QUOTE (DarthKev @ Aug 25 2010, 09:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed, that shade of green is excellent. Reminds me of EVN's Rebel ships.

I actually like the green--it's a bit too vibrant for me (maybe it could be dulled and darkened a bit), but the green actually looks good. I don't like the white sections, though--I'd prefer them black. I also suggest adding a cool logo somewhere.

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Aug 25 2010, 09:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like this idea. It makes perfect sense to me, too. Why would the NDC allow civilians to masquerade as the military by painting a civilian ship in their military colors? The military variant, however, I'm guessing would usually be flown by NDC military personnel, so the military paint-job there is a good thing.

I'm surprised I never noticed that the Journeyman was available to civilians as well, so I second this idea.

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Aug 25 2010, 09:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's how I do.

Grr.

Well, the Journeyman is in the game, and looking pretty good. I'd do another screenshot but they're all starting to look the same. Suffice it to say it handles like a dream, and I rendered the banking frames in ever so subtle a way that it's almost not noticeable unless you really pull hard to one side. It looks really slick.

Also, I tried doing a white mock-up sprite, but it just simply looked desaturated and dull. I'll probably leave it in military cobalt blue, with the simple justification that since it's more of a transport than a military combat vehicle, the NDC sells it to the public market.

QUOTE (king_of_manticores @ Aug 25 2010, 02:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't like the white sections, though--I'd prefer them black.

You'll be happy to know that those regions are not actually white. The angle I picked simply has the sun projecting from the top-left, reflecting off the metallic hull, and showing up white. When you rotate the ship in space there are several pretty spots that pick up the ambient lighting and really make it beautiful, but they can admittedly look a little strange out of their context.

The ribs on the body and the pontoons of the Alexander are actually a deep grey, but with a high reflectivity/metallicity.

accidental double post

This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 27 August 2010 - 12:14 AM

QUOTE (Delphi @ Aug 26 2010, 08:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You'll be happy to know that those regions are not actually white. The angle I picked simply has the sun projecting from the top-left, reflecting off the metallic hull, and showing up white. When you rotate the ship in space there are several pretty spots that pick up the ambient lighting and really make it beautiful, but they can admittedly look a little strange out of their context.

The ribs on the body and the pontoons of the Alexander are actually a deep grey, but with a high reflectivity/metallicity.

It's your choice whether to keep it that way or not, I just don't like green and white unless the latter is used sparingly, as with the Rebel ships. Green and black is a nicer combination in my opinion.

QUOTE (king_of_manticores @ Aug 26 2010, 11:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's your choice whether to keep it that way or not, I just don't like green and white unless the latter is used sparingly, as with the Rebel ships. Green and black is a nicer combination in my opinion.

Don't worry, as I said, the green isn't the default body color. I was just trying it for the fun of it, or perhaps as a custom sprite for my own pers ship. The regular Alexander is blue and grey like all the other NDC ships. Also like I said, it's not actually white. It was just the way the light was reflecting off of it.

See?

Also, that's the regular color.

I always promised I'd never take the easy way out by using complementary colors to create contrast between ships, but hear me out on this one.

How do you suppose it would look if I created a few playable ships for NDC space that are based off of military versions, but come with yellow and black paintjobs and are mostly related to cargo and construction tasks? I'm currently in the process of assemlbing two variants for the Journeyman, one which is basically a weaker, cheaper version, and one that is slower and designed better for cargo hauling, and I was just thinking that the hauler could look very decent with a splash of yellow in its design to denote it as a heavy duty non-combat vehicle. Think of a space forklift, basically.

This post has been edited by Delphi : 27 August 2010 - 04:47 AM

Okay, I lied. Here's a screenshot of the Journeyman. I've been flying it around for a little while now to test revisions I did to the weapons, and I'd say it's fun enough that it merits an in-game picture.

Sweet. I'm so gonna rule the galaxy with that thing.

And to go with the Journeyman is one of its variants, the Journeyman 1A. This little ship was part of the prototype design for the original Journeyman, but popularity of the Journeyman for light inter-system travel spurred the further development of this trimmed-down lighter variant, sporting far lesser weaponry and capabilities but still incorporating the comfortable living spaces of the larger version and sharing its popularity as a passenger transport. The designers at Journeyman Interstellar (a subsidiary of Nichron Shipyards) hope that this smaller version will ultimately replace the larger variant in the public market, freeing up the more capable model for its original purpose: deep space exploration.

In all other respects, this is basically my replacement for the shuttle and heavy shuttle from Nova. The Versatile is due for a graphics refit and performance review in the immediate future, and I'm not sure how it will get shuffled around in the ship hierarchy once all is said and done. It may get bumped up a notch or two to become an intermediate transport vessel, and I was thinking I might attach some cargo pods to its belly so it actually looks like it's carrying something.

I'm still torn on how to best represent myself as a pers resource, and what ship to fly.

Perhaps I should just triapse about the universe in a solid gold-plated Alexander that fires nothing but sunshine and rainbows... followed by painful death. I don't know.

By the way, the solid gold Alexander will not be in the game. Sorry if I got your hopes up.

agh, stupid Google Chrome made me double post again

This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 27 August 2010 - 11:06 AM

QUOTE (Delphi @ Aug 26 2010, 10:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't worry, as I said, the green isn't the default body color. I was just trying it for the fun of it, or perhaps as a custom sprite for my own pers ship. The regular Alexander is blue and grey like all the other NDC ships. Also like I said, it's not actually white. It was just the way the light was reflecting off of it.

Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarification.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Aug 27 2010, 02:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How do you suppose it would look if I created a few playable ships for NDC space that are based off of military versions, but come with yellow and black paintjobs and are mostly related to cargo and construction tasks?

I'd need to see this in action, but it doesn't sound half bad.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Aug 27 2010, 05:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm still torn on how to best represent myself as a pers resource, and what ship to fly.

Perhaps I should just triapse about the universe in a solid gold-plated Alexander that fires nothing but sunshine and rainbows... followed by painful death. I don't know.

By the way, the solid gold Alexander will not be in the game. Sorry if I got your hopes up.

Dangit. That actually looks insanely awesome.

I know it would be a resource hog, but that would be the ultimate Easter egg to find and capture. You could make it appear in one or two systems, off the beaten track, with a 1-2% appearance rate.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Aug 27 2010, 05:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I always promised I'd never take the easy way out by using complementary colors to create contrast between ships, but hear me out on this one.

How do you suppose it would look if I created a few playable ships for NDC space that are based off of military versions, but come with yellow and black paintjobs and are mostly related to cargo and construction tasks? I'm currently in the process of assemlbing (sic) two variants for the Journeyman, one which is basically a weaker, cheaper version, and one that is slower and designed better for cargo hauling, and I was just thinking that the hauler could look very decent with a splash of yellow in its design to denote it as a heavy duty non-combat vehicle. Think of a space forklift, basically.

I'm doing something vaguely similar in EVN:UGF. The basic good light freighter in that is the Carrack, which the United Galactic Navy also has a version of, the "Carrack-B". The Carrack-B will be painted in UGN colors (gray and dark blue), and is used as a fleet tender (supply ship, capable of repurposing on the fly to several other mission roles, including dropship, firefighting ship, and, frequently, ammo factory). It'll be available to faction members, and faction members with standard Carracks can buy upgrade packs at the outfitters.

This is off-topic, but isn't the "space forklift" actually a weapon in one version/conversion of Escape Velocity?

This post has been edited by StarSword : 27 August 2010 - 01:35 PM

QUOTE (StarSword @ Aug 27 2010, 11:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is off-topic, but isn't the "space forklift" actually a weapon in one version/conversion of Escape Velocity?

Yes, EVC had an easter egg weapon called the Forklift. It was a cheat weapon with infinite ammo, guided, and could destroy a Confed Cruiser in only a few shots. EVO I think included the easter egg, though I'm not sure. EVN is the only one of the three to not include the Forklift as a hidden weapon or an easter egg.

Well, up next I'm going to try and render some of the Enclave vehicles. I'm doing a sort of test run using that Frigate/Freighter from a few pages back to try the textures and see how they work out. I was also inspired to create a neat form of weapon glow for most of the Enclave ships, as the majority of them feature forward-arc graviton beams. If you look back on the images for the Horizon and Ecliptic class Enclave cruisers, you'll notice an identical "nose cone" on the two of them, a design feature which is also shared on the freighter. I simply placed a glowing orb into that space, which will be matched to the color of the graviton beams, giving you an absolutely definite sense of where their primary weapon array is. So far, the results look promising, but I'll need to try it in a few more places first to see if I want to keep it.

This sort of confrontation probably cannot end well.

An NDC Athena Class Frigate and an Enclave Converted Light Battleship. Yeah, I expect heavy casualties on both sides here.

Oh my............. I fear that the loss of life will be astounding, and the ships will be rendered totally worthless. How will the NDC be able to recover? Oh wait, let's make another. We can find more people as well! WeHaveReserves.

Man, all of these ships look so good, and the renders are beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! Delphi, you continue to out do yourself! I really like the Journeyman's render, it looks like a nice little beautiful ship! And the Alexander.......... oh man, I can't wait!