QUOTE (EKHawkman @ May 25 2010, 02:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw that, and I literally gasped, not figuratively, literally. I saw it and it was just so cool looking! Very, very nice delphi!

I almost did this. Not quite, but close. Also, my first thought upon seeing it was more of a missile platform than an actual cruiser.

** Edit:** That chart is so going in my list of desktop backgrounds, along with all the other big images in this thread.

Oh, and manticore, the Alexander Class eats everything (sans another Alexander) for breakfast. Mars Classes are closer to a snack or munching on crumbs.

This post has been edited by DarthKev : 25 May 2010 - 05:59 PM

QUOTE (Delphi @ May 25 2010, 05:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could be the image I uploaded. It's rather big. I'll change the IMG tag into a link, so people can click it and view instead of forcing it to be embedded in the forum page.

Ah, all better now, thanks.

Yes, very nice scale chart. I see you'll have to be... creative... on the ingame resolutions you use, lol!

@darthkev
True. They're like crumbs from a Falconridge. Delphi, since I've transformed your ship scale drawing into a foodfest, you might as well call it "The Delphi Ship Food Chain" or something

OM NOM NOM ADVANCED SHIPS OF METAL AND RADIATION!

QUOTE (EKHawkman @ May 25 2010, 07:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OM NOM NOM ADVANCED SHIPS OF METAL AND RADIATION!

"Fortified with the goodness of iron, carbon, and enriched uranium!"

"Start your day the Delphi way!"

QUOTE (king_of_manticores @ May 25 2010, 08:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Start your day the Delphi way!"

Is there any other way?

Actually, there are other ways, but none of them are as cool, as catchy, or as deeply involved in exploding and eating giant, beefy pieces of metal.

Like I said before, I wanted to focus a little bit on small ship design, and I must admit this part is a sort of sad point for me, because I know that I want to create high-detail models, though almost all of that detail will be lost in downscaling. I decided to cheer myself up by starting to assemble a component library for ship-builders, and that'll be attached to this post at a separate site for download, all things willing. All you'll need is a copy of SketchUp 7 (free or licensed) and the cut, copy, and paste commands on your keyboard. It's like LEGO bricks, except these chunks can pass through each other to bury certain unwanted details in the model and accentuate others.

I made this little fighter out of the pieces in this first library, so if you spent enough time painstakingly matching it piece by piece, you could re-create it yourself. Fortunately, such an arduous task will not be necessary, as I also included the ship's model file so that you can mess around with it or figure out how everything fits together.

Have fun, and show me your results! The download link is at the bottom of the post.

Download Link
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ship Component Library 1

922 KB - MegaUpload

Here's something to cheer you up, Delphi. Even if the detail on smaller ships is lost in the in-game graphics, you'll still have that detail in the shipyard images. If you wanted, you could even make simple quicktime movies of smaller ships so they spin in the window to give a better look at the detail you worked so hard to produce.

If you'd like some criticism on that ship, I have to observe that there is very little there to tell me that that ship is a fighter. At first glance, I thought it was some kind of capital ship. Mainly, this is due to the fact that your details on this smaller ship are the same size as the ones on the larger ship, and there are no obvious weapons or engines or cockpits to tell me what kind of ship I'm looking at. It's still a good design though.

QUOTE (Shlimazel @ May 27 2010, 04:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you'd like some criticism on that ship, I have to observe that there is very little there to tell me that that ship is a fighter. At first glance, I thought it was some kind of capital ship. Mainly, this is due to the fact that your details on this smaller ship are the same size as the ones on the larger ship, and there are no obvious weapons or engines or cockpits to tell me what kind of ship I'm looking at. It's still a good design though.

It'll be a little bit more obvious when I get the materials mapped onto it. There's technically a cockpit region that'll stand out from the other components once it has depth and color.

@DarthKev
The amount of data this TC would take if he implemented your idea would probably be beyond at least one gigabyte

Still, I like that idea.

After tinkering with different parts for a couple hours, I give you the Taurus Class Freighter, so named for it's bull-like ramming snout and the horns over the bridge. It may not be the fastest freighter in the universe, but it's capable of breaking almost any blockade, even if that means literally breaking through enemy ships. Dorsal and ventral exhaust ports ventilate the electronics in atmospheric flight and give off radiation during space flight, allowing the Taurus Class to function under all but the most punishing of ion attacks.

You can find the full Sketchup file here to look at, Delphi especially in case he decides to use this one. Also, for those of you without Sketchup (or have it but are totally clueless with it) I've provided some alternate views to give you a better look at it.

• Taurus Rear
• Taurus Engine
• Taurus Ram
• Taurus Horns
• Taurus Vent

P.S. manticore, even if it was more than 1GB, I'd still wait through the download to play it.

@DarthKev
Sheesh, the first time I saw that freighter, I thought that was Delphi posting. Then I read the P.S.

Nice work--that's a pretty cool one. And I wouldn't mind waiting for Delphi to download either, even if it was 1GB.

I remember using sketchup to make ships a long time ago, the results I got were always pretty good. Maybe I should try it again.

Got another one. Just an unknown fighter, I couldn't think up a name. Delphi's fighter looked a little complicated for something so small, and most of the detail would be lost in-game, as has been said, so I shot for a simple craft.

Here's the Sketchup file and below is a list of alternate viewing angles.

• Fighter Front
• Fighter Rear
• Fighter Top
• Fighter Bottom

Where is the cockpit?

See where the blood is oozing out? The pilot is sandwiched between two pieces of steel during the fighter's manufacturing so the pilot never has to leave his craft, making deploying fighters a much faster business and lowering on the costs involved in quartering the pilots.

QUOTE (Geek @ May 28 2010, 05:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where is the cockpit?

I haven't decided on a location yet. I guess it would be at the front of the thin section between each 'wing'. Of course, for a human to fit in there, this would more likely be a corvette or very sleek destroyer, instead. An alternate location could be the oval shapes on either wing, one pilot in each spot, much like the Cloud Cars of Star Wars. For those of you who don't know, Cloud Cars are those funny little orange ships flying around Cloud City. The ones that look like shoes.