RFC: Fancy classics

[ZygoUgo]

Okay here she is a bit less designer jobbie..



The writings a bit fuzzy but that's easy fixed.

[Screet]

Okay here she is a bit less designer jobbie..

"Surrender or be destroyed, this ship survived far more battles than yours!" ...at least it looks that way!

Screet

[ZygoUgo]

Yeah think the dark blue's a bit too battered, suppose I'll take those decals off that don't match her now, she'll look a bit smarter then.
Probably more paint than weld in those laser holes!
Shall I go with this one? (And yes I'll save the basics of the other design for a civvie version, do we get those or is that in an OXP?)

[Screet]

Yeah think the dark blue's a bit too battered, suppose I'll take those decals off that don't match her now, she'll look a bit smarter then.
Probably more paint than weld in those laser holes!
Shall I go with this one? (And yes I'll save the basics of the other design for a civvie version, do we get those or is that in an OXP?)

With assassins there are NPCs flying a "civic" version of the viper, just as one comes with the anarchies.
Using RS I've seen vipers for sale. IIRC there were non offered without that oxp, but I think it makes sense not to restrict them to police only. RL police typically sells their cars after some years to public customers!

About the ship being battered: is there an easy way to make such signs of earlier fights a random thing? E.g. the colors varying between "brand new" and a look like the one you did post? Maybe via some (alpha?) channel which adds these dents and color changes and can be configured by a random number of intensity? That would add a great deal of depth to the game! Next thing is to start dreaming about adding that number also to the pilots skill (a veteran does fight better).

Screet

[Pangloss]

Perhaps something like the UNS Valiant?



Best wishes,
Oscar

Or this...



Captain Scarlett (boh-boh-bohmm, bu-bu-bu-bohmm).

[Simon B]

Before condemning the galcop livery as too fancy - consider the following real police cars I'm used to:

From NZ:


... I had thought of doing something like this - but people liked the thin blue stripes.

From UK:



The idea is to be visible - thus more effective as a deterrent.

There is a neat article here.

IIRC: the original idea behind the livery was that it would be an older style. The model is right there - the texture is there - anyone who has a better idea - produce one. Even if it's a scribble - other artists can develope it.

[Screet]

Before condemning the galcop livery as too fancy - consider the following real police cars I'm used to:

WHAT????

Screet, sitting in front of the computer with an open mouth, unable to find words...

[Simon B]

Okay here she is a bit less designer jobbie..

Another nice livery - though there is a reason I do not use English in my designs - there's no reason not to have some.

(I kinda thought it could be an oxp - British Empire worlds ;) )

I have been using the alien fonts from Cumberland Fontworks - martian hullmarkings for official-looking stuff, mexlar numbers for circular glyphs, and yemite snow letters for wiggly aliens script.

(That site is a great resource and the rights-holder is very reasonable about copyrights. He knows his fonts are being used in oolite, and has written to express approval.)

Exceptions - there's arabic on the asp and the adder. Mussurana and FDL have chinese, and the cobra mk3 has japanese - but only because the jap script for "cobra" is too cool to pass up.

Aside: Pictogram based written languages can hold their meanings for longer - even when the pronunciation changes. Witness for anchient egyptian. Styles can change, but the meaning is usually clear across the changes (i.e. the change in chinese for father from a man weilding a rod to a man weilding a broken rod - indicating dissaproval for corporal punishment in the home.) OTOH: making up new words, and learning/typing in them can be a serious pain.

I suspect a mix of script styles will end up in use - we already draw little pictures in our text comms :)

I was startled, in Japan, to find english-headings on signs like "Important Notice" and "Caution"... but the text was in Japanese.

I thought this may be like me putting "Menu" on top of a list of dishes, in english, would appear to a Frenchman ... but it was explained to me that most Japanese have some English and that Roman characters - in English - stand out better than the Japanese "重要な通知" ... see?

I had thought of using cuniform too...

[Simon B]

Before condemning the galcop livery as too fancy - consider the following real police cars I'm used to:

WHAT????

Screet, sitting in front of the computer with an open mouth, unable to find words...

Checks Screet's location in profile - well - not everyone thinks flat green is a good color for a patrol cruiser ;)


BTW: ran across this one for the London Met:

... just when I was thinking British cops were uncool...

BTW: when I say "police cars I'm used to" I mean I'm used to them from the outside ;)

[Wolfwood]

BTW: when I say "police cars I'm used to" I mean I'm used to them from the outside

Too little, too late, my friend. The rumour mill is already at work!

And here's a Finnish police car, just for comparison:

[Simon B]

Yep - sooo - actually, the galcop proposals are toned down compared with real police. Less stark than finnish (though, presumably less complete ... un-finnished? no?), better sence af humour than the german, more relaxed than the british, more formal than the kiwi ... all together a good balance ... and I like the squares.

Of course - you can always trust the USA:

... but that's actually unusual - they go for a butch B&W over there. Otherwise they are quite plain.

[Star Gazer]

Excellent!!

That finish is real 'Dukes of Hazard' stuff!! ...but I can see why few counties would use it!

[Screet]

And here's a Finnish police car, just for comparison:

...so we germans are not alone Those other cars look more like racing team equipment to me!

However, reading the linked wepage, I begin to understand, why there are these differences. German police always uses civil cars to fight speeding and such. They typically try to hide their equipment as good as possible and even take "nasty" steps like forcing people to slow down extremely and have the cam hidden right behind in some areas of germany.

For example, have a speed limit of 100km/h, then turn to 70 at the beginning of a bridge leading over a freeway...then very few meters later, right below the top, 30km! Someone who drives a truck has to keep some speed in order to get over that bridge...flash! another big amount of money gone.

For parking, take the university as example: It took 15 minutes to get there by car, but it took 90 minutes with public transport. The parking lots were free initially, but they did want money from the students (as they don't have a lobby), thus they did set up machines at the entries which would take money, but not return the overpaid money at the entrances of the big places. The smaller ones they equipped with parking meters. Where the potential income wasn't good enough for a parking meter, they did forbid to park the cars anymore, even if the place was built to park your car there. The public transport at that time already was so filled that they often had to ignore old people who did want to enter them! Furthermore, when there's the big annual fair in town, they make the parking lots of the university free, as they don't want to charge families who are going to spend a lot of money anyway.

The reason is, that the police does not want to stop people speeding, but that they have the order to increase the income made by fining the speeding people. Same applies for people trying to find a parking place for their cars. I've seen comments from people of the police labour union being very angry at this, because it turns police against the public and is not even aimed at making things more secure, but the politicians claim they need the money (for their annual income increase?).

The german car shown is pretty new, as it's already silver at the sides - better resale value to the public! The "newest" generation is turning blue instead of green (european policy?!?) and also has the "polizei" written in mirror letters on the front.

But those "police racing team" cars...wow...I'm impressed! I always thought that the miami vice ferrari idea was a fun one for television only.

Thinking about those images, I do believe that those racing editions for police are much better than what we have, it was just absolutely unimaginable to me. It's roughly 25 years since my last visit to the UK, no wonder I did not know!

Screet

[CaptKev]

Here's a few more, it would almost be a pleasure to be done for speeding if you where stopped by a lotus.

[Simon B]

However, reading the linked wepage, I begin to understand, why there are these differences. German police always uses civil cars to fight speeding and such. They typically try to hide their equipment as good as possible and even take "nasty" steps like forcing people to slow down extremely and have the cam hidden right behind in some areas of germany.

So do we - but the emphasis is on prevention.

We call the civic cars "mufti"s. You can tell sometimes by the fact that they are always well maintained and doing exactly the speed limit. Bu, recently, they've started letting the dust settle and using cars which don't look out of place when slow.

From the front, the NZ cars look the same as any white holden in the rear-view mirror. But on preventions, they park with the livery turned to the traffic.

To the effect that, sometimes, a picture of a police car is sufficient to slow traffic down.

For example, have a speed limit of 100km/h, then turn to 70 at the beginning of a bridge leading over a freeway...then very few meters later, right below the top, 30km! Someone who drives a truck has to keep some speed in order to get over that bridge...flash! another big amount of money gone.

Yeah - I've seen a porche get wiped out missing the slowdown turn at the offramp off the autobahn.

Credit to engineering: the driver survived, though the car was unrecognizable.

Here the standard car is called a "Rolls Canardly" because it "rolls" down the hill and "canardly" get up the next one.

The reason is, that the police does not want to stop people speeding, but that they have the order to increase the income made by fining the speeding people.

Well that was the criticism here - so the police need to make it look like they are not liveried tax men.

But those "police racing team" cars...wow...I'm impressed! I always thought that the miami vice ferrari idea was a fun one for television only.

Well we have to be careful with internet pics - some of the cars are photoshop mockups, others are promotions by the car company. Police do not really use ferrari or lotus - at least not as patrol cars ...

But the colorful livery toyotas are the real thing.

Thinking about those images, I do believe that those racing editions for police are much better than what we have, it was just absolutely unimaginable to me.

"better" is subjective and relative. They serve their purpose. No doubt there is a reason behind the flat-color cars too.

In NZ Police cars used to be plain white with traffic patrol black and white.
This was to keep them cheap.

Modern decal stuff mean that it costs about the same to do the whole color thing a it is to just put "POLICE" on the side. (at least, when you are doing a fleet)

It's roughly 25 years since my last visit to the UK, no wonder I did not know!

So you'd have been thinking in terms of the old Rovers?

The brit cars are true too - so is the DoH Sherrif car.

Here's a NZ mufti cop (youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzSGohc3 ... F6&index=1