Condoract and H.U.C.R.R 1.3 fleets - C&C welcome

[Dragontear]

THE HUMANITY UNITED COLLECTIVE REPUBLIC REGULATORS:
"We serve the Emperor with all we can.
We uphold the law and order.
We protect the peace and prosperity of our nations united.
We, the Regulators, take this oath without doubt.
May god help us."

Humanity to be united... something that many doubted. This massive Republic was born long after many new planets were colonised by Jump-Drive and cryostasis equipped barges. It used to and still has difficult times, after the first meeting with the Hy'Rakken collective, paranoia and xenophobia drove a hefty faction of Regulators into almost splitting the newly created H.U.C.R via a military coup.

The Humanity United Collective Republic Regulators (H.U.C.R.R) was created in order to initially act as a long-ranged police force, currently a fully fledged military power.

Although both species co-operate, there had been wounds struck by minority factions in each race. Three times the H.U.C.R changed leadership, through deaths of rulers, both natural and insidious in nature - whether by human or other hands is still unknown.
They fight with willpower greater than their foes, no matter how the odds are stacked up against them. With a blend of brute force, heavy weaponry and great skill, the Regulator forces can fight back odds with discipline and veritable barrages of firepower.

Brutal, efficient, and with all the subtly of a plasma grenade, nothing can get past the Regulators without a dam good fight and heavy losses for the enemy. It has become common to gene-boost H.U.C.R.R personnel, regardless of rank in order to be capable of adapting and doing battle with great odds.

1) Defence platform: A large and heavily armed and armoured defence platform, with most systems governed by a L.I.A. Capable of producing a great volley of HEAP missiles, Anti Armour blasters and piercing thick armour, the defence station is a stalwart structure.
2) Hope class Carrier: The Regulator Carrier possesses a good array of weaponry as well as being able to unleash squads of combat-drones. Hope also serves as a combat-support craft, repairing allies within nano-regenerator range.
3) Faith class Cruiser: The Faith class is of the first and finest of its class. Designed for medium and long ranged combat, Faith is equipped with a heavy Anti Armour Repeater Railgun that can punch through most types of known armour. Standard combat cruiser in any H.U.C.R.R fleet.
4) Redemption: A new class, a Hybrid of Human and Hy'Rakken technology, the Redemption Command class Cruiser is slightly more agile, equipped with the short-range jump module, and additional weaponry systems as well as modular shielding.
5) Astra class Cruiser: A heavy combat craft designed for long-range bombardment and medium-range defence. The Astra, like the Faith Cruiser, suffer from relatively lax turning capabilities.
6) Sistern class Destroyer: The medium Destroyer class of the Regulator fleets, the Sistern is designed with faster and vulnerable targets in mind. Capable of piercing and shredding both weak units and gun emplacements with ease, the Sistern is a force to be reckoned with.
7) Gontora class Destroyer: A medium destroyer armed with the Teller Strike Beam Launcher, the Gontora is better suited to tackle slower, better armoured foes than it's Sistern class counterpart.
8) Challenger class Corvette: A space to ground combat unit, the Challenger strike craft are highly nimble, and can deliver a surprisingly powerful volley of Anti-Armour rounds and HEAP missiles.


THE HY'RAKKEN CONDORACT COLLECTIVE:
"Empress guides our souls. Emperor led our arms.
Brothers and sisters of the Condoract are legion.
We do not fall to our foe so many more than us.
We may never return to our loved ones.
But we take upon ourselves the ultimate honour.
We give our lives to protect the Elders, Dams and Sires, Mates and the future Sons and Daughters of the Condoract."

Hy'Rakken are alien in many ways but appearance if partially influenced by Sangheili, and their ships have a very faint recall of Covenant warships.

Generally speaking, the Hy'Rakken used to be a great and prosperous race, still are, but the original Condoract was split not long after the first Humanity United incident with the xenophobic political and military factions. How or why the influence caused clans to move against the leading casts and Elders... Simply because mutiny, dissent and ulterior motives were virtually non-existence.

Hy'Rakken L.I.A. (Living Intelligence Assisted) ships are an alien mix of brutal strength, mobility and speed. All units have exceptional shielding as well as regenerative abilities. Many classes can teleport short distances without warning.

1) Biostation: A L.I.A Biostation defence platform, this acts as a semi-autonomous defensive platform as well as a mobile fleet support station. Capable of concentrating heavy firepower against aggressors.
2) Vakken class Cruiser: A relatively old model of light combat Cruisers, the Vakken sports a single Duel-Proton beamer and a sophisticated Demeter drone launcher system.
3) Maller class Corvette: A L.I.A guided troop transport that has been re-configured to serve a fast moving, medium to long range fighter. Shielded and nimble, it is capable of both taking and dishing out punishment superior to its size. defensive tactics.
4) Vilo class Destroyer: One of the newer Destroyer models, the Vilo is outfitted with a long-ranged Plasma swarm launcher. The Vilo sacrifices short-range power for the longer-ranged weaponry.
5) Rai class Corvette: An armed and armoured heavy troop-transport capable of deploying several platoons of Human or Hy'Rakken infantry. Armed to contend with opposing ships during planetary deployment runs.
6) Shas’O Cryox: A relatively new craft, the Cryox is designed to overwhelm point defences with mass-suppression firepower.
7) Helio Class Command Cruiser: As the command vessel of choice by Hy'Rakken Fleet Masters, the Ui'Helio Cruiser is capable of facing down squads of destroyers and cruisers on its own power
8) Terra class Battleship: One of the largest Hy'Rakken created warships, the O'Terra is capable of slagging entire ships into molten shrapnel with one blast, as it is equipped with a double-overlapping proton beam.:[/b]
9) Sal'Kaar class Cruiser: A light combat Cruiser, the Sal'Kaar often moves in-between enemy ships and melting the surface of nearby foes. A common choice for broadside
10) Koret class Destroyer: A older Destroyer model that has been re-used and thus upgraded to better withstand the rigors of space combat. Effective against slow moving projectiles and long-range artillery.

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Constructive criticism about ascetics, practical aspects and anything eles is welcome and appreciated!

[Wicky_42]

Ed: First, hi and welcome! May your stay be long and prosperous...

These ships aren't half bad, especially for a first posting. The ship designs are pretty good (for all their simplicity when compared to vets' fleets), although the second race's colour scheme makes it hard to see much detail - or perhaps it's that the entire outside of the ships are aegised, making them come out all fuzzy.

I would suggest fewer modules, particularly on the second two races, cos with their blue outline they can take up more room than it looks in the editor and really start to take up too much space. Ship 7 in the orange fleet particularly suffers from this, as an example, as does ship 4. Perhaps you could look to stack more modules - the boosters and deflectors on the afore mentioned ship 7 could be stacked without too much fuss, and the nanomatrixes could be modded so just one would suffice. Likewise, the aegises on ship 2 of the teal fleet could be stacked into two neat clusters, the boosters combined and the nanos modded to really clean the ship up and make way for some nice detailing. This sort of consolidation and tidying would really help the teal fleet since the aegis effect kinda makes them look particularly messy.

This consolidation doesn't have to be limited to modules - try looking for other examples where just one weapon could do the same task as several - for example the mass of point defence on orange fleets' ship 6 - either arrange it a bit more artistically or mod one or two turrets to perform the same function (stupid fire rate/reduced cooldown/whatever), or a combination of both. Generally too many of the same thing in the same place looks ugly or cluttered, but a bit of creativity and flare can pull it off on occasion.

Suggesions on future design would be to look at combining and layering pieces to create new shapes, rather than just lining them up side by side. Take a close look at the way some of the larger ships on the forums construct their internals and get some ideas for how to fit pieces together in new ways. The most important trick though is to keep an element of uniquiness, a quirk to call your own, just to keep people interested For example, pointy ships are pretty damn common, but I've only seen one other ship that has a concave nose like ship 6 in the orange fleet, and also I find orange ship 3 quite charming as the only asymmetrical ship in your fleets would looka a hell of a lot better with the boosters cleared up though...

So yeah, to round up, look to layer as many modules as you can to help clear up your designs as several of them are cluttered, your second teal fleet could use more definition to counter the blurry effects of the aegis modules, experiment with piece layering and more complex designs, and keep making ships

[Dragontear]

Greetings and salutations Wicky. :3

Thank you very much for your review, I'd like to respond to your words firstly.

I see what you mean about the Hy'Rakken ships, as dubbed 'Aegis wh*res' by somebody on MSN, they are my very first ships, so several designs are stages at which I improved, knew more about functions and how to mod more effectively. The Vakken uses a single beam cannon that emits three purple beams as opposed to the Sal'Kaar, which uses *gulp* eight.

Thinking that I'd like each and every ship to be as independant as possible (The normal ship designs in-game are nice, but I get annoyed when presented with the problem of grog-marching my more capable units around to protect the more support-orientated units that were, oh-say... ambush by a jump-in foe?).

So... you could count extensive use of Aegis and normal deflecters and nano's as a bad habit, eh, same with creating a pointed noise overall-design, since for some reason I don't like the idea of Space craft being aero-dynamically inept... despite not meeting friction in space. O.=.0 Though, mind you I have some balancing, made the rear and in some units, the small parts of the sides lacking in AEGIS.

Anyhoo, first idea of the ghosty effect around the teal units rather appealed to me at the first time I coloured an AEGIS effect. ^.=.^

Number of weapons was thought throughout to try and combat flankers, such as the large number of beams on the Sal'Kaar, any flankers would still get slagged from at least one beam.

About The Scarlo Swamsty, all the little weapons in the middle are Demeters, about twenty or so re-sized demeters, etc. It's only got about four Flakcannons as interceptors. Although I do take your point of possibley reducing the number of Demeter launchers, I'll try and mod one to produce several to save space, though most likely keep the same number to produce a cloud of drones. XD Just kidding... yah.

Thank you for your praise of the Swarmsty's nose (when I saw it looked as though it was going backwards, because of the large front compared to the back, I thought about reversing the actual shape... too much work...) and the charming Schism. I'll clear the boosters up, for a appearance point of view I wanted it to look a bit more 'thingimabob' technical, i.e a very powerful weapon that the remainder of the ship was built around, hence it's slow to just-about-turtle speed and turning.

I might be babbling. XD Anyhoo... I'll have a look-see around, although - and this sound somewhat noo000bish, but can you clarify or show me some examples of what could be done for better defining the second fleet?

Meh, I'd really appreciate some examples of better stacking modules, i.e any examples that could specifically apply to some of the ships here? ^.=.^' I try to advoid over-stacking since, chances are I will need to re-do or re-colour something, and it's a big, big pain. ¬.=.¬

Again, tis' very helpful for your review. ^.=.^ I could'nt find any intro threads as such... soo here's a start. XD

Edit: Ascetic and appearances aside, I'll try and get a upload for the fleets here sometime soonish. Although looking at the units practically, are they effective? (Well, a guess since I've no motion images for combat.)

[Wicky_42]

Heh, it seems you misunderstood a little - it's not so much the NUMBER of modules as their placement. Simply place the aegis/boosters/whatever physically on top of one another in order to improve their visual effect. As to the carrier's drone swarm, change demeter launcher's burst value to increase the number of drones launched per 'shot' - simple way of cleaning up, and only has a slight flaw in that the group of drones will fly as one to the target before splitting up, making them vulnerable to flak. An alternative would be a large clip size and fast fire rate for just one or two launchers. Either of these methods would allow you to simulate the same effect at dozens of individual stock launchers from just a single turret, which often looks neater. Hey, you've probably already worked that out, but I thought I'd put it up anywho

If you're concerned at all about the balance on your aegis whores, you could always mod the hull HP for the aegised sections individually to be lower than normal. Select a piece with parenting enabled and you should be able to see the section HP, then simply edit it to have, say, half the default - that would make the ships resistant to moderate fire, but buckle under concentrated fire without needing some mega weapons to break the shielding. Just an idea - you could even vary the hp reduction from ship to ship - make your heaviest ships have no HP reduction to their shielded sections to make them that much more powerful, etc.

Eh, as to better definition in the second fleet, what I mean is I'd like to see some lines on the internals, some detailing. From what I can make out it looks like there is some in there, but it's masked by the big glowy modules :p It is hard to put in lots of detail on small ships and for the most part it looks like you have done well on that front - examining the internals of your ships there are plenty of places where lines meet up well or work well together - the central rail gun on the first fleet's ship 2 for example works really well on that pair of light section behind it that almost seem to be an extension of the weapon. That's the sort of detail that I like to see and try to put into my ships (when I'm paying attention ).

As to examples of putting pieces together... well, mostly it applies to larger ships - have a look at some of SilverWingSeraph's ships, since everyone loves them, or perhaps my Hiigaran Battlecruiser, since that got some nice compliments. Have a look at some of AD's VSE and RAN fleet's ships. All of these are on a different scale to your current constructions, but these were some of the ships that I took inspiration from. Just a few ideas of non-goliath ships to look at, take from them what you will.

[Salvofire]

Welcome to the forums and may you build many ships!

First off I'd like to say great ships for a beginner. It's not often that we get that talent without lurking for a while. In fact, that's the way I improved my skills, lurking and finding out better techniques. I highly recommend that in fact.

Secondly, I like the whole glowy effect for your second fleet by boosting all the sections. A splendid Idea plus it looks great. Overall I'd just have to say a great first try. Next fleet you should try making bigger, using a depth illusion color scheme and less weapons. The last two simply make your ships look much better.

Edit: on first glance I thought that the glow was from boosters, I realize now it's because of aegis. I don't recommend that at all. "Aegis Whoring" is one of the cardinal sins looked down upon by the higher ups. But you gave me a great idea with what I originally thought it was.

[Blackhart]

Welcome to the forums my friend, I hope you enjoy your stay.

First off these ships aren't all that bad for a beginners. Its good to see you started off with small and decent sized ships rather than big ones, it can be quite an undertaking for newer members that aren't prepared. I find the first fleet the best of them all, the designs are simple and eye pleasing. The second fleet looks good, the aegis gives the ships a kind of gelatinous look, but i would remove the aegis since it does blur the sections of the ships which makes it harder to see the sections (and plus its aegis whoring, which is kind of frowned down upon in these forums). The third fleet for me is kind of.... meh. It looks ok but the use of all those modules and deflectors makes them look fugly. They would look allot better (as well as your other ships) if you could possibly use less of them or put them on top of each other. That would make them look allot better.

Any way good luck on future ship building

[Dragontear]

@Wicky: Ah, <.=.< I've been altering the ships as accoordingly to your suggestions, I'll put the uploads ASAP. :3

Hy'Rakken are medium to high threat, so designed to be able to take and give punishment. Generally powerfull all-round shielding with small gaps inbetween that mean you'll have to snipe off weak sections. They are dependant on nano arrays and Aegis, I've made their interiors weaker so area-affect attacks and precision attacks are required.

H.U.C.R.R Are medium to a little higher threat. A mix of classes with speed, strength and weapony that varies. Often have a good level of staying power with heavy rockets capable of crippling their foes. Although the larger units are slower and take time to manouvor. The Faith-class cruiser can pierce a target with the four-shot rail-gun that is it's main cannon, but only has rockets and rapid-fire blasters for it's side and virtually nothing to protect the rear, same thing with the majority of H.U.C.R.R craft. Positioning is best.

Scarlo are low-medium threat. While they are dangerious, they tend to have a mix of slow and clumbersome units that are relatively powerful, and fast and deadly units that tend to be weaker. Almost all units possess Deflectors so they won't go down without a fight. Gennerally beaten with mobility and quick attacks.

@Salvosire: Thank you for the warm greetings and the compliments. :3

I'll try and stay away from the goliath class battlescruisers and such, the Hy'Rakken's Terra unit is probably the biggest I'm comfortable with creating, since I often tinker around to either balance or test new ideas. That, and I prefer the less clumbersome ships than to raw firepower and massive size...

<.=.< And eh, my comp begins to lagat a small-mediumish skirmish, so Goliath's kill my framerate.

Thank you very much about the glowy stuff. XD I agree that Aeigis hoarding isn't that fair, but considering their sorta... designed in mind to tackle bigger threats than themselves, the kind of units you wanna use should pack a punch in the first place.

Ditto to the person that uses light corvettes or fighters. XD

Or the long-range snipers/bombarders... Bad idea.

@BlackHart: Yah, small, nimble-ish and less bulky than, say a Inquisitor...

I've sorted the majority of the module stacking out, so the designs should be less cluttered.

[Dragontear]

*UPDATE*

All fleets are now downloadable!

New images and unit descriptions are avaliable!

:3

Click on the Fleet titles to download.

And if you do, please let me know how they fare. ^.=.^

[Dragontear]

Nearly a 100 new views since the uploads...

... and bugger-all comments? Odd pattern. ¬.=.¬

It's difficult to tell what's wrong with the fleet you work on if nobody tells you whether a sections amusingly sticks out or what-have-you.

Anybody actually downloaded the files yet? If so then the more practical side of the fleets would be easier to see than just from the fleet I.D. images. XD

Anyhoo, sorta update if you can call it that:

Minor balancing bits and pieces for the Hy'Rakken 'Helio' and the HUCRR 'Redemption' units.

Found some odd layer-related stick, corrected it.

Annnd working on a new fleet, I'll edit the fleet I.D. picture on the front page. :3

[LunarWind]

I have to say, I very much like the scale of your ships. Excellent size in my opinion. The designs vary greatly between the three fleets, which is nice because it makes them seem distinctly different.

As for the H.U.C.R. fleet, I agree that it is the best looking.
The large number of nano matrices used should make them hard to bring down, but I like how they aren't swamped with armor. In my personal taste, I'd say that the number of weapons is just right. The station looks a bit cluttered, but the others are all great.

For the Hy'rakken Condoract
I VERY much like the ethereal appearance given to them by the aegis shielding and the "ectoplasm" green hue. They look ghostly and alien, just what I think fits them. The overall shape and style of the ships fits this color and appearance well. I have yet to test them in combat (so busy right now) so I won't comment on the balance of using Aegis that much. After all, you can't judge them just by a picture. In particular, I like the ships with the split in the middle. The way it sets the front and back apart while still being blurred by the aegis is a really cool effect.

For the Scarlo
I like the use of Deiterlings. In general, like everyone else said, they are a bit overloaded with modules. The high number of lancets, and their placement, is interesting. I haven't decided whether I like it or not, but it's definitely interesting. Also, I agree that the asymmetrical ship looks great. I've been thinking about making some of those myself. Thruster placement on #7 is excellent. I especially like the front end of #7 as well. In fact, that's probably the best looking ship in that whole fleet. #5 is interesting, and I bet some fun fights could be had with it.

In summary, I like it. I like them all. You're particular design and usage of modules is different from what I use, but that just makes it unique. I look forward to some afternoon where I have time to test them against my fleet because they seem relatively balanced.

[Dragontear]

I'm altering a few nick-nacks with all three factions. :3

Soo, thank 'ee again Lunar, I'm glad that somebody took the time to download and review my fleets. ^.=.^

For your words of the HUCRR, aye, I've cut down on the number of matrices, and just bumped up it's poower for the Redemption Class Cruiser, being the hyrbid of humand and alien tech. :3

Hy'Rakken review-ish: Ageis on he craft is generally no more than 200 HP, therfore constant or heavy punishment should be able to pierce the shielding and begin to damage the solid sections. Nano'ers are fairly capable of repairing massive damage relatively quickly, so long-term engagements are brutal affairs, best to use mass-assualt against one ship, then move on to another.

Scarlo-response, I admit I could further clear up module and weapon clutter, but being that their weapons are of a lower quality, the additional weapons help to make up for that. That... and lancer anti-weapon attacks are less effective, due to the more modules and weapons used.

I appreciate your constructive input, muchly. :3 I'll get to testing out your Lunar Legion against the Scarlo's stronger units soon, just dammed busy.

Anyhoo, the Darts and Harassers against the Warpstings was interesting, four Warpstings vs Three Darts and Three Harassers. Warpstings defeated the Darts first due to their comparable lacking of agility, and the Harassers caused heavy damage to one foe, medium damage and light damage to the second and third.

I got impatient after a while though... too much strafing and dodging. XD Anyhoo, long drawn out fight.

[LunarWind]

So, I've been playing around quite a bit with your ships, and I really love them. I think our fleets balance quite well, and you ships alos balance with the two other fleets I have built. You can have some really awesome sandbox battles with a big arena and a good sized fleet from multiple factions.

I look forward to seeing more ships by you. Overall the heavy usage of Deiterlings by your ships make them really interesting to fight/watch/control. I also like how you use Lancets more often than most. Both of those modules can make or break a ship depending on where and when they are used. It's a lot of fun watching a fight between the same two ships several times and seeing the usage of those modules completely change the outcome. Especially against my Raider NPC fleet, since they use rockets so heavily. Watching a H.U.C.R.R. ship leap away from a stream of 30+ rockets is awesome. Also, seeing critical modules stripped away by skilled lancet shots is equally impressive.

I know what you mean by being busy, I've also run out of time for BSF lately. Here's to hoping that we both find time in out schedules to engineer some more balanced greatness.

[Dragontear]

UPDATED!

H.U.C.R.R: All units refined, with nano-regenerators better balanced. Etc Shielding colour changed, flack cannons enhanced and hitpoints raised.

Condoract: Shields are all 200 HP, added a new unit, the 'Cryox', a mass-suppression, anti fighter heavy cruiser. Unit designs enhanced, Helio, Sal'Kaar, Vakken and Terra have been re-designed.

Moved the Scarlo to share the same thread with the Shavartu.

1.3 files are also avaliable for download! ^.=.^