Artists, Shipset designers, and other creative types, please read.

[geoschmo]

Well, I hate to state the obvious here, but perhaps the turbines don't do anything in space. The ship could be designed to land on planets as well as fly through space and the turbines are for atmospheric flight. Using your ion engines for atmospheric flight would not be very polite to the planetary inhabitants, or terribly efficent if I understand how they are supposed to work.


And I have a suggestion for anyone working on submissions for my contest. I kind of like the Generic Race pics that come with the game. Something in that vein would be well received. But not that bleached aluminium coloring. A new colring and texture would be appreciated.

Geoschmo

[Andrés]

Yeah the turbines. I guess I just wanted to make the engines look different, I think the turbines matched nicely with the rest of the ship, mechanical but sleek. I’m tired of trek warp nacelles, and rockets aren’t even visible in se4 unless I place big flames behind them.
Many sci-fi ships have atmospheric flight capability. That’s when turbines are used, and that also explains their wings and aerodynamic shapes. Wings are also used to provide a better position for weapons and thrusters (it’s easier to turn if the maneuver thruster is farther from the center of mass).

Kwok, I like the position of the three 'prongs'. Maybe I can place a rocket launchers between them, or replace some turrets with somekind of missile turrets. I don’t want a trek-like blue shiny dish, maybe a parabolic antenna and some other gadget in the main hull instead of those grey-yellow 'tanks'.

[DirectorTsaarx]

There's a very simple explanation for wings, bridges, turbines, and all sorts of other things on these spaceships: tradition! And no, I don't mean sci-fi shows, I mean that oceangoing vessels, land-based vessels, and even airborne vessels all have some kind of bridge, and some have turbines; airships (and some oceangoing vessels) have wings; and so on. So each race, as it develops spaceships, naturally follows the old pattern of vessel design. That's why good shipsets have a distinctive pattern: it shows the character of the race.

Also: to bring up an older post, in Star Fleet Battles (at least the old tabletop Version I played in college) the Lyrans used catamaran (and, on larger ships, trimaran) hulls. Made for some neat-looking ships...

[geoschmo]

One month to go!

I'd say Mark definetly has the inside track, but there is plenty of time left.

Geoschmo

[Val]

Thought I'd give this a shot. Let me know what you think

Leonine.zip

I included a Battlecruiser and Race pics. The race pic was originally modelled in DoGA then brought into Paint Shop Pro 7 for "Lionizing". Came out more feline than humanoid, but it is the first attempt.

[geoschmo]

Val,

This ship is awesome. Very nice.

Geo

[Val]

Thanks. Now if I could only get the hang of this dang poser program maybe I could make a decent racial pic.

[Val]

Been working in Poser and I was trying something different, let me know what you think so far, I still have to add the ears and clothing, but I didn't want to go too far if it didn't look good at this point.

Leonine_Race_Portrait.bmp

Played around a bit and made some ears (sort of)

Leonine_Race_Portrait2.bmp

[ 03 January 2002: Message edited by: Val ]

[Mark Walton]

Val,

Dunno what Version of Poser you are using, but you probably have lion and cat figures under Figures/Animals

Load one of them up, and start mucking about with the dimensions - also select the head and create a magnet, see what sort of effects you can come up with.

[PvK]

I really like Val's battlecruiser - it looks very lethal.

I hope all of you finish these sets - they all look quite good.

Ya, even the cat snapshot. I have some pictures of my cats taken with a flash that makes them look like energy beings... er, ok, just kidding here.

PvK