Parallels Release Project

[Chiletrek]

I had a little bit of problems with it. Only parts were showing up for it, I need to do a re-hardpoint something that is on my to-do list I haven't forgotten about it but I gave it a break as it was getting a little frustrating.

Hello:
Believe it or not, I understand, Valkyrie is such a nice ship but so far I have always find a reason to make retouches to my version of it.
Now I am not sure what use can be given to my models since Score alreqady has one for BSA, but I still wanted to make my own version.
So keep it up Majestic!

 

[Majestic]

Time for those whom have been waiting for the Valkyrie to get excited: Download Now

 

[thunderfoot]

Whooo! Hoooo!

 

[Majestic]

Whooo! Hoooo!

If that's not an outburst of excitement, I don't know what is.

 

[Adm_Z]

WOOOOOOOTTT!!!!!! My heart jumped when I saw that pack!!!

 

[Majestic]

I expect screenshots within the next few days by you guys.

 

[Dan1025]

Outstanding work Majestic! All 3 versions of the ship look brilliant

 

[Terra_Inc]

That is some epic BSG material!

 

[Majestic]

Glad you guys like, I only went back to look at it (hence finally finding and fixing the problem) after having a chat with Thunderfoot about BSG. I remember I still hadn't fixed it and released it so I got it done, sent it to Jet, and his lightening speed I had it back the same day and released it and here we are.

 

[Majestic]

Something I have been working on today but not overally happy with. I am considering s****ping it. It's called the Bolitho class, a design I found on my Hard-drive. It's a corvette, similar to the Olympia Jumpstar.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Definitely an interesting design. Can we assume that it's about the same size as the Olympia? Any ideas about weapon setup yet?
Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of this WIP.

 

[Avon]

Dont s**** it, looks good to me.

 

[Starfox1701]

It is a good solid mesh.

 

[Jetfreak]

Applying some textures should make all the difference man.

 

[Majestic]

Well to be honest, it didn't turn out as I hoped, even after about a good 3-5 hours on her and I've been a little discouraged on my BSG modelling recently.

Definitely an interesting design. Can we assume that it's about the same size as the Olympia? Any ideas about weapon setup yet?
Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of this WIP.

Yeah it's designed to be roughly the same size, perhaps smaller actually. Timeline wise my intentions were to put her build date just before the Valkyrie, a blend of the old rib style (Columbia) with the new armoured still of the Valkyrie and Mercury.

 

[thunderfoot]

Nothing wrong with this at all. Fits in nicely with the RDM Colonials. Tossing something like this without giving it some textures to see what it might be is not good.

As to discouragement, try spending three months getting a smoke trail on a missile in a game which never allowed for such on the first place. Or making up an odf which allows a ship to be both a shipyard and a battleship. All the while putting up with people saying it will never work. The first version of the A2 Physics Project took eighteen weeks of work when I include finding all the bugs and conflicts in it. And all the while people were telling me all it would do was mess up the game. And when it was done and released everyone looked at it and said, "Pfft! That's simple! Anyone can do ODF modding!" I cannot remember a single one of my announced projects which did not meet some sort of public negativity at some point along the way. And some of the negativity got really personal at times. Squire James used to send me PM's after I'd show something to point out to me just how wrong what I was doing was and how it could not really work. And he wasn't the only one to do so.

Easy to be discouraged. Easy to stop doing things. Easy to be like a lot of other modders you and I could both name and quit. And maybe we should quit. After all it hasn't been as fun for me for a long time now as it was in the beginning. I suspect you feel the same way. And we both are looking for that hit. That little buzz of excitement which races through the brain at the exact moment we realize whatever we are working on right now will work. And the other little buzz which occurs right after we release something publicly and everyone else in the Community looks at it and goes, "Wow!" I actually stood and did a victory dance the very first time I got Defiant to roll ninety degrees to starboard and pull a complete circle to place herself at the rear of the Cardassian chasing her. Occurred at 4:17 AM on a Tuesday morning in the Comfort Inn in Milton, FL. My LAN group stills plays A2. Because of the low poly Colonials in the BSG Half Race Mod. They all comment all the time about how the Colonial ships still look like they ought to look.

But...if it was easy, then everyone could play. Adapting a phaser sprite so it shows a different colour from stock can be a pleasant way to spend an hour or two. Making a brand new ship from scratch, especially one which has not already been seen in an episode or movie, is a challenge of an entirely different magnitude. Making a ship such as this, which has the potential to be nearly anything from any genre at this point, is no longer something a lot of people can do. I dabble in modelling using MS3D. I use your ships, and Chiletrek's, as a benchmark to measure my progress as a modeller. To date none of them have been good enough to inlfict upon an ususpecting A2 Community. It does get discouraging and mostly I hit the DEL key far more than I want to. But I still keep doing it. Because I know that little buzz will happen again someday.

 

[Dan1025]

Very nice design you've got there Majestic, like TF says it'd fit in nicely with the other new BSG designs we've seen.

I really like the idea of smaller support ships for the massive powerful battlestars (one of the reasons why I put the effort into recreating the Eros from the old BSA screenshots).

I hope you don't s**** this model, as I'd really like to see it finished up and released

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I agree with all of the comments here. It is very easy to be discoraged, the hard part would be to take all the useful parts of any comments and use them to make yourself even better and to not stop what you like to do because someone says so (Thunderfoot, I had no idea that Squire James dared to do that).

As for the ship, I am happy to see you are making the Bolitho, that is the corvette from Diaspora, so you can go to their webpage to get new reference pics (not sure if you already have them ).

Keep it up!

 

[Adm_Z]

I like it too.

 

[Majestic]

I really like the idea of smaller support ships for the massive powerful battlestars (one of the reasons why I put the effort into recreating the Eros from the old BSA screenshots).

Indeed, I am sick of in many sci-fi genres like BSG and Star Wars to name two, how there are so many big ships and so few small ones. Hence why I am looking more forward small ships more often these days.

I have quite a few small designs I want to get done from various sci-fi genres atm. I have been taking a break from Trek atm. I think it's needed.

Hello:
As for the ship, I am happy to see you are making the Bolitho, that is the corvette from Diaspora, so you can go to their webpage to get new reference pics (not sure if you already have them ).

Keep it up!

Thanks, yes it's from that site. I actually first saw it on I think sci-fi meshes. That's where I think they got the design from themselves. As mentioned above I am looking more towards Corvettes and Frigates from now on with only the occasional larger vessel.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Even though the larger ships are (often) the most well known ships, for games like Armada, we do need the smaller ships as their roles are vital for the survival of the player and the race the player is playing as.

And I agree that to take breaks is helpful, because it prevents us from burning-out, so working on other series does help too.

 

[Starfox1701]

Support stuff is an important and often ignored section of moding for all games. Any one that takes the time to do support ships and stations gets double props from me

 

[Majestic]

Well I have taken Jetfreak's advice, and textured the model along with a few mesh edits. I am still not happy with it and considering not using it.

However apart from having to rebuild the turrets, they are 1k each, the model could be considered done. However I don't know if I should do any further work on her or not.

 

[kjc733]

I can only echo the others in my wish for expanded use of support ships. It's just hard to make the niche roles in A2 that a battleship can't fill using brute force (theres no such thing as overkill ).

As for this ship in particular, I can understand your reluctance. She's a good ship, make no mistake. I like it, It's different, and I especially like the asymetrical nature of weapons placements. But I'm not entirely sure she fits with the BSG fleet. In fact with that red stripe down the centre I'd say she looks better suited as a Clone War era Star Wars ship. Just my two pennies worth.

 

[thunderfoot]

Someone, somewhere wants this ship. They are looking for it right now. They want it badly enough they will go through hours of aggravation to get it just right for whatever game they decide to place it in. This may not be A2. I think we sometimes forget ships get exported from A2 format as well as imported. I ask once more for you to please not throw it away. Instead let it find its own place by simply uploading it as is. In the end it doesn't matter where she winds up. As long as she is available for download and gets used. Your ships are always different from the ships others are doing and releasing. Different is good! Battleships and superships with an overwhelming number of ridiculously overpowered weapons are overdone. I am sick to death of triple and quadruple nacelled Sovereigns which mount the latest version of a weapon so powerful, it crashes the game and my laptop. Go and try to find a decent cruiser which looks like a cruiser. I have and it isn't impossible but it isn't very far from impossible, either.

The shape and style does have more of a Star Wars feel to it than at first glance. The Colonial Phoenix has more than a passing resemblance to the symbol of the Rebel Alliance. Coincidence? She might make a nice Old Republic light cruiser, I think. Or a custom ship owned by a smuggler affiliated with Talon Karrde. She could even have Grand Admiral Thrawn's latest superweapon aboard just waiting for the perfect time to strike down the New Republic. On the other hand, Defiant looks nothing at all like anything else in Starfleet. And there are Colonial fleet style elements to this one, too.

 

[Dan1025]

I actually really like this! Yes, it is somewhat different from the typical Colonial designs we've seen, but that makes it more interesting, and causes it to stand out among the more common Battlestar variations. The texturing only goes to show that the ship is not a massive battleship/dreadnought in my opinion.

Whether you do further work on the model & textures or not, I implore you to upload this at some point, I for one would certainly download and use it

 

[Terra_Inc]

Love it! I can imagine a group of those escorting a small fleet of mining freighters, or in the advance guard of a large Colonial attack fleet, scouting the battlefield and setting up area denial operations... Look! A fighter squadron! Ready KEWs and fire at will! Uh...

 

[Ryderstorm]

I like the model a lot. A lot of people called TOS BSG a star wars clone in terms of ship styles so I wouldnt worry about it looking to star warsy. Though a ship that size I think would look better with just having 2 heavy gun emplacements radther than 3 and perhaps adding some missile launchers might help but that is up to your tastes.

 

[Starfox1701]

It is a good model. Maybe if you put the little wings on the stern. I am not a fan of TNS styling but you have don an exelent job here see compare to the hi poly mesh

 

[Terra_Inc]

It is a good model. Maybe if you put the little wings on the stern. I am not a fan of TNS styling but you have don an exelent job here see compare to the hi poly mesh

Hm, that could work out. I like this one as a pure KEW boat, and the low-poly model should keep that aspect.