Blocky ship fleet

[secure]

Just recently found Battleship Forever, and obviously new as I am I had to throw together a few ships to poison this forum with . As the thread title suggest, they are all kind of blocky and I won't try to pass them of as original. A brief look through this forums seems to suggest that the blocky ship type isn't that common though, perhaps because people want to be original and thus belive they should stay away from blocky ships?
I'm trying to keep them somewhat inline with the stock ships in terms of balance, although I haven't actually gone through them all that well yet. I suspect quite a few of them are overpowered compared to their class counterparts on the stock ship side, partly because of the different design method that uses a relative large amount of sections. One question I've been pondering though is if I should try to compensate with some additional armor or firepower to make up for the exposed thrusters that the stock ships lack, additional armor could ultimately simply mean the additional sections they got either way.
Any critisism is welcome, I should note however that they are currently using the three colour system used by the BSF ships, as I tend to like the fact that they are automatically recoloured depending on which side is using them. I'm not so inclined to change it to fixed colours, but I might change my mind.

Current fleet ships:
Battleships:

Artio:

Ship of the line, should at most be able to bring 6 autocannons on a single target (broadside + twin turret), which might be a bit much. Only got a single flak gun, which means most attacks hits.

Armaments:
14x Autocannon
9x Machinegun
1x Flak Gun

Sirona:

Support ship, lacks any real offensive firepower but instead sports both a Projector and a long range Nano Matrix (500 vs the default 200). Also have two ship deployers that deploys a single Latis each (Latis stats further down), both takes more than 5 minutes to recharge right now. The Sirona also have a number of Flak Guns, though they are only really effective against certain weapon types.

Armaments:
2x Autocannon
3x Machinegun
2x Missile Launcher
8x Flak Gun

Devices:
1x Flux Projector
1x Nano Matrix (long range)
2x Ship Deployer (Latis)

Syn

Missile battleship, sports Mini Missiles with both extended range (1200 vs 800) and twice the ammount of missiles per launcher. Some of the extended range will be eaten up as they aren't launched straight at the target, to somewhat compensate I've increased the missile turnrate as well.

Armaments:
1x Point Defense Rocket
2x Autocannon
3x Machinegun
6x Mini-Missile Launcher (twice the capacity, long range, high turnrate)



Frigates:

Abeona

Fleet flak platform, got 2 ordinary Flak Guns, 2 extended range (500 vs 250) Flak Guns and 2 precision Flak Guns (similar to Particle Guns).

Armaments:
6x Flak Gun
2x Machinegun

Bia

Torpedo platform, got two torpedo launchers that makes it a very long range ship. Not that powerful otherwise.

Armaments:
2x Torpedo Launcher
2x Missile Launcher
1x Autocannon
1x Point Defense Rocket

Loviatar

Got a fixed (very small arc) forward facing Sabot Cannon, the Sabot Cannon can be quite powerful even alone, but the small firing arc makes the ship quite vulnerable overall.

Armaments:
2x Machinegun
1x Sabot Cannon

Zarya

Ship of the line on the frigate end, decently powerful.

Armaments:
4x Autocannon
4x Machinegun



Patrol Craft

Rana Neida

Close range brawler, quite weak, especially as it can lose the forward guns quite quickly

Armaments:
3x Machinegun
1x Flak Gun

Saivo Neida

Missile ship, not that powerful but can do some damage if left alone. Launchers lost quite easily.

Armaments:
2x Missile Launcher
1x Mini-Missile Launcher
1x Machinegun
1x Flak Gun

Sala Neida

Can be quite useful with its single Autocannon.

Armaments:
1x Autocannon
1x Machinegun
1x Flak Gun

Latis


Deployed from the Sirona, quite weak, though even a single Autocannon is a decent amount of firepower on such a small ship.

Armaments:
1x Autocannon




Potential fleet ships
Some of these are the early versions of the ships above, I might put some back in the actual fleet (Sedna and Rindr, perhaps).

Kalma

Not that useful with only the EM Torpedo, depends on the situation though.

Armaments:
1x EM Torpedo Launcher
1x Flak Gun
1x Machinegun

Niamh

Precursor to Zarya. Quite powerful with the combination of Autocannons, machineguns and the point defense.

Armaments:
4x Autocannon
4x Machinegun
1x Point Defense Rocket

Ran

Precursor to Loviatar. Got a fixed forward firing Sabot Cannon.

Armaments:
2x Machinegun
1x Sabot Cannon

Rindr

Precursor to Ran. Got two fixed forward firing Autocannons.

Armaments:
2x Autocannon
2x Machinegun

Sedna

Close range brawler, has a lot of machineguns but can quickly lose four of the forward guns.

Armaments:
8x Machinegun
1x Flak Gun



To finish it, some comparisons with stock ships and two action shots:
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Edit: Oh, I considered throwing the fleet into BSF Beauty Pageant competition, I suppose I'd have to add fixed colours to have a chance there though, but is it worth a shot?

[Arcalane]

Not a bad start for relatively simple and blocky ships, but they could really do with a few splashes of colour to liven things up.

[Swamp Fox]

These are some of the nicest bricks I've seen in a while. You seem to have a flair for them. That said, on a few of them you have the relatively small, detailed sections, and them a big bland one on top of it all just jumping out, which in my opinion looks odd. The Niamh is a good example of what I mean. That said, it's nice to see some good old-fashioned bricks, and I hope you make more.

[maarten]

BEST bricks ever. Very nice looking and certainly great in terms of weapon placement.(really ads something)
I also like the Antennae on the larger ships. Although I don't like some of the sections that were used, especially those from the old BSF but that's just IMO

[Slayer0019]

I really, really like these. They have a very distinct theme, sticking with simple-tech cannons and missiles, and the shape is... almost realistic (why have a big curvy one when a block will suffice?).

Moar plz.

[Bang Doll]

I love them.

[MelvinVm]

Lovely little bricks

[Battle Titan]

I salute you brick fleet, sir.

[Nutcase]

Awesome.

[secure]

That said, on a few of them you have the relatively small, detailed sections, and them a big bland one on top of it all just jumping out, which in my opinion looks odd. The Niamh is a good example of what I mean.

I do see what you mean, it is really excessive with it, as you point out. I do prefer to have some less detailed sections though, as everything easily turns into noise otherwise.

Not a bad start for relatively simple and blocky ships, but they could really do with a few splashes of colour to liven things up.

As I said though, I do like that the three colour system will automatically change the colour of the entire ship depending on what side it's on. You could do more if you used fixed colours though, no doubt.



Thanks for the kind comments, but now I'm almost afraid of posting any new ships. Ah well, I'd still like critique of them though as well as opinions if I should enter the Beauty Pageant competition with the fleet. I had originally intended to so, but I though that it would be better to see how others viewed it as I was a new shipmaker.
I will put the ships up to download when I think the fleet is finished, but that might be a while yet.
Still, regardless of my earlier comment, here is another ship which I had intended to replaced the Sedna with, but I'm not entirely pleased with it so I might redo it once more.

Nanna


Less guns than Sedna and against the Zarya (the main frigate) it isn't much of a match with the current loadout. This is understandable, seeing as the Zarya can easily put both two autocannons and two machineguns against it, while the Nanna can at most put three machineguns on a single target. It stands a better chance against a Hestia then the Zarya though when they are computer controlled, as the point defense and two section shield isn't as effective against the machineguns.
As I said though, not that fond of it. The current center area is especially a concern, but I haven't found any way to build it that I like yet without redoing the entire ship structure.

Armament:
6x Machinegun

Edit:

Thought I'd replace the patrol crafts, as they clash a bit with the other ships, although I think the original ones got their own charm.

Calliope



Armament:
1x Autocannon
1x Machinegun



Carna



Armament:
2x Machinegun
2x Flak Gun



Clio


Recon ship.

Armament:
None



Cunina



Armament:
2x Missile Launcher
1x Point Defense Rocket

[Linkfan23]

Are you going to ever post a download, really want to play around with those ships. They look very fun and blocky.

[secure]

Ok, uploading the ships, though only the fleet ships for now, I need to fix some things on the other ships before I upload them (thruster stats and such). This isn't a finalized version of the fleet either, but feel free to test them out anyway, I could use some feedback on balancing for one.

Additionally I made a repair yard for the fleet:

Gerd

Will need some tweaking still, but I've included it in the archive anyway.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7866/gerd.png - Size comparison with an Abeona frigate and Cunina patrol craft (yard using an earlier weapon loadout).

Ships:
Abeona, Artio, Bia, Calliope, Carna, Clio, Cunina, Gerd, Latis, Loviatar, Nanna, Sirona, Syn, Zarya.
http://www.mediafire.com/?yuvjz0dvtmt

There is one known bug, if the autocannon on the Latis is destroyed it can start giving bug errors while constantly opening/closing its "wings".

[jwa8402]

I really like the repair station...There are some mistakes but its definitely an innovative design. I'm assuming the nanos are short range so ships have to dock?

Could use some construction arms or maybe even fin funnel type repair bots with short range and arc so they just move over and around the damaged ship repairing it...

As for the bug, I know nothing about triggers, but is it possible you made the weapon the driver or something for the transforming wings?

[secure]

Could you point out the errors that you see? There is some section transitions that might be a bit questionable, but I haven't noticed any outright errors with depthing or anything along those lines.

I'd only add some repair bots if there was any way of detecting nearby friendly ships, it would look odd to have them buzzing around otherwise. Could always of course have the player trigger them through a key, but I feel that is cheating. As for construction arms, perhaps, I'm afraid it might become too cluttered then though.

No, the weapon isn't a driver for anything, but triggers seems to be pretty buggy overall at the moment.



Made a few defence platform to go along with the repair yard, though they are maybe too large. I made a freighter as well, but the front has to be remade, it doesn't look large enough to house the manuvering thrusters right now.




So far I've only used the sections that ships with BSF, but to expand the possibilities I've tried my hand at making some custom sections, I've made a tanker to test my first attempt at this.

Test tanker:


Not finalized, partly because I haven't made a set of custom sections that I know I will keep, that's obviously a bad thing for a ship that relies on custom sections.


Also tried making a gun, just to find out that the firing animation has too many frames, thus being too slow. Ah well, might as well post it anyway.

[MelvinVm]

I like where this is going, seriously

The gun animation is meh, too slow, and the gun is a bit weird, I hope it turns not oddly