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FreeSpace Releases => Asset Releases => Topic started by: Col.Hornet on January 05, 2020, 04:29:45 am

Title: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Col.Hornet on January 05, 2020, 04:29:45 am
Hey guys. After several years, me and Nyctaeus proudly present new carrier addition to the vast fanmade ship arsenal, the Hera. In all BR glory:

Download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zon5s9tb8a7ars8/HeraRelease.7z/file

GTCa Hera
Fleetcarrier

Initially designed as carrier-compliment to the Colossus, the Hera fleetcarrier was never completed in time and entered active service in 2369. The newest addon to terran GTVA fleets, Hera is the first carrier-type vessel designed by terran engineers since the Unification War. Equivalent of vasudan Amaunet, Hera is mammoth of a ship. About a half of her 3km-long interior is occupied by hangarbays and cargo space. Housing two times more fighter and bomber wings then Hecate, the Hera was designed to put emphasis on the strongest advantage GTVA has against the shivans - strikecraft. Both terran and vasudan fleetcarriers were designed to be beating heart of every major fleet of the Alliance. Hera is equipped in advanced command and control facilities, AWACS devices, modern subspace scanners and paired jumpdrives powered by next-gen Nankam XG-3127h reactor. Internal superstructure is covered by collapsed-core molybdenium armor first mounted on Deimos-class corvettes.
As a dedicated fleetcarrier class, Hera offers almost no firepower by herself. Six corvette-grade slash beams are mostly designed to provide Hera with anykind of self-defense against enemy capital ships. Although the carrier can overload them to provide power output close to modern destroyers, Hera was designed around fighterbay capacity in mind. The fleetcarrier is capable of providing additional fire support for multiple operations at once, with countless fighters and bombers housed inside her cavernous hangarbays. She is also the only warship capable of maintaining Jotun-class superbombers, rendering her the only asset of GTVA fleet capable of effectively engaging shivan Sathanas juggernauts alone. Strong armor is enough to keep her vulnerable, internal structure safe from main cannons of enemy warships and thick point-defense screens of multiple flak cannons, AAA beams and laser turrets renders the Hera very easy to escort. Due to enormous strategic and logistic value, those impressive warships rarely enters direct combat. GTVA deploy heavy escort of multiple warships to keep their Hera-class carriers alive and safe. Only two fleetcarriers were ever constructed - prototype GTCa Hera, flagship of 2nd Fleet and GTCa Magnus assigned to reborn 6th Fleet headquartered in Polaris. Three more units are expected to be complete by 2400.


Package comes with two variants.

Classic FS2 Deimos-like:

(https://i.imgur.com/2b23qcI.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/bwOt471.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/CukQcjc.png)

TEI- style gray-blue:

(https://i.imgur.com/Pb9ln4s.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/JqAzYw9.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/vb3MzX3.png)

Credits:
Model: me
UV mapping: Nyctaeus
Textures: Nyctaeus and me (but mostly Nyct  :D)
Inspiration: Aesaar's fleetpack

Of course, if you come across any bugs/glitches, please report them in this thread. Have fun and may she serve you well.



Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on January 05, 2020, 05:05:44 am
*grabs*
Neat, I'm always a sucker for space carriers, and I am quite fond of Aesaar's fleet style, so thank you very much for this new years-ish gift :)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on January 05, 2020, 07:00:47 am
Wikified (https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GTCa_Hera). Also this should be in "Asset releases" :P.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Col.Hornet on January 05, 2020, 07:52:05 am
Yep, I'd like to make q request to move the thread to Asset release board.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Colonol Dekker on January 05, 2020, 08:14:12 am
Deimos style ftw.

Hoping for a gopnik style down the road too...
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Commander Zane on January 05, 2020, 08:29:52 am
That's hot.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Colt on January 05, 2020, 09:39:56 am
I keep hitting download and it's not downloading faster. :p

Thanks Hornet and Nyct. This is cool. :nod:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on January 05, 2020, 10:26:21 am
Such a pretty thing :)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Darius on January 06, 2020, 11:25:40 am
Glad to see this complete!  :yes: Well done for sticking this one through.

She has the same cold utilitarian feel that typifies Aesaar's TEI fleet pack - a machine built to fight and die against Shivans.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Colonol Dekker on January 06, 2020, 11:32:07 am
It's the lack of windows....it has no soul.
It has windows, but more would make it feel more inhabited and break its character.

Not that I don't adore it.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on January 06, 2020, 12:23:12 pm
It's the lack of windows....it has no soul.
It has windows, but more would make it feel more inhabited and break its character.

Having windows doesn't make that much sense though...
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on January 06, 2020, 12:29:52 pm
It's the lack of windows....it has no soul.
It has windows, but more would make it feel more inhabited and break its character.

Having windows doesn't make that much sense though...
From artistic reasons, it does. The same as other details. You may have ultra-realistic result in form of bare plating covering whole hull, but is this design visually attractive? Nope. It's boring. That's why I always try to find proper balance between realistic and cool result.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Colonol Dekker on January 06, 2020, 01:25:01 pm
It's the lack of windows....it has no soul.
It has windows, but more would make it feel more inhabited and break its character.

Having windows doesn't make that much sense though...


I completely agree, I am in complete agreement.  But that's the point I badly made.  Effective warships made to fight and die shouldn't appear characterful.   They are soulless utilitarian machines.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on January 06, 2020, 02:28:36 pm
It's an artistic decision- you can have ships designed either to be 100% functional or good looking. Not that having both would be completely impossible but it would be more difficult. OTT had (some) fighters that used internal (visual) cockpits, what seems quite reasonable.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on January 06, 2020, 03:07:04 pm
It is also following creative guidelines established by authors. FS is very distinctive in terms of style of warships. :v: clearly stated their creative direction in both FS games. Terran ships of FS are mostly painted, have pipes, windows and other kinds of external details and share plating patterns between eachother.

I'm trying my best to mimic V texturing style and translate it into modern PBR standards, but it's an art a very few modders truly acknowledged. It's not easy to reverse-engineer techniques of masters.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Vidmaster on February 06, 2020, 10:42:41 am
It looks great, 'nough said. Good job!

Wiki updated already?
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on February 06, 2020, 10:55:56 am
yep
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 06, 2020, 01:11:47 pm
Damn, this is a fine-looking ship (though its techroom description needs some editing). I'm snatching it up for DatDB for sure.

Now I just have to find and look at the rest of the Threat Exigency Initiative ships.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on February 06, 2020, 01:51:37 pm
Damn, this is a fine-looking ship (though its techroom description needs some editing). I'm snatching it up for DatDB for sure.

Now I just have to find and look at the rest of the Threat Exigency Initiative ships.
Go ahead and correct it.

TEI fleet comes from BP. Hera was designed to compliment it with big momma carrier, but she will also fit to Hecate, Deimos, Phobos and rest of my ships from upcoming MediaVPs thanks to alternate reskin available.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on February 06, 2020, 02:46:57 pm
Wasn't the original TEI fleet (aka Stratcoms fleetpack) made for DatDB?
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 06, 2020, 03:44:18 pm
Wasn't the original TEI fleet (aka Stratcoms fleetpack) made for DatDB?

Not that I can recall. Granted, I've forgotten a lot about DatDB in the intervening years judging from the stuff I didn't remember from the DatDB website, but I think I would have remembered new ships that had been modded on my behalf.

Damn, this is a fine-looking ship (though its techroom description needs some editing). I'm snatching it up for DatDB for sure.

Now I just have to find and look at the rest of the Threat Exigency Initiative ships.
Go ahead and correct it.

TEI fleet comes from BP. Hera was designed to compliment it with big momma carrier, but she will also fit to Hecate, Deimos, Phobos and rest of my ships from upcoming MediaVPs thanks to alternate reskin available.

TEI ships are all from BP, ok. That makes things a bit simpler. Those ships are awesome; I can't wait to finish replaying FS2 so's I can play Blue Planet from start to finish and see those ships in action :D

As for editing the tech room description for the Hera, I can do that here on this thread in a day or so. Stay tuned.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on February 06, 2020, 04:16:11 pm
Ah OK; admitedly the person who posted it probably wasn't that reliable.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 06, 2020, 05:13:41 pm
Ah OK; admitedly the person who posted it probably wasn't that reliable.

I suppose that's to be expected for people who aren't professional writers (not just novelists but others who write professionally, like lawyers) nor grammar nazis (either self-described or otherwise) or learn English as a second language. Most people don't write like they speak. Even if they do, there are plenty of spoken mannerisms that don't translate well to the written page.

Jeebus H. Chreest, I still remember the early days of Freespace modding when damn near every mod I saw had so many mixed idioms, grammar, and spelling mistakes that it resulted in my "steaming pile of crap" quote that you can still see in my signature. :nono: :ick: :ick: :ick:

Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on February 06, 2020, 05:27:04 pm
It was just something I read somewhere on HLP, it was the "Oh, interisting" things because Stratcoms fleet was used left and right in many mods and the info that it was originally made for a specific but forgotten seemed like one of hte things you keep in mind, but it was probably just a (wrong) rumour.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 06, 2020, 05:56:25 pm
The in-universe details I try to keep from contradicting as I can't speak to their accuracy. The stuff that really stands out that need to be edited is phrases like
Quote
Strong armor is enough to keep her vulnerable
which basically translates to “Strong armor is enough to keep her weak.” So WTF is this trying to say? Because, after all, "vulnerable" means "weak", which is the opposite of "invulnerable," which is what the author seems like what he was trying to talk about when he was talking about the Hera's armor. :nono:

Then there's stuff like 1) the use of "anykind," which is not even a word; 2) calling the Hera a "prototype" instead of "the class ship" or "first of its class," which are the proper navy terms for the specific ship that a particular class is named after (a prototype is what gets improved upon in the testing phase, not actual deployment); and 3) confusing the words "compliment" (saying something nice) with "complement" (an item that completes or enhances something else, among other meanings). :hopping: :hopping: :hopping: :banghead:

Needless to say, I have some work ahead of me. Again, stay tuned.

EDIT: Ok, just reread the "vulnerable armor" phrase again. Here's the whole quote:
Quote
Strong armor is enough to keep her vulnerable, internal structure safe from main cannons of enemy warships
What threw me off was the fact that there's no need for a comma between "vulnerable" and "internal" because the entire noun is "internal structure." Yes, two adjectives need to be separated by commas, but "internal" here is not a separate adjective, it's part of the noun "internal structure". so the phrase "vulnerable internal structure" has only one adjective ("vulnerable") and one noun ("internal structure") so there's no need for a comma here at all. :hopping: :hopping: :hopping: :doubt:

Needless to say, stuff like this gets very easily missed in works that involve writing but aren't written professionally. This sort of crap is exhausting for people like me when we see it. :banghead:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: General Battuta on February 06, 2020, 06:35:47 pm
I think some grammatical errors are forgivable when it’s your second language. I certainly wouldn’t write that well in Polish.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on February 06, 2020, 06:48:56 pm
Compared with polgrish Exile it's probably fine. :D
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on February 07, 2020, 10:46:25 am
Compared with polgrish Exile it's probably fine. :D
We hired several proof-readers to fix it. Years ago.

So FU :P
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 07, 2020, 12:36:42 pm
Compared with polgrish Exile it's probably fine. :D
We hired several proof-readers to fix it. Years ago.

So FU :P

Oh my gawds, it's sooooooo nice to talk to people who understand my trials and tribulations....

GRAMMATIK MACHT FREI (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=96154.msg1892900#msg1892900)

Case in point. ;)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 11, 2020, 02:16:27 pm
Just posting that I haven't forgotten about this. I just got...distracted. I had a few things competing for my attention over the past few days, like work, finishing the original FS2 campaign with the mediaVPs improved graphics (I got all the medals on Medium difficulty but I just missed out on Triple Ace :(), and rereading The Lost Fleet original novel series for DatDB inspiration.

I'm going to get back to this today. Stay tuned.

Did I mention that I have ADHD and have a huge tendency to get distracted? That's a shocker, huh? :p
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 11, 2020, 04:24:05 pm
Ok, here's the new write-up for the Hera-class fleetcarrier:

GTCa Hera
Fleetcarrier

Initially designed as a carrier complement to the Colossus, the Hera-class fleetcarrier was not completed in time to deploy during the Second Shivan Incursion but did finally enter active service in 2369. As the newest addition to Terran GTVA fleets, the Hera is the first carrier-type vessel designed by Terran engineers since the Unification War. Similarly to its Vasudan counterpart, the Amaunet-class fleetcarrier, the Hera is a mammoth of a ship. The Hera and Amaunet fleetcarriers were both designed to be the foundation of every Terran fleet and Vasudan battlegroup of the Alliance.
Roughly half of the Hera’s 3km-long interior is occupied by hangarbays and cargo space. Housing twice as many fighter and bomber wings as the Hecate-class destroyer, the Hera was designed to utilize the GTVA’s greatest advantage over the Shivans – strikecraft. The Hera is equipped with advanced command and control facilities, an AWACS array, modern subspace scanners, and paired jumpdrives powered by a next-gen Nankam XG-3127h fusion reactor. The internal superstructure is protected by a collapsed-core molybdenium armor that was first mounted on Deimos-class corvettes.
As a dedicated fleetcarrier class, the Hera (like the aircraft carriers of Earth’s blue water navies) is lightly armed by design. Six corvette-grade slash beams provide the Hera with minimal self-defense against enemy capital ships. While the carrier can overcharge them to provide firepower close to modern destroyers, the Hera is designed to project its firepower using the fighters and bombers it carries rather than its own weaponry. With 300 fighters and bombers housed inside its cavernous hangar bays, the Hera is capable of providing additional fire support for multiple operations at once. The Hera is also the only warship capable of housing and maintaining Jotun-class superbombers, rendering it the sole GTVA fleet asset that can effectively engage Shivan Sathanas-class juggernauts by itself. The Hera’s strong armor is enough to keep her vulnerable internal structure safe from the main cannons of enemy warships. At the same time, thick point-defense screens of multiple flak cannons, AAA beams and laser turrets protect the Hera from enemy fighters and bombers. Due to their enormous strategic and logistical value, however, these impressive warships rarely enter direct combat unless multiple warships are deployed to escort them.
Only two Terran fleetcarriers have entered active service – the GTCa Hera, the flagship of the 2nd Fleet in Delta Serpentis, and the GTCa Magnus, currently assigned as the flagship of the 6th Fleet in Polaris. Three more Hera-class fleetcarriers are expected to be completed by 2400.



How'd I do? ;7 :drevil:

EDIT: Holy Jeebus, 45 minutes from the original posting and I'm still editing this thing! Time for a dinner break.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Colonol Dekker on February 11, 2020, 05:18:28 pm
Halfway down you refer to it as a hecate 👍

"Roughly half of the Hecate’s 3km-long interior is"
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nightmare on February 11, 2020, 06:06:40 pm
So you take the Hera more as a mini-Warlock?
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 11, 2020, 06:10:13 pm
Halfway down you refer to it as a hecate 👍

"Roughly half of the Hecate’s 3km-long interior is"

Whoops, I knew I missed something.

Fixed.

EDIT: I still need that dinner break; I had to take a shower between my last post and this one.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: General Battuta on February 11, 2020, 07:57:59 pm
There doesn't have to be one official tech description, anybody can write one as suits their campaign.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 11, 2020, 08:40:17 pm
There doesn't have to be one official tech description, anybody can write one as suits their campaign.

True enough, but some tech descriptions are more grammatically correct and flow better than others. :p Which reminds me....

GRAMMATIK MACHT FREI! This is so awesome and personally apropos to me, I really should put this in my signature. ;)

Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: General Battuta on February 11, 2020, 09:21:51 pm
Tell me more about this magical art
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 11, 2020, 10:07:49 pm
Tell me more about this magical art

What??? A magician does not reveal all his tricks, sir.  :p

But you're absolutely right about writing and even editing as being an art. I suppose the closest analogy to describe my thought process when I write or edit is trying to build/solve a 1000 piece (or even a 10,000 piece :eek2: ) puzzle where the puzzle pieces themselves shift their own shapes even after I've already inserted them into the larger puzzle proper. I try to build the greater whole at first and then I make minute adjustments of individual pieces/words/phrases/idioms in order to enhance the greater whole. I guess it's kinda like trying to get the general shape of a model right at first, and once that's done, I try to enhance the "resolution" with greater/better details in particualr places. Only I do that with words rather than visual art. Does that make sense?

And yeah, I understand that my way is only one of many and my way isn't necessarily the "correct" way of doing things. I know that I tend to sound authoritative when I do my edits (though that itsn't my intention) and people are free to accept them or not as they will. :nod:

In any case, I don't want to derail Col.Hornet's thread talking about myself (any more than I already have, anyway), so feel free to PM me if you want to continue this conversation, Battuta. :)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: General Battuta on February 11, 2020, 10:10:58 pm
I think writing is bad, and should be illegal.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Nyctaeus on February 11, 2020, 10:28:33 pm
I think writing is bad, and should be illegal.
Let's talk with telepathy. Or smells.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on February 11, 2020, 11:29:20 pm
I think writing is bad, and should be illegal.
Let's talk with telepathy. Or smells.

I got a better idea! Let's talk with colored headbands to emulate the octospiders from the Rama sci-fi novels! :nod: :cool: :nod:

(Incidentally, I think we're still going off on a tangent unrelated to the GTCa Hera, despite my best intentions....) :nervous:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: 0rph3u5 on February 13, 2020, 06:42:21 am
(Incidentally, I think we're still going off on a tangent unrelated to the GTCa Hera, despite my best intentions....) :nervous:

(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/4/4b/Sarcasm_Detector.png/revision/latest?cb=20150903211302)
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Mobius on October 24, 2020, 04:32:00 pm
Wonderful ship, I've just found out about its existence. It has a lot of potential, indeed.  :yes:
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Aesaar on October 24, 2020, 05:28:16 pm
So I missed this release the first time around because I wasn't paying attention, but damn, this looks good.  Col. Hornet and Nyctaeus did a really good job.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Su-tehp on October 24, 2020, 09:45:37 pm
I'm still proud of its Tech Description re-write. :D
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Ertanax on March 17, 2022, 11:36:34 am
I quietly want to thank the Hera's creator for this exquisite asset.

I'm still proud of its Tech Description re-write. :D

Your efforts have not been in vain.
Title: Re: [RELEASE] GTCa Hera
Post by: Iain Baker on March 17, 2022, 01:28:21 pm
That is a fine looking ship - like a Diomedies on roids :-)

It also fixed a problem that the pre-release version of Reunion Act one had. The carrier model it used was causing some of the escape pods to crash into its pointy sensor prongs thingies when exiting its hanger bay. I was going to suggest flipping it over, since it had two prongs on one side and only one on the other, so if figured the escape pods might crash less if there was one fewer prong to crash into. But then Voelkel swapped the model for this and it fixed all the problems, and made it look much nicer to boot :-)