[WIP] Dominion Horta Fighter

[Majestic]

Well I decided to do something a little different and give the Federation a break. Here is my version of the Dominion Horta Fighter, a original design by Andrew J Hobbes, back in the day.

My version is fairly different and I am planning on changing more, including some drastic modifications to the nacelles. This is also like most of my recent models a completely new mesh by me, using Andrew's model as a template to get portions right.

Being a fighter she is only small, a crew compliment of two Jem'Hadar, one pilot and one co-pilot/weapon/engineering officer. They have a low warp capability of warp 3 and a max of warp 4, by overheating the engines. She is armed with two pulse beams and standard Dominion shields. Internally there isn't much more than the cockpit, a small engineering room in the rear and that's it, but them Jem'Hadar don't need sleep so there was no need to design one in.

 

[Syf]

Looks really good so far. I can't wait until you show the completed model.

 

[Majestic]

Thanks Syf, I plan to complete her this week model wise. I have a little bit of re-building and I am going to try and lower her poly count a little, as she is currently at 630 poly's and I haven't done the traditional bug belly yet. I won't be putting much detail in there as being a fighter you'll rarely see it.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Wow, awesome model of a great design. Can't wait to see more of it. There aren't many Dominion fighters around. (Achilles did a simple one for AOW4.1.7, but it was little more than a blob with textures. He made a better one later, but we never saw it in-game.) This one will be an awesome addition to any Dominion race.

Concerning the 'bug belly', some people just put it in the textures. Could work for something as small as a fighter, but it's a matter of taste. Doing too many structures just in the textures can sometimes look strange.

 

[Ryderstorm]

I like this new mesh a lot. It also looks sleek and deadly just as a Dominion ship should.

Victory is Life!!

 

[Majestic]

Thank you both, yeah Achilles sent me a copy of his updated one a while back. So far I am unsure weather I am going to use it as a fighter or a frigate or something.

My plan is to get some more Dominion designs up and running as I am seriously considering along with a Cardassian side doing a Dominion one to match for COE. I have most of the stations done from my old MSFC Dominion Mod along with many ships so who knows.

This ship will feature in a few of the Midway episodes, as the Dominion do make a few appearances in the Parallel realities.

Being low poly a lot of the detail is usually in the textures, this model is currently 600+ poly's and I am starting to think I've put too much detail into this one. So I am unsure weather I am going to remove some and try to lower it's poly count down to say 400 or so or just keep it as it is.

 

[Amateur]

I'd say that for a fighter ~1000 (or, of course, under ) would be ideal. Adding a curvy base bit like the bug has would add maybe three hundred polies and leave you with a nice gap.

Obviously, as a fighter this is meant to be spammmed - but if you were to use 256x256 textures then you'd meet the middle ground. Don't know about anyone else - but it's the textures that used to kill my 'puter before I upped the graphics card. That, and what with weapons effects and backgrounds the game struggles with a lot of textures at once.

Looks very nice though

 

[Majestic]

It's always been the poly count with me, I used to use a 6000 poly model with 256x256 textures and it used to lag with 6 or so of those models.

With the under belly of the model I plan to have a more squarish bottom rather than a round one. It's going to look really low poly but being a fighter it's not going to be seen on the bottom much. I am also going to look into after I am complete doing a lower poly version, taking away much of the detail to try and get it lower, as being a Dominion small ship it's going to be designed to be spammed, more than any other race, as they are very fast at building their small ships.

 

[Amateur]

Fair enough. Remember as well that this will only appear small as well - so a lot of things will be washed out, so to speak.

First Federation, now Dominion - Romulans next!

 

[Majestic]

Fair enough. Remember as well that this will only appear small as well - so a lot of things will be washed out, so to speak.

First Federation, now Dominion - Romulans next!

Indeed, my reason why I am considering lowering the poly count. I may leave this version for a higher poly one for anything considering making a mod that I was thinking about a while back were you only have fighters and no capital ships, other than a carrier as a starbase.

But yes, I am going to aim for a 400 or lower poly count.

I still have a bit of Federation designs to do, I also have a heap of Dominion and still some Cardassians to do. That being said I also have a lot of Klingon and Romulan designs I would like to do. So yes a lot of Star Trek modelling on the books for me. It's just the texturing that really slows me down as I hate it, and hate releasing stuff firstly without textures and secondly with textures that aren't as high quality as the model is itself.

 

[Dan1025]

Looks great so far Majestic, like Terra said we've got far too few Dominion fighter models of good quality to use.

If the textures really give you trouble you could always try mapping one of Achilles' Dominon textures onto it, since he has a credit for use policy on all his work he wouldn't mind.

Either way this looks great!

 

[Majestic]

I'm actually thinking of teaming up with someone whom can do the textures and apply them. I am have a lot of trouble with the Dawnstar to a point that I can completely stalled on the as they aren't lining up correctly and ruining the look of the entire ship.

So for the time being, I can't even get myself to re-open the model and keep trying as every-time I do I get into a bad depressive state that I have almost complete deleted the model. I just can't texture, I've given it a shot and have finally come to realise while I can model texturing I simply can't do. I hate being negative, but it's all I can do. I feel pretty bad considering the amount work Jetfreak has put into creating them. If anyone wants to take a crack at it, PM me and I'll send the model and textures to you. All the textures but a few minor parts like the bottom of the hull are complete.

As for the Dominion you are completely right, we need more Dominion ships, due to this I am planning to create a few ships for the Dominion to give them more ships, perhaps I'll get to a point where they have enough to have a full side on COE, which I am very eager to do. I simply love the Dominion. I always have, they are great bad guys and while I don't like DS9 much, always preferred Voyager, I love the Dominion. So I am going to do what I can to get some sort of fleet for the Dominion out

 

[Terra_Inc]

I'm actually thinking of teaming up with someone whom can do the textures and apply them. I am have a lot of trouble with the Dawnstar to a point that I can completely stalled on the as they aren't lining up correctly and ruining the look of the entire ship.

So for the time being, I can't even get myself to re-open the model and keep trying as every-time I do I get into a bad depressive state that I have almost complete deleted the model. I just can't texture, I've given it a shot and have finally come to realise while I can model texturing I simply can't do. I hate being negative, but it's all I can do. I feel pretty bad considering the amount work Jetfreak has put into creating them. If anyone wants to take a crack at it, PM me and I'll send the model and textures to you. All the textures but a few minor parts like the bottom of the hull are complete.

That hurts. I know how that feels like. Experienced it several times. Making weapon textures may be easier than texturing ships, but not getting them to look like you want is just as painful. I've given up on several textures that were really nice when looking at the tga but horrible in-game. And then you look at stuff like the weapon textures in AOW and think "****, am I really THAT bad? Why can't I just get this RIGHT!?" So, I understand exactly what you are talking about.

 

[Hellkite]

This ship will feature in a few of the Midway episodes, as the Dominion do make a few appearances in the Parallel realities..

LOL So I get to wast a few of them then Excellent

 

[CABAL]

I like the ship so far. The curved nacelles are also something that we don't really see much of.

I've given up on several textures that were really nice when looking at the tga but horrible in-game.

Reminds me of the time I was working on a texture revamp for Zelda:OoT. I got the texture for adult Link's eyes to look great, but he always looked completely stoned in game. Sometimes, textures just don't come out the way you expect them to.

 

[Knight]

cool stuff Maj

 

[Majestic]

LOL So I get to wast a few of them then Excellent

Yeap, Colonel Collin gets to clean the skies with more than a few of them.

That hurts. I know how that feels like. Experienced it several times. Making weapon textures may be easier than texturing ships, but not getting them to look like you want is just as painful. I've given up on several textures that were really nice when looking at the tga but horrible in-game. And then you look at stuff like the weapon textures in AOW and think "****, am I really THAT bad? Why can't I just get this RIGHT!?" So, I understand exactly what you are talking about.

I like the ship so far. The curved nacelles are also something that we don't really see much of.

Reminds me of the time I was working on a texture revamp for Zelda:OoT. I got the texture for adult Link's eyes to look great, but he always looked completely stoned in game. Sometimes, textures just don't come out the way you expect them to.

cool stuff Maj

Thank you all, I really have liked all the designs I have done, including this one. It just bites and a disappointment that one part (in this case texturing) lets me down from getting the completed model out to you guys for game playing.

 

[Jetfreak]

I really feel for you man, it would really be sad to see if you decide to shelve your projects all together. Sometimes all it takes is practice and patience, and with what you've done so far, I can say that you're doing pretty good.

Maybe it's just a simple case of too much work done. Besides, there's no rush in finishing a ship anyway. It's not like there's a deadline to meet eh?

In any case, I'm pretty much busy as you said (Lotsa WIP's in my plate too). Federation textures is one thing, but a Dominion texture set is an all new ball game design wise. I would also suggest Dan's idea. Integrating Achilles' work would be pretty nifty if you want all the ships to have a common look.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Maybe it's just a simple case of too much work done. Besides, there's no rush in finishing a ship anyway. It's not like there's a deadline to meet eh?

In any case, I'm pretty much busy as you said (Lotsa WIP's in my plate too). Federation textures is one thing, but a Dominion texture set is an all new ball game design wise. I would also suggest Dan's idea. Integrating Achilles' work would be pretty nifty if you want all the ships to have a common look.

Me agrees. We're cc-ing your work, but it's not like we're posting stuff like "maaan, when do you release WIP xyz?" Modeling and texturing takes time. And sometimes it just won't work the first time. So, yeah. Keep cool.