Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy

[Gimi]

Cim's proposal sounds really brilliant. Is there anyway we can tie that into snoopers and have announcements like.

"Her Imperial Majesties Space Navy" is deploying from Xxx to Yxx to conduct manoeuvre and combat exercises. Pilots are advised to stay well clear of the task group."

Where Xxx and Yyy is provided by the scripting cim suggested. This would of course be a rare event, and only happen for exercises, never for operational deployments. It would give the player an incentive to go look.

[Smivs]

Is there anyway we can tie that into snoopers and have announcements ....

I would personally favour having any nice touches and details like this built into the OXP itself. The problem of course is that players who (in this case) don't use 'Snoopers' will not get such messages.

[Norby]

players who don't use 'Snoopers' will not get such messages.

A possible solution:

Code: Select all

if( !worldScripts["snoopers"] ) player.commsMessage("HIMSN is deploying...");

[Keeper]

On another note. Anyone here capable of making textures and logos for HIMSN.
When the discussions took a break I was looking at "Imperial White".
Something like this:

Not sure how that would look "non shaded" though.

Creating a realistic white paint job is difficult, but not impossible. It's easy to over-do it and end up with something that looks like it's glowing, and it's also easy to under-do it and end up with something that just looks metallic, like in your screenshot.

If I may say so myself, a very good implementation of a white paint job on a shaded ship is my GalaxyMart Anaconda from my YAH Haulers OXP. It involves not just painting it white. You need to make it off-white so light can be applied to it, and you should mix in a bit of the specular map to create greater contrast on the diffuse map itself. Usually, templates intended to make a ship look metallic will prevent you from making the ship look actually painted white, so there's some finagling involved.

I can create a white ship for you if you like. I can't do fancy designs or logos, though; I'm definitely no artist!

[Gimi]

Creating a realistic white paint job is difficult, but not impossible. It's easy to over-do it and end up with something that looks like it's glowing, and it's also easy to under-do it and end up with something that just looks metallic, like in your screenshot.

If I may say so myself, a very good implementation of a white paint job on a shaded ship is my GalaxyMart Anaconda from my YAH Haulers OXP. It involves not just painting it white. You need to make it off-white so light can be applied to it, and you should mix in a bit of the specular map to create greater contrast on the diffuse map itself. Usually, templates intended to make a ship look metallic will prevent you from making the ship look actually painted white, so there's some finagling involved.

I can create a white ship for you if you like. I can't do fancy designs or logos, though; I'm definitely no artist!

Would be great if you could give it a go.
As it stands the plan is to use the stock Griff models with adjusted textures (might change in the future). I was hoping to use decals to create variation in the markings, but I understand that that requires shaders. Given that I would like HIMSN to be accessible to all I I think it would be preferable to start with a non shaded versions.

When I created that white/greyish texture for the cobra I played around with the Respray for Griffs oxp and I like the result. So something looking white and a bit worn. Blackening around engines and vents would be cool. I would also like to test out having a green light on starboard (right) and a red light on port (left) side of the ship flashing very slowly Oc(1s) just to see how it looks.

The idea with the lights would be that they are used during transit but turned off during combat.

Ships in question are:

Griff Sidewinder
Griff Anaconda
Griff Asp
Griff Constrictor
Smivs Cruiser (You should consult with Smivs on this one)

The Constrictor should also have a black/dark version (possibly the only version, so start with the black version).

[Cody]

The idea with the lights would be that they are used during transit but turned off during combat.

Yep - that'd be cool.

The Constrictor should also have a black/dark version (possibly the only version, so start with the black version).

<nods> Definitely always dark - very difficult to eyeball, if possible.

[Cody]

Thinking about the Constrictor sent me off at a tangent - could an NPC equipped with a military jammer turn it on and off?

[Disembodied]

For logos, it really depends on what you want. I'd go for something simple and distinctive, that would work at various sizes, from a decal on a ship to something painted across the face of a space station. I'd also avoid too much conscious connection to anything connected to a surface Navy (anchors, tridents, etc.) or to imperial-age British/European royal courts (the whole "Her Imperial Majesty's ..." bit is something best downplayed, I think, and this is a multi-planet, multi-species Navy).

Ideally, it should be something that can be easily identifiable from long distance. A multi-pointed star (eight points perhaps, for the eight galaxies) would be a possibility. Or maybe a (very) simplified representation of a spiral galaxy. Some possible ideas:

[Gimi]

Ideally, it should be something that can be easily identifiable from long distance. A multi-pointed star (eight points perhaps, for the eight galaxies) would be a possibility. Or maybe a (very) simplified representation of a spiral galaxy. Some possible ideas:

Like these two. Would like to see something "imeperial" so I wonder, how would a simple and stylised closed crown on top look?

Edit: Initially my intention was to stay away from stars as GALNAV uses a star, but the eight pointed star looks very good. While I want to pull in stuff from RL navies, putting anchors and it's like in was never on the table. Doesn't fit in.

[Smivs]

...putting anchors and it's like in was never on the table. Doesn't fit in.

Some traditions do tend to stick around though - many computery things still use a stylised floppy disc as a 'save' symbol
But seriously, whatever works for this. Stars are a bit old-hat in my opinion, but whatever is chosen does (as has been pointed out) need to work big and small and in all sorts of applications.

[Cody]

If it was to be a star-type logo, this variety might work.

[Disembodied]

Like these two. Would like to see something "imeperial" so I wonder, how would a simple and stylised closed crown on top look?

Something like this:

Or this:

The crown on its own:

[Smivs]

...that white/greyish texture...
Ships in question are:
Smivs Cruiser (You should consult with Smivs on this one)

Smivs reporting for consultation, Sir! <salutes>
I hadn't considered the cruiser in white and while originally sceptical, I am liking the idea more the longer I think about it.

If I get time, I'll try to knock out a quick Asp or something as a demo/proof of concept, but with the Smivslets on half-term and me halfway through a major computer overhaul it may be a day or two before I have anything to show.

Maybe I'll put the Asp on the back-burner and look at the cruiser instead. At this stage we just want a proof-of-concept on a suitable texture (colour and reflectiveness/shinyness), so I'll work on an un-adorned hull for the cruiser for now. If it is OK the cruiser can be finished off, and the smaller ships given the same treatment.

I was hoping someone with a drawing talent could make a flag, take Smivs logo and increase the detail on it....

The Cruiser's logo is an adaptation of a logo I found online. It consists of a crown, wings and anchors, so may not be entirely suitable.


I do have a 1000x1000px .png master of this if anybody wants a look.

On another note, should this thread make its way to Expansion Pack? It's gone way past the 'suggestion' phase!

[Disembodied]

Star with alternative diadem-style crown:

[Smivs]

Is it just me, or do those 'nested' stars look a bit too much like cartoon explosions?