Wing Commander Prophecy: Secret Ops Model Update Pack

Update for everyone. I'm currently working with @gr1mre4per testing his new collision mesh building tool (aka. the cursed tree!) So far things are going pretty smoothly. I was finally able to create a destroyable Vesuvius bridge! Hooray! Still working out the bugs with large IFF files, but we should have a solid working version soon!

TCS Maria Magdelena...all blowed up...

collmeshtest2.jpg
 
MUP Status Report: So far working with the tree tool is proceeding well. We've stamped out the issue with large trees so we can I can keep working on doing collision meshes for the cap ship hulls, and also tinker with some tricks I had in mind to use illuminated parts on the main ship hulls. So the next release is being expanded to include the previously mentioned additions plus two Capships: Vesuvius and the Cerberus! It'll delay the release a bit, but hopefully it'll be worth it. I'll post some in-game shots when I finish the modelling and conversion processes.
 
Author's note: This post is best read in a 1920's Gramophone announcer voice...

COMING SOON!

For your escorting pleasure! It's the ugliest ship in known space! It's...the C-9 PELICAN!!! (insert canned applause)
C9Clay1.jpg

THRILL!
As it lumbers stupidly through Devil Ray infested space! Woefully undergunned and lacking in anything resembling adequate defenses; in either light or heavy load configurations!

C9Clay6.jpg


MARVEL!

At useless detail added at great expenditure of time by the modeller which will likely go unnoticed in the frantic pace of combat in the empty vacuum of the interstellar void! Details like FULLY ARTICULATED cargo grabby things! And lots of wasted tris on hand railings on the cargo deck! Lets not forget, engines with real vents on them!

C9Clay3.jpg C9Clay4.jpg C9Clay2.jpg C9Clay5.jpg

AMAZE!

Your friends by being able to save more than one of these fat targets on any series of missions! And as if that weren't incentive enough, you get to deal with an ungrateful transport captain who must be bullied into supplying your warship with needed supplies! (Canned laugh track, mournful tuba hit) Uh oh Johnny Quest - that was the wrong play today!

C9Clay7.jpg


Yes siree Bob! From a bridge that looks like a barn-on-a-stick, to a prow that serves no seeming purpose other than to create a navigational hazard, this baby will lug your goods all over the Confederation with ease*. The C-9 Pelican! Coming soon to a model upgrade pack near you!
 
I am pleased! That's some really fine details. Hey, don't forget to make a variant with tanks instead of containers! Why, we can call it a Diligent Pelican - or Dilican for short!

...No, but seriously - do make a tanker variant. And a Border Worlds variant. Actually, I'd also love to see a couple of civilian variants, with a different colour scheme, and more colourful cargo containers, with big logos of fictional shipping companies. And perhaps more containers, so it looks a bit like this (minus the damage). And if you do do a civilian variant, then you should also revise the textures on the Confed variant to actually slap some Confed insignia on it (clearly, they did their best to keep the original Pelicans as generic as possible to save themselves the trouble - but we like trouble!).

As for the prow... I'm sure there's a logical explanation. It probably involves alcohol.

Speaking of useless ships, I hope you also find time to work on the Copernicus class from the WCP intro. And of course, one day, you've gotta do that mining pod thing. Because surely, there are no higher priorities than that ;).
 
I was planning on a tanker and a tug variant of the Pelican, it could also probably make a decent refinery/mining ship as well, considering it's basically a framework with engines strapped on it.
 
DefianceIndustries said:
I was planning on a tanker and a tug variant of the Pelican, it could also probably make a decent refinery/mining ship as well, considering it's basically a framework with engines strapped on it.
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by the Dark Gods, Defiance... why is it that every 3rd phrase that comes from your account to this forum gives me an idea for a new scene? Can't I even finish the first mission for WCP without you giving me 9 more ideas for other missions?!
 
Adm_maverick said:
by the Dark Gods, Defiance... why is it that every 3rd phrase that comes from your account to this forum gives me an idea for a new scene? Can't I even finish the first mission for WCP without you giving me 9 more ideas for other missions?!
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Take notes and carry on pilot.

Just don't overburden yourself with ideas that you lose focus on your immediate goals.
 
Hey all Update on Alpha 0.2: I got some free time this weekend and was able to iron out some of the issues with the additional features in the next release as well as finish making a fully explodable Vesuvius, and I was able to confirm my theory on how to make extra illuminated objects like the hull windows dim/explode with the rest of the ship, it's kind of a hinkey work around but it allows for better visual effects. I didn't get it completely turreted yet, so it'll likely be a another day or so before its ready. but here's a quick shot of the new Vesuvius with it's laser battery installed: (I still have to finish the missile, mass driver, and AMG turrets)

Ves_TurretWIP.jpg


The poor Excal jockey in this image is under the concentrated laser fire of six turrets. he didn't finish his gun run on the turret he was aiming for...

****EDIT

Because I'm a total insomniac tonight for whatever reason, I did manage to throw on the AMG turrets as well. Here's a sequence of images detailing a head-on approach. I recommend using the 5 D's of Dodgeball...
Ves-AMG2.jpg ves-AMG3.jpg VES-AMG4.jpg Ves-AMG1.jpg

Oh and those unused turret pads in the last image...future home of IMREC launchers. WHEEEEEE! I really think the Vesuvius is something of the spiritual successor to the Confederation-Class Dreadnought. A fleet-carrier-cum-battleship.

Also I'm putting off playing Andromeda for this...so THIS is how much I love you all! ;)
 
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DefianceIndustries said:
{Defiance shows some awesome stuff}
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So you're doing this just to annoy me with everything that could be on screen with my WCP video series if you ever finish this project and if you port it to include WCP, aren't you?

Seriously, I'm imagining the shot from the mission where you go in to destroy the Alien's comm array and then lead the Alien counter attack back into an ambush with support from the TCS Eisen. In my version its a Vesuvius class super-carrier flanked by a pair of Murphy class destroyers jumping in and launching it's full wing of Vampire fighters. Those fighters move in to flank your own attack wing as you and they take out the counter attack only for an emergency call from the Eisen comes in saying they're under attack by an alien destroyer group so you get re-routed mid-mission to try and save the Eisen who with out it's primary fighter wing is desperately trying to pull out using it's Devastators for a running retreat operation. As an Alien destroyer moves in for the kill against the Eisen, the Captain of the Shield Breaker (one of the Murphys) breaks rank with the Eisen to drop back and take several hits that had been directed at the Eisen. The hits causing critical damage to its engines, we see arcs of lighting start dancing across the surface of the ship as the captain orders an evacuation. An order that is denied by the bridge crew as they realize the captain isn't leaving and instead the bridge crew opts to carry out one last effort to save the Eisen. Aiming their ship directly at the lead alien destroyer, they take the engines to 100%, one of them exploding in the process. They manage to fire off one last shot from the plasma cannon at the front of the ship, the blast smashing into the bridge of the Destroyer, but the cost of the shot causing the front of Shield Breaker to explode in flame and fire even as the ship itself powers forward to smash into the destroyer forcing it off course and into the path of a second destroyer forcing the entire alien Capital ship group to break rank buying the Eisen and the other Murphy time to escape, and allowing the Fighters from the Midway to link up with the fleeing Eisen. The Eisen captain radios the Midway informing them of the damage to their landing bays and their inability to take their fighters back on board and the Wolf Pack is being transferred to the Midway.

You see what you're doing to me?
 
Adm_maverick said:
WCP video series if you ever finish this project and if you port it to include WCP, aren't you?
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Well I fully intend to finish this. I don't like unfinished things in general. :). That said it's a mod So I get done what I can as I can.

For your second "If": watch this space.

finally, I like the idea above. I might suggest adding a Hydra in the mix as Orcas aren't particularly threatening to a Vesuvius. The Hydra though... Another story.
 
DefianceIndustries said:
Well I fully intend to finish this. I don't like unfinished things in general. :). That said it's a mod So I get done what I can as I can.

For your second "If": watch this space.

finally, I like the idea above. I might suggest adding a Hydra in the mix as Orcas aren't particularly threatening to a Vesuvius. The Hydra though... Another story.
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Same point. I literally wrote that description up on the fly. No cross-checking or detail confirmation.
 
You don't need to play Andromeda because you can see it from your .sec file! (Which looks awfully familiar by the by, is it mine?) I'll play Andromeda for you, don't you worry. ;)

Been watching this for a while, played your released build, and I'm thoroughly impressed with the work put in. You've been doing a very good job thus far. I've managed to break it a few times, spawning in a large scale battle that would normally crash due to the sheer number of ships works now, until enough weapons/missiles are launched, then it crashes due to the number of projectiles being spawned at one time. I don't know if comm backup (hundreds of AI trying to taunt/talk at once causes a backlog of "comm requests") would crash the game eventually too. But none of these would be an issue in the main game of SO.
 
Lt.Overload said:
I don't know if comm backup (hundreds of AI trying to taunt/talk at once causes a backlog of "comm requests") would crash the game eventually too.
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That, at least, should not be an issue. The WCP/SO comm system is quite robust, because it's already designed to cull excessive comms. Even with the number of ships you have in WCP, you'd quickly run into trouble without a prioritised comms queue, where things like taunts are treated as lower priority than, say, a wingman's request for help. And of course, even among taunts, you get the higher-priority taunts aimed at the player, and lower-priority taunts that AI pilots trade among themselves. What all this means is that potentially, a comm could be played a minute or two after it had originally been triggered - by which point it would be irrelevant. So, yeah, most comms have a queue life of about 10-20 seconds (more or less).
 
Quarto said:
That, at least, should not be an issue. The WCP/SO comm system is quite robust, because it's already designed to cull excessive comms. Even with the number of ships you have in WCP, you'd quickly run into trouble without a prioritised comms queue, where things like taunts are treated as lower priority than, say, a wingman's request for help. And of course, even among taunts, you get the higher-priority taunts aimed at the player, and lower-priority taunts that AI pilots trade among themselves. What all this means is that potentially, a comm could be played a minute or two after it had originally been triggered - by which point it would be irrelevant. So, yeah, most comms have a queue life of about 10-20 seconds (more or less).
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I took a picture of an error message I got once, I thought it had something to do with comms stacking up?
OCJpOAV.png
 
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