far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Thanks all for the good suggestions and kaladorn for your in depth review. In response to your points...
I'm still trying to decide what tools to do a final version in if I want to style it up a notch. There are many I have but none have I mastered
It's close. I thought about making it squared to fill in the volume but a dish seemed better, to um, focus the gravitons
Well, in truth I was going for simple visual clues for function. Thrusters are bell or cylindrical, Powerplants are squared with trapezoidal faces, and Jump drives are dumb-bell shaped.
I actually have most of the deckplans in various stages of doneness, just happened the Type A fell together to "finished"* first so I figured I'd see what the interest level was and if I should be considering other directions.
* If the design system doesn't change again or I run into more problems with the profile
My feelings too, and it's easy to do both the level 1 and 2 versions. The photoshop (or other) layers idea above would make it a snap, er, clickOriginally posted by kaladorn:
1) If you're going to do it, do level 2. It is still useful in a game. If find some classic CT plans dont' show internal detail and thus aren't as useful. Showing where berths, desks, etc. are gives some utility. Really though, if you made one of level 1, then added the detail for level 2, you could release both.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)
Yep, again we have the same wants.Originally posted by kaladorn:
2) I'm not a fan of colour on these. Honestly, I'm not trying to distract my players from the game. Stuff like colour tends to do that - it sometimes visually confuses the situation. You want to see the player's miniatures (and hostiles) clearly in this kind of setup. (YMMV)
I'd love to do Scarecrow quality renders but my little talents lie elsewhere.Originally posted by kaladorn:
3) I'd love to see Scarecrow style renders... but ONLY if you can do at least as well as MadDog's renders and ideally (in a fantasy world, since not everyone is a professional CGI artist like Scarecrow) as good as the Crow. What I'm getting at here is to feel 'sharp', they need to be done well. Now, maybe you can draw on some of the folks who are pros to help critique and amend initial versions up to a high standard on the final product.
YES! If I had the money I'd be commissioning him and/or Bryan or some of the other talented folk here to render my gearheadingOriginally posted by kaladorn:
I think Scarecrow should bleedin' well be hired to do interiors of ANY ship players are meant to play on. His renders are like the interior line art pics of ship stations in SOM brought live, since they include details as funky as views out of staterooms into space, reflections of light off of glass and other reflective surfaces, very interesting lighting, practical design, etc. It is *very* tough to match that level. But yeah, if you come even close, you can show a player and they can *feel* that they are in that scene. Ideally one render for each key locale, just like SOM did.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)
The dark gray hemisphere with the "finned" hull area? That would be (in this case) one of the two thrusters. Total thruster volume for 1G is 4tons. Divided in half is 2tons per thruster. Then, the way I figure components, about half that volume is the actual thruster and the rest is for easy maintenance access around it and to it. So each "thruster" shows as about 1ton, or two squares more or lessOriginally posted by kaladorn:
I like the design except I'm dubious about what looks like one of the thruster cones at the rear. It looks like a *really small* unit on the bottom right. Unless that's an airlock?
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)
Thanks. It's been an ongoing project to do all of them since I have most of the mini's (only 2 of most and I'm still tuning some of them with filler and files, but some day they'll see paintOriginally posted by kaladorn:
The idea of doing a proper 200 ton design following the old model is fantastic though. I actually have several of them. I found someone either making knockoffs or who had access to the original moulds some time ago, and purchased just about one or two of every traveller ship. I think I have 4 Type As.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)
I actually have most of the deckplans in various stages of doneness, just happened the Type A fell together to "finished"* first so I figured I'd see what the interest level was and if I should be considering other directions.
* If the design system doesn't change again or I run into more problems with the profile
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)
That sounds very interesting, any plans to maybe submit it for publication or posting to share?Originally posted by kaladorn:
I did a design for a fast high priority armed cargo transport on a 300 ton hull. I found crew space *cramped* to say the least to get a decent bit of jump engine and a high G M drive in there along with some cargo, lots of fuel (to drive the ridiculous fuel requirements of an MT masking system for that powerful of a ship), etc. It really does have the 'submarine' feel.
Thanks much for the encouragement, it's needed everytime I look at what some of the real talents are putting out hereOriginally posted by kaladorn:
Keep up the good work, keep us posted.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1cfd60796e07197b75d7b7de95fa9177)