Re: [FT] Thinking of new ship designs

>Either method works. At the extremes are the S'V with little to no
duplicate
>parts, to the UNSC with lots of interchangable bits that can be used to
make
>many variations.
>
>As long as the ships have an overall theme that ties them together.
>
>As to which I prefer: modular, for the most part. Having only a few
>'choices' for the hull and engine, but with several add-ons that are
>interchangable. As an example: the new Shogun Class Command Dreadnought
 has
>large turrets on either side of the main hull. I don't know if these
are
>seperate pieces, but if they are then having missile packs that would
fit in
>with the design to replace them would be nice.

The 3 big gun turrets ARE separate parts on the Shogun, and the
three-tube
batteries from the big UNSC ships should fit as an alternative (and
vice-versa). All the OTHER Jap ships have their turrets/weapons cast on.
>
>One thing I really like about the Japanese fleet is that there *are*
>decernable weapon mounts.

I felt it was in keeping with the anime feel of the designs,
deliberately
the "big-gun battleship" look which is probably silly but in keeping
with
the source material!

Obvious weapon mounts are something I have avoided in the past, as did
Paul
Copeland when he sculpted the original FT fleets; in Paul's case I think
it
was because he is a bit of a Trekkie at heart, and Trek ships don't have
very obvious gun mounts, but for me it has been largely a desire not to
have to worry too much about the game stats exactly fitting bits of the
models - I always feel that is a bit restrictive, especially in a system
as
"open" and flexible as FT. There is always SOMEONE (probably several
someones, actually) who will do the  <begin nasal whining voice> "Why
has
this design got two class 2 and two class 3 batteries, but the model's
got
four turrets all the same size...?" <end nasal whining voice> bit.......
;-)

But, having done it with Jap ships, I suppose I'm going to have to make
the
stats at least SOMETHING  like the models.....

Jon (GZG)

>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Jeremey Claridge <jeremy.claridge@kcl.ac.uk>
>To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
>Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 3:08 AM
>Subject: [FT] Thinking of new ship designs
>
>
>> Hello
>>
>> I am considering designing my own starships
>> for FT. Now I'm going to stick to the bug like
>> feel of the ground forces I designed.
>> (you remember the Slug conversations :)
>>
>> What I'm interested in is whether people prefer
>> each ship to be purchased whole or whether there
>> was any merit in producing various ship parts
>> for you to mix and match and build your own?
>>
>> So I simply make say various hulls, turrets, bridges
>> etc. and you stick them together as you like to make
>> the various classes of ship.
>>
>> ----------------------
>> Jeremey
>> germ@germy.co.uk
>> www.germy.co.uk
>>