Scratch's Ships

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    Hey there!

    So I'll be posting my designs here from now on, I'm fairly new to the game but I'm hoping to pick up some design tips / feedback :^D

    I also like to add a little RP element and include some 'history' behind each ship, so feel free to have a read if you're into that kinda thing :-p

    Current fleet:

    Cruisers:

    Repulse-Class Cruiser:

    Screen Shot 2017-09-21 at 14.14.32.png

    SWS Repulse (C-3)

    Designed to replace the obsolete Prince Louis-Class cruisers, the Repulse-Class line is divided into two subclasses, the Rose-Subclass and the Revenge-Subclass.

    The Rose-Subclass consists of the three initial cruisers, Repulse, Ramses and Rose. These three cruisers were built to the original specifications, with Ramses and Rose being refitted with more powerful main armament variations. Rose is the most powerful of the three, and lends her namesake to the subclass.

    The Revenge-Subclass was designed in order to maximise the Repulse-Class cruiser's combat capabilities, and marks the first major rework of the class's design.
    Revenge is currently the most powerful and well-protected of the four cruisers by a large margin. A second more powerful Revenge-Subclass ship, Saint Andrew was planned for construction, however, production was shifted to the Minotaur-Class and Elena-Class Cruisers.

    C-3 Repulse:

    The oldest ship in service, Repulse was regarded as the height of the fleet's power upon her completion. She has retained the distinction of being the fleet's flagship since her completion.

    C-4 Ramses:

    Ramses was the first attempt at creating a more powerful Repulse-Class cruiser. She has the same armament as her sister ship Repulse, but her turrets house triple barrels as opposed to Repulse's double barrelled turrets.

    C-5 Rose:

    The first of the 'Large Caliber' Repulse-Class Cruisers, Rose's guns were capable of dealing up to four times the damage of her contemporaries.

    C-6 Revenge:

    The first and only Revenge-Subclass cruiser of the Repulse line, Revenge is equipped with more powerful main and secondary armament, higher AMS defence and heavier shields than any ship currently serving within the fleet. She is also the first Repulse-Class cruiser to house heavy offensive weaponry in her nose, marking her as the most destructive of all the Repulse-Class Cruisers.

    A second Revenge-Subclass ship, Saint Andrew, was planned, and had her construction not been cancelled she would have been even more powerful than Revenge.

    Destroyers:

    D-Class Destroyer:


    SWS Dragon (H-9)
    The D-Class (or Dragon-Class) Destroyer was developed in order to create a modernised destroyer that outmatches its contemporaries in speed, firepower and versatility. Featuring interchangeable main battery / AMS / rapid-fire turret designs allows D-Class ships to quickly be refitted to fulfil specific fleet roles. Later D-Class destroyers also featured anti-missile spaced armour panels, increasing their survivability.


    C-Class Destroyer:

    Caroline.png

    SWS Caroline (H-8)

    Development of the C-Class (or Caroline-Class) Destroyer begun not long after SWS Black was laid down for construction. Whereas the B-Class was designed as a stop-gap measure to phase out the obsolete A-Class Destroyers, the C-Class was more carefully purpose-built to fulfil an escort role. Upon the completion of Caroline, the C-Class became the primary fleet Destroyer. However, with shipbuilding advances within the fleet, the C-Class line was discontinued in favour of the modernised D-Class.

    Frigates:

    River-Class Frigate:


    River-Class.png
    SWS Clyde (F-2)

    The River-Class Frigate is designed with versatility in mind, making it equally well-suited to escort, fire support and scouting missions. That being said, when it comes to combat, this ship is expected to work within a flotilla rather than operating alone.

    Corvettes:

    Type-11 Corvette:


    SWS Birkenhead (L-1)

    The Type-11 (or Birkenhead-Class) Corvette was designed as a hunter-killer, preying on small pirate vessels that enter into fleet-controlled territory. The Type-11 does not operate with the main fleet, but instead guards SWS space stations, outposts and other assets. Type-11 Corvettes often operate within 'wolf packs'.

    The Type-11 was designed for mass production, making it an ideal ship for maintaining sector superiority and controlling pirate threats.


    L-1 Birkenhead:

    Both the first completed Type-11 Corvette and the first purpose-built corvette to serve within the fleet, Birkenhead is equipped with twin nose-mounted auto cannons and a rocket silo (also mounted in the nose). This configuration became known as the A-Configuration, and was more similar to that of a fighter rather than a warship. However, it was quickly discovered that Type-11 corvettes equipped with an A-Configuration were not capable of the manoeuvrability required to quickly destroy fighters in a one-on-one engagement.

    Birkenhead is the lead ship of the 'Birkenhead Group'.


    L-2 Stornoway:

    The second completed Type-11 corvette and the lead ship of the 'Stornoway Group' corvette fleet, Stornoway was equipped with an improved scanner and an additional damage beam, mounted underneath the forward missile silo. Although this marked an improvement in firepower, Stornoway faced the same problems as other A-Configuration Type-11s.


    L-5 Penzance:

    Penzance is a Type-11 corvette beloning to the 'Birkenhead Group', and is the first Type-11 to be equipped with weaponry in the B-Configuration. The addition of two autocannon turrets to the front and rear of the superstructure allows Penzance to engage fighters 1-on-1 without having to constantly keep the nose pointed at her opponent.

    Retired Designs:
    B-Class Destroyer:

    Basilisk.png

    SWS Black (H-7) (Original Configuration)

    The B-Class (or Black-Class) destroyer line was designed to the revised fleet designation system in order to succeed the obsolete A-Class destroyers. Its primary task is to escort the fleet's cargo and mining ships. The B-Class was very quickly succeeded by the C-Class Destroyers, leading to only two ships of the class, SWS Black (pennant no. H-7), and SWS Basilisk (pennant no. H-11).

    Reluctant to scrap both destroyers so soon after their completion, Black and Basilisk both received armament refits not long after the completion of the first C-Class destroyer. The main and secondary turrets were removed and replaced with 3 higher caliber twin long-barrelled turrets.

    After the introduction of the D-Class destroyer, Black received a second major refit, with her superstructure being redesigned in order to accommodate the new main turrets as well as a modernised AMS turret, and the nose was modified to house two autocannons and a damage beam. Her sister ship, Basilisk, has been placed in reserve while her refit is being scheduled.

    H-7 Black:

    The first ship of the class, Black has undergone 2 refits and remains in active fleet service, being the second oldest ship in the fleet.

    H-11 Basilisk:

    Currently placed in reserve, Basilisk is scheduled for a refit. However, the completion of Empress, Minotaur, Elena and Conqueror take higher priority, meaning that Basilisk is likely to be removed from main fleet service for a long time.

    Prince Louis-Class Light Cruiser:

    C-1 Prince Louis

    The Prince Louis-Class cruisers were the second warship line constructed for the fleet. They were designed to obliterate pirate activity in hostile sectors, however, they failed in this role, their main armament being too weak to effectively destroy enemy ships to the desired efficiency. It was this shortcoming that led to the construction of the much larger and more powerful Repulse-Class ships. Only two ships, Prince Louis and Malta, were completed before construction of the Repulse-Class begun.

    Despite their weak main armament, the two cruisers were equipped with considerably effective AMS weaponry, and so both Prince Louis and Malta saw successful (albeit limited) service after being reclassified as auxiliary frigates, escorting Repulse-Class cruisers and defending them from missile barrages.

    Shortly after their reclassification, both ships received minor armament refits, being equipped with both heat-seeking and lock-on missile systems. Unfortunately, during a weapons-test of the newly installed missile systems, a heat-seeking missile fired from Malta hit and damaged a Trade Guild mining ship that had strayed into the testing area. Mistaking this for a deliberate attack, the Trade Guild despatched a large defensive fighter fleet that attacked Malta in retaliation. Malta attempted to flee the attacking force, but her engines began to lose power due to damage sustained and she was subsequently destroyed.

    RP Stuff:


    Active:

    Cruisers:

    C-3 Repulse (Repulse-Class)
    C-4 Ramses (Repulse-Class)
    C-5 Rose (Repulse-Class)
    C-6 Revenge (Repulse-Class)

    Destroyers:

    H-9 Dragon (D-Class)
    H-10 Daring (D-Class)
    H-8 Caroline (C-Class)
    H-7 Black (B-Class)

    Frigates:

    F-2 Clyde (River-Class)

    Corvettes:

    L-1 Birkenhead (Type-11)
    L-2 Stornoway (Type-11)
    L-5 Penzance (Type-11)


    Reserve:

    Destroyers:

    H-11 Basilisk (B-Class)

     
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    Hey there!

    So I'll be posting my designs here from now on, I'm fairly new to the game but I'm hoping to pick up some design tips / feedback :^D

    Current fleet:


    Advantage-Class Destroyer:

    View attachment 44796 SWS Advantage (H-1), SWS Archway (H-6)


    Here it is, my first ship design! The Advantage-Class Destroyer was essentially just me getting used to the different block types and trying to make something that didn't look like an interstellar shoebox :-p

    They're not particularly large, nor are they fast, they don't do well in combat at all and their power efficiency is pretty shameful but, hey, it's a start!

    Advantage-Class info:

    Mass: 888.6 (w/rail)
    Length: 122m
    Height: 18m
    Width: 31m

    Ships in line: 7

    Armament:
    3x Twin Cannon Turrets
    1x Quad AMS Turret

    (Stats taken from SWS Archway)



    Cold-Class Stealth Corvette:

    View attachment 44797
    SWS Crown (K-2), SWS Cold (K-1)


    The Cold-Class Corvettes are designed to support larger fleet ships with long-range missile barrages, which they fire from a bay located just forwards of the bridge. In addition to missiles, each Cold-Class Corvette is equipped with a rapid-firing defensive turret.

    Ships in line:


    View attachment 44798

    Cold was the first completed ship of the class, and can fire three types of missile barrages (Long Range, Ion, Nuke) in order to provide fire support for larger ships, assist in lowering an enemy ship's shields or deliver a powerful blow to an unsuspecting enemy.

    Info:

    Mass: 454.7
    Length: 88m
    Height: 21m
    Width: 29m

    Armament:
    14x Missile Tubes
    1x Twin Cannon Turret

    View attachment 44799

    Although Crown was constructed from the same hull template as Cold, she is lighter, sleeker and faster compared to her sister ship. However, this comes at the cost of more cramped crew quarters and the loss of 4 rocket launchers. She is also less versatile, only carrying long-range missiles, although this allows her to fire all 10 rocket launchers at a target with consistent damage from all rockets.

    Info:

    Mass: 237.1
    Length: 100m
    Height: 20m
    Width: 19m

    Armament:
    10x Missile Tubes
    1x Twin Cannon Turret



    WIP:

    View attachment 44800
    SWS Prince Louis (C-1) (Under Construction)
    The Prince-Louis Class is my first decently-sized (I think :unsure:) project and is designed to be a little more practical than the Advantage-Class Destroyers. She's bigger, slightly better armoured and significantly better armed.

    Currently Prince Louis is outfitted with 4x Dual-Cannon main batteries, 3x Dual-Ion Cannon secondary turrets, 4x Dual-Beam secondary turrets, 2x Quad-AMS turrets and 6x Dual-AMS turrets.

    She also gave me an excuse to try my hand at some proper turret building!​

    View attachment 44801
    Prince Louis' Main Armament

    View attachment 44802
    Quad-Barrelled AMS Turret



    Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Take care, and feel free to leave some feedback / pointers to help me improve!​
    Since you're fairly new I figure I'll ask some about your turret building :D To start, are they currently powered by the ship, or are they self-powered?
     
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    Since you're fairly new I figure I'll ask some about your turret building :D To start, are they currently powered by the ship, or are they self-powered?
    The smallest turrets are powered by the ship, but the larger turrets are self-powered, although I'm pretty sure they don't have enough power by themselves to work efficiently, so that's my goal for the next turret I build :-p
     
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    The smallest turrets are powered by the ship, but the larger turrets are self-powered, although I'm pretty sure they don't have enough power by themselves to work efficiently, so that's my goal for the next turret I build :-p
    Alright, well keep up the good work! Are your self-powered turrets inset into the ship, or are all the systems in the box on the surface of the ship? Insetting the turrets gives more room for systems as well as providing more protection to the dock.

    Also, I like to build the turrets off of the ship. this allows me to make sure I can fire the guns continuously without running out of power.
     
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    Alright, well keep up the good work! Are your self-powered turrets inset into the ship, or are all the systems in the box on the surface of the ship? Insetting the turrets gives more room for systems as well as providing more protection to the dock.

    Also, I like to build the turrets off of the ship. this allows me to make sure I can fire the guns continuously without running out of power.
    Thanks! Only the largest turrets are inset, they run about 6-7m into the hull, I didn't even think about systems space or protection, I was basing their design off of WW2 era ship turrets! But I'll keep that in mind from now on :ROFLMAO:
     
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    Thanks! Only the largest turrets are inset, they run about 6-7m into the hull, I didn't even think about systems space or protection, I was basing their design off of WW2 era ship turrets! But I'll keep that in mind from now on :ROFLMAO:
    Hahaha, to be fair, irl battleship turrets were inset for the same/similar reason: to make space for the irl equivalent of systems. In the case of a turret, this would be the loading mechanism, ammo hoist, and w/e is necessary to move the turret.
     
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    Alright, well keep up the good work! Are your self-powered turrets inset into the ship, or are all the systems in the box on the surface of the ship? Insetting the turrets gives more room for systems as well as providing more protection to the dock.

    Also, I like to build the turrets off of the ship. this allows me to make sure I can fire the guns continuously without running out of power.
    Insetting turrets weaken the main ship, especially in a small ones.

    By taking away capacity for the main ship to hold shields you die even faster, your turrets become even more pointless than before...
     
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    Insetting turrets weaken the main ship, especially in a small ones.

    By taking away capacity for the main ship to hold shields you die even faster, your turrets become even more pointless than before...
    Eeh, that really depends on the design of a ship. If it's a solely pvp ship, then on a smaller ship, sure, on a larger ship, not as much. On a more RP centric ship, though, it's not that huge a loss as there is already substantial "wasted" space in the form of interior, and thus using some of tgat space instead for better turrets can be beneficial. There IS a reason inset turrets are popular xp
     
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    Eeh, that really depends on the design of a ship. If it's a solely pvp ship, then on a smaller ship, sure, on a larger ship, not as much. On a more RP centric ship, though, it's not that huge a loss as there is already substantial "wasted" space in the form of interior, and thus using some of tgat space instead for better turrets can be beneficial. There IS a reason inset turrets are popular xp
    Even on a larger ship turrets that sink in for anything more than 3-5 blocks is a waste of space.
     
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    Hmm, I guess my designs are pretty much aesthetic 'RP ships' at the moment, but I'm considering trying to design a competent PvP fleet soon. All your info on the turrets will be especially helpful!

    Couple WIP updates:

    I started working on a little freight ship thingy just to try and work on my detailing, it's looking more like a freight container rather than a freight ship (I will do something about that horrible boxiness at some point!) at the moment, but some of the details aren't too bad by my standards :^D


    Not sure what to name it yet...

    Also, pretty much finished the Prince Louis-Class, so I decided to double-down and go for a bigger military build...

    Screen Shot 2017-09-17 at 11.31.28.png

    not gonna lie, this build feels way out of my comfort zone, mostly because of its size compared to my other builds, but nobody ever got better at anything by staying in their comfort zone ;)

    I plan to build at least two Repulse-Class ships, I'm not sure if I should make them PvP or RP based, so I was thinking I'd do one of each!
     
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    Update:

    Just about finished the hull skeleton for Repulse, she's still missing a bridge but the basic shape is there. I've also constructed her main armament and laid it out early, with my past couple builds I ended up having to undo a bunch of work just to fit the guns in! So, hopefully I've avoided that this time.

    Repulse Front.png
    (I think the hull turned out okay! Although I might get rid of that pointed nose.)
    Repulse Side.png
    (I'm not entirely convinced with her side profile yet, but we'll see how it goes :^D)
    Repulse rear.png
    (I actually quite like the positioning of the 'thrusters' on Repulse, I feel like they're a lot neater than the external thrusters I've been doing up until now...)
    Repulse Cannons.png
    (The B-turret has no systems in it yet, I'm still figuring out what weapon systems to use!)

    So, I've been thinking that, as much as I like my first couple builds, they were definitely just 'test runs', and I need to come up with some more practical designs to replace them. I also think that I was being generous to myself when I classified them (especially Prince Louis!). I've since looked at some other people's classification systems and reworked my own.

    I'm thinking that the Repulse-Class will succeed the Prince Louis-Class and become my fleet's first real Light Cruiser. I'm also planning a replacement Destroyer for the Advantage-Class. I think I'll keep the Cold-Class in the fleet, though, (It's my favourite of the bunch ;)) but they're due a reclassification.

    Oh - as I'm planning to build some PvP based ships, I'd love to get some tips on what to / what not to do from someone with a bit more experience than myself :-p (if I could ask one question, I guess it would be: "How do you apply armour to a PvP ship? Do you just slap advanced armour over it and hope for the best? Do you cover the vital systems with advanced armour and do the rest in basic, or hull?" etc, etc.

    I'll refrain from posting anything other than ships with, at least, a complete exterior from now on, but hopefully I'll be able to update the fleet ASAP!

    Anyway, thanks for the friendly comments and advice, and, as always, CC / feedback is welcome!
     
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    Update:

    Just about finished the hull skeleton for Repulse, she's still missing a bridge but the basic shape is there. I've also constructed her main armament and laid it out early, with my past couple builds I ended up having to undo a bunch of work just to fit the guns in! So, hopefully I've avoided that this time.

    View attachment 44846
    (I think the hull turned out okay! Although I might get rid of that pointed nose.)
    View attachment 44844
    (I'm not entirely convinced with her side profile yet, but we'll see how it goes :^D)
    View attachment 44847
    (I actually quite like the positioning of the 'thrusters' on Repulse, I feel like they're a lot neater than the external thrusters I've been doing up until now...)
    View attachment 44848
    (The B-turret has no systems in it yet, I'm still figuring out what weapon systems to use!)

    So, I've been thinking that, as much as I like my first couple builds, they were definitely just 'test runs', and I need to come up with some more practical designs to replace them. I also think that I was being generous to myself when I classified them (especially Prince Louis!). I've since looked at some other people's classification systems and reworked my own.

    I'm thinking that the Repulse-Class will succeed the Prince Louis-Class and become my fleet's first real Light Cruiser. I'm also planning a replacement Destroyer for the Advantage-Class. I think I'll keep the Cold-Class in the fleet, though, (It's my favourite of the bunch ;)) but they're due a reclassification.

    Oh - as I'm planning to build some PvP based ships, I'd love to get some tips on what to / what not to do from someone with a bit more experience than myself :-p (if I could ask one question, I guess it would be: "How do you apply armour to a PvP ship? Do you just slap advanced armour over it and hope for the best? Do you cover the vital systems with advanced armour and do the rest in basic, or hull?" etc, etc.

    I'll refrain from posting anything other than ships with, at least, a complete exterior from now on, but hopefully I'll be able to update the fleet ASAP!

    Anyway, thanks for the friendly comments and advice, and, as always, CC / feedback is welcome!
    Hmm, I can't really give advice on armoring for pvp as, tbh, I lack pvp experience (I've never played online as I feel I'd have nothing to contribute since I play so irregularly XD ), but I do highly recommend placing turrets not only on top of the ship, but also on bottom. It's advisable to avoid building blind spots into your ship. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to give your ship some forward facing weapons that you can fire as the captain, if you aren't already.
     
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    Hmm, I can't really give advice on armoring for pvp as, tbh, I lack pvp experience (I've never played online as I feel I'd have nothing to contribute since I play so irregularly XD ), but I do highly recommend placing turrets not only on top of the ship, but also on bottom. It's advisable to avoid building blind spots into your ship. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to give your ship some forward facing weapons that you can fire as the captain, if you aren't already.
    Yeah, that's not a bad idea! I think I'll fit an underside turret onto Repulse...better safe than sorry, and whatnot :-p

    Prince Louis was built pretty decently in regards to blind spots, with main / secondary guns on the top deck and underside, and secondaries on the port and starboard (although the side turrets didn't work especially well), I think I might adopt a similar configuration for Repulse
     
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    I don't have any PVP experience tbh, but as I understand it, it's recommended that you use basic hull everywhere. This keeps the mass of your ship as low as possible, reducing the power you have to devote to thrust, in turn allowing more power to be devoted to shields. Shields are far more useful than armor.
     
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    I don't have any PVP experience tbh, but as I understand it, it's recommended that you use basic hull everywhere. This keeps the mass of your ship as low as possible, reducing the power you have to devote to thrust, in turn allowing more power to be devoted to shields. Shields are far more useful than armor.
    That's a valid point, though I've also seen suggested that a layer of armor with a space and then another layer is good for defeating the blast from missiles, preventing them from penetrating as deep. On ships of this relatively small size it wouldn't be useful, but on larger ships it could be beneficial for protecting certain areas, such as if you wanted to make sure noone could just blast their way to your faction block and core and try to hijack it. Not so much a suggestion for these ships, but maybe something to consider in the future.
     
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    Okay, so this isn't a ship (clearly :LOL:) but here's an idea I've been playing around with...it's a target acquisition / scouting periscope!


    Screen Shot 2017-09-19 at 20.16.24.png


    The periscope camera sits in an encasing on top of the ship's bridge and is mounted on a turret ring, with the core mounted inside the bridge at deck level. The idea is that a player can use this to spot targets in a 360 degree arc without having to turn the ship itself. At the moment the periscope only has horizontal rotation but I might play around with this idea a little more and improve on it.

    Edit: Since been informed that this thing is pretty much redundant, Whoops™




     
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    Okay, so this isn't a ship (clearly :LOL:) but here's an idea I've been playing around with...it's a target acquisition / scouting periscope!


    View attachment 44908


    The periscope camera sits in an encasing on top of the ship's bridge and is mounted on a turret ring, with the core mounted inside the bridge at deck level. The idea is that a player can use this to spot targets in a 360 degree arc without having to turn the ship itself. At the moment the periscope only has horizontal rotation but I might play around with this idea a little more and improve on it.

    The two scenarios I can imagine this being especially useful is:
    1) When A player wants to set a target for their 'aim at selected target' turrets but the target is out of view range
    2) If two players are crewing the same ship on multiplayer one can constantly be scanning for any threats in the pilot's blind spots

    Thoughts?​




    It's an interesting concept, but functionally speaking, completely unnecessary in order for the pilot to select targets not to the front. You can hold right-shift to turn the camera without turning the ship OR double-press right-shift in order to do the same thing without having to hold down the key. Furthermore, you can zoom out of the camera by holding left-shift and scrolling. Once you've zoomed out and are panning the camera around, you can select targets with "F" as per normal. If it were two people in a ship... I don't see why the second player wouldn't just take over a turret if they weren't to pilot a ship instead?