|
|
Post by Philip S on Feb 3, 2014 14:55:07 GMT -5
Hmm, the more I read this, the more I feel that ships cannot fire their weapons without turning off their fields. This would align with the submarine analogy, where a submarine has to come close to the surface to fire it's weapons (and earlier subs had to surface). Problem then is: can't the ship then immediately make another jump? It depends on how much power it needs to jump. There may be a 'power up' phase (seeing as a jump is basically max power!). Though it's possible the ships can jump all over the place, winking in and out of existence (moving like the are in a strobe light). Once we work out all the variables, we can start to imagine weapon systems. We have mentioned drones and lances, but there might be a strong case for mine fields, or more specifically 'drone fields' that wait for a ship to 'un-phase' before springing into life. Also active scans (like a sub's sonar) can give the game away. Drones with distortion engines will be interesting, as they could sync with an enemy's field and therefore penetrate it (then it would be down to close defence systems to shoot it down within the distortion field (lances?)). Failure to sync means the bigger field wins. Such drones can also jump, so they are faster than the speed of light. I think we will probably end up with submarine combat in space, with drones being torpedoes. Philip |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Feb 3, 2014 16:20:02 GMT -5
A big possibility, but keeping it with the submarine analogy, such a ship wouldn't really be using its weapons that much then.
It seems I'm working a bit the other way around. Drawing/designing stuff, imagining weapon systems, and during that process we're discussing the variables. I've got a feeling that this way we're both encouraged to look into certain stuff, since we're gaining insights we haven't considered yet.
I'm imagining the turrets I've got now to be lance weapons, the smaller ones can easily take out escorts, and might also stand a good chance against a cruiser, but the larger turrets (and frontal weapons of the escorts) can easily tear apart cruisers and seriously damage battleships (if they aren't taken out first). I'd imagine Legion space war to be a very destructive affair. That's why the ships tend to be so modular, it's the engine that survives, other parts often being destroyed and in need of refitting etc.
I'm really digging the idea of mine drones, for some reason I'm imagining them to have some sort of 'perception filter' (how very current Doctor Who!), meaning that the enemy might think them to be debris or whatever, not realizing they're mines until it's too late.
Hmm, drone fighters that can jump? I like the idea, but didn't we first establish that jump capable ships generally tend to be large craft? Maybe these drones can only make one or two jumps? After they penetrated the field, I'd imagine them to descend upon the ship's surface and try to tear it open. I would think they're too small to carry any serious firepower, but they could disable turrets and such and try to burn their way through the ship's weak spots.
|
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 6, 2014 2:49:18 GMT -5
No real update yet, need to do some serious redesigning here and there to make the ship castable, especially the parts with the antennae. In the meanwhile, this little article on the BBC might be fitting: it's about robotic ships. |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 25, 2014 14:50:09 GMT -5
Work on the cruisers is slightly delayed. I was working on starting from scrap again, but I ended up hating it as a cruiser sized ship, so I shrunk it, turning it into an escort. It's still an early WIP, especially the engine part needs work.    |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 26, 2014 2:44:33 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip S on Mar 26, 2014 5:47:19 GMT -5
So that's what it looks like painted! A bit of opaque colour really shows up the details  |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 26, 2014 6:10:19 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip S on Mar 26, 2014 10:18:46 GMT -5
I notice the 'distortion engine' on the escort, are you thinking of adding one to the little ship?
|
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 26, 2014 10:35:41 GMT -5
I notice the 'distortion engine' on the escort, are you thinking of adding one to the little ship? Not really. In my mind most escorts don't have a 'distortion engine', they're too small to have one. Escorts ships normally 'hitch a ride' using the field of larger ships or are transported by a type of 'host ship' (battleship sized behemoth that can carry several escorts in its hull). This type is sort of an exception, a small blockade runner. It can make a jump, but then would need a lot of time to 'recharge', meaning it's great if you'd need to get something somewhere very quick, but after that it's rather vulnerable. EDIT: One major problem I'm running into at the moment is the model's geometry. It's all messed up, don't know why since I made it following 'the rules'. But every time I try to fix its watertightness the model comes out with tons of new holes and big chunks removed. Very frustrating... |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 26, 2014 14:12:23 GMT -5
Well...I might have to toss this one in the trash...the model's geometry is all messed up, meaning that when I prepare the model for printing huge chunks are cut out of the model to "fix" it.
Basically means I have to start all over again. [expletive] great...
|
|
|
|
Post by M.O.T.N on Mar 26, 2014 14:47:48 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 27, 2014 11:54:55 GMT -5
By the way, did you have a hard time putting the figure on that flightstand thingie? Do you have a regular flying base? Does the ship fit on it? Really awesome pics by the way. The more I look at it, the more different escorts I'd like to design. These are relatively simple single piece models, meaning that productionwise they're a piece of cake. The cruisers will be more of a challenge due to their modular nature. In the meantime I've been hanging around the SketchUp forum for help with making my models easier to print. Toyed a bit with cleaning up the model and before I knew it I basically remade the entire model, and not only that...I learnt how to get the thing watertight on SketchUp itself, no longer having to use stuff like Netfabb. Victory is mine!    A few small changes: -Beefed up the backpart of the ship a bit, making it a tiny bit wider. -Removed the wing mounted weapons. I never liked them, would have to come up with something else though... Time for detailing... |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 29, 2014 15:37:24 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by M.O.T.N on Mar 29, 2014 17:51:36 GMT -5
By the way, did you have a hard time putting the figure on that flightstand thingie? Do you have a regular flying base? Does the ship fit on it? I don't have any GW flight stands so I'm unsure if it would fit or not, from memory the stems are quite long and the fitting on the ship is so shallow it wouldn't really grip into it anyway. This is simply a bit of wire super glued in place after I'd drilled a little hole. I'll mail this back to you when it's finished, hopefully having it painted and finished in physical form inspires you to keep on going! Knocked this up quickly, I see you've updated the design somewhat in the meantime. With the side guns you filled in a bit of the gap between the hull already but I'd recommend taking that right up to the end of the barrel/muzzle of the weapon to be safe.  |
|
|
|
Post by malika on Mar 29, 2014 18:21:19 GMT -5
Look at the updated version of the design a few posts back. Should be undercut free now... EDIT: Apologies for not reading your post better! I will need to look at the gap between the side turrets and the hull, and maybe also the new undercut in the centre of the ship. As for the one in the 'barrels' of the prow mounted weapons, whilst metal or resin might handle that, I'm not sure if Trollcast would work. Troll Forged or Philip S what are your thoughts on this? |
|
