United Colonial Systems Shipwright

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Introducing the Newest ship in the Mining Fleet

She's a light salvage frigate with all the usual UCS accoutrements. While not technically a combat salvager she is a UCS ship and therefore is built like a tank and the duel mode cutting lasers are nothing to scoff at. She's also equipped with an array of defensive turrets, most notably two missile turrets and 4 anti missile turrets should make light work of pirate raids.

The missiles are also great for strike at pirate stations from a safe distance.

To the victor goes the spoils.

This ship was built 100% legit using nothing but crafted items, while she may not be a first day salvager she pulls her weight well, the large cutting head makes quick work of asteroids, stations, and can even mine planets fairly well. The automatic sorting system will also make it easy to manage your spoils (WIP)

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

In need of a good sturdy salvager that can go places many other ships can't and do the jobs not suited for the more civil work horses we at the UCS have developed what is only refereed to as a "Siege Salvager"

This combat harvester is designed with two things in mind, salvage and being able to fight. She has a rather large salvage array which takes up the entire belly of the ship. Offensively she features 6 auto cannons mounted on the wings, and two packs of 3x3 IR missile launchers which have been optimized for damage output (she took out 3 Isanth Target Ships in the first volley alone.) In addition to the IR missiles she has a single long range Radar missile intended specifically for striking station turrets at a distance. Defensively she has over 12000 shields and no turrets to get knocked off in combat.

While not built in survival using crafted resources like the last ship it was built with crafting in mind, still not a day one ship though. I may actually try to build a decent salvage ship you can get early game.

I first started building this ship a few days ago and was not happy with the initial results at all and all I had was the core and salvage array. I couldn't sleep last night and I got a stroke of inspiration to build. The original salvage array was aligned horizontal and I would be able to mount the other main feature, the missiles, to the side if I rotated it. I am most pleased with how the engines turned out too, they are probably my favorite aspect of this ship and their design was something I never attempted before. I need to get names for my two new salvage ships before I can officially release them but I've not come up with anything spectacular so far. I'm still torn between the old and the new names for my other salvagers as well. Woodchuck - Axe and Woodpecker - Chisel as well as the hatchet which never had an old name.

 

[Mariux]

In need of a good sturdy salvager that can go places many other ships can't and do the jobs not suited for the more civil work horses we at the UCS have developed what is only refereed to as a "Siege Salvager"

This combat harvester is designed with two things in mind, salvage and being able to fight. She has a rather large salvage array which takes up the entire belly of the ship. Offensively she features 6 auto cannons mounted on the wings, and two packs of 3x3 IR missile launchers which have been optimized for damage output (she took out 3 Isanth Target Ships in the first volley alone.) In addition to the IR missiles she has a single long range Radar missile intended specifically for striking station turrets at a distance. Defensively she has over 12000 shields and no turrets to get knocked off in combat.

While not built in survival using crafted resources like the last ship it was built with crafting in mind, still not a day one ship though. I may actually try to build a decent salvage ship you can get early game.

I first started building this ship a few days ago and was not happy with the initial results at all and all I had was the core and salvage array. I couldn't sleep last night and I got a stroke of inspiration to build. The original salvage array was aligned horizontal and I would be able to mount the other main feature, the missiles, to the side if I rotated it. I am most pleased with how the engines turned out too, they are probably my favorite aspect of this ship and their design was something I never attempted before. I need to get names for my two new salvage ships before I can officially release them but I've not come up with anything spectacular so far. I'm still torn between the old and the new names for my other salvagers as well. Woodchuck - Axe and Woodpecker - Chisel as well as the hatchet which never had an old name.

I really like the shape of this ship. It's not easy finding good-looking salvagers...

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I really like the shape of this ship. It's not easy finding good-looking salvagers...

It looks great from every angle except dead on sideways it's a bit boxy... but tanky looking ships is kind of my signature so its not an issue in my eyes. There just wasn't really anywhere else I could cut or add anything to change the profile. The mushroom fleet crew might actually like this one too as it has "wingy bits"... only because I needed somewhere to mount guns.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Just a group shot of my salvage fleet.

I have a few tweaks to do on the woodchuck/axe and woodpecker/chisel. I want to see if I can viably give them rapid salvage beams without messing up their aesthetics.

The hatchet has been equipped with rapid salvage, traded the cannons for beams and other aesthetic modifications. The hatchet is technically part of the "precision" line and she can harvest rather fast when you focus the beams but they are a little awkward to use otherwise.

While my new salvagers are far superior to the old woodchuck she still has a special place in my heart and will never be retired, I love the asymmetrical design and aesthetics of the salvage array/ batteries. The batteries are kind of a signature of the "precision" line but I may try and utilize them elsewhere. If I do convert the salvage array without downsizing it will be rather fast at harvesting.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

The Froe is classified as a Siege Salvager. She is designed to be able to raid pirate stations and fend off the defensive forces guarding them. Her prominent offensive weapon is two damage optimized Mb462 IR missile pods. She is also a rather efficient harvester with a Sc-27x10 Harvester Beam and automatic storage.

While capable of being operated by a single pilot she has life support and fold out cots for two but no dedicated shower facilities so you'd better pick a co-pilot you're comfortable with. She also has a jump drive for longer journeys but it's not a very fast one.

Download Here: http://starmadedock.net/content/ucs-sv-3402-a1-froe.1833/

Spoiler: More Pics

"Fold Out" Cots

[DOUBLEPOST=1418498415,1418497131][/DOUBLEPOST]

The Maul is the pride of the mining corps. She's a fully equipped light frigate with all the amenities. Her massive Sc-115x10 Harvester Beam makes light work of asteroids and is fairly good at chewing away at planets. The automatic material collection system will also automatically sort your spoils. The Maul may not be a combat salvager but the on board defense turrets should protect you from light pirate raids.

Designed to keep a crew of 12 comfortable she has medical and dedicated shower facilities, as well as a galley/kitchen. The Maul has two UCS SMART Airlocks for entering the ship as well and small cargo bay needed to store supplies for long journeys as the ship has no nutrition producing facilities.

While she doesn't have a dedicated landing pad like the Axe the Maul does have two docking clamps for Chisels or similarly size craft or up to 4 L0 cargo pods.

Download Here: http://starmadedock.net/content/ucs-sv-18114-a1-maul.1834/

Spoiler: More Pics

Bridge

Galley:

1 of 2 Crew Quarters

Shower Facilities

Medical Bay

Automatic Storage Sorting System

Cargo Bay With Warning Lights

UCS Standard SMART Airlock

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Well I've played around more with the Maul and have found a few bugs in the sorting system, so that may get an update at sometime. She really is a tank though. I'd loose all my turrets and just kill an Isanth, harvest it, tank damage, kill the next Isanth, harvest it... Only once have I had to use the jump drive to get away when the shield were getting low and that was because I was ambushed at a station. I may also replace the stock chin gun with a third missile launcher as they are significantly more effective than the L0 Deckgun and the mount was actually designed to carry one.

I've also taken the Froe out for a spin and it's first trip out was a disaster, I couldn't figure out why my shields failed and why I died until I viewed the wreckage from the safety of my Maul. Invisible missiles from an Isanth Mb in the next sector over blew the hell out of my ship, had I been able to see them I could have intercepted the missiles with my auto cannons but you can't shot what you don't even know is there.

The next few combat trials went much smoother and I only had to use the GTFO setting on the jump drive once. In a last ditch effort to strike the remaining turrets on a pirate station before an overwhelming number of enemy ships surrounded me, I managed to jump with 11% shields left. The Froe will also need an expanded storage system if you intend to pick up loot clouds as the two storage chests that come stock cannot handle that many items. The Froe is a lot of fun though, being able to fly fast and maneuver quickly while still having the salvage capabilities is nice. She's a much better combat ship than the Maul but can't tank damage and the salvage system isn't as quick.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Introducing the Tern Fast Jump Shuttle.

Download:
http://starmadedock.net/content/ucs-fr-833-a1-tern.2404/

The Tern is a long range multi-role shuttle designed to cover vast distances as fast as possible. She has efficient jump engines as well as extremely powerful conventional ion drives. Her on-board fusion reactors provide plenty of power to charge the jump-drive and maintain full thrust well beyond cruising speed.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Building a new shuttle has showed me how bad my old shuttles looked so I went back to update them. I've learned quite a few tricks on how to make ships look a lot more interesting while really changing nothing about the ship itself. Just removing flat tops and bottoms by creating negative space goes a long way.

The "Fatboy" shuttle was a lost cause so I built a new micro shuttle. I'm going to call this one "Stumpy"

I have to say it's nice to see an increase in build quality... Even if it is a slight improvement building tiny useless shuttles nobody cares about. I'd say stumpy looks pretty good for being able to dock in a 7x7x7 and still being able to have enough interior space to classify as an RP-Shuttle

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Most UCC combat ships have dedicated on-board medical facilities and can be used as field hospitals in a pinch, with the introduction of USDs even the small Longsword frigate can easily receive patients.

I've fully refit my old Dove Medical Transport. She now features improved thrust, 100% overdrive, USD Type 1 compatible rear hatch, improved interior and working signal lights. Sadly no sirens yet. I think I'll have two variants of the ship, one with the overdrive for short range fast rescues and one with Jump-drive for long range medical emergencies.

Edit: The Jump version can have an efficient jump drive with 50% overdrive. Unfortunately she doesn't have enough power to charge the jump drive properly so she should use the ships she is docked to for the extra juice.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I went on another shuttle kick today trying to figure out how small I could make functional shuttles with full RP characteristics. I started off by trying to make a new jump shuttle that was smaller than the Tern (which has also been refit with hull to be lighter and converted into a passenger shuttle with 12 seats or 10 passengers). My first attempt was more or less a failure as she was only slightly smaller and had a measly 36 less blocks. Over all I am happy with the shuttle though and it has a nicer interior than the Tern so it makes a great jump freighter. My next attempt was much more successful as I started by laying out the max dimensions I set for myself. The end result is a stalky little shuttle that is as short as my Standard Shuttle and only two meters wider. She can charge the jump drive indefinitely at a standstill but you'll need to feather the thrust if you are moving. A full charge can be obtained while under full thrust though but it will drain power. Next up I just started from scratch trying to build something with the most interior space for a small size. This one became a passenger shuttle with 8 seats and finally I refit my first passenger shuttle that was built for the Arcadia, she has nicer engines and slight wings for atmospheric flight, unfortunately the original wings I gave it were to long for the Arcadia and partially obstructed the path to the core..

Bottom Row: Heavy Freight Shuttle, Standard Freight Shuttle, Light Freight Shuttle, Micro Freight Shuttle
Center Row: Unnamed Jump Freight Shuttle, Unnamed Passenger Shuttle, passenger shuttle from the Arcadia
Top Row: Tern Passenger Shuttle, Unnamed Jump Freight Shuttle

Spoiler: Glimpse into their past

I've spent even more time pouring over my freight shuttle line. I'm thinking about releasing them as one but ZIP pack if anybody is interested. There isn't enough variation between the individual ships to release them as their own download. Right now between the light and standard is only a two meter length difference and between the standard and heavy is two meters in the length and width. The heavy also has small cannons. All shuttles feature medical supplies and gravity but I am wondering if I should add more differences between the variants. Feel free to suggest anything I can add system or RP wise, I'm drawing a blank right now.

Terns Update Interior:

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Our Engineers have been hard at work trying to design a new standardized Airlock/ USD combination.

This is the circuit laid out as best I could to manipulate connections in a clear an concise manor... It got a little confusing towards the end but I was able to squeeze every bit of circuitry into my standard 5 tall 5 wide 9 long standard airlock layout with NO exposed pipes. The only blocks you can see that you are not supposed to are the activators controlling the USD.

I wanted all the bells and whistles for this one so I started out with my normal Smart Airlock with variable compression cycle. Then I added a lockout function which will stop you from being able to open doors and triggering a cycle as well as stopping any ship from docking to you. After that was all working I added an auto compress option. This will make docking much more convenient as when the auto compress option is turned on it will cycle the airlock into a compressed state if it is not already and once it is compressed it will automatically open the outer door. I didn't want to make this an always on feature as it should be up to the pilots discretion if any given USD port is actually safe. Docking up to another unit like this will cycle both airlocks so to pass between ship/station ship/ship you will only need to use one button per airlock instead of having to run through a compression cycle every time.

Spoiler: More Pics

I am also thinking of making a station specific version that will have more exterior indicator lights depending on if a dock is locked or not.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

My refit of the Chisel can, unintentionally, dock perfectly to the USD-Airlock of the Maul

Or you can carry one on one of the cargo mounts

The Maul also, unintentionally once again, had exactly enough jump modules to cover the extra weight added by a stowed Chisel. The Maul is probably 98% refit and I think all I have to do now is equip her with the latest airlock technology I developed last night.

I've also done a refit of the Hatchet. Admittedly it's not a very good ship but I may be a little to OCD to abandon any of my creations. The only way to make this ship viable going forward was to put a USD compatible docking port in the belly

The odd shape of the ship means it cannot "Gravity Dock" and the restricted size on the rear restricts USD doing from the aft. If I push the guns out a meter to the side I could put a USD on the rear hatch and that might be an option to explore. I still like the design of this ship and I'll eventually make a pirate version where the green "salvage batteries" are replaced with red damage beams versions. Pirates love ships that are no longer in service that they can get their hands on easily. I also wish I could get the weight down more but unfortunately the basic green hull doesn't match the green standard armor very well.

 

[NullForceOmega]

Hey Sven, I like the upgrades, and I'm glad to see your style is still evolving (sorry, some of the older ships look pretty bland.)

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Hey Sven, I like the upgrades, and I'm glad to see your style is still evolving (sorry, some of the older ships look pretty bland.)

No worries, I know my older ships are a little bland, I'm still learning and developing my style. I'm not where I want to be in terms of skill yet but I am quite happy with how far I've come looking at the older ships.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Ugh it's been too long since I've done an update. Have a picture

What can I say, I love logic and making it all work together. If anybody watches my lets-play this is my current station and all docked ships. The cluster of pipes are the airlocks and they are all capable of being locked out or automatically sync the doors when docked. This view will only look crazier as I add things like the elevator system and of course more docks and the controls for those docks.

Hopefully I'll feel comfortable enough with the current state of my ships to start uploading again. I also have a few I am dieing to show off but they are being held off until I can have a nice reveal in the LP.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

It's been well over a month since I've done an update. I'm still refining my style the more I build the more comfortable I am adding more details. I just spent another several hours on the Maul last night even though it's been "finished" for a while now. I stripped out all the armor from the interior to bring the weight down and increasing the speed. She also now has the capability to carry, launch, and recover two drones. Chisels can be carried but they tend to dock with the wrong rail docker. The Froe has also gotten another interior refit. I have also few new ships built, mostly drones for use with fleets. The Auger Heavy Drone and the Gouge a drone counterpart to the Chisel, it's only slightly more powerful but it is faster and lighter.

The Auger is second from the left and the Gouge is on the right.

I've also been working on a new ship on live-stream. The mule is a logic heavy cargo freighter. It's taking quite a while to build as I only stream once a week for a few hours.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Civilian Fleet progress:

From Left to Right. Bullshark, Mako, Hammerhead.

I lucked out, on live-stream last night I loaded up my old server with my old universe and found a prototype ship I had made. I gave her the once over and now I don't have to design a new fighter from scratch and I've dubbed her the Maco Escort Fighter. I've not touched the Bullshark in a while but I figured I might as well include her in the picture.

The Hammerhead light fighter got her name based off the reinforced nose of the ship not the shape, she isn't very effective solo but has been seen to take down larger enemies when in numbers. She has next to no armor with the exception of the hardened nose. and engine tips and carries two high caliber machine guns.

The Mako is a lightly armored fighter with a single high caliber machine gun and two attached guided missile pods. She is fairly fast an agile for an armored fighter.

The Bullshark is a heavy Escort Gunboat. She is solely designed with the intention of sticking with convoys and laying fire out broadside. She does have forward guns but the majority of her firepower is in side facing Gatling Cannons and (not pictured) eight missile turrets.

 

[Jerry_Brinefield]

It's been well over a month since I've done an update. I'm still refining my style the more I build the more comfortable I am adding more details. I just spent another several hours on the Maul last night even though it's been "finished" for a while now. I stripped out all the armor from the interior to bring the weight down and increasing the speed. She also now has the capability to carry, launch, and recover two drones. Chisels can be carried but they tend to dock with the wrong rail docker. The Froe has also gotten another interior refit. I have also few new ships built, mostly drones for use with fleets. The Auger Heavy Drone and the Gouge a drone counterpart to the Chisel, it's only slightly more powerful but it is faster and lighter.

The Auger is second from the left and the Gouge is on the right.

I've also been working on a new ship on live-stream. The mule is a logic heavy cargo freighter. It's taking quite a while to build as I only stream once a week for a few hours.

Nice work on the swap out cargo feature. We need a universal size and a purpose and it'd be the coolest thing ever.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Nice work on the swap out cargo feature. We need a universal size and a purpose and it'd be the coolest thing ever.

That's the standard set up on the Star Squadron Server. Several of our regular viewers have adopted this format as well. The crates are 9x9x17 and can be built vertical or horizontal. There are central rail dockers on at least 4 sides. The front and back, top and bottom are mandatory and the rail dockers are facing in the up/forward position. There are optional dockers on the additional long sides and they will face the same direction as the others on the long side (Forward in the case of a horizontal crate and up on a vertical crate).

The crate 4th from the right is a vertical crate but because it follows the same docking rules it is able to work perfectly fine within my system. There is slight variations on the shape of crates but as long as they don't go beyond the 9x9x17 size they should work in most places. This particular freighter has very limited clearance so my crates must have sloped edges.

If you look carefully you can also see the green salvage crate (4th from the left on the crate rack) in the belly of the Auger Drone (ship second from the left). This crate can be automatically removed from the Auger Drone using my cargo drone, have it's contents removed at my station and put back in the drone automatically using automated logic systems.