Next Generation Fighter: A Competition

[Dalmont]

Congratulations to our winners!
Fight and follow-up video available Soon™ (Watch this space).

Score: 17 / 20 :: SBS. Ralinna by SchnellBier

Score: 16 / 20 :: RF-4 Pearl Egret by refirendum

Score: 15 / 20 :: SkyCorp Raven by SkylordLuke

_____________________________RUNNER UP___________________________

4th Place: air7man :: S2-2 Comet
5th Place: Wilavid7 :: STR StingRay
6th Place: MrDeez :: Goreq The Brigate
7th Place: Top 4ce :: Diamondback NGF

Greetings citizens of the verse! Its your friendly neighborhood Dalmont.
​

With the recent updates there has been a measure of viability added to small fighter craft designs. As a lover of small ships I'm curious to see how the community at large is responding with the changing design philosophies.

So what is NGF?
NGF stands for Next Generation Fighter, which is a "small" vessel using the latest and greatest technology that StarMade has to offer.

What is the NGF Competition?
I want to find out what people are doing with their small warships; what better way than some competitive building?

How do I participate?
Simply build a ship in accordance with the rough guidelines that I've outlined below, and post a link to the download along with a screenshot in the thread.

What do I win?
My undying admiration, along with that of your peers... and a signature.

​

Why is a "fighter" class the size / type you say it is?
Its not! These are just some guidelines for the sake of a competition. I prefer not to classify ships since everyone has a different view.

Entry Guidelines:

• Entries should be submitted no later than January 10th 2016.
• Ships should not exceed 300 mass. (x y z dimensions do not matter).
• The ship should be able to (stably) land on a planet and take back off again under its own power.
• Ships should be combat effective against ships of similar or equivalent mass.
• Aesthetics should NOT be skipped in favor of raw combat ability (obligatory no newbcube clause).
• You must include your name in the ship's name "HMS.Myship-Myname".
• All submissions must be posted in the thread with an image and link to a download.

Judgement Guidelines:

• 5 / 5 Points for Exterior Aesthetics.
• 5 / 5 Points for Crew Accommodation.
• 5 / 5 Points for "Moving Parts".
• 5 / 5 Points for Defensive and Offensive balance.
• +1 Bonus Points for the "last ship standing" after an en-masse AI fight.
• 1st - 3rd place will be based on these categories, and will not exceed a total max score of 20 / 20.

With that, I bid you good luck pilots! Feel free to leave questions / comments in the thread!​

 

[Lecic]

mass

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

 

[Dalmont]

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

If you can do more with less, then have at it I say!

 

[Lecic]

If you can do more with less, then have at it I say!

The problem is not the 300 mass limit. The problem is that you're using mass instead of blocks after the block mass update.

 

[Keptick]

The problem is not the 300 mass limit. The problem is that you're using mass instead of blocks after the block mass update.

What about it? Block count would mean that ships with advanced armor can have more defense for the same amount of blocks compared to hull. Might not make a big difference for larger ships but with fighters it does.

 

[AtraUnam]

Gonna try and make something for this, how much tech can I pack into such a small package I wonder?

 

[Lecic]

What about it? Block count would mean that ships with advanced armor can have more defense for the same amount of blocks compared to hull. Might not make a big difference for larger ships but with fighters it does.

If he really wants an accurate view of what fighters are like, then he shouldn't be limiting how players will be building their fighters in an actual PvP environment.

Anyone intelligently designing a fighter is going to be giving it advanced armor, because it provides the best protection against weapons from other fighters, and limits damage from swarmers that the fighter doesn't outrun.

 

[SkylordLuke]

Im in!!! Step aside people,im in it to win it ̿' ̿'\̵͇̿̿\з=(◕_◕)=ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿'̿ ̿

 

[Chckn Wildstyle]

5 / 5 Points for Defensive and Offensive balance.

Why is Defense and Offense bundled into one thing? They are very different aspects of a ship.

 

[Nauvran]

Why is Defense and Offense bundled into one thing? They are very different aspects of a ship.

It's the balance between the two. and possibly also why you have built your ship with that exact balance that you are building it with.

 

[Chckn Wildstyle]

It's the balance between the two. and possibly also why you have built your ship with that exact balance that you are building it with.

That can be true, however, if a ship is meant to out run and outmaneuver an enemy, that will not yield a well defended fighter, as it is not meant to be hit in the first place. That can be viewed as a defense in itself, but more to the point: Attack and Defense should be two categories as there is only 25% of the points assigned for actually being a fighter. This will yield very good looking fighters the win without any need for weapons or systems as they can get 15/20 for only being good looking.

Offense and Defense being separate would mean that the fighters would have to be at least average to get good marks, as if they were both 5/5 it would be 40% of the total points.

 

[Keptick]

If he really wants an accurate view of what fighters are like, then he shouldn't be limiting how players will be building their fighters in an actual PvP environment.

Anyone intelligently designing a fighter is going to be giving it advanced armor, because it provides the best protection against weapons from other fighters, and limits damage from swarmers that the fighter doesn't outrun.

That's exactly why mass should be used instead of block count. Want to use advanced armor? Fine, but you're sacrifising some other aspect of the ship by doing so due to the higher mass/block. What you're basically saying is "I don't want to be penalized for using strictly advanced armor instead of considering the other options".

 

[Lecic]

That's exactly why mass should be used instead of block count. Want to use advanced armor? Fine, but you're sacrifising some other aspect of the ship by doing so due to the higher mass/block. What you're basically saying is "I don't want to be penalized for using strictly advanced armor instead of considering the other options".

The only penalization in the real game (you know, the actual important part since he wants to know how people build fighters?) for using advanced is that it is heavier (easily countered at small sizes due to stronger thrusters) and higher cost per block (less important on such a small ship.)

I'm not saying he can't host a competition with it being based on mass instead of blocks since it's "more fair" or some nonsense. But he shouldn't expect a realistic snapshot of what people really build their fighters like.

 

[Winterhome]

I'll be entering the TMS-LF-01-Mosquito. The .sment file has my username tacked on as required.

http://starmadedock.net/content/tms-lf-01-mosquito.3923/

 

[Col_Kurtz]

Im in!!! Step aside people,im in it to win it ̿' ̿'\̵͇̿̿\з=(◕_◕)=ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿'̿ ̿

This will be cool to watch :P

 

[Keptick]

The only penalization in the real game (you know, the actual important part since he wants to know how people build fighters?) for using advanced is that it is heavier (easily countered at small sizes due to stronger thrusters) and higher cost per block (less important on such a small ship.)

I'm not saying he can't host a competition with it being based on mass instead of blocks since it's "more fair" or some nonsense. But he shouldn't expect a realistic snapshot of what people really build their fighters like.

Still not sure that I understand your argument... Either way, there's also the fact that AI is dumb AF and can't accelerate faster than you would with 1:1 thrust/mass ratio (so more thrust is useless). I build my drones pretty differently than I do fighters, and this competition is about AI controlled fighters.

 

[Winterhome]

Still not sure that I understand your argument... Either way, there's also the fact that AI is dumb AF and can't accelerate faster than you would with 1:1 thrust/mass ratio (so more thrust is useless). I build my drones pretty differently than I do fighters, and this competition is about AI controlled fighters.

The AI battle isn't the main point of the competition. The AI battle is just the easiest way of pitting fighters against eachother en masse. Other than the AI battle bit (which is only a one point boost), I don't really see a lot about AI :u

 

[Keptick]

The AI battle isn't the main point of the competition. The AI battle is just the easiest way of pitting fighters against eachother en masse. Other than the AI battle bit (which is only a one point boost), I don't really see a lot about AI :u

ooh, I didn't noticed that (derp)

 

[Nauvran]

​

• 5 / 5 Points for Crew Accommodation.

I thought we were making fighters, not cruise liners :P

 

[Winterhome]

I'm just taking "Fighter" to mean "Small ship with guns on it that can theoretically carry a few people"