Oolite Bulletins

Guess?
If I'm doing this right, then the ships should be recognizable as what the classic model was trying to represent. Here's a suitably obscure ship which aught to test my presumption. Which classic oolite ship is this supposed to be?

Note - the use of last-posts technique is quite effective here.

Adder
This is a favorite ship - dinky but fun to fly. The model always put me in mind of a Lambourghini, so I kept that chunky effect. The texture used the technique from that last post.

However, I got all the way through the texture and realized I'd done it all wrong! Can you see what I mean - the center section needs to be lower than the sides for a start. It also tries to do things in an over-complicated way. The basic idea feels right though... there's an update coming.

Still, this is nice, and could possibly stay as another production model.

Asp mkII
I pictured this as a cross between a Saracen and a HumVee. The texture was the first where I tried the effects from the last post.

This is the only model using existing Earth script - the glyphs are Arabic for freedom.

All the others spell out something too... shall I offer a prize for figuring it out?

The ship's the Transporter?
Had to come back just to say YUM!

EDIT; Personally if I'm correct I'd make it a bit meatier because it also gets used as a miner by the game, just can't imagine it carrying much rock that's all.
That Adder and Asp are fantasic, you've really hit the nail on the head with those.

Gecko
The Gecko is a ship apart, even in the classic game. It doesn't follow the snake-name pattern. The other ships in its class are pointier, and chunkier - this craft is almost delicate - super-streamlined, the top is flatter than the bottom. It put me in mind of a stealth aircraft.

I'm quite happy with this - though it suggests we should see this craft closer to planets more often. If I ever get around to that planetary defence oxp, it'll be ships like this coming up out of the atmosphere to meet unauthorized visitors.

For some reason, when I think "gecko" I think "bright green".

Sidewinder
The sidewinder is distinguished by the blunt nose and an attitude problem. Basically it looks too cute to be mean. I tried to keep to the feel of the original craft...

... I'm not sure it quite comes together as a sidewinder though. May be better as a Salamander. I'll revisit later.

The snow-cam paintwork comes from some bedsheets. I had an idea that snow-cam may work well in space for much the same reasons as it works in snow - breaks up the outline. In practise it works better (for oolite) to use a dark color, broken by reddish patterns.

Mamba
These ships always put me in mind of a paper dart - so I kept the pointyness. The original is like what I ended up with for the boa skiff, but for the premier killer/fighter we want something more ... predatory.

... I've interpeted the sides of the original model as indicating a radically dropped wing. I added a hunched effect, so that it looks ready to pounce.

I live the Gecko and the Asp II. The Adder’s pretty good too. I have no idea what the mystery ship is. :-)

Oh wait, it’s the *spoilor*. ;-)

Shuttles
It's not just the "cool" ships which should get this attention.
The classic shuttle is your basic piloted bullet and the model was designed before Nasa had settled on it's "winged brick" design. So I've done both:

... with wings you get the idea that this is an atmosphere reentry vehicle.

This is actually two models. In order to stay true to form I wanted to start with the classic design. I spoiled the symmetry to give a "bulldogging into orbit" feel.

... perhaps I should keep a winged and an un-winged shuttle.

What I thought would be neat is for the outgoing shuttle to arrive with an external fuel tank. Shuttles returning to the planet are without.

Since the craft clearly have extra stages jettisoned someplace, it may be nice if that process could be witnessed... goodness knows how to do it though.

My guess for the 'mystery ship' is it highlight>>>The Constrictor?<<<

Captain Hesperus

Edit: invisiblated spoilerosity. — Ahruman

Captain Hesperus wrote:

My guess for the 'mystery ship' is it highlight...

That was my initial guess, too...due to the placement of the plates.

I would have had trouble with other models, though, as they are quite different from the original. Adder, Sidewinder, Mamba and Asp could be named, which doesn't say though, that I do not like those models. I do like them! The overall design seems to be providing a flatter face - if true, this would be an enhancement, as it makes ships more difficult to hit! Anyway, they do look more mean this way.

For the asp it's that the old design with it's plates marks "the asp" for me, and this identification is practically gone in the newer version.

For the other models, it's similar but less heavy, least with Sidewinder and Mamba. The sidewinder would most probably easier kick in as Sidewinder instead of Salamander if the "wings" would use a single line, instead of buckling to the outside. Surely the same thing distracts me a little from initial mamba-association for the neo-mamba, but the craft is larger, thus more easily matches overall the original model, and the changed wings just look great!

About the old postings, I'm quite happy to see that I was not the only one who had a little trouble with that viper interceptor in the initial version, and that things have been solved already before I saw them. I would have had much difficulty explaining it

Screet

Wow! amazing stuff! Have you made all these in just the few days since the bulleting boards were down? Man, we should ask Aegidian to switch it off a bit more often if that's the case!
Just my own personal whinge here, i'm not too keen on the cowprint texture on the top surface of the mamba

Griff wrote:

Wow! amazing stuff! Have you made all these in just the few days since the bulleting boards were down? Man, we should ask Aegidian to switch it off a bit more often if that's the case!
Just my own personal whinge here, i'm not too keen on the cowprint texture on the top surface of the mamba

Yeah, I've been pretty astonished when I revisited this thread and saw what happened in such a short time!

The "cowprint" - I only was able to understand what you meant when I did look at it again. Perception is really playing different on people! For me, it instantly was camouflage. I guess we can agree that most modern camouflage suits do look strangely out of place and odd when the people wearing them are not in the proper surroundings. That also accounts for camouflage on a ship when it's presented on a spreadsheet...but imagine that painting in space...beside something soaking up all light (like the shader-bug on ships), it appears to be a painting surely quite some people would want on their ships, if it helps in combat. That especially accounts for a Mamba! For everyone who has never experienced the power of paintings, several years ago I was often playing paintball with the dutch army in germany. Those were trained soldiers who willingly joined the army - and we were just a bunch of people who liked that type of game, but almost none of us has been doying the least little bit of army duty. Typically, we didn't stand a chance. However, when things were too bad, I just trusted my suit, sometimes laying down right on grass without anything to cover me - when I really wanted, they were unable to see me. In the woods, people who I shot out walked (at max!) 2m from me, knowing I was there - and unable to see me. Thus, a starship using grey and darker spots which do take away some of the regularity of the ship, for me that idea works. If it helps, think of those poor pirate guys flying in red ships. They are most visible, even over distances. Distinguishing a wolf or adder from other ships and shooting them while they aren't more than a little red dot is very easy!

A little of topic, but since you're just here, thus at least two shipbuilders seeing it: I still fail to see how good playership can come with anything less than 4 laser mounts and any usable playership at least needs two. I did fly the GriffBoa for quite some days around...and even though the turrets can shoot off a ship faster than a mil laser (1-3 seconds for most ships IF they cannot do evasive), they usually take much more time and the turrets are entirely useless against capital vessels which do have many more turrets. Try to take out a Leviathan with it...which is very easy in any small ship with 4 mil lasers.

Screet

lovely designs, they retain a certain Elitishness too.

Good job!

Looking pretty good. I am not sure about the shape of the Asp myself and I think I would prefer the basic ships with an unpatterned texture.

We've had various skinning projects and I feel it would be nice if the base ones are a bit more bland, with a sizeable stretch of texture people can adorn with logos and patterns.

But I am overall most impressed with what you have made in such short time!

Best wishes,
Oscar

Griff wrote:

cowprint texture

Shader idea: a moving-blotch camo texture, along the lines of Rorschach’s mask in Watchmen. Could probably be done along the lines of the Freaky Thargoids shader.

Edit: vaguely like this.

Griff wrote:

Wow! amazing stuff! Have you made all these in just the few days since the bulleting boards were down? Man, we should ask Aegidian to switch it off a bit more often if that's the case!
Just my own personal whinge here, i'm not too keen on the cowprint texture on the top surface of the mamba

Oh darn ... that's not a cow-print - that's a leopard print sans the orange. Maybe make the spots smaller?

I'd do tiger stripes - but there's already a tiger-mambas thing. Snake-skin actually looks quite good - but mambas (the snake) don't seem to have distinctive enough patterns.

Oh - I have a dinosaur-skin texture too.

How about zebra stripes? Or maybe something giraffe-esque, like this? (Obviously this is someone else's work, but somthing similar would be a good fit with the angular nature of the ships ... might look good on an Asp).

It's all looking good, though! I really like the shuttle. Maybe shuttles inbound to the station should be wingless (i.e. they've been retracted), and those heading down to the planet should have their wings extended?

Screet wrote:

Captain Hesperus wrote:

My guess for the 'mystery ship' is it highlight...

That was my initial guess, too...due to the placement of the plates.

And "Constrictor" is correct. The ship sillouette is closest of all of them to the classic, and the color scheme is the same - but it's not a ship people see much of - and not for long.

I would have had trouble with other models, though, as they are quite different from the original.

This sort of observation is why I put the classic model against the neolite concept in the top-left corner of some of those pics.

Adder, Sidewinder, Mamba and Asp could be named, which doesn't say though, that I do not like those models. I do like them! The overall design seems to be providing a flatter face - if true, this would be an enhancement, as it makes ships more difficult to hit! Anyway, they do look more mean this way.

Sidewinder departs most from the classic. The fighters are not ships you'd normally get a good look at: I was surprised to discover the actual shape of some of them.

Mostly, these ships differ in their paint-jobs.

For the asp it's that the old design with it's plates marks "the asp" for me, and this identification is practically gone in the newer version.

Don't be fooled - the neolite concept has the same profile side-on and only has slightly flattened sides.

The pentagonal shapes are still there - though not as obvious. They were very difficult to keep. But look at the rear view - I think you'd recognize that.

For the other models, it's similar but less heavy, least with Sidewinder and Mamba. The sidewinder would most probably easier kick in as Sidewinder instead of Salamander if the "wings" would use a single line, instead of buckling to the outside. Surely the same thing distracts me a little from initial mamba-association for the neo-mamba, but the craft is larger, thus more easily matches overall the original model, and the changed wings just look great!

I was trying to figure out what the "original ship" would have been that the classic models were approximating... then try to come closer to it.

I thought "flatter" for the sidewinder too. It's hard to know what to do about that blunt nose and that it is about the same top and bottom. If I go with the fighter-plane style, then, I guess that would become a blunt delta-wing centered on the body. We'll see.

What saved the model you see above is the rear profile.

The mamba fits into the classic models wireframe and is very close from the side and the top. Note - the classic does not actually have wings at all - so I'm taking a bit more liberty there than with the others.

You are right that the overall x-sections of the fighters is smaller - this is due to the narrow wings.

There is a problem with the screenshots - oolite will render the textures differently for a start ... I expect the models will get lighter. The textures are mostly flat - or minimally shaded if I remembered to do it. The lighting angle is tricky for the views I've chosen ... which is why some of the pics have an in-flight view as well.

An example - the asp bottom view strongly emphasises the bottom vents - which are very small otherwise. There is an optical illusion in that model: in the side profile, the bottom looks (to some) like it has a kink in it. It's not there.

I've been trying to limit these effects - but some, like the bump-mapped grills, are deliberate.

About the old postings, I'm quite happy to see that I was not the only one who had a little trouble with that viper interceptor in the initial version, and that things have been solved already before I saw them. I would have had much difficulty explaining it ;)

Sure - articulating an opinion, positive or otherwise, is always tricky. It's easy to identify which you like, the trouble comes when you try to explain why: what is it about the <thing> that you like (or not). Good skill to acquire.

In general, modellers have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to the results. It's their oxp after all.

For Neolites I want to be different - the result, I hope, is not to be "my" oxp at all, but "ours".

Not everyone will be equally happy with everything - I'm sure there are classic ships you don't like(?) - hopefully the resulting discussion will help further define the style of the game. FOSS projects are an ongoing negotiation - nothing is set in stone - a constant exchange of ideas is essential. So I want to thank you and the others for taking part.