Pacific_Jims stuff and things

It's been over a decade of me playing this game so I figured it's overdue for me to make a thread documenting all the builds I've been working on over the years. Some have unfortunately been lost to time and various computer changes, but honestly they usually weren't great. I pretty much exclusively play single player so don't expect any super dominant PVP capable ships, but some (or all?) I'm intending to release as faction packs in the case that NPC factions are ever working properly. Either way I'll probably start releasing them as they're updated to the upcoming balance changes.



The Colonial Union



These are my main ships, mostly inspired by Battlestar Galactica but there's some Macross influence thrown in. Lore wise their name is pretty self descriptive, it's a union of colonists aiming to settle the galaxy. They have a focus on civilian ships with a lot of crew/passenger as well as cargo capacity, along with lots of amenities but they're pretty militaristic, with battlestar inspired ships aimed at deterring competitors and hunting down pirates.

Listed seperately because I'm probably not going to package them in. The Battlestars are battleship/carrier hybrids supplementing heavy armour and guns with wings of fighter craft. The name and core design philosophy are taken from the show Battlestar Galacta, but I didn't really want to do full on replica builds. Battlestars all follow the same design set up, with a large armoured prow intended to act as a shield for the rest of the ship, and two flight pods attached to the sides.

Pending:

Currently working on a couple of space stations for the Colonial Union, a smallish outpost and a large shipyard, but they're on the back burner due to having a few things on going.

Unknown Species


A bizarre race of bio-mechanical entities found living in space, characterised by their strange, mishappen and almost horrific appearance. Whilst they function akin to a space ship, appearing to mimic ship functions, observers have noticed they appear grow as a regular life form would, some even having the capability to "heal" damaged components. They appear to have a eusocial structure, acting as a sort of hive mind with each variant having well defined roles within their species. In most cases they seem to be benign, though are ferocious in defending their territory and at times have been found to "grow" within space stations, repurposing them to suit their needs.

The unknown species are inspired by a combination of properties, initially by the Space Monsters from Gunbuster, but also the Vajra from Macross Frontier and the Proto-molecule from The Expanse, and I've intentionally kept the name quite generic. They're generally pretty fun to build, but can occasionally be a pain due to their non-standard construction. They're mostly functional as an NPC faction (at least as much as can be), having both their station and a mining "ship", but I do intend to add more.


One of the smaller variant found, the Swarmer is seldom encountered until the species is angered, in the event of which live up to their name. Somewhat fragile, but fast and agile, and though their beam attack has a delay before firing in numbers they can punch well above their weight.


The most common variant found in their territory, the worker appears to have the ability to heal its brethren, and though unwitnessed researchers theorise may be a key factor in their restructuring of space stations. Though it appears to have a peaceful nature when their territory is threatened they will jump to the defence with impression speed, and surprising firepower.


Usually found on the edge of their territory, the Scout was the first variant encountered (read: built). Usually it acts in keeping with its designation, exploring the galaxy in search of new resources and locations for potential colonies, though has been found attacking targets in the past, and in these cases does so from an impressive range with its long range beam attack, keeping foes at bay with its speed.


The Harvester is found within the species territory, devouring asteroids to repurpose into raw materials. Despite its large, horrifying maw no offensive capability has been discovered.

The largest variant discovered, the Warrior is found deep within their territory usually protecting the nest. Slow, lumbering but reasonably tough, the Warrior wards off attackers with several small symbiotic entities acting as turrets, as well as a strong charge beam (Note: that it's way to slow to use, so I'll eventually get rid of.)


A large mass growing on space stations, devouring and repurposing as the mass expands. The infested stations appear to be used as nests.

Keen eyed observers will immediately realise the station is my attempt to repurpose the original pirate station. I'm reasonably happy with the result, but I intend to revisit it later.

Pending:

During the next refit I'm going to look at adding jump inhibiters and possibly rework some of the weapons. I also have an idea for another station to act as a shipyard/factory, and another, larger ship but that's not a high priority.

MeRobo said:

A small tip for taking screenshots of ships using the intangible rails and other blocks only visible in build mode. It's usually worth the effort to quickly place a ship core (maybe even make it a 3 block thrust stick) and then use flight mode to take the picture.

Also I really like Brummie from the opening post as well as the warrior, worker and swarmer from the unknown species

Click to expand...

Yeah, would look better. I struggle to get angles I like outside of build mode however.

As of yet Un-named evil corporation

Inspired by Proto-gen from The Expanse, the corporation started as a small research company though have grown into an interstella power in their own. The corporation specialises in xeno-biology, though as they expanded they began to extend they reach into a wide range of commercial activities including luxury goods, medicine, advanced technology and weapons/starship development. They welcome visitors within their space, happy to buy and sell to almost anyone, though sometimes smaller vessels have a habit of going missing in their territory. And concerningly, some of their ships are prone to falling into the hands of pirates.

The corporation has a preference towards stealth technology, most of their ships employing cloaking devices of some kind, and due to the multi-use nature of their ships they tend towards quite a large interior space, particularly in their smaller craft. I started building them around the time of the fleet contest, though due to real life getting it the way nothing was completed until much later.


Nominally a deep space research vessel the Ceres also functions as an effective, if somewhat small mining vessel. Whilst they favour trade and ...more dubious methods... for economic growth there is need for them to acquire raw materials themselves, and the Ceres fulfils this need adequately. The Ceres has a large interior for its size, featuring multiple crew bunks and two on board laboratories. The Ceres is sports a powerful radar jammer, but to what ends it uses this is unknown.


The only ship in their fleet to forgo stealth technology, the Rhino is officially classed as a patrol ship, though due its high speed and agility it is a very capable dogfighter, so in function works as a an effective, if a little expensive, fighter craft. The rhino has a large crew capacity for its size, sporting 4 bunks alongside the captains quarters, and a comfortable galley, making it suitable for long distance voyages and patrol routes.


Featuring powerful radar jamming technology the Javelin attack ship lurks far away from its prey, bombarding them with long range ordinance. The corporation claims its built for anti-piracy activity, justifying its large detention area, though the Javelin it suspiciously common amongst these pirates themselves.


The biggest ship in the corporations fleet, the Panther is a multi-role frigate, used for both defending territory and offense purposes. The Panther also features a large laboratory and crew capacity, making it well suited to deep space exploration and research. Alongside the strong armaments the Panther sports a fully functional cloaking device, making it able to stalk prey and close into range before it pounces.

The centers of all of the corporations activities, the hub stations are large and exorbrant. They feature many publically accessible amenities, such as a market district, entertainment, hotel suites, multiple bars and restaurants and even public factories, allowing the station to serve as a center for economic development and tourism, though the station also features a large R&D center on the lower levels. In times of crisis the Hub Station also serves as a veritable fortress, sporting high shielding and large array of turrets.

Gameplay wise the station can either work as a trade or pirate station really. It has a large explorable space and a lot of things to discover, and is a bit beefier than the default stations. That said in future updates I'm planning on reducing the sheer number of turrets in favour of larger, more individually potent ones, and I was never really happy with the big turrets already there. I kinda hate designing turrets though so I'm not in a rush.

The faction is mostly done really. I think they could do with a smaller station to go alongside the Hub, but other than that it's only really refits they need in future updates.