Best Movie/Computer Game Ships to Convert to CT/HG?

[Ran Targas]

Been told you can rig an XBox controller to work with BSGO; I'll let you know what I find out.

Anyway, I finally found the artists' website who did some of the BSG ships I like the most; see the link:

http://www.noguchi.no/journal/tag/battlestar-galactica-online

The meatbag ships that stand out IMHO are the Glaive and the Maul; I think they would fit into the semi-OTU very easily as escorts. I'm working up rough deckplans now.

 

[Ran Targas]

I managed to take the Cylon Hel and convert it over to the M4J4 Aslan 800dT escort described in the Aliens Module 1. Works out pretty good with the exception of the 2 pinnaces and 5 fighters attributed to it; I'll figure a way to shoehorn them in somehow.

It looks Aslan enough to be canon.

 

[Patron Zero]

Showing my age a bit but I've always had a fondness for the various ships that appeared in Roger Corman's Battle Beyond The Stars, yes it was a very schlocky film but fun all the same. The standout ship for me was the late-great George Peppard with his character Cowboy and the Earth-based space hauler, very retro cool, Sybil Danning's nimble little gunship was fun too.




http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Beyond_the_Stars

http://application.denofgeek.com/images/m/75spaceships/main/space_cowboy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/ahmed413/Posters/battle_beyond_stars_poster_02.jpg

 

[Antony]

I liked the ships from the game Halo, though most would probably be too large for Traveller, even the Pillars of Autumn described as a small cruiser is from memory well over a kilometer long. By comparison a 1,000,000 dt needle configuration class vessel from TNE would be 900meters long.

 

[kilmore]

I've always liked the Eagles from Space:1999.

 

[Golan2072]

The Nostromo from Alien would make a perfect Traveller ship, probably a high-powered tug (about 400-800 tons in size?) towing a non-starship asteroid mining rig. The same goes with the Sulaco from Aliens - a ship of 1,000 tons or so carrying a Marines platoon (or was that a section?). Would you like me to do CT:LBB2 or MGT designs for both?

Another ship - or, rather, space station - which would be fun to have in Traveller is the Citadel Station from System Shock. In MGT, I'd make it a 10,000-ton capital ship design with a detachable bridge (MGT High Guard), a BIIIG spinal weapon, LOTS of laboratories and homebrew detachable hydroponics pods (based on my hydroponics rules in Outer Veil and the detachable bridge in MGT High Guard).

Many of the medium-sized ships in the Elite series of computer games would also make nice Traveller ships of about 100-1,000 tons. The problem is that these games feature very small craft with jump drives, which would have to be ignored in a 'proper' Traveller setting.

 

[robject]

I'll second the Eagles from Space:1999, as well as their Hawk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_IX_Hawk

And the Nostromo. I'll second that one.

How about the Discovery from 2001?

Serenity, aye. Millenium Falcon, aye. I did versions of both; the Serenity and the Falcon both as variant Type A2s. Yes, the Serenity should be more like 400t. Ah well.

 

[Golan2072]

Would there be any legal problem with me posting CT-LBB2 stats for the Nostromo and Sulaco here on these forums?

 

[aramis]

Would there be any legal problem with me posting CT-LBB2 stats for the Nostromo and Sulaco here on these forums?

Not really. Just don't post screen cap's...

 

[Golan2072]

Ok, no problem.

I'll just post CT-LBB2 stats.

 

[MR TEK]

What about the Roger Young

And other ships from the movies.

Also the Saberhagen powered drop armor. (can't for the life of me think of the name of the book, no visuals that I know of outside of cover art.

And virtually all craft from C.J. Cherryh. Again few visuals, but VERY detailed descriptions, and it always been suggested that much of early Traveller might have drawn inspiration for her work.

BSG, both versions had just such a wide variety of ships.

Babalon 5 did too, although they would all lack fuel, since they used the gates.

And whats wrong with the Vally Forge? The configuration in the movie used agro pods, but the whole point was it used Cargo pods that were purpose built for whatever cargo it was hauling. Drop the domes and pick up new ones, and they can be loaded and unloaded at the warehouses and shipped down-world from there.

I like the big ship universe with lots of huge standard ships as background, and it has to be one of the coolest looking ships I know.

The rescue ship from Event Horizon too.

 

[Mithras]

Not really. Just don't post screen cap's...

Why is that? I posted some screen caps of my fleet designs in The Fleet. Was I wrong to do so?

 

[far-trader]

Why is that? I posted some screen caps of my fleet designs in The Fleet. Was I wrong to do so?

Were they copyright images? The question was to screen caps for the Nostromo and Sulaco, both copyright of... 20th Century Fox (I guess).

Original art, no problem. Copyright art you can show permission for use, no problem. Clearly public domain images (under US definition), no problem. Images where the copyright is unclear or clearly not yours, problem.

If you have erred cleaning them up would be appreciated.

 

[aramis]

Why is that? I posted some screen caps of my fleet designs in The Fleet. Was I wrong to do so?

Screen caps is a very specific meaning: captures of images from motion pictures, be they film, TV, analogue or digital video recordings, or digital animations. It also has the connotation of "those screen caps of someone else's copyright" in reference to movie or TV.

In the case of the Nostromo, any images of it that are not drawn (manually or digitally) by the submitter are not acceptable due to current US laws, seeing as how the servers are in the US and owned by an individual in the US.

My own rework from a screen cap probably meets the 15% change rule - it's actually tweaked quite a bit. I deleted the background, changed the nature of the image from a raster to a vector, flattened the colors, altered the uniform and its colors, altered a distinctive trademark (the assignment patch), changed the rank insignia... then rerendered to a different raster format.

 

[Golan2072]

I've run into a problem with modelling the Sulaco from Aliens in Traveller. IIRC, in the movie the ship had almost no flight crew aboard except for the dropship pilot and the synthetic; almost everyone aboard was a Marine. In Traveller, it will have to have some crew in addition to the marines - Captain/Pilot, XO/Navigator, Medic, several Engineers and several Gunners.

How do you think it should be handled?

On a different note, the Normandy from Mass Effect seems to have a Traveller-style crew with most positions filled (Pilot, Navigator, Engineers, Medic and so on).

 

[Mithras]

No, no, my screen cap was of a PDF table. I see your point re images and I agree.

Were they copyright images? The question was to screen caps for the Nostromo and Sulaco, both copyright of... 20th Century Fox (I guess).

Original art, no problem. Copyright art you can show permission for use, no problem. Clearly public domain images (under US definition), no problem. Images where the copyright is unclear or clearly not yours, problem.

If you have erred cleaning them up would be appreciated.

 

[Mithras]

Watching the movie, I always assumed the Sulaco went out with a skeleton crew for a low priority mission. The crew were usually onboard, but for that mission Bishop took over most functions. Likewise only one squad was sent, clearly the Sulcao could carry two (or maybe even more).

The Colonial Marines Technical Manual tells us various facts: Conestoga class light assault ship; 385m long, 78,000 metric tons, space for 90 cryoberths, facilities for up to 2000 more in cargo hangers for troop transport duties. Weapons include 2 railgun turrets, 1 laser turret, 1 missile bay, 1 particle gun turret, launchers for mines and decoys. Mention of automation but not of the typical crew, just mention that the Sulcao can fly and fight on its own if the crew are still in hypersleep... Ha, upon rereading it does say the Sulcaco's bays can hold up to four shuttles/dropships.

I've run into a problem with modelling the Sulaco from
Aliens in Traveller. IIRC ... How do you think it should be handled?

I looked at the Mercenary Cruiser and used to think, "what a dead ringer for the Sulcao!"; two shuttles, two marine squads and enough weaponry to kick-ass in a space combat.

 

[Golan2072]

The Colonial Marines Technical Manual tells us various facts: Conestoga class light assault ship; 385m long, 78,000 metric tons, space for 90 cryoberths, facilities for up to 2000 more in cargo hangers for troop transport duties. Weapons include 2 railgun turrets, 1 laser turret, 1 missile bay, 1 particle gun turret, launchers for mines and decoys. Mention of automation but not of the typical crew, just mention that the Sulcao can fly and fight on its own if the crew are still in hypersleep... Ha, upon rereading it does say the Sulcaco's bays can hold up to four shuttles/dropships.

Wow - that's BIG for a ship carrying two Marine squads. As one Metric Ton of ship size is one cubic meter IIRC, it means that the ship is 5,571 tons in size - large enough for several platoons or even a company. 2,000 low berths mean at least 1,000 ton cargo in Traveller - which is large.

I can plan it in HG, but I think that a Traveller ship of an equivalent role (i.e. transport two sqauds or even sections of combat-ready marines) could be smaller - about 600-800 tons in size.

 

[Mithras]

Wow - that's BIG for a ship carrying two Marine squads. As one Metric Ton of ship size is one cubic meter IIRC, it means that the ship is 5,571 tons in size - large enough for several platoons or even a company. 2,000 low berths mean at least 1,000 ton cargo in Traveller - which is large.

I can plan it in HG, but I think that a Traveller ship of an equivalent role (i.e. transport two sqauds or even sections of combat-ready marines) could be smaller - about 600-800 tons in size.

In my 5000 ton fleet carrier, I squeezed in 64 fighters and a full marine battalion with grav tanks and APCs. So maybe the Sulaco it is very oversized! But I'd suggest ignoring dimensions (canon or not I'm not sure) and just building it 'as you see it'.

 

[RocketDad]

That did always make me laugh, using a unit of distance measurement as a measurement of time. With all of their money, with all of their resources poor Hollywood just does not have time to do things right. It really is a shame.

In the commentary for Episode IV Lucas said his idea was that all hyperdrives go the same speed. The trick was plotting a course that took the shortest possible distance without hitting a star or something. That's why the Kessel Run being made in less than twelve parsecs was a record; no one had cut the distance that short before.

I actually liked that system; I wished Lucas had kept it. Of course, I also wish Greedo hadn't fired first...