Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Assassin714 on August 25, 2018, 10:18:36 am
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This is a fun little idea I had where I will give my reviews/opinions on various fan-made ships for FS2 Open. I will be grading the ships based on 3 categories:
1. Geometry. This takes into account the model and nothing else - basically if the shape looks cool and has a good form
2. Aesthetics. This includes fancy stuff like HTL textures, glowmaps, shinemaps, and all of that other stuff. Pretty much the superficial appearance.
3. Verisimilitude. If the ship is meant to belong to a certain race/faction, this will grade how well it fits in with that aesthetic. For example, for a Vasudan ship, the higher score here will determine how 'authentically' Vasudan the ship looks, i.e. if it would be believable as a :v-old: ship. Of course this will apply to fanmade factions as well.
I'll also give a conclusion for each ship with my overall thoughts.
To start things out I will begin with a few classics.
1. EAD Lindos
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/thumb/0/04/Lindos_midpoly.jpg/695px-Lindos_midpoly.jpg)
Geometry: 9/10 I love the shape of this ship, it's like a flying city in space. Incredibly intimidating and ominous.
Aesthetics: 7/10 TBH the new rework versions sort of lack something compared to the original textures IMO, it looks a bit too busy and doesn't give that super intimidating, Borg Cube - esque feel to it. But it still looks nice.
Verisimilitude: 6/10 Color and texture fits EA just fine, but as noted in the description the shape is odd for a human ship. I could see this ship being retextured and used as belonging to an evil robotic race in a mod, maybe.
Overall: One of my favorite custom ships, looks like a very formidable opponent, although the actual threat it poses in Inferno doesn't really match its appearance. It would have been better if the Nemesis design was scaled down and used for a standard EA destroyer, with a slightly larger version of this used for their flagship. Still, this ship has great promise.
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SSJ Gigas
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/7/7d/Ssjgigas.jpg)
Geometry: 6/10 The overall shape is somewhat reminiscent of the Rakshasa, yet unique as well. However, at least in the versions I've seen, many parts are rounded to a somewhat ugly degree and it doesn't really look as sharp, polished, and pointy as a Shivan ship should.
Aesthetics: 5/10 Based solely on the Inferno release 1 model. It's serviceable but not all that pretty.
Verisimilitude: 7/10 It's definitely Shivan. Shivan ships have such eclectic designs that it can be hard to say how much a ship really fits in with them, but this one is certainly believable.
Overall: Huge, imposing, and powerful, but could use some updates in the graphics and modeling department.
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GVD Hedetet
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/thumb/c/c2/Hedetet1.jpg/800px-Hedetet1.jpg)
Geometry: 8/10 Parts of it seem kind of awkward but the shape is overall very nice.
Aesthetics: 9/10 The new Nostos model is gorgeous
Verisimilitude: 8/10 It's very similar to and was obviously inspired by the Hatshepsut, but it's different enough to not be a ripoff. This is a quintessentially Vasudan design.
Overall: Most of my experience with this ship comes from Sync, where it had a great cameo, although the player never really got a chance to interact with it in any meaningful way. Hoping to see more of it in other campaigns.
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AF Kato
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/3/32/KatoHTL-wiki.jpg)
Geometry: 9/10 A rather simple yet brilliant and elegant design.
Aesthetics: 8/10 Using the newest textures, of course. Quite pretty.
Verisimilitude: 9/10 You might think that this would be hard to judge, as the only canon Ancient structure that we've ever seen is the Knossos, but this ship fits perfectly with the visual style of said portal and is easily believable as an Ancient fighter.
Overall: This could easily have been a :v-old: model if they had decided to include it. A classic on par with many of the original canon fighters.
If anyone wants any opinions on any other ships, I'll be taking requests.
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Cool. :)
Do the SF Gorgon (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/SF_Gorgon).
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I think there's a smoothed and slightly edited version of the Gigas somewhere.
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SF Gorgon
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/thumb/2/20/SFGorgon.png/412px-SFGorgon.png)
Geometry: 5.8/10 It's basically a Basilisk with a differently-shaped front section, but it does have a cool profile to it.
Aesthetics: 7/10 Good, but not exceptional
Verisimilitude: 8/10 Obviously Shivan. Would be higher if it could pull that off without copying such a large part of the Basilisk.
Overall: Classic Inferno fighter, sort of unoriginal but looks and feels menacing. A believable Shivan fighter.
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And as a bonus:
GTF Starstrider
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/d/d1/Starstrider.jpg)
Geometry: 5/10 The shape is neat, but it looks completely flat, and basically like a slightly stretched Pegasus.
Aesthetics: 7.5/10 Parts of it look ugly and pixelated from the screenshot, although the overall pattern is very cool - looking.
Verisimilitude: 4/10 Although the shape is similar to the Pegasus, it really doesn't look all that much like a GTVA fighter, but it's passable as one.
Overall: I've never actually played a mission with this ship or seen it in-game, I just picked one randomly from the wiki for this bonus review so I'm judging everything based on the screenshot.
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Perhabs you should note that the Gorgon was actually made after a :v-old: concept art.
The Starstrider was always my fav stealth fighter, even though it has a small poly bug in the rear section.
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That picture of the Lindos you linked is c914's rework from like a billion years ago. You should probably link the new one from Nostos so people know which one you're talking about.
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That picture of the Lindos you linked is c914's rework from like a billion years ago. You should probably link the new one from Nostos so people know which one you're talking about.
It's the one I felt looks better.
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That picture of the Lindos you linked is c914's rework from like a billion years ago. You should probably link the new one from Nostos so people know which one you're talking about.
It's the one I felt looks better.
You should mention this somewhere, the Gorgon also shows the low-poly version.
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I like this thread.
Could you review these?
http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/RVF_Mihos (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/RVF_Mihos)
http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GVB_Hathor (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GVB_Hathor)
http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GVB_Maahes (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/GVB_Maahes)
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RVF Mihos
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/6/64/HTL_Mihos.jpg)
Geometry: 8.5/10 As the description says, it's evocative of the Ulysses, yet significantly different. If I had to imagine what a Vasudan Ulysses would look like, this pretty much fits the bill. Not a big fan of the antennae but they hardly ruin it.
Aesthetics: 9/10 Gorgeous. My only complaint would be that the fancy effects make parts of the ship too dark to really make out in the screenshot.
Verisimilitude: 7/10 It's definitely Vasudan, although with a complete retexturing it could be mistaken for a Terran craft.
Overall: A worthy addition to the lineup of Vasudan fighters
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GVB Hathor
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/4/4c/GVBHathor.jpg)
Geometry: 4.1/10 It's basically an uglier, busier version of the Sekhmet, which was already pretty cluttered-looking originally IMO. To be perfectly honest I don't like it.
Aesthetics: 8/10 The textures are great, though, very nice looking.
Verisimilitude: 5/10 The gunmetal-grey colors fit a Terran design better than a Vasudan one. The shape is similar to the Sekhmet, but that itself was heavily inspired by the Shivan Nahema. So it's not really all that distinctly Vasudan.
Overall: It's a very detailed and complex - looking ship, but that works against it in my view.
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GVB Maahes
(http://wiki.hard-light.net/images/thumb/d/d0/Htl-maahes.png/800px-Htl-maahes.png)
Geometry: 7.8/10 I like the asymmetrical design, and it manages to be creative while still looking interesting. However the model is a bit dated (at least judging from the screenshot)
Aesthetics: 6/10 Again, seems a bit dated. Colors and textures not as sharply defined as they could be.
Verisimilitude: 9/10 You can instantly tell this is a Vasudan ship by looking at it, even though its shape is unique. It might be harder to tell without the textures, but the scale and fin-like parts are a good indicator.
Overall: Great design, but could use a graphics update.
Keep in mind that I will take requests of any ships from any mods, as long as they were designed by the FS2 modding community (i.e. no canon ships from Babylon 5 or Star Wars, but if you created original ships for those universes I'll look at them).
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Huh. The Maahes is one of the most detailed small ships available. But it'd benefit from a PBR upgrade. ;7
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The Maahes doesn’t look dated at all to me, at least by FSO standards. I really like the panel lines. Might need a bit of weathering.
Have you considered booting these models up in the ship lab and spinning them around a bit? That would let you get WAY more detailed, you could look at the quality of normal maps/glowpoints/etc.
Ship lab is F3 in main hall.
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Well a lot of these ships I don't have downloaded in a mod.
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Little bit o' self-promotion: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=94364.0
These are the most recent ones, the collection is complete aside the ships released with INF Nostos.
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Little bit o' self-promotion: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=94364.0
These are the most recent ones, the collection is complete aside the ships released with INF Nostos.
Can you name a few specifically? That's too many for a single request.
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I just wanted to give a source for ingame pictures in case you want to continue this. I only noticed that you sometimes used and judged outdated things or ships that look (now) different to the wiki entries, I had nothing particular in mind.
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How about the GTSC Schroedinger (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=93907.0), a joint effort between Moonred, Hades, and Nyctaeus.
It's in the Scroll modpack, though not in any of the Part I missions. It'll appear in Part II.
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GTSC Schrodinger
(http://i67.tinypic.com/2m7fe39.jpg)
Geometry: 7/10 It's a very good model, but the shape itself is sort of boring, being basically just a Faustus with the blocky ends replaced with cylinders. It gets bonus points for the details, though.
Aesthetics: 9/10 Beautiful textures that really enhance the details in the model.
Verisimilitude: 8.5/10 Obviously part of the Faustus design family, yet noticeably distinct, and suitably more high-tech looking, to represent it being a more technologically advanced ship.
Overall: A worthy next-generation Terran science cruiser.