[Woolie Wool]

I've always thought the thruster trails of Terran ships are too pale. The white glow section of the trail makes the whole thing look kind of bland. So I recolored the glow section of the Vasudan trail blue for the engine effects of the Earth Federation from my Starforce mod. What do you think of the following screens?


The majestic EFDn Olympus stands proudly against the blackness of space.


An Earth Federation Ezechiel fighter streaks toward its target.

[Lightspeed]

I think it looks like some cartoon.

[StratComm]

Ugh... first off, what have you done to the Solaris?  It was never meant to be skinned like that

Secondly, while the bluish tails look ok on smaller craft, it looks outright stupid on anything larger than a bomber.  Leave them pale.  Or if you insist on using something brighter, use Lightspeed's.

[Liberator]

Nice!

Ignore these louts, it looks nice.  I have always thought that the Terran engines should be bluer since that's their color but have lacked the skill to act on it.  Good Job!

[Nico]

change the eze maps so it says EFF rather than GTF, maybe?

[aldo_14]

Why do I recognise that Olympus thingie?

[Deepblue]

Wasnt it in a model dump?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Deepblue
Wasnt it in a model dump?

Um...maybe.  I don't actually know.  I think so, but I can't remember making it, or what with, or what for.

 I think it may have been this black thing i gave to inferno, but I dunno.  This happens a lot to me, tho.  Wish someone had told me senility kicks in at 20............

[StratComm]

It's the Solaris, from Inferno.  It's supposed to be the SOC flagship, and it's original mapping is awesome.  Thus my comments in my first post.

It probably is yours aldo, it has the feel of your models.

[Woolie Wool]

Originally posted by StratComm
Ugh... first off, what have you done to the Solaris?  It was never meant to be skinned like that

It's supposed to be a hodgepodge of Earth Federation and Savaran Imperial Alliance design, and since the EF black style would clash terribly with SIA style (which is the same as Inferno EA), I used Orion textures for the EF parts. I'll skin the whole thing with Orion textures if it's really that bad.

[Gregster2k]

Heh...that Solaris reskin is pretty interesting. Now that you guys mention the Orion, I suddenly want to see the ORION with the Inferno Solaris textures

Speaking of engine trails, [ubernubquestion] is it possible to have more engine trails defined than just Terran, Vasudan and Shivan?[/ubernubquestion]

[ubernubquestion2] Can AI capships use afterburners if you put them on a capship?[/ubernubquestion2]

I dream of an AI capship that can use an uber fast "afterburner" which creates a huge halo around the ship, like a really huge and translucent engine flare surrounding entire ship when it afterburns... mmm...the solaris would be such a perfect looking ship for that kind of drive system...

anyway yeah i like that reskin, although some parts are odd looking i suppose. Hmm. I wonder what the Iceni would look like with orion textures, or the Orion with Solaris (Inferno) textures...

[StratComm]

Typically the only think that looks ok with Orion textures is the Orion, and that's stretching it a bit.  Then again, I'd rather have a ship grey with highlights than blue so I may be a bit biased.

[Woolie Wool]

[/qupte]Speaking of engine trails, [ubernubquestion] is it possible to have more engine trails defined than just Terran, Vasudan and Shivan?[/ubernubquestion][/quote]
Now it is with FS2_Open. I might upload images of all six Starforce species' engine trails soon.

[ubernubquestion2] Can AI capships use afterburners if you put them on a capship?[/ubernubquestion2]

I dunno. Why would you do such a thing anyway. Caps are supposed to be lumbering behemoths with the maneuverability of beached sperm whales.[/quote]

I dream of an AI capship that can use an uber fast "afterburner" which creates a huge halo around the ship, like a really huge and translucent engine flare surrounding entire ship when it afterburns... mmm...the solaris would be such a perfect looking ship for that kind of drive system...

That sounds stupid.

anyway yeah i like that reskin, although some parts are odd looking i suppose. Hmm. I wonder what the Iceni would look like with orion textures, or the Orion with Solaris (Inferno) textures...

1. The Iceni is ugly in any texture scheme.
2. The Orion would still have to keep its Capital01-04a map (the runway one) because those bands of light need to be there to make the Orion look its best. That aside, I dunno. The lights tile would probably be pretty ugly on a ship like the Orion.

[SadisticSid]

Actually our Solaris has been reskinned and the mesh has been altered slightly - i.e. some of the sticky-out bits have been chopped off.

LS was right though; the first pic does strike one as being out of a cartoon. I would recommend you ditch the ambient light.

[Fineus]

What effect exactly are people working for at the moment? I mean not to put to fine a point on it, but I quite liked the flaming look that the thrusters had back in the FS Intro, you got a particularly good look at this with the Apollo as it flew past during the opening seconds. I'd rather the glow was smaller but obviously very animated and looked the part - rather than huge and colorful and obscuring the flames.

[Woolie Wool]

Originally posted by SadisticSid
Actually our Solaris has been reskinned and the mesh has been altered slightly - i.e. some of the sticky-out bits have been chopped off.

LS was right though; the first pic does strike one as being out of a cartoon. I would recommend you ditch the ambient light.

There was no ambient light. The screenshots were meant to show off the ships, and so that as much of the ship as possible could be seen, I put in four suns, one at the top of the "star sphere", one at the extreme left, one at the extreme right, and one at the bottom. This was before ambient lighting was put back in.

[Woolie Wool]

Originally posted by SadisticSid
Actually our Solaris has been reskinned and the mesh has been altered slightly - i.e. some of the sticky-out bits have been chopped off.

The sticky-out bits were what made the mesh so cool in the first place.

Anyway, just wait till I roll out the Savaran Imperial Alliance fleet screenies with their green trails. Now that will look cool. Trust me.

Green thrusters may sound strange, but color is one of the major ways I diferentiate the races (besides their ship styles):
Savaran Imperial Alliance: Gray EA-style ships, green effects, teal AB effects
Vasudan Parliamentary Empire: Vasudan-looking tan/brown ships, yellow effects, orange AB effects
Microsol Consortium: Brown/gray FS2 Terran style ships, red thruster effects, red-orange weapon and AB effects
Earth Federation: Black OTT ships, blue effects, yellow AB effects
Erigonean: Green/gray Microsolesque ships, white effects, teal AB effects
Zica: Chrome/purple sleek ships, purple effects, red-orange AB effects

[Setekh]

Hmm, you know, my kneejerk reaction is that I don't like them very much, but they give a very distinctive look to the mod. I say keep them, but have a mind to continually refining them as you go and being open to changes. It's growing on me.

[Woolie Wool]

Heh, one of the major reasons I like it is because it really gives the mod a fresh and unique look, especially as more and more switch to Lightspeed's hybrid graphics instead of the originals (I must be among the only ones still using conical trails). Starforce is not just an FS2 sequel, it is set so far in the future (over 1,600 years after FS2) that the galaxy is a wholly different place. They do look sort of like an anime, but in a good way.

Anyway, a lot of the criticisms probably come from the screenshot of the Olympus. The huge cluster of engine glows saturates to almost monochrome blue and makes the thrusters look somewhat unfortunate in appearance.

Here's a page full of screenshots of the Earth Federation ships and their cyan thrusters:
http://www.snohost.com/~spaceforce/screenshots2.htm