StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Grahf has been busy in the background revamping and detailing his Battleship model, and a few days ago he sent it to me to check out. I converted it to Lightwave and began the laborious task of fixing all the bits that go wrong, reducing the polygon count and then texturing and lighting it. To be honest I'd be quicker remaking it myself, but that just wouldn't be cricket. Anyway, here are the first shots of the revamp with some basic textures and a couple of dozen lights.

Grahf, I just guessed at the colour scheme since the conversion turned it into a kind of two-tone affair. I've deliberately kept it in the dark for now since there's not a lot of surface detail, so moody is better than well lit. I altered a couple of things, most notably the engines and windows. It never had windows, so I cut a few in and built a bridge at the front with a room behind for mood lighting. The engines were really too small and long to fill out the large engine bays, so I tweaked the depth of the bays and the length & size of the engines. Hope you dont mind, here's the result. If I get a chance I'll turn out a few more pictures and possibly a slow flyby animation. If Imperial528 gets his finger out with his design we can have a fight!

I'm sure you already know that a reposition of the guns would improve arcs and guns on the underside are only useful for engaging multiple weaker opponents.

The gun elevations for the larger guns are not too great either, they foul the deck at relatively low angles. The AA guns are fine, they have great firing arcs. I'm not a huge fan of these flying dreadnought ships, where we basically remake an 1890's battleship as a spaceship. They're fun, maybe, rather than practical. Real battleships died out in the 40's due to aircraft and then guided weapons, although there may be some mileage in spacecraft armed with humungous rail-guns or energy weapons needing some old fashioned turrets. I cant help but think they wont look like this though.

Shape is determined by function; if big guns are useful, they need to be positioned to have decent arcs, and little redundancy to increase power. Ships don't need full 360 degree coverage, but they DO need enough coverage for whatever battle is envisaged. Underside guns are generally a waste of time unless battles are short range (ie guys can circle you faster than you can roll) or they're designed to fight many weaker ships.

This ship has a rear slope that could take 3-4 heavy turrets and provide them all with clear arcs everywhere except backwards. Extend the fin and you can fit almost the entire armament, except now it can fire everywhere instead of constantly having 'deadweight' turrets.

Thats me: Fun, not practical. Well, practical "looking" enough that it appears I'm not just haphazardly placing guns just to be uber. Plus, the design aesthetic for this race consistent and I used the old school dreadnought theme. My other race is more GE style. But hey, Kenny, have at it. Redo the turret positions and arcs. I don't have much ego invested in this, so feel free.

No way, not my place to go doing anythng like that.

As you say, this is designed as an aesthetic excersize rather than some ultimate evolution of the turret ship. It looks exactly as it should, as you wished it to be. Compared to many designs you see this does indeed look like it's has some time invested in its layout, and it's not simply been covered in glue and rolled through turrets.

Stark, I think before we can go stating this and that are definitely wrong, we would need to define exactly what is expected of the ship, what are the weapons and sensors available to us, and what defensive technology would be required. Is it shields or armour? Beam weapons at the speed of light, or plasma bolts at a few thousand meters per second? How powerful are fighters and bombers, are they powerful enough to waste a battleship with one torpedo? Define the rules, then we can think about what ship would be the ultimate statement of power in that universe.

I haven't put too much thought into the details of the universe itself. However, there are some things that are defined. Fighters are not the primary projection of force in large engagements. I envision fighters dealing with system patrol duties and quick response for bases or small task forces. Strike craft are used primarily in anti-piracy and local defense. Larger ships carry a small complement of fighters used mainly for scouting and quick response. As far as defensive, I was thinking a limited shield/force field technology and very advanced armor technology. Armor would be robust enough to withstand several direct hits i.e. cruiser on cruiser battle. The large guns are some kind of rail gun/coil gun/ gauss gun....an electro magnetic weapon. Very high velocity with low rate of fire. FTL travel across the galaxy would take a few weeks perhaps.