[redmenace]

Hmm, I think it would  be a great idea to make a collection of reference materials of the ships from the series. I already have all the episodes downloaded and backed up on dvd.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by ngtm1r


Can you prove this? I've seen no turrets save ones like those linked to in Mr. Bolte's post, though I admit I haven't seen as many episodes as I should...

Railguns? *tilts head to one side, puzzled* Plasma or laser or something, but definitely not projectile-based...

They fire flak... I'm pretty sure thats projectile based.

And Omniscaper, go ahead and redownload the max file. I put the correct number of rails in, added a base, added a small detail, optimized the mesh, and managed to cut 50 or so polies.

[Alan Bolte]

On the ZOIC-released images I'm seeing 24 big guns, all the same as far as I can tell, and well over 400 tiny guns, also all the same. The big guns have three rails coming off the barrel and the tiny guns seem to have either a lot of rails, or slotted barrels. Is there something I'm missing?

EDIT: Wait, are the PDBs spinning? hmm...

[Deepblue]

These are the big un's then. Can I get a reference pic of the little buggers?

[Deepblue]

Damnit!

Redownload the max file again, I fixed the size of the barrels so they more closely match the picture in Boltes post.

[Deepblue]

To make this simple, if the model is orange, you have the right one, if not, redownload.

[Omniscaper]

Madness?

[Omniscaper]

If Subobject LOD's were implemented this could be possible!... hint hint

[Ace]

Nice! Some struts on the turret cockpit and textures to match with how they look in the show would be nice

[Taristin]

You need the recoil of the barrels too! So test the subobject animation code with it! hint hint

[Deepblue]

I don't think thats the latest model... (was it orange?)

The old ones had some problems with things not being sized right and not being centered.

[Deepblue]

BTW, can I get some reference shots on the Vipers firing their guns?

[Deepblue]

And yes, it is madness.

[Deepblue]

And that model really needs custom UVed textures...

[Alan Bolte]

Naw, what was I thinking? The PDBs are 4-rail things. They don't have the same structure as the big ones, more like big box that pivots a bit. Only decent pic I'm using is this. I know it looks like two rails, but I'm sure it's 4. Had to use a vid I, err, acquired to be sure. I wouldn't want to try pics, too low res. Took me a lot of views to be sure.
So...what are thinking about doing for the PDBs? That's a lot more guns than I've ever seen anyone put on a ship. In any game.

As to what these guns are, they are offically called railguns as far as I know, and I'm sure they do fire physical shells rather than 'plasma bolts' or some other standard of TV/movie sci-fi, but how they actually function and what relation they have to modern-day railguns is unclear. Judging just by visuals it looks like they're using boring-old chemical propulsion (can anyone else think of a reason for the flames?), and though my education in electromagnetics is sorely lacking it's been pointed out to me that three rails at 120 degrees isn't a workable design if you're making what we call a railgun.

[StratComm]

Actually one rail would be perfectly feasable for a railgun, were there some effective way of getting a projectile to actually stay on a single rail.  All it needs is a conductive coil that will produce a magnetic pulse running from one end to the other and you've got the means of delivering the necessary force to the bolt; additional rails would theoretically provide physical stability as the bolt slides out but not much else.

[Deepblue]

Hey Omni, make sure you shrink the base on the turret so it matches this:

[Deepblue]

Actually forget it, I'll just remodel the turret.

[Deepblue]

Wait a sec, do those turrets pop out when they fire? I don't see how they could aim up if they didn't.

[WMCoolmon]

There's a very nice sequence at the end of the miniseries when they come out of the dust cloud that has a nice closeup of some turrets. I think it shows them popping out when they fire, and doing something with the barrels. It looks pretty cool.