ComCardinal's Community Fighter Contest - December 2023

[ComCardinal]

ComCardinal's Community Fighter Contest - December 2023

UPDATE 2: SUBMISSION DEADLINE REACHED - Submissions will still be taken until results are announced, but there is no guarantee they will be evaluated!

UPDATE: SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED​

What is it:
A contest to design the best fighter* in both form and function on the current STABLE build of StarMade.

When is it:
From now until the linked timestamp on Tuesday I'll be taking submissions: StarMade Fighter Contest December 2023 (ADD 24 HOURS TO THIS!)
Review will happen at some time after that (probably within the day, but we'll see).

How to submit:
Submissions can be sent to me as links to StarMade Dock postings or as direct submissions through Discord (I can be found on the StarMade Discord without too much work, probably). Dock submissions can be sent directly to me on the Dock here or added as replies/comments to this thread. It should probably go without saying that submissions of "classified" ships may not be wise, though I don't think anyone considers their fighters particularly pinnacle points of their fleet supremacy.

How many submissions:
You can submit as many ships as you want, however depending on the number of submissions we get, I may only review the first two.

How will it be judged:
I will be evaluating both aesthetics and function. It will be judged by me, more or less subjectively. If you don't like my ratings, too bad, go
host your own fighter contest.

What is the prize:
A pat on the back and bragging rights!

How will results be revealed:
I'll likely make posts on the Dock or Discord (or both) going over my reviews and announcing the top three winners. No videos from me, sorry.

Any other questions can be asked directly!


*What is a fighter, you may ask? By fighter I generally mean some kind of small piloted ship akin to say an X-wing or Tie-fighter, though I'll leave it a bit open-ended. If you submit something very much not a fighter it could be the best ship in the world and not win, because I'm grading on how good a fighter it is. If you have a carrier associated with your fighter, go ahead and submit the whole thing but be pretty clear about it; compatibility with some kind of carrier might give it bonus points for function (though the carrier itself won't be judged other than "is it an actual carrier and not just something slapped together for a technicality?")

Bonus note: Submitting with nice pictures might give a better first impression!

Good luck, everyone!

 

[colonel lacu]

We might need a bit more time than that, im afraid.

 

[ComCardinal]

We might need a bit more time than that, im afraid.

You know that's fair, do you think one more day is enough or would it need to be more?

The idea wasn't to make this a mega competition (at least not this time) but I can see two days being a little too short to give people the chance to participate.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Zweihander MK2 (Prototype)
- Affiliation: United Star Axis
- Manufacturer: Kisaragi Robotics
- Type: Variable Formation Defender (V.F.D.)
- Role: Close Escort Fighter
- Armament: 2X High Energy Particle Beam Units (Logic Activated/AI-Targeting), Light Homing Rocket Launcher.
- Special equipment: Augmented Shield Matrix, Multi-spectral Sensor Array.
- Dimensions: L.20m, W.19m, H.9m, Mass: 126
- Thrust to mass ratio: 5.0
- Export Licensing: Public

 

[ComCardinal]

Very nicely done! I'm seeing a lot of excellent designs in the works!

I've extended the submission time by precisely 24 hours for those of you who got a late start or haven't had time to work on it.

As a reminder, to properly judge submissions I will need the blueprints. If you aren't comfortable sharing on the dock you can reach me on Discord (through the StarMade Discord or DMs here) and send it to me directly.

Good luck building, everyone!

 

[ua2hk]

Interceptor - Peafowl v1.0

Interceptor - Peafowl v1.0

For the event - ComCardinal's Community Fighter Contest - December 2023 ComCardinal's Community Fighter Contest - December 2023 19-12-2023

starmadedock.net

 

[colonel lacu]

im done with my fighters.
one is a large interceptor. the other is a fighter converted from my racing ship.
CRS-Hanko Interceptor
CRS-Norrland Fighter

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Zweihander MK 2 is now approved for public licensing for all StarMade citizens.
Please see our Memorandum concerning this air-spacecraft, located; Here.

 

[SchnellBier]

Here you go:

SBS Harpy

Heavy fighter with some basic systems and enough space to add more.

starmadedock.net

 

[ComCardinal]

Thank you all for your submissions!

The submission deadline has now formally been reached. That being said, I will still accept submissions until I formally announce winners, however there is no guarantee I will process those submissions (though I probably will). Leading up to that I will be releasing semi-detailed text reviews of each of the entered ships on this thread, so that people have an idea of feedback and where they stand beyond just "I won" or "I lost".

All of this amounts to this: if you were working on a ship but have not completed it yet, you still have some time; probably around 24 hours or more, while I process these and come to my decision. If you haven't started yet, I'd only start if you know you're a very fast builder.

 

[ComCardinal]

Review 1: Interceptor - Peafowl v1.0 by ua2hk

First Impressions:
I appreciate that the pictures that you supplied showed the ship in context with the rest of your builds, so that I can see what the overall style and matching is, however I feel there could have been more pictures of just the ship itself, with nothing behind it, so it is clearer what the ship looks like.

Overall first impressions as a category doesn't have a huge impact, but when it comes to "selling" a ship, having solid pictures and a nice write up about it, maybe with some lore, goes a long way.

Exterior Visuals:
I really appreciate the scale and general shape of the ship, however the color palette is not my favorite, and I think it makes the ship look possibly unnecessarily busy, detracting from the nice shaping somewhat. I feel similar about some of the detail; while I enjoy details like the "missiles" on top of the wings, there is so much detailing throughout the exterior that doesn't seem to follow a strong pattern which makes the ship look somewhat busy and harder to clearly see.

I think the engine detailing is understandably simple for the scale of the build, though I think I would have appreciated a little more depth to the engines if possible, rather than a flat glowing plane.

I will add extra praise however for the logic features; the blinking lights are a nice touch, and the physically raising canopy is extremely satisfying!

Interior Visuals:
The interior of the ship is not a strong point. I appreciate an attempt was made, but given half the interior space is exposed system blocks, I can't help but wonder if it may have been better to have a smaller interior with more aesthetic design.

Ergonomics:
The rail door is easily accessible, which affords good entry to the ship, and the core is in the cockpit which allows a pilot to rapidly get in or out of the fighter which is really good. One decision which really confuses me though is the placement of the gravity module at the very rear of the ship in the interior; I think that's a really inaccessible and inconvenient place for it, which makes accessing the ship harder.

The elevated cockpit also makes it a little bit harder to access the ship from a hangar or platform in a gravity-enabled environment, but it's altogether not that big of a deal.

The presence of many cameras is very good, especially for a ship that may be subject to a reasonable amount of damage, however the center camera being flanked by the forcefield blocks disrupts the visual field of the pilot in an unfortunate manner. Thankfully, the forcefields can be disabled, but it is something to consider more for the next build, I think.

Control:
The ship controls excellently. It is a little sluggish at times, but it is fundamentally well balanced, and flies very comfortably. Within a minute of hopping in I was already pulling risky stunts around obstacles in the area, and it never once let me down. Really well done!

Flight Capabilities:
The ship has an extremely good top speed and a pretty good acceleration and turn rate. In combination with the thrust blast, the ship is more than capable of performing most of the maneuvers you would expect from a fighter, with fighter like agility and speed. Well done!

Weapons:
The weapons are not particularly effective. They work against unarmored targets to do some minimal damage, but as soon as confronted with even a single layer of standard armor, they require multiple precise rounds on target to penetrate, something that the ship will likely not be permitted (as it is a fighter and must remain agile). This seriously holds back its ability to fight other fighters and larger ships alike. For all of the visuals of the missiles on the wings, it is a bit sad that we didn't get any missiles with the ship.

Defenses:
The defensive scheme of the ship, from shields to armor, is pretty fantastic. I found embedding the reactor in the place you have, as well as the detailing around the ship, makes it pretty resistive to both guns and missile fire. I don't think I could ask for a much better protected fighter, excellent job!

Scalability:
This fighter is sufficiently small in proportion that I could see it being pretty readily mass produced. That is an advantage, especially for a fighter type of craft.

Carrier Support:
The ship doesn't seem to explicitly support integration with any carriers, however it has a docking module below and is small enough it could probably be put on a carrier without a massive change to the carrier. To that end, it deserves some amount of recognition.

Electronic Warfare:
This ship has no visible evidence of any electronic warfare systems. They're not necessary to making a functioning fighter, but they can be quite handy to have. (This would mean jammers, cloakers, and scanners).

Others:
The upgraded jump drive is something that a fighter does not need, but can benefit considerably from. This is especially true for a fighter that does not have a carrier; the jump drive allows it to rapidly deploy on a nearby battlefield and is a nice addition overall!

Overall:
This is a very solid entry for the fighter contest. If I had to pick one worst part about it, it would probably be the somewhat lackluster weapons systems. If I had to pick a best part, it would either be the flight controllability or the solid defensive scheme of armor and shields. Well done!

 

[ComCardinal]

Review 2: CRS-Hanko by colonel lacu

First Impressions:
You had some good pictures of the ship on the dock post! I think it could have used a little bit more variety of pictures; maybe a (direct) front or rear shot, but not bad! Any sort of little extra lore blurbs or information on the dock post could also have helped "sell" it, but ultimately this doesn't have a huge impact.

Exterior Visuals:
Visually, this ship is excellent from the outside at virtually all angles. I liked how the armor is layered, and how the colors are balanced in the armored or unarmored portions. The engines in particular are excellent designs, and altogether this ship cuts an impressive profile.

My biggest complaint about the exterior visuals are that they don't really scream "fighter" to me. Between the size of the ship and the proportioning of the canopy to the ship and the presence of the airlocks, it simply does seem just very large. It conveys more of the look of an assault or gunship or something like that, not unlike the Razor Crest from the Mandalorian or the likes.

Interior Visuals:
Your interior visuals are pretty excellent, as well. You capture good spacial lighting and your ceilings in particular possess nice depth. I would say that there are places where the interior feels flatter than it needs to be; using a different kind of block in these places could help out the design a fair amount. Also, while the lighting of the space itself feels good, the use of solid exposed light blocks gives the walls a sub-par look. If it's possible to capture the same kind of lighting with less visually obtrusive blocks, such as light bars, I think that could improve the interior visuals.

Ergonomics:
The ship is very easy to use. There are gravity blocks in all important areas like the doors, the core is nice and accessible, and the cameras are solid. Ergonomically I couldn't ask for much more from a ship than what you have provided!

Control:
The flight controls on this ship are not great. While yes, it is possible to fly, and you could get used to its particular quirks of configuration, the location of the center of mass being heavily towards the back of the ship means that the ship doesn't really pivot around the point you would expect. Instead of pitching the craft down along a nice midpoint, downward pitch swings the nose down. Maneuvers, then, get a lot messier, as actually shifting the body of the craft requires additional translative thrust. In general, it doesn't fly awfully, but the center of mass makes it suboptimal, and the overall agility is below that which I'd expect from a fighter or even heavier interceptor.

Flight Capabilities:
This ship has a very good top speed, especially for it's larger size. The thrust-to-weight ratio, while perhaps a little low for a fighter ship, is still not bad. Turn rate, ignoring center of mass related issues, is also not terrible at all. If those issues were corrected I think the ship would present itself as being pretty maneuverable and capable overall.

Weapons:
The weapons on this ship are pretty decent for a fighter. They penetrate one layer of standard armor just fine, though any more than that and the ship is presented some serious difficulty. For it's size, I think I expected considerably more firepower - even just some kind of missile or beam secondary - but the lack of that doesn't make it a terrible offensive platform by any measure.

Defenses:
The shields on the ship are nothing more than fantastic for a fighter or interceptor. Certainly, they would be highly resistive to most anti-fighter measures short of direct attacks from heavier weaponry. That being said, the armor, especially around the reactor area in back, is pretty vulnerable. Once the shields are down, it does not take much from those angles to kill the ship.

Scalability:
This ship is large. While it is not large relative to a proper fleet, the idea of mass producing these as fighters is not a very great prospect. That doesn't hurt the direct abilities of the ship as a fighter or interceptor, but it does hurt its overall utility a little.

Carrier Support:
This ship doesn't really have any carrier support built in, and with its size, I can't imagine really using it effectively with one at all. Carrier support isn't necessary to make the ship a functioning fighter, but it can be quite handy to have.

Electronic Warfare:
This ship has no visible evidence of any electronic warfare systems. They're not necessary to making a functioning fighter, but they can be quite handy to have. (This would mean jammers, cloakers, and scanners).

Others:
The upgraded jump drive is something that a fighter does not need, but can benefit considerably from. This is especially true for a fighter that does not have a carrier; the jump drive allows it to rapidly deploy on a nearby battlefield and is a nice addition overall!

Overall:
This is a fantastic ship. I don't see it as an excellent fighter, or even interceptor, however. While it is certainly capable of performing that role, I think re-tooling the ship as a gunship, assault ship, or even some kind of recon/science ship, or a freighter, would put the ship in a better place. The speed it has allows it to somewhat function as the interceptor role, but even then it will struggle to keep up with a smaller ship with good speed. The maneuverability is not terrible, but it makes it hard to content with a smaller zippier fighter. The weapons systems are functional and perhaps better by a little bit than the common smaller ship, but they're really quite sub-par for the size of the ship. The shields are excellent, but perhaps some of their energy could be repurposed towards stronger weapons? In general, the aspects in which this ship excels the most tend to be aspects inconsistent with a fighter or interceptor. As such, while I want to stress that it is a very awesome ship, I don't think it is the strongest entry for the fighter role.

 

[ua2hk]

In fact, there is a "Seaplane tender" redesigned from a 101m long Tanker.



BUT, I only keen on building CIVILIAN Ships/Stations, not the naval. That's why no carrier in my 'shipping company'.

Like the Mig-25 and Mig-31, with a high-top speed, speed-up, FTL and lots missiles (although they are just decorate), a Fast combat support/Rescue can be performed quickly.

That's why it is a "Interceptor'(A hope for any Convoy in trouble )...

 

[ComCardinal]

Review 3: CRS-Norrland Fighter by colonel lacu

First Impressions:
I think the pictures the Dock post had were pretty good, but it could have used more. I also think it could have used a little bit more variety of pictures; maybe a (direct) front or rear shot, but not bad! Any sort of little extra lore blurbs or information on the dock post could also have helped "sell" it, but ultimately this doesn't have a huge impact.

Exterior Visuals:
This ship is a visual masterpiece. I don't see anything about it that stands out to me as looking bad or even sub-excellent. It looks like a fighter, it looks excellent from all angles, and it looks distinctive.

Interior Visuals:
While there isn't exactly a lot of interior on this ship, I couldn't ask for much if any more from a fighter cockpit as was provided. It looks excellent sitting in either seat!

Ergonomics:
You open the canopy, and enter the core. I don't think it could be more simple or straightforward. Reaching the canopy from the ground is simple and easy. The camera has no obstructions and is placed well on the ship.

Control:
The ship controls acceptably, but somewhat like the Hanko, the pivot point for ship maneuvering is a little weirdly towards the rear. This makes controlling a little suboptimal, though the ship being as small and swift as it is compensates for that mostly.

Flight Capabilities:
The top speed of the ship is extremely high, which allows this ship to be fast to or from the fight. The thurst-to-weight ratio isn't as good as some but it is generally fantastic. A slightly higher turn rate would probably help with the control and give the ship a better envelop of capabilities.

Weapons:
The weapons on this ship, while functional, are pretty sub-optimal. They really struggle heavily with even one layer of armor, and don't do much damage to even raw systems.

Defenses:
This ship has excellent shields and armor! It resists anti-fighter turrets well in testing, and even the weapons of other fighters. I don't think you could make much more of a defensive fighter for it's size or weight class!

Scalability:
This fighter is sufficiently small in proportion that I could see it being pretty readily mass produced. That is an advantage, especially for a fighter type of craft.

Carrier Support:
While no carrier support was explicitly demonstrated, this ship is small enough (especially vertically) that I could readily see loading a carrier full of them to great effect!

Electronic Warfare:
This ship has no visible evidence of any electronic warfare systems. They're not necessary to making a functioning fighter, but they can be quite handy to have. (This would mean jammers, cloakers, and scanners).

Others:
I don't see anything else to mention here; there is no jump drive (which is fine) nor are there additional logic-related features (which is also fine).

Overall:
This is an excellent fighter. Visually and defensively, it would be very difficult to rival for the scale. Controllability and flight are a mixed bag but definitely workable. The definite weakest point of the ship is simply the weapons systems; if you can somehow trade a bit of the extra shielding in favor of stronger weapons, I think that would improve the effectiveness of the fighter a lot. As it stands, the armor of the ship is strong enough to take a serious beating from other fighter type ships and anti-fighter defenses, so the shielding, while excellent, is somewhat redundant. Overall though, a fantastic design - well done!

 

[ComCardinal]

Review 4: Zweihander Mk2 by Dr. Whammy

First Impressions:
The Dock post with the fighter and the preceding detail post provided an excellent first impression view of the ship, with lots of good images (and even a gif or two) of the ship in action! The lore and details of the ship provided in these posts is fantastic as a first impression of the ship!

Exterior Visuals:
This ship is visually excellent! The details you have added flow together fantastically, and the use of parts such as the metal bars to round off corners and sharper edges is really solid. By and large, the ship looks fantastic at almost every angle, though there are a few spots where there maybe could be a tweak to detailing. The engines generally look solid, and I do appreciate that they have function in lighting up and shutting down when docking, though if there were some way to provide just a bit more depth to them, I think they could be even better. Overall, a beautiful fighter!

Interior Visuals:
Though there isn't a whole lot of interior to speak of, what is there looks pretty good. I think there could be just a little improvement on what is there, but it doesn't represent a huge impact either way.

Ergonomics:
The ship is easy to get in and likewise so is the core, however it may be a little bit of a jump to get up to it. The biggest issue I have with the ergonomics of the ship, however, is the distinctive lack of cameras. While I greatly appreciate the option for a first-person "cockpit" view, when it comes to actually operating and flying the ship, especially in a combat situation, I find the lack of additional cameras a great inconvenience.

Control:
This ship controls pretty well overall, with reasonable balancing and a good thrust-to-weight ratio. I do think it could maybe do with a little buff to rotation or translational speeds, but the function as it stands is reasonably good.

Flight Capabilities:
With a good thrust-to-weight ratio and fantastic top speed, this fighter is certainly capable of pretty good flight and maneuvering! Well done!

Weapons:
The weapons on this ship are fantastic. The tracking missiles, though a little underpowered, are capable of battering targets well, be they fighters or heavier ships with shields down. I don't think you could expect much better out of fighter missiles, and they have homing!

The beam turrets are highly unconventional for a fighter, but greatly effective! What they lose in control precision they regain tenfold in their automated targeting (which includes firing on ships off center) and in damage. They're clearly more than capable of both tearing deep into enemy hull and systems and creating large surface gashes! These weapons should prove more than capable against enemy fighters and in groups against small enemy ships alike!

Defenses:
For its size, the ship has pretty solid shields and armor! That being said, I have found that it doesn't take a whole lot to get to and shoot the core from the front. Some of that is just the reality of a fighter in StarMade, and I think the alternative balance you struck is an increased resilience to damage from the rear or sides, which is wise on a fighter aircraft which realistically could be hit from the sides or rear by other fighters or missile attacks just as much as it would be prone to fire from the front. The presence of the somewhat bulky turrets on either side also enhances side damage survivability, and it also allows for a more rapid repair if that is all that is damaged on the ship (as that allows hot swapping the turrets out rather than a full repair of the ship being required). Overall, pretty good defensibility for a fighter!

Scalability:
This fighter is sufficiently small in proportion that I could see it being pretty readily mass produced. That is an advantage, especially for a fighter type of craft.

Carrier Support:
While no carrier was provided with the submission itself, there is was a gif of these ships functioning very fluidly as a battlegroup on a carrier in one of the two posts. This demonstrates a compatibility with a carrier exists, even if the carrier was not shared, meaning this is an effective carrier fighter. That increases its usefulness considerably!

Electronic Warfare:
The max-strength perma-scanner represents a fantastic electronic warfare package for this fighter. This would allow the entire fighter group to work as a screening unit to detect cloaked or jamming vessels and reveal them, which is an incredibly useful prospect!

Others:
I really appreciated the smaller features, such as the ship engines "turning off" when docked or the console being linked to the core (and closing the canopy). It's little features like that which propel a ship from just being another fighter, to being a really good one! Also the option to disable the turrets to avoid potential friendly fire accidents is exceptionally useful.

Overall:
Overall, this is a completely splendid fighter! It's wide range of features and nigh perfect balance of offensive and defensive capabilities shows a substantial volume of practical experience building fighters, and presents a well made complete package. My only major gripe would be with the lack of cameras, though that is an easy to solve problem. If there were one area in addition to enhance this ship, it would probably be improvements or additions to maneuverability. Well done!

 

[colonel lacu]

Review 2: CRS-Hanko by colonel lacu

Thank you so much for the in depth review! its fascinating to see how others perceive of my work. I think i can open some of my creative decisions a little.

It could have used a little bit more variety of pictures.

I personally prefer to not show everything in the pictures and let those who wanna see more download the ship and explore it for themselves, also sometimes it feels like many angles don't really say anything more that previous angles haven't already said.

Visually, this ship is excellent from the outside at virtually all angles.

it looks pretty good from far but a true mastery of slabs would require me to be able to smooth all the blocky lines. i attempted it on this ship but ended up not going through with it due to the slab phase and angle intersections not going even with the wedges i wanted to smooth the shape with.

My biggest complaint about the exterior visuals are that they don't really scream "fighter" to me. Between the size of the ship and the proportioning of the canopy to the ship and the presence of the airlocks, it simply does seem just very large. It conveys more of the look of an assault or gunship or something like that, not unlike the Razor Crest from the Mandalorian or the likes.

Speaking of mandalorians, this ship was inspired partially by Slave1 from starwars. its a very specific type of ship that i feel like fits in the figter role as they tend to be fast and heavily armed. but almost always very large and not designed for carrier compatibility. i just tend to call them heavy interceptors.

its interior was straight up not finished. its only the barebones of what i'd consider passable for a 2-day build
the ship has very little interior volume and most of it is taken up by interior. that's the root problem for its performance problems.


What i'd do with this ship from here is i'd cut the bottom and sides off turning this ship into a shuttle.
here's some pics what that would look like i took while building it.

I don't expect this ship to win, im just glad i got motivated to build something of quality.

 

[ComCardinal]

Review 5: SBS Harpy by SchnellBier

First Impressions:
The dock posting was pretty minimal with pretty much just one picture, which really did not do this ship justice. That being said, that doesn't matter a whole lot for the sake of this competition.

Exterior Visuals:
Visually, this ship has an absolutely excellent exterior. Despite being huge - arguably maybe too large to be considered a fighter - it still possesses a very distinctly fighter aesthetic reminiscent of many a science fiction ship. I really enjoyed the detailing along the hull with pipes and bars and different textures/materials/colors; it wasn't too abundant that it made the ship look messy, but it also made it look detailed and not just a flat shape. The only area of the ship I could identify from the exterior that seemed a little less visually strong was the cockpit, but there's only so many options in StarMade for that kind of thing.

Interior Visuals:
The interior is visually basic but effective. It's larger than just a cockpit like many fighters, but not by much, and it uses the space it gets reasonably well.

Ergonomics:
Ergonomics of the ship left a fair amount to be desired. While I greatly appreciated the elevator entry from a "landed in gravity" and coolness perspective, it tended to be a little funky to use, with some considerable delay on the controls at times.

The ship also did not appear to have a functioning gravity block that I could see, though I may have just missed it. Without gravity, it is still possible to navigate the ship's interior, but it somewhat negates the benefits of the design of said interior and elevator.

The lack of a camera besides the core cockpit view is a bit of a hindrance to piloting the ship. While I greatly appreciate the immersive value (and visibility of) the cockpit, having a real camera to use in addition would help the ergonomics and usability of the ship considerably.

I did appreciate the otherwise quickly and readily accessible core, though!

Control:
I was frankly surprised by how well the ship controlled given its size. It had a good center of mass and balance to the controls, and it was relatively responsive. Obviously, it isn't as zippy as smaller fighters, but for a heavy fighter it controlled quite well!

Flight Capabilities:
The top speed of this ship as well as the thrust blasts and thrust to weight ratio makes it an absolutely high performing ship. The decision to include four blasts - and not just one or two - was a really good one. The thrust blasts help overcome the sluggishness that the ship ultimately presents from its size, and helps it reach its top speeds faster.

This all being said, a higher thrust to weight ratio like in that of a smaller ship would make it even stronger, but as a heavy fighter, this configuration works pretty well!

Weapons:
The weapons on this ship are pretty great! The cannons do an absolute number on an unarmored ship, especially patterned as they are, they really diverge once inside the target and do pretty impressive damage. They also perform reasonably well against deeper armor, for a fighter.

Defenses:
This ship has truly impressive shields for a fighter. I found it to be virtually untouchable by my lighter anti fighter systems, and even with the shields down, the reactor is well placed and shaped to allow the ship to take a beating!

Scalability:
This ship is large. While it is not large relative to a proper fleet, the idea of mass producing these as fighters is not a very great prospect. That doesn't hurt the direct abilities of the ship as a fighter, but it does hurt its overall utility a little.

Carrier Support:
This ship doesn't really have any carrier support built in, and with its size, I can't imagine really using it effectively with one at all. Carrier support isn't necessary to make the ship a functioning fighter, but it can be quite handy to have.

Electronic Warfare:
The lone stealth chamber is a good start to an EW suite. While it itself doesn't do a whole lot, the reactor and open space in the ship allows for the relatively easy addition of more stealth systems. Stealth on a fighter isn't necessarily the paramount feature, but it could prove to be pretty useful, especially on a heavier fighter such as this, or in the case that this ship gets re-armed with bombs or something with a little more punch. Overall, it is a good start.

Others:
I really appreciate the RP value of the elevator. If I were to request one feature for random aesthetic stuff, it'd be that the navigation lights had an alternating blink. I think that'd be a fun additional little feature!

Overall:
This is a fantastic ship, an would make a pretty solid heavy fighter. At the end of the day, its biggest weakness is simply its size. It is really big enough to be a gunship or something like that, but it does at least somewhat make up for its rather substantial size with quality performance of a "fighter" kind (maneuverability, speed, etc.). I honestly would be curious to see what could be done to transform and tweak this ship into more of a dedicated gunship; maybe a little interior for one or two, and some small turrets or something. If that went well, this could be made into a really cool starter ship or pirate ship or something like that, beyond just being a (heavy) fighter. Well done!

 

[ComCardinal]

Review 6: EH Shuttle Fighter by Asgardia

(Submitted through Discord, can be found here: EH Shuttle Fighter)

First Impressions:
I really appreciated the description and pictures of the ship on the dock posting. It helped me get an idea of what to expect of the ship upon downloading and testing.

Exterior Visuals:
I really appreciate the colors and shaping of the ship overall, though the detailing could use some work. It is in many ways very reminiscent of a number of fighter designs I've seen in science fiction over the years, while remaining distinct. That all being said, the singular use of basic hull, and the existence of a few angles where wedging seemed incomplete or rough brings the ship down a little. More detailing using pipes, bars, lights, girders, slabs, etc. would really spice the ship up in a good way if done correctly. The engine area, while not terrible, could also use a little bit of work to take it from a pretty decent general shape to a really visually nice engine.

Interior Visuals:
There is only really the interior of the cockpit to speak of, but the lack of even a console makes it a little bit blander than it could be. I also am not a fan of the doors on the sides being the way they are; if you used glass doors it'd allow for a much higher visibility cockpit overall.

Ergonomics:
This ship is not terrible to use ergonomically, but the doors being as small as they are can make it a little fussier to get into the ship, and the lack of a camera (especially with the hull blocking the sides of the view from the core view) is a real disadvantage here. As it stands, almost half the view when piloting is obscured, which is pretty suboptimal.

Control:
This ship controls quite well. It has a good pivot point, center of mass, and behaves/responds as I'd expect, all while being lightweight and quick!

Flight Capabilities:
This ship can reach a quite impressive top speed, and has a pretty good thrust to weight ratio!

Weapons:
While I appreciate the potential utility of each weapons system, in practice the utilization of those systems tends to yield less than optimal results. The beams work quite well against one layer of basic hull and systems, but really falter against even one block of armor or more layers of hull. The missile is not capable of doing a whole lot in general, and the cannons are pretty underpowered. While I appreciate that this is a fighter, and a small one at that, I think focusing efforts on one or two weapons systems rather than three would yield better results. The beam is probably the best system to focus on of any, and maybe an upgrade of the missiles (making them homing for starters) would enhance their use as well.

Another issue with the weapons as it stands are that they tend to exceed the reactor's generation, especially when employed rapidly or together. This is certainly an issue if AI pilots the ship as it WILL attempt to employ them simultaneously, and it can present a difficulty when a player is piloting the ship as well.

Defenses:
This ship has virtually no shields to speak of, with the few that are there going down to one or two shots of just about anything. The basic hull may afford the ship a higher speed, but it also means a single cannon shot will hit and damage systems, making this a highly vulnerable fighter.

Scalability:
This is a small and cheap fighter, meaning it could be mass produced exceptionally easily!

Carrier Support:
From the pictures provided on the dock link, it appears this ship was indeed designed with carrier usage in mind, meaning it is indeed capable of it!

Electronic Warfare:
This ship has no visible evidence of any electronic warfare systems. They're not necessary to making a functioning fighter, but they can be quite handy to have. (This would mean jammers, cloakers, and scanners).

Others:
I don't see anything else to mention here; there is no enhanced jump drive (which is fine) nor are there additional logic-related features (which is also fine).

Overall:
This feels like a pretty good start of a fighter to me, but it could still use a last chunk of work. Reworking the weapons, augmenting the cockpit, mixing up block materials, and adding details would probably take this fighter form alright to pretty good. You will always be a bit constrained by the size of the design, given it runs on the "pretty small" end of the spectrum for fighters, but I think you could still get more out of it than it has right now. Good work!

 

[ComCardinal]

Results

Thank you to everyone who participated! I think this went pretty well for my first hosted ship competition, but if you have feedback for how I have conducted it, please feel free to provide it! I will likely be announcing the next competition soon, so keep an eye out for that!



We had many great entrants to this competition. The one I have selected as winner is the one I felt fit all the criteria (and potentially more) in the most balanced and effective way, presenting a craft which is both visually excellent and functionally. That doesn't mean that for specific users, one of these other ships wouldn't be better.



My selected winner: Zweihander MK 2 by Dr. Whammy



It is truly an excellent ship in both form and function, dealing very possibly the most damage of any of the ships in the lineup despite being one of the smallest, while still looking distinctive, unique, and cool!

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Thank you all again for participating! I hope to see you all for the next competition!