okay, thanks siber.
I'd explain away half that but I won't make you suffer.
The Third BSF Beauty Pageant - FINISHED!
Moderators: th15, Moderators
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Commodore111
- Commodore
- Posts: 684
- Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:06 pm
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Spoot Knight
- Rear Admiral
- Posts: 839
- Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:59 pm
- Location: In the Vega star system, monitoring UCM defense movement.
- Contact:
Ah, after remaking my ships a score like that was easily expected. I don't mind it though, at least I know what to do better now, and since I've done some of the improvements (Less weapons for one) I think if I am allowed to post my remakes for the Fourth Revision of ships on the next pagent, I hope to increase my score there.
The backstory, so saw that one coming.
I admit it did sound like an advertisement for a new uber product. I will try to make more than just the nomenclatures next time.
Seraph, would I be allowed to post ship remakes if new ships not previously included in the last pack were made?
Do you really think I'm saying I need a hug?
The backstory, so saw that one coming.
I admit it did sound like an advertisement for a new uber product. I will try to make more than just the nomenclatures next time.Seraph, would I be allowed to post ship remakes if new ships not previously included in the last pack were made?
Do you really think I'm saying I need a hug?
The United Commonwealth Military and Spootech Industries joint fleet.
[img]http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l223/SpootKnight/Spootech/av-1.gif[/img]
[url=http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1854]Spootech Industries - The Third Revision, upgrading to the Fourth Revision.[/url]
[url=http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2273]How Spootech Industries came to be as it is now; the history of Spootech Industries ship making.[/url]
[img]http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l223/SpootKnight/Spootech/av-1.gif[/img]
[url=http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1854]Spootech Industries - The Third Revision, upgrading to the Fourth Revision.[/url]
[url=http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2273]How Spootech Industries came to be as it is now; the history of Spootech Industries ship making.[/url]
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Water_and_Wind
- Captain
- Posts: 497
- Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:29 am
Lol my 'average' backstory was the best in the fleets category.
Its really neat that my fleet tied with CT's fleet, since his ships look really good. Also, Tal, the Dingir effect was created by myself while experimenting with pulsars, but other people have already independently created the same thing, I'm sure.
Its really neat that my fleet tied with CT's fleet, since his ships look really good. Also, Tal, the Dingir effect was created by myself while experimenting with pulsars, but other people have already independently created the same thing, I'm sure.
Metagame 2.0 calculator: [url]http://bsf_meta2_calculator.byethost17.com/index.php[/url]
Curvy Alien Fleet: viewtopic.php?t=4959
Thrusallanian Naval Database: Patrol Craft to Behemoth, support ships, stations, warp gates, everything.
http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... sc&start=0
Fleets of the Five States, get it here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1929
Curvy Alien Fleet: viewtopic.php?t=4959
Thrusallanian Naval Database: Patrol Craft to Behemoth, support ships, stations, warp gates, everything.
http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... sc&start=0
Fleets of the Five States, get it here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1929
ORIGINAL SHIPS
SUMMARY
ARCALANE
Cataclysm-class Mothership
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 4/5
Total: 29/40
JAFFAJOKE91
Hysteria
Aesthetics: 4/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 3/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 18/40
CONDORC3
The Eye Of Harmony
Aesthetics: 6/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 26/40
ANTY
Eteru Starbase
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 9/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 32/40
NORMANDY
Tristifal
Aesthetics: 6/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 21/40
STRIDEO
CRS Valshamr
Aesthetics: 4/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 3/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total: 16/40
ARCANEDUDE
Davey Jone's Locker
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 26/40
SEE315
Leviathan
Aesthetics: 5/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 23/40
REVEN1231
BC.Focalon
Aesthetics: 6/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 23/40
CHAOSTHEORY
Synapse
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total: 29/40
DAXX
LCSS Transit Gloria
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 9/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 0/0
Total: 20/40
PERTUARBO
Incendrius
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 5/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 0/0
Total: 14/40
MALAHITE
Templar Knight
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 5/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 19/40
BL3D4
Alpharia
Aesthetics: 2/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 0/5
Total: 17/40
AURIAK
Nor Creature Carrier
Aesthetics: 9/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total: 31/40
M123
Kareem Heavy Lifter
Aesthetics: 5/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 21/40
WATER_AND_WIND
Phlogiston-class Gunship
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 24/40
LIZZIE
IVL-A-Hades Class Man'o'war
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 22/40
RAUL
Argonaut
Aesthetics: 4/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 4/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total:17/40
BoVinE
Soma
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total:29/40
BADBOY
Armageddon's Scribe
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 5/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total:20/40
DARTHMETOO
Midboss
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 2/10
Creativity: 2/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 0/0
Total:8/10
EXTHALEON
Canute class Fast Battle cruiser
Aesthetics: 2/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 3/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 15/40
MASTER CHEF
UFS All Under Heaven
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 4/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 22/40
WICKY 42
Incursus Heavy Battlecruiser
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total:28/40
KAZUAEL
The Cathedral of Stars
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 28/40
DETAIL
ARCALANE
Cataclysm-class Mothership
Aesthetics: I can quite firmly say I like this ship. It's not spectacularly pleasing, but it's far from offensive. The weapons are widely spaced and nicely clustered, without the crowding you see so often. The ship itself is nicely terraced, and the color scheme is good, to the point that the glow of the modules works with it. Bonus for neat engines and the shield walls, taking advantage of the recolerable aegis.
8/10
Originality: I've gotta say, this ship isn't at its core that original. The shape is one we've seen time and again, and the broadside heavy armament doesn't help. However, the shield walls and some details of construction, like the terracing, stand out to me, so you get some points here, plus the aft section looks like it's for something besides engines! A shocker, for sure.
7/10
Creativity:
You used Aegis in a way that looks good and doesn't totally suck, so that's bonus points. The side mounted thrusters aren't something I see anyone else doing, and they make a nice effect. The ship construction itself is fairly pedestrian, but it works. Kudos on the megatach, though. It doesn't do at all what you expect it to, which is fun!
8/10
Functionality: The Cata is billed as something of a production ship, but I don't see any launch bays on the thing, unless you count the demeters, which I don't. Otherwise it looks well endowed for kicking ass and taking names, though again, it's mining capabilities don't seem to be spoken to anywhere in it's shape. Looks like a great combat ship, but falls down a bit when it comes to its non-combat responsibilities. I just wish it had flexible colors, at least in part.
2/5
Backstory: The backstory is nicely detailed, and certainly decently written, as well as not being the usual fare around these parts. I do have to say it's a bit cliche in places, though. Ancient menace, unsealed, threatens to consume the galaxy, and so forth. That said, points for actually writing something that isn't the standard 'must make a better ship now!' stuff.
4/5
Total: 29/40
JAFFAJOKE91
Hysteria
Aesthetics: I'm a bit torn in this case. The curving design of the ship shows some promise, but it just doesn't seem to be executed well. Strands go over and under in ways that are a bit hard to keep track of visually, with a sense of depth hard to get a handle on. On top of that, the curving shapes are broken by saw-toothed inner surfaces caused by questionable section choice.
The colors are fixed, which doesn't loose you any points(in this category), but they're not well chosen. All I can say is just ugly.
The weapons are not overloaded on the ship, and about average in gameplay, though I question the decision to put six megabeamers instead of one with a burst value.
4/10
Originality: Weapons, concept, guns, all pretty run of the mill. But the ship itself isn't something you see everything. It's not even a brick with tentacles, it's just a big mass of tentacles. However well executed it was, it's a pretty creative attempt. Minus a point for having a massive fixed beam main gun, though.
8/10
Creativity: Original or not, the actual section and weapon usage is pretty below average. Rails, gats, blasters, demeters, and a giant beam. Section choice isn't innovative, and in case of the curve attempts is often a step backward. I tried to find something nice to say, but couldn't think of anything
3/10
Functionality: I like how the weapons do seem to be placed consistently across the hull, but a few issues bother me. The aft section seems rather pointless in function, just hanging out there and holding a few dinky thruster modules. Weapons, save maybe the demeters, seem woefully under-ranged.
Attempting to pit this ship against itself results in the two vessels ending up half on top of each other before the main beams can fire, and the blasters are similarly afflicted. Anything the main weapon can hit is completely immune to the four front railguns, which seems a bit of a flaw to me.
Colors are fixed, not flexible, which is a black mark in my book. Right color choice could have done interesting things, maybe, but we'll never know. Parenting on the thin limbs is sorta wonky; a sever near the base of some of the strands could take out exactly half of the down-stream structure, and leave the other half intact. Plus the screenshots show a structure between the fore prongs that doesn't exist in the download.
1/5
Backstory: Not much to say, not much to judge. Rather bland, though it does have the glimmer of detail and a modicum of effort.
2/5
Total: 18/40
CONDORC3
The Eye Of Harmony
Aesthetics: I like the very clean exterior, the iris thingy going on in the center, and the somewhat mesmerizing effect of the quarter sections surrounding the center. On the other hand I really don't like the widely varying section sizes. Besides varying line weight, the heavily shrunk sections get very jumbled and messy, and it just looks ugly. Color choice is a bit odd, too, with the red rim, but that's not anything major.
6/10
Originality: It's certainly a new idea, hard to say it's not. I'm pretty sure nobody has built a floating eye before, and it's not exactly the standard weapons complement
9/10
Creativity: There are some interesting things going on here with the interior. I'm not sure they all work, but they're there. Somewhat interesting mods for weaponry, too, and white deflectors are fun. I really like how the lines of the central area draw the eye to the middle of the ship.
8/10
Functionality: If it was supposed to originally be a station, it looks like it. It's hard to see how the thing even moves, but there's always reactionless drives or whatever. Armored hull works nicely, until it cracks. I'm a bit bugged that the gluons at the tips really can't hit anything that's not already on top of the ship, because one real gun for something that seems to be billed as a personal royal warship just doesn't jive with me. It'd be nice if more than just the outer rim was flex-colored too.
2/5
Backstory: I'll be blunt, it's corny and a bit goofy. Not that interesting, and it spends some time explaining the obvious resemblance to an eye. Having the queen of the 'Darkest Empires' want a crying peacekeeper ship doesn't really work well without further exploration either. Still, it does exist.
1/5
Total: 26/40
ANTY
Eteru Starbase
Aesthetics: Wow. Just plain wow. I wasn't too sold on this from your screenshots, but loading it up... wow. You need to set your glow to a gray, because this looks so much better when it's not tan. I think you'll have to lose a point for the kinda bad screenshot look, but it's a great ship when it's in game. The shimmer is a fantastic effect on this one.
8/10
Originality: Starbases aren't quite a new idea, but I've not seen a lot of them in the BSF community, and it's nicely unbalanced in form.
8/10
Creativity: There are a lot of nice things going on here. The domes have a fantastic pattern to the degree that in the center I mostly stop seeing sections and just see the shape, which is what should happen. The super-stretched struts connecting some of the outer areas are a nice touch, and the thicker struts do something I've tried to do before so much better than I ever managed. Hats off.
9/10
Functionality: It looks like it does what it should, and does it very well. I can believe that under those domes are people, cities, and fields for feeding them, and those struts can house all the transport for moving cargo and people between domes. The lazy spin just looks right, and the gun test platform is a great touch. Too bad there's not one patch of flex-color on the thing.
4/5
Backstory: The weakest part of this ship is the story. Nothing outright bad, and it reasonably justifies the ship, but there's just not a lot there.
2/5
Total: 32/40
NORMANDY
Tristifal
Aesthetics: This ship looks a lot better backlight than it does in the dead of space. Not that it looks particularly bad, but it's a bit dark against a black background. The shape is pleasing enough, and the fuzzy aegis works well, but the section 16s break it up unpleasantly, and the aft section is a bit weak.
I'd recommend trying to take advantage of clip, burst, and RoF modding to achieve the desired volume of fire with fewer weapons, because this is just too much. It's visually cluttered on the hull. The doodads don't work very well either.
6/10
Originality: There really isn't much here that's new. Nose thrusters, but that's about it. Everything else I've seen elsewhere, unless I'm just imagining the spate of modded aegis ships after SM3 debuted.
6/10
Creativity: You used doodads, but otherwise, it's all been done before extensively. The ship is well executed, but not groundbreaking in any respect.
6/10
Functionality: Looks functional, I can buy it as an old warhorse certainly. Suffers a bit in gameplay, though, as it's rather easy to have a mostly intact ship that's lost enough thrusters to have no acceleration and bounces forever. Also, fixed colors all the way.
2/5
Backstory: Short and to the point, like most offerings this time around. The repetitious form doesn't quite seem to work, and the whole thing rings somewhat hollow to me.
1/5
Total: 21/40
STRIDEO
CRS Valshamr
Aesthetics: Not bad at a glance, but the more I look at it the less I like it. The blue outline doesn't really mesh with the other color choices, and I just can't get behind that dull brown. The curves of and on the neck are too jagged, and it looks as though there is an attempt at a sense of depth, but it falls down.
4/10
Originality: Looking at this I can't help but think of Talhydras' latest fleet, which serves up some offerings that are very similar. Nothing else stands out, which isn't a good thing for this category.
4/10
Creativity: Execution is pretty poor throughout the ship. Space filling is chunky, and the outlining effect is abused unreasonably. The standout feature is the turret wells under some of the guns, which was first used, to my knowledge, by Talhydras' last fleet.
3/10
Functionality: It looks like it does what it says it does. All fixed colors when it so needs another paint scheme. I'll say, though it doesn't affect the score, that I left two fighting for better than half an hour with both still well alive, which isn't great.
2/5
Backstory: More beefy than the average fare, and more interesting. Disaster relief is something naval ships do that you don't hear a lot about when it comes to fictional spaceships. Otherwise standard arms-race type stuff. Some errors, notably in the last sentence. "but the time when for it to test" seems to just not work.
3/5
Total: 16/40
ARCANEDUDE
Davey Jone's Locker
Aesthetics: Really, this ship probably shouldn't work. Red and blue are typically advised against for a combination of colors, and the whole thing is on the verge of being a cluttered mess, but damnit I like it. Weapons get a bit thick at places, but overall have a nice density. The ship's structure is visually interesting, and falls apart very well. At the same time its weapons look great when firing. In fact, I'm thinking about using the blue-white-red for a new fleet now, if you don't mind.
There is a bit of a mirroring depth error at the start of the aft section, though. It's quite annoying once spotted.
8/10
Originality: At first blush a fairly pedestrian hull form, but the devil’s in the details. I really like some of the shapes inside, and the spikes are well done.
6/10
Creativity: Loving the weapons, it's good to actually see repeaters used, and the shock beams are just delicious, really. On the down side, the central spine of the ship is a bit old hat, and the tachyon drivers are highly reminiscent of some of Anna's armaments.
7/10
Functionality: Plays great, looks great, though a bit spikier than I'd expect for a cruise liner. The sounds of the repeaters firing make me happy, and it comes apart very nicely under fire. On the downside, it's got fixed colors, and it's very easy to lose enough thrusters to start bouncing.
3/5
Backstory: A bit of a unique story here, which is nice, though it's a bit rough on the logic in places. I find it a bit hard to buy that refitting a cruise liner to carry the best military weaponry, armor, and engines would be any easier than starting from scratch.
Another thing that bugs me is that pirates getting together for a major offensive is sorta out of character. Piracy relies on being slippery and avoiding the full attention of any authorities. Gathering all in one place seems an invitation for smashing, unless they're more rebels than pirates.
2/5
Total: 26/40
SEE315
Leviathan
Aesthetics: This is a ship that I want to be better than it is. Some parts are nice, like the upper portions of the first main limbs. Unfortunately the core is more or less a jumbled mess, and the limbs get pretty jagged near the tips, which just looks bad. The guns don't look so great either, though that'd be hard to avoid without more options in BSF. Maybe use invisible beam emplacements? Oddly enough it looks a lot better with non-standard colors than with the all-green you had it in the screen shots.
5/10
Originality: It's a giant space squid. It's not even a ship. There’s been a couple squidy things before, but they tend to be mechanical even then.
9/10
Creativity: Nothing stands out here really, except for the thicker parts of the limbs, which are pretty nice.
6/10
Functionality: I love how much thought you seem to have put into this design, and the little details like the next generation Leviathan there is a great touch. Unfortunately the thinner tentacles fail to sell themselves due to lack of smoothness. And though it didn't affect the score, I wish it wasn't so tough in combat. Between the deflectors and nanos, it doesn't really need weapons. Kudos for using flexible colors though.
4/5
Backstory: It's nice to see something really different here, though it could use with a few proofreading passes. It's clear you put a bit of time into this, but a few points stand out where some extra effort could really step it up a notch. I was disappointed to see the contrast between "bore-wyrm colonies" to the infinitely less creative "Space Wasp swarms". "bio-plasma" is just silly, and sounds like the thing is launching sprays of blood at enemies.
I really wish I could score this higher, but chronic awkward wordings and sentence constructions, plus the issues above, hold it back.
2/5
Total: 23/40
REVEN1231
BC.Focalon
Aesthetics: Not entirely sure what to think, here. It’s not super ugly, but there's a lot of messy varying line weight going on that looks rather messy, and I think you went a bit overboard on the spikes. Colors are kind of bland, but I actually like how the scatter beams disappear into the hull. The prongs on the tip of the nose crossing each other just doesn't look good, unfortunately, but the deflectors, scatters, and thrusters are nice in action.
6/10
Originality: It's a fighteroid ship in contrast to our typical fare of heyuge ships, so that's nice. Spikes all over isn't exactly new, but it's less common. Nothing fantastic, but not bad
6/10
Creativity: The use of a gosling stands out, because that's a fun module you don't see a lot of. Nice job on the modded scatters, as well. Some abusive stretching isn't too in your favor, though.
6/10
Functionality: This ship plays great. In a community of super tough ships pounding each other for minutes before they start losing sections, it's really nice to see something dish out this level of pain without taking forever to die. Billed as an agile ship, and it is, in the context of the game. Too bad for the fixed colors.
4/5
Backstory: I realize awesome ships are awesome, but so far the ships that have caught my eye in this category are the refitted cruise liner, the space squid, and the self-replicating alien menace. Escalation superships are really played out, and have been for a while. I somewhat doubt a production ship, which this appears to be, would be fitted standard with prototype weapons, and I think you goofed capitalization a bit at the start.
1/5
Total: 23/40
CHAOSTHEORY
Synapse
Aesthetics: I like this ship. The combination of sharp angles and curves is well managed, colors are intelligently placed, curves are properly built, and the demeters are pretty fantastic
8/10
Originality: The multi-hull shape is moderately novel, but nothing earth breaking.
6/10
Creativity: Very well done curves and some interesting section use help you here, but the biggest boost is the afore-mentioned demeters. Very nice modification there, to very interesting effect.
8/10
Functionality: Really, this looks and acts as it's billed as it should, and plays pretty well. Unfortunately the loss of one thruster cluster dooms it to the endless bounce, and it’s been brought to my attention there's a parenting error in the engine area, so I can't award full marks.
3/5
Backstory: Overall a reasonably solid backstory, and you get serious credit for effort here. It's very nice to see someone put this much effort into the story. I do have a few complaints in this area, but most of them apply most to the fleet, so I'll hold them till then.
There are a few points I'd like to address now, though. The technical stuff in the first paragraph is to me effectively pointless babble, a waste of words, without a good deal more background on the FTL methods involved, a problem that dogs any mention of technical information here. The uncertainty about time at the very start seems a bit dodgy too, given the implied knowledgeablity of the speaker
Finally, I'm not sure "we a have learned" is a phrase that makes any sense.
3/5
Total: 29/40
DAXX
LCSS Transit Gloria
Aesthetics: I hate to say it, but I just don't like how this ship looks. The(fixed) colors are garish, and while the doodad effect is inventive and interesting, it just doesn't look good. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to like this.
3/10
Originality: The hull form is reasonably novel, and the proportions are pretty unusual.
7/10
Creativity: Your saving grace here, that's a concept with the doodads, and it took me some time to figure out how you'd constructed some areas, particularly around the core. The weapons are... somewhat inventive, as well. Some real creativity shown here, a shame it doesn't look better than it does.
9/10
Functionality: Looks functional enough, but really plays horribly. Combat with this ship comes down entirely to who gets lucky taking out whose blaster, with everything else being almost completely inconsequential. The parenting on the energy links is a bit funky, with the loss of the outer front connection points not doing anything to the links, though I'll admit that's not incredibly likely to happen in combat.
The driver shield is horrendous, making a terrible sound and stalling the game for multiple seconds each time it fires, as well as being entirely invisible on my computer. Furthermore, the colors are fixed, another black mark in my book, as I've outlined above.
1/5
Backstory: NO STORY NO POINTS
0/0
Total: 20/40
PERTUARBO
Incendrius
Aesthetics: When I first looked at the picture I was reminded of one of the Microsoft Zune variations. The brown one with the faint green sheen that was frequently named shit brown by the forces of the internet. Upon firing it's weapons I was struck by the inescapable thought that it was in fact shooting canisters of sewage waste in the guise of plasma charges. I think at this point it suffices to say that I don't like the aesthetic you've lovingly crafted here.
3/10
Originality: It’s a large brick lined with guns that broadsides. In fact I'm struck with it's similarity to the Hecate, though admittedly there's not a super-strong resemblance there.
4/10
Creativity: For what it is, it's reasonably well constructed. Aft antennas are there, the engine block is decently interesting, to be fair. The banks of plasma, less so.
5/10
Functionality: If you wanted a brick, you have a brick. Kudos for not making it 100% fixed colors, though having most of it solid white(not accounting for glow) is a move I'd question. I'm a tad mystified as to why the primary gap in the armor of a broadsider is right along its core. Seems like a bit of a design flaw.
2/5
Backstory: NO STORY NO POINTS
0/0
Total: 14/40
MALAHITE
Templar Knight
Aesthetics: I feel the need to do a small amount of 'splaining here. Part of a ship's aesthetic in my mind is how it looks when it's fighting. Given that I have no idea going into it with these ships what their 'power level' is, the only sane option is to pit them against themselves to see how things play out. In some cases, the Synapse for example, that results in a fun, fascinating, pretty fight. In your case, it results in two white ships firing white megabeams that turn the space between them solid white while their white deflectors flare up to cover any traces of color or form they might have had, until one of them explodes.
Asymmetric ships can look good, can be visually interesting, and are quite a daring choice. Unfortunate, then, that you made one that's uniformly unappealing. The colors are bland, particularly in your provided screenshot, the weapons are boring or annoyingly overpowering, the whole thing looks jumbled, and the overall form is nothing to praise.
3/10
Originality: It is a new shape to me. It's not a good one, but it is a new one. The movement is refreshingly different, quite nimble. I can't really see any other ships in this one, so decent score here.
8/10
Creativity: I can't say the ship is particularly well executed, and all the interesting things on it are old hat. I suppose the modded megabeams are newish.
5/10
Functionality: Billed as a top of the line battleship, looks like something someone welded together out of a pile of scrap metal, plays quite blandly. Not sure what's up with the core being in the nose. At least you didn't make it all custom colored, so yay, I guess.
2/5
Backstory: Uh... yeah. This could have been interesting, with the Christian / chivalrous theme going on, but it's rambling and overwrought, and riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. Hint, it's both, not bouth. You might want to watch for run-on sentences in the future, and the ending is extremely blah.
1/5
Total: 19/40
BL3D4
Alpharia
Aesthetics: This may sound harsh, but it hurts to look at this thing. Seriously. How is it a good idea to make a purely black ship, encrust it with gray guns, and then garnish it with amazingly colorful glowing bits? If properly managed you might get an interesting energy ship effect, but that's not the case here. For extra fun anyone with a glow color at all ruins the pure black effect and reveals a rather mediocre hull.
2/10
Originality: It's... newoid. I don't really like it, but the overall idea of this ship is novel. The hull and guns, less so.
7/10
Creativity: Guns don't appear at all modded, there's noting new going on with the hull when it is visible.. the all black/colored aegis look is all you've really got going on here, which is admittedly reasonably creative, but I'm not sure it can really make up for the utterly bland everything else.
7/10
Functionality: Why, why, why, when the hull is supposed to be invisible, are there so many sections in it? This ship just sitting there alone slows down my computer more than any of the previous ships did while they were dueling each other. Aesthetically it's hard to know what this is supposed to look like, so this is kind of hard to score... if you were going for a freakish space-Christmas tree, it's rather over-armed, and if you were going for a massive space battleship, it's somewhat overly festive.
1/5
Backstory: NO STORY NO POINTS THANK GOD
0/5
Total: 17/40
AURIAK
Nor Creature Carrier
Aesthetics: Wow. The consistent aesthetic here is just amazingly nice. The warm brown that shifts to a wonderful gold when the deflectors activate, the modified weapons, it's all fantastic. The shape of the ship quite effectively suggests an actual curved, organic hull, and it just looks great.
9/10
Originality: It's certainly not one of its kind, but the shape hasn’t been done to death and it's very nicely accentuated by the layering effect throughout the ship that gives a great sense of depth. The blunt head and tapered tail are particularly eye catching.
8/10
Creativity: Weapon modification through the whole ship is an excellent note to start with. The angled, stretched circular sections and general blending of shapes continues this encouraging trend. I'm not sure if the highlighting was truly necessary in a ship this scale, but it turned out quite well.
8/10
Functionality: It looks like a great rendition of a typical bioship, so you start off strong. I have a few complaints about gameplay, sadly. Notably it completely lacks any default colors anywhere, making it difficult to decide what ship is on what side if you have opposing combatants. AI range seems painfully short, with it quite easy for it to end up putting its nose over the target, and the ship does take forever to kill itself. Even so, very nice.
3/5
Backstory: Grrnnnnnrrr... Evolution doesn't work like that! Seriously, this whole thing would be considerably better if you dumped evolution and 'hypermutation' as their form of improvement and made them consciously self-improving. So, so much better. Evolutionary pressures sitting around on a planet are not going to produce the ultimate space-faring weapon.
You provide an excellent rundown on the ship's arsenal, and I was pleased to see that same arsenal with names and behaviors to match in the game, for one because it makes it easier to see what you're talking about. On the other hand, there is a part of me that says that a list of guns does not make an interesting ship backstory. What does this ship do, what has it done, what is it used for. Has it been in any notable engagements, are there any personalities connected to it that stand out, does this ship have stories to tell? Talhydras got a perfect score from Anna last beauty pageant by describing a pirate ship, its construction from salvaged wrecks under the eye of an enigmatic unknown captain, and it's mystifying of observers through unusual construction techniques. If I recall correctly, he only spent a few lines talking about the ship's weapons, and many more talking about what the ship means.
Never the less, this is an effort worth acknowledging.
3/5
Total: 31/40
M123
Kareem Heavy Lifter
Aesthetics: Not bad for what it is, but this is a beauty contest, and I can't really call this a beautiful ship. It looks like a pretty functional tug, but tugs are hardly the sexiest ships about. The area immediately around the core is a highlight
5/10
Originality: Tugs aren't particularly popular ships, and I enjoy seeing a ship wider than it is long for once. The offset engine pods make a lot of sense in the design, but I wish more had been done to break up the squareness of everything.
7/10
Creativity: The mounting of the engine pods is nice, giving a sense of detachability. The darker colors in the front of the struts out to the pods is strange. It seems to imply a sharp slope down, but it doesn't make a great deal of sense to me there. The effect serves you better on the nose, at least, and the core of the ship is quite well built.
6/10
Functionality: Doesn't really play great in combat, but it's a non-combat ship, so eh. I wonder why a tug has deflectors, really, there's a total lack of default colors, and loss of one set of engines dooms it to the Endless Bounce. Fortunately it does look like a tug.
2/5
Backstory: I almost missed this, and then almost skipped it again when I realized where it was. Hint: I prefer to read things in application built around displaying things to be read over the tiny sidebar with a painful font embedded in my pew-pew-pew-kablam space shooty game. Had I not been curious as to how other people had scored these ships, I'd have posted this with you getting zero points in this category.
Rant aside, let's have a look. The heavy lifter was built to lift heavy things, and has big engines that let it transport... everything short of a small moon, from the sounds of it. I again wonder why you need guns on a cargo tug, unless you've got a serious piracy problem. Do our container ships have CIWSs installed? The end of the story is clipped off by the edge of the screen, so... yeah.
1/5
Total: 21/40
WATER_AND_WIND
Phlogiston-class Gunship
Aesthetics: Yay it's a small ship! YAY! Making small craft pretty is its own kind of challenge, one that can frustrate even some of our greatest titan builders, and this is just such a craft. The colors work quite well with each other, and you do a lot with the few sections you have. If I were to make a complaint about the looks of this ship, it would be about the scatter beam, which appears slightly off center in the tines of the core. It isn't, but it appears to be, and on a ship this small that counts.
8/10
Originality: There are only so many shapes to use, particularly at this scale, but there are still things to like here. The contrast of purple and yellow is refreshing, and the way the yellow is added breaks up the shape a bit in an interesting way
6/10
Creativity: They yellow bits get you a nod here too, but the weaponry is somewhat blah. Everything counts on this ship, and I'm not sure the weapons are chosen or placed as well as they could be. The railguns draw the eye uncomfortably, being relatively large and complex.
6/10
Functionality: Looks as billed, but plays a bit funky. The 'vulnerable to attack' ship is quite effective at shutting down projectile weapons; something this size with two point beams is a force to be reckoned with. More than that, its AI range seems to be decently outside it's weapon's range, which for a flanker seems unintuitive. What's it going to do, park behind the enemy and stare it to death?
Also disappointed by the fact that there's no default colors on here. The yellow tabs would be an excellent place to put them without irreparably destroying the aesthetic of the ship.
2/5
Backstory: Some engineer once said something along the lines of "fast, cheap, good, pick two", meaning to emphasize that you can't have a perfect project. What you have here is a direct defiance of that rule. The Phlogiston is a light gunship, "deployed in great numbers", mounts awesome guns, has strong point defense, and is the quickest ship of its kind. Something's gotta give, and maybe it's armor, but it rings hollow to me to hear about this ship that seems to be cheap and built in swarms while having practically no disadvantages.
At least it's a small supership instead of a giant supership, I guess, and it's well written for what it is.
2/5
Total: 24/40
LIZZIE
IVL-A-Hades Class Man'o'war
Aesthetics: What we have here, is a Good Ship. A little heavy on the guns, and the big yellow bits are bordering on overstretched, but for the most part it works quite well. One thing that I don't like, and I've never liked since I first saw it on Aralonia's ships, is the big huge central line of megatachs. I can see that a cover is desirable for some turrets, but with this density I just don't like it. In battle... I want to say I don't like the huge shock beams, but damnit, I can't make myself do it. The huge red pillars speak of power and pain.
8/10
Originality: Grrnnmm... Well, okay, in fairness you did do some new things. Midhull engines, a sorta novel central island... On the other hand, I feel a lot like this ship is mostly the refinement of a long line of similar ships, both yours and others(Aralolnia comes to mind). You did some creative things, but I can't see my way to giving you a high originality score
4/10
Creativity: Engines! To my knowledge the IVL's engines are pretty unique, so points there. In addition, you’ve got some interesting section use going on through the whole ship, particularly creative use of 25. The struts out to the engines are a bit of a black mark... Couldn’t you have used multiple smaller pieces instead of one overstretched one? That’d have been better, I think. Overall, good stuff here.
7/10
Functionality: A couple of things do bug me in a fight. Firstly, the deflectors, while nicely recolored to a cool blue, flare up absurdly under fire on the scale this ship can dish out. It's really not pretty. The other issue is the missile banks. It just looks strange to have the far side missiles fire when it's in a broadside lineup. It might not be as bad if they curved tighter, or something.
It does look like a big angry battleship, and I appreciate the use of player colors even in its limited respect. Unfortunately there is a parenting error...you can make the mid-length engines float.
2/5
Backstory: The biggest nastiest baddest ships aren't always the prettiest, so why do they get entered into the beauty pageant so damn much? We get a declaration of awesomeness, a supporting story of awesomeness, and a snippet on how awesome the awesome ship's guns are, then a copout to end it before anything interesting happens. I'd rant about what makes a ship backstory good and interesting, but I already did that. This isn't really it.
1/5
Total: 22/40
RAUL
Argonaut
Aesthetics: It's very... colorful. There are some things here I like and a not of them I don't. The central dome, which looks quite like a certain starbase, is okay, and the struts on the back aren't bad. You've got some interesting flowing lines on the sides. On the other hand... The colors are a mess, there is some serious tiling abuse, it looks damned ugly in combat, and the overall shape is really hodgepodge.
4/10
Originality: There are some interesting shapes in here, and it's also about totally flat. Points for trying something unusual, I guess.
7/10
Creativity: On the one hand, you tiled like a bastard. On the other hand... I got nothing.
4/10
Functionality: You can in fact disconnect the majority of the ship from the core, and have a small floating core, nose tip, and then almost all of the aft and sides floating in one big chunk. Or if you prefer three smaller chunks. I can provide a picture if anyone wants. What in the world is up with the acceleration? It skates around like it's on an air-hokey table. It doesn't really look like much of anything, except mabye a creative campus of some sort, but it's not really very colony ship like or battleship like... yeah.
1/5
Backstory: If I'm not careful my commentary will be longer than the story. Don't worry, I'll be careful. Inklings of interest, totally undeveloped.
1/5
Total:17/40
BoVinE
Soma
Aesthetics: What we have here is a pretty ship, a welcome thing. Nice curves, effective use of colors, an interesting sense of depth, and an excellent overall shape. Blue beamers don't hurt, though the mostly stock weapon colors otherwise is less fantastic. The deflectors are nicely muted too.
8/10
Originality: Swoopy and curvy and stuff, a rather refreshing shape. I like it, and wish more ships had shapes this interesting.
8/10
Creativity: Great use of curves and internal shapes, but the curves get annoyingly jagged in places. Love the engines, a lot.
8/10
Functionality: Looks good, plays good, nice to see something with lower HP values, and kudos for default colors
4/5
Backstory: The Soma may have an interesting place as a cog in an overall story, but a cog on its own is rather uninteresting. It's an awesome ship of awesomeosity that is being built by the fistful. Last sentence is somewhat clunky to boot.
1/5
Total:29/40
BADBOY
Armageddon's Scribe
Aesthetics: Aw, man, at first I thought the middle spaces were all empty, then I realized you've got all sort of junk in the middle of them. Honestly, I don't hate this ship, and parts of it are well executed. But other parts are messy or totally unneeded, like the floating islands or the long struts. The outer shape isn't horrible, though Anna did cover one possible aspersion quite well... the internal of the, ahem, nose, is just sorta blah.
7/10
Originality: I feel like this ship would be a lot better if you shore off the, ahem, nose, and just took the aft section and worked on that. There's some sorta depthy things going on there, but then you've got what feels like blind space filling in the nose sections.
6/10
Creativity: Honestly I can't think of anything much to say here. Again, there's some interesting stuff going on in the aft, but the fore isn't great. And I'm going to dock you for using 1600 pieces on this. It may not be the worst thing ever, but it's not nearly that good.
5/10
Functionality: Here's the thing. I've tried to play test everything so far, but this beast drops my frame rate to 2 just sitting there, so yeah, no. Is this ship really worth sixteen thousand sections? At least I can see the parenting in the shipmaker, and it looks okay. Why in the world is the core so far back? The guns look somewhat interestingly modded, maybe. Ah, well, for the personification of a race's spite it looks somewhat... unfinished. Selling this as the frame of a ship would have helped you so much here, but alas. That would be an interesting story. Which leads us to our next category.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, I hate you for fixed colors.
1/5
Backstory: The dead race thing, I sorta hate. It has to be well justified before I'll swallow it easily. So, okay, these guys somehow know they're going to die and have the ability to make warships that will be relevant millions of years later, but can't save themselves? It's not like they wanted to die, with that level of spite... and not only that, they can't even do it right, what with a 50% failure rate. Uhm... what? Plus it's still the biggest awesomest ship of awesomeness that ever was awesome, yay.
1/5
Total:20/40
DARTHMETOO
Midboss
Aesthetics: Why is this here, really? I mean, I understand trying your luck at the contest, but it does take some time judging these things, just a bit. But really, this ship wasn't built for looks, I hope. If it wasn't, why is it in a beauty contest? Stock aegis doesn't look good, floating thrusters don't look good, the... it just doesn't look good.
3/10
Originality: Yeah, this ship has never been done before. Not ever.
2/10
Creativity: It’s like the baby of the Pith and the Leviathan.
2/10
Functionality: At least it plays well, sorta. Except the stupidly huge acceleration, but hey you can't get everything wrong. Stock weapons, apparently fixed colors... it looks more like a station, but it doesn't act like one.
1/5
Backstory: I guess that explanation doesn't really count as a backstory. Yay, that'll save me some time.
0/0
Total:8/10
EXTHALEON
Canute class Fast Battle cruiser
Aesthetics: When I first saw this ship, I honestly cringed. Crazy irregular sizing, sprinkled doodad speckles.. The shape doesn't suck, but my god the execution. Blegh
2/10
Originality: Generally speaking, no new shapes, no new guns, no new much of anything.
4/10
Creativity: Oh god this ship was such a bad idea. For reasons I already covered in aesthetics, mostly. Why, why did this? Tiny guns, tiny sections, overplayed on huge sections... the only good thing is the engines.
3/10
Functionality: I have to give it to you here. You made a decently playable ship, renamed guns in an interesting and amusing manner, didn't make mad acceleration skillz. Why does everyone love deflectors, though? Why oh why. And it looks like a naval battle cruiser, I suppose.
4/5
Backstory: What the hell is an "IRSmebalm"? My confusion indicates something interesting might be going on here, but I'm not sure what. Relevant to previous rants in this category, you mention a number of interesting attributes about the thing, but little that makes me care about it. Still, it tickles my fancy in strange ways.
2/5
Total: 15/40
MASTER CHEF
UFS All Under Heaven
Aesthetics: As I mentioned in my commentary on the Hades, I have never been in love with huge central line of megatachyons. You, on the other hand, evidently are, in a vey real, legally binding way. Yet despite this and massive section spam, you end up with a ship that doesn't look horrible. I think it's the curving that helps. This ship would probably be considerably better with some more section variation and more gun spam. The blazing gold weapons fire isn't a horrible thing, either, though it can get overwhelming.
7/10
Originality: Wow, I've never seen a triple hull before! That said you do bring some new takes to it, again with the curving aft hull. You also do the by now classic center line of megatachyons. At least I don't think I've seen it in triplicate before. I think you deserve a bit of credit, but not too much.
6/10
Creativity: Wow, the section spam. And the section spam. And booster engines! Those are new. And the weapon banks, and the turret wells. Never seen them before. Noope. Love what you did with butting those sections under the megatachyons. Brilliant.
4/10
Functionality: This ship plays fairly well, and looks as billed. All fixed colors, but worked on movement stats and sane AI, as much you can get here. The railgun arcs are absurdly narrow, and the BLAZING WALL OF GOLD makes it a bit hard to see what's going on. Worst of all, the demeter pods are insane to micromanage. Still, enjoyable and decent looking.
3/5
Backstory: Her engagements are over one HUNDRED! I'll give you some credit in that the history is somewhat fleshed out, but I want to take most of it back because I recognize so many names. Out of curiosity, did you come up with the Katuri yourself, or have you played the Realspace Saga?
She's been in service for a century(100 engagements, 100 starships, 100 years. Can we have some different numbers) but hasn’t had any upgrades worth speaking of? Seems unlikely that she's still on the top of the heap without any refits or overhauls.
A tip, cool and mysterious names can be easily ruined by the explaining of it's meaning, and you really somewhat stumble over yourself here. That's really not a good joke either.
All that said, I want to reward you for having a bit of flavor here, but at the same time too many things annoy me about it. Have two points.
2/5
Total:22/40
WICKY 42
Incursus Heavy Battlecruiser
Aesthetics: I like the looks of this ship, but it's got a lot of room for improvement. There's some over stretched sections going on, and the armor layer seems somewhat tacked on. Section 3 is somewhat abused, but breaking it up visually with doodads helps. I don't care for how stubby the nose is compared to the rest of the ship, particularly with the flattened beamers.
7/10
Originality: I could say this looks like a lot of things, but in fairness it's a rather fresh ship to my eye, wish some decent depth going on.
8/10
Creativity: I do wish I could give you higher marks here, but for the most part there's not a lot new. Decent management of your abundant section 3s, but somewhat blah engines and ablative armor. Use of doodads tips it slightly in your favor.
6/10
Functionality: I like that the fold-in of the wings, described in the backstory, looks like it could happen. I'd like to see a version of the ship in that configuration, actually. Plays well, looks good. Insert harping about custom colors here. And what’s with the insane acceleration?
4/5
Backstory: Well, better than a lot, though it's not exactly perfect. A few spelling flubs here and there. My instinct says a nebula wouldn't completely obscure the outside universe, but I can't swear to it, and I think a crashing warship could very easily contaminate a whole planet, not just a continent. It'd probably be a significant extinction level event.
That said, you do some nice explaining of the ship's features, even if 'quantum gravometric system' is mostly meaningless babble. As a note, it doesn't look a lot like the wings folding in would save reduce the width of the ship much at all. Guess it'll be a tight fit. I just wish that this were a scout ship, an explorer, a colony ship, anything but a top of the line battleship.
3/5
Total:28/40
KAZUAEL
The Cathedral of Stars
Aesthetics: Why, oh why do you people hate my computer so? Four frames. With the ship unselected. So much for combat testing. Anyway, aesthetics. The thing looks pretty great at a glance and zoomed out, but suffers moderately when zoomed in. The lovely glowy patterns and sweeping curves degrade into naught but section spam. Well, that's not entirely fair, but it's sorta true. The saw tooth pattern produced in some of those curves gets really ugly, and the outer hull plates are rather uninspiring filler. I really wish this ship looked as good zoomed in as it does zoomed out, but it doesn't really. I do love blue, though.
7/10
Originality: It's not a massive brick of a thing, I have to give you that. Nice and swoopy with delightful glowyness
9/10
Creativity: There's some really nice stuff going on... until you zoom in. Even then it's decent enough overall, but the most impressive feature zoomed out, the glowing central core, really looks bad up close. A lot falls down under inspection, but points for what does work and trying
7/10
Functionality: In theory this could get endless bounce, which is blech. Yada yada fixed colors. The swoopyness and openness is directly addressed in the backstory, so yay, bonus there. I can't really say how it plays.
3/5
Backstory: Starts off interesting, then it becomes a list of guns. Not the biggest badass around, apparently, which frankly frightens me. What do the heavy hitters in that universe look like? My processor weeps. The glowing is caused by a charged particle field ionizing stuff? What's it ionizing, the air? A bit better than average, if only because it has to justify the snoopiness.
2/5
Total: 28/40
SUMMARY
ARCALANE
Cataclysm-class Mothership
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 4/5
Total: 29/40
JAFFAJOKE91
Hysteria
Aesthetics: 4/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 3/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 18/40
CONDORC3
The Eye Of Harmony
Aesthetics: 6/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 26/40
ANTY
Eteru Starbase
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 9/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 32/40
NORMANDY
Tristifal
Aesthetics: 6/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 21/40
STRIDEO
CRS Valshamr
Aesthetics: 4/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 3/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total: 16/40
ARCANEDUDE
Davey Jone's Locker
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 26/40
SEE315
Leviathan
Aesthetics: 5/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 23/40
REVEN1231
BC.Focalon
Aesthetics: 6/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 23/40
CHAOSTHEORY
Synapse
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total: 29/40
DAXX
LCSS Transit Gloria
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 9/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 0/0
Total: 20/40
PERTUARBO
Incendrius
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 5/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 0/0
Total: 14/40
MALAHITE
Templar Knight
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 5/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 19/40
BL3D4
Alpharia
Aesthetics: 2/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 0/5
Total: 17/40
AURIAK
Nor Creature Carrier
Aesthetics: 9/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total: 31/40
M123
Kareem Heavy Lifter
Aesthetics: 5/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 21/40
WATER_AND_WIND
Phlogiston-class Gunship
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 24/40
LIZZIE
IVL-A-Hades Class Man'o'war
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 2/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total: 22/40
RAUL
Argonaut
Aesthetics: 4/10
Originality: 7/10
Creativity: 4/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total:17/40
BoVinE
Soma
Aesthetics: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total:29/40
BADBOY
Armageddon's Scribe
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 5/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 1/5
Total:20/40
DARTHMETOO
Midboss
Aesthetics: 3/10
Originality: 2/10
Creativity: 2/10
Functionality: 1/5
Backstory: 0/0
Total:8/10
EXTHALEON
Canute class Fast Battle cruiser
Aesthetics: 2/10
Originality: 4/10
Creativity: 3/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 15/40
MASTER CHEF
UFS All Under Heaven
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 4/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 22/40
WICKY 42
Incursus Heavy Battlecruiser
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality: 4/5
Backstory: 3/5
Total:28/40
KAZUAEL
The Cathedral of Stars
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 3/5
Backstory: 2/5
Total: 28/40
DETAIL
ARCALANE
Cataclysm-class Mothership
Aesthetics: I can quite firmly say I like this ship. It's not spectacularly pleasing, but it's far from offensive. The weapons are widely spaced and nicely clustered, without the crowding you see so often. The ship itself is nicely terraced, and the color scheme is good, to the point that the glow of the modules works with it. Bonus for neat engines and the shield walls, taking advantage of the recolerable aegis.
8/10
Originality: I've gotta say, this ship isn't at its core that original. The shape is one we've seen time and again, and the broadside heavy armament doesn't help. However, the shield walls and some details of construction, like the terracing, stand out to me, so you get some points here, plus the aft section looks like it's for something besides engines! A shocker, for sure.
7/10
Creativity:
You used Aegis in a way that looks good and doesn't totally suck, so that's bonus points. The side mounted thrusters aren't something I see anyone else doing, and they make a nice effect. The ship construction itself is fairly pedestrian, but it works. Kudos on the megatach, though. It doesn't do at all what you expect it to, which is fun!
8/10
Functionality: The Cata is billed as something of a production ship, but I don't see any launch bays on the thing, unless you count the demeters, which I don't. Otherwise it looks well endowed for kicking ass and taking names, though again, it's mining capabilities don't seem to be spoken to anywhere in it's shape. Looks like a great combat ship, but falls down a bit when it comes to its non-combat responsibilities. I just wish it had flexible colors, at least in part.
2/5
Backstory: The backstory is nicely detailed, and certainly decently written, as well as not being the usual fare around these parts. I do have to say it's a bit cliche in places, though. Ancient menace, unsealed, threatens to consume the galaxy, and so forth. That said, points for actually writing something that isn't the standard 'must make a better ship now!' stuff.
4/5
Total: 29/40
JAFFAJOKE91
Hysteria
Aesthetics: I'm a bit torn in this case. The curving design of the ship shows some promise, but it just doesn't seem to be executed well. Strands go over and under in ways that are a bit hard to keep track of visually, with a sense of depth hard to get a handle on. On top of that, the curving shapes are broken by saw-toothed inner surfaces caused by questionable section choice.
The colors are fixed, which doesn't loose you any points(in this category), but they're not well chosen. All I can say is just ugly.
The weapons are not overloaded on the ship, and about average in gameplay, though I question the decision to put six megabeamers instead of one with a burst value.
4/10
Originality: Weapons, concept, guns, all pretty run of the mill. But the ship itself isn't something you see everything. It's not even a brick with tentacles, it's just a big mass of tentacles. However well executed it was, it's a pretty creative attempt. Minus a point for having a massive fixed beam main gun, though.
8/10
Creativity: Original or not, the actual section and weapon usage is pretty below average. Rails, gats, blasters, demeters, and a giant beam. Section choice isn't innovative, and in case of the curve attempts is often a step backward. I tried to find something nice to say, but couldn't think of anything
3/10
Functionality: I like how the weapons do seem to be placed consistently across the hull, but a few issues bother me. The aft section seems rather pointless in function, just hanging out there and holding a few dinky thruster modules. Weapons, save maybe the demeters, seem woefully under-ranged.
Attempting to pit this ship against itself results in the two vessels ending up half on top of each other before the main beams can fire, and the blasters are similarly afflicted. Anything the main weapon can hit is completely immune to the four front railguns, which seems a bit of a flaw to me.
Colors are fixed, not flexible, which is a black mark in my book. Right color choice could have done interesting things, maybe, but we'll never know. Parenting on the thin limbs is sorta wonky; a sever near the base of some of the strands could take out exactly half of the down-stream structure, and leave the other half intact. Plus the screenshots show a structure between the fore prongs that doesn't exist in the download.
1/5
Backstory: Not much to say, not much to judge. Rather bland, though it does have the glimmer of detail and a modicum of effort.
2/5
Total: 18/40
CONDORC3
The Eye Of Harmony
Aesthetics: I like the very clean exterior, the iris thingy going on in the center, and the somewhat mesmerizing effect of the quarter sections surrounding the center. On the other hand I really don't like the widely varying section sizes. Besides varying line weight, the heavily shrunk sections get very jumbled and messy, and it just looks ugly. Color choice is a bit odd, too, with the red rim, but that's not anything major.
6/10
Originality: It's certainly a new idea, hard to say it's not. I'm pretty sure nobody has built a floating eye before, and it's not exactly the standard weapons complement
9/10
Creativity: There are some interesting things going on here with the interior. I'm not sure they all work, but they're there. Somewhat interesting mods for weaponry, too, and white deflectors are fun. I really like how the lines of the central area draw the eye to the middle of the ship.
8/10
Functionality: If it was supposed to originally be a station, it looks like it. It's hard to see how the thing even moves, but there's always reactionless drives or whatever. Armored hull works nicely, until it cracks. I'm a bit bugged that the gluons at the tips really can't hit anything that's not already on top of the ship, because one real gun for something that seems to be billed as a personal royal warship just doesn't jive with me. It'd be nice if more than just the outer rim was flex-colored too.
2/5
Backstory: I'll be blunt, it's corny and a bit goofy. Not that interesting, and it spends some time explaining the obvious resemblance to an eye. Having the queen of the 'Darkest Empires' want a crying peacekeeper ship doesn't really work well without further exploration either. Still, it does exist.
1/5
Total: 26/40
ANTY
Eteru Starbase
Aesthetics: Wow. Just plain wow. I wasn't too sold on this from your screenshots, but loading it up... wow. You need to set your glow to a gray, because this looks so much better when it's not tan. I think you'll have to lose a point for the kinda bad screenshot look, but it's a great ship when it's in game. The shimmer is a fantastic effect on this one.
8/10
Originality: Starbases aren't quite a new idea, but I've not seen a lot of them in the BSF community, and it's nicely unbalanced in form.
8/10
Creativity: There are a lot of nice things going on here. The domes have a fantastic pattern to the degree that in the center I mostly stop seeing sections and just see the shape, which is what should happen. The super-stretched struts connecting some of the outer areas are a nice touch, and the thicker struts do something I've tried to do before so much better than I ever managed. Hats off.
9/10
Functionality: It looks like it does what it should, and does it very well. I can believe that under those domes are people, cities, and fields for feeding them, and those struts can house all the transport for moving cargo and people between domes. The lazy spin just looks right, and the gun test platform is a great touch. Too bad there's not one patch of flex-color on the thing.
4/5
Backstory: The weakest part of this ship is the story. Nothing outright bad, and it reasonably justifies the ship, but there's just not a lot there.
2/5
Total: 32/40
NORMANDY
Tristifal
Aesthetics: This ship looks a lot better backlight than it does in the dead of space. Not that it looks particularly bad, but it's a bit dark against a black background. The shape is pleasing enough, and the fuzzy aegis works well, but the section 16s break it up unpleasantly, and the aft section is a bit weak.
I'd recommend trying to take advantage of clip, burst, and RoF modding to achieve the desired volume of fire with fewer weapons, because this is just too much. It's visually cluttered on the hull. The doodads don't work very well either.
6/10
Originality: There really isn't much here that's new. Nose thrusters, but that's about it. Everything else I've seen elsewhere, unless I'm just imagining the spate of modded aegis ships after SM3 debuted.
6/10
Creativity: You used doodads, but otherwise, it's all been done before extensively. The ship is well executed, but not groundbreaking in any respect.
6/10
Functionality: Looks functional, I can buy it as an old warhorse certainly. Suffers a bit in gameplay, though, as it's rather easy to have a mostly intact ship that's lost enough thrusters to have no acceleration and bounces forever. Also, fixed colors all the way.
2/5
Backstory: Short and to the point, like most offerings this time around. The repetitious form doesn't quite seem to work, and the whole thing rings somewhat hollow to me.
1/5
Total: 21/40
STRIDEO
CRS Valshamr
Aesthetics: Not bad at a glance, but the more I look at it the less I like it. The blue outline doesn't really mesh with the other color choices, and I just can't get behind that dull brown. The curves of and on the neck are too jagged, and it looks as though there is an attempt at a sense of depth, but it falls down.
4/10
Originality: Looking at this I can't help but think of Talhydras' latest fleet, which serves up some offerings that are very similar. Nothing else stands out, which isn't a good thing for this category.
4/10
Creativity: Execution is pretty poor throughout the ship. Space filling is chunky, and the outlining effect is abused unreasonably. The standout feature is the turret wells under some of the guns, which was first used, to my knowledge, by Talhydras' last fleet.
3/10
Functionality: It looks like it does what it says it does. All fixed colors when it so needs another paint scheme. I'll say, though it doesn't affect the score, that I left two fighting for better than half an hour with both still well alive, which isn't great.
2/5
Backstory: More beefy than the average fare, and more interesting. Disaster relief is something naval ships do that you don't hear a lot about when it comes to fictional spaceships. Otherwise standard arms-race type stuff. Some errors, notably in the last sentence. "but the time when for it to test" seems to just not work.
3/5
Total: 16/40
ARCANEDUDE
Davey Jone's Locker
Aesthetics: Really, this ship probably shouldn't work. Red and blue are typically advised against for a combination of colors, and the whole thing is on the verge of being a cluttered mess, but damnit I like it. Weapons get a bit thick at places, but overall have a nice density. The ship's structure is visually interesting, and falls apart very well. At the same time its weapons look great when firing. In fact, I'm thinking about using the blue-white-red for a new fleet now, if you don't mind.
There is a bit of a mirroring depth error at the start of the aft section, though. It's quite annoying once spotted.
8/10
Originality: At first blush a fairly pedestrian hull form, but the devil’s in the details. I really like some of the shapes inside, and the spikes are well done.
6/10
Creativity: Loving the weapons, it's good to actually see repeaters used, and the shock beams are just delicious, really. On the down side, the central spine of the ship is a bit old hat, and the tachyon drivers are highly reminiscent of some of Anna's armaments.
7/10
Functionality: Plays great, looks great, though a bit spikier than I'd expect for a cruise liner. The sounds of the repeaters firing make me happy, and it comes apart very nicely under fire. On the downside, it's got fixed colors, and it's very easy to lose enough thrusters to start bouncing.
3/5
Backstory: A bit of a unique story here, which is nice, though it's a bit rough on the logic in places. I find it a bit hard to buy that refitting a cruise liner to carry the best military weaponry, armor, and engines would be any easier than starting from scratch.
Another thing that bugs me is that pirates getting together for a major offensive is sorta out of character. Piracy relies on being slippery and avoiding the full attention of any authorities. Gathering all in one place seems an invitation for smashing, unless they're more rebels than pirates.
2/5
Total: 26/40
SEE315
Leviathan
Aesthetics: This is a ship that I want to be better than it is. Some parts are nice, like the upper portions of the first main limbs. Unfortunately the core is more or less a jumbled mess, and the limbs get pretty jagged near the tips, which just looks bad. The guns don't look so great either, though that'd be hard to avoid without more options in BSF. Maybe use invisible beam emplacements? Oddly enough it looks a lot better with non-standard colors than with the all-green you had it in the screen shots.
5/10
Originality: It's a giant space squid. It's not even a ship. There’s been a couple squidy things before, but they tend to be mechanical even then.
9/10
Creativity: Nothing stands out here really, except for the thicker parts of the limbs, which are pretty nice.
6/10
Functionality: I love how much thought you seem to have put into this design, and the little details like the next generation Leviathan there is a great touch. Unfortunately the thinner tentacles fail to sell themselves due to lack of smoothness. And though it didn't affect the score, I wish it wasn't so tough in combat. Between the deflectors and nanos, it doesn't really need weapons. Kudos for using flexible colors though.
4/5
Backstory: It's nice to see something really different here, though it could use with a few proofreading passes. It's clear you put a bit of time into this, but a few points stand out where some extra effort could really step it up a notch. I was disappointed to see the contrast between "bore-wyrm colonies" to the infinitely less creative "Space Wasp swarms". "bio-plasma" is just silly, and sounds like the thing is launching sprays of blood at enemies.
I really wish I could score this higher, but chronic awkward wordings and sentence constructions, plus the issues above, hold it back.
2/5
Total: 23/40
REVEN1231
BC.Focalon
Aesthetics: Not entirely sure what to think, here. It’s not super ugly, but there's a lot of messy varying line weight going on that looks rather messy, and I think you went a bit overboard on the spikes. Colors are kind of bland, but I actually like how the scatter beams disappear into the hull. The prongs on the tip of the nose crossing each other just doesn't look good, unfortunately, but the deflectors, scatters, and thrusters are nice in action.
6/10
Originality: It's a fighteroid ship in contrast to our typical fare of heyuge ships, so that's nice. Spikes all over isn't exactly new, but it's less common. Nothing fantastic, but not bad
6/10
Creativity: The use of a gosling stands out, because that's a fun module you don't see a lot of. Nice job on the modded scatters, as well. Some abusive stretching isn't too in your favor, though.
6/10
Functionality: This ship plays great. In a community of super tough ships pounding each other for minutes before they start losing sections, it's really nice to see something dish out this level of pain without taking forever to die. Billed as an agile ship, and it is, in the context of the game. Too bad for the fixed colors.
4/5
Backstory: I realize awesome ships are awesome, but so far the ships that have caught my eye in this category are the refitted cruise liner, the space squid, and the self-replicating alien menace. Escalation superships are really played out, and have been for a while. I somewhat doubt a production ship, which this appears to be, would be fitted standard with prototype weapons, and I think you goofed capitalization a bit at the start.
1/5
Total: 23/40
CHAOSTHEORY
Synapse
Aesthetics: I like this ship. The combination of sharp angles and curves is well managed, colors are intelligently placed, curves are properly built, and the demeters are pretty fantastic
8/10
Originality: The multi-hull shape is moderately novel, but nothing earth breaking.
6/10
Creativity: Very well done curves and some interesting section use help you here, but the biggest boost is the afore-mentioned demeters. Very nice modification there, to very interesting effect.
8/10
Functionality: Really, this looks and acts as it's billed as it should, and plays pretty well. Unfortunately the loss of one thruster cluster dooms it to the endless bounce, and it’s been brought to my attention there's a parenting error in the engine area, so I can't award full marks.
3/5
Backstory: Overall a reasonably solid backstory, and you get serious credit for effort here. It's very nice to see someone put this much effort into the story. I do have a few complaints in this area, but most of them apply most to the fleet, so I'll hold them till then.
There are a few points I'd like to address now, though. The technical stuff in the first paragraph is to me effectively pointless babble, a waste of words, without a good deal more background on the FTL methods involved, a problem that dogs any mention of technical information here. The uncertainty about time at the very start seems a bit dodgy too, given the implied knowledgeablity of the speaker
Finally, I'm not sure "we a have learned" is a phrase that makes any sense.
3/5
Total: 29/40
DAXX
LCSS Transit Gloria
Aesthetics: I hate to say it, but I just don't like how this ship looks. The(fixed) colors are garish, and while the doodad effect is inventive and interesting, it just doesn't look good. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to like this.
3/10
Originality: The hull form is reasonably novel, and the proportions are pretty unusual.
7/10
Creativity: Your saving grace here, that's a concept with the doodads, and it took me some time to figure out how you'd constructed some areas, particularly around the core. The weapons are... somewhat inventive, as well. Some real creativity shown here, a shame it doesn't look better than it does.
9/10
Functionality: Looks functional enough, but really plays horribly. Combat with this ship comes down entirely to who gets lucky taking out whose blaster, with everything else being almost completely inconsequential. The parenting on the energy links is a bit funky, with the loss of the outer front connection points not doing anything to the links, though I'll admit that's not incredibly likely to happen in combat.
The driver shield is horrendous, making a terrible sound and stalling the game for multiple seconds each time it fires, as well as being entirely invisible on my computer. Furthermore, the colors are fixed, another black mark in my book, as I've outlined above.
1/5
Backstory: NO STORY NO POINTS
0/0
Total: 20/40
PERTUARBO
Incendrius
Aesthetics: When I first looked at the picture I was reminded of one of the Microsoft Zune variations. The brown one with the faint green sheen that was frequently named shit brown by the forces of the internet. Upon firing it's weapons I was struck by the inescapable thought that it was in fact shooting canisters of sewage waste in the guise of plasma charges. I think at this point it suffices to say that I don't like the aesthetic you've lovingly crafted here.
3/10
Originality: It’s a large brick lined with guns that broadsides. In fact I'm struck with it's similarity to the Hecate, though admittedly there's not a super-strong resemblance there.
4/10
Creativity: For what it is, it's reasonably well constructed. Aft antennas are there, the engine block is decently interesting, to be fair. The banks of plasma, less so.
5/10
Functionality: If you wanted a brick, you have a brick. Kudos for not making it 100% fixed colors, though having most of it solid white(not accounting for glow) is a move I'd question. I'm a tad mystified as to why the primary gap in the armor of a broadsider is right along its core. Seems like a bit of a design flaw.
2/5
Backstory: NO STORY NO POINTS
0/0
Total: 14/40
MALAHITE
Templar Knight
Aesthetics: I feel the need to do a small amount of 'splaining here. Part of a ship's aesthetic in my mind is how it looks when it's fighting. Given that I have no idea going into it with these ships what their 'power level' is, the only sane option is to pit them against themselves to see how things play out. In some cases, the Synapse for example, that results in a fun, fascinating, pretty fight. In your case, it results in two white ships firing white megabeams that turn the space between them solid white while their white deflectors flare up to cover any traces of color or form they might have had, until one of them explodes.
Asymmetric ships can look good, can be visually interesting, and are quite a daring choice. Unfortunate, then, that you made one that's uniformly unappealing. The colors are bland, particularly in your provided screenshot, the weapons are boring or annoyingly overpowering, the whole thing looks jumbled, and the overall form is nothing to praise.
3/10
Originality: It is a new shape to me. It's not a good one, but it is a new one. The movement is refreshingly different, quite nimble. I can't really see any other ships in this one, so decent score here.
8/10
Creativity: I can't say the ship is particularly well executed, and all the interesting things on it are old hat. I suppose the modded megabeams are newish.
5/10
Functionality: Billed as a top of the line battleship, looks like something someone welded together out of a pile of scrap metal, plays quite blandly. Not sure what's up with the core being in the nose. At least you didn't make it all custom colored, so yay, I guess.
2/5
Backstory: Uh... yeah. This could have been interesting, with the Christian / chivalrous theme going on, but it's rambling and overwrought, and riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. Hint, it's both, not bouth. You might want to watch for run-on sentences in the future, and the ending is extremely blah.
1/5
Total: 19/40
BL3D4
Alpharia
Aesthetics: This may sound harsh, but it hurts to look at this thing. Seriously. How is it a good idea to make a purely black ship, encrust it with gray guns, and then garnish it with amazingly colorful glowing bits? If properly managed you might get an interesting energy ship effect, but that's not the case here. For extra fun anyone with a glow color at all ruins the pure black effect and reveals a rather mediocre hull.
2/10
Originality: It's... newoid. I don't really like it, but the overall idea of this ship is novel. The hull and guns, less so.
7/10
Creativity: Guns don't appear at all modded, there's noting new going on with the hull when it is visible.. the all black/colored aegis look is all you've really got going on here, which is admittedly reasonably creative, but I'm not sure it can really make up for the utterly bland everything else.
7/10
Functionality: Why, why, why, when the hull is supposed to be invisible, are there so many sections in it? This ship just sitting there alone slows down my computer more than any of the previous ships did while they were dueling each other. Aesthetically it's hard to know what this is supposed to look like, so this is kind of hard to score... if you were going for a freakish space-Christmas tree, it's rather over-armed, and if you were going for a massive space battleship, it's somewhat overly festive.
1/5
Backstory: NO STORY NO POINTS THANK GOD
0/5
Total: 17/40
AURIAK
Nor Creature Carrier
Aesthetics: Wow. The consistent aesthetic here is just amazingly nice. The warm brown that shifts to a wonderful gold when the deflectors activate, the modified weapons, it's all fantastic. The shape of the ship quite effectively suggests an actual curved, organic hull, and it just looks great.
9/10
Originality: It's certainly not one of its kind, but the shape hasn’t been done to death and it's very nicely accentuated by the layering effect throughout the ship that gives a great sense of depth. The blunt head and tapered tail are particularly eye catching.
8/10
Creativity: Weapon modification through the whole ship is an excellent note to start with. The angled, stretched circular sections and general blending of shapes continues this encouraging trend. I'm not sure if the highlighting was truly necessary in a ship this scale, but it turned out quite well.
8/10
Functionality: It looks like a great rendition of a typical bioship, so you start off strong. I have a few complaints about gameplay, sadly. Notably it completely lacks any default colors anywhere, making it difficult to decide what ship is on what side if you have opposing combatants. AI range seems painfully short, with it quite easy for it to end up putting its nose over the target, and the ship does take forever to kill itself. Even so, very nice.
3/5
Backstory: Grrnnnnnrrr... Evolution doesn't work like that! Seriously, this whole thing would be considerably better if you dumped evolution and 'hypermutation' as their form of improvement and made them consciously self-improving. So, so much better. Evolutionary pressures sitting around on a planet are not going to produce the ultimate space-faring weapon.
You provide an excellent rundown on the ship's arsenal, and I was pleased to see that same arsenal with names and behaviors to match in the game, for one because it makes it easier to see what you're talking about. On the other hand, there is a part of me that says that a list of guns does not make an interesting ship backstory. What does this ship do, what has it done, what is it used for. Has it been in any notable engagements, are there any personalities connected to it that stand out, does this ship have stories to tell? Talhydras got a perfect score from Anna last beauty pageant by describing a pirate ship, its construction from salvaged wrecks under the eye of an enigmatic unknown captain, and it's mystifying of observers through unusual construction techniques. If I recall correctly, he only spent a few lines talking about the ship's weapons, and many more talking about what the ship means.
Never the less, this is an effort worth acknowledging.
3/5
Total: 31/40
M123
Kareem Heavy Lifter
Aesthetics: Not bad for what it is, but this is a beauty contest, and I can't really call this a beautiful ship. It looks like a pretty functional tug, but tugs are hardly the sexiest ships about. The area immediately around the core is a highlight
5/10
Originality: Tugs aren't particularly popular ships, and I enjoy seeing a ship wider than it is long for once. The offset engine pods make a lot of sense in the design, but I wish more had been done to break up the squareness of everything.
7/10
Creativity: The mounting of the engine pods is nice, giving a sense of detachability. The darker colors in the front of the struts out to the pods is strange. It seems to imply a sharp slope down, but it doesn't make a great deal of sense to me there. The effect serves you better on the nose, at least, and the core of the ship is quite well built.
6/10
Functionality: Doesn't really play great in combat, but it's a non-combat ship, so eh. I wonder why a tug has deflectors, really, there's a total lack of default colors, and loss of one set of engines dooms it to the Endless Bounce. Fortunately it does look like a tug.
2/5
Backstory: I almost missed this, and then almost skipped it again when I realized where it was. Hint: I prefer to read things in application built around displaying things to be read over the tiny sidebar with a painful font embedded in my pew-pew-pew-kablam space shooty game. Had I not been curious as to how other people had scored these ships, I'd have posted this with you getting zero points in this category.
Rant aside, let's have a look. The heavy lifter was built to lift heavy things, and has big engines that let it transport... everything short of a small moon, from the sounds of it. I again wonder why you need guns on a cargo tug, unless you've got a serious piracy problem. Do our container ships have CIWSs installed? The end of the story is clipped off by the edge of the screen, so... yeah.
1/5
Total: 21/40
WATER_AND_WIND
Phlogiston-class Gunship
Aesthetics: Yay it's a small ship! YAY! Making small craft pretty is its own kind of challenge, one that can frustrate even some of our greatest titan builders, and this is just such a craft. The colors work quite well with each other, and you do a lot with the few sections you have. If I were to make a complaint about the looks of this ship, it would be about the scatter beam, which appears slightly off center in the tines of the core. It isn't, but it appears to be, and on a ship this small that counts.
8/10
Originality: There are only so many shapes to use, particularly at this scale, but there are still things to like here. The contrast of purple and yellow is refreshing, and the way the yellow is added breaks up the shape a bit in an interesting way
6/10
Creativity: They yellow bits get you a nod here too, but the weaponry is somewhat blah. Everything counts on this ship, and I'm not sure the weapons are chosen or placed as well as they could be. The railguns draw the eye uncomfortably, being relatively large and complex.
6/10
Functionality: Looks as billed, but plays a bit funky. The 'vulnerable to attack' ship is quite effective at shutting down projectile weapons; something this size with two point beams is a force to be reckoned with. More than that, its AI range seems to be decently outside it's weapon's range, which for a flanker seems unintuitive. What's it going to do, park behind the enemy and stare it to death?
Also disappointed by the fact that there's no default colors on here. The yellow tabs would be an excellent place to put them without irreparably destroying the aesthetic of the ship.
2/5
Backstory: Some engineer once said something along the lines of "fast, cheap, good, pick two", meaning to emphasize that you can't have a perfect project. What you have here is a direct defiance of that rule. The Phlogiston is a light gunship, "deployed in great numbers", mounts awesome guns, has strong point defense, and is the quickest ship of its kind. Something's gotta give, and maybe it's armor, but it rings hollow to me to hear about this ship that seems to be cheap and built in swarms while having practically no disadvantages.
At least it's a small supership instead of a giant supership, I guess, and it's well written for what it is.
2/5
Total: 24/40
LIZZIE
IVL-A-Hades Class Man'o'war
Aesthetics: What we have here, is a Good Ship. A little heavy on the guns, and the big yellow bits are bordering on overstretched, but for the most part it works quite well. One thing that I don't like, and I've never liked since I first saw it on Aralonia's ships, is the big huge central line of megatachs. I can see that a cover is desirable for some turrets, but with this density I just don't like it. In battle... I want to say I don't like the huge shock beams, but damnit, I can't make myself do it. The huge red pillars speak of power and pain.
8/10
Originality: Grrnnmm... Well, okay, in fairness you did do some new things. Midhull engines, a sorta novel central island... On the other hand, I feel a lot like this ship is mostly the refinement of a long line of similar ships, both yours and others(Aralolnia comes to mind). You did some creative things, but I can't see my way to giving you a high originality score
4/10
Creativity: Engines! To my knowledge the IVL's engines are pretty unique, so points there. In addition, you’ve got some interesting section use going on through the whole ship, particularly creative use of 25. The struts out to the engines are a bit of a black mark... Couldn’t you have used multiple smaller pieces instead of one overstretched one? That’d have been better, I think. Overall, good stuff here.
7/10
Functionality: A couple of things do bug me in a fight. Firstly, the deflectors, while nicely recolored to a cool blue, flare up absurdly under fire on the scale this ship can dish out. It's really not pretty. The other issue is the missile banks. It just looks strange to have the far side missiles fire when it's in a broadside lineup. It might not be as bad if they curved tighter, or something.
It does look like a big angry battleship, and I appreciate the use of player colors even in its limited respect. Unfortunately there is a parenting error...you can make the mid-length engines float.
2/5
Backstory: The biggest nastiest baddest ships aren't always the prettiest, so why do they get entered into the beauty pageant so damn much? We get a declaration of awesomeness, a supporting story of awesomeness, and a snippet on how awesome the awesome ship's guns are, then a copout to end it before anything interesting happens. I'd rant about what makes a ship backstory good and interesting, but I already did that. This isn't really it.
1/5
Total: 22/40
RAUL
Argonaut
Aesthetics: It's very... colorful. There are some things here I like and a not of them I don't. The central dome, which looks quite like a certain starbase, is okay, and the struts on the back aren't bad. You've got some interesting flowing lines on the sides. On the other hand... The colors are a mess, there is some serious tiling abuse, it looks damned ugly in combat, and the overall shape is really hodgepodge.
4/10
Originality: There are some interesting shapes in here, and it's also about totally flat. Points for trying something unusual, I guess.
7/10
Creativity: On the one hand, you tiled like a bastard. On the other hand... I got nothing.
4/10
Functionality: You can in fact disconnect the majority of the ship from the core, and have a small floating core, nose tip, and then almost all of the aft and sides floating in one big chunk. Or if you prefer three smaller chunks. I can provide a picture if anyone wants. What in the world is up with the acceleration? It skates around like it's on an air-hokey table. It doesn't really look like much of anything, except mabye a creative campus of some sort, but it's not really very colony ship like or battleship like... yeah.
1/5
Backstory: If I'm not careful my commentary will be longer than the story. Don't worry, I'll be careful. Inklings of interest, totally undeveloped.
1/5
Total:17/40
BoVinE
Soma
Aesthetics: What we have here is a pretty ship, a welcome thing. Nice curves, effective use of colors, an interesting sense of depth, and an excellent overall shape. Blue beamers don't hurt, though the mostly stock weapon colors otherwise is less fantastic. The deflectors are nicely muted too.
8/10
Originality: Swoopy and curvy and stuff, a rather refreshing shape. I like it, and wish more ships had shapes this interesting.
8/10
Creativity: Great use of curves and internal shapes, but the curves get annoyingly jagged in places. Love the engines, a lot.
8/10
Functionality: Looks good, plays good, nice to see something with lower HP values, and kudos for default colors
4/5
Backstory: The Soma may have an interesting place as a cog in an overall story, but a cog on its own is rather uninteresting. It's an awesome ship of awesomeosity that is being built by the fistful. Last sentence is somewhat clunky to boot.
1/5
Total:29/40
BADBOY
Armageddon's Scribe
Aesthetics: Aw, man, at first I thought the middle spaces were all empty, then I realized you've got all sort of junk in the middle of them. Honestly, I don't hate this ship, and parts of it are well executed. But other parts are messy or totally unneeded, like the floating islands or the long struts. The outer shape isn't horrible, though Anna did cover one possible aspersion quite well... the internal of the, ahem, nose, is just sorta blah.
7/10
Originality: I feel like this ship would be a lot better if you shore off the, ahem, nose, and just took the aft section and worked on that. There's some sorta depthy things going on there, but then you've got what feels like blind space filling in the nose sections.
6/10
Creativity: Honestly I can't think of anything much to say here. Again, there's some interesting stuff going on in the aft, but the fore isn't great. And I'm going to dock you for using 1600 pieces on this. It may not be the worst thing ever, but it's not nearly that good.
5/10
Functionality: Here's the thing. I've tried to play test everything so far, but this beast drops my frame rate to 2 just sitting there, so yeah, no. Is this ship really worth sixteen thousand sections? At least I can see the parenting in the shipmaker, and it looks okay. Why in the world is the core so far back? The guns look somewhat interestingly modded, maybe. Ah, well, for the personification of a race's spite it looks somewhat... unfinished. Selling this as the frame of a ship would have helped you so much here, but alas. That would be an interesting story. Which leads us to our next category.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, I hate you for fixed colors.
1/5
Backstory: The dead race thing, I sorta hate. It has to be well justified before I'll swallow it easily. So, okay, these guys somehow know they're going to die and have the ability to make warships that will be relevant millions of years later, but can't save themselves? It's not like they wanted to die, with that level of spite... and not only that, they can't even do it right, what with a 50% failure rate. Uhm... what? Plus it's still the biggest awesomest ship of awesomeness that ever was awesome, yay.
1/5
Total:20/40
DARTHMETOO
Midboss
Aesthetics: Why is this here, really? I mean, I understand trying your luck at the contest, but it does take some time judging these things, just a bit. But really, this ship wasn't built for looks, I hope. If it wasn't, why is it in a beauty contest? Stock aegis doesn't look good, floating thrusters don't look good, the... it just doesn't look good.
3/10
Originality: Yeah, this ship has never been done before. Not ever.
2/10
Creativity: It’s like the baby of the Pith and the Leviathan.
2/10
Functionality: At least it plays well, sorta. Except the stupidly huge acceleration, but hey you can't get everything wrong. Stock weapons, apparently fixed colors... it looks more like a station, but it doesn't act like one.
1/5
Backstory: I guess that explanation doesn't really count as a backstory. Yay, that'll save me some time.
0/0
Total:8/10
EXTHALEON
Canute class Fast Battle cruiser
Aesthetics: When I first saw this ship, I honestly cringed. Crazy irregular sizing, sprinkled doodad speckles.. The shape doesn't suck, but my god the execution. Blegh
2/10
Originality: Generally speaking, no new shapes, no new guns, no new much of anything.
4/10
Creativity: Oh god this ship was such a bad idea. For reasons I already covered in aesthetics, mostly. Why, why did this? Tiny guns, tiny sections, overplayed on huge sections... the only good thing is the engines.
3/10
Functionality: I have to give it to you here. You made a decently playable ship, renamed guns in an interesting and amusing manner, didn't make mad acceleration skillz. Why does everyone love deflectors, though? Why oh why. And it looks like a naval battle cruiser, I suppose.
4/5
Backstory: What the hell is an "IRSmebalm"? My confusion indicates something interesting might be going on here, but I'm not sure what. Relevant to previous rants in this category, you mention a number of interesting attributes about the thing, but little that makes me care about it. Still, it tickles my fancy in strange ways.
2/5
Total: 15/40
MASTER CHEF
UFS All Under Heaven
Aesthetics: As I mentioned in my commentary on the Hades, I have never been in love with huge central line of megatachyons. You, on the other hand, evidently are, in a vey real, legally binding way. Yet despite this and massive section spam, you end up with a ship that doesn't look horrible. I think it's the curving that helps. This ship would probably be considerably better with some more section variation and more gun spam. The blazing gold weapons fire isn't a horrible thing, either, though it can get overwhelming.
7/10
Originality: Wow, I've never seen a triple hull before! That said you do bring some new takes to it, again with the curving aft hull. You also do the by now classic center line of megatachyons. At least I don't think I've seen it in triplicate before. I think you deserve a bit of credit, but not too much.
6/10
Creativity: Wow, the section spam. And the section spam. And booster engines! Those are new. And the weapon banks, and the turret wells. Never seen them before. Noope. Love what you did with butting those sections under the megatachyons. Brilliant.
4/10
Functionality: This ship plays fairly well, and looks as billed. All fixed colors, but worked on movement stats and sane AI, as much you can get here. The railgun arcs are absurdly narrow, and the BLAZING WALL OF GOLD makes it a bit hard to see what's going on. Worst of all, the demeter pods are insane to micromanage. Still, enjoyable and decent looking.
3/5
Backstory: Her engagements are over one HUNDRED! I'll give you some credit in that the history is somewhat fleshed out, but I want to take most of it back because I recognize so many names. Out of curiosity, did you come up with the Katuri yourself, or have you played the Realspace Saga?
She's been in service for a century(100 engagements, 100 starships, 100 years. Can we have some different numbers) but hasn’t had any upgrades worth speaking of? Seems unlikely that she's still on the top of the heap without any refits or overhauls.
A tip, cool and mysterious names can be easily ruined by the explaining of it's meaning, and you really somewhat stumble over yourself here. That's really not a good joke either.
All that said, I want to reward you for having a bit of flavor here, but at the same time too many things annoy me about it. Have two points.
2/5
Total:22/40
WICKY 42
Incursus Heavy Battlecruiser
Aesthetics: I like the looks of this ship, but it's got a lot of room for improvement. There's some over stretched sections going on, and the armor layer seems somewhat tacked on. Section 3 is somewhat abused, but breaking it up visually with doodads helps. I don't care for how stubby the nose is compared to the rest of the ship, particularly with the flattened beamers.
7/10
Originality: I could say this looks like a lot of things, but in fairness it's a rather fresh ship to my eye, wish some decent depth going on.
8/10
Creativity: I do wish I could give you higher marks here, but for the most part there's not a lot new. Decent management of your abundant section 3s, but somewhat blah engines and ablative armor. Use of doodads tips it slightly in your favor.
6/10
Functionality: I like that the fold-in of the wings, described in the backstory, looks like it could happen. I'd like to see a version of the ship in that configuration, actually. Plays well, looks good. Insert harping about custom colors here. And what’s with the insane acceleration?
4/5
Backstory: Well, better than a lot, though it's not exactly perfect. A few spelling flubs here and there. My instinct says a nebula wouldn't completely obscure the outside universe, but I can't swear to it, and I think a crashing warship could very easily contaminate a whole planet, not just a continent. It'd probably be a significant extinction level event.
That said, you do some nice explaining of the ship's features, even if 'quantum gravometric system' is mostly meaningless babble. As a note, it doesn't look a lot like the wings folding in would save reduce the width of the ship much at all. Guess it'll be a tight fit. I just wish that this were a scout ship, an explorer, a colony ship, anything but a top of the line battleship.
3/5
Total:28/40
KAZUAEL
The Cathedral of Stars
Aesthetics: Why, oh why do you people hate my computer so? Four frames. With the ship unselected. So much for combat testing. Anyway, aesthetics. The thing looks pretty great at a glance and zoomed out, but suffers moderately when zoomed in. The lovely glowy patterns and sweeping curves degrade into naught but section spam. Well, that's not entirely fair, but it's sorta true. The saw tooth pattern produced in some of those curves gets really ugly, and the outer hull plates are rather uninspiring filler. I really wish this ship looked as good zoomed in as it does zoomed out, but it doesn't really. I do love blue, though.
7/10
Originality: It's not a massive brick of a thing, I have to give you that. Nice and swoopy with delightful glowyness
9/10
Creativity: There's some really nice stuff going on... until you zoom in. Even then it's decent enough overall, but the most impressive feature zoomed out, the glowing central core, really looks bad up close. A lot falls down under inspection, but points for what does work and trying
7/10
Functionality: In theory this could get endless bounce, which is blech. Yada yada fixed colors. The swoopyness and openness is directly addressed in the backstory, so yay, bonus there. I can't really say how it plays.
3/5
Backstory: Starts off interesting, then it becomes a list of guns. Not the biggest badass around, apparently, which frankly frightens me. What do the heavy hitters in that universe look like? My processor weeps. The glowing is caused by a charged particle field ionizing stuff? What's it ionizing, the air? A bit better than average, if only because it has to justify the snoopiness.
2/5
Total: 28/40
Current Totals
Original Ships Category:
Cataclysm-class Mothership by Arcalane
Total: 80/120
24/40
27/40
29/40
Hysteria by JaffaJoke91
Total: 53/120
16/40
19/40
18/40
Eye of Harmony by condorc3
Total: 56/120
7/40
23/40
26/40
Eteru Starbase by Anty
Total: 77/120
29/40
16/40
32/40
Tristifal by Normandy
Total: 60/120
22/40
17/40
21/40
CRS Valshamr by Strideo
Total: 65/120
29/40
20/40
16/40
Davey Jones' Locker by ArcaneDude
Total: 68/120
19/40
23/40
26/40
Leviathan by See317
Total: 62/120
18/40
21/40
23/40
BC.Focalon by reven1231
Total: 55/120
19/40
13/40
23/40
Synapse by ChaosTheory
Total: 82/120
22/40
31/40
29/40
Transit Gloria by Daxx
Total: 62/120
19/40
23/40
20/40
Incendrius by Perturabo
Total: 46/120
18/40
14/40
14/40
Templar Knight by Malahite
Total: 59/120
21/40
19/40
19/40
Alpharia by bl3d4
Total: 38/120
5/40
16/40
17/40
Nor Creature Carrier by Auriak
Total: 84/120
27/40
26/40
31/40
Kareem Heavy Lifter by M123
Total: 50/120
13/40
16/40
21/40
Phlogiston by Water_and_Wind
Total: 58/120
14/40
20/40
24/40
IVL-A-Hades class Man'o'War by _Lizzie_
Total: 77/120
26/40
29/40
22/40
Argonaut by Raul
Total: 51/120
18/40
16/40
17/40
Soma by BoVinE
Total: 75/120
25/40
21/40
29/40
Armageddon's Scribe by BadBoy
Total: 52/120
15/40
17/40
20/40
Midboss by DarthMetool
Total: 31/120
10/40
13/40
8/10
Canute class Battlecruiser by Exethalion
Total: 57/120
18/40
24/40
15/40
UFS All Under Heaven by Master Chief
Total: 64/120
22/40
20/40
22/40
Incursus Heavy Battlecruiser by Wicky_42
Total: 68/120
21/40
19/40
28/40
The Cathedral of Stars by Kazuael
Total: 90/120
33/40
29/40
28/40
Original Ships Category:
Cataclysm-class Mothership by Arcalane
Total: 80/120
24/40
27/40
29/40
Hysteria by JaffaJoke91
Total: 53/120
16/40
19/40
18/40
Eye of Harmony by condorc3
Total: 56/120
7/40
23/40
26/40
Eteru Starbase by Anty
Total: 77/120
29/40
16/40
32/40
Tristifal by Normandy
Total: 60/120
22/40
17/40
21/40
CRS Valshamr by Strideo
Total: 65/120
29/40
20/40
16/40
Davey Jones' Locker by ArcaneDude
Total: 68/120
19/40
23/40
26/40
Leviathan by See317
Total: 62/120
18/40
21/40
23/40
BC.Focalon by reven1231
Total: 55/120
19/40
13/40
23/40
Synapse by ChaosTheory
Total: 82/120
22/40
31/40
29/40
Transit Gloria by Daxx
Total: 62/120
19/40
23/40
20/40
Incendrius by Perturabo
Total: 46/120
18/40
14/40
14/40
Templar Knight by Malahite
Total: 59/120
21/40
19/40
19/40
Alpharia by bl3d4
Total: 38/120
5/40
16/40
17/40
Nor Creature Carrier by Auriak
Total: 84/120
27/40
26/40
31/40
Kareem Heavy Lifter by M123
Total: 50/120
13/40
16/40
21/40
Phlogiston by Water_and_Wind
Total: 58/120
14/40
20/40
24/40
IVL-A-Hades class Man'o'War by _Lizzie_
Total: 77/120
26/40
29/40
22/40
Argonaut by Raul
Total: 51/120
18/40
16/40
17/40
Soma by BoVinE
Total: 75/120
25/40
21/40
29/40
Armageddon's Scribe by BadBoy
Total: 52/120
15/40
17/40
20/40
Midboss by DarthMetool
Total: 31/120
10/40
13/40
8/10
Canute class Battlecruiser by Exethalion
Total: 57/120
18/40
24/40
15/40
UFS All Under Heaven by Master Chief
Total: 64/120
22/40
20/40
22/40
Incursus Heavy Battlecruiser by Wicky_42
Total: 68/120
21/40
19/40
28/40
The Cathedral of Stars by Kazuael
Total: 90/120
33/40
29/40
28/40
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Anna
- The artist formerly known as SilverWingedSeraph
- Posts: 3447
- Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:51 pm
- Location: Elsewhere
No. 
It is entirely subjective, for the most part. Discarding the highest and lowest scores for each ship will just make it harder to find a definitive winner, and it will also make even more work for me.
There's been a delay in my judging due to my computer going to hell, for the last few days. It's working again now, but my judging of the Fanships Category was lost, so I've got to redo all that.
Judging should be done by the end of the month at the very latest, though. I expect the remaining judges to be done by then also.
It is entirely subjective, for the most part. Discarding the highest and lowest scores for each ship will just make it harder to find a definitive winner, and it will also make even more work for me.There's been a delay in my judging due to my computer going to hell, for the last few days. It's working again now, but my judging of the Fanships Category was lost, so I've got to redo all that.
Judging should be done by the end of the month at the very latest, though. I expect the remaining judges to be done by then also.Founder and Event Coordinator for the BSF Beauty Pageant. Founder of the Pseudo-Chainship Project. Admin. Games Master.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.
Question: was I marked down on functionality because your computer couldn't handle my ship? I'm the last one to whine about marking, people's tastes are subjective and I'm willing to admit faults, but that seems a little off to me.
EDIT: Just want to make it clear that I'm not complaining, I just want to know for my own personal tally and so that I know for future contests.
EDIT: Just want to make it clear that I'm not complaining, I just want to know for my own personal tally and so that I know for future contests.
Last edited by Daxx on Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
[/post]
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Anna
- The artist formerly known as SilverWingedSeraph
- Posts: 3447
- Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:51 pm
- Location: Elsewhere
To answer this:Daxx wrote:Question: was I marked down on functionality because your computer couldn't handle my ship? I'm the last one to whine about marking, people's tastes are subjective and I'm willing to admit faults, but that seems a little off to me.
Siber at the top of this damn Page wrote:Following Tal's example, I'm perfectly willing to discuss and defend my scoring, via PM. Raul, I'm glad to hear that my commentary is helpful to you. I'll note that building a fan ship for a ship that has no picture seems a little out of whack.
Founder and Event Coordinator for the BSF Beauty Pageant. Founder of the Pseudo-Chainship Project. Admin. Games Master.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.
Quality Control Enforcer
Gay cute girl and fucking proud of it.