Hard Light Productions Forums
FreeSpace Releases => Asset Releases => Topic started by: Darius on June 24, 2020, 07:26:37 am
-
"I saw Hephaestus. I saw the others. The foundries make the ships and the ships go out and make the foundries and we ride the comets out, everywhere...no subspace. No limits. They won't find us." - Awhireinga Greenfly
(https://wiki.hard-light.net/images/thumb/7/7b/Gef_hephaestus.jpg/650px-Gef_hephaestus.jpg)
The Hephaestus is one of humanity's great engineering marvels. The concept of a self-sufficient mobile factory was realised after a series of breakthroughs made large-scale automated von-Neumann style construction methods viable. A conglomeration of cargo holds, machine shops, and resource extractors housed within a massive mining vessel hull, these vessels provide the Kuiper belt colonies with much needed mobile manufacturing capability. The grand aim is to allow regions of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud to sever all economic ties with the inner solar system.
Had this sitting on the BP SVN for a while as a possible model for a rumoured Gaian Effort von-Neumann style factory. Hephaestus has been mentioned as far back as the first release of Tenebra but is yet to have confirmed stats or final model. Lore-wise, this shares the same hull origin as MacDuff's Morena (https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Morena_MacDuff) but taken in a different direction. Think of it as the GTVA logistics ship concept extended another order of magnitude, designed for total independence away from supply stations and logistics trains. Unarmed except for two mining lasers on the dorsal shoulders of the hull.
This ship is to play a big part in the next release of War in Heaven, but the current model is available for download.
Model credits:
Original model by Cadius
Kitbashed parts from Starbug's United Terran Republic Fleet and SolCommand's mobile shipyard.
Download (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zfeNG4dgha5ghhuAxZRNhdFjM5XTU36A/view?usp=sharing).
FreeSpace Wiki article (https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Hephaestus)
-
:jaw: :jaw: :jaw: Holy crap, that looks amazing!
So does this mean that the next act of Blue Planet is in the works? :D
-
Pretty nice ship :yes:
-
What!!!!!! that is cool, over the moon you used bits from one of my models :) :)
-
Awesome ship, congratulations! ;7
-
/me approves
-
Why Hephaesteus though?
I mean, yeah Hephaesteus Polymetis ("Hephaesteus of the many devices", an epithet praising the god's ingenuity in crafting almost all mythical weapons and armor in the greek myths), but Hephaesteus is also describes as "hobbled" (some text going so far as describing the god as differently abled) --- and there is the whole things with his marriage to Aphrodite, which is, well, a long line of adultery and abuse (which one to highlight in their relationship tends to be up to the author).
Esspecially the last two ones don't quite seem to fit with the "emancipation from planetary life"-ideology of the GEF.
There are a few other mythological personages that would fit to be the namesake with a better association:
Aegir from Norse mythology could be good fit as the (possibly) giant who personifies the sea and is a frequent host to feast in which the gods of Norse myth do their things -- which would speak to the communal use-aspect of the ship.
Another Norse mythology candidate would be Njord, for his association with fishing and seafearing, his role in many myths to give treasures and boons to those who petition him, as well as his status as one of the gods that would survive Ragnarök -- the last one speaking to the idea that the emancipation-ideology of the GEF views planetary living as unsustainable.
Hermes/Mecury (god of roads, travel and commerce) and Poseidon/Neptune (god ruling over the sea and all its aspects) are already taken in FS. But there is Nereus, aka Proteus, a wise, shapeshifting and primoridial being associated with the sea, often referred to as the "Old Man of the Sea", which is said to know of future events.
And of course if you are not shy of a little cultural appropriation, the cultures of the South Pacific Islands have an number of prominent deities and mythological figures associated with the sea and seafearing. One that comes to mind that would work with the aspect of the GEF and relationship with comets would be Paikea - the assumed name of the Maori ancestor Kahutia-te-rangi after he was rescued from drowning by a whale after invoking Tangaroa for help.
-
You can name it whatever you want
-
I would if I had any intention of ever using it -- while I can appricate all the work that went into it, I find the design rather dull (with and without textures)
The name might be the most interesting thing to discuss about it.
-
I would if I had any intention of ever using it -- while I can appricate all the work that went into it, I find the design rather dull (with and without textures)
The name might be the most interesting thing to discuss about it.
Nobody's forcing you to look at or discuss it. TBH, I probably don't have anything to say about it besides the 3 words I posted earlier in this thread - that it's a nice ship. You don't have to write an analysis of its name if you don't like it in general.
-
I would if I had any intention of ever using it -- while I can appricate all the work that went into it, I find the design rather dull (with and without textures)
The name might be the most interesting thing to discuss about it.
Nobody's forcing you to look at or discuss it. TBH, I probably don't have anything to say about it besides the 3 words I posted earlier in this thread - that it's a nice ship. You don't have to write an analysis of its name if you don't like it in general.
Yeah, I for one don't have any problem with the "Hephaestus" name for a mobile factory. Ol' Heffy a.k.a. Vulcan a.k.a. the Smith God was the blacksmith of the ancient gods. What did he do? Among other things, he made a bunch of tools and weapons for the purposes of war. What does a military factory, even a mobile one, do? It makes a bunch of stuff, usually manufactured goods for the purposes of war. Sure, Hephaestus wasn't only known for making weapons of war (and it's not even the main thing he's usually known for), but there's a direct association between the Smith God and an ultramodern mobile factory that is logistically essential for the pursuit of war. That association alone, IMHO, is enough for the name to make sense for this ship.
-
This name is definitely appropriate for a mobile military industrial complex. I admit I like it because, in Greek mythology, Hephaestus was supposed to live deep below Mount Etna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Etna), a large volcano which I occasionally manage to see from my house, depending on atmospheric conditions. Typhon was also supposed to be confined down there.
-
Oy, I remember actually climbing Mt Etna with my family on a tour group when I was a kid. We took a bus up part of the way and when we got out, a cloud (yes, a cloud, we were that high up) obscured everything for a few minutes or so, and then the tour guide hustled us all back on the bus and drove us back down. Turns out he thought he had heard tremors and was worried that Etna was about to blow her stack with us still near the peak. Remember, folks, Etna is still an active volcano, so it makes no sense to take any chances with her.