Chris Kohl's Work [Archive] - Gamestepper Forums

kohldude

11-27-2009, 10:01 AM

Aeran light support vessel, possibly a carrier.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeranvessel_03.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeranvessel_03.jpg)

"Big Bertha," a big fattie packing a load of firepower and trilateral symmetry.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeranvessel_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeranvessel_01.jpg)

Another big one packing a wallop.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeranvessel_02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeranvessel_02.jpg)

This one is not Aeran in design, just something that came out of my fingers when sketching, a close-ground-support VTOL.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_doodles_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_doodles_01.jpg)

I'm not sure what this one is.. in fact it scares me a little because the heat radiators look like eyes, especially from the front.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeranvessel_04.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeranvessel_04.jpg)

kohldude

12-04-2009, 09:56 AM

Not so much this week; finals are taking their toll. Although my 3D Scripting final is now in the bag. :)

I did a basic 3D mockup of what the general silhouette of a long-burn missile (torpedo) might look like:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_long-burn-torpedo_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_long-burn-torpedo_01.jpg)
The top bulge contains the warhead and sensors. The one beneath that serves as a support section, housing propellant for the maneuvering thrusters as well as countermeasures such as ECM or chaff. I'm also thinking it could contain an expendable amount of liquid metal to assist in bleeding off the heat generated during a hard burn. And finally the lower section contains the reactor, reaction mass, radiators, and exhaust.

Although there isn't much on the page yet (http://2.7kelvin.com/portfolios/Aeran-Ascendancy-portfolio/fleet-makeup/pleistarchus), I felt like taking a crack at the Pleistarchus unmanned probe:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Pleistarchus_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Pleistarchus_01.jpg)
The front contains forward, top, and side-facing sensor clusters as well as a large number of attitude-control thruster (which can serve as a slower braking mechanism). The back features several communication antennae and other sensors, as well as an underslung reactor and engine.

kohldude

12-04-2009, 10:37 AM

......
T__T
Skype is randomly crashing every 15 seconds for no apparent reason. Not even an application freeze or error message or anything in the Windows Event Viewer. Just a silent crash...

-edit- Oh so it turned out that my antivirus app, ThreatFire, released an update that killed Skype. They're working on a fix for it.

kohldude

12-11-2009, 05:29 PM

All unarmed cargo vessels this week.

A big cargo freighter. Uninhabited cargo section with crew section separated from main reactor. A crane moves up and down a rail on its spine:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargo01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargo01.jpg)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargofreighter_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargofreighter_01.jpg)

First idea for a cargo container tug. A primary cockpit takes care of maneuvering, two secondary cockpits are for workers who specifically monitor and manipulate one cargo container each:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargo02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargo02.jpg)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargotug_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargotug_01.jpg)

Second idea for a cargo container tug. I like this one more. Note the gratuitous amounts of floodlights to help the workers see what they are doing:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargo03.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargo03.jpg)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargotug_02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargotug_02.jpg)

The container itself. Access is through side hatches. It has 4 attitude control thruster pods to keep it stationary when disconnected from a ship and in a queue to be handled in port:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargocontainer.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargocontainer.jpg)

All together:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_cargo04.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_cargo04.jpg)

Jack Sampson

12-11-2009, 07:12 PM

I'm really glad to see someone working on cargo containers - whatever ends up as the standard cargo container design for a given group will greatly determine many of the functions of commerce and cargo transit. In RL, we have cargo containers sized by the ISO (the standards org, not the wobblies) to fit on roads, trains and planes. As there are no pre-built roads that the containers will have to navigate in space, we are a bit more free to consider more interesting or potentially varied smallest-case designs for space-containers, but we'll still probably come up with a rather small set of fundamental units of shipping for each group.
One other thing cargo containers also are is (relatively) cheap and reusable. We might want to consider a hierarchical arrangement of standards where meta-cargo modules have control thrusters like the ones you've imagined, but internally contain some small number of dumb cargo units.
Likewise, the appropriate unit for loading and unloading in space may differ from that being transported to and from the surface of a planet, so we might want to consider how widely the set of standard sizes may range. Perhaps the largest craft will deal in enormous meta-containers, and leave the distribution of their internal components to stations, depots and associated tugs - something to think about, one way or the other.

In any case, I think it may be worth (as boring as they may be) doing up a number of cargo containers first and then designing or re-designing transport vessels to use whatever we end up choosing for the standard sizes.
Other things to ponder off the top of my head:
- interoperability between cargo and cargo carriers of different species?
- liquid or gaseous cargo (tankers)
- external vs internal cargo holds
-- use of the vast, empty, insulating spaces within larger vessels as storage for {temperature, radiation, shock}-insensitive cargo?

(Haven't had time/won't have time for a bit to reply much to specific posts, but just wanted to say as a general statement that what I'm seeing seems like a lot of good directions)

kohldude

12-18-2009, 05:20 PM

Those are definitely some good ideas to think out for modular and meta cargo containers, as well as for other cargoes as you mentioned such as liquids.

Here's my first take on the Anaxander cruiser (http://2.7kelvin.com/portfolios/Aeran-Ascendancy-portfolio/fleet-makeup/anaxander). I hope I interpreted the basic shape & rhythm section correctly, especially the spinal-mounted mass accelerators:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander02.jpg)

I really like the way this one flows. The opposed trilateral "prongs" and hammerhead-shark-esque extensions at the front/back are just great for this thing's silhouette.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01.jpg)

kohldude

01-01-2010, 04:23 PM

Anaxander revision 1. Now with lighting strips, a few new bulges on the prongs, and a couple of new sensor pods on the top. Paneling is still large and not modular as per Aeran design philosophy.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_2.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_2.jpg)

Same image with some insets of the laser turrets, the docking bay, and torpedo tubes:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_2_labels.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_2_labels.jpg)
The small auxiliary (sans spelling) craft bays are for deployment of small craft such as support vehicles like repair bots, or others like drones. The Automated supply ports are for fast transfer of liquid/gas consumables such as water, air, helium 3, deuterium, etc..

The laser turrets on the end of the forward prongs:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_LaserDetail.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/LaserDetail.jpg)

Escape pod detail:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_EscapePod_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_EscapePod_01.jpg)
Each can seat 3. At the moment, that gives the Anaxander a capacity of 288 crew if all crew are to be able to evacuate the ship (not counting any craft they may have berthed in the docking bay). It's a short-ranged little craft with a main goal of just getting its occupants away from the ship in peril, to be picked up by S&R crews after a firefight. Not atmosphere-capable.

I felt like visualizing the volume of a vessel that shields might encompass, so I made some splines for my emitter placeholders. They're based on the magnetic field lines of any magnet, but I noticed that in the design doc we've intentionally decided to not try to explain how gravitics are supposed to work, so I am assuming some sort of field.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_ShieldEmitter.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/ShieldEmitter.jpg)
(Also with shiny lofted surface test.)

Entire ship coverage:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_ShieldEmitter_02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/ShieldEmitter_02.jpg)

Slack-jaw

01-14-2010, 04:32 PM

I like where the design is going, I think we could start using parts of this as a base standard for our ship designs.

The only immediate issue I have, is that both of our laser turret(s) look too human in design. We should come up with something a bit more alien in design.

kohldude

01-15-2010, 02:11 PM

Yeah my laser turret is pretty much a straight hybrid of the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) and Anti Ballistic Missile laser (Boeing ABL).

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5647/thelbeamdirectorturret2.jpg
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/7906/coilturret.jpg

The impression that I'm getting is that the Aera are somewhat fluid and organic in their designs, but not so much as the R'laan which feel like they should be very organic. Definitely not as angular/blocky/modular as what I imagine the Humans will be like (ala EVE Online).

I'd love to hear some more feedback from Jack on this one since its description page says it is important because future Aeran designs are influenced by it. I'd like to know if I hit the mark on the general silhouette or not.

kohldude

01-15-2010, 04:44 PM

Here are a couple revisions on the Anaxander. I came up with some alternate shapes for the primary hull tube to make it more interesting than a squashed cylinder. Also Dylan and I decided that the docking bay would look better if it flowed more into the rest of the body.

The placement of surface details like escape pods, access hatches, etc., would be in the same locations (adjusted to the new contours of course).

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_3.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_3.jpg)

On my 3D mockups I've been using a simple sensor node mesh (and other meshes like shield emitters) to rough out where different parts go on the surface of the ship. However, according to the Aeran pages on the 2.7kelvin, their sensor nodes are actually recessed, so here are some ideas for what they might actually look like; recessed clusters that bulge up again covered with various sensors such as radar, radio-wave, optical, x-ray, infrared, etc.. Current placeholder is on the right.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_SensorNodes.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/SensorNodes.jpg)

On a completely different subject, the ISV Venture Star in Avatar has some beautiful heat radiators (not the best angles, but there are some better shots as she's moving. Of course I can't take screencaps since the DVD isn't out yet; found these on the web.):

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/jamescameronsavatar/images/6/62/Interstellarcomplete.jpg

http://18.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kuz3v5fmlL1qz79fvo1_500.png

Dee Bingo

01-15-2010, 05:10 PM

Nice revisions, I would push it even further, but then again this is a pre-war design so maybe it is less organic? Good refernce as well.

kohldude

01-22-2010, 05:16 PM

Some silhouette changes to the Anaxander:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_4.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_4.jpg)

In the one in the left box, the fore and aft "hammerhead shark" extensions have been moved down and up respectively to make them more distinct in the front silhouette.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_ThornExtensions.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/ThornExtensions.jpg)

A couple of slight shape variations on the extensions, while still keeping the "clipped rose thorn" ideal.

Modular things of modularity:
Sensors:
Small cluster:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_VS_SensorTurret.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/VS_SensorTurret.jpg)

An idea Dylan/Myself came up with for the recessed sensor nodes was to have them be able to rotate a few degrees within themselves to better aim as needed. This is a small(ish) sensor that usually does not exceed 3 meters in width. The payload of each sensor node can vary, but this one in particular has several functions. (Not included in this particular mockup: Gravitic sensors and LIDAR.)

Simple radio antenna are good for generally detecting/receiving radio chatter, and the parabolic dish can be used to home in on radio sources. They can also double as transmitters as needed.

Fisheye lens optical/infrared cameras (mounted on their own independently-rotating swivel) can be used to scan wide areas of sky for enemy emissions, and then telescopic cameras can be used to get a more precise fix on a target.

X-Ray detectors (or other high-energy particle detector) can be used to detect the exotic emissions that fusion/FTL drives emit. Radar is used for target acquisition and tracking. It can be aimed electronically as opposed to mechanically.

Weapons:
Particle Beam Turret:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_particleturret.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_particleturret.jpg)

Mounted on a short extension for better degrees of rotation. Large surface area armor with radiators and a few emergency vents.

Laser Turret:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_LaserDetail_02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/LaserDetail_02.jpg)

Added some protective side armor (again, doubling as radiator surface area) to the laser turret. Also came up with a different version of the housing that is beefier and has more room for mounting various doodads like power junction boxes and other random techish things (and more radiator surface area).

*****edit***** Forgot to include a scale reference:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale.jpg)

kohldude

01-29-2010, 05:32 PM

Jack Sampson

02-01-2010, 01:42 PM

Jack Sampson

02-01-2010, 02:00 PM

This might give a better idea for the shear daunting scale of this thing (much less the Agesiopolopolis). 3 small objects (okay it's a duplicate of the main hull) at 2.1 meters (the Anazander is 2.1 kilometers, so that's 1/1000 scale), 2 meters, and 1 meter.
*1587 x 3421; 301 KB*
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale_02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale_02.jpg)

New silhouette changes!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander_4_2_silhouette.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander_4_2_silhouette.jpg)

Got a bit of layering going like Dylan's unfinished sketch that he lost the full version of last week. I'm also thinking of some bumping out in a few places as well.

Scale is going to be "fun" to convey. For capital ships as modest about showing their inner bits as the Aeran craft are, I think a lot of that is going to have to come from generating a sense of scale for commonly used components and pieces that do not themselves scale greatly from the smaller craft for which we hopefully have greater intuition. What we might have to strive for, where scale is not immediately conveyable, is at least a sense of hollowness - that these vast behemoth ships are much like their polygonal representations, like space zeppelins with skin only a few meters thick in many places, and even thinner in many more, wrapped around vacuous Eiffel tower interstitial support structures holding their internal bits in place and out of sight. Some of this may come from damage models - the vast abiding dimness of the interior behind the tangled remnants of the capillary network of plumbing that uses the entire surface of the ship as a low-end radiator (perhaps by making the spots covered up by join points of destructible models show deep inscrutable innards far away from the surface. Some can come from making launch bays seem cavernous and bay doors thin.
Likewise, some scale can be introduced situationally - if first impressions are managed such that the first time we see a massive ship we see it filling the whole background, taking on cargo containers of discernible size, and only slowly zooming out, perhaps we can introduce a sense that something is at least "large" even if exactly how large and why may not be settled in people's brains...
In any case, scale is certainly something we'll have to keep thinking about frequently - especially which subcomponents scale with the size of the ship and which don't - for instance, barrel length on mass accelerators would scale with the length of the vessel, but barrel girth would scale in some sub-linear fashion, etc.
With any luck, it should be a little easier to convey some of this for some of the carriers/docking compartments, just because we can fill them with things of recognizable size.

kohldude

02-01-2010, 08:17 PM

Jack Sampson

02-02-2010, 12:06 PM

Yes, speaking of scale I was making some measurements just a bit ago (and also some more layering which you can see a bit of in the second image [yeah I'm a tease] that you'll see more of on Friday. :) ) and noticing that the girth of the main mass drivers is what I assume is large? (Just over 10 meters):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale_03.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale_03.jpg)

The rear extensions are almost as wide as the ship is long! :eek:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale_04.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale_04.jpg)

The girth of the accelerator portions of the mass drivers isn't particularly worrisome (just appropriately texture to look like a sequence of electromagnetic coils, etc. rather than a solid, smooth barrel) - the diameter of the accelerated round shouldn't be 10 meters though :) I think you can play with the size and detailing of the opening to address those issues without having to do much work on the fundamental aspect ratios of the guns.

As for the width - length ratio, yes, it's larger than I had anticipated, but I wanted you to feel free to play with it, so... feel free to play with it :)

kohldude

02-05-2010, 05:22 PM

I need access to the 2.7kelvin (an account) for posting in that gameplay ideas section.

With regards to the engines, at the center axis I currently have fewer but larger engines. Would it be better with more but smaller engines? (Same with the maneuvering thrusters on the prongs up front. 1 large engine exhausting out each side, or maybe a smaller trio?)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Engines.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Engines.jpg)

Also, out of curiosity, what's in between the Anaxander and the Agesipolis? The Siege Perilous (http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Siege_Perilous_class) class carrier from Andromeda is giving me ideas about some Aeran hexa or even dodeca symmetries for heavy capital ships with the intent of intimidating and terrifying their enemies.
http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/File:Resolutionofhector1.jpg
http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/File:Balanceofjudgement.jpg

Threw together another scale comparison:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale_05.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale_05.jpg)

Silhouettes from this week:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_6.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_6.jpg)

I feel like this is getting really close, and now it's time for the small detailing instead of the general shapes:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_5.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_5.jpg)

Jack Sampson

02-08-2010, 01:50 PM

I need access to the 2.7kelvin (an account) for posting in that gameplay ideas section.

Send me an e-mail at ministerofinformation@gmail.com with your preferred username, and I'll send you back an e-mail with your initial password, etc.

With regards to the engines, at the center axis I currently have fewer but larger engines. Would it be better with more but smaller engines? (Same with the maneuvering thrusters on the prongs up front. 1 large engine exhausting out each side, or maybe a smaller trio?)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Engines.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Engines.jpg)

With regard to engines, more engines vs. bigger engines on a cap ship, should generally go in favor of more engines - although you could always go hierarchical and have clusters of exhaust outlets within larger exhaust shielding "nozzle" regions - or perhaps that can be used to differentiate different groups (i.e. hierarchical vs. independent nozzle shielding? just a thought off the top of my head.)

Also, out of curiosity, what's in between the Anaxander and the Agesipolis? The Siege Perilous (http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Siege_Perilous_class) class carrier from Andromeda is giving me ideas about some Aeran hexa or even dodeca symmetries for heavy capital ships with the intent of intimidating and terrifying their enemies.
http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/File:Resolutionofhector1.jpg
http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/File:Balanceofjudgement.jpg

Well, I wouldn't necessarily use "between" - as one is a cruiser and the other a carrier, but, briefly, I'd say these 3 ships are probably what you're thinking of:
http://2.7kelvin.com/portfolios/Aeran-Ascendancy-portfolio/fleet-makeup/anaxandridas
http://2.7kelvin.com/portfolios/Aeran-Ascendancy-portfolio/fleet-makeup/anaxidamus
http://2.7kelvin.com/portfolios/Aeran-Ascendancy-portfolio/fleet-makeup/leonidas

The Anaxidamus class is, as a generalist, the most direct replacement for the Anaxander, but the Anaxandridas comes temporally, size-wise and technologically between them (it's just over-specialized for fighting the Rlaan).
The Leonidas is the scariest SOB of the bunch, and the largest front-line vessel (carriers of the "mobile-base" variety, such as the Agesipolis not being what one would normally think of as front-line).
By volume, the Agesipolis should be the largest military vessel in service among the humans, Rlaan, and Aerans. Of course, vast docking bays help a lot with that :).

Threw together another scale comparison:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale_05.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale_05.jpg)

All of which seems to point to the inevitability of having some point in the game when you're flying through the holes one or more torpedoes has torn into a capital vessel :)
(on a mostly tangential note, I wonder what a motorcycle to super-tanker comparison looks like)

I feel like this is getting really close, and now it's time for the small detailing instead of the general shapes:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_5.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_5.jpg)

Sounds good to me - I'm very, very happy with the general shape, and I'm trying not to be giddy when thinking about what this ship will look like when detailed :) :) :)

kohldude

02-11-2010, 10:39 PM

I reduced the number of sides on the frame of the laser turret and reshaped it to be more hexagonal...

...however it still feels too human in my opinion so I came up with another design without exposed parts that I think feels like it fits the Aeran more.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_lasers.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/lasers.jpg)

Here are a few surface detailing ideas to go with it.
Curved lines:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_LaserStyle01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/LaserStyle01.jpg)

This is similar to some of the golden engraved lines you can see on Goa'Uld architecture, armor, and vehicles.
http://www.bestcollectiblesontheplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/goauld_death_glider_scaled_replica.jpg
http://www.zianet.com/jsager/imhotep1.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsMTvBmVMlQ

Hexagonal pattern:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_LaserStyle02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/LaserStyle02.jpg)

Extrusions:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_LaserStyles.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/LaserStyles.jpg)

We could also go with any combination of the above such as hex patterns inside an extrusion, or extrusions plus curved lines outside of the extrusions, etc..

Speaking of the laser turrets, I was thinking about the design of those 'rose thorn' teardrop extensions on the Anaxander and I keep thinking about how the lasers are going to block each other from hitting the same forward or rear target if the top is cut off flat the way the text describes it. Like so:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_laserdegrees.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/laserdegrees.jpg)

This is because the shape of the extensions is longer and slim lengthwise as opposed to wide, so turrets have to be mounted along the axis. They can still both be brought to bear on the majority of targets that aren't directly in front or behind the ship.

If the top were slanted however, then more weapons could be brought to bear on forward/rear targets.
Predominantly forward-facing (these are actually with the rear extensions with the fat side facing forward, not the front ones, but the principle is the same):
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_lasers2.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/lasers2.jpg)

Balanced:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_lasers3.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/lasers3.jpg)

This might perhaps be one of the lessons the Aeran learned after the Anaxander was directly tested in combat since the Anaxander was designed before large scale combat experience.
Of course alternately they could simply be mounted on the front of the extensions if they're specifically intended as dedicated siege weapons on a specific ship, like the mass accelerators are on the Anaxander (or also the rear of the extensions in addition to the front and/or top).

kohldude

02-12-2010, 01:44 AM

Bah, we're only allowed 8 images in a post, so here's another post.

Adjustment to the barrel scaling, although the opening is still about 2.3 meters wide:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_GunScale.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/GunScale.jpg)

Oh, and I took some measurements of the docking bay:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderScale_06.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderScale_06.jpg)

Jack Sampson

02-12-2010, 01:15 PM

I think the 2.3 meter opening for the spinal mass drivers looks good. Certainly, it conveys a sense of a round much smaller than the diameter of the accelerator, and the specifics beyond that being fungible, I think that can be considered good to go.

I'm comfortable with whichever of the laser turret patterns you go with - perhaps you can pick a couple different extrusions/patterns for different size scales/classes of lasers as a quick visual identifier?

As for the flatness of the extensions, in my initial thinking, I'd envisioned one anti-capital turret per flat section, with possibly multiple point defense turrets/anti-fighter turrets/targeting arrays taking up the rest of the space. For capital scale non-laser mount turrets, looking something like artillery pieces mounted at the ends of the fins, the space would be readily used up. The laser turrets, being rather more compact in the actual moving-parts bits, do leave something to be desired aesthetically (with respect to using up all of the real estate) and would seem to beg for multiple turrets. One possible saving grace is that there can be more turrets than actual lasers, making for a possibly intentionally blocking design, wherein, rather than having a single anti-capital turret whose arc no PD or anti-strike turret can interfere with, the anti-capital laser system is time-multiplexed across multiple turrets, thereby providing both redundancy against damage and a virtually uninterrupted firing arc (this all being post-facto rationalization, of course, so this is just off the top of my head).

All that said, there's utility in at least a bevel at each end, (trapezoid) just so that turrets mounted on the slants can relieve the ship of the large blind spot due ahead and astern it would otherwise have for its turrets. Again, for a more protruding turret mount, this could perhaps be done at the turret level (a hinge point above the surface allowing the turret to depress), but for laser turrets, I believe you are correct, and some sort of modifications are going to have to be made to the ends of the projections.

kohldude

02-12-2010, 05:13 PM

Small revision to the laser turret allows for roughly a 218 degree firing arc:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_laserupdate.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/laserupdate.jpg)

Random turret idea. Not even sure what kind of weapon but I was thinking something energy based, not a mass accelerator. Pretend it has surface details (like, it could have a lot of that surface area dedicated to radiators)(although now that I think about it, having radiators directly on the weapons would only make them hotter IR targets).
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_randomturret.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/randomturret.jpg)

More random turret ideas. I like the "barrels" as a possible particle cannon, but the body needs heavy revisions.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_randomturrets2.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/randomturrets2.jpg)

And now ladies and gentlemen, for the big enchilada!!!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_7.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_7.jpg)
+lighting, +slightly glowing radiators, +other stuff

As can be seen in the top left insert, the idea is to have recessed spotlights in the seams of the layered parts shining onto the hull. This would be baked into the color texture, and then there would be some nice glow with the emissive/glow textures and possibly HDRI lighting texture.

Silhouettes and orthos:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderSilhouettes.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderSilhouettes.jpg)

kohldude

02-19-2010, 05:10 PM

Due to a debilitating neck stress injury, I didn't get much done this week as I was bed/couch ridden for the past few days. Mostly just experiments and ideas of how to retopo this thing.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Anaxander_Retopo_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Anaxander_Retopo_01.jpg)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Anaxander_Retopo_02.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Anaxander_Retopo_02.jpg)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Anaxander_Retopo_03.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Anaxander_Retopo_03.jpg)

willieharper

02-19-2010, 05:14 PM

polycount?

Dee Bingo

02-19-2010, 05:18 PM

Looking good! I imagine all of our modular components will be just stuck into the ship via colliding geometry? Did you loft curves? I am still learning my way through high poly hard surface modeling so I dont know the best tricks yet. Also, I imagine when we get to the somewhat tertiary details we can create stencils via 2d or 3d and slap them on in zbrush, export out the highest subd level and use xnormal to transfer the super high detail onto our low poly to make a nice normal map! :D

kohldude

02-19-2010, 05:21 PM

polycount?

At this point there isn't enough there to gauge a poly count. My plan is to keep it under 10K.

-edit- Forgot a doodad:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Anaxander_Retopo_04.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Anaxander_Retopo_04.jpg)

Jack Sampson

02-22-2010, 01:55 PM

re: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_7.jpg

*giddy*

That is one good looking ship. Kudos. I think she's in great shape.

kohldude

02-26-2010, 05:09 PM

Currently residing at 2840 triangles, with some room for optimization.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AnaxanderWIPbuild.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AnaxanderWIPbuild.jpg)

Coming up with a list of modular pieces that might be interchangeable:
Reactors, engine exhausts, radiators, weapons, docking bay doors, docking ports, extendable docking tubes, hatches, sensors, antennae, running lights, hull paint symbols.

Feel free to respond with more things that should be on the list.

kohldude

03-05-2010, 05:09 PM

Not much to say right now. Progress is continuing. Currently unwrapping. (Haven't gotten to the cannons or extruded doodads yet.) I should have a diffuse map by next Wednesday, but I may not (read: will not) make the meeting next week due to GDC.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Anaxander_Unwrap.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Anaxander_Unwrap.jpg)

kohldude

03-19-2010, 05:20 PM

Finished unwrapping all the primary doodads. Laid down a simple base color with a few ideas for some "war paint" stripes. The Aerans themselves have a body coloration that is "Ashen gray, with darker gray striations and amorphous, blotchy, yellowish patches in a pattern unique to each individual Aera" so I figure that might manifest itself in their hull marking as well. (The striations that is.)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Anaxander_Color_WIP.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Anaxander_Color_WIP.jpg)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_8.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_8.jpg)

I also worked on some higher-res meshes (not shown) that I'll use for baking a normal map.

And I was inspired to draw a doodle for another Aeran ship. It's just a design, I didn't have a specific boiler plate in mind.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_AndromedaDesigns_01.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/AndromedaDesigns_01.jpg)

I may have gone a little overboard with the fins. >_>

Jack Sampson

03-25-2010, 01:05 PM

Hadn't thought about what would pass for "war paint" on their vessels. The stripes are a nice touch. To be more like the Aeran body markings, they should narrow at each end. Perhaps we can try to hash out some patterns for service markings. The big caps like this are all in the Aeran Navy, but the fighters can also be in the service of the commerce wing of the Aeran Ascendency, and then there could also be markings indicating the engagements that a particular vessel had been in, or which subclan was primarily responsible for the design of a particular class of vessels, etc.

Another possible interesting set of markings that I started brainstorming when I saw the stripes- names/deeds of the honored dead who once served aboard the vessel. I imagine we could map out areas where the "Aeran text" would go and then come up with some sort of automated decal generator (from some text file full of stuff and a "translator" into Aeran script -- could also make for some fun easter eggs).

Re: doodle
Not sure what that would be, but the big rear-end makes me think atmospheric maybe. I envisioned a sub-orbital craft landing in a bay outside an Aeran city, the harbor dredged deep enough to keep the fins from hitting bottom... just a first impression.
I think your command of the Aeran ship aesthetic is pretty good, so, if nothing else, doodles like this can become valueable when we want to do any background images for Aeran planets and such, and want to fill the scene with additional vehicles, machines, structures, etc. not actually seen in space -- so keep posting them as they come to you :)

kohldude

04-02-2010, 05:13 PM

I recently revisited some older concepts and touched them up.

Sensors:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_updated_vegastrike_sensors.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/updated_vegastrike_sensors.jpg)

Older sketches (whether we use them or not) and that doodle from last time:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_updated_vegastrike_sketches.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/updated_vegastrike_sketches.jpg)

I didn't really make any refinements to the war paint since the textures are just for engine testing at this stage, but I'll definitely keep all of that in mind. Right now I have a color, spec, normal, and emissive map ready (just a viewport screengrab so it doesn't show the effects of the spm/nrm/glow):
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_updated_anaxander_textures.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/updated_anaxander_textures.jpg)

Aannd here's the pew pew gun I was assigned (http://2.7kelvin.com/portfolios/thearmory/projectile-weapons) (Purist Mini-Driver 3190). It said spinal mount so I hope it wasn't supposed to be a turret. Described as almost AK-47-like in simplicity, I went with a simple no-frills design (but we do still have room for a cool weapon firing particle effect since the parts are exposed). It was also described as modular so I envision the plates on the hull it is mounted to to be the easily-upgradable part for fast weapon swapping (like Aaron's "wing" tips on the Areus (sp?)), and the ammo feeder and rails themselves are pretty much distinct pieces that could also be swapped. Maybe also replacement of the magnetic coils as an upgrade.:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Mini-Driver-3190.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Mini-Driver-3190.jpg)

Jack Sampson

04-05-2010, 04:48 PM

I'm really liking the beautifully clean, yet clunky look to the 3190 (3190 CE being the year it was introduced and 3276 CE being the year the game starts, that fits it perfectly)

Re: "spinal mount" yes - not turreted, at least not on a strike craft. Intended for mounts that run the length, or much of the length of the craft in question. I haven't gotten around to filling in the sizes for nearly enough of the weapons yet (sorry :-( )- the kinetic impactors are going to tend longer than other weapons (for fairly obvious reasons :) ).
This one I imagine being ~25 meters long (hence, you _could_ turret it, but not on a 25-50 meter long strike craft ;-) ). In addition to size, the spinal limitation for strike craft is due to the action-reaction issues (kicks like a mule), and it will tend to necessitate mounting along a structurally stable (load-bearing) portion of the craft.

The feed to the internal magazine is probably going to have to come in a few different flavors for different mounting arrangements (although, the biggest variation, internal housing vs. external housing won't have the feed mechanism visible, so....maybe we don't actually need to draw more than 1 or 2) , so that'd definitely be modular.

The gun may often extend beyond the body of the ship, so possibly a secondary manner of reinforcement for the last 1/4 or 1/3 of the gun muzzle-side?

If you look at the first concept piece for the Hephaestus PD turret, http://www.gamestepper.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40645&d=1270340919 you'll see that the spacing between coils is uneven and increasing as it goes further down the barrel. Not sure if this is necessary for rail based designs as well (it is for coil weapons due to the increasing velocity of the projectile), but something to consider. I'd actually originally though of the mini-drivers as coil rather than rail guns, but (presumed maintenance issues aside) I'm happy with whichever you want to go with - they both evoke the same effect I was looking for.

For point of reference on the ammo, the mini-driver and micro-driver weapons shoot much more massive rounds than the Hephaestus coil guns (which are optimized for muzzle velocity and rate of fire, and are also much newer and better made), but an order of magnitude less massive rounds than the warhead based Makhaira, Reaper, Razor, and other weapons. Space based rounds will tend to be optimized for storage and accelerator considerations, and may be flat-faced or only very slightly pointed (given the severe deformations and angle deflections that occur on contact with shields, the impact of geometry on penetration is often ignored for most types of ship-to-ship weaponry - although exceptions, like the Aeran Kopis series of weapons, do exist.).
Don't quite have a complete set of numbers in my head yet, but am thinking of Hephaestus rounds being in the 10mm diameter X 75 mm length range, with the mini-driver rounds being something more like 30mm X 45mm or some such (with much lower muzzle velocity), and then the Makhaira, etc. rounds being, well, artillery shells. (will duplicate the above on Hephaestus concept thread).

kohldude

04-06-2010, 08:36 PM

Haha, you know what, I didn't realize it but I accidentally drew a rail gun coil gun bastard child when I was drawing that. In my head it was supposed to be a pure coil gun (although It's true that I was assuming some sort of special engineering with the magnetic fields to allow the electromagnetic coils to only be on top and bottom of the barrel instead of coiled around it. That and assuming a way to keep the projectile aiming straight and true [not veering off and hitting the side] between the two coil-mounting rails without the projectile acting as an armature as in a rail gun). Of course most players probably won't care either way. Maybe consider it a coil-assisted rail gun.

Anyways, here's a reference from the now-canceled Tiberium of some visual cues I might want to improve it with, or possible upgrades. E.G. "improved coils" upgrade adds those 'teeth' to the rails or something.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_TiberiumGun.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/TiberiumGun.jpg)

kohldude

04-09-2010, 06:24 PM

A bit of a visual on that "more power!" upgrade idea:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_MiniDriverUpgrade.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/MiniDriverUpgrade.jpg)

Assuming the same sort of rail design and not a barrel design, the rails would be held together with some strong bindings. At the end, where there are no supports to attach it to the hull and connect the bindings, they would just be affixed to the rails directly sans extra support, and probably more often to keep the rails from flexing or anything. I imagine an external magazine would be a bit on the long, squat, and narrow side, perhaps with a coiling belt feed mechanism (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roninspoon/2879444693/) inside?:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Mini-Driver-3190_2.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Mini-Driver-3190_2.jpg)

I'm thinking, maybe some more visible power cables, bunching up and following the hull perhaps:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_Mini-Driver-3190_3.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Mini-Driver-3190_3.jpg)

Click for more reference (http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/ORD_EM_Rail_Gun_32MJ_Lab_Dahlgren_lg.jpg).

Hmph. White URLs with a light gray regular text is bad web design.

Oh right, lasers. Willie asked if I might be able to fit my previous designs into any of the boilerplates on the armory page.

Confederation Capital Scaled Ultra-Violet Laser in the middle-left, Confederation Capital Scaled X-Ray Laser on the right? Since X-Rays are more powerful than UV rays, I imagine it would need a bigger housing, hence why it has an entire ball turret, whereas the UV laser might be able to better fit in that mounting bracket there in the middle.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_lasers.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/lasers.jpg)

Jack Sampson

04-12-2010, 01:53 PM

Liking everything you're doing with the mini-driver

As for lasers -
The 3 turrets can probably be adapted to anything from IR-UV -- I'll think some more about which would be the most appropriate.
For X-Ray, we're going to see something a little more exotic, and for microwave, more likely some sort of phased array.

For X-ray laser inspiration, here are a couple of links about how to focus an X-ray telescope (the mirror arrangement is rather different than for optical)
http://chandra.harvard.edu/about/telescope_system.html (description)
http://chandra.harvard.edu/graphics/resources/illustrations/cxcmirrors-72.jpg (image of focusing mirrors)

One other thing to consider is that the higher powered the laser is (somewhat independent of wavelength) the bigger the focusing array (no matter what lens/mirror arrangement) is going to be so that it doesn't melt/explode/wear out too quickly. For a capital-scale X-ray laser, it's probably going to be a bit on the almost-ponderous size compared to the smaller, nimble laser turrets of point-defense clusters and lighter weapons (also it wouldn't need to track as quickly, given that it's designed to be fired at other cap ships, not fighters :) ).

kohldude

04-13-2010, 06:46 AM

Here's my microwave laser (MASER?) for the week:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_ConfederationFSMicrowaveLaser-1.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/ConfederationFSMicrowaveLaser-1.jpg)

I realize that microwaves are invisible to the human eye, but we're going to need some way for the player to visualize them.

The design starts with the mount, which could either be a ball mount or a hardpoint mount which is connected with gratuitous cabling. Just above that is a support platform that holds several MASER RF discharging elements that hook into the disc above them and the central tube. Above that are 3 amplifiers that make the beam stronger. And finally above that are 3 tiers of microwave emitters and a 4th focused center beam.

For the basic weapon, we could perhaps remove every other RF discharge element, and then they could be added as a "moar power" upgrade. The same thing could be done with the levels of emitters. It could perhaps use some heat radiators I suppose, or level 3 could be radiators while 1 and 2 are emitters. Other upgrades could include a longer barrel (more amplifying discs), larger RF discharge elements, or larger emitters.

I imagined that perhaps emitter levels 1 and 2 could rotate in opposite directions, with all 3 levels being capable of some vertical rotation too for important adjustments or perhaps different firing modes.

You might not be able to see it on your monitor, but here's the hex pattern on the emitters:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_HexPattern2.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/HexPattern2.jpg)

Jack Sampson

04-14-2010, 04:55 PM

Maser is spot on. Also great in that, as currently done it's got a scale-insensitive aesthetic, so we can probably play with the final sizing a bit without significantly changing the design (stretching/scaling/etc).

Yeah, for gameplay/presumption-of-augmented-reality purposes, we'll presume to be able to see all sorts of things that aren't actually in the visual spectrum :)

Dee Bingo

04-17-2010, 01:33 AM

Maser is awesome looking; I love the hex pattern you have going in the "petals" that are echoed in the pattern across them (the dark pattern on the emitters). I also agree about using color for visual reference for the player to enjoy; somehow this neon pink is kinda doing it for me. I like it.

kohldude

04-17-2010, 02:06 AM

I think Jack might have a heart attack with this one. :P

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_8_5.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/kohl_aeran_Anaxander01_8_5.jpg)

Jack Sampson

04-20-2010, 04:15 PM

Too worn out from Coachella to actually muster up a heart-attack - you'll have to settle for drooling :)

kohldude

04-20-2010, 06:28 PM

Updates on ze Maser!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_CFSML_V2.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/CFSML_V2.jpg)

It's a bit more visually close to Jiminez's Laser this week. I made the mounting system extra modular, so it could be fitted to a ball turret on the rear, attached to a large vessel for full 180 degree sky coverage, or it could be attached to a "bottom" turret, but have less sky coverage, OR, it could be hard-mounted to a vessel either at the rear or on the bottom and have no movement freedom, requiring the entire ship to aim itself (e.g. a fighter, or some sort of spinal or nose mount on a large ship).

Jack Sampson

04-21-2010, 06:08 PM

Neat, neat!
The restyling of the body really helps make it look in-line with the other Confed laser designs without sacrificing the uniqueness of the maser head.

kohldude

04-27-2010, 04:35 AM

On a completely different subject, the ISV Venture Star in Avatar has some beautiful heat radiators (not the best angles, but there are some better shots as she's moving. Of course I can't take screencaps since the DVD isn't out yet; found these on the web.):

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/jamescameronsavatar/images/6/62/Interstellarcomplete.jpg

http://18.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kuz3v5fmlL1qz79fvo1_500.png

Found some 1080p footage of the ISV Venture Star on the official Avatar Youtube channel. Grabbed a few screens (and fullscreen 1920*1200 shots).

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/Avatar_Heatsink_Ref.jpg

kohldude

04-27-2010, 06:23 AM

The Crippler.
The description didn't say what specific type of weapon was used to launch the projectiles so I guessed electromagnetic as opposed to something more artilleryesque like Reece designed. I used the same modular mount as the Maser, thinking it could possibly standardized perhaps. Electromagnets, power rails, and supports form a barrel ring. Two large beams support along the bottom.

I imagine that the projectile itself will have some sort of charge or flash mechanism that destroys the projectile, but in the split second before it loses integrity, this charge would trigger a light that enters the one-time-use lasing rods (something like ruby or some silicate?) in a manner similar to how some current experimental fusion reactors have a flash element that gets amplified thousands of times to produce the lasers that get pumped into the fusion chambers (i.e. National Ignition Facility). (Although their flash elements are reusable and don't disintegrate the entire mechanism. :P )

You might also think of it how a hunk of explosives liquefies a cone of copper to form a shaped charge in an RPG, or how one might make an E-Bomb (except with light).
See image:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb3.htm

On the front is a targeting sensor that tells the projectile when to set itself off. The rods themselves are angled slightly outward to produce more of a "laser buckshot" effect than they would have if they all faced perfectly straight.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/th_ConfedCrippler.jpg (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/mightybob2000/vegastrike/ConfedCrippler.jpg)

Projectile upgrades could be differing numbers of rods, larger rods, some maneuvering thrusters that can slightly alter its trajectory from a straight line to a slight arc to compensate for enemy movement (even though really, they should have a fool-proof targeting solution before firing anyways (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCoHT_cHPzY)), or some small rockets on the back to increase its velocity (close to target faster, harder for enemy point defenses to take it out). These would be simple thrusters expelling some reactant mass from tanks. Nothing like the full-blown reactors and engines on a capital missile. If thrusters were added, then the sensor on the front would also be used for guidance.

Jack Sampson

04-27-2010, 03:04 PM

I imagine that the projectile itself will have some sort of charge or flash mechanism that destroys the projectile, but in the split second before it loses integrity, this charge would trigger a light that enters the one-time-use lasing rods (something like ruby or some silicate?) in a manner similar to how some current experimental fusion reactors have a flash element that gets amplified thousands of times to produce the lasers that get pumped into the fusion chambers (i.e. National Ignition Facility). (Although their flash elements are reusable and don't disintegrate the entire mechanism. :P )

That's exactly what I was thinking about - have you considered a career in stock market prognostication? :)

The warhead is basically perfect.

The re-use of the stock element is a great idea - we're getting enough pieces that we can really start to build up a library of common components and subcomponents soon.

kohldude

05-04-2010, 04:21 PM

>.>

Did I miss an email? No one told me to do anything this week.

Dee Bingo

05-04-2010, 05:26 PM

you shouldnt have been eating Bloomin' Onions and should have been paying attention!

kohldude

05-11-2010, 09:12 PM

Notes to self; comparable titles for research?:

Jumpgate Evolution
Star Trek Online
Freespace 1/2
EVE Online

Jack Sampson

05-11-2010, 09:50 PM

Notes to self; comparable titles for research?:

Jumpgate Evolution
Star Trek Online
Freespace 1/2
EVE Online

Also consider:
Elite
Privateer
Freelancer
X3

There's a fan remake of Privateer done on top of the older VS engine that can be found here: http://privateer.sourceforge.net/files.shtml
It should be fully functional (or very close to that) on any of several platforms.

- Privateer was a really big influence on the original VS crew. Honestly, I still get nostalgic for it some times -- it was fun to play.

- Elite is ancient (really ancient), but there are some things it managed to pull off that are fairly interesting (tradeoffs in procedural art/content vs. quality, universe scale).

- Freelancer is a spiritual successor to Privateer (at least as much in some ways as Privateer 2) - but the universe felt a bit skewed (classic JRPG syndrome problems wherein a traffic cop from the end-game could slaughter planets worth of the beginning-game ships)

- X3... haven't played it myself, but it's in the right genre, if anyone is familiar with it.