I'm a contestant on "The Next Great Starship"! -Star Citizen

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Having slept on it, I'm gonna do detachable turrets unless RSI tells me not to. Little motorcycle turrets that will fit inside the cargo hold if the shield gets blown off.

For an hour yesterday I had actually moved the manned turrets to the other side, as it seemed ruthless to put them out on a surface that's meant to take enemy fire. Their fire arc were so reduced however that I had to put them back. This seems a nice compromise when considering their safety.

This also solves my entrance and exit problem, as the turrets will just detach and VTOL to the flight deck.

The rest of the ship is the pilot's lifeboat. He can jettison half his mass (Armor, missiles, wings, turrets, landing gear) and reduce his vessel to an unarmed but 2x faster craft if need be, (while retaining the cargo hold) but that would be a last resort of course.

[White Haven]

Uh...I really, really REALLY think you should reconsider that. That sounds like the sort of needlessly complex transformer/combiner crap that ends up in bad anime, not a serious setting. You're finally homing in on a good, solid design, and I think that runs the risk of getting a great many '...what the fuck?' reactions for no gain.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Uh...I really, really REALLY think you should reconsider that. That sounds like the sort of needlessly complex transformer/combiner crap that ends up in bad anime, not a serious setting. You're finally homing in on a good, solid design, and I think that runs the risk of getting a great many '...what the fuck?' reactions for no gain.

Actually I think it'll feel right at home in a game with spaceship melee combat. The judge's loved Skyguar'd needless transformation, remember? Mine actually solves a bunch of problems.

I don't think the turret will retain the weapons. It will just be a little unarmed pod.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

[edit] Also, Mercs on Motorcycles is just too perfect. I may be violating my own "Rule of Cool" philosophy, but I'm gonna push some more limits. Safe to say any more moving parts would be too many however. Think I'm at critical mass in that department.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I chickened out on the detachable pods. I've finished the first draft with both turrets attached dorsally along the spine. They are now accessible from the interior.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Just submitted a painted over first draft of the completed model! Hopefully they'll want to show it to you soon
-
The power core is under the nose.
-
vs 1 opponent.
AC-130 style. All weapon point up and to the left side, while the armor protects from the same angle.

vs 2+ opponents
The Pilot's turret is lowered to provide belly coverage.

Strafing
Both Pilot's turret and shield are lowered. The manned turrets have a small firing arc forward and to the left. The shield protects against ground targets from that angle.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Found a big blind spot.

Moved the tail gun to the belly, but it was blocking the entry ramp, so I slid it to the right as much as I could and put both guns on the right side of the turret.

Better firing arcs and a bit more (logically justified) asymmetry now.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Working on the cockpit today has been really challenging but really rewarding. I put a lot of time into a comfortable seat and dual pistol grip joysticks with plenty of buttons in natural places.

I've got the same beefy secondary external cage as the Aurora, with a bit of visible wiring leading to three screens, one on each bottom corner and one bottom center (while looking straight forward).

[Catman]

I think this is interesting, and I will give it some watching, I've designed starships for over a decade, and covered dozens of tech levels, races, and histories, and some new, and diverse stuff there is awesome.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN73h6GkZtw

[Thanas]

Now that is a ship I would like to fly. I especially like the retractable rocket launchers - neat idea to reduce weakpoints and streamline the ship. The cockpit area reminds me a bit of an improved Wing Commander III design, which is a good thing IMO.

Awesome work.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... t_over.jpg

[Thanas]

It looks a bit like a bird of prey from that angle. Like a vulture - but in a good, powerful way.

[White Haven]

Man, having watched this past episode, I really don't envy the judges their task. There are waaaay too many really good-looking entries battling for waaaay too few slots. There's still the save vote to consider, but given that Skyguard is in the save too...that's going to be a very, very hard fight to climb back out, and that's even before another three get bumped down into that vote next week. That said, though, they were dropping some preeeeetty big hints about wanting to hire some of you guys, and pushing your entry through to completed status despite being knocked out is one strong job application if you're interested.

[Thanas]

Sad that you didn't get through but considering how many resources the other teams were throwing at it and how much manpower - multiple guys working on it - they had I still think it was a very good showing.

I am a bit sad for Troika who I think had an amazing design but where one team member got sick.

[White Haven]

Troika got dicked over by much more than one team member getting sick, but due to some legal issues CIG just decided not to wade into all the dirty laundry on air. One of their three members bailed a looong time ago...but refused to actually tell CIG he was bailing, so by contest rules Troika couldn't replace him because he was still 'a part of the team.' I can only assume he was hoping to surf to victory on the coat-tails of a team he wasn't participating in, and walk away with prize money despite not participating anymore.

So, in closing, there are disadvantages to having manpower too.

[Thanas]

That seems awfully stupid on part of the organizers then.

[White Haven]

As far as I know, it was an unintended consequence of trying to prevent teams/individuals from fucking their teammates by bouncing them once they were no longer needed. In particular, I would have been extremely nervous to compete as, say, a concept artist once past the concept stages if that sort of protection against being removed against your will wasn't in place. Ultimately, I think that protection is more valuable than what it gives up, even if Troika has suffered the downside of its existence.

[Thanas]

Still, there should be a way to bounce an obvious incompetent asshole. It is not as if proving that the guy does nothing would be really heard.

[White Haven]

You know it's one hell of a competition when something as technically stunning as the Four Horseman team ends up in the save vote. That is some seriously, seriously impressive work. I think there's very little chance that Four Horsemen fails to get lifted back up by the save, which just leaves one slot for your hail-mary. Good luck, man.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

You know it's one hell of a competition when something as technically stunning as the Four Horseman team ends up in the save vote. That is some seriously, seriously impressive work. I think there's very little chance that Four Horsemen fails to get lifted back up by the save, which just leaves one slot for your hail-mary. Good luck, man.

Thanks, I'm gonna need it!

Vote here!: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/cont ... rship/save

Campaign video/retrospective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bv92PeukRM


Bigger version: http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... uty_3c.jpg

[Rekkon]

I was really torn between your design and Tri-Tri's, as I have liked theirs from the beginning, but then I asked myself "which would I rather fly?" All the others seem like they would fly and fight in a pretty standard manner, while the Polaris brings some unique combat characteristics. Cryo, you have my vote.

[SCRawl]

I registered for the sole purpose of voting for your entry. I believe it to be the best of the lot.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I registered for the sole purpose of voting for your entry. I believe it to be the best of the lot.

Wow, thanks man!

[White Haven]

Four Horsemen pulled out of the save, no shocker there given the fantastic quality of that interior.

...aaand...3 Dingo. Sorry man, I would rather have seen you go through than them, but at this point in the competition there are no weak entries.