[Unknown Target]

Hey guys. NTEOP is gone, and in it's place is my next design Here's the first ship - the player's ship, a small corvette with about a single squadron of fighters. It's a WIP, so don't expect too much detail yet. The little bubble underneath the bow of the ship is the bridge, and the big drum on the back is where the fighters launch out of.



C&C?


EDIT: Update, just added some engines to my fat-assed baby



EDIT 2:

Played with the proportions - made the tail end smaller and added turret placeholders - they're going to be changed, they're just letting me know where everything is.




Just a clarification on the "fighter drum" on the back. The way it works is, fighters are arranged pointing outwards. Hatches on the pod open up, and the fighters shoot straight out - like bees flying out of a honeycomb. For a sci-fi reference, imagine the Battlestar Galactica fighter holes arranged in a circular formation (NOTE: I didn't rip the idea off of BSG though, I got it before that show was around ).

[Nuclear1]

Can't really make much of it right now. Sort of looks like a mixture of Sajuuk/Deimos/Moloch.

This should look good when it's done. Keep it up, UT.

[TrashMan]

Looking good.. Excellent rear section and an interesting idea on the bridge below..

I suggest connecting the back and the front raised parts with a tube like section, slightly narrower than the top part.

[Mongoose]

Looks like it has a lot of potential

[StratComm]

I like the shape as it is right now.  Details, details, details, but leave the profile alone.  And if those are supposed to be Homeworld-style turrets on the top, they probably should be a little smaller.

[Unknown Target]

They're not particularly supposed to be like Homeworld, moreso like current naval turrets

But here we go - fighter drum update. Now you can see what I meant:



And when the upper level is launching, it looks like this:



Total fighter capacity is 40 craft.

[Prophet]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
They're not particularly supposed to be like Homeworld, moreso like current naval turrets

Hmm... Just make sure that they just look like current naval turrets. That they are not positioned like current naval turrets.
I mean that I am again seeing the belly being left relatively unprotected while the back has, again, huge, nice and powerful looking cannons...

Otherwise it's lokin very nice

[Unknown Target]

There is a belly turret, it's just being obscured by the two "fins"

I'm having trouble with detailing/greebling though. Suggestions?

[Unknown Target]

Greebling in Sketchup:



Total polycount so far (including unshown greeblage) is 10144.

[mikhael]

I like it, but its a bit polylicious. I'd ignore greebling for now, unless you've already got all the main details nailed down.

[Unknown Target]

All the main guns on (no attachments):



(There is one underneath the ship, between the wings - it is obscured)

Detail of one of the turrets (greebles will be added):

[Prophet]

Okay. This was just what I was talking about...

First, as I expect to be in flames soon, I assure you that I do like the idea of big naval type turrets. And I stress that this design is very neat and I like it!

But there is a serious design flaw. As I said earlier, the belly is relatively unprotected. As there is triple the firepower pointing upwards... Space has three dimensions, as in enemy can come from above as well as below.
This particular design is still quite cool, and I am not saying that it must be modified immediatley to accommodate more downwards firepower.

I brought this issue up because I have seen this problem manifesting itself in numerous other models as well. And I find it disturbing that a space faring vessel has no big turrets in its belly. And hence does not even look as cool from below as it does above (where big guns can often be found).

[Unknown Target]

I realize that the belly is quite unprotected (there being only one large gun underneath the ship) - yet so is the rear quarters as well. I'm starting to lean towards the light carrier role for this vessel - as it is the main ship in the game, and the lead of a small (about 10-15) vessel fleet, it would not need so much attack power as defense. I'm also confident that the three torpedo tubes I just added (in the belly, just behind the wings and forward of the fighter tube) will amplify the lower armarment signifciantly, and the two rear tubes (not added, but will be most likely below the engine shrouds) will protect the lower rear quarters from attack.
There will also be about 2-4 anti-fighter turrets underneath the ship. To save space, each single turret will have machine guns, a flak cannon, and two missile launchers in one turret (this is partly because it'd be easier and make more sense, partly because there's not enough room for each turret, and partly because I'm too lazy to model three seperate turrets ).

[Raptor]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
For a sci-fi reference, imagine the Battlestar Galactica fighter holes arranged in a circular formation (NOTE: I didn't rip the idea off of BSG though, I got it before that show was around ).

Really? You came up with this idea before 1978?

The circular rotation and fighters going straight out is like B5 launch it's Starfurys too...

[Bobboau]

I think the animation code you'd need for those launch tubes is in.
though, it would probly open all the doors for any launch.

[Unknown Target]

Originally posted by Raptor


Really? You came up with this idea before 1978?

The circular rotation and fighters going straight out is like B5 launch it's Starfurys too...

I never saw how they launched in the original BSG, and I've only seen about two episodes of B5 So it wasn't a copycat anyway

Anyway, Bobbau, is there no way I could do it individually? Each hatch is a seperate sub-object, so it's not all together.

[StratComm]

The problem is there's no way to tell which door to open.  The trigger for the animation would be any launch, not a launch along a specific path.