[Mod] The Coalition War (ENT Era)

[kjc733]

Nice. Whilst I my first instinct would be (as you say) a construction, cargo or even colony ship, I could see this as a stand-off (artillary) missile ship. Reffitted cargo ship unleashing salvos of missiles from the edge of the battle, mincemeat if it got into the fight.

 

[Majestic]

Nice Conestoga I know you hate texturing but I can't wait to see wht these models will look like

Thanks Starfox. Yeah doing the textures in batches are always easier.

Nice. Whilst I my first instinct would be (as you say) a construction, cargo or even colony ship, I could see this as a stand-off (artillary) missile ship. Reffitted cargo ship unleashing salvos of missiles from the edge of the battle, mincemeat if it got into the fight.

Nice idea, I never thought of an artillery destroyer. Pretty cool idea I might use that, thanks KJC.

 

[Jetfreak]

Looking sharp on the modeling Maj, I always knew in the back of my head that you still had the juice to crank out the civvie ships of ENT. Looks great!

However I agree on the stations being too TOS-like, maybe you can make them asymmetrical or something to show their primitive construction. Just a thought.

 

[thunderfoot]

Using that one as a torpedo cruiser is a neat idea.

 

[Dan1025]

Using that one as a torpedo cruiser is a neat idea.

Agreed, a long range artillary vessel with no real close-in armaments would suit the design perfectly. And the modelling is, as always, top notch

 

[Knight]

Agreed, a long range artillary vessel with no real close-in armaments would suit the design perfectly. And the modelling is, as always, top notch

Looks great Maj

 

[Majestic]

So I guess it's settled, small artillery ship this will be....

Looking sharp on the modeling Maj, I always knew in the back of my head that you still had the juice to crank out the civvie ships of ENT. Looks great!

Thanks I still have the constructor to finish and the freighter to start. While I have already modelled a J-type freighter, those ships are too long to be practical in A2. I might use it in the campaign but for standard play I will be making another design.

However I agree on the stations being too TOS-like, maybe you can make them asymmetrical or something to show their primitive construction. Just a thought.

Agreed, hence why apart from the shipyards I'll be going back and re-designing them starting with the mining station taking a clue from KJC and his diagram. I already have ideas on the design in my head over the past few days and think It's going to come out pretty good.

 

[thunderfoot]

See? Told ya the design part was easy. One of the things I do when trying something different is to sketch it out on paper. Mod Creep can wreck a good idea far faster than it can make a mediocre one excellent. I may not be able to stay close to my original design for aesthetic or, more usually, technical reasons (USS Lumpy Blob NCC-101101101-H rofl). The sketch is not a blueprint anyways. It is a letter of intent. The Terrans have been much easier to do since I have some quick sketches and color pallettes made up.

 

[Majestic]

Speak for yourself mate, after 3 or so hours I am re-starting, not only is it too high in poly's, I don't like at all how this turned out. One of my worst ones to date. Not happy jan!

 

[thunderfoot]

I understand. The last ship I want to do, Defiant, is giving me fits! First version was waay over the top. Next one will be better. I will never understood why someone would want to mess up a perfectly awesome set of textures by slapping ugly words all over it in such a fashion they are near impossible to remove without wrecking the entire thing. I swear the next person who asks me for a custom registry, I am going to tattoo it on their corneas. Both of them. In the most painful shade of purple I can find. lol

This isn't that bad a station, actually. Most of the polys are in the cradle, correct? I suggest simplyfing the cradle next time or doing away with it altogether. Cradles are over rated anyway. The ISS (and the Space Shuttle) has (had) one cargo arm. And it comes out from inside so it looks awkward to begin with. Maybe make one of the side tanks smaller in diameter? And taller?

 

[Majestic]

The majority of the poly's are in the yard and the main control tower. I am going to re-model it and hopefully get them down to a more reasonable count, 8k for a station is a tad much, especially a mining station where you'll have a heap of them. A starbase I could live with as this is FO after all.

 

[Hellkite]

Speak for yourself mate, after 3 or so hours I am re-starting, not only is it too high in poly's, I don't like at all how this turned out. One of my worst ones to date. Not happy jan!

View attachment 6625View attachment 6626

I think it more a of a over all lay out issue have a look a this

 

[thunderfoot]

I've always thought the Stock mining station was a poor design because it doesn't look like what I think a mining station should look like. There should be these things in a facility of similar function.

- A loading/unloading dock.
- Storage for the raw dilithium. Largest part of storage area. after all the dilithium has not been removed from the ore nor have the crystals been shaped yet. So even pure dilithium should take up more space than processed dilithium.
- Storage for the processed dilithium. Should be more compact.
- Processing facility itself.

Now the devs were limited back then, true. But there is no reason for us to limit ourselves in the same way, is there?

 

[Majestic]

I think it more a of a over all lay out issue have a look a this

Interesting, could you point out what is what for me?

I've always thought the Stock mining station was a poor design because it doesn't look like what I think a mining station should look like. There should be these things in a facility of similar function.

- A loading/unloading dock.
- Storage for the raw dilithium. Largest part of storage area. after all the dilithium has not been removed from the ore nor have the crystals been shaped yet. So even pure dilithium should take up more space than processed dilithium.
- Storage for the processed dilithium. Should be more compact.
- Processing facility itself.

Now the devs were limited back then, true. But there is no reason for us to limit ourselves in the same way, is there?

Yes that's what I am looking at doing. Make it look more industrial like. I think it's very important especially for the era.

That being said, if anyone has a design for any type of stations I am more than happy to see it and consider it.

 

[Hellkite]

Her you go

 

[Starfox1701]

interesting idea, can we see other orthos?

 

[Majestic]

Just to confuse you all I decided to rename the thread.

Anyway I have given this station another shot, inspired by Hellkite's design as well as KJC's, plus the concept that Thunderfoot posted and along with stations from the Romulan War mod from A2Files I have come up with this.

 

[Jetfreak]

Yeah that's the way to go, well done man. Really liking the overall modular construction. It as if they cobbled it together in several construction phases.

 

[Majestic]

Yeah that's the way to go, well done man. Really liking the overall modular construction. It as if they cobbled it together in several construction phases.

Thanks, this model is more a mock-up than an actual product. It's over 7k almost 8k, so I will need to rebuild parts. Plus obviously parts are missing. I am looking at re-modelling just the fuel cylinders and hoping that will lower it enough. If not then the habitat section will need to be re-built, I'll probably re-build it anyway as I believe I can get it at a much lower count. .

Finally I found out that it was the K7 looking habitat section that was throwing the entire design out. It just didn't fit the modular design and so I basically chopped it apart to get what I got now.

I'm aiming for an overall 6k poly size for this station, a 5k would be better though. Considering most of my ships are over the 3k limit and the mining station is a rather commonly used unit if I can get the 5k mark I would be extremely happy.

 

[thunderfoot]

Looks much better! I can see the elements of your earlier design still are in this one, albeit in modified form.

Did Syf share the #1 design secret with you? No? Well then, I guess I'll have to. "Sweat, not brilliance nor talent, is what produces results."

The Nova class was finished and sent in Sunday evening(my time) to the Files email. While swanning about waiting on the Upload Kitteh to come down off his nipz high long enough to upload the Nova, I had to do something. So I started working up a Terran Defiant. The first four tries at retexture turned out horribly. I was up until 3 AM working it and I wasn't getting anywhere. But I was almost there. So I stayed after it. I have to leave for work at 5:30 AM, so I went sleepless last night. I just finished about an hour ago. Was it worth it? Abso-frakkin'-lutely!

The latest version of your mining station is very good! And obviously, it will get better still. So stay after it. Keep digging. You're doing fine and I may reload FO just to play this.

Oh. Another design secret is this: "You are not required to come up with brilliant ideas all by yourself. Sometimes, borrowing from another is acceptable."

 

[Majestic]

Thanks Thunder, yeah this by far has taken the longest to do, apart from the Enterprise class that took ages but was well worth it. Well I have rebuilt the model so it's no longer a mock-up, I almost lost it after a crash, lucky I usually save regularly and so only lost like 5 minutes of work. Thankfully.

Where here is the mining station, plus a variant. Why did I do another? Well it's a kitbash for starters, secondly I like the idea that in the campaign not all the mining station will be the same and as such I'll probably have quite a few different designs so each mission there will be a different station.

Type 1 Mining Station
5990 Poly's


Type 2 Mining Station
6982 Poly's


Now to look at the other stations.

 

[EAS_Intrepid]

I like these stations a lot. Great work.

 

[Knight]

Thanks Thunder, yeah this by far has taken the longest to do, apart from the Enterprise class that took ages but was well worth it. Well I have rebuilt the model so it's no longer a mock-up, I almost lost it after a crash, lucky I usually save regularly and so only lost like 5 minutes of work. Thankfully.

Where here is the mining station, plus a variant. Why did I do another? Well it's a kitbash for starters, secondly I like the idea that in the campaign not all the mining station will be the same and as such I'll probably have quite a few different designs so each mission there will be a different station.

Type 1 Mining Station
5990 Poly's
View attachment 6638 View attachment 6639

Type 2 Mining Station
6982 Poly's
View attachment 6640 View attachment 6641

Now to look at the other stations.

Those are awesome. I'd rather use those in any time period. Lot better than the stock version, sorry to all those who've done revamps of the stock design. These just feel more realistic.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Oh man, those are awesome! I love this kind of low-tech stations. I don't want it all pretty, show me the pipes! show me the tanks! Show me JJPrises Engineering Section!

Man, steampunk Trek. Don't think we've thought about it yet, lol.

 

[Majestic]

Thanks Intrepid, Knight and Terra_Inc.

Now I am making a call out for designs for the other stations, minus of course the shipyards and sensor relay. So a Starbase, Coalition (warp-in) Station and pulse plasma turret. After those are done, I am complete station wise for Earth.

Then a couple more ships and I am done model wise and I can start the texturing process.

Here is my attempt at Coalition Station, take II.


I don't think it works as I hoped. For the main stations I want them to fit in with the mining station, but not as modular as a mining stations.

 

[EAS_Intrepid]

Wow. Another really good design.

Reminds me of the Fed Starbases that are available in the "Starfleet Museum" section of BCfiles, but yours is way more awesome!

 

[Starfox1701]

looks nice keep it up

 

[Dan1025]

Wow you've definitely hit the nail on the head with ENT station designs, really great stuff! I also like the idea of variants with each mission, makes each one just that much more interesting

 

[Majestic]

Thank you all, I do think I have gotten the designs down packed. They really look much better than what I was doing earlier. I am now looking at doing the main starbase, which I am thinking of doing something similar to R5D5's Storage Depot, however on a smaller scale. It's modular but also clearly a starbase. I'll probably send the rest of the night having a think of how I am going to tackle this design, than after I finish that I only have a pulse turret to do.

If someone wants to concept up a design between now and tomorrow night (next 20 hours or so) it would be great and might guide me in the right direction.

Wow. Another really good design.

Reminds me of the Fed Starbases that are available in the "Starfleet Museum" section of BCfiles, but yours is way more awesome!

Thanks mate, looks like I have a new fan.

 

[Adm_Z]

Awesome, these look perfect imo. I can't wait to see them ingame.