D097 Star Industries: -ON HIATUS-

[Deathsoul097]

Here is my new project! Since the last one didn't get much attention, and wasn't completely original, Ive dumped that project, in favour of something that gets me going bit more: Sci-Fi warships in KSP!

I'm drawing much of my inspiration from games such as Halo, and possibly some Homeworld ships, and really anything that looks awesome and fits with my style of ships.

I want to use the WarpDrive from Interstellar on most of the ships I will produce, excluding some things like my planned drop-pods and dropship, along with weapons from InfiniteDice's Skillfull warfare mod, as the weapons and turrets he has produced are almost perfect for what I plan to build.

Current Work: Frigate Class parts

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What class of ship do you want me to make? Post your comments/criticism/requests!

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Plans for Development:

• Frigate Part Set. (Main Body, Multiple Engines, Nacelles, Nacelle mounts and Extras.) -In Progress - Turning main model into multiple parts-10%-
  
• Carrier Part Set
  
• BattleCruiser Part Set
  
• Orbital Construction Station Part Set
  
• Dropship, Drop-pod, and associated parts. -In Progress - DropPod 10% done-
  
• Extras for control (Mega/Futuristic RCS) and Aesthetics (Antennae, Relays, General shiny cool stuff.)
  

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Progress Report:

8:05 PM, 2/5/2014

Well, twelve hours (School hols FTW.), many redesigns, general procrastination and playing the new AoTTG update later, I have a decent looking dropship. The cool thing is that it carries 8 troop kerbals, and has room for two pilots, and I figured all of that out legitimately using a kerbal-ish mesh.

There's room for 8 kerbals and their various weapons (including anything between a laser cannon and a rock tied to a stick.) in the back, with a bit of room to spare, and at a not to large poly count. (~ 400 for the whole mesh. 0_0) Due to the various bugs I have had with SFR, I will not use it for this ship, however the IVA should basically just be the external model. (You know, with an extra bit for the pilots) Yay for asset re-use! What you probably wont like is that it will be only 1 or 2 parts, not counting the super OP RCS I plan on putting on. (I want you to still have to deal with fuel, but not enough to be having to constantly micromanaging your fuel meter.) I have yet to do the VTOL or RCS, though the RCS may not even be necessary to model, as the textures could probably manage it pretty well.

Progress Reports will be posted as part of my dev blog, linked here as opposed to on the main thread, to avoid clutter.

Edited June 11, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[Kommitz]

I think you'd do well to make a set of parts that can be built as capital ships, rather than just making a single, non modular ship. Individual ships have a small amount of novelty value but don't mesh well with the rest of the game.

You should think about the variety of things you can do and build with a pack if you want to garner interest from people. If you have a few designs, you can identify the key components that can be shared between them as a start.

[sumghai]

I think you'd do well to make a set of parts that can be built as capital ships, rather than just making a single, non modular ship. Individual ships have a small amount of novelty value but don't mesh well with the rest of the game.

You should think about the variety of things you can do and build with a pack if you want to garner interest from people. If you have a few designs, you can identify the key components that can be shared between them as a start.

I too concur that a modular system of components for building various classes/sizes of space warships would be more welcome that a single monolithic vessel.

[Deathsoul097]

Hmm. Duly noted, and I think that the cannon and engine parts will be rather easy to make modular, though the body segments may have to remain one or two monolithic pieces. As it stands, I also plan on using this stuff as a showcase of my prior experience in modelling and texturing, so I think I will have to produce multiple versions of each ship in that case. The ships wouldn't have things like weapons and docking ports built in in the first place, those would be separate parts to add on for customization and the ship was simply going to be just a base for the player to expand upon with various weapons. I wanted to do this as a monolithic build, because people, myself included, often have lots of trouble with lots of parts.

I will at least get the frigate finished before cutting it up into parts (Which will be monolithic in themselves) at this point.

EDIT:

Alright, I drew up a plan for the modularity of the ship. There will be other options in the end, (Such as different nacelles, more engines, more command towers, etc.) but to create this exact ship, this is what I have:

I have a hard limit of 50 Parts for this ship, I wont go over that, and I want the main body to be no more than 20. It stands at 11 parts right now, 10 counting parts that will show in the construction menu. (The nacelle mount is symmetrical either way, so it will be fine.) It also may be too big for the SPH, which is where I will assemble the ships, before hyperediting them into orbit. These things are going to be thusands of tonnes, so prepare to be cheaty, or do orbital construction, which I also plan to add a Station part set for.

EDIT 2:

I added the modularity plan to the album in the first post.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[Justin Kerbice]

Is there any kind of "big ship illness" around ?

Looks good Deathsoul097, I hope we'll not end with something like Devo's Wayland vessels parts (W-51 and Dropship), both were good but seems to be not very used and parts are not so useful for mixing with others unfortunately, except VTOL engines from W-51 which are quite overpowered but very fun to mix.

Now we really need an orbital shipyard (not a EL thing but kind of a mix of snjo's VAB/SPH extender + a real shipyard).

To end, staying in sci-fi vessels, I really would like to have a shuttle (quite a mere box body with VTOL capabilities + high thrust rear engine which is typically switch on when VTOL have done their job). It could be used as a bus to move Kerbals to the spaceship.

[Deathsoul097]

Hmm, well, that's almost exactly what I had in mind for my dropship, so... your request is already planned my friend.

I agree on the downfalls of the wayland parts. I want each class to have many different possible configurations that the player can configure to their taste. For instance, the Command tower will be radially mountable at its base, so instead of the central tower, you could have two towers, one on each nacelle, or even move it under the cargo/drop-pod unit if you wanted. This is the kind of modularity I want, along with having a couple of alternatives to almost each part for a class. The only Major part that will define a class is what body it is built on. So each Frigate will have the same central core section as this one, but anything could be changed out for something else, or even just left out altogether.

As for OP engines, these engines will be very OP. I'm talking ISP of ~5000, at least, and running on monoprop. That way you don't have to use fuel lines, or other weird layouts and setups, and the huge RCS thrusters can use the main fuel of the ship, to limit complication. I plan for the engines to have enough thrust to give each original configuration between 1 and 1.5G's of acceleration. I don't expect this stuff to be compatible with stock, especially considering the immense size difference, and this is only the frigate. I plan on making two even larger classes, and an orbital shipyard set capable of housing each type's main configurations.

[sumghai]

Deathsoul097, I quite like your revised plans for modularity - it's pretty much what I had in mind.

[Deathsoul097]

Yeah, I unwittingly created a very easily modular design. I also have plans to create many a different aesthetic part for use when customizing the ship, such as antennae, relays, fancy smanshy stuff, etc.

EDIT:

I just did some more work on this before I need to sleep (18 hour days are "fun".) and got the MAC Cannon muzzle done. (Visible bottom right.) Added to Album in OP.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[The Error]

Holy wowzers.

This is the smallest?

I... whoa. +1.

[Deathsoul097]

Holy wowzers.

This is the smallest?

I... whoa. +1.

Well, the other configurations could be smaller and larger, but this is the smallest class, yeah. You are going to need (Well, at least want. The OC Shipyard may require it though.) Lazor for this, simply for the extended load range, as you will get within render distance and all of a sudden a monolithic ship will appear out of nowhere. Not exactly the most immersive thing.

Thanks.

[Deathsoul097]

Progress Report:

9:18 AM, 30/4/2014

I don't have much time today to do anything, so I've gotten what I can done. So far, the Drop Pod model is almost complete, just pending some extra detail here and there and a custom collision mesh. I have made a very quick and very bad kerbal sized, and vaguely kerbal shaped mesh for comparison in size.

Screenshot:

Progress has also ben made on some smaller details for the main frigate configuration. Some more turret mounts have been made, along with GridFins built into the back end of the WarpDrive.

Screenshot:

Edited April 30, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[Deathsoul097]

Progress Report:

11:50 AM, 30/4/2014

The main Frigate Model is complete, and I am now separating it into the previously shown modular pieces. I have decided to include the WarpDrive as part of the Core. (I am open to change if an overwhelming majority of users desire more modularity of that part. My idea, is that any of the large ships are going to be capable of Warp, and making a warp drive part just adds to part bloat, as said before though, I am open to change on this.)

Core Done:

[Deathsoul097]

Progress Report:

9:55 AM, 1/5/2014

I have separated off the Command tower, and it is now ready for texture work.

Tower Done:

Scale Image for comparison:

And one for the Tower:

Edited April 30, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[Deathsoul097]

Progress Report:

3:35 PM, 1/5/2014

The MAC has been separated off, and is also ready for texture work. There is a kerbal scale model in the image, just for reference.

[Deathsoul097]

Progress Report:

8:23 PM, 1/5/2014

Planning away, and putting my half decent ability to draw to use in sketching down some ideas.

I swear, my handwriting is usually better than this, I was just in a hurry to get all of my ideas drawn down.

I also have plans to make a stealth fighter using the reflection plugin,

jet black and reflecting the stars should be real hard to see.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[Justin Kerbice]

I also have plans to make a stealth fighter using the reflection plugin,

jet black and reflecting the stars should be real hard to see.

your may write a blog with all your updates, more appropriate, isn't it ?

You've plenty of idea and I hope you'll not loose momentum along the way, the longer it is, the harder it will be to keep it.

Regarding now the stealth fighter, be careful to have a simple as possible shape or you'll not get the expected result, take a look at my flying saucer, sides are made with "negative extrusion" of polygons and make it not so stealth.

[Deathsoul097]

I guess a blog may be more appropriate, I'll make it and link in the OP then. I was also kind of doing this to bump the thread semi-legitimately, just cause I want it to stay in the public eye. As a person I am constantly craving feedback from those around me, and I am very dependant on that kind of thing. Also, why did my rating go down to 2 stars?

EDIT: Yeah, 5 consecutive posts in 2 days probably isn't a good thing. Definitely should turn it into a blog.

[The Error]

Speed-Mod much?

Good kods, you're certainly working fast. And given the apparently low poly count, I forsee little to no lag...

Rejoice!

[LORDPrometheus]

Interesting approach using a single mesh and breaking it into parts I don't know of any other mod that was made in the same way. The only problem I foresee with this approach is a lack of modularity. Each part being built to go in its specific place on its specific ship.

[The Error]

Interesting approach using a single mesh and breaking it into parts I don't know of any other mod that was made in the same way. The only problem I foresee with this approach is a lack of modularity. Each part being built to go in its specific place on its specific ship.

If the parts are both node-attach and radially-attached, then it can be freely redesigned.

[randomness5555]

Feedback eh? Well the idea of having one 'frame' (the body section) and attaching different varients of parts sounds damn epic to me. KEEP THE HOMEWORLD STYLE, HOMEWORLD IS BEST SPACE RTS EVER...Well homeworld 2 anyway, homeworld 1's camera controls sucked. A few questions-

1: Is the MAC cannon going to work?

2: If lazor mod will be required, will we get sunbeam turrets? Because (again with homeworld) those ion beams could be fun

3: Can we have different kinds of dropship? I was thinking maybe have a crew version with good capacity, a planetary invasion one that can hit the ground at really high speed and maybe one like the infiltrator frigates in homeworld 2 that release these little pods with claws to board other ships-now we have the claw you could integrate that into it

[The Error]

-snippy-

1. Good question.. I am also curious.

2. Laser guns are always fun. Either that, or flak cannons like HW2 had.

3. Dropships, fighters, and stuff? Are those coming?

:hope:

[LORDPrometheus]

1. Good question.. I am also curious.

2. Laser guns are always fun. Either that, or flak cannons like HW2 had.

3. Dropships, fighters, and stuff? Are those coming?

:hope:

I feel like kerbals are to brim utile for powerful lasers lets stick to flack

[Deathsoul097]

1. Good question.. I am also curious.

2. Laser guns are always fun. Either that, or flak cannons like HW2 had.

3. Dropships, fighters, and stuff? Are those coming?

:hope:

Well, Im basing my stuff more on the technological prowess of the UNSC in Halo, so Laser weapons are a no go, unfortunately. However, for general weaponry, the parts offered by Skillfull are amazing, and very very suitable, such as a twin 14inch cannon wielding independent turret. Also, with the new SAM functionality that e's working on, it could be wholly possible to get near a target and just have a hailstorm of missiles get launched at you when you get near, providing it works in space. If flak works then that would be very interesting to see.

The MAC (Mass Accellerator Cannon) should work hopefully, though I don't think ID has made anything of that (~4850) calibre yet.

Well, if you looked at the sketches I posted, you would notice that I have a lot of extra parts planned, including a set for fighters, along with a lot of alternative parts that can be used to change up the design of the Frigate class, such as different command towers, replacing the MAC with more hangar bays and weapon mounts, and I want to make a set of parts to build a dropship SSTO VTOL, yes. Dropships are also planned, and are planned to be customizable as you described, though I never though about using the Klaw in that way. I'll have to keep that in mind...

Lazor wont be "Required" but it will certainly be recommended, as these ships are HUGE. The default render range, even when extended with Skillfull, really just doesn't cut it. Lazor can have a 99Km render and physics range, so you will have a much more immersive feeling about doing things, instead of getting within 2.5km of the core of the ship and finding you are really about 500m away from the nose or something as it just pops into existence.

I should let you in on something, I have never played homeworld, the ships just look badass as hell when I've been looking at inspiration for modelling, and they seem to fit my style and the halo style of design.

Interesting approach using a single mesh and breaking it into parts I don't know of any other mod that was made in the same way. The only problem I foresee with this approach is a lack of modularity. Each part being built to go in its specific place on its specific ship.

If the parts are both node-attach and radially-attached, then it can be freely redesigned.

Yeah, TheError pretty much summed it up. Most of the parts are going to have default positions that they come in in the craft file, but will be freely moveable and attachable to your hearts content. Go ahead, just build a MAC with engines and a control tower, or even attach a second hangar, and then a MAC in front of that, or hell, add on a million and one engines to it to give it a ridiculous TWR. Anything that I would call a frigate would be built around this core though, and fighters or dropships, or carriers would all have the core a common part among them, but other than that you can go nuts. Go ahead, build a fighter core then put on some frigate engines, or a MAC, or any of the other parts. That's where I want to go with this.

EDIT:

Well, twelve hours (School hols FTW.), many redesigns, general procrastination and playing the new AoTTG update later, I have a decent looking dropship. The cool thing is that it carries 8 troop kerbals, and has room for two pilots, and I figured all of that out legitimately using a kerbal-ish mesh.

There's room for 8 kerbals and their various weapons (including anything between a laser cannon and a rock tied to a stick.) in the back, with a bit of room to spare, and at a not to large poly count. (~ 400 for the whole mesh. 0_0) Due to the various bugs I have had with SFR, I will not use it for this ship, however the IVA should basically just be the external model. (You know, with an extra bit for the pilots) Yay for asset re-use! What you probably wont like is that it will be only 1 or 2 parts, not counting the super OP RCS I plan on putting on. (I want you to still have to deal with fuel, but not enough to be having to constantly micromanaging your fuel meter.) I have yet to do the VTOL or RCS, though the RCS may not even be necessary to model, as the textures could probably manage it pretty well. I'll see what I can do for the rest of tonight, and maybe update again, but for now, this is Deathsoul097, signing off.

POST MERGE:

(Because Triple posting isn't cool, but double posting is alright, sometimes. It's pushing it though.)

Just did some more testing with the dropship, and as it turns out it's the perfect size!

That right there is 6 5.8m (Long) by 2.3m(Wide) by 1.105m(Tall) dropships sitting cosily in the bay of the ship, and the secondary bay will allow for even more! Of course, the carrier will need a larger dropship, and one preferably with dedicated weapon mounts, but I'll cross that bridge when it comes to it.

Edited May 3, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[Deathsoul097]

Felt like this would be a post worthy progress report:

The "Landing Leg" animation for the Dropship has been done, now I just need to get the ting textured and add a few little things such as a docking node, so you know, you can actually attach it?

VIDEO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ZR18MlGYU&feature=youtu.be