Base scale (advice please!)

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Hi all,

So, I'm working on a new shipset, nearly done (only Battleship, Dreadnought and Starbase left of the stock images) and I've trying to reach a decision; since I'm of two minds about it, I thought I'd see what people think. I made a space station:

but now I'm wondering if it's a little... expansive for just a space station. So I'm considering instead making this my starbase, and making another space station on a smaller scale. What does everyone think? How do you imagine the scale of a station/starbase, as compared to the ship sizes?

BlueTemplar · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 27, 2007

You can always make a smaller-looking Space Station, or a bigger-looking Starbase. Maybe if we could compare your space station with your other ships, we could tell better...

Kana · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 15, 2005

Nice looking model by the way.

KineticShipyards · Space Emperor Joined: Jul 27, 2008

Indeed -- that's a sleek model and some excellent texture work!

CaptainKwok · Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:39 pm Post subject:

It looks more like a Starbase to me.

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Thanks! Good suggestion, BlueTemplar, should have thought of that... here's some others. (no time for larger renders right now, unfortunately...)

Frigate:

Colony Ship:

Cruiser:

Carrier:

I've managed to make them on a pretty consistent scale, so far, I guess my question is more, how big would a space station/starbase be? Compared to, say, a cruiser?

gaultesian · Space Emperor Joined: Feb 19, 2007 Location: NL, Canada

These look excellent (SEV?).

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Thank you! Yes, they are for SEV.

gaultesian · Space Emperor Joined: Feb 19, 2007 Location: NL, Canada

Excellent! Now I have will have another shipset to play with. I looks awesome. Where did you get your inspiration from (or is this purely an original - because if it is, it looks great).

Cheers,
Gaultesian

TheChin · Space Emperor Joined: Nov 07, 2008 Location: Cleveland, Oh

These are really good, I'm not a big fan of the chrome, but the ships as a whole rock and I'll use them when they're done.

se5a · Space Emperor Joined: Dec 23, 2004

I don't think that the seV engine handles specular... looks very cool though.

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Thanks, guys! They're not really based on anything in particular, although some elements of the design were influenced by other things (although you can't see them in the pictures, the engine designs are largely based on the Hiigaran ships' engines) The color scheme, particularly the chrome, was sort of inspired by the Normandy from Mass Effect; Unfortunately, as se5a correctly pointed out, the engine doesn't seem to show true specularity, much less reflection, but it actually doesn't look too bad with a "faux" chrome texture (mostly I find one isn't usually zoomed in far enough to be able to tell the difference when playing).

BlueTemplar · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 27, 2007

Yes, the presence of the orange plates makes it look more like a StarBase. I'd suggest you look at the stock shipsets to know how big a StarBase should be compared to other hulls.

gaultesian · Space Emperor Joined: Feb 19, 2007 Location: NL, Canada

How is the progress coming along on this shipset?

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Slowly but surely... not too much spare time to work on it Sad

Anyone else care to weigh in on the station / starbase issue?

Trooper · Space Emperor Joined: Sep 16, 2008

I think it would be a station... a starbase might need a larger area for docking...

2cents?

Wolfman · Space Emperor Joined: Oct 03, 2005

It's definitely ornamental enough for a Starbase, but the deck light seem mor in line with a Space Station when compared to the other ships you have there. You could try making the fins and towers smaller, for more of a Space Station look, or add more decks by making more smaller rows of lights for a Starbase sized look. Try one or two of each and post 'em here, I'm sure you'll get some more feedback.

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

Very, very impressive. I'd use it. I'm not even kidding. I like shipsets which look like ships that are in space, rather than scaled up airplanes, so this is ideal for me. I especially dig your cruiser.

Texture work is great all round. Only slight gripe is that I don't like the orange :p

I hope you get it finished. And if you don't, I hope you put an unfinished version out so I can use it with default models replacing the missing ones.

EDIT: It looks like a starbase to me in terms of scale. Look at all the goddamn windows!

JimboTex · Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:18 pm Post subject: Sw33t!

Praetor,

Your shipset looks awesome so far! I can't wait to play it. *hint hint*

No rush, though. Laughing

Spearman · Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:22 pm Post subject:

It looks to me like a starbase, and I love the orange - it makes them stand out. are those airlocks on the side of the cruiser? nice touch.

markus · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 12, 2009

Battle station! Too small for starbase, too big for space station, and the fins look like armored shield fins. (Se4 junkie, probably going to convert your pics to se4 given the excellent quality, its just a resizing issue)

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Ah, yes, battlestation would be perfect.. if there was such a thing in SEV Confused

And yes, they are airlocks, thanks! Nice to know someone else likes the orange too Wink

I wanted something bold and warlike but I thought a pure red would be a little too "evil" looking.

Sorry to post this and then leave it hanging for so long... lots of RL stuff going on since then (wedding, for one Very Happy

) Hopefully I'll be able to finish it up soon, about halfway done with the battleship, and after that only the dreadnought and the other base... which I've just about decided will be a starbase, leaving this one as the station. Oh, and the race portrait! Can't forget that... (might redo the fighter as well, not so happy with my current one... but at least I could release a 1.0)

Thanks for all the great input guys, will try to speed this set up a bit!

JimboTex · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 3:33 am Post subject:

Cool.

So, who got married? I want to know who to -b-l-a-m-e-* congratulate. Laughing

* Anyone know how to do strikethrough on these forums?

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Actually, I did! But the real culprit was my decision to design all the invitations, programs, etc. myself... that took WAY longer than I expected; And then for a wedding present I did this kind of Art Nouveau style portrait of the both of us, which became more and more involved the more I worked on it, and took forever. Confused

The upside is that I've honed my Illustrator skills to a fine point... but my 3D Max is all rusty Crying or Very sad

I wish I could have had more time to finish the shipset first... coming back to it after all this time (damn, it's already been six months! How did that happen?!) I've kind of lost the workflow I had going Sad

Never fear, though, I would hate to have done so much work on it already and stop now, with so few things left to do!

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Ok, finally making some progress... here's a battleship: