Well, I finally got around to redesigning the player's ship in Crusade. Nobody seemed to care for the old-style "tube" ship, so I decided to make a new sleeker version.

Click here to see a test render of the newly-redesigned Falcon class fighter.

I'll prolly have more in-game screenshots available soon. I've been kind of on a break lately. Lots of stuff interfering with my hobby time. But it's good stuff, at least.

Ahh but maybe it's a reentry ship... one that takes off from the surface of planets and lands on them as well. The only things in space that don't need wings are satellites since they don't need to land.. but they make cool fireballs when they reenter Plus who want's to pilot a "tube" anyway.. I'm sure in the future most spacecraft will need wings, and not just for effect.

But of course! Take a look at what the Delta Flyer would have looked like! those funky dorsal fins? I'm dumb!

[edit] Blockpit? stupid swear filter. [/edit]

Hey, tube ship was cool!
I like it better than Play-DoH fighter myself. Looks tough.

23: the .cockypitthing doesn't need to be bigger.. you just can't see the rest of it.. all that you can see is the 'windshield' .. the rest is in the body..

JaTeR

[edit] Check that! .cockypitthing! never heard of one..... (heh, he needs to fix that..)

Very cool indeed... that kinda reminded me that I was meaning to go and learn how to make 3D models as well. I've even got a copy of 3DS Max 4 sitting around somewhere, /me is just too lazy!
I don't think the ship looks like a fighter all that much though, more like a bomber or something along those lines. Either way, it looks awesome!

Thanks for the position comments, folks.

And Eskimo, you're right. The ship is a "single-ship," which in Crusade terms means a self-contained fighter that doesn't need to dock and refuel between every mission, and is multi-role in its capacity. (Bomber, interceptor, etc.) They're usually called "fighters" though, even if that isn't the right word... Garga also has it right -- single-ships are fairly rare, as they tend to be more trouble than they are worth as far as maintenance goes. Plus, finding a skilled pilot who can use the single-ship effectively without smashing it on their first mission is a very rare find.

The Jvaran Empire prefers single-ship combat over waves of cheap fighters. The Gn'rthan are the opposite, as their main fleet outnumbers the Jvaran Navy by at least 5 to 1. However, the Gn'rthan weapons are fairly dumb -- AI controlled from a "Central" that so far the Jvarans have been unable to discover. The Jvaran suspect that Central doesn't exist within our own universe; Perhaps it sits at the periphery of normal space-time, in so-called "hyperspace."

Anyway, here's a picture of Arrlson in action, destroying some G'rthan scouts!

Someday all of this background and history stuff will be on the website.

Eskimo: dude, you can get good results from ANY program.. but it will take some effort.. if you have 3D Studio Max.. check out [url www.3dbuzz.com] and get the cd's.. good stuff!

or, if you give me your address, I can send you the first 3dsmax training cd..

[edit]

HECK YEAH! The Lawn Chair Pilot. Itz teh c00l3st!!!!111

JaTeR

Man, I must've been on crack last night. I shouldn't model when I'm tired...that picture was crap!

Here's the REAL version of the Action Shot.

And Marcello, what do you mean by "primitive-y?" Made of too many primitives? And that is a good start for a ship.

I don't own Maya, only Lightwave...never used it, either. I have used 3ds, and it's good but too expensive for my tastes.

Eskimo: I've been using Lightwave for a while...Mostly learned it by plowing through the manual, reading tutorials online, and messing with all the demo objects that they include... That taught me a lot.

JaTeR: I'm dumb!, great link... See, proof!

The reason Ulfr's ship looks "primitive-y" is because it looks like there's the main part of the ship, and then the other parts are simply there, kind of connected, but not really.

Marcello's ship has kind of a melding between all the parts of the ship: the wings, the fins, etc. Obviously, I'm guessing maya has the ability to automeld stuff.

Well, that's what I thought he meant: the fact that everything is kind of melded together, like a real ship would be

Yah mean something like this?

"Offset" Gn'rthan Mark I interceptor

There's a reason why the Jvaran ships look all "patchy" like that.