Author Topic: Interceptor  (Read 8671 times)

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Okay, so i haven't posted any new work in a while, so i thought i'd get started on finishing that fleet i started...i'm too burnt out of working on cap ships for DaBrain, so back to work on my "own" universe...

Here's a light interceptor...just fast, lightly armored, and fast.

Comments, suggestions, flames and opinions?

Oh, and i just started it, so it'll be a couple days or so before you get the finished project...

WIP:





Oh and yes i'm aware that vertical and horizontal stabilizers have absolutely no function is space...they just look cool.
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Offline Herra Tohtori

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I associate this to Viper Mk.VII, though abnormally elongated and extra radiators added below the fuselage. At least they look like radiators, other possibility would be secondary weapon banks but they certainly do look more like either radiators. Or auxiliary engines. What are they?

Oh, and the fins most likely are useful in atmospheric flight, giving the vessel aerodynamic stability. It looks like it would produce a sufficient amount of lift by the radiator/auxiliary engine thingsies, considering the frame is quite thin and lightweight.

In functional sense the nose is absolutely too long. What does it do with it? Does it has massive sensor array, or ammunition storage there? Because if it's just empty space, it'll increase the ships angular momentum relative to pitch and yaw axes and thus decrease maneuverability. Roll rate would be excellent, however, but that's really not that useful in dogfight. The long nose would only come in handy if you want to move the center of gravity forwards, giving the ship increased aerodynamic stability.

Of course, if it has multiple long range missiles, maneuverability is not really an issue. I could see that fighter using hit-and-run tactics against bomber wings - approach with high speed, destroy targets of opportunity with missiles and guns, swoop away before the escort fighters have time to engage you - and even if they do, you can outrun them. By the way, what kind of primaries does this thing has? Ballistic (projectile) or energy weapons?

EDIT: Forgot to say - it's not a bad thing if it resembles a Viper a little... It's an universal, versatile design, so naturally people want to use it regardless of it being already "taken".  :D It's quite natural - whopping big engines in the back, cockpit in front of them, some stabilizers for atmo flight, a longish nose and perhaps some random stuff attached to fuselage, and you got a basic space fighter/bomber, depending on proportions and size. The most simple starship design, and it cannot be credited on BSG alone... X-Wing and Z-Wing being perfect examples of this design.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2006, 10:13:27 pm by Herra Tohtori »
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 
Uh...i think you're talking about the "thingies" on either side of the fusulage: they're both engines...and may contain weapons.

The elongated nose...is for weapons storage, and radar array.   I firmly believe that "energy" weapons are a goof and are extremely unrealistic...though they are cool, my entire fleet uses ballistic weapon types, except for the one or two "beam" weapons onboard cap ships.  

"lasers" can work, but need such a ridiculous power requirement, that they realistically would have to be mounted on large vessels, and would in effect "burn" a hole in other ships, or at least raise the tempurature of the hull surface increasing the internal tempurature of the ships and frying the occupants of the ship.

All weapons must be stored internally on the fighter so there is a need for a large payload bay, and it happens to be directly ahead of the pilot.

Edit: Main engines are the pods on either side of the fuselage...afterburners aft of the cockpit.
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Offline Mars

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Figure that all of these ships are fusion powered, and that bullets, even traveling at their maximum muzzel velocity, don't move anywhere fast enough to do damage to warships capable of surviving the first blast of a supernova. (Somhow the Maxim works, but it wouldn't in real life.)

 
view of the weapons bay: it's the space between the two pods...you should be able to see the seem from the bay doors...
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Figure that all of these ships are fusion powered, and that bullets, even traveling at their maximum muzzel velocity, don't move anywhere fast enough to do damage to warships capable of surviving the first blast of a supernova. (Somhow the Maxim works, but it wouldn't in real life.)

I beg to disagree...in the case of a supernova...the blast would exceed several million degrees, turning even the strongest alloys into liquid very quickly...plus, say for instance a rail gun, is capable of penetrating nearly any armor, coupled with explosive rounds, would be devestating.   Again, Freespace isn't the judge of what is realistic, neither are my ships, that's why they call it scifi

Muzzle velocity of machine guns in an atmosphere are drastically different than that of BSG or this universe...instead of say 2K feet per second from an M1 rifle, the weapons would produce about 100x that speed...plus there is no drag to limit effective range.

oh, and if something can survive a supernova, what makes you think that a meson would have a more powerful blast than a star...

in real life, there are no lasers, or fusion drives to begin with...mankind has used ballistic weapons for hundreds of years, and they don't seem to be losing their edge.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2006, 10:52:58 pm by supernova »
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Cockpit

A little bland but i figure you won't see it much anyways
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Offline Unknown Target

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Cockpit looks cool, but the shape is a little...blah. I mean...the shapes don't seem to work together, especially the inward pull at the rear of the intakes.

 
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Offline Herra Tohtori

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Why don't you elongate the main engines so that you can integrate them with horizontal stabilizers? I don't know what it will look like, but you could try. Technically, it would

a. give the ship more atmospheric capacity, by increasing the lift area

b. move center of lift backwards, by adding athmospheric stability.

I myself think that even if space fighters are ever needed, they must be able to operate on athmosphere also. At least to some extent. Adding atmospheric capacities of course might increase the mass of the ship and decrease space flight abilities, but as your ship looks quite aerodynamic to begin with, I'd bet it was planned to have at least some kind of a role in atmospherc operations, so... Anyway, if it doesn't look good, don't do it.  :)
There are three things that last forever: Abort, Retry, Fail - and the greatest of these is Fail.

 

Offline aldo_14

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I like it, although maybe just verging on the wipeout a very small tad.

 

Offline IPAndrews

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I like it, although maybe just verging on the wipeout a very small tad.

I agree 100%. Perhaps more so.
Be warned: This site's admins stole 100s of hours of my work. They will do it to you.

 
hmmm, honestly, i don't know what the wipeout looks like, nor do i know what it is...maybe a picture?
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Offline aldo_14

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Wipeout.  Y'know, the PS1/2/P futuristic racers with sort of dart-like hoverracers.

 
never played the games...i avoid consoles like the plague...except of course my trusty Famicon(Jap NES)...
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Offline Windrunner

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never played the games...i avoid consoles like the plague...except of course my trusty Famicon(Jap NES)...

Here is an example of a Wipeput ship
But i like the design of your ship. Before anyone makes any assumptions i would like to see that shipped skinned to see how it looks then.

Staffmember: Hard Light Productions
I said a lot of things.  Some of them were even true. - Aldo_14

 
I'm trying to finalize the UV mapping coordinates, but i think i'm gonna move some things, i'm not super happy with placement, but this is where it's at:

I think the stars aren't bright enough, i'll have to fix that for final render...
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Offline Grug

  • 211
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Woah, very nice. :D :yes:

Personally, I'm one for a bit more paint on my ships but it looks pretty darn swoit. :)

 

Offline Carl

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It's a really long medusa.
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