Something big

[fusion]

Have you considered doing any more fighters? I'm sure someone has done the X-Wing before, but there is another fighter you might consider. The XJ-Wing.

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/aw_xj.htm

A rather nice custom model someone built to create their version of the XJ-Wing.

Anyway, as usual the work is coming along nicely.

Don't tell him that... He won't finish if you give him another idea....

Anyways I still in awe of your work and yes, it is good.

[fractalsponge1]

I generally avoid rebel ships, and especially from the NJO era. Though I'll say that's not a bad looking variant. There's already an excellent X-W made by a friend of mine (best outside ILM, I'd say), perhaps I'll egg him on to make an XJ version :p. http://www.foundation3d.com/forums/show ... php?t=1665

Updates:

[Littlefoot]

This ship makes me think of the Bismark, and I can definatly see Home 1 being vaporized by an alpha strike from this thing, ala the Hood. I might feel sorry for any fleet tasked with attacking this lovely mass of doom, but the light show would be too awsome too miss. Keep up the good work. Also, in light of the fate of the Bismark, have you detailed or are you planning on detailing any point defense? If there are any I must have missed them.

[fusion]

This ship makes me think of the Bismark, and I can definatly see Home 1 being vaporized by an alpha strike from this thing, ala the Hood. I might feel sorry for any fleet tasked with attacking this lovely mass of doom, but the light show would be too awsome too miss. Keep up the good work. Also, in light of the fate of the Bismark, have you detailed or are you planning on detailing any point defense? If there are any I must have missed them.

The point defense is all there, but he won't detail them because they are supposedly smaller than a pixel when view at 7000px by 5000px... so yeah... it doesn't even matter, but there should be sh*t load of them 'cuz the last one, Bellator had thousands of light turbo laser and heavy laser emplacements...

Anyways, lovely as always...

[fractalsponge1]

Well starfighters in SW aren't nearly as dangerous to capital ships as even Swordfish were to the Bismarck. As fusion noted, the point defense turrets are not detailed as actual turrets at this level of detail. They are just knobs and bumps on the surface. Look around and you'll see lots of rows of eight little bumps in what looks like a row of gun tubs - those would be LTL/point defense/light ion cannon mounts. Several thousand of them by now. Long since lost count.

One alpha kill against a cruiser should be viable, I'd say. Medium/heavy Star Cruiser at what, ~1e26W? Continuous turbolaser alpha from this would be high 1e27W.

I am considering adding a small spinal single beam superlaser. Low power and size compared to an Eclipse, multi-exaton level single shot, capacitor powered when the rest of the armament is active. Long range tactical sniping weapon compared the Eclipse's big strategic hammer, and far less of a drain on the rest of the warship characteristics. (The acceleration, for one, of the Eclipse, must be miserable if the nozzle arrangement from the New Essential Guide is anything to go by.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Sorry I've been away from this thread for so long; every time I think of saying something, there's some more detail...big, isn't it?

That behemoth seems to exist on a more than human scale; looking at this thing I start to feel what 'able to call on the resources of billions of planetary systems' really means. Gods only know what it should be called.

Obviously it can't be canon; but when I look at the monster I picture a KDY design team giving a presentation that begins 'The Eclipse project is a load of fetid dingo's kidneys- the design's been chopped and changed so many times. Give us the same resources to work with and we can turn out a heavy, general purpose warship that we can bring in on time and on budget, that can smash her way through shields by main weight of fire and eat that strategic boondoggle for breakfast.' and then that image pops up on the holo.

I wonder about the Eclipse; the Executors are fast, we know that- the name ship was accelerating along with the line destroyer force at Endor. I don't think they could have hit the limits of the technology. What went wrong, specifications changed too many times? Failure forcing reversion to a smaller engine set? Anyway, this is well into run out of superlatives territory.

[Littlefoot]

Obviously it can't be canon; but when I look at the monster I picture a KDY design team giving a presentation that begins 'The Eclipse project is a load of fetid dingo's kidneys- the design's been chopped and changed so many times. Give us the same resources to work with and we can turn out a heavy, general purpose warship that we can bring in on time and on budget, that can smash her way through shields by main weight of fire and eat that strategic boondoggle for breakfast.' and then that image pops up on the holo.

Imperial Budget Committy Goon: "Exuse the smell, I just shit myself"
Stratiegic Reserve Admeral: "Exuse the mess, I just fell in love."

[fusion]

Obviously it can't be canon; but when I look at the monster I picture a KDY design team giving a presentation that begins 'The Eclipse project is a load of fetid dingo's kidneys- the design's been chopped and changed so many times. Give us the same resources to work with and we can turn out a heavy, general purpose warship that we can bring in on time and on budget, that can smash her way through shields by main weight of fire and eat that strategic boondoggle for breakfast.' and then that image pops up on the holo.

I wonder about the Eclipse; the Executors are fast, we know that- the name ship was accelerating along with the line destroyer force at Endor. I don't think they could have hit the limits of the technology. What went wrong, specifications changed too many times? Failure forcing reversion to a smaller engine set? Anyway, this is well into run out of superlatives territory.

But then, how was the second Death Star built so fast? I mean something that is so much bigger but yet built in such a small amount of time.

[Alyeska]

But then, how was the second Death Star built so fast? I mean something that is so much bigger but yet built in such a small amount of time.

Pre-Fabrication maybe. They produce as much of the Death Star in relatively completed pieces as possible all spread across the Galaxy. Defuse the cost by spreading it everywhere. The parts are then moved to distribution centers that eventually ship it to the Death Star. At that point they have a significant engineering team on hand with the necessary equipment already in place. Robotic work whenever and wherever possible to allow for the fastest possible construction.

The Death Star was functional, but not completed. It had only certain key systems online. The majority of its structure was still incomplete and it wasn't even close to fully fitted, furnished, and equipped. Given the size of the galaxy and the relative manpower available to the Empire, it seems plausible that with good coordination they could get that far that fast.

[fractalsponge1]

Hey ECR, welcome back - more fanfic, please...I can't fill out an OOB I don't know about Name is undetermined, taking suggestions if you have them. Current short list is Castigator, Invictus, and Eversor (fairly unoriginal, I know). Wonder if Umbrator is actually a valid Latin word (shadowmaker/caster?). Damn Saxton for taking Mandator - such a perfect star dreadnought name...

The Eclipse, in my interpretation, is a ship that was built simply as a cart for the prime weapon system it was meant to mount. The power of that miniature superlaser is in doubt, of course, but it doesn't seem like it's calibrated to take on other ships or snipe non-planetary scale targets. With the space needed for capacitors, cooling systems, and bracing for a real axial mount like that (multi-kilometer and looking like it's integral to the hull), it wouldn't surprise me if the rest of the normal warship systems were starved of power, design attention, or priority in placement to accommodate it. For one thing, if the New Essential Guide rendering of the Eclipse is correct, the thing probably accelerates like a ore hauler. Tiny nozzle area, and precious few of them to move a ship that large. No large visible turrets, so can't make a judgment there, but probably not as good as it could be, especially with a big beard housing (probably) more superlaser components splitting the forward ventral arcs.

Also possible the project just had low priority compared to Death Star II, or that miniaturizing the superlaser took longer than expected, or integration caused major unforseen problems with the original hull.

Updates:
(first one is 5280 width, second one is more reasonable at 3840):

[Raesene]

Good thing you got a new computer

I suggest Terminator - the arrrival of one of those vessels should end most battles.

[Darth Raptor]

The Eclipse-class makes much more sense when one imagines them designed according to the needs of a Sith Lord and not the Starfleet. In his DE novelization, Publius reasons that they were built to be a flying Sith temple first, a tactical superlaser platform second and an I-guess-maybe-if-we-have-to warship third. Massive engineering concessions were probably made to accomodate the Emperor's dynamological specifications. That also gives the Sovereign-class another reason for existing, as they could be the pure military counterpart to the Eclipse-class.

[Rogue 9]

Wonder if Umbrator is actually a valid Latin word (shadowmaker/caster?).

As it happens, yes it is, though umbrator is actually a verb, "to cast shadow on," rather than a noun for something/someone doing the former.

[fractalsponge1]

I need a proper Latin dictionary, instead of trawling through all these limited online dictionaries Does yours tell you what the noun form is?

Too bad there's nothing about the Sovereign other than the silhouette - looks like a much more interesting ship than the Eclipse. There was an ancient 3d model interpretation on SWMA long ago, but I don't know if it's still kicking about somewhere.

Update:

Bridge tower area, *not* done yet. The back area, for one, is a bit too flat and vertical right now, so that'll be changed, and the area about the centerline turrets and under the bridge module are definitely not done. I expect the front of the module to be integrated to the large block underneath, and some cascading terrace/bridge structure to come flowing down.

[Rogue 9]

I need a proper Latin dictionary, instead of trawling through all these limited online dictionaries Does yours tell you what the noun form is?

I'll have to go ask mine when I'm at the abbey at the same time he gets free time, as he's a senior monk in the Benedictine Order. In the meantime, this is the best online resource I know of.

[The Original Nex]

I'll throw a few Latin names in the hat, for what it's worth.

Perditor - destroyer, ruiner

Vastator - ravager, destroyer

Depopulator - devastator, ravager, plunderer

Arbiter - arbiter, judge

Punitor - punisher, avenger

Although if you have any questions on Latin composition I would imagine Publius would be able to answer your questions.

[Vehrec]

"Tactical' superlaser, now there's a misnomer. Overkill on anything not a full weight class above your ship, awkward to aim, and may the Force be with you if you miss the shot. A better tactical system would have to be the Gravity Well generator, even if it drinks power like a bantha at a water hole. Half the problem in using a ship like this is the fact that anything that sees it is going to rabbit away as fast as it can. Of course, you can always depend on escorts, but I trust immobilizer frigates to stick around when the shooting starts like I trust ice not to melt in the sun.

As far as names go, why not break from the pack? The Imperial naming conventions are flavorful, but with 25k+ Imperators alone, naming all of them is going to be tough if you're just limited to 'bad' names. Why can't an Imperial ship have a good class name, something that reflects principles of order, justice and bringing light to the dark corners of the galaxy where the Republic dared not tread? We already have Mandator and Executor-what other legal names can we bring to bear? And I'm sure that there is some suitably grand sounding word for lightbringer or torchbearer that could be used. All I know is that I wouldn't want to be a pirate in this thing's light.

[Jonen C]

Lucifer class, or is that to obvious?
Because it works on SO MANY LEVELS!

[phongn]

Lucifer class, or is that to obvious?
Because it works on SO MANY LEVELS!

No, sir, it does not.

[The Original Nex]

Wonder if Umbrator is actually a valid Latin word (shadowmaker/caster?).

As it happens, yes it is, though umbrator is actually a verb, "to cast shadow on," rather than a noun for something/someone doing the former.

AFAIK Acclamator is also primarily a verb and is still used as a class name. I don't think anyone would jump down your throat if you chose Umbrator. I rather like that one

[fractalsponge1]

I know it's a really pedantic and nerdy thing, but I don't like it when SW ships are given blatantly Earth-derived names (more a fan thing than from the EU, really). Chimera, minotaur, hydra, whatever, those are fine because presumably the SW galaxy has creatures or mythological creatures like those and names for them. That's different from naming a ship after someone specific like Orion, who presumably never existed. Really silly and inconsequential, but it's a pet peeve of mine .

Vehrec, I agree about the "bad names" probably over-dominating the registry, but it seems like a lot of the ships we see come from "breathe out of order and we will come kick your ass" types and commands. Presumably destroyers parked in defense orbit over a loyal and important Kuat or something would have more benign names. This ship definitely falls into the former group though, I think. Lightbringer would work as a individual ship name, but I think it's an entirely different kind of light that usually comes from a ship like this star dreadnought .

So, Eversor, Umbrator...
Domitor "vanquisher"
Assertor "one asserting status of another; restorer of liberty, protector, champion"? Or just drop the Latin pretense and call it Wrath?

As for real updates:
Bridge is getting there - the back side will just have to wait till I get there; want to sort out the final structure of the module and nearby block first.

[Alyeska]

"Tactical' superlaser, now there's a misnomer. Overkill on anything not a full weight class above your ship, awkward to aim, and may the Force be with you if you miss the shot.

Yeah. I always saw the Axial Superlaser as designed for planetary siege. I should think that it would be powerful enough to punch through most planetary shields. It doesn't need to collapse the shield, just put a hole through a section of it. Anything else is an absolute waste. The sheer size of the ship makes its use against ships of lesser size questionable. If it was capable of reduced power shots fired in relatively rapid succession, it might have some tactical use against larger ships. A means of providing one-shot kills without a significant waste of resources and the ability to produce followup shots in a reasonable time frame.

[folti78]

How about Silencer(in latin)? Because when this ship arrives, things will go quiet real fast...

[Raesene]

How about Silencer(in latin)? Because when this ship arrives, things will go quiet real fast...

An online tool resulted in confuto

entering Confutor and translating that into english:

to confute, restrain, check, repress, to check, stop, halt, turn back, silence, supress, keep silent, convict

I'd consider it fitting for a capital ship, but no guarantee that it's real latin

[fractalsponge1]

Ah well, plenty of time to finalize the name.

Bridge update. It's not done yet, but it's taking something very close to what the final form will be.



This will probably be the last update of new work till the end of next week, out of town till Wednesday. I therefore provide 5760 pix beauty shots (engine block not incorporated):