Capships
- Thread starter Eder
- Start date
Eder
Mr. Standoff
I saw the lower half of that Dorkathi shot you tried to send me yesterday... Looks pretty good. Here's my advice: you could either add some plating detail to it, or perhaprs you could just try using a bump map and some lighting effects, and using the end result as the textures. (something I wanted to do with the Standoff capships, but it takes too much time... but I think I've already got myself a good capship texture formula... the one I'm using on the CVE)
By the way, here's a Confed Gladius and another CVE shot, from the End-Run cover camera angle
(BTW, I've been updating that first CVE shot every day, as I texture it... and TCS Berkeley is just the thing's code-name, until the storyline's reached final version... I'm open to suggestions)
--Eder
By the way, here's a Confed Gladius and another CVE shot, from the End-Run cover camera angle
(BTW, I've been updating that first CVE shot every day, as I texture it... and TCS Berkeley is just the thing's code-name, until the storyline's reached final version... I'm open to suggestions)
--Eder
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Originally posted by Quarto
Hey, have you been interbreeding Gladiae and Epees?
Yep. I needed a light fighter capable of carrying torpedoes, and I guess that the Gladius (Privateer variant) is the best one there is around 2669.
Midway-class carriers already rule out most of the Pacific-themed options, so I'll probably go for some crazy Russian-themed name, which I think is kinda cool actually
--Eder
Thymerlord
Rear Admiral
WOW! Hows that for a comment
Mekt-Hakkikt
Mpanty's bane
Can't talk, too much drooling...
Edit: Wait, now that I looked at it a bit more closely there are some things that seem not entirely correct to me (which isn't necessarily right): I think the two "horns" at the front are a bit too short and the triangles following it not pointed enough towards the front (can't express it better, sorry). And for some reason the textures don't look as realistic as from your fighters in my eyes. The bridge also seems different than that on the cover of End Run and the "missiles" Quarto mentioned are still missing, though these points you are probably fully aware of.
Still, looks extremely nice. Especially the little Confed signs are beautiful.
Edit: Wait, now that I looked at it a bit more closely there are some things that seem not entirely correct to me (which isn't necessarily right): I think the two "horns" at the front are a bit too short and the triangles following it not pointed enough towards the front (can't express it better, sorry). And for some reason the textures don't look as realistic as from your fighters in my eyes. The bridge also seems different than that on the cover of End Run and the "missiles" Quarto mentioned are still missing, though these points you are probably fully aware of.
Still, looks extremely nice. Especially the little Confed signs are beautiful.
Eder
Mr. Standoff
This is probably because the End Run cover seems to have some "fish-eye lens" effect on it - the things that are closer to the viewer look bigger than they are, and the things which are farther away, look smaller than they are (that's the best explanation I could come up with for the proportions on that image... I really don't think that the back of the ship is supposed to be as small as it looks in that drawing. I mean, if you don't use this theory that the lens are distorting the image, then either the ship would be veeeeery long, or the Bridge would be smaller than the turrets which are on the front part of the flight deck! I hope you can understand me here...)
Check the previous shot on this thread, the one right below the Gladius shot. Do you think it looks more accurate there? That one has the lens set to distort the image, just like I think the End Run cover image does.
Unfortunately, this is one of my first attempts at capship texturing, and I just don't have a tried-and-true formula for texturing them like I do for fighters (years of experience there, my man
). Could you try to tell me what you think could be better in these textures? I really need to practice capship texturing if I want to improve it...Yep. The missiles will be replaced with missile turrets. The bridge and the "big front thing" <G> are intentionally different than the End Run cover... The hangar is also easy to approach, as opposed to the Tarawa's hangar as described in End Run. I wanted to make this ship into some sort of variant of the Tarawa-class which has minor differences, so that I don't have to worry about staying true to information found on End Run all the time. For instance, I can just add or subtract turrets from this ship, without having to worry about how many turrets the Tarawa had, and where they were placed.... this is extremely necessary, since this is going to be included in a game, and games need a balanced gameplay... except the ones which suck
Thank you, thank you very much!
Edit: BTW, does anyone have a clue how long this thing is? I'm guessing somewhere around 500-600 meters... what do you think?
--Eder
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
Nice, very nice! And as for the textures, rest assured that they are a lot better than your Waterloo 
.
Now, two issues - one, the 'missile' things. They're not actually missiles (they're huge!), so it's not all right to replace them with missile turrets.
The other thing is the name. Henderson doesn't really mean much to most people, since we generally hear about Henderson Field. Actually, I'm not even sure if it's appropriate to use Henderson all by itself. Since Henderson Field would be too long to fit on the front though, why not just change it to Guadacanal? Same place, different name, is all.
Finally, the length - I think the size would actually be around 300 metres. Why so tiny, you ask? Well, we know that the CVEs use Gilgamesh-class engines - and they can reach just about the same speed as a Gilgamesh. This implies a similar mass as the Gilgamesh-class - around 10,000 tonnes.
The question now is how to translate the mass into length - a pretty bizarre thing to do, since technically there's no reason why the two should be related. Still, assuming similar capships are constructed of similar materials, comparing their mass/length ratio should give us some sort of idea, right?
Anyway, looking at WC2 capships, I found that for most Confed ships (except the Concordia), the ratio is between 24 (Free Trader) and 55 (Clydesdale) tonnes per metre. Using these numbers as a basis, we can find out that with its mass of roughly 10,000 tonnes, the CVE is likely to have a length between 182 and 417 metres. With such a wide divergence, I'd say that the best thing to do would be to take an average of the two - 300 metres. If you're concerned that this is too small, add 20-50 metres to it. I wouldn't go beyond that though, because if the 500-metre Waterloo can squeeze 40 fighters aboard without sacrificing any of its cruiseriness)), then 300-350 metres should be more than enough for 45 fighters on a full-time carrier.
.Now, two issues - one, the 'missile' things. They're not actually missiles (they're huge!), so it's not all right to replace them with missile turrets
.The other thing is the name. Henderson doesn't really mean much to most people, since we generally hear about Henderson Field. Actually, I'm not even sure if it's appropriate to use Henderson all by itself. Since Henderson Field would be too long to fit on the front though, why not just change it to Guadacanal? Same place, different name, is all.
Finally, the length - I think the size would actually be around 300 metres. Why so tiny, you ask? Well, we know that the CVEs use Gilgamesh-class engines - and they can reach just about the same speed as a Gilgamesh. This implies a similar mass as the Gilgamesh-class - around 10,000 tonnes.
The question now is how to translate the mass into length - a pretty bizarre thing to do, since technically there's no reason why the two should be related. Still, assuming similar capships are constructed of similar materials, comparing their mass/length ratio should give us some sort of idea, right?
Anyway, looking at WC2 capships, I found that for most Confed ships (except the Concordia), the ratio is between 24 (Free Trader) and 55 (Clydesdale) tonnes per metre. Using these numbers as a basis, we can find out that with its mass of roughly 10,000 tonnes, the CVE is likely to have a length between 182 and 417 metres. With such a wide divergence, I'd say that the best thing to do would be to take an average of the two - 300 metres. If you're concerned that this is too small, add 20-50 metres to it. I wouldn't go beyond that though, because if the 500-metre Waterloo can squeeze 40 fighters aboard without sacrificing any of its cruiseriness
)), then 300-350 metres should be more than enough for 45 fighters on a full-time carrier.
Mekt-Hakkikt
Mpanty's bane
Ok, I'll try to say some sensible and helpful things:
That's what I feared. You know I am very good at cmplaining but giving useful and constructive advice is not my strength. Still, I'll try:
The windows, they just look too plain and the silver-grey is not good IMVHO. I'd suggest making it a bit darker, same applies to the green.
Errm, yes, that's all. Please do not thank me for helping you because I'd know you are lying.
I too wouldn't make it so big. Not only for the reasons Quarto mentioned but also to keep in mind that they were bulid from transports. I know, transports can be very large but some reasons I can't remember any transport measuring 400 or 500 metres in the WC universe.
That may well be the reason for it. And yes, I think the Gladius looks more accurate.
Unfortunately, this is one of my first attempts at capship texturing, and I just don't have a tried-and-true formula for texturing them like I do for fighters (years of experience there, my man
That's what I feared. You know I am very good at cmplaining but giving useful and constructive advice is not my strength.
Still, I'll try:The windows, they just look too plain and the silver-grey is not good IMVHO. I'd suggest making it a bit darker, same applies to the green.
Errm, yes, that's all. Please do not thank me for helping you because I'd know you are lying.
I too wouldn't make it so big. Not only for the reasons Quarto mentioned but also to keep in mind that they were bulid from transports. I know, transports can be very large but some reasons I can't remember any transport measuring 400 or 500 metres in the WC universe.
KillerWave
Spaceman
Eder check your e-mail 
Id say its about 80% complete.
Id say its about 80% complete.
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Well, that's not much praise
But I'll follow Mekt's suggestions and try to make them better... then, once I've got it right, I'll retexture the Waterloo, and maybe the Gilgamesh (Which KW just fixed for me... yay!)Oh, but you're talking about the Tarawa. This one has small differences. Like, two missile turrets instead of two big round things.
You mean Guadalcanal? <G> I thought about it, but... wouldn't that sound just too damned cheesy and cliche?
Okay, I'll scale it to something between 350 and 400 meters.... depending on how big the hangar turns out (it has to fit a 20+ meter wide sabre through its doors, after all)
One last question for those of you who managed to get a copy of End Run with its vowels intact <G>... Is this thing supposed to fly around by itself, or does it usually have escorts, like a destroyer or something?
--Eder
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
Heh, that's high praise coming from me
. Seriously, I like the CVE, but I really don't like the Waterloo textures - the edges of the armour plates are too visible.Ahhh, well since you put it that way
.Well, if you don't mind the Hollywood romance undertones, you could go with TCS Casablanca
. Other than that, you could do TCS Sicily, or if you wanted to be a bit more up to date, there could always be a TCS Firekka (hey, why not? There's a CVE named TCS Enigma).Well now, that depends on its mission. For a simple fighter transport run, a CVE probably wouldn't have an escort. But for more dangerous missions - you know, attacks on important planets, jumps into Kilrah and such - they have been known to bring Ventures and/or Gilgameshes with them, or even to join up with other CVEs. Me, I'd go with the Ventures, since they're sooo neat.
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Well, here's my opinion: the Waterloo textures, to put it simply, suck
I'm glad I've learned at least a little more on texturing since then.Hmm, I like all of those. Except Casablanca! <G> Just a question, though... Where did you come up with Sicily? I don't get it.
Well, well, well... Great minds think alike
I've got Ventures already in texturing stage... I managed to make this one look quite accurate, since it's such a simple design.
--Eder
