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Hosted Projects - Standalone => Diaspora => Topic started by: mightyjoe83 on October 18, 2012, 02:41:44 pm

Title: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: mightyjoe83 on October 18, 2012, 02:41:44 pm
I was wondering is there any chance other battle star classes would added to the game. classes like the Mercury class, and Galactica?
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on October 18, 2012, 02:44:43 pm
Every release is going to introduce a new battlestar class to the game, and eventually every class you've seen in the show is going to be in.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: mightyjoe83 on October 18, 2012, 03:43:11 pm
Iam definitely looking forward to that :) can't wait for the new releases :)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: AtomicClucker on October 20, 2012, 04:06:21 pm
Look forward to the valkyrie and her sister ships in game in the next set of releases.

The question is what other designs has starslayer cooked up?

That will probably remain unanswered until he feels like it.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on October 20, 2012, 04:16:05 pm
Look forward to the valkyrie and her sister ships in game in the next set of releases.

The question is what other designs has starslayer cooked up?

That will probably remain unanswered until he feels like it.


If you like Slayer's designs, R2 shouldn't disappoint in that respect. We do need to keep some things a surprise, though :)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: karajorma on October 20, 2012, 08:25:23 pm
The big problem with Starslayer's designs is that they're good enough that they get ripped off. We've seen knock off versions of the Bolitho is lots of other places, often without any credit to Diaspora, Starslayer, or even Beyond the Red Line (which would probably mean that they got hold of the design a long time ago).
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: AtomicClucker on October 20, 2012, 10:31:20 pm
Yeah, I've seen a few, but it's a good thing he keeps a part of the process of his work here.

In the world of ripoffs, archiving your works and keeping essentially a "catalog" of it spares any doubts who made the dang thing in the first place. Keep notes, build ref sheets, date if possible and realize that if StarSlayer is good  enough to be ripoffed, he's got some aesthetic chops.

Some of StarSlayers work has started to influence my own designs and it's quite to my chagrin that I had scribbled somewhere in my sketchbook "StarSlayer has killed yet another idea!"
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: festivefire on November 05, 2012, 06:02:44 pm
on the subject of other battlestar classes, are you guys planning to do the nova class battlestar?
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: karajorma on November 05, 2012, 08:04:45 pm
We won't be including any fanon battlestars other than our own.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: NGTM-1R on November 05, 2012, 08:45:17 pm
We won't be including any fanon battlestars other than our own.

Where does that leave the Defender/wedge-shaped thingie (http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Wedge-shaped_vessel), out of curiosity? It's...in a grey area.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: karajorma on November 05, 2012, 09:06:04 pm
That one appeared in the show so it's canon. The issue of what to make it when we include it is an interesting one. It might be a nice ship to do in two versions, with turrets and a retrofit for civilian use.

As for when we'll make it (or even decide to make it), it's pretty far down the list of ships we want. I suspect if we ever get all the ships we want done, it will be on the list. That said, in the past we have given it to prospective team members as their task for entry into the team so it might appear sooner.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Dirt McStain on November 05, 2012, 10:13:24 pm
I was just curious what are your priorities regarding this one (dubbed "Berserk"):
(http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/7416/charlesoinesabsgffivevizu0.jpg)

It's the ship seen at Scorpion Shipyards in Razor.  It looks like a support vessel, rather than a full-blown battlestar (although, it looks to be the size of a Valkyrie) so, it would add some nice class variation to the game.  Plus, it has a hangar, so you could launch from it.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: General Battuta on November 05, 2012, 10:17:14 pm
Boy I hope that name would change.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Dirt McStain on November 05, 2012, 11:15:37 pm
Well, the name isn't cannon, and at worst it's the class name, so you'll never see a ship with that name. Anyway, seeing as there was a Ragnar, it's within reason that other colonial assets would have Norse-inspired names.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Ace on November 05, 2012, 11:42:41 pm
One of the big ways to have ships you want to see in the game is to make them yourselves as a prospective. A big issue is of course labor since this is a volunteer project.

Ideally everything seen in the show, and then some more to flesh out the fleet, will be there.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 06, 2012, 02:54:52 am
I was just curious what are your priorities regarding this one (dubbed "Berserk")

Very similar to what Kara already wrote about the Defender.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: festivefire on November 06, 2012, 02:45:57 pm
out of cuiriosity, which version of the Valkyrie are we getting, are we getting the refit that has the wing on the back, or the standard Valkyrie?
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: StarSlayer on November 06, 2012, 03:25:40 pm
Our Valks are spoiler free.

Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 06, 2012, 03:38:51 pm
Yep, we opted for the one that doesn't have a cocktail bar over the engines. We never actually saw it with the "spoiler" in flight ("Hero" and "The Plan"), only when docked, and given the ridiculous way that thing looks I'm sticking to my theory it's some kind of an engine diagnostics package they slap on while in dock. In reality it was probably just a bad idea they got rid of later on, though :)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: festivefire on November 06, 2012, 03:44:43 pm
ya, i see no reason a massive spaceship needs a spoiler, considering a battlestar would disintegrate on re-entry, and doesn't have the engine power for atmospheric flight even if it did survive.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 06, 2012, 03:49:58 pm
That "spoiler" would probably do more harm than good in atmo flight. Besides, I doubt the thing was ever intended to enter atmo in the first place..
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: festivefire on November 06, 2012, 03:53:49 pm
that's why i said it would disintegrate, and probably didn't have the engine power to maintain flight. I'm pretty sure the biggest ship that could make landfall might be a smaller gunstar or  support craft or one of the medium sized civy ships.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: General Battuta on November 06, 2012, 03:58:33 pm
Valkyrie crew were not picking up enough dates, added the spoiler and a real throaty rev sound when spooling up the FTL drive. Morale improved significantly (recommend additional STI screening)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: StarSlayer on November 06, 2012, 04:00:08 pm
You forgot the under body LED kit and massive intercooler intake.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 06, 2012, 04:01:17 pm
Well, Adama kind of did a maneuver in the series that disproves the whole "it would disintegrate" theory. Didn't seem concerned about reentry heat or it frying any of the more exposed systems, either - the main concern was activating FTL in time. As for engine power, we've seen colonial ships cover interplanetary distances on sublights pretty quickly, implying good acceleration capabilities, so I'd speculate that's not a problem either. I would say a battlestar is capable of flying through an atmosphere of an Earth-like world without sustaining any serious damage, but I doubt it could actually land in one piece. And, 99,99% of the time a battlestar has no reason whatsoever to actually hit atmo.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: headdie on November 06, 2012, 04:03:48 pm
where you going to stick the oversized alloys?
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 06, 2012, 04:05:52 pm
You forgot the under body LED kit and massive intercooler intake.

I just thought of a reason for a battlestar to enter atmo: to show off it's massive subwoofer system. No sound in space, but that doesn't mean you can't set your periapsis a few km above Caprica City, zip over it at 10 km/s, blasting away this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj7Qh7CWm7c) at the unsuspecting population...
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: headdie on November 06, 2012, 04:09:57 pm
around here it is more likely to be something from the latest clubland album :banghead:
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: An4ximandros on November 06, 2012, 04:21:43 pm
Now this is interesting (http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-2003-news/richard-livingston-razor-concept-art.html), the Valk had the flight pod cover as far back as the concept art, maybe it was simply meant as engine armor? As a bonus, there's a bunch of alternate concepts too, some of which are actually interesting.

And some Cylon stuff, with a Colonial ship. (http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-2003-news/richard-livingston-season-4-concept-art.html)

Edit:
(http://www.galactica.tv/images/stories/gallery/ratteray/charles-ratteray-08.jpg)

Tons of neat concepts for the show from the artists.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: festivefire on November 06, 2012, 04:52:50 pm
Well, Adama kind of did a maneuver in the series that disproves the whole "it would disintegrate" theory. Didn't seem concerned about reentry heat or it frying any of the more exposed systems, either - the main concern was activating FTL in time. As for engine power, we've seen colonial ships cover interplanetary distances on sublights pretty quickly, implying good acceleration capabilities, so I'd speculate that's not a problem either. I would say a battlestar is capable of flying through an atmosphere of an Earth-like world without sustaining any serious damage, but I doubt it could actually land in one piece. And, 99,99% of the time a battlestar has no reason whatsoever to actually hit atmo.
I think you forgot the part where after they jumped, Adama and the chief had a conversation about patching up the ship, that maneuver destroyed the CIC from vibrations, and they also had the flight pods in which probably allowed them to sustain more drag before braking apart. i think if you tried to actually fly a battlestar in a way that the spoiler would be usefull, it would split into multiple pieces, and crash and burn.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 06, 2012, 05:40:31 pm
I didn't forget (it's a bit hard to after spending so many years working on a BSG related game, scouring the show for references.. we've all become experts on it through the whole process), but it's all a lot of speculation, really. The maneuver didn't destroy the CIC (though it did take some damage as we've seen), but the CIC damage was the least of the ship's problems at that point - it's structural integrity was beginning to falter, which is a bit harder to patch up than just reroute a couple of cables through the CIC. Later on when the chief talks about damage to the big G, he lists the atmo jump thing as one of the things that hasn't contributed to the ship's condition, but the fact remains that the Galactica was over 40 years old and about to be decommissioned at the start of the show. Then she got nuked, took tons of conventional fire, had Cylon agents activate bombs on the inside, and was still able to make the atmo jump, limp over to the end of the show, have boomer do the raptor ftl thing, took incredible amounts of fire, jumped one more time, and she was still flying (though in extremely bad shape) when they flew her into the Sun.

A smaller, well maintained battlestar like a Valk could probably do the maneuver without too much of a consequence, but again, there's no reason for them to do this. Physically possible doesn't equal to smart or useful :)

At any rate, Valkyrie's spoiler is definitely not an aerodynamic feature - that would be way too dumb (and wouldn't work).
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: festivefire on November 06, 2012, 07:48:52 pm
I agree with the engine diagnostics package, or part of drydock theory for the Valks spoiler at this point, since if it was supposed to be engine armor, why wouldn't they just patch armor plating onto the engine cowlings themselves instead if wasting double the weight on a big bulky spoiler that only blocks about a quarter of the engines, leaving the bottom and back exposed to enemy fire?
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 07, 2012, 03:21:36 am
It wouldn't make any sense as engine armor, it would only block fire from a very limited angle. Even then, there would be danger of the spoiler or some of it's pieces breaking off and colliding with engines, damaging them. It's simply not how armor works.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: MR_T3D on November 14, 2012, 04:34:47 pm
Maybe it could be an auxiliary tillium fuel storage, kept a bit away from the ship so it the ship won't blow up if it's detonated, like an jerrycans of fuel on a tank

Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 14, 2012, 04:53:28 pm
Except it's a pretty thin part. It's not really a shape you'd use if you were creating external tanks. The additional fuel capacity would be negligible.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: David cgc on November 14, 2012, 05:08:24 pm
Maybe some kind of electronics package? Sensors, comms, or jamming equipment, like an AWACs pod. That Valkyrie variant could be the capital-ship equivalent to the Raptor flying with a Viper squadron.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 15, 2012, 05:01:27 am
Maybe, but considering it's hideous and we only ever saw it on the ship when docked, I'm sticking to my earlier theory of this being something they put on during maintenance.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Ghostrider93 on November 15, 2012, 03:15:02 pm
Well you don't see AWACS ships/aircraft very often, and they are usually kept behind the frontlines. So you wouldn't need many, hence the rare appearance.
The dish as external tank is not really an option. You would have a giant 'napalm' bomb strapped to your hull, and indeed the capacity is way to low. BTW that is not the place where you strap a tank to the hull.

Anyway, wether or not the dish appeared once or not, I like the diversity, maybe it is good inspiration for the guys making the battlestars for the game. And what function it has... To me it does not really matter. The fact is that we likely will never know what it is used for... What does matter is that (we or I) like the form or idea of the object. Be creative and make it as you like..

(Sorry for kicking the door in like that  :D)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: The E on November 15, 2012, 03:18:52 pm
Make it as you like in this case meaning "Not at all".
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 15, 2012, 03:59:06 pm
And guys doing battlestars being me, as in the guy who hates the stupid rollbar with a passion :)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: StarSlayer on November 15, 2012, 07:13:35 pm
No rollbars on Harriers either.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 16, 2012, 04:17:43 am
Let's not tease them with class names they won't see for a while yet, though :)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: MR_T3D on November 26, 2012, 02:39:04 pm
Too late.

I am now imagining a gigantic harrier jumpjet spitting vipers out of it's intake and side exhaust vents
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on November 26, 2012, 03:46:05 pm
..and there goes our big R2 surprise  ;)
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: StarSlayer on November 26, 2012, 04:09:25 pm
..and there goes our big R2 surprise  ;)

Wait I still have a back up plan! We can have the Harrier being pursued by a baseship and it can dump its fuel followed by...
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Ghostrider93 on November 27, 2012, 05:10:45 am
..and there goes our big R2 surprise  ;)

Wait I still have a back up plan! We can have the Harrier being pursued by a baseship and it can dump its fuel followed by...

Hot exhaust gasses + Fuel = BOOM....... :D
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Col.Hornet on December 09, 2012, 11:10:01 am
This is something worth watching :]


http://nova1701dms.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d39945e
http://nova1701dms.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3dp0pq
http://nova1701dms.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3fgbxn
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: karajorma on December 09, 2012, 11:15:00 am
As much as I love tan.j's work, I think the Sobek he made for us (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=63942.0) is nicer. :D
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: headdie on December 09, 2012, 11:45:08 am
As much as I love tan.j's work, I think the Sobek he made for us (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=63942.0) is nicer. :D

images are broken
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: SypheDMar on December 09, 2012, 12:18:37 pm
Not the Sobek ones.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: StarSlayer on December 09, 2012, 06:39:07 pm
This is something worth watching :]


http://nova1701dms.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d39945e
http://nova1701dms.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3dp0pq
http://nova1701dms.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3fgbxn

Yep tan.j's Minerva class (http://tan-j.blogzine.jp/web/BSG/minerva_class.html) and it's various derivatives are some of my favorite noncanon Battlestars.
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: Col.Hornet on December 10, 2012, 10:29:03 am
Aww... I wish they were brought to Diaspora... :] Then I would devote my modding time for a "What if..." project about second cylon war :D
Title: Re: Other Battlestar classes
Post by: newman on December 10, 2012, 11:36:51 am
These things take time, and we only put the first release out. Other battlestars will come :)