Here's an older topic about rendering fighter squadrons as ships:
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php...amp;mode=linear

Oh my word delphi, each time I come back to check, you have more things to amaze me. These weapons are insanely cool, and I cannot wait for this to be out(I guess I can wait, cause I have to...). I get the feeling you are going for with the nuclear reactors, they make me envision a huge reactor with little people scurrying about getting the ship prepped for launch. Ahhhh, commanding one of these ships is going to be a dream!

I'm definitely on-board with the idea of treating the main viewscreen more like a HUD, and using tactical markers to display non-scalable ships. I think it would add to the distinctiveness of your game, which by itself is already pretty unique (and awesome as a result.) The only problem, as you've discovered, is in the ability to launch only single fighters, or entire squadrons. It's likely in a reality scenario that some ships in a squad be destroyed, leaving others left. To use a single graphic for a squadron would require the squad to be programmed as a single ship.

Now, a way around this could be to have multiple ships with tactical HUD markers instead of graphics. Each fighter would be too small to see individually, so the tactical markers would be used instead (basically just replacing the ship's sprite in terms of programming.) It might be an interesting idea to place these tactical markers indicating position and direction on some of the larger ships as well, even the player ship. It would make things more HUD-like. I'm split on the idea. I like it and I don't. I think it's a great thing for small fighters and gunships that would have scaled sprites so small as to be unseeable.

If you wanted to get really crazy, use the fighter sprite scaled up, put the tactical circle over it indicating heading and position, and justify it as a zoomed up viewscreen HUD view, not a real representation of the ship.

I like it!
I had considered something like this idea before but i hadn't considered it's tactical implications such as damage impairing the effectiveness of the squad.
The effects o the destruction of just one fighter out of a wing of 12 or so would increase the chances of any individual ship being targeted and reduce the amount of damage they could deal to attacking ships prolonging the life of any attacking ship.
thus the more ships you lose to enemy guns the more ships you're likely to lose.
this doesn't follow an arithmetic sequence but rather a geometric one, increasing in effect exponentially.
This would be a major tactical consideration and might need some balancing if you tried to create single sprite-squads.

Ford Unveils New Car For Cash-Strapped Buyers: The 1993 Taurus
- The Onion News

In a similar turn of events, a ship that I once drafted as a "classic" NDC cruiser is being un-mothballed and updated for modern active duty. I created the original sketches for the Insight a few years ago, before I even started this project. It was actually one of the original designs for the Delphi colony ship itself, an integral part of the story universe and the source of this plug's namesake. However, I came to decide that it was far too frail-looking to be a massive colony ship and eventually scrapped the idea, instead changing its position in time to just after the end of the Orion War; one of the earliest NDC ships constructed. Admittedly when I re-drafted this craft in 3D I made it significantly more chunky, but what's done is done, and I still prefer it serving in a military role./ In the game it'll still have this classic status, being one of the oldest ships available, but its weapon armament and load-out is far more modern than the ugly design would suggest.

Boasting a massive capacitor (equivalent 15 jumps) and a gigantic capacity for weapon mass, this ship is geared for war. It is extremely slow, utilizing nearly ancient propulsion systems, but newly-fitted graviton-assisted maneuvering thrusters give it surprising rotational mobility. With this versatile dexterity, its sluggish top speed is nearly negligible; this mobile weapons platform can hurl fiery death across the void in almost any direction with ease. Its outboard primary crew module is a relic of times past, when reactors could burn hotter and propel ships better by negating the use of heavy radiation shielding and opting simply to keep living beings away from the furnaces while they're in operation. However, with modern technology providing safer energy and bleeding less radiation into the environment, a large portion of the engineering and weapons hull has been successfully converted for crew use, nearly doubling the personnel complement of the vessel.

By default, this ship is armed with two Nichron cannons, four continuous Electromag lasers and all the ammunition you could ever need (to clear ships from in front of the craft), and four Electromag turrets. I haven't decided on the strength of the turrets yet, but I'll test them in game and decide whether or not to go for a higher or a lower caliber. As was stated above, the ship still offers loads of space for customization, but just FYI: the Insight really shines best when not completely filled with guns. Try using some strategic systems to flesh it out, especially some point-defense turrets to protect the slow ship against missiles and fighters. The ship is very old and as such has a poor hull rating, but if you can keep your structure safe, then the long-range guns you have fitted can pummel an enemy to pieces from afar without opportunity for retaliation.

Oh right, pictures.

Here's a slightly overhead beauty shot with lines/edges turned off so you can see the real shape of the hull without all the drafting lines I tend to leave behind.

This is a more traditional 3/4 shot, with a lower angle so you can see the vessel's height, especially on detail elements like the outboard crew/conning module.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Dec 27 2009, 01:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ford Unveils New Car For Cash-Strapped Buyers: The 1993 Taurus
- The Onion News

Haha, that's an excellent way to unveil your new ship. That's an actual episode, I take it.

In my humble opinion, the Insight seems more like a cargo ship rather than a warship. I don't believe you've said anything about a giant spinal cannon, so I'm curious as to what that giant center part of the ship is for.

The upright "spine" was originally used to hold reactor coolant for the giant nuclear furnaces that powered the then-inefficient weapon systems. It has since been repurposed as weapons, cargo, and crew space. The ship also carries bays for the TT-14 dropship on its underside, but those have no functionality in-game because the TT-14 isn't used as a carried vessel. Either way, the idea is that the old ships were very inefficient in their use of space and energy, so many vessels had odd structural composure and design, and that simply got left in the Insight's design.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Dec 28 2009, 07:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The upright "spine" was originally used to hold reactor coolant for the giant nuclear furnaces that powered the then-inefficient weapon systems. It has since been repurposed as weapons, cargo, and crew space. The ship also carries bays for the TT-14 dropship on its underside, but those have no functionality in-game because the TT-14 isn't used as a carried vessel. Either way, the idea is that the old ships were very inefficient in their use of space and energy, so many vessels had odd structural composure and design, and that simply got left in the Insight's design.

I take it you find great joy in creating excellently technical explanations for anything anyone addresses. Still, it seems odd that the cockpit is totally separate from the "spine" part of the ship.

Well, remember that as I pointed out, the engines of the first generation cruisers were very inefficient in radiation absorption. As the coolant was stored along the spine of the craft, along with many of the reactor fuel rods, it wasn't generally safe to keep the crew module close to the engineering section. Remember that as per NDC ship design, a ship is a weapon first, a mobile weapon second, and a mobile weapon with crew third. The engines, fuel, and weapons are all stored in the same primary hull, while the fleshy pilots and maintenance crew are really an afterthought, relegated to the outboard unit. If the NDC officers could reliably pilot ships over light years of distance using only remote control, you'd better believe that they would, and everything would be an unmanned craft.

Then again, the use of nothing but unmanned weapons is what caused so much damage to human infrastructure during the Orion War, so it is probably a good thing that warships must be crewed, lest they should become too common a thing. War only seems terrible if lives are being lost. If no lives are lost, then war rages on unrestrained.

By the way, if anybody hasn't gone to look yet, there's a new ship on the previous page! My post was the last one before it rolled to a new page, so you might have missed it if you just jumped to this page!

Also, congratulations everyone on making this one of the most-viewed threads on the board, with 66,666 views!

QUOTE (Delphi @ Dec 29 2009, 12:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, remember that as I pointed out, the engines of the first generation cruisers were very inefficient in radiation absorption. As the coolant was stored along the spine of the craft, along with many of the reactor fuel rods, it wasn't generally safe to keep the crew module close to the engineering section. Remember that as per NDC ship design, a ship is a weapon first, a mobile weapon second, and a mobile weapon with crew third. The engines, fuel, and weapons are all stored in the same primary hull, while the fleshy pilots and maintenance crew are really an afterthought, relegated to the outboard unit. If the NDC officers could reliably pilot ships over light years of distance using only remote control, you'd better believe that they would, and everything would be an unmanned craft.

I think I only understood the technical parts of your explanation. Sorry--I just peek in and see what stuff you post, but I haven't really learned about Delphi's backstory at all.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Dec 29 2009, 01:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also, congratulations everyone on making this one of the most-viewed threads on the board, with 66,666 views!

Kudos, man. We're all eagerly awaiting for this TC to be born, so keep at it, man.

Sketchup: The Kitbasher's Delight!

I was bored, and I had a rough idea for a starship, so I threw this together entirely out of spare parts. You'll see some elements from the Alexander and the Insight meshed together in this craft, but it is still uniquely its own. Yes, I did notice it bears some similarity to the Jem'Hadar battlecruiser from Star Trek: Deep Space 9. However, this one transforms. During hyperspace, the weapon arms fold forward to lie flush with the sides of the craft, streamlining it for faster-than-light travel. Quite a few ships in the game will be the result of kitbashing, so don't be too surprised. Let's be honest, even modern manufactured components come from templates these days.

It'll probably be a heavy cruiser. I'm thinking of calling it the Harbinger.

I'm actually thinking of releasing a small zipped file holding some of the components I regularly use, so people can kitbash a bit themselves and make some Delphi ships. If anybody creates something spectacular, I'll add it to the plug. Just wait a while for the file.

Also yes, there is still some work to be done on this ship. I'm not comfortable with the weak joint between the main body and the arms.

I really like that one. It looks so cool. Unfortunately, many things that look cool (like that joint) are also flawed from a practical perspective. It's a matter of form follows function or vice-versa. If you put function first, then all ships may as well be wedges with guns stuck all over them. If you put form first, you have to explain away some weak joints by "well, the radiation from the powerful guns is too high to allow it near the crew" or something.

I really like that design, though.

EDIT: Besides, weak joints are necessary in sci-fi for really neat death animations where the two severed halves go spinning away.

This post has been edited by Jalisurr : 11 January 2010 - 04:20 PM

Oh don't worry, I'm not using any stupid technical arguing to give reason to the placement of the guns. Simple logic dictates that the wider your reach, the more flanking damage you can do. A cylinder packed with forward guns will never do as much concentrated damage as a full array all targeting a single vessel from multiple angles. With missile launchers and beam weapons inset into the underbelly of this ship, and forward guns set onto the weapon struts, this vehicle is going to cause a lot of pain for any contenders.

But yeah, radiation would probably be a problem. I just meant I wanted to add a little bit more structure to the "armpit" at the front of each weapon strut, where it connects to the body. I just want to flesh it out a little bit more.

There we go, I added a little bit of strength to the arm joints, and now they even look more articulated, like they have a track to hinge on.

Okay, that's one pass done in both Bryce and Photoshop. No detail map added yet. Just the base texture. This thing already looks like it could seriously cause some harm.

Just as long as any weapons placed at the extremes of the ship can swivel at least a few degrees.

Absolutely. All the artillery weapons in the game function like the Auroran railguns from EV:N, so they pivot across a frontal 45° angle. Also, turrets are automatically assigned along the spine of the ship, so you don't have to worry about them tracking fast ships incorrectly.

you should make a beauty render of some of these. they are really amazing.