Rlaan carrier prototype. *pic*

[Ares]

***UPDATE*** 3/20/06


I did a early final of what the radiators will look like. This is generally what it will look like when done, i'll add a couple bays in the back, but this is pretty much it...


Even though the pic upload feature dosen't work right now, i still used a older site to link to this pic. This is the rlaan carrier i've been working on for a while, you can see other Rlaan ships next to it for scale. It will get another mount for the front 'solar sails' and i will add numerous greebles, (and smooth it out) before i'd consider it done.
Comments?

[Ryder P. Moses]

Ooh, groovy. That could look really alien given the right texture job. And something about the shape already feels big, which is something that you don't always get with capships.

[jackS]

Good start on something giving a Rlaan-esque hull shape. Unfortunately, the Rlaan don't have any carriers, so it can't be the start of the Rlaan _Carrier_. (Also, as an aside, from the canon perspective, those aren't solar sails on the Rlaan ships. Those are radiators that are built onto hardware for shield manipulation (or the other way around, depending on your perspective).)

While there are not, nor will there be any requested Rlaan Carriers, a list of Rlaan vessels (I am here ignoring installations) remaining to be constructed follows (note that this list has been readily available for ~ a year):

Aidi(Rlaan Passenger Puddle Jumper)
Andi(Rlaan Sub-Orbital Cargo transport)
Chengdi(Rlaan Lander)
Chengzong(Rlaan Refuse and Salvage Scow)
Chongdi(Rlaan Cargo Shuttle)
Chudi(Rlaan Resupply Ship)
Daizong(Rlaan Methane Flight Tender)
Dezong(Rlaan Battleship)
Duanzong(Rlaan Orbital Sniper Ship)
Duzong(Rlaan Occupation Vessel)
Feidi(Rlaan Dropship)
Gaodi(Rlaan Forcible Compliance Planetary Drone Craft)
Gaozong(Rlaan Mobile Sensor Drone)
Gaozu(Rlaan Oxygen Flight Tender)
Gondi(Rlaan Colonization ship)
Gongti(Rlaan Oxygen client colonization ship)
Guangzong(Rlaan Repair/Maintenance craft)
Han(Rlaan Exploration Ship)
(Rlaan Constructed for non-Rlaan use) Janissary {Rlaan constructed Saahasayaay Heavy Fighter}
Shangdi(Rlaan Bulk Transport)
Shenzong(Rlaan Cargo mover)
Shizong(Rlaan Light Equalizer Ship)
Taizu(Rlaan Methane Breather Heavy Cargo Shuttle)
Wendi(Rlaan Prisoner Transport)
Wudi(Rlaan Ship Impound Transport)
Xianzong(Rlaan Mining Craft)
Xiaozong(Rlaan Patrol Corvette)
Xizong(Rlaan Oxygen Breather Heavy Cargo Shuttle)
Xuande(Rlaan Light Passenger Transport)
Xuanzong(Rlaan Gas Miner)
Yindi(Rlaan Equalizer Extermination Craft)
Zhaozong(Rlaan Heavy Equalizer Ship)
Zhezong(Rlaan Large Passenger Liner)

[Ares]

No carriers? You'll excuse me for not reading every message about the decided specs and atributes of each species, but why wouldn't any race have a long range support ship carrier? The Rlaan have fighters, why wouldn't they have a carrier?

Duzong(Rlaan Occupation Vessel)
Feidi(Rlaan Dropship)
Gondi(Rlaan Colonization ship)

Any of these ships could be considered a carrier, as far as i'm concerned a 'carrier' is not nesccecarily a military ship, but any of the aformentioned ships would be required to carry support ships.

[Ryder P. Moses]

Just finish it, dude. JackS might not want it, but I'd like to see it in my copy of the game at least, and I'm sure others would too.

You're not the only one who's running into the failings of the 'official' content framework- as in that there ain't any but a few scraps in the Wiki that I'm sure seemed informative to the guy writing them at the time (note: Wiki information is always a kajillion years out-of-date and no longer usable) and whatever's stored away in JackS's head, which he seems disinclined to enlighten the rest of us about in any helpful manner. Best thing to do is just get the stuff as complete as you can- either JackS will eventually realize that all his invisible rules don't get him very far when all he's got for ship art is a bunch of untextured cubes and it'll go into VS Prime, or someone else (cough) will be happy to find a way to work it into some mod or other.

[jackS]

Duzong(Rlaan Occupation Vessel)
Feidi(Rlaan Dropship)
Gondi(Rlaan Colonization ship)

Any of these ships could be considered a carrier, as far as i'm concerned a 'carrier' is not nesccecarily a military ship, but any of the aformentioned ships would be required to carry support ships.

Apologies for confusion caused by the narrowness with which I was applying the term "carrier" (that is, mobile military bases filled with fighter-craft) - I don't even have any good reason for why I was doing so (chalk it up to the limitless potential for ineptitude that is the human condition). While they don't have mobile military bases filled with fighter-craft (in large part because all of their fightercraft are largish and jump capable - they use small (relative to the traditional concept of a carrier) "flight tender" support craft for rapid resupply and maintenance of small-craft sized vessels when ranging beyond resupply from friendly bases) they clearly do have vessels that carry other support craft and are therefore "carriers".

The occupation vessel (Duzong) carries Feidi and Gaodi and some Chengdi and maintenance craft.
The Colonization and Exploration vessels likewise carry a goodly assortment of shuttles, landers, and maintenance craft.

Again, sorry about that. Head must be a little loose today. Minor deadline tomorrow.

[Ares]

It sounds to me like this would be well-suited to be the Duzong, as i already have it designed to not be a hardcore warship, although i disagree that, assorted support ships especially any going into combat would rather frequently be stopping at a ship such as the Duzong for assorted repairs and resupply..... but this is quite the large ship and could probably carry plenty of ships of any variety.
Particularry in the VS universe, i would figure any major species would have a general-purpose carrier, particulary since sending single ships to do long range missions would be much more ineffecient then sending in a larger ship capable of taking numerous ships into a situation (not nesccecarily combat) considerably more effeciently.

[klauss]

I would imagine, should the need arise, they would simply outfit a Gondi for that task... it sounds as the biggest class, capable of carrying lots of personnel and equipment, as well as launching it. It may be that that kind of operation is not their style, and they prefer many smaller support vessels.

@Ryder: chill - JackS never said the ship wasn't good, only that it wasn't a carrier per-se.

[Rabiator]

Duzong(Rlaan Occupation Vessel)
Feidi(Rlaan Dropship)
Gondi(Rlaan Colonization ship)

Any of these ships could be considered a carrier, as far as i'm concerned a 'carrier' is not nesccecarily a military ship, but any of the aformentioned ships would be required to carry support ships.

The occupation vessel (Duzong) carries Feidi and Gaodi and some Chengdi and maintenance craft.

That implies that the Feidi is a smaller shiptype and Ares' new design is probably not a Feidi. Duzong and Gondi still make sense. I think which of those it should be depends on Ares' final design:
A Duzong would probably have to fight now and then, so it should have significant armament. A Gondi would be more likely to travel to empty worlds without hostile navies, so it can get away with carrying less firepower.

[Ares]

i was thinking about replacing the two rear flight bays with a single larger one.... opinions?

[Ares]

Early smoothed version of what will probably be the Duzong. Note The similarities with the other ships designed into it.

[Halleck]

Not bad!

*Imagines TyKeiL having a cow at the quad count*

[Ares]

[quote="Halleck"]Not bad!

*Imagines TyKeiL having a cow at the quad count* [/quoteEh, it's not that bad, it's about 6K smoothed, i doubt it will break 7 by the time i'm done.

These 'shield radiator sails' are a ***** to model....

[CubOfJudahsLion]

R0xx0r!!! Very mature design.

[jackS]

Having now seen the front, there is one thing that concerns me: perhaps not seeing it in profile is lending me an insufficiently clear picture, but the seemingly 90 degree angle transitioning from the top front to the region containing the bays runs somewhat counter to the curved nature of the rest of the aesthetic. This "non-suggesting of a curve" is exacerbated by both of the regions next to the joint being large and rather flat. The alternative vision that first comes to me involves adding something "belly-like" to round off the bottom of the front-top portion and perhaps playing with the angle that the portion of the ship containing the bays attaches at. Perhaps you can think of a more elegant or easy to implement method of addressing this.

I really like what you did with the top front, but please let me know any ideas that you have concerning the bottom front of the ship.

Minor comments and requests:

I'd prefer sticking with two openings front and two openings back.

Noting that the bay entries are quite large (easy mule-driving large ), though not needed at this stage, some additional geometry might be eventually be nice to detail the interiors of the bays (perhaps suggestions of multiple smaller entrances to the interior along the top of the bays - lots of things are possible here).

If it's easy to tilt the rearmost section of the vessel down a few degrees (pivoting at what I assume will be a fin attachment point) I think that would help to break up the straightness of the rear of the ship (and also accentuate the existing lip/shell-overxtension that's there) - but if it's a hassle, it does already look pretty darn good.

If later versions could eventually include multiple pairs of spires coming down and back from the rear similar to the pair that does so in the Ruizong(Huldra) model, that would be desirable.

This might be an artifact of viewing angle, but the lip around the sections containing the bay and the lip around the bay entrance itself (especially apparent when looking at the initial geometry pre-smooting) are on the thin and sharp side of the spectrum. I'd prefer if they could be more soft and rounded a bit (insert Jagger vs. Bowie joke here...).



Keep up the good work, and I'm sure we'll have a stellar looking Duzong real soon

[Ares]

Wow jacks, must you always talk in code? We speak english on this forum. lol Maybe it's just my less then edjumacated-ness....

I was going for the look that it's more or less built out of a shell, (as all Rlaan ships appear to be, granted, the bottom of the front is quite flat and altering them without messing it up now that i've added radiator mounts, may be a tad tough, but i'll see what i can do...

The large bay openings will likely not change, i designed that intentionally factoring in the longish 'wingspan' of most Rlaan fighters, i would assume the radiators can be retracted for landing and storage, but i designed them to easily fit anyway.

I'm not sure you mean about detailing the INSIDE of the bays, i do plan on adding numerous smaller bays, but putting more detail inside them would strike me as rather pointless as the only time you would see that is while landing.

I extended the lip in the back bottom out a bit from the first pic, ya can't really see it but i feel it looks a little better.

I think thats pretty much it... anymore comments are always welcome

[klauss]

I was going for the look that it's more or less built out of a shell, (as all Rlaan ships appear to be, granted, the bottom of the front is quite flat and altering them without messing it up now that i've added radiator mounts, may be a tad tough, but i'll see what i can do...

Not sure whether you meant the same... but Rlaan ships should look "organic". You kind of achieved that (roundish all over) - but the flats don't help.

I'm not sure you mean about detailing the INSIDE of the bays, i do plan on adding numerous smaller bays, but putting more detail inside them would strike me as rather pointless as the only time you would see that is while landing.

And so you'll be seeing it often and up close. I think that zone warrants some more detail.

[Ares]

wow, my last post is 2 months old? I have no excuse for that.... check the front page.

[klauss]

Very Rlaan. And very clean. Congrats.

Now it needs a texture.

[tiny paintings]

Very clean and rlaan-looking. Thumbs up!

Is a texture in the pipeline...?

[Ares]

Is a texture in the pipeline...?

Of Course! Might be a long pipeline though, to say i'm a little distracted right now would be a bit of a understatement....

[Oblivion]

Really really nice work. Rlaan momma-ships. I wish there was more space traffic, though. it would be really awesome to come across one of these behemoths in a convoy with swarms of smaller vessels.

Cruising through the sides, past turrets, etc. Oh man!

[pyramid]

The understanding I have gained from reading this (historical) thread is that the concept presented here goes into the right direction though needs some tweaking to be more Rlaan organic style. In any case, as Ares is not replying to pm, and the mesh is not available, this Rlaan Duzong ship is open for concept improvement and modeling.

[Ares]

??? I havent recieved any new PM's.... i'm still here. i'm trying to learn blender or secure a copy of 3Ds max to switch my work into... as texture mapping has always been my weak point in wings..
I'm also about 99.9% sure i sent that to you at least a year ago... i can resend it if nescecary. did anyone want to see any changes made to it?

[pyramid]

Not sure why the pm didn't go through, as I was assuming, since it's sitting in my sent messages box but usually stay in outbox when not sent by sf. Maybe the notifications were turned off at the time.
In any case, one year ago i wasn't in charge of vessels, so you might have sent it to one of the other devs and it didn't make into the svn.

Some comments I picked up assuming that some further detailing of the shape was required:
* Rlaan ships should look "organic", the flats don't help.
* the seemingly 90 degree angle transitioning from the top front to the region containing the bays runs somewhat counter to the curved nature of the rest of the aesthetic
* Minor comments and requests: I'd prefer sticking with two openings front and two openings back.
* additional geometry might be eventually be nice to detail the interiors of the bays

Overall it is a very mature concept requiring minor tweaks. If don't want to run with it and are ok, I can put up the mesh into masters for somebody to pick up the detailing work. You may post a link in this thread or email it directly to me.