Introducing The United Star Axis

[Madman198237]

Now, if only you could feed them on and off of turret hardpoints, right?

 

[Dr. Whammy]

That would be nice but unfortunately the "CFDF" craft are technically turrets and do not function well as separate ships. The fighters you see in formation are stand alone craft that have a decent amount of combat staying power, despite their small size. You can take down an Isanth in one if you know what you're doing but such is not the case with CFDFs due to their lack of power, thrust and shielding.

 

[StarWars1981]

Now, if only you could feed them on and off of turret hardpoints, right?

It's easily possible - set them up to make use of magnetic docking: shootout rail deploys them onto the turret mount.
You can't easily eject them, unless I'm mistaken and a logic pulse will do that to a turret dock, but you can get them locked in on top of the horizontal base, if you have a design that can rotate around freely.
Or you freedock them on a magic floating double turret axis. Yay!

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I have a confession to make...

I recently lost my first and (only) PVP encounter against a ship of similar mass. I wasn't greatly outclassed but I lost due to not turning on my AMS units in time (it was fresh out of the shipyard and I forgot to activate them) and not having enough firepower to take out my opponent's shields. When active, my AMS, shield regen and heavy armor made my ship tough as nails vs the incoming swarmers but I was was not able to score enough hits to lower his shields due to my opponent's radar jamming and shield regen. Equipping swarmers may have helped with the jamming issue but I never use those on my ships since most of them are designed to be used in fleet operations. In retrospect, I have reason to suspect that an AI controlled Pathfinder frigate may have won the fight since it doesn't have to wait for a missile lock like a human player.

To boost my PVP effectiveness, I've since increased the shield capacity for this ship by 18% and swapped out the secondary missile bay for additional power to the ion cannon increasing its power by a factor of 2.5 I've also switched from missile turrets to enhanced ion beam turrets to give a better anti-shield punch. Only time will tell if I can use my anti-pirate ship and actually win against a player controlled ship.

 

[StarWars1981]

Well, now you know your issues, now you've gotta fix them. Have fun! I'd hate to fight one of those, I have nothing in that mass range except perhaps a Republic Frigate. At a skinny 149m, it's not packing a ton of turret power or forward firepower, but it's got 350-400k shields, not sure on that number precisely. The regen is up at 20K or better, I think. Dang I've gotta check now. But your Pathfinders are pretty thick and wide for their length, so they probably pack more power.
I wouldn't bet on that match, though, those RF cannons shred stations through one side and out the other, and the "micro-nuke" missile taking up the forward salon pod is definitely no joke. I've seen it tear another Frigate roughly in half, and that thing has no good place to trap a missile to use lots of damage.
My point is, it looks and sounds great, but til I try it PvP, it probably isn't. Keep working at it. You weren't going to get it right first time, not by a longshot.
Now I gotta find a server and kill somebody off to show that I got it right.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

BREAKING NEWS

Star Axis forces have discovered a new life form! The Axis frigate ASC Vanguard encountered a new species of alien quasi-biological organisms while on a deep space exploration mission. The creatures immediately attacked Vanguard on sight using an unknown corrosive plasma/energy weapon.

A detailed analysis of the creatures revealed a bio-mechanical structure and what appears to be a high energy force field covering the outer shell. Vanguard's crew reported that the creatures possess the ability to destroy missiles in flight through an unknown means. Axis command has issued a system-wide alert and has ordered all civilian craft to avoid contact with the creatures until further notice.

Quasi-biological Organism
Mass: 1,600
Biology: unknown
Abilities:
- Hardened outer shell
- Plasma/highly corrosive acid burst; unknown guidance method
- Kinetic force field
- Natural anti-missile countermeasures

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Well, now you know your issues, now you've gotta fix them. Have fun! I'd hate to fight one of those, I have nothing in that mass range except perhaps a Republic Frigate. At a skinny 149m, it's not packing a ton of turret power or forward firepower, but it's got 350-400k shields, not sure on that number precisely. The regen is up at 20K or better, I think. Dang I've gotta check now. But your Pathfinders are pretty thick and wide for their length, so they probably pack more power.
I wouldn't bet on that match, though, those RF cannons shred stations through one side and out the other, and the "micro-nuke" missile taking up the forward salon pod is definitely no joke. I've seen it tear another Frigate roughly in half, and that thing has no good place to trap a missile to use lots of damage.
My point is, it looks and sounds great, but til I try it PvP, it probably isn't. Keep working at it. You weren't going to get it right first time, not by a longshot.
Now I gotta find a server and kill somebody off to show that I got it right.

Nice. I'd love to see it some time.

You know; I can never leave well enough alone. I just pushed my Pathfinder design even further. I've increased shield and power grid capacity, upgraded my electronic warfare package, reinforced the forward armor and TRIPLED the power of my ion cannon... The ship punches harder than anything I've ever created in this size class yet remains at roughly 8,300 mass. I think I can beat him now.


Original Transport Configuration
- Shield 300,000 (4,000 regen)
- dual auto-cannons, Ion cannon, light guided missiles, basic hull, AMS turrets, scanner, radar jammer, salvager module, cargo containers



Combat Refit
- Shield 400,000 (5,000 regen)
- dual auto-cannons, Ion cannon, medium guided missiles, basic hull (some models have standard or advanced armor, guided missile turrets, AMS turrets, scanner, radar jammer



Combat Upgrade
- Shield 800,000 (20,000 regen)
- dual auto-cannons, Ion cannon, medium guided missiles, advanced armor, guided missile turrets, AMS turrets, scanner, radar jammer, optional utility module(cargo, torpedo, salvager, etc.).



Final form?
- Shield 950,000 (21,000 regen)
- dual auto-cannons, Ion cannon(triple strength), medium guided missiles, reinforced advanced armor, Ion beam turrets, AMS turrets, multiple scanners, radar jammer, ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY fighter squadron.

Time to ask for a rematch...

 

[Madman198237]

What's this "optional fighter squadron" thing? It's not OPTIONAL! It's absolutely required for you to carry all the toys and other various lethal machines that you can get your hands on!

 

[Dr. Whammy]

What's this "optional fighter squadron" thing? It's not OPTIONAL! It's absolutely required for you to carry all the toys and other various lethal machines that you can get your hands on!

Sorry about that. Must have been a typo. I fixed it...

 

[Madman198237]

That looks better.

 

[Madman198237]

Just gonna make a mention, since it's fun: Soon, your mechs/combat armor suits aren't going to be alone......because I need a security force for stations and stuff.
I'm still waiting on the fauna update.

 

[greatmatt]

Your ground units are very interesting, i did some designs based on them and once i've finished my "army" i'll start my own thread with tanks, satellites, ground units, mechas (i'll try to make mobile ones but they are damn hard)

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Your ground units are very interesting, i did some designs based on them and once i've finished my "army" i'll start my own thread with tanks, satellites, ground units, mechas (i'll try to make mobile ones but they are damn hard)

Thanks greatmatt.


I hope to eventually use units like this in RP/Fauna encounters. I would absolutely love to run into something creepy on a planet or abandoned space station while wearing one of my armor suits. I did it once before while exploring the old default stations as an astronaut, armed with a sniper laser. It was kind of like this...

And just like in the movie, the damn thing got into my airlock! So I dumped it out into space and gunned it down with the dropship's guns.

Undaunted, I came back later on with one of my armors and it went more like this...


If you ever have any trouble with your designs, drop me a line and I'll help you. Building "little guys" seems to be a skill that's often overlooked. I think it's one of the things I do best in this game so I'll gladly share what I've learned with anyone.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I love my command system but now it's time to change to a base with much less lag.

This station is set up to provide up to 12 visitors or faction members with individual storage and personal living spaces. It also has plenty of publicly accessible facilities. This will definitely make a great multi-player hangout.

Here we go...

 

[Reilly Reese]

Is that a cruiser?!

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Is that a cruiser?!

Maaaaybe...

 

[Madman198237]

Not quite complete yet? Or is that bank of capacitors part of the station?

 

[Dr. Whammy]

It's at about 80% right now. That's actually a refit of the ship in my avatar picture. This version has a massive boost in firepower; far more than anything else that I have in that relative size.

This is only the beginning. As you may remember; I still need to refit these guys.
.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

New fighter craft with a rudimentary RP cockpit. This unit has good armor and weapons for its size as well as a 2:1 thrust/mass ratio. AI cannot use this ship without running into power management issues unless its weapons are severely de-buffed. Enemy AI controlled fighters can be a challenge for a human pilot flying this ship in some situations but the craft's armor makes it a lot harder to take down than one would suspect.

Shield: Roughly 2000
Armament:
- Guided missiles - 8,000 damage per salvo x 3 salvos.
- Light Auto cannon - 200 DPS


[doublepost=1468205733,1468204347][/doublepost]...aaaaand I made a little mini-miner.

This will be my new starting miner. It's built from very basic components; making it very easy to get into a decent miner at the start of the game with minimal shop runs/crafting. When first built, its defenses are about as weak as a small fighter but it has a fair amount of empty space to fit weapons, shields and other upgrades as your resources grow.

Shield: Roughly 2000
Armament (when upgraded): Guided missiles - 21,600 damage per missile. 2 missiles per salvo x 2 salvos.
Special: Expansion bays for additional equipment.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Industrial construction craft for the fleet contest. Obviously a drastic departure from my usual design but I like the way it turned out. I never submitted it because I ran out of time due to IRL issues...