Oolite Bulletins

Really like the last (?) version of the Fer-de-Lance.

ClymAngus wrote:

That is a great way of giving people an idea of relative ship size. This is you.....This is you next to a cobby mk2...... ain't you small?

Yeah! When I did switch to outside view in the Merlin while scooping...I thought the opposite, like me sitting in a nibblonian battlecruiser...similar to how Leela managed to fit in it

This FDL...better make it's stats (a bit more) like FDL NG, it looks as powerful! If that Caduceus doesn't turn out to be my ship (still flying only trying to find one!), that FDL could well be it...or serve as the craft until I find a Caduceus.

Will the Constrictor seldom appear as buyable after doing that mission, just like the current model with RS, or will it stay NPC only as the original?

Screet

Screet wrote:

Will the Constrictor seldom appear as buyable after doing that mission, just like the current model with RS, or will it stay NPC only as the original?

Well ... I think if Simon really goes through his impressive ship's-to-do-new-models-for list, I for one will ask very, VERY nicely if he would approve of using them as replacement for post-RS (OSE) also ...

@Simon B - love the final(ish) version of the FDL - the almost pointed nose and readjusted positioning of engines with the smoother broader beam all work a treat.

As for piccie hosting - PHOTOBUCKET is your friend - simple, free and easy to set up.

Beautiful work again Simon with these latest designs, I am totally going to normal map that Gecko from a few pages back, i think it's lush!

The latest incarnation FDL looks great! Maybe a similar(ish) shape, the other way around, and a little bit shorter and fatter, could work well for the Moray – sort of a swallow-dive look ... ?

@Simon B

I have a question.

Are these excellent ships only upgrades to the flight model or do they also come with a sort of V2.0 specs when compared to the orgininal model?

Great to have you here making these great models. In my opinion you have a real own style of ship designing. Gr8

Thank you everyone - taking the ceo on an eva seems to have klinched the contract pdq.

We shall see a single-nozzle model as the market norm, and the above, fully featured, model for those who must have the best of everything.

One of the things about how the fdl plays as an npc is that I ended up hating the hunters who used them - these have got to be rich kids flying on daddies money and here I am as a fugitive because I've been forced to smuggle narcotics to make ends meet or I've been helping out the freedom fighters on some outpost world. Then some smart-alec in a super-yacht starts mouthing off and shooting at me!

Adding gun ports instrument mounts to the upper-hull allowed me to widen it without adding to the "got a cold" look. This should make a twi-laser hunter look pretty interesting. Putting them high takes the design an extra step away from BSG, as does pidgeon-toe-ing the engines ... with the distortion to the housing, I can tuck them in tighter so they look more integral.

I can imagine someone adding a third in the back for a super-fast version.

Increasing engines will increase power and mass. Presumably speed. In true lux-craft style, I'll do nothing to the manoeuvrability and increase the stopping distance.

The standard stats are:

energy_recharge_rate = 4.5;
max_cargo = 12;
max_energy = 150;
max_flight_pitch = 1;
max_flight_roll = 3.6;
max_flight_speed = 300;
thrust = 36; (player=25)

If the engines have a density like 5 or 6 (solid steel is 8) then the main hull has lots of space, with a mean density around 0.2-0.3? The engine iself will occupy a chunk of that volume so how about:

Single-engine:
energy_recharge_rate = 4.5;
max_cargo = 7;
max_energy = 150;
max_flight_pitch = 1;
max_flight_roll = 3.6;
max_flight_speed = 300;
thrust = 25;

Twin Engine
energy_recharge_rate = 5.5;
density = 2;
max_cargo = 12;
max_energy = 250;
max_flight_pitch = 1;
max_flight_roll = 3.6;
max_flight_speed = 400;
thrust = 36;

That pink coloring is from a builders sample sheet - you can get your house painted like that. It looks really good in the game, I've used it to reskin the standard fdl.

I thought another color scheme - say, yellow with black stripes?

I have designed the texture to have big contiguous spaces for custom paintwork, since that is a feature (accident) of the standard model.

BTW: you can see some seam lines in the snapshot ... the only way to eliminate this is to do same clever unfolding and I don't think I have the tools.

That model is the super-smooth one with a pointy nose (see, told you you'd want to see it) designated nfdl-s.obj in the archive. Someone with a cool tool <cough>maya</cough> and the skills (not looking at anyone scarecrow) could try getting a better uv map??? <bambi eyes>

It should be obvious which bits need to be continuous - the hard part will be keeping the paint/decal areas easy to draw on.

Anybody?


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so
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what ext ... I know...

Continuing - when tackling a difficult design, take a break with a simple one. The transit Van was actually the model for this craft - the Worm has to look innocent. So naturally it is a favorite for covert operatives...


Caveat: That worm-guy pic is not in my "cleared for oolite" folder - I seem to recall it being used as a search icon in a web page but have been unable to locate it for it's license.

[edit]here it is ... not found the site license. It's a library, so maybe I can borrow it?

Of course - worms don't have to be silly:

Simon B wrote:

I thought another color scheme - say, yellow with black stripes?

A wasp style? Could look nice!

I'm not sure if it would work for any ship in the game...but have you ever seen one of those big dragonflies in blue-black? Amazing...

The friend who pointed me to oolite now had a look at this thread after I did point him there. He was very happy and especially liked Python and FDL, I won't repeat his german words, but he did end: "That's the power of open source"

I've managed downloading the ships, the link you have on your webpage is broken, though, as you've got two typos in it:
http://www.hbclinux.net.nz/oolite/neolite.oxp.tor.bz
correct and working is, of course:
http://www.hbclinux.net.nz/oolite/neolite.oxp.tar.gz

Guess everyone could figure that out, anyway...

Screet

Screet wrote:

Simon B wrote:

I thought another color scheme - say, yellow with black stripes?

A wasp style? Could look nice!

Well, I was thinking like the yellow one below:


... but now you mention it...

Moray Star/Medical Boat


I started out thinking in terms of a helicopter - you know - blunt front, pointy back. The striking things about the moray are the exhaust (inset in the tail) and the way it looks like it's flying backwards. I believe I've captured those effects.

I kept the chunky military look, but put the smooth bits on the front instead of the back. Despite helo aspirations, it ended up with a gull-wing look ... maybe a hawk? The wireframe shows that it still has the lines of the original.

.............
If you want to know how hard that FDL was to do - just consider how fast I polished off an eva man, a worm and two morays :)

The important issue with the Moray is that it's originally a submarine (and still able to be flown underwater as well), not a helicopter.

Don't really see that in your design. Looks like a bat to me. And bats are not specifically renowned for their underwater capabilities.

Lovely design, what if you put some stuff on the back of the moray to suggest a sort ot 'tail', make it a bit for moray like?
edit: gah! i thought a moray was that flat fish thing, like in 'finding nemo' - that school teacher one voiced by john ratzenburger? that's what your moray design reminds me of, this isn't supposed to be a negative post - it really like that design!