A Question to all the ship builders.

[Trekkerjoe]

How about greebling a slope?

 

[The Judge]

I started out with segmented hexagons and simple shapes.
Some of my first "actual" builds.

Unnamed Frigate from about a year ago, and in the lower right you can see a Corvette. (Behind that you can see my Mech.)

The Mech, it's copied from the Nemicus Commander from Planetary Annihilation.

The first Space Feline Empire Fleet. (SFE for short.) It's not much to look at but at the time I was proud of it.

The Atlas Class, October 2014.

The Atlas Class was updated until around early 2015.

My first experience with running lights, This is the T-25 Frigate. It was never finished, and is lost.

I took a break from Starmade until July when I joined Nova Fleet Dynamics, because I wanted some experience in complicated shipbuilding.
Before mid-july I had no idea that Generators were a thing, and I still am shit at logic.
And now I'm here.

Hope this did you good, A.Wolfrick.


PS: Check out NFD Build Server.

 

[jzimmerman4]

How about greebling a slope?

Hard to tell but the sides are all sloped

Spoiler: ex

 

[BraveSteelDragon]

A method i've found myself quite comfortable with is reporpousing older hull, each time adding, removing or changing something.

Here's what i'm talking about:

Spoiler: The evolution

The ships aren't ordered cronologically, but the way i've classed it begins with the oldest one (the first i've made), and ends with the latest (or at least what was the last ship i worked on at the time of the gif).

As you can see i slowly established a style i like, and that i sticked with for quite some time.

 

[Mariux]

1. git gud
2. win

 

[Lightning312]

Step 0: Figure out why you are playing this game and what you enjoy about it. Then, consider designs accordingly.
1. Find your design: Stare at pictures, draw pictures, 3D model them--it doesn't really matter.
2. Core placement: The core is the one thing you can't really move. Figure out where in your design the core will be before placing a single block.
3. "Wire Frame": I make a basic frame (literally nothing more than some rectangles) that shows the rough dimensions of the hull. I find it's a good reference and allows you to spot any major problems in your proportions before you start anything significant
4. The hull: Make the shape of your ship. Don't sweat the small details--you can fix those later
5. Additional hull feature: Escape pods, turrets, sensor blisters, external armor, the bridge, engines etc.
6. Hull detailing: Add things to make your ship's exterior look nice
7. Hull cleanup: There will often be blocks inside the ship that are totally unnecessary--blocks that are behind other blocks for example. Remove these to increase ship maneuverability and increase the volume available for interior or systems.
8. Interior: Make your ship something you'll want to walk around in.
9. Systems: Fill the rest of your space with systems.

And above all, watch other people and experiment.

 

[Parameter]

How about greebling a slope?

Here ya go!

Intoducing the Greebler-2, a sad excuse for a small fighter. I'll try give its sad sloped wings a face lift and bring it into this millennia.

Click below for the animated GIF!
http://www.gfycat.com/GorgeousBasicBrahmanbull

 

[Panpiper]

9. Systems: Fill the rest of your space with systems.

I do not mean to pick on Lightning312, his post simply exemplifies the point I would make. Most ship builders would wholeheartedly agree with him and the other posters here. It is certainly the case that if building a good looking ship is your single overriding criteria, then absolutely ignore everything I am about to say.

I am not known for building good looking ships, and I likely never will be. I do not consider my ships to be ugly however (see below). In fact I prefer the look of my ships to those of most of the 'pretty' ships I see in community content, for the simple reason that my ships visually reflect their functionality, I can see just how effective the ship is at it's function by how it is built. Most pretty ships to me look simply like empty shells, albeit pretty ones that have a mish mash of systems crammed into whatever space is left after the 'important stuff' like greebles and pretty rooms are put in. Their stats usually reflect this too.

The advice Lightning312 gave is literally to do just that, pour all one's attention into looks, and almost as an afterthought once the looks are perfected, add functionality. To me this is completely ass backwards. I hope people do not take offense at my opinion. I have felt that pretty much everyone and everything has been ass backwards for most of my life.

My order for ship building criteria would probably go more like this:

- Think about the function the ship is to perform, decide upon the strategy it will use to perform it's function. I spend at least as much time on this stage and the next as I do on everything else combined.

- Determine what systems and what size of systems the ship will need to perform it's function, including turrets.

-Determine the placement and arrangement of those systems for maximum effect.

- Plan the power line structure that will be needed to both power those systems and fit with the above placement of systems. For large ships, plan the number and placement of docked reactors.

-Build the power system, add the power reactors.

- Build the turrets so you will know their size, placement requirements, power draw, etc..

- Test those systems by building all systems using very basic squares containing the number of blocks you intend to use for all the ship systems, including adding armor blocks, expected hull mass, intended shield and regenerator blocks, everything. Add any turrets.

- Test the ship systems by flying around that brick build. Fly it to a pirate station maybe, test it in combat conditions.

- Make any modifications that are necessary and test the brick build again. Repeat as necessary.

- Once the brick build is performing as intended, and only then, consider the way your final ship will look. Is there a form that will match the function of your ship. Does it's layout inspire a form? is there any way to improve upon the resulting form that will not impede upon the function?

- Consider role play space, the 'empty' rooms that make the ship come alive. I build for function and combat effectiveness, but even I will include a good looking bridge, crew quarters, mess hall, head, sick bay, etc.. Decide if you want a hangar(s) and where it should be. I will likely spend time in and around my ship and making it a comfortable and believable space is part of it's functionality. Find a place for those rooms that does not impede functionality.

- Disassemble the brick build, keeping precise records of how many blocks were used for each of the systems.

- Decide on your ship's basic colors if you have not already planned this. Do color tests by putting those colors together with lines on a test platform.

- Rebuild the ship's weapon systems in their likely final configuration, while partially and appropriately building the ship's hull. Place all turrets.

-Now is the time to take another hard look at what you are building. Is there any way to position things, especially turrets, that will accentuate the looks and functionality of the ship as it is taking shape? The time to move things around is now.

- Build the ship's hull (use wedges whenever possible), build the role play rooms (at least the empty rooms, decor can come later), filling it in with shields and regenerators.

- Test the ship. Do combat tests, make sure it is performing as intended. Make any adjustments as necessary.

- Look at the ship again. Tweak it to make it look better. Stretch it, give it lines, curves. Consider the use of low mass materials for the adding of exterior lines and extensions.

- Tweak the turrets to ensure that they match the decor of your ship. Add low mass greebling to them if desired.

- See if there are any color changes that can be made to what you have already built, change out armor and hull blocks as needed to give it the best look.

- Add greebling that highlights the functionality of the ship. Personally I dislike utterly superfluous greebles.

- Tweak, tweak some more. Finish the RP spaces as you gaze upon what you have built and continue tweaking.

- Feel good about what you have built, regardless of how it now looks. Things in the real world for the most part look the way they do because that is how their functionality makes them look. Yet despite this, we find elegance in their functionality. Their perfect melding of form and function becomes their beauty.

Still under construction...

 

[Lightning312]

The advice Lightning312 gave is literally to do just that, pour all one's attention into looks, and almost as an afterthought once the looks are perfected, add functionality. To me this is completely ass backwards. I hope people do not take offense at my opinion. I have felt that pretty much everyone and everything has been ass backwards for most of my life.

You and I have irreconcilably different views on why/how we play this game and thus what constitutes a "good" ship. You are absolutely correct; I, and builders like me, consider functionality to be a secondary concern. I for example play this game for the sole purpose of recreating ships I see in other media. While we all acknowledge that a deathcube is the most efficient design, we specifically choose to reject it. You consider my approach "ass-backwards", I consider yours tedious and boring. It's a difference of perspective on what gives us joy in this game.

So I revise my earlier post:
Step 0: Figure out why you are playing this game and what you enjoy about it. Then, consider designs accordingly.

 

[KiloZulu]

I look everywhere for inspiration. I'll look at artwork of spaceships on the internet, battleships and submarines, or maybe my iron while pressing my slacks. I'm always on the lookout for cool shapes and ideas.

I'll take those ideas and make some rough sketches using only 45 degree angles to see if I can make them fit the StarMade universe. If I see some promise, I'll start trying to figure out what factors will determine the scale (one of the big culprits are turrets and shuttle craft.)

I might make a scaled-down model of the ship in game to make sure all my angles are going to work, and as further reference while I'm building. I think that most would agree that building out a frame is important for establishing the ship's scale before you put a lot of effort into minutia - you don't want to do a lot of work in one area and then discover you have to start all over. That said, I will often build out those turrets or other areas I determined earlier in order to be certain that the ship is scaled appropriately.

Practice, practice, practice. I keep telling my friends to build small ships first, and discover the methods that work best for them. That experience has allowed me to quickly build capable and attractive ships for whatever purpose I need. Some of them have learned the hard way that if they try to go big right away that they may never complete the project because they don't realize the hurdles that will confront them. More than one person I know gave up on the game because of that single bad experience - they tried to build big, never got a flyable ship, and left the game bored and disappointed.

 

[Panpiper]

While we all acknowledge that a deathcube is the most efficient design...

Actually a death'cube' is only the most efficient design if your criteria for efficiency is turn rate (solely due by the way to an aberration of game mechanics, it is 'highly' unrealistic). A death'cube' is inferior in most other regards to a sphere or a fat wedge. A sphere is the best shape if your defense is predicated on shielding, as that will give you the most protected volume for the least hull mass. A wedge is the best shape if you are intending armor to be a serious component of your ship's defense, as that will permit the maximum quantity of armor to be brought to face your opponent. The central tip of an armored wedge needs to have the thickest armor, as it cannot benefit from the depth of the armor slope.

Just saying...

 

[TheBlueThunder]

Firstly allow me to thank you for taking the time to read this and (if you choose) reply.

Here's my question to all you ship builders out there, big small, thick, tall, long and strange. How do you come up with your ideas? Pictures? Drawings? The reason I ask this is because I find myself always thinking up a design or a cool idea, I get maybe 60% done with the body and either A, it look completely to small or short. Or B, Its very flat, plain and really looks no better then a floating plain grey cube.

Second question, what would you say are good ways to make a ship look less like something slapped together and more like a purpose build ship. I've seen HUNDREDS of amazing designs in the Shipyard and yet I can't unlock the secrets of their shapes, curves, edges, and even some rather smooth fancy looking ships.

Any tips, tricks are welcome. again thank you for your time and I hope other find this post informative with the answers that are provided.

Mmm... Well for me the blocks in this game is like pixels in ms paint the old ms paint on a windows xp OS. If you zoom in until you see boxes of pixels you can try drawing a curve with ms print and it will shows how you'll need to place blocks to make a curve in starmade this method is good for side view curves which is the top of your ship or use build helper even though I never used build helper before.
And this is what I got from using ms paint but still haven't finished it yet too much RL work example:

Spoiler

PS. Don't tell anyone its a secret for a curvy ship!!! :p

 

[BraveSteelDragon]

Spoiler

Dat shape... Reminds me of something...

 

[TheBlueThunder]

Dat shape... Reminds me of something...

Was going for this shape but got too lazy.

 

[BraveSteelDragon]

Was going for this shape but got too lazy.

Well, my first impression was more like:

Spoiler

But i see your intent. :D

EDIT: Just noticed i'm slightly derailing this thread, ain't i?

 

[Edymnion]

One thing that can help is to try and keep a unified visual theme to all of your stuff. Try not to make random ships, try to make them all match (sort of like in Star Trek, even if you've never seen a certain ship before, you can tell right away if its a Federation ship, a Klingon ship, or a Romulan ship just from the colors and design choices).

Then, come up with some common design elements that you can use across ships/stations.

For my current server, I'm going with a red/black/lava color scheme, my primary visual distinction is that the "base" of a station/ship is black, and then they have red "plates" on them. Then a secondary visual distinction is that all of my stuff uses lava as a themed energy source. So I've got power lines running around made of lava. Open vats of lava. Big glass capsules full of lava that double as docked power generators. That sort of thing.

Then, when I want to start a new ship, I rough out basic shapes, then go back in and start refining them. Like the big capitol/titan I just started building has some large flat areas that look boring. While floating around in space looking at it next to my station, I noticed the lava pod generators docked to my station. They were almost exactly the right size to plug into those flat places like fuses or AA batteries. So now I can go back, chop out the blocks on that smooth surface, and make a recessed slot to plug the generators into. Now, these aren't million energy a second generators, so I don't really care if they get blown up, they're just very decorative and marginally useful, so I have no problems putting them outside of the main hull. If one blows up, big deal, they weren't providing mission critical amounts of energy, but they are pre-made and saved to blueprint for easy plug and play.

After that, the next question is "If these lava batteries are here, what would I expect to see around them?" and then going back and adding those features. Some tubes with lava in them, some bulges in the hull at either end of the tube to imply some kind of machinery underneath that processes the lava, etc. Maybe some bracket arms that look like clamps holding the capsules in place, whatever strikes my fancy.

So I started with a big boring shape. Then I refined that down to a big slightly less boring shape by applying the idea that the big boring shape has some armor plate slabs on it. Then look at my theme and what I've already done elsewhere for design elements I can copy to make things look unified, and then finally refining the look around those elements to make it all blend together.

Start big and basic, add in big ideas, add in secondary ideas, and then refine around that.

Don't try to have the entire thing planned out in your head when you start, just go for basic shapes and don't be afraid to change directions if you see a more interesting thing to do half way through.

Oh, and remember. The ships you see in the Shipyard are basically the best of what people made that they want to show off. They aren't uploading their shoeboxs and pringles can ships to it. Don't compare your blooper reel to their highlights reel. They screw up and make stupid looking crap just like you do, only they aren't showing you those.

 

[Bladeriker]

99.9% of my designs come from my playing with Lego's when I was a child, thus they retain much of my original imagination. My inspiration comes from the many Anime's I have watched Gundam, Robotech, Startrek, Starwars,...ect

I just get an idea in my head and run with it. and as I have gotten better with Logic, and systems my designs have become better.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I think I have a natural aptitude for this sort of thing. I've been a ship builder for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I used pen and paper, sculptures, modeling clay, and folded paper to make ships. Later, I used Legos, Construx blocks and eventually, Windows Paint; creating ships in a pixel by pixel method similar to StarMade but on a 2D plane.

As an adult, I went to school for 3d Design and animation and remade my Windows Paint creations in 3DS Max. That's when things got serious. A close friend of mine tried to get me into MineCraft; I declined since I'm not into fantasy/swords and shields. Then this game came out and I got a phone call...

It was my friend telling me to try StarMade. His exact words; "Yeah... This is right up your alley. You NEED to play this game. You are already hard-wired for it."

So now, I don't have a social life... Thanks Schema.

I'd say your best bet is to start with basic shapes and work out the details as you go along.

A Star Destroyer is basically a triangle. Halo UNSC ships tend to be rectanglar The Enterprise is a circle with a cylinder and 2 engines on it. You'll get better as you refine your technique. Eventually you'll experiment and start doing crazier and more abstract things. Then the fun begins.

 

[wanzer]

at a time I spend building a ship I seen in a cartoon called "once upon a time.. space"
well
I tried to get something that looked like it and not look like a cut open toilet paper roll

still not finished

 

[Dr. Whammy]

at a time I spend building a ship I seen in a cartoon called "once upon a time.. space"
well
I tried to get something that looked like it and not look like a cut open toilet paper roll
View attachment 24280
still not finished

Now THAT is a fine piece of work. I tip my hat to you sir.