The Terrans

[Phoenix-D]

Suicide Junkie said:
A mere three enemy ships at linearly independent vectors can make the ship vulnerable no matter what orientation it is in.

In any large combat, the plates would be of little use. Just spread out, and pick off the ships you have a clear shot at... if they try to angle towards you, somebody else in your fleet will get a shot.

On the other hand, doing that will also likely put your ships out of mutual support range and make defeat in detail more likely.

Consider a cruiser firing missles at your fleet. Would you rather have those ships close enough to ALL engage the incoming missiles with PDC, or spread apart so only the targeted ship could hit it?

[Suicide Junkie]

With realistic combat being fought at reasonable distances, sure.
I was thinking more along the lines of the overlapping formations and dogfighting I see in SE4 combat...

BTW, in the example there, I'd rather have at least that one ship be able to return fire effectively, rather than none of them.

[AgentZero]

Don't worry Aiken. In art, as in life, I refuse to succumb to the demands of reality. And as a matter of fact, the original design I had for these ships actually had the armor plates wrap all the way around the ship so only the front and rear would be exposed, but it ended up looking, well, alien. And when you're making a shipset for humans, if it looks alien, you've failed in your design concept.

[AgentZero]

I decided I didn't quite like the look of the Cruiser, so here's an updated Version. Improvement, yes or no?

[NarfsCompIsBack]

I like the new look better.

[Kamog]

The new one is definitely better.

[Suicide Junkie]

What's with the two shield plates facing each other in the center of the ship?

[Aiken]

Suicide Junkie said:
What's with the two shield plates facing each other in the center of the ship?

Well, if the first engine will be destroyed in battle, inner armor could protect second engine of explosion consequences.

note on ship: it's a nice one, but due to mirror effect the hull itself seems translucent in some places.

[Suicide Junkie]

Ah, and its probably easier to mass manufacture the rounded plates instead of making a custom one for the middle.

[AgentZero]

aiken said:
Well, if the first engine will be destroyed in battle, inner armor could protect second engine of explosion consequences.

note on ship: it's a nice one, but due to mirror effect the hull itself seems translucent in some places.

True, and it also ensures a near miss on one engine pod won't carry through and hit the other one. Mainly though, it's an artistic condideration, it just looks better to have the armor plates in there rather than a big empty space..