Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: headdie on September 18, 2009, 05:33:56 pm
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I put this here because i cant think of anywhere else to put it.
Announcing the public launch of Stellar Frontiers Project my attempt at a total conversion for Freespace 2 but as with such a project it cant be done alone.
personally I am picking up tabling and mission creation well enough but I need help in the following areas
Modeling, I've created a number of models in blender that need a lot of work and I haven't the patience to prepare, texture and convert them to .POF
Visuals, I am useless at this kind of stuff (hence no model textures)
Sounds, not only is there the voice acting side but not a clue on sound/music and could use a lot of help
if you are interested in joining the project or just want to keep up with it please go to http://sfmod.forumotion.com/index.htm
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Okaaaay, soooo, what's this about?
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Bumped over to Modding.
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Yeah. Before people join your project, they'd probably want to know a few things first. Like, what's this about, what do you aim to achieve, how far along it is, what work has already been done... And so on...
It may be surprising to you that a 'large' project like this pops up really every few months, and most of them are stillborn. Before you embark on this perilous task you should really get some practice first. Get a small campaign or a few missions and mods done, then aim higher.
Not to be discouraging or anything, just sayin'.
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Thanks for the comments guys
As a result I have created a progress page under announcements and moved the what is SF page into there as well so it's easier to find.
keep the advice coming
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"SF is a mod under development for the Freespace 2 engine which looks to reach the point of total conversion with many campaigns."
You never explained what SF actually is.
Is it a old commerical IP, or is this based off a totally original idea, and your using FS2 to flesh it out?
your FAQ section has nothing, aside from standard forum stuff.
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I think by Stellar Frontiers, he meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_Frontier .
It seems that he wants to do a FS2 TC for this.
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Thanks for the comments guys
As a result I have created a progress page under announcements and moved the what is SF page into there as well so it's easier to find.
keep the advice coming
Uh. You haven't explained anything yet.
To be brutally honest, I don't think this is going anywhere soon. I've been wrong before of course.
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I think by Stellar Frontiers, he meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_Frontier .
It seems that he wants to do a FS2 TC for this.
Thanks for that Dragon new name going onto the to-do list.
Thanks for the comments guys
As a result I have created a progress page under announcements and moved the what is SF page into there as well so it's easier to find.
keep the advice coming
Uh. You haven't explained anything yet.
To be brutally honest, I don't think this is going anywhere soon. I've been wrong before of course.
Your right its going to take time but that's life i suppose.
The game itself is an original idea of my own though it does borrow many established sci-fi ideas with strong influences from the wing commander series. The back story is that the human race (now Terrans after a bloody Earth-Mars war pre-inter stellar travel) has been traveling between stars for around 400 years and have established their boundaries against several alien empires. With unstable diplomatic relationships throughout the galactic arm, border skirmishes are the norm and can last from a few hours to a few years. Recently the most notable of these skirmishes is 5 year war between the Terrans and the unsupported Marimara clan of the Terth species over one mineral rich system.
The mod begins when John Moore, Sara West and Michael Rubers join the Terran Republic Carrier Crusader an ancient Parry class strike carrier relegated to security patrols. Though their training is complete the 3 pilots are assigned to the carrier to conduct their Acting Officer Trials, an initiative designed build operational experience in the pilots before being assigned their full ranks (very WCS prologue I know but I hope the storytelling and ending are different enough to prevent problems).
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I might like to volunteer myself as a concept artist. If you can give some more sense of what's in this universe, I might produce some artwork.
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from a ship design concept the Terran Republic which the player flies for is going through a "nostalgic" period of design so many fighters have an aerospace appearance notable exceptions being the Thunder Chief which my current concept has a FS Hercules vibe which I want to move away from but keep the big lump style and the Hammer series private production fighters which just looks bad, not sure if its a detail issue or start from scratch thing.
From a warship point of view the flying battleship is theme with exception to the really old ships such as the Parry Carriers and Sweeper / Ranger small warship hulls which follow a minimal production cost philosophy. Many warships are capable of carrying a small number of fighters, typically 4 in light – mid sized warships and anything up to 8 in mid to large warships though some specialized ships can carry up to 2 squadrons)
Civilian ships and installations have a varied styling (depending on fashion and target market and era of construction) so there is room to go your own way with them
Weapons for the Terrans tend to be rail-gun style projectiles ranging from rapid fire fixed machine guns on fighters to massive artillery cannons mounted on WWII style warship turret housings. The projectiles tend to glow in flight Terran navy systems usually have a white/orange effect. There are other species that use the technology with a different effect but the first campaign doesn’t feature them. Terrans also possess laser technology but in this universe lasers are ineffective on hulls but have a niche as shield breakers. The Terran government won’t issue lasers to rank and file pilots because they are not believed to be effective enough but the criminals in Gamma Draconis amongst others do use them. Missiles are depicted similar to modern missiles like a pointed tube with fins for better positioning of manoeuvring jets.
Navy Colour scheme is a grey base with green detailing with security patrols replacing the green with blue. Private craft owners can have any look to their craft.
Background
The system has several green/blue nebulae nearby in the background, an orange gas cloud surrounding an orange/red planet, two blue/green planets, several barren rocky ones, no large moons, not decided about planetary rings and a blue sun.
When the player starts the game it is 5 years after the Terth’Marimara war I mentioned in an earlier post and the player finds themselves on the Terran Republic Carrier Crusader on patrol in the relatively "safe" Gamma Draconis system. The system's chief exports are agricultural based due to a couple of nitrate rich planets and a good sun for space based hydroponics. Normally the system would be a low security priority but due to the volume of fresh and processed foods exported the system is a major contributor towards supporting border and other systems which are not self sufficient meaning the Space Navy has a small presence in system in stead of relying forces from a Naval base in a neighbouring star system to respond to major incidents. The ready availability and moment of food (a loosely regulated commodity) and its demand in other systems makes the systems a frequent target for low levels of extortion, piracy and plant based drug production which combines into a smuggling problem. Direct harm to civilians and private operations have been low in system for many years which combined with the difficulty in locating illegal operations made organized crime a low priority which has allowed several organized syndicates to grow a fact that local security is vaguely aware of but not made obvious until the players first mission where they come across a debris field from a battle between the two largest factions in an escalating war over territory and prestige prompting the deployment of additional government warships. After a few missions the scale becomes apparent as several old classes of fast cruisers (lighter mid-large sized general purpose warships) are spotted in criminal hands. The navy and local security then start a campaign of securing jump points, heavily paroling trade routes through the system and where possible tracking down and destroying the illegally owned warships.
In terms of ship concepts http://sfmod.forumotion.com/models-and-textures-c2/ is where I have posted many of my concepts for several ships but non of these are set in stone so if you think you have a better idea let me know.
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Sounds like some of the ship concepts are related to what I've seen of Wing Commander. I'll try and start working on this soon.
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Wing commander is a strong influence for me and something I have tried to keep a lid on to make room for other ideas and avoid blatant copying.
It will be interesting to see what ideas you come up with
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How goods your FREDDAGE?
Not trying to dissuade you or anything. I'm just curious, any released stuff so far, missions or campaigns? If only to hook an audience.
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I've been doing quite a bit of preliminary sketching. It's nothing too good yet (nothing I'd post on the HLP), but it's just to get things rolling. While doing that, I've come up with some vessel conventions. Whether or not they're used doesn't matter.
General Warship Conventions (Excludes Carriers) by Size:
"-Boats": < 250m. "Boat" is a suffix applied to a small craft designed to provide high-speed/mobility combat capabilities against larger vessels. Typically lightly armored but utilizing a highly specialized loadout in relation to their high speed makes these smaller vessels a credible threat. Gunboats, missile boats, and torpedo boats are the most common.
Frigates: 250 < x < 450m. A light combat and patrol vessel. The primary role of the frigate is to provide AA coverage to a convoy or battlegroup. The vessels also will tend to have light anti-vessel capabilities as well.
Destroyers: 450 < x < 750m. A larger combat vessel than a frigate, the destroyer is a potent mix between an AA vessel and an anti-vessel platform.
Corvettes: 250 < x <800m. A varied class of warship which often fills a niche between that of a frigate or destroyer. Corvettes however are biased towards speed, often sacrificing armament and armor. This makes them a typical offensive weapon.
Cruisers: 750 < x < 1100m. The typical fleet anti-vessel platform. Possessing powerful artillery and missile systems, the cruiser makes for a formidable foe.
Battlecruisers/Pocket Battleships: 900 < x < 1750m. HEAVILY armed and armored, both classes of vessel are a significantly more serious threat than a criuser. The difference is here: the battlecruiser is biased towards speed while the "pocket battleship," like its name implies, is a slower, more heavily armed and armored vessel than a cruiser.
Battleships: 1500 < x < 2100m. Ususally the top of the cap-ship foodchain, the battleship brings down massive amounts of firefower upon any foe in its vicinity.
Monitors: 2000 < x < 3500m. "Hell on... wheels" would not be applicable, as this is space. Battleships are mighty, but also generally regarded as practical. A monitor possesses such armor and armament that its mass gives it so little forward acceleration in comparison to other warships that, were it not for the weapons and armor that made it that way, would be little more than a massive target in space. As such, they are limited in where they travel. A gravity well which may give a smaller vessel only little difficulty could spell the end of a poorly handled monitor.
Dreadnoughts: 3500 < x < 4500+m. Terror has never been so magnificently embodied by one of these ships. Much more impressive than the already devastating monitor-type vessels, the dreadnought is in many ways more viable. Though more heavily armed and armored than a monitor, the dreadnought also employs much more volume for engines and reactors, giving an edge in the power-to-weight ratio when compared to a monitor. Only one class of this vessel type has EVER been employed by the Terran Navy.
Juggernoughts: 4500 < x < [beyond]m. This is a designation reserved for the most unfathomable of space warships. This is a vessel which can enter a system with no fears of being stopped. It travels to its target and arrives. Destruction will ensue upon arrival.
Note: These figures are based around size only.
Well, how did I do? Missing a class of vessel you'd like to see? If so, post!
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I meant do you have a demo mission showing off some Fred talent?
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Thaeris
Thats pretty much how i was thinking the scaling would work for the Terrans with them being a average species in technology and economy stop at the battleship though some neighboring empires going into the "monitor" scale and older races elsewhere in the galaxy getting up to Juggernaut. there is a concept in star wars (amongst others) that I like and that is the World Ship.
In terms of the Boat concept the most common incarnations are gunboats specializing in fighter suppression and torpedo boats to compliment anti-capship operations
Colonol Dekker
My main task at the moment is to complete a 4 mission taster of the first missions and one of the Future missions using FS and fan ships, effects etc as placeholders so watch this space :)
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quick update for anyone interested
the address is now http://tcmod.forumotion.com/index.htm to take into account a name change to avoid references to an existing game called Stellar Frontiers so the game is now called Terran Chronicles.
on the suggested concept demonstration campaign full details are at http://tcmod.forumotion.com/development-history-f11/headdie-s-journey-t33.htm but the basic is I'm on mission 3 of the 3 core missions for the mini campaign with an additional mission in the works
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I was looking through some of your fighter designs to date. Quite a bit different from what I was thinking...
I alomst had a pseudo-anime concept in mind for the fighters. Here's what I derived in more detail:
(a.) All terran fighters... at least the main faction... are atmospheric launch capable, and most (if not all) can recover in an atmosphere. Furthermore, most will be aerospace-type fighters, meaning that they operate with a rather good deal of efficiency in an atmosphere.
(b.) The style is retro in its own way: fighters will bear some physical semblances to advanced fighter projects of the late 80's and the 90's. This permits some organic design features, while also permitting sharp, cutting features to the spaceframes/airframes. Fuselage "chines" and lightly curved hull sections also serve to imply large spreads of plating/armor, giving a clean yet rugged/powerful look to terran small craft. Being human, would we have it any other way? :D
(c.) Atmospheric combat is usually not a prime concern for Terran fighters. Thus wings are small... but still functional. The designs bear a feel of credibility while also being fanciful. Engines are not placed in rediculous positions which would render the ship actually unflyable in space (aka the moments being unbalanced), etc., etc. Furthermore, this does not interfere with those modular features we love so much.
(d.) "Pseudo-anime" is perhaps a dangerous term to use. This refers to the fact that some of the fighter designs to date I've contemplated had certain conventions, like short, canted vertical fins which were swept forward. If anything anime-ish was thought of, it might have been the VF-1, but not to a degree that it would inspire anything. Rest assured that the technology/story elements I try to draw out for this universe will be unique to themselves. :yes:
If you like my thought process on this matter, just let me know.
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The designs on the website are concepts that can be turned into the in game model but are far from final. now i am a fan of the anime style and at one point did consider incorporating it into to mod so any ideas along that line are welcome.
most fighter designs are capable of launching and landing from planets but many of the larger bombers and designs like the thunder chief are only capable of making runs at planet surfaces i.e dive from outside the atmosphere make a single run at a target before dumping huge amounts of energy into their engines to escape the atmosphere
point b sounds good
points of technology
engines are Ion / generic thruster effects, I think they are a requirement in "early" human space travel, later on the good guys meet aliens packing a gravitational style drive system which inspires them to develop their own.
power plants are nuclear fusion based the byproduct of which is used in campaigns 2/3 for the ammo of a particle cannon more advanced systems exist but the good guys haven't developed them.
the good guys only use projectile based weapons in a coil gun style using a technology refereed to as hyper energy kinetic inducers for their primary weapons and can be used to produce rapid fire on small scales but due to charging times have a refire time in the the 1-2 seconds for the big guns of capital ships.
Laser weapons exist but hull materials used as standard are highly resistant to them but have a niche as shield breakers, the good guys don't believe them cost effective but many Terran private factions and many alien species do use them.
many energy weapon types do exist in universe but in alien hands
missiles look similar to modern systems retaining the fins for two reasons 1 is it allows them to be used in atmosphere and dense gas clouds, secondly they allow better placement of maneuvering jets for use in space.
most ships are equipped with some form of shields the tech base is a core that creates an ionizing field surrounding the fighter a few cm from the hull, surrounding the ion core is a plasma coil fitted with a magnetic regulation technology to create an inverted magnetic field repelling anything ionized to the correct polarity. so blue glows aplenty.
I am yet to decide on the warp effect, i do know it involves gravitational eddies at the edge which causes problems for small jump capable craft making for a rough ride over the threshold for craft in the 100 - 300 meter range straining the hulls on smaller knocking integrity off them. Also about jumping although inter system travel is possible from the edge of most systems it is but this is expensive in reactor fuel and you risk damaging your ship from the gravity effects to improve on the situation most races (humans included) have crated gates at the edge of many systems which improve on the jump characteristics of a ship using them taking some of the energy load by using energy stored in the device to create a bigger and more stable rift than the employing craft could and improving the jump range
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I'll post some new artwork by Monday. :D
A TBP-style funnel warp-in/out would be cool, but you might only want to use one color. Actually, a really dark, almost black main distortion with a secondary revolving cone of bright light in the center would be pretty cool (for the dark part, consider a very dark translucent texture... like the dark tinted-glass texture that got put into... then removed from the new MediaVPs). Perhaps a simultaneous "faster-than-light-so-you-can't-see-anything" effect and the traditional bright flash from the middle would be a winner? Of course there'd be a bright flash at the end as there currently is in normal FSO anyway. :yes:
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I think bright flash is almost a law of sci-fi from cause everyone from star trek to star wars has it in one for or another lol but seriously I would like to go with it. I like the black distortion idea I bet catching bg nebulae would look good. If going with the secondary cone you thinking of having the bigger cone carry a hint of the colour from the secondary? Having the effect rotate might be nice with the secondary cone having slight variations in colour/shading to show up a counter rotation.
how about this when the jump/warp effect collapses a ripple 90 degrees to the main effect ripples out for a second or 2
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Sounds pretty neat.
I've got a simple diagram of the affect in my notebook. I'll work with that later directly in this thread. Here's a concept for the end flash:
What about a shockwave?
The problem is then, "but why would that make sense?" I suppose you could perhaps try to argue that a FTL/subspace/hyperspace/"transfoorm-portal-AWAAaaaayyy!!!" jump is fuled by antimatter/matter=pure energy reactions, thus resulting in a force eminating from the jump point once it closes. The joys of technobabble... At least it would be cool from a visual/gameplay perspective
The shockwave wouldn't hurt the non-jumping ship in the vicinity much... if at all. However, the shockwave would be proportional to the size of the distortion of the ship that just jumped. I'd like to see ships only speed up when jumping out (including fighters), so a really big ship might leave behind a big shockwave that might actually hurt you.
Furthermore, it would be pretty cool if you could get "pulled through" by a leaving ship. That would of course be unfortunate for the player, but it would add another interesting/unique dynamic.
I'll post some more concepts on this later. What do you think?
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in universe the humans dont use antimatter, yet, without dependence on directed energy weapons it is considered an extravagance and to much of a risk but i'm sure something can be figured out.
i like the idea of the shock wave and getting drawn through but i think game engine limitations would prevent that
otherwise keep the ideas coming they are great
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As promised, here is a bit of work on a fighter concept I started a few days back., when I only had a few basic design perameters. The fighter is intended to represent your "Thunderchief," which I interpereted as a heavy fighter. I've not included the prelim art, as that was just to get the design in motion. It's also a bit sloppy and breaks my current rules for concept art (limit shading and use only various line types, etc... I can discuss more on that if you're interested...), but it gets the idea to date across. I hope you like it. If you do like it, I could actually begin to model this bird.
Furthermore, I've worked out a few perameters:
- Length is approx. 23m
- Primary bank with three guns
- Primary bank with two guns
- Special primary: Gatling coil/gauss gun with 2500 rds.
- Large internal secondary bank
- Small internal secondary bank
- External secondary mount
The Terran primary weapon types, as I precieve them, would work like this:
- Rail guns are excellent all-round weapons. The tremendous velocity of the projectiles makes them hard for shields to stop, and the incredible kinetic energy possessed by the rounds deal vicious damage to ship hulls. The power required to fire a rail gun is immense, and a ship weapon capacitor at normal power settings may have a hard time keeping up with energy requirements. This, however inconveniant to combat crews, is rather helpful to the weapon itself: long-term firing may cause jamming or eventually wear the weapon's barrel out entirely.
- Coil guns, or Gauss guns, are mass dirvers just like rail guns. Although theoretically capable of similar performance to a rail gun, in practice coil guns are in fact lower-powered weapons. By design, a comparable coil gun will use less power than a rail gun. However, due to the electromagnetic accelerator stages which must be triggered in increasingly tighter time tolerances in relation to the target projectile speed, coil guns usually fire slower projectiles than rail guns. This combination of lower speeds and greater inherent energy efficiency makes them more effective for long-term firing. The design of the weapon itself is also inherently low-maintenance, and barrel changes are far less frequent for this weapon type in comparison to rail guns. Lower projectile velocities also mean specialized rounds can be fired safely from a variety of weapon types currently in service, including armor-piercing shaped-charge type munitions. Due to low projectile speeds, coil guns are often less effective against shielded targets, but due to explosive rounds, often tend to deal a great deal of hull damage.
- Lasers are rather uncommon on fighter craft. High energy usage and often less-than-stellar hull piercing capabilities tend to make them a special purpose weapon. This special purpose of course is disruption of shield systems. The laser beam's energy, when it hits, tends to be scattered about the target's shield. This will super heat and dissipate the field, eventually leaving a naked ship hull vulnerable to the slowest of projectiles.
The information on rail guns and coil guns is based on some information I picked up in the past. If somone would like to test my fiction versus current reality in regards to the two weapons, I'd appreciate that.
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on the Thunder Chief I like the balance between sleek and bulky looks it looks good, please feel free to start work on it.
The details in Wikipedia would support the basis you have provided and I'm thinking of using them as follows
Coil/Gauss guns are the standard issue guns due to being cheaper to build and maintain with acceptable damage performance characteristics. the military considers the slower muzzle velocity and associated slower rate of fire an advantage allowing novice pilot to better conserve ammo.
I was going to have the larger guns on heavy fighters and bombers just be a higher caliber coil guns and I will keep the idea to give the player options but I think providing limited/special issue Rail guns would be useful to the player providing a weapon with vastly superior capabilities but balanced with limited ammo supply which is used quickly.
For craft larger than fighter/bomber employing specialized anti-fighter armaments a rotary multi-barrel coil gun would work well for civilian operated human craft (e.g. freighters or privately operated warships) with the military especially large warships using a rail gun based system.
On warship main guns I am considering having small ships, corvettes, destroyers and the like using a coil gun, story wise this is to minimize the recoil with the associated effects it has on the ships structure and the amount of "slide" induced in addition to this it reduces maintenance costs. Cruisers and upwards pack the railgun versions to maximize both the firepower and chance to hit at extreme ranges
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I'd actually think a coil gun would have a higher rate of fire despite a lower typical muzzle velocity.
You might generally compare the weapons we're describing here in terms of FS like so:
-The coil gun is similar to the Subach... high ROF with an acceptable level of damage.
-The rail gun is more like the Prom-S, lower ROF but launches a rather damaging projectile out at very high speeds.
-The laser is thus like the S-Breaker or Banshee, damaging mostly shields but also capable of damaging hulls and subsystems (might be point to consider).
That's rather arbitrary at this point, though. :D By the way, could you post a link to your forum in your sig?
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Quick reminder on the address for everyone
http://tcmod.forumotion.com/forum.htm
and now announcing a visitors forum open for non forum members to have their say
http://tcmod.forumotion.com/visitors-forum-f13/
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I'm certainly no coder at this point, but I think this would be a generally useful feature to attempt to implement into the mod:
Cockpit subsystem
This is intended for "grittier" FS mods, like Diaspora. I'm not entirely sure how you imagine the universe you're designing, but I think this could add another dimension to combat. Basically, if the "cockpit subsystem" is destroyed, you're dead. Seeing as subsytem damage rarely seems to drop to zero... resulting in some terrible consequence to you... on medium difficulty, single player, at least... before your hull is completely blown to hell, this is not unreasonable. Heavy ships with heavy cockpit armor, such as the Thunderchief, will have less to worry about (despite the canopy's position) because the subsystem value will be fairly high. A light fighter with a big bubble canopy will possibly be in trouble though...
The idea is one thing... but implementation is another. I suppose you could pull a "crystal effect"... this references the Shivan Comm Node, of course. Or... was that a SEXP?.. In this condition, the fighter would explode or explode shortly after the cockpit was destroyed and the pilot/crew was dead. Or, more interestingly, the fighter/ship would maintain whatever it was doing last... to a degree... when the pilot was killed... as it probably would if this were a realistic situation. I think this would be better, but what happens if/when this happens to the player? I'm wondering what you'd have to do to the engine to make this work...
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Well, FREDing something like that in would be easy, if you have a Cockpit subsystem in the model.
Check for the subsys strength, if == 0, self destruct or something like that. Or you could just disable that ship.
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Well, FREDing something like that in would be easy, if you have a Cockpit subsystem in the model.
Check for the subsys strength, if == 0, self destruct or something like that. Or you could just disable that ship.
I'd assume such. Once more, that's how Comm Nodes work, correct? The crystal goes, the node then goes critical and explodes after a few seconds.
The thing is that has to be FREDed into every mission... for every node, correct?
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Yep.
But once you have created the event, you can copy/paste it into the mission.
Another solution would be scripting, which in this case would probably make more sense.
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That's what I was thinking. :yes: As I'm no serious coder, that's not going to happen soon. Again, neat idea.
Pulled out AC3D to do a quick test of my modeling skills... namely in terms of flat and curvy areas. The Thunderchief concept I've been working on is a great example of both. This is not an alpha, beta, or any other greek-letter-pertaining to a production/final model. Just a test... The upper surface was colored green so I could better visualize the fuselage chine. The angle selected looks deceptively good... as a test model, the proportions of the forward fuselage and canopy are not at all to scale. You can also tell I just extruded a multi-segmented cylinder to make a rough canopy... but oh well. :)
Modeling shoud pose no problem. :yes:
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Hi
Sorry I've been absent from things had a slight problem with forgetting to pay my internet bill last month and not getting any money until today to pay them but as you can see I am on now. The concept campaign is close to finished, probably a couple of days now, on the cockpit subsystem i remember in the wing commander games the ejection subsystem could be damaged preventing ejection thus killing you when your fighter died and i liked that feature so i like the cockpit feature, should put an interesting spin on head on tactics as well.
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Is that a cockpit Thaeris? :wtf:
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That was a very fast preliminary modeling test to see where I was at in terms of complex organic/mechanical shapes in AC3D. It's nothing final and wasn't ever supposed to be. And it certainly was based on the cockpit/forward fuselage of a fighter... What did you think it was, Dekker? :P
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A . . . . . . . . . . Cockpit. :p
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...[CLASSIFIED]...
Intelligence has just issued new data to High Command pertaining to a new hostile contact encountered within this sector:
<< ORIGIN - NON-TERRAN ;
<< TYPE - LIGHT FIGHTER ;
<< LENGTH - 15-18m // Size estimate inprecise due to severly damaged flight data recorder information recovered from TF8806531-014C (Class: Dart Medium Interceptor. Last Recorded Operation: Sirius (102.00165, 123.05100, 5648.51615)x10^42mag: rel. Flight: Hammer, Op#402-C, clearance Theta.);
<< ARMAMENT - UNKNOWN ENERGY WEAPON x 2, LIGHT INTERNEAL WEAPONS BAY (LATERAL MOUNTINGS) // Cannons presumed to be short-ranged plasma-based weaponry. Weapons are fire linked and appear to inflict severe damage to shields, hull, and exposed sub-systems;
Debrief:
A flight of what appeared to be light fighters, class unknown, engaged Hammer Flight on a routine patrol within controlled Terran space, Sirius. The flight was launched from the Matheld, a Constance-Class escort carrier. The flight consisted of two elements, both Dart-Class Interceptor fighters. At 1813:56 hours, Sol standard time, Hammer 3 reported unknown contacts at a range of 15,300km. Upon clearance from the Matheld, Hammer lead ordered the flight to intercept and identify the intruding contacts. At 1821:16, Hammer 2 reported three distinct contacts, all on an intercept course to the flight's own intercept vector. At 1825:22, Hammer Flight attempted to hail the contacts with no success; note that multiple hail attempts were made. At 1828:45, a rough visual image of the approaching kette of vessels was aquired via Hammer 4's LIDAR system; due to active jamming from both sides of the engagement, only a very weak image of the approaching craft was recieved by the Matheld. At 1833:12, 21,000m to target, Hammer 1 reported visual contact with the incoming vessels. Visual and LIDAR imagery (as described by the precievable incoming messages from Hammer Flight to the Matheld) described the contacts as claw-like fighters, primarily red with black relief. At 1835:01 hours, Sol standard time, all friendly transmissions from Hammer Flight's last known position ceased...
By 1836:00 hours, the Matheld had launched both of her remaining fighter wings as well as her combat support ship. One wing, Sabre Flight, stayed behind to protect the Matheld. The support ship, Marcel, and Harpoon Flight proceeded directly to Hammer Flight's last known position. Upon arrival, no hostile contact was identified, and only sparse pieces of debris, barely recognizable as the remnants of Hammer Flight's Dart fighters, were found. Of the four fighters destroyed, only Hammer 2's (ID: TF8806531-014C) flight data recorder was found... with severe damage to the unit itself.
According to data-link transmissions recorded by the unit, it seems most of the flight was desroyed very quickly by a missile barrage; Hammer lead survived the initial onslaught with severe damage while Hammer 2 suffered moderate damage. The flanking element (Hammer 3 & 4) was destroyed almost instantaneously. After the initial barrage, Hammer 1 was quickly dispatched by energy weapon fire from short range. As no means of escape was present, Hammer 2 attempted to engage the enemy. He appears to have engaged the enemy flight for about 15 seconds after Hammer lead's destruction. The fighter itself lasted longer than that, about 22 seconds; Hammer 2, Capt. Alexander Delazario, was killed via explosive decompression - the Dart suffered a direct hit to the cockpit.
The Matheld has since been replaced on patrol duties by an investigative unit; all other information has been restriced to appropriate regional commands.
Notes on the drawing:
This is good 'ole fashion concept art: quick 'n dirty! It's a bit short and can't quite make it as 15-18m in good reason.. even after flattening the image - just the idea process going on... The color scheme would be quite vibrant and might be comparable in many ways to Warhammer 40K's Saim-Hann Eldar. In many respects, the technology is similar to Terran tech, but certainly beyond that. This is not an aerospace fighter.
The prose was just a bit of fun... What race would this best work for?
[attachment deleted by admin]
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looks perfect for a concept I am thinking of for around campaign 3 where an unsupported advanced alien Dreadnought/Juggernaut drifts from the Andromeda cluster into Terran space and causes havoc.
Back to the fighter internal missile bays on a light fighter would be a recon-en-force type role retaining most of the speed and agility advantages of a light fighter combined with slight improvements in armor and a larger than typical missile capacity.
for patrol duty 2/3 fighters (as opposed to typical light fighter patrols operating 4-6 fighter)
Recon-en-force 5-12 fighters depending on threat level and how the species organizes its military force
Sort range rapid response would depend on availability.
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Good deal. :yes:
Thus said, I'll work on some more of these.
By the way, I'd like to throw in the fact that I've not yet officially been 'hired' for the project yet...
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Why'd the scanner cut some lines off the paper? :confused:
Nice pic though.
Nice blab with it too.
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By the way, I'd like to throw in the fact that I've not yet officially been 'hired' for the project yet...
good point. Welcome to the project how do you fancy the position title of Chief of Concepts?
on a side point I have changed the project to Terran Chronicles to step away from any other professionally released material
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@ Das Colonol:
I tried editing the image a bit to clean it up. It seems there was some debris on the scanner surface (you can actually see a bit I couldn't edit out on the top engine... due to a lack of Photoshop :D). Due to the nature of pencil sketches, some of the graphite also reflected a bit more than I wanted it to. Thus, I used a photo editing program that came with my camera to darken the image and port it to a smaller-sized file (the original scan was more than 28MB). I used MS Paint to white-out the notebook lines (which were a bit too dark for my liking at this point) and flatten the image... Note it was a quick concept and was a bit too... squat. It looks a bit better in some ways now. Well, I think so at least.
I'm glad you liked my writing. Thank you. :yes:
@ headdie:
Thank you greatly; sounds great. :yes:
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Having a major headache with the campaign because the mission files keep corrupting I think due my install finally dieing and I cant re-install it from scratch because some mates managed to kill my disk 1 five or six years ago. but there we go.
Thaeris
In the mean time I am straitening out an access database I have built up over the months of dreaming this thing up (still needs hours of work to get it to the point where its understandable from an outside perspective) just thought it might help you see where some things are heading. if you haven't got Access i can convert it to Excel easy enough
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Sounds good, headdie. I'm not familiar with using Access, but I do have it.
As far as ship design goes, I've come up with some vessels that have turrets mounted at angles which are not straight up or down... I've not committed any serious effort to those yet. Has any way in terms of coding allowed this yet (E?). Last time I checked, this wasn't possible.
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Sounds good, headdie. I'm not familiar with using Access, but I do have it.
As far as ship design goes, I've come up with some vessels that have turrets mounted at angles which are not straight up or down... I've not committed any serious effort to those yet. Has any way in terms of coding allowed this yet (E?). Last time I checked, this wasn't possible.
If that was supposed to summon me, all I can say is that I have no clue whatsoever.
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As far as ship design goes, I've come up with some vessels that have turrets mounted at angles which are not straight up or down... I've not committed any serious effort to those yet. Has any way in terms of coding allowed this yet (E?). Last time I checked, this wasn't possible.
It's kinda possible actually, depends on how the angle is etc.
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I have had a though on the classifications and how Monitor didn't sit well, and i like Man-of-War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-of-war
Description
The man-of-war design developed by Sir John Hawkins had three masts, could be up to 200 feet long and could have up to 124 guns: 4 at the front, 8 at the back, and 56 on each side. All these guns required three cannon decks to hold them, one more than any earlier ship. It had a maximum sailing speed of around eight or nine knots.
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Really? I thought "monitor" sounded pretty neat. I'm curious to know more of your thoughts on the matter.
Class conventions are obviously "universe-specific." Why are cruisers in FS tiny little things often easily dispatched (except for She whom shall not be named...) while a destroyer is a combination battleship/carrier? In real life those parallels don't add up.
And certainly, the naming is a matter of preference and what fits. To me, "man-o-war" just sounds a bit too dated. I could justify "sloop," as there were ASW vessels in the Second World War designated as such. This is despite the fact that sloops, namely "sloops of war," were originally light combat sailing vessels with 2-3 masts. For what I've written to date, sloops are really just a specialized class of frigate, anyway. "Monitor" seems to have an heir of prowess about the title. To me, it suggests a hulking opponent who is not easily fended off by mere barrages. This is an adept comparison to the American Civil War's vessel of the same name... the vessel itself was actually quite important to modern naval architecture. I also have to think of Dune's description of the "monitor"-type vessel in that universe, though it wouldn't quite fit in this one:
MONITOR: a ten-section space warcraft mounting heavy armor and shield protection. It is designed to be separated into its component sections for lift-off and planet-fall.
Big, slow, and tough. :yes: Those are my thoughts on the matter, at least.
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I see your point, Monitor stays
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As far as "Man-o-War" goes, I think that would be a great class name for a battleship, though. :D
Right now I'm working on something a bit smaller, though. I hope to have some more detail drawings of it by this weekend. I'm also working on some turret weapons along with it. This should be good...
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thinking more than normal bias towards anti capital firepower, a few token fighter and missile defenses but on the flip side can expect to take down a more conventionally armed battleship
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Well, it seems the 'caps will have to wait a bit longer... :D
THIS IS MAH BOOM STICK!
The Kraken Heavy Rocket has been the hardest-hitting weapon for fighters and light bombers for over 25 years. A modular design has allowed the weapon to be continually upgraded over the course of time while the heavy payload and manageable size makes it popular with crews and commanders alike: A squadron of medium fighters can suddenly pose a significant threat to small/medium-sized capitol craft with a Kraken or two mounted on their external weapons racks. Heavy fighters such as the venerable Thunderchief may mount up to three such weapons...
The current iteration of the Kraken is a sizeable weapon to say the least. Measuring four meters in length and having a maximum diameter (including the length of the atmosheric stabalizers) of 1.3 meters, the Kraken needs a large host to get into battle. The Kraken is classified as a 'rocket' due to the simple fact that it is unguided, though it does posses stabalizer gyros which keep it going in the direction in which it was launched. The weapon is capable of hitting very distant targets, though the aim of the pilot must be very good indeed to achieve this. The pilot must also be confident that his target will not attempt evasive maneuvers. Upon impact, the Kraken's nuclear shaped-charge warhead will focus a savage blast directly into the target's hull; results are permanent, to say the least...
I've started a "cut-scene" grade model of this project on the grounds that I've finished detail drawings for the project. I hope you like it. :yes:
[attachment deleted by admin]
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good stuff, that concept sketch is great and the model works for me, i like the written bit wasn't sure about using anti-cap rockets but it would be more fitting in story (Terrans at the starting point of the project being a young and not especially advanced group, kind of keeping up enough with the neighbors so as to not get creamed). Looks like I will need to tweak the ACX-3X series weapons though the ACX-4X series i think will remain guided as they are special issue advanced torpedoes (improved damage and a quick re hash of the back story so the guidance is the new first gen system designed for anti-warship missiles/torpedoes)
about that background file I was on about, to save problems with distributing to yourself then others when they come along I have created a developer only section of the TC forum with a link to the hosted file so if you want to sign up i can quickly set the permissions up for you to get to it
F.Y.I.
ACX - Anti Capital weapon the X depends on if it is capital launched (M - Missile) or fighter/bomber launched (T - Torpedo)
In an attempt to distinguish between missiles and torpedoes a Missile is designed to operate between ships in the same category (Fighter/Bomber - Fighter/Bomber , Capship - Capship) and a torpedo operates solely from fighters against capships
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Wow, glad I stumbled onto this topic, this looks pretty cool.
Also would it not do this project a lot of good if it got its own badge and board?
Just saying that it might help.
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I'm following this thread with interest.
Just because.
*goes back to silent lurking*
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Knowing myself i want to get some momentum behind the project before seeking greater exposure on the forum, certainly want to have a concept campaign available, though that has temporarily stalled as my install of FS2 seems to be merrily corrupting mission files every now and again causing FS to fall over and die and i need to get a new copy as my old disks have died
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Ok, fair enough.
Oh and also I may be able to lend my limited modelling ability to help with this project if you need it. While I can't do this right now ask me again in about 4 months maybe?
Hope this all goes well.
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If I can get this to go anything like as planned then there will be many more than one campaign and in most of them there will be new enemies.
For example
Campaign 1 for an ice beaker and simplicity is the Terran Navy against a few violently competing Terran operated criminal organizations during the players first tour out of training.
Campaign 2 the player will find themselves in a renewed border skirmish against a semi-established foe
and so on. As each new opponent turns up there will be new ships, weapons and effects needed which means modelers will be required, depending on the status of the team there could well be a position available
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I suppose I've been guessing about weapons for a while. Hence the Kraken...
As weapons relate to gameplay, and gameplay corrolates directly with game physics... and as of this point, as we have no real coders, anything final will sort of have to wait. Still, one must try. :D
As far as rockets go, here's what I've had in mind:
-Light rockets: Fighter-to-fighter/anti-subsystem weapons. Sort of like your Tempest of FS2/FSO.
-Medium rockets: Unlike light rockets, which may be carried in vast quantities, medium rockets are the size of your average missile; thus you'll not mount as many. You might use these when making a run on a hostile turret/ship engines, etc.
-Heavy rockets: Bombs with engines. The Kraken would be a good example...
Note that all rockets are unguided... except for the fact that they might mount proximity fuses, etc., to detonate about a target (think flak)... or have stabalizer gyros which keep the weapon from accidentally straying off course.
Bombs would be interesting to see. As most of the mod's fighters will be aerospace fighters, atmospheric missions would be a neat addition to the project. With advancements in FSO's atmospheric flight model/Nuke's experiments, we might be able to make atmospheric flight more believable than a good DOS-era flight sim, while due to FS being FS, flight would be smooth and crisp regardless. Bombs are unpowered, thus if you launch them in space, they'll only go as fast as your fighter/bomber at the time of launch... and they'll only fly along your last straight flight vector. You'll also need to avoid flying into your own bomb.
Missiles and torps are the norm for space combat, aside from rockets and guns, of course. A fighter-to-fighter missile might be anywhere from 3-5 meters in length (which is realistic) while typically having a rather skinny diameter... though I suppose a 1-2 meter short-range swarm missile wouldn't be uncalled for. As I've not designed any yet, I won't go on about missiles too much, though they'll come in all shapes and sizes. You'll see everything from dogfight missiles to heavy, long-range weapons to anti-shipping missiles... and even rather large weapons of the type only capships and large bombers will be able to throw about.
Torpedoes are mainly limited to bombers and capships... though I suppose fighters might be able to mount light torpedoes. Capship torpedoes... I precieve will be a scary affair. I've concieved a few which will be anywhere form 20-30 meters in length :shaking: that will reach a rather high terminal velocity before impact. You'll see smaller ships using these to compensate for a lack of significant artillery (torpedo boats, sloops, frigates, destroyers, corvettes), though larger types will certainly be happy to throw them about as well. I'd like to think that capship battles will be rather savage affairs. :drevil:
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That all seems pretty cool man. :yes: :yes:
A few questions: Would we be able to model the rockets onto the ships. I.E. model the missile racks, which deplete as missiles are fired.
Also are the primaries energy cannons or kinetic weapons?
Oh and one last thing, I think that the smaller rockets/missiles could be kinetic impact, I.E no warhead. That would make it seem somewhat more believable for me.
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External weapons (Both primaries and secondaries) can and have been done. TBP's Starfuries carry their missile load on pylons, as do BtRLs Vipers. Steve-O's fighters (like the Jackal (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/FTF_Jackal) have them as well.
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for the Terrans standard primary weapons will be ballistic based (coil/rail gun setups). Terrans do possess LASER weapons but these are expensive and of limited application, basically as a shield breaker, the effect on "modern" armored hulls is minimal as they are designed to take high energy impacts.
several neighboring species utilize basic energy weapons more readily and random encounters with advances species operating advanced energy and other effect weapons
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Hmm, I think in that case, an idea would be proper lasers. Maybe in 2 sec bursts, large energy drain, but a proper laser cutting through the battle would be cool. I think that a super fast projectile with a hacked tail (like the Shivan Super laser) would do.
Also I presume in that case you will have to have ammo limits, ten thousand rounds maybe?
Is Thaeris the only one doing concept sketches, or can you do some headdie? That would help a lot to get a sense of the stylistic tone you want in this.
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Hmm, I think in that case, an idea would be proper lasers. Maybe in 2 sec bursts, large energy drain, but a proper laser cutting through the battle would be cool. I think that a super fast projectile with a hacked tail (like the Shivan Super laser) would do.
I feel like :v: already made a replacement for the hacked-tail invisible missiles that far more accurately simulates a true laser effect. It's called a beam weapon. :p
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Yeah, I know, I was thinking that as I hit post.
Please read it as: Why don't you make a beam weapon with no "charge ball" and a much thinner beam which can be used by fighters.
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Time for more concept art... about darn time, too!
In the image below is a bit of squad concept art. "Patches" are to the left, external markings are to the right.
This brings me to another point. I imagine it would be very useful to have a "dual insignia" system. Basically, any fighter/bomber of a given squad would load or be slaved to a given squad. For the player only, this means he/she would see only the patch art in the barracks, while a second, larger texture file would be used to apply markings to the given ship in-mission.
First, any given squad would have to have two image files attached to it. One would be the image you'd see in the barracks (already stated) and the other would be seen in-game (already stated). Ideally, the code would bring up both when loading a squad and differentiate between them by recognizing an identifier at the end of the file name. I'd like to think the "barracks" part is simple, but as I'm truly unexperienced in this field, I'm not sure the next part would work:
If the code doesn't support this... it would be nice if it was changed to. I'd like to think you could have every flight/ship that can use squad markings each have the ability to use their own. NOT just the markings of the squad the player is a part of. Since I've not touched FRED in a very long time, I can't really say... This is where it comes into play, though: The external squad textures are all modular, larger, textures than the barracks images. "Modular" refers to the fact that the external textures are divided into different external texture regions. Each part of a given ship that changs color due to squads is made as a "logo" object on the mesh. This is similar to the current mechanism for squad images in game, except each logo region loads only a specific texture region of the "external squad" image.
For instance, let's say it's an early mission and you're flying a fighter with the internal/security forces. That fighter is supposed to have blue trim on it when operating with that branch of the military. Again, you'd see the appropriate "official" squad art in the barracks, but in mission you'd see the fighter's tails colored differently/appropriately, and it would have the blue trim. Now go to a later mission where you're flying with the regular combat forces. In mission, the fighter is now possessing green trim, etc.
In short, this is a method of getting around the problem of having to have a whole mess of different skins for small craft. Actually, I'd assume FotG could use this as the color of a Rebel fighter changes due to what squad they're flying with.
...I'd really like some feedback on this idea. :D
Now, on to the art below: Certainly, the external art is very much based off of USN squadron markings (evidenced by the two letter tail codes). I believe in USN practice, tail codes pertain to the carrier on which the fighter squadron is based. However, I don't think that having each squadron bear its own unique two-letter identifier code would be a bad idea either. In many ways, the external art is in fact a "negative" of what you'd see in-game. Terran Navy tailfins are usually black in color, so you'd see a white, yellow, or some other high-contrast color on those images. The art itself is simple in comparison to the patches, usually being just mere lines rather than multiple colors. Almost like a stencil...
I tried to be rather generic with some of the concept designs, and as such the "17th Fighter Squadron" and the "209th Tactical Fighter Squadron" don't really have real names at this point. I couldn't help myself with the "72nd," though, and have to dub that one "Red Eagles." I'd really like to refine that one more, cleaning up the "heraldic" eagle and adding a patch ring with the squad name, etc. The "Conquerors" squad art was actually something I drew up very quickly... and to good effect, I think! I'm curious to see the reactions to these...
By the way, headdie, do you think you could send me a PM? I'll need to get on the project forum at some point. I'd just like to know if there's anything in particular that should come to my attention before then.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Wow, you are a good artist dude!
Yeah, that looks good, although I'm not sure if the interchangeable "logo" idea will save that much time, as we would still have to draw out each logo and skin in the first place. Though I guess it would help reduce the confusion of FREDing with several different skins for each fighter. :D
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The fighter in the post above looks a lot like a modern, more agressive version of the Ferret. I like it!
http://www.wcnews.com/ships/images/4views/wc2ferret4.gif (http://www.wcnews.com/ships/images/4views/wc2ferret4.gif)
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Thank you for the feedback, gentlemen. That of course is the Thunderchief, 23 meters of BAMF. ;7
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I like the badges Thaeris, you able to access the files ok?
Below is a mock up I have put together of the Centurion, a concept I have recently come up with.
Class - Centurion
Classification - Gunboat
Role - Fighter deterrent
Size
Height 10 meters
Length 30 meters
Width 40 meters
Crew
1 Pilot/Navigator
2 Gunners operating the turrets from remote stations in the cockpit
Standard Armament
2X4 Turret mounted light rail guns
2X4 forward mounted heavy coil guns
10 slammer missiles mounted in two bays
Description
Production of this class commenced in 2566, designed to operate in as many environments as possible its aerodynamic design and intake filters allows for prolonged operation in planetary atmospheres, its engine layout combined with thrust vectoring flaps provides a full range of movement in space. The small size and jack of all trades design reduces its killing power but as a go anywhere nuisance to hostile fighter operations has proven an advantage time and again.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I think that might be a good start, but it might be too small to be a gunboat... with some of the conventions I've been working on, that is...
Thus, let the discussions commence! There will be no stepping-upon of toes and fingers!
A big Terran fighter is obviously the Thunderchief, which comes in at 23 meters. I will let on that I've been working on a rather frighteningly large player controllable vessel; two words: orbital bomber. When the design is in good order, I'll of course want to show you. However, until then, you'll have to come to grips with the fact that it's 75 meters long. :nervous:
...Which is great for when you want to use a capship-sized torpedo... which itself is 25 meters long!
Like I said, discussions/communications are key in this, and it is your project, headdie. Will this be a player ship or will it be AI only?
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75 METERS. I can't wait to play that :D :D.
But the only problem with that is it will be a dog, it would turn so slow, or at least if it didn't it would be stupid. I like the look of that gunship, I guess that it is supposed to be small, like a heavy fighter.
Another thing, what kind of capships is the universe using, just like to know.
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until then, you'll have to come to grips with the fact that it's 75 meters long. :nervous:
...Which is great for when you want to use a capship-sized torpedo... which itself is 25 meters long!
That going to look impressive can’t wait to see it and might prove useful towards the end of campaign 1
I have defined the Centurion as a gunboat more out of the fact it is not a fighter based on
1) The crew is non typical for a fighter I am working on the theory of a fighter/bomber only has a pilot and possibly a navigator/weapons operator in comparison this craft has a pilot and two dedicated gunners
2) It is not a bomber in that it could take a small number of small anticapital rockets with a minor refit it would be very limited in this role
3) Its primary means of taking down hostile craft are the two turrets (poor agility prevents adequate dogfighting)
The reason the craft is so small is so it can be operated off larger carriers but typically gunboats would be larger so I suppose it would be a pocket gunboat
A thought I have just had is to have a dedicated carrier to take these things inter system.
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Happy New Year, Terran Chronicles team... or, headdie and I...
...
:D
I've had this concept brewing for a while, and it's actually derived from one of the first things I ever designed for the mod... Here's my take on the Dagger...
The drawing itself was, quite unusually, done in pen (the unusual part) on the back of a scrap sheet of paper at my grandparent's house. Initially, I figured it wasn't anything too important (and it's still no masterpiece), but after a bit of frantic sketching, I found it had some potential. Thus, after getting the groundwork for the drawing started earlier today, I took a few minutes to finish it this evening. The result has been archived and noted. I'll continue to work on it from here. :D
The fighter itself is equipped with four light-medium gun mounts in a single bank. A missile launcher on the ventral hull (a single secondary station) would rapidly feed missiles to the firing port - this would assumably be achived in game by having a certain type of missile(s) for the fighter. As the only change would be the reload rate in the tables, this would easily be done...
[attachment deleted by admin]
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looking good as usual, slight hangup on the dagger description as in my mind the missiles are mounted on external racking to save weight so at the moment i am now deciding if it best to change to using an internal launcher or if it would be best to use this fighter for a different ship
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ok here is a little something for you have been working on over Christmas
These are all needing textures at the moment if anyone wants a go please let me know
the MsF-16 Tornado superiority fighter. The variant flown in the first campaign will be the M3 but I have developed 4 versions all using the same basic stats
MsF-16 Tornado
Role - Superiority Fighter
Mission - Escort, space fighter dominance
Crew - 1
Prototype date - 12/06/2555
Production Date - 31/05/2556
Gun Mount - 4x Light/Medium cannons
Standard Load - 4x LMG-212 Maxus Light coil guns
Missile Load - 2 medium missile bays
Standard Load - 12 - LAF-HS-22 Sparrow light heat seeker
3 - MAF-RS-15 Homer medium radar seeker
length - 26 meters
Width - 20 meters (typical)
Height - 5.5 meters (typical)
M1
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/5d67b6623b33c18271f081bdc2b3dda82g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=tmy2yzgnyec&thumb=5)
M2
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/cdc93342a4e4eed51d1854e1c65d780f2g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=44jtdyne2t4&thumb=5)
extended wingtips to improve atmospheric handling and improve fuel capacity
M3
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/652e877bc19766fc5c420a3b0274bee12g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=jjndnqzymh2&thumb=5)
down swept wings to improve space and atmospheric agility
M4
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/19167b72af9396f59df4cf58f4ca4ef52g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=wemzneyjgkk&thumb=5)
Tactical version with the wings removed halving the width to be more manageable on a tactical flight deck but with reduced range
edit: added Parry
The CA-12 Parry class strike carrier
The pilots base for the first campaign will be the Crusader a surviving parry class carrier. Originally quick strike carriers during the final decades of the System Wars, these ships are now old, small, under armed, only average speed with low fighter capacity (4 squadrons of 12 fighter craft + a couple of small support shuttles) but they are reliable, cheep to run and have a low electronic emissions profile resulting in a continuing role as a fighter support platform.
CA-12 Parry
Role: Fighter Support Base
Mission: System Patrol, Battle group fighter support base
Crew: 446 (including pilots)
Prototype date - 16/05/2485
Production Date - 29/11/2490
Complement: 3x12 fighters
12 bombers
2 Search and rescue shuttles
1 Transport Shuttle (+1 "visiting" transport)
Gun Mount - 2x2 Light anti-capital Coil Guns
8x2 "Super Reaper" anti fighter guns
Missile Load - 1 variable directional heavy anti-capital rocket launcher typically loading ACR-38 Divider
Length: 650 meters
Width: 300 meters (320 meters with side mounted rocket launcher)
Height: 100 meters (150 meters with turrets at maximum elevation)
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/da4a43e7258ce296de1da9497c228be32g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=hmjegvwi2ju&thumb=5)
edit1: fixed M3 link
edit2: fixed my randomness saying all was textured when actuals should have said needing textured
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very interesting designs here! best of luck!
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necrothreadage but here goes
some of you on irc were interested in this
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/47f9317d4af1e7888f18bc51b7359dee2g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=zmzkz3mdzmo&thumb=5)
for those still interested here is how far i got tonight
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/73c6b4ba15edb82732d83e34c707d86f2g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=zodkwdmyfye&thumb=5)
I have started adding the upper super structure with an old fashioned style bridge, added some reinforcing type shapes on the downward swept section of the engine supports and cut a hole ready for the fighter bay
with this area still to be modeled
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/0387f53819648619c25bb26bb349af1a2g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=jmwb1qynjzm&thumb=5)
targets for the next step
the red area is a third engine and its supporting structure to supplement the two on the end of the trimaran style arms, also there is lots of work on the basic structure also the reinforcing on the engine supportscreated some nasty anomalies in the next section up of the supports
on an unrelated note it seems mediafire lost the m3 image posted before so i will re upload and fix that
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Headdie, good job!
I like where that's headed (pun intended) :drevil:.
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quick update, more of the basic shape formed over the last few days with the additional engine roughed out on the model, i have also done a little work on the upper superstructure and added platforms for the main and the larger supplementary weapon systems on the upper hull. I have also started an Armour belt along the lower hull which i am thinking of extending to the back of the ship to "protect" ammo stores and the fighter bay.
(http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/8164e22b61239d92f1c6797c540e0efb2g.jpg) (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=j0fmn1xfzny&thumb=5)
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Thanks to your signature I found this thread, and thanks to that... I found Stellar Frontier! So thanks :D
You got me curious about the game and it seems amazing, I'm downloading it right now. It just might fill the void left when I finished Escape Velocity Nova. And the most interesting is that, just like freespace, it is an old game that went open source and the communnity can now improve! Wouldn't it be great if it could evolve as much as freespace did since it became open-source?? *John Lennon's "Imagine" in the background*
Good luck with your project