Something big

[fractalsponge1]

Hangars are up:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VdaA44

[Raesene]

Oh wow, that hangar picture is pretty.

Your Bellator is still my favorite of your creations, the Vigil- and Customs corvettes are closely tied seconds.

The light for a hangar behind the Lancer-frigate looks a bit strange to me. Did some texture within it not render for the picture ? All the others have some 3D-effect, but this one looks flat to me.

[fractalsponge1]

The upper ones on the wall behind the Lancer are unlit.

[Abacus]

The Bellator redux is coming along nicely! Excellent work. I noticed you seem to have a haze film over the image. Was that on purpose or...?

[PhoenixKnig]

It looks like it's almost well done. I wonder what is next on the list

[PhoenixKnig]

Great back side

[CFletch08]

I love the new ship. Logistics ships are some of my favorites, and this one is especially nice.

It makes me really want to see a hub/station one of these days. Any plans on doing another space station in the future? Your naval base from the Essential Guide was great but the station itself wasn't very easy to see with all the other things in the picture, and we only got the one angle.

[fractalsponge1]

Finally, done! Bellator gallery:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3oPw0A

4k source on my site:
http://fractalsponge.net/?p=4390

[fractalsponge1]

My latest project
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/w8nxJ6

[CFletch08]

That's certainly an unorthodox design. Boarding/assault ship?

[Knife]

Don't recognize it, new design? What's it's roll?

Pretty small for some sort of freighter, some sort of bomber?

[Elheru Aran]

Don't recognize it, new design? What's it's roll?

Pretty small for some sort of freighter, some sort of bomber?

The page is tagged "Dart-class gunship" so there you go. Sort of a small craft between large fighter/bomber and small ship that's fairly well armed and armoured for its size, I guess.

[fractalsponge1]

Basically a fast escort/patrol type ship. More IPV than line warship.

[Weedle McHairybug]

Basically a fast escort/patrol type ship. More IPV than line warship.

Speaking of which, someone asked you this question, so I'll ask it as well. Is the Dart-class basically a completed version of this image?

[Marko Dash]

given that you seem to have a good baseline on reactor size to power output and weapon yields

what's the smallest spaceframe you could wrap around a heavy turbolaser without it being a oneshot wonder?

[fractalsponge1]

Structurally, I have no idea about the minimum structural requirements for bracing. Given that, if you didn't care about firing more than a few shots then conceivably you could mount a gun, a capacitor, and brace it as well as possible to some kind of engine on as small as a small corvette. It would move like crap, and would be just a step up from a mine, but beggars and choosers...

[Elheru Aran]

Basically a fast escort/patrol type ship. More IPV than line warship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiga ... Especiales

(Okay, I know you probably meant something like 'Inshore Patrol Vessel', just couldn't resist the result that came up when I googled it...)

EDIT: So something that might be used to patrol local areas of space, big enough to shoo off any small loiterers or to give merchant vessels a bit of a headache before boarding them, but not big enough to get into a shooting match with anything better armed than a large fighter or the Millennium Falcon?

[CFletch08]

Basically a fast escort/patrol type ship. More IPV than line warship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiga ... Especiales

(Okay, I know you probably meant something like 'Inshore Patrol Vessel', just couldn't resist the result that came up when I googled it...)

EDIT: So something that might be used to patrol local areas of space, big enough to shoo off any small loiterers or to give merchant vessels a bit of a headache before boarding them, but not big enough to get into a shooting match with anything better armed than a large fighter or the Millennium Falcon?

I suspect he was referring specifically to this: http://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/IPV-1_S ... trol_Craft

It is a pretty common Imperial inter-system patrol craft. His gunship is a fine alternative.

[CFletch08]

Structurally, I have no idea about the minimum structural requirements for bracing. Given that, if you didn't care about firing more than a few shots then conceivably you could mount a gun, a capacitor, and brace it as well as possible to some kind of engine on as small as a small corvette. It would move like crap, and would be just a step up from a mine, but beggars and choosers...

I once tried to game out a corvette-size (<200 meter long) ship with a heavy turbolaser and some actual functionality as a corvette rather than just a mobile gun, but the space just isn't there unless you really specialize the design. Just the heat alone would be a serious issue, to say nothing of the recoil forces and power requirements.

And heaven forbid the gun or capacitor bank gets hit while charged...

[CFletch08]

Structurally, I have no idea about the minimum structural requirements for bracing. Given that, if you didn't care about firing more than a few shots then conceivably you could mount a gun, a capacitor, and brace it as well as possible to some kind of engine on as small as a small corvette. It would move like crap, and would be just a step up from a mine, but beggars and choosers...

I once tried to game out a corvette-size (<200 meter long) ship with a heavy turbolaser and some actual functionality as a corvette rather than just a mobile gun, but the space just isn't there unless you really specialize the design. Just the heat alone would be a serious issue, to say nothing of the recoil forces and power requirements.

And heaven forbid the gun or capacitor bank gets hit while charged...

[since I couldn't edit the above, here is my attempt to continue after a premature submit button hit...]

At that point it makes a lot more sense to mount a few heavy ordinance tubes with capitol-scale missiles on a ship that size. Similar damage without as much specialized infrastructure, albeit without any real repeat strike capability (though a corvette reactor trying to feed a heavy turbo's capacitor isn't going to have much RoF either). Something like the customs corvette has the room between the spars for a couple. And as a bonus once the strike is launched the ship has a lot less mass keeping it from maneuvering and running away. Still a very specialized ship with limited utility, but at least it's a comparatively minor modification to an existing hull rather than a ground-up build like a heavy turbolaser boat would be.

I think Fractal's numbers regarding firepower of ships of frigate size on up make such a ship, regardless of if it is missile or turbo-based, pretty unlikely to last long or make much impact in the type of battle where such heavy weapons begin to make sense.

[Captain Seafort]

I once tried to game out a corvette-size (<200 meter long) ship with a heavy turbolaser and some actual functionality as a corvette rather than just a mobile gun, but the space just isn't there unless you really specialize the design. Just the heat alone would be a serious issue, to say nothing of the recoil forces and power requirements.

How about as a monitor? Sticking an ISD-scale HTL on a corvette sounds like about the same disparity as sticking a twin 15"/42 on a light cruiser displacement hull.

[fractalsponge1]

I once tried to game out a corvette-size (<200 meter long) ship with a heavy turbolaser and some actual functionality as a corvette rather than just a mobile gun, but the space just isn't there unless you really specialize the design. Just the heat alone would be a serious issue, to say nothing of the recoil forces and power requirements.

How about as a monitor? Sticking an ISD-scale HTL on a corvette sounds like about the same disparity as sticking a twin 15"/42 on a light cruiser displacement hull.

Try a motor launch/PT boat, if we're talking size scaling and using something like a CR90 as the corvette hull.

[CFletch08]

I once tried to game out a corvette-size (<200 meter long) ship with a heavy turbolaser and some actual functionality as a corvette rather than just a mobile gun, but the space just isn't there unless you really specialize the design. Just the heat alone would be a serious issue, to say nothing of the recoil forces and power requirements.

How about as a monitor? Sticking an ISD-scale HTL on a corvette sounds like about the same disparity as sticking a twin 15"/42 on a light cruiser displacement hull.

Try a motor launch/PT boat, if we're talking size scaling and using something like a CR90 as the corvette hull.

I'd say that's a better comparison. I think there is some validity to the idea of a flotilla of torpedo boats wolfpacking in a battle and having enough punch to be worth having, especially for a defensive battle on the side of an otherwise outmatched faction. They'd also make decent commerce-raiders just like the PT boats of WW2. What they would not be is a practical combatant outside those limited sorts of situations. There is a reason they are not seen in use by any of the major factions in SW.

As far as monitors go, in the real world they are extremely specialized ships made for shore bombardment in situations where they didn't expect to face opposition from other warships. Their purpose is pretty much negated by the power level of even frigate-scale turbolasers in SW making heavier weapons drastic overkill against non-shielded ground targets. I guess you could have something dedicated to bombardment against shield defenses, where the concentrated firepower of a heavy turbolaser would be useful for overloading the shield grid, but if you are facing intact planetary defenses you will need the armor of a proper capital ship if you want to survive long enough to accomplish anything. This makes the idea of a small dedicated heavy turbolaser bombardment craft pretty redundant.

If someone can think of a good niche that is ideal for a dedicated heavy turbo ship, I'd love to hear it. The idea of giant guns in small ships is pretty fun.

I think type/size ship you'd need to fulfill the historic role of a monitor is actually something like the Tyrant-class Fractal is working on. It's not small by our standards, but it is actually pretty close by SW scales. It's a light cruiser hull with a massive amount of firepower specialized for bombardment, though the scale allows it to also have a respectable anti-ship battery and it's missiles are almost certainly quite capable of engaging targets outside planetary/stationary ones. And unlike a smaller ship, the Tyrant is probably pretty survivable versus the kind of defended targets that are worth bringing a specialized monitor-like ship to engage.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Actually I think the closest thing that SW (legends at least) has to a real-life monitor would be the Torpedo Spheres - dedicated bombardment platforms that despite their heavy weaponry are thin-skinned and largely ineffective agaisnt dedicated warships.

[Abacus]

Hmmm...

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/L2rVbA