015 polys, but i am not really happy with this.

 

 

[Bobboau]

that's a little too blocky.

[IPAndrews]

For Bluestar, is the problem keeping the polys down Maverick? We may be able to use a few move on this and have 5 LODs instead of 4. Since this is an unusually awkward fighter model.

[-Norbert-]

I'm not even sure, if the designation is really fighter.
From what I heard so far it's more like an armed transporter.
After all it's big enough for a small group of rangers to travel in, and still has "only" 2 guns. A pure fighting vessel of that since would most likely have more firepower.

And great work I_E_Maverick!
I don't even know what you don't like of the bluestar model, but since you are the specialists on the matter, I guess your right.

[I_E_Maverick]

well, the bluestar is very organic looking with curves everywhere. that makes it very difficult to keep the polycount low AND doing a fairly good looking model.
the head for example and the body make more than 500 polys to make it look so "round". thats just too much.

i think i will remodel some parts to make it better, maybe the shape isnt completly correct then, but i guess you can cover that parts with textures quite good. but i dont know what is better.

does anyone know what takes more ressources in tbp? polys or textures? in high poly models you always try to model the most parts as rendering more polys is faster than rendering high res textures, but i dont know if this is true for tbp either.

[CptWhite]

I think it looks just right for LOD0.  I think TBP needs to start thinking about higher poly models for LOD0 anyway (specially fighters since it's so easy to .  Some of our LOD0 model really should be lod1 these days, shame it'd be so much work to convert them all.

[CptWhite]

I think it looks just right for LOD0.  I think TBP needs to start thinking about higher poly models for LOD0 anyway (specially fighters since it's so easy to switch to a lower detail lvel after about 200m).  Some of our LOD0 model really should be lod1 these days, shame it'd be so much work to convert them all.

[Prophet]

Originally posted by -Norbert-
has "only" 2 guns. A pure fighting vessel of that since would most likely have more firepower.

Would you rather have your car equipped with 16 9 mm berettas, or 2 120 mm cannons? Its the size that matters, not the numbers...

[-Norbert-]

A car is not meant for battle.
And the Lintara too has some serious firepower, but compared with the Nial it's weapons are very weak.
And all I have seen so far from the Bluestar made me think, that it is like the Lintara.
Of course this is only speculation, but it would also fit the Alliance.

[IPAndrews]

Textures are a more immediate resource hog. Polys tend to be cheap, until the total count of the polys on screen becomes too much for your card, then they become a huge problem. For that reason I recommend putting detail in textures. You can use lots of polys for a ship but if you do you don't want that high poly model onscreen all the time and you need to drop your poly usage hugely with your lower levels of detail. The bottom line is that being as poly efficient as possible is always a good idea.

[Prophet]

Originally posted by -Norbert-
A car is not meant for battle.

:doh: That wasn't the point you know...

Anyway. Does the ISA really need a fighter craft when they have the WS? When considering their primary mission - to keep the peace, what they need is a capable ship that can stay on patrol for a long time and can enter subspace on its own. Thats whitestar.

I guess Bluestar would be primaraly a transport ship. But when considering that ISA clearly has advanced ship and weapons tech they would probaly arm it well so that it can act as a fighter when they need it. (admit it, by the time Bluestar is designed they understand how WS works and can adapt the tech from it, more or less at least).
So here's my opinion: The Bluestar is a tranport/fighter that can over come other fighters, possibly even Nial. Propably has great armour and powerful guns. Cant say much about agility and speed. Its size, when compared to other fighters, would be its weakness.

[Fury]

Originally posted by Prophet
:Anyway. Does the ISA really need a fighter craft when they have the WS? When considering their primary mission - to keep the peace, what they need is a capable ship that can stay on patrol for a long time and can enter subspace on its own. Thats whitestar.

Think about missions of the rangers. Their missions are to gather information from different places without taking any attention to themselves. A BlueStar would be far more stealthier vessel than a WhiteStar. Also, you can hide a fighter sized vessels more easily in a planet. A BlueStar can be controlled well by just one person, as SiL proved, unlike a Whitestar which requires a crew of at least 3 to perform well.

And because the job of the rangers is dangerous, naturally the bluestars needs to be able to defend themselves.

While it is possible that BlueStars do not have visible thrusters because Vorlon designed thrusters were too advanced for the Minbari to reverse-engineer, it might also be because visible thrusters emits more radiation/particles and can reveal a vessel's position more easily than fully gravimetric drives that the Minbari have.

Just speculating of course.

[I_E_Maverick]

i would think that every race needs fighters, so does ISA. even if they just have to keep peace they have to be able to interfere in combats and for that they need fighters. though i agree that the bluestar is more a mix of a fighter and transport than a standalone fighter. but i also think that 2 weapons are enough for a fighter, think of the powerful weapons of the whitestar, in comparison to its size the whitestar weapons were one of the most powerful in the whole series. if the bluestar is like that it would be a very durable fighter.
though with its size it sure wouldnt be as maneuverable as other fighters.

[Prophet]

Originally posted by Mr. Fury

Think about missions of the rangers. Their missions are to gather information from different places without taking any attention to themselves. A BlueStar would be far more stealthier vessel than a WhiteStar. Also, you can hide a fighter sized vessels more easily in a planet. A BlueStar can be controlled well by just one person, as SiL proved, unlike a Whitestar which requires a crew of at least 3 to perform well.

But after the Shadows left the Rangers had a different job. I remember Delenn advertising how the Rangers would go only where they were wanted and would keep the peace and protect the innocent and steal from the rich and so on... And during the last season they were pretty much just patrolling borders and such. Not a job for a fighter I think.
As for the stalth missions and such Mr. Fury mentioned... Yes. WS might attract attention. But such missions would go beyond the classification of a fighter. And I'm not saying we should classify Bluestar as a transport. I'm saying that its general work habits make it both a transport and a fighter. Even more a transport if the BS jump engines... Does it have them? I don't really know... I didn't see the episode in wich it was seen.