"Wyvern" Ship Collaboration Proposal

[Dragonfire]

I am itching to code a brand new ship, but alas, I am no skinner or modeler. Would anyone be willing to collaborate on a new ship - the "Wyvern"?

This ship would be a bounty hunter's dream come true - fast, heavily armed, with a moderate 100 TC cargo bay. My focus is especially on weapons - 16 pylon mounts, dual fore, and single aft, port, and starboard lasers, and two plasma turrets.

I need a modeler, a skinner, and someone who is willing to make a really good HUD for it.

Anyone up for the challenge?

[Killer Wolf]

too busy w/ my own stuff, but i dunno if you might want to rethink those stats : that spec is hugely uber. i'm not sure i'd call 100 tons of cargo "moderate", it's fricking huge, and 16 pylons is way way over the norm ~ to be realistic, you'd have to have a pretty damn big ship to accommodate all that.

[Staer9]

This ship would be a bounty hunter's dream come true - fast, heavily armed, with a moderate 100 TC cargo bay. My focus is especially on weapons - 16 pylon mounts, dual fore, and single aft, port, and starboard lasers, and two plasma turrets.

Unfortunately dual lasers on a player ship is not possible,

If you could knock up a quick scetch I can model it for you, but I am not a skinner, I can skin, but it takes many days.

[Wildeblood]

I need a modeler, a skinner, and someone who is willing to make a really good HUD for it.

Anyone up for the challenge?

I have ideas for a uniquely different HUD (which I've just broken this afternoon, while trying to add a new feature, grr) which I would like to pair up with a new ship model, too. I don't think that's much of a secret.

But Dragonfire, what are you proposing to bring to this project yourself?

ADDENDUM: Fixed it! New feature works great! (<-- What about those brackets, eh? They'll trip you up every time if you're not careful. -->)

[Smivs]

I have to second KW's points. Those specs are crazy. And a bounty hunter won't want 100TC cargo space....that's Python territory, a freighter.
Balancing a ship is a knack, and involves trade-offs. Add more of one thing (speed, weaponry) you have to lose something else (cargo, defensive capability) otherwise it won't make any sense at all.
Take a look at two of my ships:
Boa Clipper. A development of the Boa Class Cruiser. Extra engine gives more speed but the ship loses 25TC cargo space (and TBH if I made this now it would lose 50TC). No other change to Boa 2 spec.
Contractor. A real Bounty Hunter ship, reverse-engineered from the stolen Constrictor prototype. Very fast, and with all equipment options, but being small only three pylons (real Bounty Hunters use lasers anyway as missiles are not cost-effective), five energy banks and 5TC cargo (which many considered too much on release). And of course an astronomical price tag!
Remember Oolite ships are not Tardises. You can't squeeze every bit of kit and a huge hold into a small ship. What I'd suggest is, first decide what the ship is actually for to get an idea of the size it should be, then look at the closest 'core' ships to this and go for similar spec, balancing as necessary (eg if you really need more pylons, lose some cargo space or other equipment.

Edit:- Just one other point, we have two Wyverns ('Cmdr Wyvern', and 'Wyvern') as registered members on this board.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Balance is a tricky thing, but not to be overlooked if you don't want to crank out an insanely uber ship.
To give at least one example, the Vampire Mk1 Gold (Reduxed release):

- Speed 380
- Pitch/Yaw 2
- Roll 4
- Thrust 65
- Pylons 6
- Banks 8
- Recharge 4.6
- Cargo 30 (not upgradable)
- Laser mounts 4 (Fore aft port starboard)

... And the interceptor I made of it for my personal use:

- Speed 400
- Pitch/Yaw 0.65
- Roll 2
- Thrust 65
- Pylons 8
- Banks 8
- Recharge 4.6
- Cargo 25 (not upgradable)
- Laser mounts 2 (Fore aft)

See, to gain some legs and a couple of extra pylons, it had to lose some trunk, the side laser mounts and some agility.
It is, I should note, about Cobby 3 sized.

Now as for battle-ready freighters, have a look at the Kirin.
It's huge, a big fat monster that easily outmasses an Anaconda. It has a vast trunk, able to carry up to 400 tons. It's tough, able to shrug off a lot of punishment, and well armed with 10 pylons, four mounts and a large number of flak batteries. But it's slow and not very agile at all, and on injectors it's a guzzler like you wouldn't believe.
Sure it can be flown like a poor man's battleship, and you certainly can leave a lot of hurt in your wake with it. But it's a megahaul freighter, and doesn't pretend to be otherwise.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

real Bounty Hunters use lasers anyway as missiles are not cost-effective

I beg to differ! What do you do when your lasers are hot and you have pirates or Bugs carving up your hull?
Cuss at them? Fat lot of good that's going to do. Try shooting hardheads at them, ya cheapskate! They'll be cost effective if you survive to scoop the ex-hostile's cargo.

[Fatleaf]

I beg to differ! What do you do when your lasers are hot and you have pirates or Bugs carving up your hull?
Cuss at them? Fat lot of good that's going to do.

May I offer up a solution...  Here.

[Smivs]

real Bounty Hunters use lasers anyway as missiles are not cost-effective

I beg to differ! What do you do when your lasers are hot and you have pirates or Bugs carving up your hull?
Cuss at them? Fat lot of good that's going to do. Try shooting hardheads at them, ya cheapskate! They'll be cost effective if you survive to scoop the ex-hostile's cargo.

Sorry, but I didn't want to derail my own post! Missiles are not normally cost-effective as a way of carrying out the job of bounty hunter. Perhaps a hit with a very high bounty would make it worth-while to use missiles, but that's a cop-out and no professional would use them in preference to a laser.
However, as you suggest, hardhead missiles can be invaluable as a last resort if you've stuffed up and got into some serious trouble. My bounty-hunting commander always carries a couple just in case (as indeed does my trading No1 commander). However it is very rare for either of them to use their missiles.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

I pack military missiles for a reason. A little more expensive than hardheads, but they have that extra surprise. Should a pirate light the candles and run from it, it takes him out of the fight. But the missile isn't wasted - ECM it, and it'll turn to whack another pirate, whom often won't see it coming. I don't worry about the pondscum that ran, he'll get his comeuppance later.
My favorite sound is a pirate going boom. Right next to a cargo can or escape pod being scooped.

Remember, those stingy bastards at GalCop pay a mere pittance for bounties. The real money is in the salvage. hmm, Makes one wonder why fighters marketed to hunters almost always have next to nothing for salvage space...

[Smivs]

I pack military missiles for a reason. A little more expensive than hardheads, but they have that extra surprise. Should a pirate light the candles and run from it, it takes him out of the fight. But the missile isn't wasted - ECM it, and it'll turn to whack another pirate, whom often won't see it coming. I don't worry about the pondscum that ran, he'll get his comeuppance later.
My favorite sound is a pirate going boom. Right next to a cargo can or escape pod being scooped.

Remember, those stingy bastards at GalCop pay a mere pittance for bounties. The real money is in the salvage. hmm, Makes one wonder why fighters marketed to hunters almost always have next to nothing for salvage space...

My Ooniverse is quite a pure one, so things like military missiles don't exist.
As for salvage space, my No1 commander does a good bit of bounty hunting on the side and is always more than happy to salvage any spoils. However my bounty-hunter commander is just that. He's a hit man. He's not interested in trade or salvage. His ship has a five TC hold which is used to gather escape capsules mostly, as although he is merciless and single-minded as a hit-man, he will always rescue a stranded spacer (and collect any bounty or insurance payout that comes with them).

[Dragonfire]

Well, based on input, I can definately bring a lot of stuff down. I did, however, get the impression from another ship that dual lasers were possible.

As to the discussion that missiles are useless to bounty hunters...erm, no they aren't. Anyway, with all the equipment that you COULD be carrying in pylon mounts, the more the better. Lasers aren't the best weapons against Thargoids...if you have the Armoury OXP, you can carry a whole host on anti-thargoid weaponry.

And, on thinking more...yeah, 100 TC is rather large. (Though, being a bounty hunter myself, I know carrying cargo is very useful to help bring in income...bounty doesn't always pay the bills). Which makes me think, maybe there should be multiple versions of the ship?

As to someone's question of what I'm bringing to the project...I'm coding everything. That's where I'm most useful. I may even design a few additional types of missiles to go into the ship's pylon mounts.

Wildeblood - I'd LOVE to have your OXP for this ship! What's the new feature?

So, here are my UPDATED specs. Again, thanks for the input.

--
Dark Sky Industries
WYVERN SERIES

Dark Sky is the inventor of DARC - "Dragonbreath Automated ReCharge", a system that gives their ships a superior recharge rate. Special wiring allows these ships to also have greater speed than would be expected.

Red Wyvern
Designed for bounty hunters, the Red Wyvern is heavily armed, with a small cargo bay for maximum speed.

Cargo Capacity: 30 TC
Cargo Bay Extension: 10 TC
Maximum Speed: 0.6
Maneuverability:
Roll: 1.0
Pitch: 0.6
Energy Banks: 8
Energy recharge rate: 7.0
Gun Mounts: Fore, Aft, Starboard, Port, Plasma Turrets
Missile Slots: 8
Shield Boosters available: Yes
Military Shields available: Yes
Hyperspace capable: Yes
Available to player: Yes
Base Price: 800000
Tech Level: 8

Green Wyvern
The Green Wyvern is designed with merchants in mind. A large cargo bay and good speed are first in priority. This ship is well armed, though not near as heavily some other models.

Cargo Capacity: 100
Cargo Bay Extension: 25
Maximum Speed: 0.5
Maneuverability:
Roll: 0.8
Pitch: 0.4
Energy Banks: 8
Energy recharge rate: 7.0
Gun Mounts: Fore, Aft, Plasma Turrets
Missile Slots: 4
Shield Boosters available: Yes
Military Shields available: Yes
Hyperspace capable: Yes
Available to player: Yes
Base Price: 700000
Tech Level: 8

Blue Wyvern
Specially designed for miners, the Blue Wyvern has a moderate cargo bay, but drops many pylon mounts in favor of greater speed than the standard merchant model. In light of the potentially precious cargo, lasers are top priority aboard this vessel.

Cargo Capacity: 50
Cargo Bay Extension: 25
Maximum Speed: 0.6
Maneuverability:
Roll: 1.0
Pitch: 0.6
Energy Banks: 8
Energy recharge rate: 7.0
Gun Mounts: Fore, Aft, Starboard, Port
Missile Slots: 2
Shield Boosters available: Yes
Military Shields available: Yes
Hyperspace capable: Yes
Available to player: Yes
Base Price: 700000
Tech Level: 8

White Wyvern
A rare, and very expensive version of the Wyvern, designed to combat the Black Wyvern threat. This model is so dangerous that GalCop closely monitors the sale of each and every one of them. Often considered an "uber ship", the sales are such that pirates have yet to get their hands on one. And, as such, any pirate who DOES get one, immediately has a VERY sizable bounty on their heads.

(This model is about 1/3 bigger than the standard models)

Cargo Capacity: 10
Cargo Bay Extension: 40
Maximum Speed: 0.7
Maneuverability:
Roll: 0.8
Pitch: 0.8
Energy Banks: 10
Energy Recharge Rate: 8.0
Gun Mounts: Fore, Aft, Starboard, Port, Plasma Turrets
Missile Slots: 6
Shield Boosters available: Yes
Military Shields available: Yes
Hyperspace capable: Yes
Available to player: Yes
Base Price: 900000
Tech Level: 10
(Chance: 0.1)

Black Wyvern
Though this ship was designed special for military use, the blueprints were stolen, and the ship was built without company blessing or supervision in shady rock hermits. Due to this, the Black Wyvern is very hard to come by - the company often intercepts and destroys any models that appear on the market. GalCop also considers these ships to be illegal.

(This model is about 1/3 bigger than the standard models)

Cargo Capacity: 10
Cargo Bay Extension: N/A
Maximum Speed: 0.8
Maneuverability:
Roll: 1.0
Pitch: 1.0
Energy Banks: 10
Energy Recharge Rate: 8.0
Gun Mounts: Fore, Aft, Starboard, Port, Plasma Turrets
Missile Slots: 6
Shield Boosters available: Yes
Military Shields available: Yes
Hyperspace capable: Yes
Available to player: No
Base Price: N/A
(Low chance of encountering)

--
There is a bit of a story thread there, so I may also design a mission or two to go along with this.

It would be awesome if each "model" of wyvern could have the same model design, and have the skinning for each only differing in primary color.

Any input? I'll change the specs if I'm given enough evidence that I should.

[Staer9]

Much better specs!

and to answer the dual laser thingy, On NPC ships it is possible (Griff Krait is a good example) but not possible on player ships, all it requires are laser subentities, much like plasma turrets.

[Thargoid]

They seem a bit cheap for what you get, and that recharge rate would allow them to stay cloaked indefinitely if they wanted to (I think, or at least close to it).

That said, what's wrong with creating an uber ship? There is a market for them amongst the game players.

[Dragonfire]

That's what the Wyvern White is for. It IS an uber-ship.

So...what prices do you propose for the ships? I'm open to suggestions.