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Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#1
One of the things I have noticed in the videos is that the ships are getting longer and longer. One of the things that would work nicely is to have a rectangle or prism that the ship generator "wants" to use, have a certain sense of dimensions in the ships. Different factions or nations could have different ship profiles but the cigars are getting long and some with would fit in nicely.

You guys may have thought of this before but if not...

The rest of this is mostly self explanatory stuff, the use of angled pieces (triangles and slopes) and such in the design of ships and the direction of which they are pointing.
The curved pieces could be generated through some easy parameters like the type of curve (bowl ish or flat on some sides) and then the depth and such.
I'm no expert so I might be wrong and curves could be extremly hard.
Last edited by ravener96 on Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#2
I hope ships will have a lot of variety and the potential to be quite unique and not just generic-unique. I'm sure they'll probably end up being the former, it'll be interesting to see what comes up.

Perhaps the generator could use an entirely different set of shapes and materials depending on the designated tech level of the generated faction/race. Lower tech would be more boxy and use primitive methods of propulsion, or centrifugal gravity rings for the decks as opposed to an advanced race that would prefer a sleeker, alien design. I'm a bit new around here so this is probably not a new idea.
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Re: Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#3
Alex wrote: I'm a bit new around here so this is probably not a new idea.
actually i cant remember reading anything about what peoples preference in ship design was.
there was a forum for posting favorite ship concept art, and another on whether the ships should be flying rust-buckets or top of the line chromed out behemoths of destruction...

and theres been a lot of talk and conjecture on ship technology both with components and weapons of all makes and models...

but the more topics i can read enjoy and comment on the better XD.
If I've rambled and gone off topic im sorry but i tend to be long winded as you might notice if you stumble across my other post XD. thanks for reading.
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Re: Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#4
Ships don't need to be symmetrical. Planet landing has already been ruled out as far as I can see so you don't need to worry about them being aerodynamic either. Literally anything goes but you would want some kind of constraints in place. Perhaps if a ship part is designated the bridge or cockpit you wouldn't want two of them appearing but more than one set of engines would be acceptable.
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Re: Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#5
Memnoch wrote:Planet landing has already been ruled out as far as I can see so you don't need to worry about them being aerodynamic either.
Actually showing planet landings and getting to run around on planets surfaces isn't going to happen, but IIRC there will still be 'docking' at planets and interacting via menus, and besides that the idea of nobody ever landing on planets and living purely in space is a bit silly.

So i mean, aerodynamics should be off the table COMPLETELY. I think it should be secondary to awesome ship design, but not taken right out of the equation.
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Re: Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#7
ghyt wrote:Actually showing planet landings and getting to run around on planets surfaces isn't going to happen, but IIRC there will still be 'docking' at planets and interacting via menus, and besides that the idea of nobody ever landing on planets and living purely in space is a bit silly.

So i mean, aerodynamics should be off the table COMPLETELY. I think it should be secondary to awesome ship design, but not taken right out of the equation.
It's a fairly common idea in SF to have orbital stations act as interface points between orbit and planet surfaces. Starships too big or not aerodynamic enough to land can dock at the station, transfer people and cargo bound for the surface to shuttles, and take new cargo on board that has previously been brought up – for a small service fee, of course. It would be pretty cool to see a similar mechanic here.

A rather simple idea would be to have a toggle in the ship designer to make your ship either streamlined or unstreamlined. Streamlined allows you to land on planets with atmospheres, whilst unstreamlined limits you to orbit, but in return gives you more internal space for your money. And ships above a certain size can only be streamlined.

So what happens if you need to land on a planet that doesn't have an orbital station yet? Well, let's hope you had the foresight to bring your own shuttlecraft along. All adds a bit of an extra dimension to things.

Finally, this also gives the player a really big incentive to construct stations around his or her own planets, because the big bulk traders (and all the lucrative trade they bring) are unlike to bother with coming until that station and its convenient services are in place.
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Re: Ship Profiles, Angles, Curves and Symmetry

#9
Grumblesaur wrote:Remember that this is a game -- it doesn't have to be realistic. You could land a Vogon cube on a planet and no-one would bat an eyelash.
Well, I would. :mrgreen:

Of course this shouldn't be an accurate simulation of real-life physics or space craft engineering (we have Kerbal Space Program for that), but I would definitely caution against throwing basic issues of realism to the solar winds. Having too much bizarre stuff floating around can hurt the immersion in the game and thus the whole experience. Imperial Star Destroyers don't land on planets either, and that's just a movie (and a very soft SF one at that.)

Besides, (as I mention) there are gameplay-related reasons for maintaining a distinction in this manner – economic reasons for building space stations, having to plan ahead before leaving the well-populated/developed parts of space, etc.

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