FreeSpace Releases > Asset Releases
[RELEASE] - PVI Abydos (Prev. Question for FREDders and modders)
Black Wolf:
GVI/PVI ABYDOS RELEASED - See BELOW.
So, most of you have probably had a play with or at least seen one or more of my small Terran installations. They follow a pretty consistent pattern - they're small, they're civilian oriented and, with one semi exception, they're unarmed. Now, I make them that way because it feels, to me, more realistic that civilian equipment would be unarmed - you don't generally see 50 cals mounted on oil rigs, after all. However, my question to you guys (specifically to anyone who's FREDded with one of my stations is this - do you find that the lack of turrets limits what you can do, mission-wise, with the model? Or does it not matter for civilian stations?
The reason I ask is because I'm working on a Vasudan addition to the collection (Imagebin WiP) which, unusually among my mods, I actually have no direct use for, and so its not having to fit into any predetermined role or mission. As such, I want to build it to be maximally useful to as many people as possible. There are 12 little untextured recessions in the ring which would be suited to turrets - they were originally going to be greeble sites. So, I throw the question open to you guys: Small stations - should they be armed or do they not need to be?
General Battuta:
Definitely give it a few turrets. It adds massive flexibility at no cost (since it's really easy to remove or disable them). With turrets available for the FREDder to stick AAA beams or point defense weapons or countermeasure launchers into, the installation can be used as a picket, a covert research facility, a missile battery - pretty much anything.
The other civilian installations should probably get some too, even if they're empty or disabled in the table by default. 'Realistically' speaking, most oil rigs do have defensive systems of some kind, even if it's usually just on-board security or a monitoring system. The FreeSpace analogy (in a world where homicidal asteroids seek out and attack passing shipping) would be anti-debris weapons; and of course if this is spaceborne infrastructure I don't think there's any time post-Vasudan contact that even civilians wouldn't want some form of antifighter defense.
Axem:
Eeeeeverything that man just said.
As well, armed stations could be military variants!
Black Wolf:
--- Quote from: General Battuta on May 09, 2013, 11:47:59 am ---Definitely give it a few turrets. It adds massive flexibility at no cost (since it's really easy to remove or disable them). With turrets available for the FREDder to stick AAA beams or point defense weapons or countermeasure launchers into, the installation can be used as a picket, a covert research facility, a missile battery - pretty much anything.
The other civilian installations should probably get some too, even if they're empty or disabled in the table by default. 'Realistically' speaking, most oil rigs do have defensive systems of some kind, even if it's usually just on-board security or a monitoring system. The FreeSpace analogy (in a world where homicidal asteroids seek out and attack passing shipping) would be anti-debris weapons; and of course if this is spaceborne infrastructure I don't think there's any time post-Vasudan contact that even civilians wouldn't want some form of antifighter defense.
--- End quote ---
Well, TBH I'm not really interested in revisiting the existing stuff - it is what it is and I don't think it needs adjusting (not that that means I'd be opposed to other people adding turrets and whatnot, it just doesn't interest me as a project). As I said though, this Vasudan one is a special case.
The only issue with adding/removing turrets is the AO Bake, really, and that can be minimized by simply not including them in the AO, I guess, although that's less pretty. I'm fairly strongly opposed to "empty" turrets though - if it looks like a turret it should be a turret - no need to irritate players by having them shooting at turrets-but-not-turrets.
As far as this particular model goes, I think I probably will turret it - if for no other reason than those recesses will look odd if they're not filled with some kind of geometry. But it's good to hear any other opinions for future projects - I have a (probably) fourth and final unarmed Terran civvy outpost that's currently stalled while I gather up the motivation to finish increasing the greebling on some components and re-UV it - whether or not that ultimately gets armed will be an open question for a future date.
Black Wolf:
P3d of the ongoing station work if anyone's interested: http://p3d.in/sx8Qs
Also has a name now - Abydos
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