Bloodgood's Shipyards

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Keeping a build log and sharing the insanity seems like a good bit of fun so I thought I'd give it go. I currently have 3 major projects I hope to some day 'finish' and as the mood strikes a number of smaller ships I'd like to work on.

First up is my home base. As you can see.. I have a looong way to go. The basic concept is that of the floating castle.. though my plans for a small asteroid now seem like more of a planetary scale. (Isn't that always how it goes?).

So far its main features include

2 USD-1 ports, one of either side.. I'm sure some recognize the logic..
5 small ship bays
1 'medium' ship bay (forgive me I'm still familiarizing myself with community standards)..
1 Titan sized shipyard (or so I assume it's titan sized.. you'll see in a minute).
All docking bays are also shipyards.
Significant cargo space
Open courtyard
several hastily thrown together long range missile turrets (I got tired of getting sniped by pirates pretty quick).
A very much WIP factory floor
Assortment of various facilities planned.

One thing I'd like to do for all of my large designs is have a fully functional power system controllable from engineering and C&C/bridge. At present 'power' relays are installed on the USD ports.. no power and the even the activation module won't stay on. Hopefully I'll be able to work in alternate power modes and alert status systems.

The next project I'm working on is my current pride & joy. I'll give you a hint.. This crate's slower than the speed of dark! (Or I'm sure it will be.. fortunately it has a fully functional jump drive).

That.. is a big shipyard.. (I think).. I have two versions right now.. the shipyard design and a very basic functioning prototype. As my mining ship I need something I can still take out and I feel I will need a lot more materials before I can actually build the finished ship.

The ship's main feature (and really the only significant one working so far) is a 2 tiered, long range salvage array. This thing will go from surface to planet core on most planets in one short burst. Asteroids are barely an appetizer for this ship.

Like the station, this gigantic red trash can is USD-1 compliant.

Some notable features planned include all facilities needed for upcoming crew changes.. a substantial shuttle bay and cargo storage, observation domes, extensive lift system, "floor 13" and a karaoke bar on G-deck.

There are no weapon systems planned but I may install turret docking just to be nice.

This ship is 600 blocks long, 400 blocks tall and 300 blocks wide.

I do not yet have images of my third project.. which shall be forth coming. It's basically a Battlestar of my own design I call the Crusader, which is inspired by the original Galactica and a variety of different schematics found online.

I'm looking forward to.. in the very least learning quite a bit and hopefully some day actually finishing these.

Feedback, ideas and general suggestions other than 'you should do something else' are welcome. Also happy to entertain any screenshot requests.
[DOUBLEPOST=1452168355,1452165174][/DOUBLEPOST]Ok.. 3rd project.. the Battlestar Crusader.

720 blocks long
573 blocks wide
92 blocks tall.
2 Flight Decks.. 617 blocks long
I haven't installed the USD ports yet but it will be USD-1 compatible.

And this one WILL have turrets. Lots of turrets. As any respectable Battlestar the Crusader will be a carrier ship and it will also probably sport some pretty hefty forward guns. This turret is current in design in one of my small docking bays. There is current an issue with how high the guns can rotate upwards.. I'm hoping to get them to elevate at least 60-70 degrees. I think it's closer to about 45 now. The cockpit gets stuck on the housing.

 

[TFlok]

Woah, that red titan looks like it'll be something spectacular (IMO of course, I like practcial shapes), just the basic shape of it and the scale.

Personally I'm having trouble building ships more than 100-200k of mass or so (see the thread I made in this forum section to get the picture). Anyway, will look forward to development of those ships. *looks at the red hexagon*

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Thanks.. I admit one of the reasons I started a thread is that just one person with a simple comment is enough to motivate me to do some more work.

The big rouge one there is going to be challenge.. in the sense that there's a ton of stuff but almost no schematics or even simple diagrams to work from. So I know what needs to go in.. but not where it needs to be. And just building out the hull with it's weird angles is tedious. I'm still very much working out how I want to approach a lot of it. Big tasks for little newbie builder. But that's all part of the fun.

That ship is already approaching about 250k blocks.. but what probably worries me the most is exterior detailing. I've never been good at making things look pretty. I usually lose interest once I consider something 'functional'.

 

[TFlok]

Hmm, exterior detailing. Not that much into aesthetics when it comes to spaceships and due that I too tend to build bland looking things and if I really wanted to I could try building ships from the 'Homeworld' game down to the last detail but when it comes to aesthetics, I just strive to make all sorts of abstract Giger-esque tubing on my ships, For example:



Perhaps it's just the kind of touch your red ship may need too?

 

[Top 4ce]

Thanks.. I admit one of the reasons I started a thread is that just one person with a simple comment is enough to motivate me to do some more work.

The big rouge one there is going to be challenge.. in the sense that there's a ton of stuff but almost no schematics or even simple diagrams to work from. So I know what needs to go in.. but not where it needs to be. And just building out the hull with it's weird angles is tedious. I'm still very much working out how I want to approach a lot of it. Big tasks for little newbie builder. But that's all part of the fun.

That ship is already approaching about 250k blocks.. but what probably worries me the most is exterior detailing. I've never been good at making things look pretty. I usually lose interest once I consider something 'functional'.

Sketch it out. Do it again and again. The sketches don't have to be good, but the let you play with the shapes and layouts. Once you're working on the ship, you'll mentally refer to the sketches, and it will start to come together.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

That's.. actually a pretty good idea.. where did I put my graph paper?

I've actually made a little progress but not as much as I'd like. Hopefully will get more done this week time permitting.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Finally got a little more time to work on the big rouge one. It's not much but I got some of the basic framework done.. we can now see just how many floors it'll have.. about 54 I think..

My current plan is to identify the key areas and design the power systems first.

I'm having a hard time decided whether to go with the orange or the blue on the power systems. I kinda like them both. What we have here is the beginnings of the primary engineering section.. where the master power switch is.. this switch isn't on the ship won't even have emergency lighting.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Well it's been awhile and it's going even slower than I planned.. BUT.. I am making progress. A lot of work lately I've been putting off in part in anticipating of a new computer. New machine, better card.. LOT more memory.. maybe I'll be able to see the entire ship now.

So I just have a couple of teasers. Hopefully with the new computer(s) I will update more frequently and with better pics.

So I've done a lot of scaffolding and recently I've started attaching lights to color code parts of the ship to help me visualize and better keep track of stuff. The teal lighting is attached to the lift system. There are going to be 4 primary lifts.. 2 vertical and 2 horizontal.. then any number of shorter lifts.

The yellow lighting is marking off "Floor 13". A top secret facility known only to the officers and anyone who's ever seen the Twilight Zone.

It's not so easy to tell here but the horizontal lifts will have an enlarged tunnel with several stops. The lifts themselves will have windows. They'll run through the length of the main body.

If you're wondering what the red lighting is that's the core of the ship length wise.

With the addition of fleets I've started working on the landing and cargo bays. The main bays have 16 control booths for individual ships. Still working out the mechanics of it. The bay doors will be mechanical. None of this plex door stuff.

In this shot you can see a bit of the bottom of the ship.. there are 3 massive doors for docking asteroids. Yes I know you can't actually do that in-game but this is a themed mining ship and I have to do something with the space.

 

[Peekie30]

In this shot you can see a bit of the bottom of the ship.. there are 3 massive doors for docking asteroids. Yes I know you can't actually do that in-game but this is a themed mining ship and I have to do something with the space.

U can have crews in tiny ships place dockers on nearby asteroids and flagging them for the big ship, to add more RP into it

 

[StarWars1981]

I have had this idea for awhile, and it may be useful for such a large vessel.
If you're on multiplayer, rather than maneuvering to take each asteroid one by one, have a T-shaped vessel with a docker at one of the long ends. By careful use of removing blocks and replacing them on the asteroid, you bury the cross section. Using slow speeds, you then bring the vessel in and fire the salvage beams. Or just hurl these things in front while the main vessel burns a planetary plate.
You could use this technique (rather than just ramming it around) to build an asteroid-field base. You could also use a logic-driven clamp mechanism... but that would be difficult given the irregularity of asteroids.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

U can have crews in tiny ships place dockers on nearby asteroids and flagging them for the big ship, to add more RP into it

I have had this idea for awhile, and it may be useful for such a large vessel.
If you're on multiplayer, rather than maneuvering to take each asteroid one by one, have a T-shaped vessel with a docker at one of the long ends. By careful use of removing blocks and replacing them on the asteroid, you bury the cross section. Using slow speeds, you then bring the vessel in and fire the salvage beams. Or just hurl these things in front while the main vessel burns a planetary plate.
You could use this technique (rather than just ramming it around) to build an asteroid-field base. You could also use a logic-driven clamp mechanism... but that would be difficult given the irregularity of asteroids.

Interesting ideas! I shall have to play around with them when the time comes.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Holy cow has it really been that long? Well I suppose getting a job will do that to you.. I haven't given up on any of my projects.. I just got preoccupied with other things. Then the faction update came out and I figured I'd better get a little more done. It's not much but I got acquainted with some of the more advanced building tools and wow did that make a difference.

I had really been putting off the basic outer armor for a long time because of the weird angles involved.. have I ever found a new appreciation for copy and paste!

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

As you can probably see from my previous post I started putting on the outer haul of the red one. But before I can do much I feel like I must first see to the ship's functionality.

Now I'm still very much a novice at building logic circuits so my experiments are a little messy. Anyone care to take a guess what this is?

Honestly I don't know why I do this myself.. taking on crazy huge projects for kicks.. this is just part of it. If you guessed I'll be building a rail based lift system with virtually unlimited stops and single display module input.. you are one smart cookie.

The only limitation is the space required for logic on the 'elevator'.. This system will feature a menu with modest feedback responses including error detection with automated reset and "power detection" cause I'm crazy enough to design my logic systems to require simulated power. No power.. no function.

When a recognized command (ie floor number) is received, it will send a signal via wireless to appropriate circuit on the ship to manipulate the rails. Well that's the idea anyway. First I have to clean all this up and condense it down to fit on the elevator and somehow include up to 50 stops.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Well so far so good. This elevator can be configured for up to 40 stops. I haven't quite worked out how many I'll REALLY need but 40 should be enough for anyone. If a time should ever come where display modules can be copied between ships using wireless modules (or some other means) then this logic won't need to be on the lift itself and could support a lot more feedback.

As it is, there is just basic feedback.. the display will give an error message and reset if an improper command is used. Lights inside will show direction..

At present I only have 28 floors configured. It's taking awhile with the limited time I have. The system could be simplified and made more efficient but I opted to instead go with something easier to actually build. Copy & paste.. hook up and forget.

This ship will probably have 5 vertical lifts and 3 or 5 horizontal ones. Once those are installed I might add the lift system to the battlestar before coming back to this.

Obviously these lifts will be very slow even at top speed. Which is why there will also be a teleport system.

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

The recent discussion on power systems is just one of many reasons why I am glad that I'm taking my darn sweet time here. New features and changes to old ones inspire new ideas and new ways to do things, but one recent motivator is all the darn pirate rates and really dumb AI where both pirate and trade guild ships keep ramming right into things and getting stuck in the scaffolding!

Step 1.. start filling things in..

Still a long way to go but there's far fewer places for AI driven ships to get stuck..

It's been awhile since I did any real work on the station itself.. and now I've gotten to the point where just about everything will have to be rethought. My smaller shipyards needs to be bigger.. I need better hangers for smaller ships.. the docking ports for the titans need to be longer.. the factories are insufficient.. the list goes on and on.

Unfortunately, just giving everything more hull doesn't actually stop the pirates.. so I also decided to do something about that.. Time to start arming the battlestar..

Let's just say that despite a small armada of defenders.. the pirate station did not last for very long. This is just the first pass at arming the ship.. I was getting so sick of this station sending ships to harass me that I just threw some new turrets together.. loaded them up and paid this station a visit.

Currently sporting 20 machine gun turrets.. I believe 7 (temporary) long range target lock 10 pack missile batteries and 2 large dual cannon rapid dumbfire missile turrets.

There really isn't anything left of the station.

This missile system will be reworked but it was fun flying into a swarm of 20+ enemy fighters and laughing them off.

Unfortunately, despite not having left a single block.. I'm still getting pirates from this place. *sigh* Not that they last long between my own station and the battlestar.

Ok back to work.. I believe I left off with a rail based lift system..

 

[Bowen Bloodgood]

Let's see.. a few things happened since last time. Flew too close to the local star, turrets flew off on their own and so I found myself putting my crusade to rid the sector of pirate stations on hold.

Then.. my tolerance for stupid AI flying into my ship's framework dropped.. and so a chance of plans ensued. Before finishing the various rail based lifts and I decided to just go ahead and complete a very basic outer hull for both the titans as overall just make sure they could fly, fight and crow.

First up..

Obviously we're still lacking quite a bit of detail work but I really just wanted to get things covered. In the process I reshaped the flight pods. Also I added two (temporary) large cannons on the front. I found it necessary to deal with the shields on the more heavily fortified stations. Later I'll probably be reworking them and moving them to a large turret under the nose.

Not much to show except you can better see the new pod shape and of course I added force fields to both ends of the flight deck.

So after I finished this I started working on the big rouge one.. and just as I was a pirate ship managed to fly into the shipyard and straight down into the ship. I was fit to be tied I tell ya! I couldn't admin/destroy that ship fast enough!

So I've been a little unhappy as of late with how the red one's turning out. The angles are a pain and the shape is a little odd and generally I started considering just scrapping the whole thing and starting over.. until I acquainted myself with the build helper function that is..

Needless to say I made extensive use of that build helper. Smoothing all that out might never happen but we'll see. I was crazy enough to start these projects to begin with so maybe I'll get around to ironing out those edges some day. So a complete rework of the back end here. Also a little work on the front since the 'ram scoop' / salvage array was always meant to be round.

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how I'm going to put the name of the ship where it's supposed to go.

Finally, I've been unsatisfied with my shipyard control area.. so I built a whole new area and I dare say it turned out moderately nice.

So I always wanted a control room where I could look down into the shipyard. I've started using transporters more but I've included doors on two sides for those cases where the ship design doesn't have a transporter yet. I'm considering using the USD design for them as I've also made this little thing..

Because I got tired of spacewalking to and from ships without transporters as well as around the station in general. Ok it's a bit overkill but I just wanted to cover all the bases as it were.

So what's next? Back to rail lifts? Start reshaping and detailing the ship hulls? I've no idea.. whatever the mood strikes me I suppose.