@EKHawkman
There is no nuclear fallout, just massive danger and nuclear hazards. I'm fairly certain that everyone's paranoid by now.

I've been getting a lot done since I got SketchUp 7. It helps that I've got a nearly unlimited number of Ghost Hunters episodes to watch while I model.

I created a type of ship that I've always wanted to make: one with vertical dual guns. It definitely screams "artillery platform", so perhaps it'll fill the role of heavy cruiser, or just a massive corvette.

QUOTE (Delphi @ May 10 2010, 07:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Huh. I guess it does look like the Bird, doesn't it? It'd probably eat one for breakfast in a firefight, though. Twin artillery cannons firing in rapid succession would be enough to ruin just about anybody's day. I make no ridiculous claims about my ships overpowering every SciFi vehicle designed though; most of the NDC ships would be toast against a Star Destroyer. Let's just face it: the Empire has thousands of years of technological refinement over the NDC.

Actually, Star Wars was one of my sources of inspiration when I was designing the weapons for my little universe. I realized that on Star Wars they were using what seemed like very basic tech (lasers, deflectors, scan-line holograms, etc.) but with massive refinement and perfection of craft. In other words, instead of moving past laser weaponry and developing plasma cannons or whatever, they obviously spent more time simply making the laser better, and increasing its power output. The same is true in the NDC universe, where they use what seem at first like primitive nuclear weapons, but in truth have hundreds of years of development and refinement behind them. Why throw away the limitless power of the atom when so much is still unknown about it? Even the NDC realizes that there is further to go with their guns before they have to find a new technology: focused Nichron cannons are still a rarity, and they haven't even begun to experiment with the terrifying idea of a repeating or continuous-fire nuclear weapon.

Technically, according to the tech books (particularly The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology ), Star Wars "lasers" aren't actually true lasers at all, but plasma particle beams produced by firing a laser through a chamber of gas and magnetically focusing it along the barrel. EVN:UGF's lasers follow a similar pattern. Other factions in my TC use primary weapons ranging from infrared lasers (Varellavite "heat rays") to mass drivers and neutron guns (the Ganba) to masers (the Klavarese) to proton and photon weaponry (the Axe-tails). The Balcrusians finish the list with plasma cannons of varying degrees of potency, and a fusion beam (which is actually a thermonuclear explosion that is gravatically focused into a beam that can can rip a battleship in half).

Actually, the fusion beam is a secondary weapon, but I wanted to mention it. Some of David Drake's sci-fi novels use plasma weapons that operate along similar principles. I get many of my ideas from other sci-fi universes, so I'm right with you there; my design for the Porsche Corsair star yacht (a successor to EVN's Valkyrie) was borrowed from a ship on the cover art for Kris Longknife: Deserter :

As of this boring evening, a new ship rolls off the assembly line. I must admit, I was channelling a bit of Nova's IDA frigate when I manufactured this chunky flying brick. It started as a monolithic sort of column with guns at the front and engines at the back, but eventually I started building an equipment module for the undercarriage which I think came out rather well. The sensor antennae off the front are definitely too big on this image here, but that's because I need them to appear relatively clear on the in-game model, where rendering and scaling would otherwise erase the appearance of such small features.

In a game context, I would probably say this ship is an older one, using very basic construction methods more reminiscent of a fledgling industrial military empire. It'll definitely be a smaller ship, probably in the size range of a destroyer or light cruiser, and because of its age and durability, it'll probably be fairly ubiquitous among both NDC and Enclave fleets.

That brings me to another thing. Originally I was going to create an entirely different fleet for the Enclave, but then I came to the realization that much like the Rebel Alliance of Star Wars lore, the Enclave Colonies are a collection of scattered worlds with limited trade and transit between them, except through the use of smuggler fleets. Though they may have a few unique ship designs, it's likely that most of their technology would be based off of more readily-available older NDC designs. I'll still make sure I create some Enclave building blocks and fashion them some iconic vessels, even if they're stolen NDC ships with new components added.

I would say that your latest engineering marvel would make for a fine freighter, but after espying the two massive lances on the undercarriage and the eight missile pod-ish mechanisms on the main ship, I must say that that would make one heck of a beastly long-range frigate or something. I can envision the two giant guns as railguns and the pods as... well... long-range missiles.

That is probably not your intent at all, but I think I can confirm one thing: that's one ownage ship.

This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 19 May 2010 - 12:44 AM

You're close. The pod on the bottom with the rails coming off of it is for sensor equipment, and those are the antennae. I needed to make them slightly oversized so that when I render the model and scale it down they're still visible on the final sprite. However, this pod is customizable, and there'll also be a version just fitted with guns.

You are right about the missile tubes though. This thing is designed to rain fiery death upon anything caught within its forward arc. Not much in the way of turrets though, so you'll have to watch your back if you're flying it.

Well... that is a shocker. Didn't think the pod would be housing sensor stuff, but a good number of your ships do have such equipment as well. Railgun housing would be a viable possibility, though, right?

Haha to the missile tubes. I was expecting them to either be missile pods or two separate lasers--one set of four pods charges up one laser and the other set charges up another. That would be one heck of a strike vessel.

You know, with a sensor pod that big and antennae that thick, it could simply be designed to cut through sensor interference like crazy, perhaps for exploration. Alternatively, this ship could be used for spying, with enhanced sensors designed to be accurate at insane distances. This can benefit the player in-game by having the ship come with the same kind of outfit a Vell-os player would have in EVN, allowing the player to scan neighboring systems so they know more or less where they're going.

QUOTE (Delphi @ May 18 2010, 10:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are right about the missile tubes though. This thing is designed to rain fiery death upon anything caught within its forward arc. Not much in the way of turrets though, so you'll have to watch your back if you're flying it.

This is the exact idea I had when I designed missile cruisers for HOTS, which have now branched off into missile variants of other classes, not just cruisers. I've got gunboats, gunships, corvettes, even destroyers and frigates.

Oh wow, that IS a nice ship. It just looks so rugged and ready to kill! I can see the resemblance to the IDA, but this one looks much more dangerous! Just imagine if the Rebels had one of those!

Also, will the Enclave have their own ships unique to them? At least a few? What would their ships look like? Similar or different to the blocky NDC?

@EKHawkman
I can't quite imagine the Enclave as having a different visual element--if you think about it, blocky with extreme levels of detail is Delphi's art style, and he's mastered it very well.

The Enclave ships will have several unique architectural elements, and they'll have a few ships of their own designs. Their larger vessels will be built out of NDC components, simply because it's too difficult to smuggle massive starship pieces and too hard to assemble larger ships on-site using limited supplies. You'll see a few completely unique mid-sized ships, as they do have limited shipyard facilities and the ability to move a few supplies around their network.

Awesome! I am looking forward to seeing some of their ships! I really like the way you are able to mix and match all those cool parts! It makes for some really really nice ships

QUOTE (king_of_manticores @ May 19 2010, 05:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

@EKHawkman
I can't quite imagine the Enclave as having a different visual element--if you think about it, blocky with extreme levels of detail is Delphi's art style, and he's mastered it very well.

I would imagine their unique ships having some differences, especially since they use a completely different weapon style(this is assuming they are still using their gravity weapons?) Either way, I'm excited to see them!

@EKHawkman
Sorry, I might have misinterpreted you. By your comment, I thought that you were suggesting that the Enclave ships would have a totally different design focus (i.e. a lot more rounded/more simple in comparison to NDC ships).

Oh no, definitely not more simple! I could see them being rounded slightly, to distance them, but definitely not simple! Delphi and his ridiculous level of detail is amazing!

The Enclave will have a couple of unique ships, and a couple of copied/stolen designs from the NDC. Indeed, they'll be using the graviton weaponry I mentioned however many years ago, but it's important to note that their technology isn't such a far throw from that in use by the NDC. It actually all goes back to starship propulsion, when it really comes down to it. A faster-than-light engine in the Delphi universe has two primary components: a nuclear reactor, and a graviton point-projection system. The reactor generates the energy, and the projection system latches the ship onto time-space, allowing the ship to impel subspace material through the engine and move fluidly throughout the universe. Essentially, instead of propelling the ship against the natural "friction" of the universe that contributes to mass gain as a starship approaches the speed of light, the engine attaches itself onto energies and intangible matter already traveling comfortably at such speeds, like an interstellar monorail car attaching itself onto an already-powered track.

Regarding its application to weaponry: NDC "Nichron" cannons harness a massive amount of thermonuclear energy within a focusing chamber which pushes the lower end of the reaction (visible light) up toward the gamma ray spectrum - compounding the energies generated by the initial blast - before expelling the reaction in a concentrated beam. Though extremely powerful at close range, the natural tendency for the energy to collapse into a visible format causes the shot to lose energy the longer it travels. Conversely, Enclave graviton weaponry uses technology more relatable to the core mechanism of an interstellar impeller, by manipulating the graviton "weave" of space-time to create a projected fissure of chaotic subspace, which disrupts the molecular bonds of matter and wreaks havoc with electrical systems. While a regular impeller generates an area of manipulated gravity within its core to move the ship around it, a graviton beam projects this disruption ahead of it.

To better understand how the graviton beam works, imagine a freight train. While it's perfectly safe to ride the train and arrive at a new destination, standing on the tracks ahead of it will result in irreparable damage to your person. It's perfectly safe to use a graviton disruption to travel, but being caught in its wake or in the focus of a projected disruption will do really nasty things to your ship.

Anyway, where I'm trying to go with all this is just to say that there won't be such tremendous differences between NDC and Enclave technology, just different applications of such.

By popular demand, here's the artillery variant of that frigate from the previous page. I'm thinking that I'll offer upgrade kits in the game to let you convert yours from one type to the other, as the body of the ship looks pretty good just by itself, and will probably find its way into the game as the default configuration. The version from page 30 with the sensor pod could be a scientific variant of the ship, whereas this could be the military modification.

As you can see, the front plate is far more heavily-armored (I used engine blocks for armor again, silly me) and the equipment module sports two artillery cannons and a much more stable "neck", almost completely blended into the primary hull. However, the missile launchers have been removed, as their external mechanisms would make them a liability during relatively close range combat, which this vessel is designed for.

EDIT: King of Manticores correctly pointed out that the science version was on page 30.

This post has been edited by Delphi : 20 May 2010 - 06:59 PM

Here's a side-by-side comparison between the various models, and potential years they may have been developed. Don't take it all at face value though; dates and places are still subject to change. It's just an estimate, to illustrate the developmental process of this ship.

Version 1 - Standard Patrol Frigate armed with long-range missile cluster.
Version 1 Revision 1 - Scientific Variant with attached sensor module and administrative vehicle hangar.
Version 1 Revision 2 - Military Refit with artillery battery and light fighter hangar/dropship bay.

Also yes, I'm considering giving the final version a fighter bay, albeit a very limited one. There are a few different fighter types drafted for the plug, ranging from one-man armed patrol shuttles to the venerable Scimitar, a heavy gunboat with a crew of five and a complement of starship-grade weaponry.

Also, I finally decided how I'm going to do the fighters. Though squadrons are a neat idea and they look good on screenshots, they just don't look right when animated. I'll be using individual ships, with appropriate scale. Yes, the miniscule ones will be very tiny and will be difficult to hit, but that would logically be the reason to build something small and nimble, now wouldn't it? It just hit me the other day that there's no reason to use squadrons when both the NDC and the Enclave only use limited numbers of fighters. It's not like Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars, with hundreds of little ships buzzing about in close quarters; it's more like a modern carrier-launched fire mission, using a small elite pack of vehicles. Just think about it: you can either give a hundred pilots a hundred tiny ships with one gun each, or give ten pilots a small fleet of gunboats armed to the teeth and durable enough that they actually have a chance of seeing their families again.

So, having explained that, the third version of the frigate will likely only be capable of carrying two, perhaps four patrol vehicles with small fighter-grade guns, just to keep faster attack craft off the back of the carrier.

The fighters are going to be a chunk of this project all on their own, because of the immense range of abilities such small ships have. Some will be designed to assault cruisers and battleships with shield-piercing torpedoes, but will have almost no weaponry to fight off interceptors launched from the victim ship or its allies. Instead of going for the free-for-all route from Nova, where you just throw every single fighter at the enemy, there will be a significant amount of strategy involved depending both on what type of your ship and that of your assailant. Don't throw interceptors at an anti-fighter patrol cruiser or they'll get devoured; use your artillery instead (if you have it). I'm hoping that I can get some definite differences in the range of battles, so that you aren't always just orbiting your enemy with the autopilot key held down. I absolutely want a stark contrast between close-quarters fights and artillery exchanges. That "Uses Standoff Attacks" flag is there to be used!

Speaking of small ships, I just threw this together between now and my last post. I spent all that time rambling on about the small ships in Delphi before suddenly realizing I hadn't exactly created very many.

As a result, I give you the Epheron Shuttle, primary small courier of both the NDC and the Enclave colonies. Durable, cheap, ubiquitous, and serviceable almost anywhere in the galaxy!

I was originally going to give the player a Versatile Shuttle to start the game, but now it's looking more and more like that'll be a freight ship for early-mid gamers, in the same category as the Asteroid Miner and the Argosy from Nova. I like this little ship.

In response to post 756, that is the most brutal frigate I've seen. As beautiful as the Alexander. The science version, for correctness, was actually on page 30.

I'm definitely trying that beast out.

QUOTE (Delphi @ May 20 2010, 04:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... I give you the Epheron Shuttle, primary small courier of both the NDC and the Enclave colonies. Durable, cheap, ubiquitous, and serviceable almost anywhere in the galaxy!

If you were trying to sound like a salesman, you succeeded and then some.

QUOTE

I was originally going to give the player a Versatile Shuttle to start the game, but now it's looking more and more like that'll be a freight ship for early-mid gamers, in the same category as the Asteroid Miner and the Argosy from Nova. I like this little ship.

Alternatively, you could start the player in a bigger ship and have the Epheron set aside as the ship they get when they die and use an escape pod.