[CountBuggula]

The Marauder is 195m long, slightly larger than the vette

Yeah.  It may just be me, but at that size it just feels way too big to fit properly in Star Wars.  The way it looks now, it seems like it should be more the size of the Falcon.  Otherwise it's a Star Trek vessel.

[swashmebuckle]

To clarify, I think there are just a couple elements that make it seem like a warbird/bird of prey to me.  Most obviously, there are the "wings" that curve down with projecting weapon/antenna things on the end.  The only canon SW cap ship I know of that has stuff positioned like that is the Neb-B's big turbo on the very bottom.  The downward-sloping head also seems trekish to me for some reason, though I like its vaguely Y-wing like shape.  Actually now that I think of it, it seems more like the Ferengi ship than anything.  I'm not trying to discourage progress on this in any way--just wanted to give a bit more specific feedback than "looks like Trek".  Maybe some exposed piping or something like you see on the Corellian Corvette's engine block would sell it for me.

[Dragon]

It has been noted to look like an oversized fighter in my SW ships guide.
I think it's fine for the Marauder to look like that, though it does have Trek-ish feel.
People sometimes confuse Trek with SW anyway. 

[bobbtmann]

When you're flying around these ships in-game, 195 metres doesn't feel very big. So I stand by my work so far. That being said, I'm considering what you've all said about the ship. Particularly de-smoothing it.

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[Pred the Penguin]

the fighters definitely put it into perspective now. I think it looks great, the details work very well together. 

[swashmebuckle]

Liking the texture so far.  I think my main objection might stem from the size of the guns in relation to the ship.  Are they about 50m long?  I bet if they were replaced with engine pods or turret emplacements or something less obvious that fit in with the rest of the design, I'd love it.  It's already a big improvement over the pictures on Wookie, IMO.  Is the Cloakshape done?  They look pretty sweet flying escort there.

[-Norbert-]

Actually it looks a lot like a capital ship version of the R-41 Starchaser, only that the wings curve down and forward instead of being straight.
Were they by any chance produced by the same company in the backstory?


Picture from X-Wing Upgrade Project

[Droid803]

Are those actually the guns or just sensor arrays...?
I'm refusing to take how EaW did them as canon.

The Starchaser's made by Hoersch-Kessel or w/e and the Marauder is a Seinar Fleet Systems design so...no they're not by the same manufacturer.

[bobbtmann]

Why can't they be guns? They could be really inefficient, big guns.

[swashmebuckle]

Why can't they be guns? They could be really inefficient, big guns.

Well for the size thing, they are approaching the length (though not the girth) of the biggest weapons on the ISDII, a dedicated warship hundreds if not thousands of times more massive, and there's really no precedent for having such huge cannons on any of the other movie ships either.  I think the biggest guns we've seen on a comparable starship are the dual turrets on the Corellian Corvette, which are already pretty impressively prominent by SW standards.  The only vessels we see with this type of proportionately large weaponry are fighters, and really only the X-wing--that might be why some people are picking up a fighter vibe from it.

Also, from a practical standpoint, it doesn't make much sense to have your primary weaponry fixed forward on a ship of this size.  Fighter weapons can work facing forward because they are maneuverable enough to line up a shot on their targets without getting pounded into oblivion, but not so with 200m long starships.  Anything large enough to be reliably hit by fixed guns on a ship like this is probably something a ship like this should be running away from, not charging towards.  If they were for sensors or something then that would be more believable IMO, though those might work better facing upwards from a central location, like on the Neb-B.

[bobbtmann]

...And the star destroyer's mighty guns are nonexistant in the movies, so obviously scale is not very important in the Star Wars universe.

I'll consider what the ship looks like without them, and base my judgement on the formal issues.

[swashmebuckle]

...And the star destroyer's mighty guns are nonexistant in the movies, so obviously scale is not very important in the Star Wars universe.

Don't say such things, Brand might hear you!

[WOLF_Angel]

First I think the design of the ship looks fabulous!

Possible dilemma with those being guns, other than the above strategic issues.  For a ship of that size, the power core you would need to drive those relative to the ISD or MC ships would have to be massive.  Either that, or the thing is going to be slower than molasses climbing up a dirt hill in January due to pulling the power off the main drive systems.  A possible alternative would be warhead launchers.  Then stack some laser batteries on it for anti-fighter set up.  This way it can still give a punch but in limited quantity.

The closest parallel to it I can think of would be the load out on IJN cruisers.  There main batteries were not very formidable not unlike the anti-fighter lasers I was suggesting.  But the Japanese had massive torpedoes they could launch off their cruisers that were devastating to surface vessels.  It was a fairly limited quantity of warheads available.

If you did decide to go that route I would modify the looks and length just a bit to look more like warhead launchers.  It still gives you the same overall look and feel that you have now.

Admittedly I may be speaking out of turn on this.  I just wanted to offer the thought.

Looking forward to seeing it in game!

WOLF_Angel

[bobbtmann]

It's an idea. I'm not sure how popular large scale missile launchers are as a Star Wars thing. Plus, most of the big ships (and older ships too) seem to be geared toward anti-cap fighting, and ignoring fighters altogether.

The reason I prefer the way they are right now is this:

The wings need something to finish them off, visually. Something at the end of the wing would also direct the viewers' eyes back towards the front of the ship. Large missile launchers would also work in this regard, but only if everyone is okay with ssm missiles in the game.

[MR_T3D]

I prefer lasers to missiles in SW, maybe some bulge in the underhull could be the power generator for the two wing mounted heavy turbolasers.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Well with a name like Marauder it could be all in one delivery type deal.  Big damage very slow recharge.  Jump in, acquire target, fire, and get the heck out of there if you don't cripple your target.   

[Pred the Penguin]

Mass drivers...

[SpardaSon21]

Oh God, please, nothing from Empire at War.

[Dragon]

They could be heavy turbolasers, making Marauder a heavy assault ship.
It could attack much larger warships (even ISDs, in groups and from the rear), as long as it's facing the enemy and as long as only one can get them in sights.
After being attacked by fighters, flanked, or getting into enemy heavy cannon range, it'd be gutted in no time though.
Agility could help while dealing with flanking, but it'd still not last that long against multiple opponents.

[bobbtmann]

I'm modeling the turrets right now. So, should this ship have anti-fighter turrets, or just anti cap turrets? The Wookieepedia says it only has a few double turbolasers turrets. Keep in mind that older ships in Star Wars seem to forgo antifighter weapons, or have very few. It feels right that the marauder would do the same.

On another topic, I've decided to keep the long guns on the wings. I tried swapping them out, and it didn't feel right. So perhaps they could just be regular weapons in oversized turrets, or a big damage gun with a long reload (to keep its damage-per-second in line with other, smaller guns). The diameter of the barrel is big enough that it could be used as a missile launcher, if so desired.

I also didn't include a fighterbay in this model.