First Major Ship Attempt.(W.I.P)

[coldbeer72]

Hi All.
Yes, its very light on the details, and very heavy on the grey, but is my first attempt at a big(and yes I am aware its not really) ship.
Its a blend of many sci-fi themes. Central assault beam based on a Galaxy deflector. Engines- Defiant inspired, aside from the swept rear end points, which came from a memory of 1930s Flash Gordon ships.
And of course the obviously Star Destroyer based front end, with the forward secondary bridge loosely based on that of General Greivous's ship in Revenge of the Sith.
Toyed with going with BSG style hangers, but as I planned for this to be a type of Assault Carrier, wanted it to be as compact and solid as possible.
Its just a shell at the moment, but am putting it up for comments, suggestions.
There are areas that could probably be better, so all constructive comments welcome.

Cheers
Coldbeer

Assualt Carrier.

 

[TwoNiner]

So far so good, thou u might wanna thicken the exterior hangar hulls

 

[ArgoContar]

Thickening is just a waste so only make it look thicker. Also the ship looks really good so far, but make sure to give it some more details on the exterior.

 

[coldbeer72]

So far so good, thou u might wanna thicken the exterior hangar hulls

Fair point. Had considered putting a stand off "blast shield" around each hanger for additional protection, but decided against it as thought it might look a bit "dicky".
Will have another look at it, but will follow your suggestion if I cannot make it work.

ArgoContar , yeah details are next on the list. Am fairly happy with the overall shape, think it conveys the sense of "solidity" I was going for. But other peoples opinions are often invaluable.

Cheers
Coldbeer

 

[Zeno9141]

It is a slight bit too blocky. But yeah, that might just be me, I use wedges for everything.

 

[coldbeer72]

It is a slight bit too blocky. But yeah, that might just be me, I use wedges for everything.

Yeah, know what you mean. Have wedges planned for pretty much every "blocky" bit you can see to smooth her out as much as possible.
Thanks for the input.

 

[ltmauve]

Good to hear you plan to wedge. Anyway, it looks good. The one part I'm concerned about is it feels like the hangers should extend back over the rear runways. You may want to do something to better distinguish the runway from the hanger floor.

 

[coldbeer72]

Good to hear you plan to wedge. Anyway, it looks good. The one part I'm concerned about is it feels like the hangers should extend back over the rear runways. You may want to do something to better distinguish the runway from the hanger floor.

Will have a play round with it. Think it may make them look out of proportion to the rest of the ship, but well see.

 

[XxDanclarke96xX]

Wow i am impressed, for a first big project it is great, have you considered using the new smoothing blocks to make it sexy?
Also id like to invite you to the SATURN server, we are a big building server that would love to have you join us and our other talented members, just follow the link if you want to know more and gimme a shout if you want to join!

YE OLDE LINK BE HERE

 

[ltmauve]

Will have a play round with it. Think it may make them look out of proportion to the rest of the ship, but well see.

I wasn't saying that extending the hangers was the only option, but that the rear runways should be visually distinct from the hanger floor.

 

[psteiner]

Are you going to put turrets under the primary platform?

 

[coldbeer72]

I wasn't saying that extending the hangers was the only option, but that the rear runways should be visually distinct from the hanger floor.

Is all good mate, did the extentions and they don,t look too bad. Broke up the rear end with some plex strip windows so it didn't look quite so chunky.(will post pics later)

psteiner - Initial plan was to put a couple of mid sized turrets on top of the hangers to break up that big-arsed flat area, and some AI missile banks along the side. Apart from that hadn't put a lot of thought into addtional weapons, was just going to play around and see what worked. So suggestions on this point are most welcome.

Cheers
Coldbeer

Edit- On a side note is the admin command for spawning pirates broken? Have tried every which way to get it to work, but no joy.

 

[coldbeer72]

Ok, pic of the extended hanger, wedges added to sides, and first thought for turret placement(just a mock up,not how they would actually look).
Initially thought this would look ok combined with 2 of the same pointing aft. But now I actually see it, think that maybe a higher amount of smaller units would look better(2 forward, 2 aft, and 2 or 4 aiming to the sides). Thoughts?

 

[coldbeer72]

Been a bit slack with progress over the last couple of weeks, but have managed to get my engine core rooms done.
A bit blocky in places, but till we get light wedges thats the way it is. Have played around with some logic blocks and have the lights flashing sequentially from the "main core" back, but am not computer literate enough to show you it working(gif or something??).
I am coming down with a case of "builders block" however, when it comes to this...... I know its not a big space compared to what some of you guys are doing, but I sit and stare at it and have no idea where to begin.
I have been playing around to try and get an "elevator" set up to work, and base the interior around that. Had an idea for one using gravity blocks with plex doors connected via logic to act as "stops" for each level, but it seems that gravity units cannot be activated/deactivated via logic(must have missed the memo), so my whole idea went out the window.....bugger!

 

[Captain Tankman]

Theres a function for recording gif animations. I don't exactly know which key it is. Try looking it up in the option menu

Using the hanging lights in the core is a nice idea but it doesn't look really sturdy. Try using activation blocks and connect them. It gives a nice pulsing effect into or out of the core.
I used it myself (you can see the lines in the corners of the main reactor)

Spoiler

 

[coldbeer72]

Theres a function for recording gif animations. I don't exactly know which key it is. Try looking it up in the option menu

Using the hanging lights in the core is a nice idea but it doesn't look really sturdy. Try using activation blocks and connect them. It gives a nice pulsing effect into or out of the core.
I used it myself (you can see the lines in the corners of the main reactor)

Spoiler

Nice. The hanging lights are only there as they are the closest thing to cables or wires I could find. The idea was to try and give the impression of the core sort of floating in-situ.
There is a station in the competition thread that has some sort of "force field" looking effect on it(long red/back one), now if I could recreate that look, would do away with the hanging lights altogether.

 

[Captain Tankman]

I've seen this station, too. I think the 'force field' is made out of water blocks