[Axem]

Or something similar.





Right now she's got 3 beam cannons, 4 multi part turrets and 15 single parts. Meant to be a fast ship, what with all the engines at the rear. The top of the front needs a little something there, not sure what though. Haven't got around to putting textures on it yet, but I'll probably put some Deimos or Aeolus texs on. She also needs a name. Something... namey...

So any comments and/or suggestions?

[StratComm]

Those cute little multiparts

Seriously though, the turrets and the detail look great.  The one thing that I'm not a fan of is the single protrusion under the front.  I think I've seen this before, and said the same thing. It's not that the shape itself is a problem (though it's mighty primitive compared to the rest of the ship, especially the sides) but it throws the whole thing out of balance.  I find that for ships to look "complete" you should be able to draw a line from the center of the main engine blocks forward, and there should be about as much below the line as there is above.  You'd be on the money here if it weren't for that extrusion under the nose.  However, otherwise the model looks great.  Looks a lot like the Eclipse from MT, only more symmetric and more orderly.

[Unknown Target]

The protrusion needs to be blended with the rest of the model more. Other than that, it's pretty neat.

[Night Hammer]

that is beautiful

[WeatherOp]

Axem that look great! Good job.

[Taristin]

Too blocky for my tastes, but if it's a single object, it get's a thumbs up in my book.

[Axem]

I removed the engine and flattened the protrustion and it looks more steamlined and faster. Guess that'll teach me from borrowing inspiration from the Colossus.

[Taristin]

Originally posted by Axem
borrowing inspiration from the Colossus.


 

Bad.


Bad bad bad idea.

[WeatherOp]

The more I look at it, I say it would look better with a huge fighterbay, as a Carrier, than a corvette.

[StratComm]

Streamlined that is not.  Cool, it is.  Looks nice and chunky.  And volume balanced, which is one thing that can set a good model appart from a mediocre one.  I knew that block on the bottom just didn't belong

It's not impossible to make extra engines in the front seem like they belong; the Deimos is a good example of that done properly.  But like Raa said, the Colossus is a bad example of almost everything, so don't use it for inspiration unless all other sources fail.  And even then treat it with extreme caution.

EDIT: But my point from earlier still stands with the Colossus.  Open Modelview and load it up; look at the main flat bank of engines on the back, what I would generally consider to be the vertical "center" of the object.  Now imagine a line from that point forwards to the bow; even if you take into account the huge arm coming out the bottom of the hull, there's still about as much ship above that line as there is below it.

[MatthewPapa]

Nice work. Nifty design.

[Axem]

Raa: Lesson learnt.

WeatherOp: I tried to fit a fighter bay in somewhere, but couldn't find enough room. I'd have to go back and rearrange a few things to get a fighterbay big enough for a carrier.

StratComm: Streamlined-er then. I was talking relative to the older one. And interesting points about volume balancing, I'll have to keep that in mind for the future.

[Trivial Psychic]

I actually think that it could use a ventral engine cluster, just not one as extreme as in th'initial incarnation.  In th'second incarnation, th'bulk provided by th'rear engines look a bit unballanced, like it would tend t'nose-over in normal flight.  Include a ventral engine strut, but place it halfway from th'nose t'the tail, rather than near th'nose as in yer first image.  Then make it about half as long (or tall an ye prefer) as it was before, an' instead of one large engine, have 2 smaller ones.  The ventral engine strut should be wider than 'tis "tall".

For a different take again, use yer original design, but move th'engine strut about 2/3 of th'way t'the back.  Then, on th'front end of th'engine strut, in place of th'upper pair of intakes, extend it forward t'about th'point where th'engine strut begins on th'1st incarnation, an' have a fighterbay in place of intakes.

In any case, that space just below th'rear engines looks like it needs something.  Perhaps additional engines there could augment th''"fast corvette" image.

[Edit]
My slighty annoyed compliments to whoever coded this on-the-fly text alteration thing.  It seems my post has been "Pirated" by an April fooler.
[/Edit]

[Knight Templar]

Kind of neat, though it looks small IMO.

[Axem]

Smallish update. Took Trivals' suggestion and added a small engine cluster to the bottom. Does it look better or worse?

[NGTM-1R]

My first thought was that it was my Akula; that's where Strat has seen the ventral protrusion before. Unlike you, though, I didn't particularly care about Strat's opinion...or he didn't offer it on that subject...I think the latter...

The smaller engine cluster is, in a way, worse. There doesn't seem to actually be room for the engines inside it...

[Unknown Target]

The problem with the design is that you have nothing to balance out the Y axis. I suggest having an engine block, a long part of the ship, come out of the bottom, about a foot away from the back of the ship, and about 1/2 to 1/3 of the ship high.

              ____
                    |

Like that ^^ (if it works)

[StratComm]

I actually think the y-axis balance is better without an engine block down there.  The thing's already a little bottom-heavy as it is, and I think adding anything down there just makes it worse.  If the engine block segways into a feature that runs a good part of the ship's length, then that's fine; you're adjusting the center when you do that.   A Colossus-sytle engine arm sticking out the bottom isn't the solution. The last thing this needs is something tacked on, though, which is what the original underside engine block and this new one both are.

Originally posted by ngtm1r
My first thought was that it was my Akula; that's where Strat has seen the ventral protrusion before. Unlike you, though, I didn't particularly care about Strat's opinion...or he didn't offer it on that subject...I think the latter...

So that's where I saw that before.  You're right, I didn't like it there either.  But, my whole point in posting feedback isn't to mandate anyone to change their designs (actually it's quite the contrary, I have certainly tossed out enough suggestions about my own designs, no matter how valid they might be ) but just to get them to consider other options.  I think Axem has done a great job incorporating feedback thus far, while still maintaining plenty of artistic license over his design.

[Axem]

Yeah, I didn't like it either, looked too tacked on. I think I'll stick with the second incarnation with a smal few modifications.

Anyway, still looking for a name for this thing. I still have no idea what to call it.

[Specter]

Great model, but that "small engine cluster to the bottom" makes it worse.  Looks somehow similar to "Rogher Young" from "starship troopers"...