Criss' Thread

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    Gigantism is not unavoidable. Just ask torpedoes.

    Also, bring it on. I'll bet my fleets against your titans any day...just not today. I have...uh....stuff to do

    (SCHINE! AI fix, like, now!)
     
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    As long as the biggest ships are rare (and if there's some kind of way to stop them spawning in on players/servers without the memory to handle them) then their inclusion is a good thing. It would allow players who aren't playing online to have massive capital scale battles and the like without having to grab anything from community content, and give them something to aspire to build wise.
     

    Criss

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    It has been far too long since I posted anything here, so we will be getting into quite a bit of stuff. We are rolling back a bit and taking a look at Outcast ships again. A few of them have had some major updates, and there is of course the new frigate to show off.

    First up is the Scud. The straight diagonal plating has been replaced with slabs. This brings it more in line with the rest of the fleet. The doorway has also been tweaked and takes up less internal space. Lastly, it can finally hold more passengers than the TG shuttle, which is necessary given the nature of the two factions.

    Next we have the Blitz. This is the Outcast Fighter / Patrol Ship. This, as you can see, has had a major redesign. There are no longer any retractable flaps. The cockpit has moved, and in it's place, a new weapons housing has been installed. Again, this is designed to fit nicely with our other assets, which are starting to take on a clear style. The ship overall performs better than the original, except for it's turrets, which are slightly weaker. Turret design has also been locked down with this change.

    The last update to our ships is with the Blight class bomber. Overall it is very minor. The main weapons housing has been given a more slab-based angle and has been trimmed significantly. This angle is also present on the Frigate, which you will see below.

    Hopefully you will agree that these designs fit more with our larger Outcast ships. Next, we have the Ward, which is the Outcast Frigate. The ship was originally a transport vessel. It was primarily used to ferry citizens through space. Over time the vessel was equipped with weapons, and a large portion of it's interior space was dedicated to new systems. Today it is one of the warships that make up the Outcast militia.



    The ship features an impressive set of engines. These engines are equipped with Overdrive systems, much like other Outcast vessels. Many Outcast ships are used as blockade runners.



    Despite it's mounted cannon system, the Ward is not all that powerful. Large turrets on the underside of the ship supplement it's firepower.



    The Ward is still capable of ferrying a good number of people through space, as additional quarters are still present on the vessel. Aside from the medbay, and the recreation room, there is very little to do on the ship. The front end of the vessel features an observation deck, though the view is limited.



    That pretty much covers the ward, although there are a few rooms that were not shown off that you will need to discover for yourself. One last thing. We have changed the names for the ships in the Trading Guild lineup. We have also given names to all of the Outcast ships and so they are listed below.

    TG:
    B110 | Heavy Drone
    B130 | Patrol Ship
    B150 | Bomber
    B190 | Frigate
    C120 | Shuttle
    C140 | Small Salvager
    T180 | Small Freighter

    Outcasts:
    Pioneer Pod | Exploration Pod
    Scud | Shuttle
    Blitz | Patrol Ship
    Blight | Bomber
    Pioneer | Small Exploration Craft
    Prospect | Small Salvager
    Spade | Mining Pod
    Transit | Small Freighter
    Ward | Frigate

    Hope you liked all that. If you have feedback, leave it here. Thanks for reading!
     

    kiddan

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    That hallway shot of the Ward looks great! The use of slabs makes it come alive. =)
     

    Criss

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    Did you not do a twitch stream last night? I don't see one for the 15th.
    I had it removed. Soundcloud decided to start streaming other people's music after we played some of Dank's stuff.
     

    Ithirahad

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    I had it removed. Soundcloud decided to start streaming other people's music after we played some of Dank's stuff.
    Just mute that part... oh wait, that's Twitch, can't do video editing I'd guess
     

    Criss

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    How or where can I access the blueprints used for the AI ships?
    They are not in the game yet. You will find the blueprints in the installation directory when they do make it into the game.
     

    Ithirahad

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    How or where can I access the blueprints used for the AI ships?
    They will be under StarMade/data/npcFactions/<FactionName>/blueprints.zip. Currently there are only testing blueprints though.
     

    StormWing0

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    Too bad you guys are still using file directories for that instead of simple permissions in the catalog. :)
     

    Criss

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    Hello space friends. I have two new ships to show off today. I figured two because one of them isn't exactly particularly interesting.

    The first is the Sparth class boarding craft. It is unarmed and solely designed for getting close to an enemy and docking. It is one of the few ships in the Scavenger lineup that will have a full USD system. The interior is fairly plain. A few benches and some storage for equipment. The boarders can exit through another doorway on the underside of the ship.

    It is expected that the Sparth and the target vessel will be "trading paint" as it's said when the boarding process takes place. The armor is layered in some sections and sharpened plates can dig into enemy hull when in close proximity.



    Next up we have the Hanbo. This is a fighter for the Scavengers. Essentially, the Scavengers took two cannons and attached an engine system to them. The weapons are covered in a layer of armor. The Scavengers are notorious for giving themselves the worst possible view from their cockpits and bridge decks. The Hanbo is most effective for attacking targets head-on as a result of it's cockpit placement.

    Most Scavenger ships are heavily dedicated to a specific role. The Hanbo is designed strictly for outputting more damage than other fighter designs. Because of the attention given to the weapon systems in it's construction, armor, maneuverability, and other systems fall short.



    That's it for this week. As for previous Scavenger ships, we have revealed five. They have since been named and they will be listed below.

    Kukri
    Cestus
    Kestros
    Chakram
    Hwatcha

    I have also decided that on this thread I will avoid showcasing variant ship designs until well after they have made it into the game. Can't reveal everything now can we? :)

    With the inclusion of the NPC factions with the upcoming update, I'd like to hear any thoughts you have on the assets we will be releasing. Each ship or station can only be used for one category, or role.

    The current roles are listed:

    General station, Outpost station, Defense station, Mining station, Factory station, Trade station, Warp Gate station, Shopping station

    and

    General ship, Mining ship, Support ship, Cargo ship, Attack ship, Defense ship, Carrier ship, Scout ship, Scavenger ship.

    Personally, I think it would be best for the game to (aside from homebases) use a maximum of 2 - 3 roles per ship or station. Currently they use only one. I think one is a bit too restrictive. A ship or station can easily perform multiple functions. However I think it would be best to avoid using more than 3 roles for any ship or station when this game reaches it's final form. I am not even sure the current one-role system in place will change, but if it does, I think there do need to be some restrictions.

    In short I think it would allow ships to perform a few roles and still require a variety of ships for fleet doctrines. The same can be said for stations. The universe becomes very boring once every station looks the same. We could probably fit more roles onto a station than a ship, but it still shouldn't be more than say five. Another possibility is unlocking additional roles with mass. NPC factions will be using this system when they calculate their needs as well. What do you guys think? Leave your feedback below and thanks for reading!
     
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    Scavengers are looking amazing, there is some serious personality present in these builds.

    And it sounds like you're right regarding ships and stations having multiple roles. 1 seems ridiculously prohibitive.
     

    Criss

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    Also, people are stating in testing that the current ships are way underpowered. Thoughts on that? With the inclusion of interiors it will be hard to compare to solid ships but from what I am hearing we have built the worst good-looking ships in StarMade. I doubt it's that bad, and I am proud of ships like the B190 Trading Guild frigate. What do you guys think?
     

    Reilly Reese

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    Also, people are stating in testing that the current ships are way underpowered. Thoughts on that? With the inclusion of interiors it will be hard to compare to solid ships but from what I am hearing we have built the worst good-looking ships in StarMade. I doubt it's that bad, and I am proud of ships like the B190 Trading Guild frigate. What do you guys think?
    I'll go get the dev build and poke the TG frig with my Warrior Frigate and see.
     

    Jake_Lancia

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    Also, people are stating in testing that the current ships are way underpowered. Thoughts on that? With the inclusion of interiors it will be hard to compare to solid ships but from what I am hearing we have built the worst good-looking ships in StarMade. I doubt it's that bad, and I am proud of ships like the B190 Trading Guild frigate. What do you guys think?
    I'd say the frigates/larger ships are fine as they are; the TG frigate at least can take on my size-equivalent ships and not immediately lose like I was expecting them to (though they still lose). I'd say the frigate-sized ships are at a good level. Though the smaller fighters and such do indeed leave much to be desired when it comes to performance. The TG drone is exempt from that though - it's a drone after all :P
     

    Criss

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    I'd say the frigates/larger ships are fine as they are; the TG frigate at least can take on my size-equivalent ships and not immediately lose like I was expecting them to (though they still lose). I'd say the frigate-sized ships are at a good level. Though the smaller fighters and such do indeed leave much to be desired when it comes to performance. The TG drone is exempt from that though - it's a drone after all :P
    Do you know what makes them fall short? There is an awful lot of space used for interior designs in the fighter and bomber for the TG.