God Class

[TheBuilder]

Story:

Spoiler!

Gods, what are they really? Illusions of grandure? Benevolent beings dealing out death and justice? Bloddthirsty denzies of another dimension? No one is truly sure of this, but some believe them to be ancient, yet advanced beings. . . . .

The first of each kind ship out of the Alliance shipyards were to be kept as markers of progress. Though the on the day they were completed, after just completing a parade formation, they all vanished without a trace.

Luckily since those ships weren't armed, they had no need for a crew; they were piloted remotely to also test how well the Alliance's remote ship control system worked.

After searching for over a month for the ships, the Alliance concluded that the ships were truly gone. They classified the incident as an anomaly and forgot about it.

The ships however did not. . . . .

The ships did not simply vanish by an anomaly; they "jumped". This happened because of the remote ship control system. When it was installed on the ships, there were no errors. But, at some point between activating the system, and when they dissapeared, the ships gained a sort of sentience. The Alliance controllers, nor the sentient ships, knew that the order of orders given to control the ships would cause them to reprogram themselves to jump as they did. This jump sent them not just to a different location, but through space and time.

This traveling through space and time caused not only their "minds" to grow, but also their hulls. In this way, they transformed from simple space craft, into powerfull beasts. Though no longer the same as when they were first built, each ship still resembled their original design. As each ship became more self aware, they started examining themselves, the data their data banks contained, and each other. Eventually they examined all that was around them. Since they were hurtling through space and time uncontrolably, they learned little. As all sentient beings do, they became bored eventually. In this way they decided to try and return to where they came from, and speak with their creators.

When the ships finally returned, the Alliance was terrified of them, not knowing what they were, or where they had come from. As the ships started communicating via their ancient communications devices, the Alliance thought that the ships were inhadited by aliens. Intrigued by this, the Alliance asked if they could meet with the captain of each ship. The ships were puzzled by this request and tried to explain that they had no "captains". This in turn terrified and intrigued the Alliance even more. The Alliance asked the ships if they could board them to acertain the truth. The ships found no reason to deny them this request, so they said yes.

The Alliance of course did not simply rush over to the ships to find out the truth, knowing that if this was a trap or something, they could be killled. To assure their own safety the Alliance built special docks for each of the ships to reside in. Here they studied, examined, and questioned the ships before entering them. In this way, the ships eventually told them that they were the very first Alliance fleet. The Alliance grew puzzled over this and postponed entering the vessals. The Alliance explained that their first fleet had disappeared without a trace over a hundred years ago. This in turned puzzled the ships, who then explained just how they had "disappeared".

Up to this point the superiors within the Alliance believed that the ships were really piloted by aliens, rather than being self aware beings. But since the majority of the scientific community had requested to study these "sentient ships", Alliance superiors, to avoid the possiblity of being removed from office, allowed them to. In the end though, once the Alliance scientists, (and an entire army of Alliance troops), had entered, and searched the ships, they had to accept the fact that the ships were indeed sentient. What still puzzled both the superiors and the scientists was the fact that they could find no trace of any controls, or even some form of organs within the ships. All they found was unfathomable amounts of what appeared to be circuits, blood vessals, data banks, and brain tissue.

At some point, the Alliance scientists asked the ships if they had names. Each ship replied with the name that it's original form had been given. With this knowledge, the scientists compared each ship to the schematic with the same name. Oddly enough the Alliance was not surprised that each ship vaguely resembled the original ships with the same name.

Taking into consideration all that they knew about the ships, the Alliance decided to designate them as; God Class.

Aedon:

Spoiler!

Specifications:
HP: 7500
Speed: 6
Turning: 6
AI Range: 1000
Accel: 0.60
Size: 109.08
Armament:
1X Pulse Beam
2X Ocular Beams
6X Railguns
40X Splitter Missile Launchers

Hecate:

Spoiler!

Specifications:
HP: 15,000
Speed: 2
Turning: 2
AI Range: 1000
Accel: 0.20
Size: 190.37
Armament:
1X Plasma Emitter
2X Tri HVR Launchers
2X Sabot Cannons
2X Devastator Cannons
6X Ocular Beams
10X Broadside Guns

Hestia:

Spoiler!

Specifications:
HP: 10,000
Speed: 4
Turning: 4
AI Range: 1000
Accel: 0.40
Size: 143.53
Armament:
1X Devastator Cannon
2X Tri HVR Launchers
4X Ocular Beams
8X Pulse Guns
16X Nuclear Splitter Missile Launchers

Thetis:

Spoiler!

Specifications:
HP: 7500
Speed: 6
Turning: 6
AI Range: 1000
Accel: 0.60
Size: 114.63
Armament:
1X Devistator Cannon
2X Tri HVR Launchers
2X Ocular Beams
2X Proton Guns
2X Electron Guns
14X Long Range Point Defense Beams
14X Swarmers

All together now:

Spoiler!

C&C plz.

[LongcatX]

mm not bad, but those names are aleady used in the standard ones, so use the god names from a different thing like (i don't know **** about this) greek?

[Anna]

Thetis, Hestia and Hecate are Greek Gods.

As to the ships themselves? Ugly, messy, incoherent and crap. They have no redeeming features. They're literally big messes of different styles that fit together poorly. They are not good. Not even slightly. In fact I dare say they're awful. Some of the ugliest stuff made in Shipmaker that I've seen in a while.

[TheBuilder]

I use the original's names since each ship is what I think the original would look like when warped by many years traveling through space and time.

Anna, if you think they look ugly, then that's your opinion, and I will respect that. But I still think they look f***ing awsome. They certainly look better than my Reaper Class ships.

[Water_and_Wind]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2 ... ger_effect

[TheBuilder]

@ Water_and_Wind
Ain't that the cauldron calling the kettle black?

I never said my work was better than anyone else's, just better than my own previous work. Also, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", so .

One thing though Anna, try building a ship like this yourself, and have it look good by your own standards. If you cannot do this, then these ships are just fine since I put plenty of thought and work into them.

You can dislike my work all you want, but I was never one to pay much attention to others opinion's, especially those that tend to be negative, sorry.

[Doogie12]

If this were Facebook, I would "like" WnW's comment there. Fits perfectly. And to be honest, Anna a legend. Try digging around the archives to see what he did with stock sprites. I am 96% sure he could turn up something better than this.

You can dislike my work all you want, but I was never one to pay much attention to others opinion's, especially those that tend to be negative, sorry.

Two things.
1. If this were true then why did you put "C&C"?
2. If this were true why isn't it in the custom ships thread insted?

...personally though I don't think the ships are horrible. Sure they are quite sloppy but your newish so I respect that. You should probably listen to what Anna says, cause he always seems to be right. Though he does tend to be more extreme. Meh, what do I know?

[Anna]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2 ... ger_effect

Oh wow, there's actually a proper term for that? I had no idea. That's kinda hilarious.

@ Water_and_Wind
Ain't that the cauldron calling the kettle black?

I don't think you know what that term means. Or perhaps you don't know that Water_and_Wind is one of the more respected shipbuilders on the forum, because he lets his actions speak for him rather than posting a fairly mediocre ship and saying "It's awesome!"

I never said my work was better than anyone else's, just better than my own previous work. Also, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", so .

Better than your previous work? Yes, certainly. I'm not sure that really takes much. And sure, beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but there are objective standards to judge ships by, and your ships fail under... most of them.

One thing though Anna, try building a ship like this yourself, and have it look good by your own standards.

A bad ship? I can't make bad ships and have them look good by my own standards. Be more specific.

If you cannot do this, then these ships are just fine since I put plenty of thought and work into them.

"If you can't do better than this, then this is fine"? That's a fallacy.

You can dislike my work all you want, but I was never one to pay much attention to others opinion's, especially those that tend to be negative, sorry.

So basically, you don't want constructive criticism, you want vapid praise.

[Lizzie]

If you don't care about people's opinions then why did you post them up where they're going to be criticized for being ... well shitty, and then start bitching about people sharing their opinions and don't agree with you that it's not shitty? Because that's what they are no matter how you cut it, if you think these are good then I'm just going to have to call you tasteless.

[Anna]

Okay then. You asked me to build a ship like this myself. I took that as a challenge. I took your nasty-ass Hestia thing, and decided to remake that. Sticking to the original concept, with five different layers.

Frame:

Skeleton:

Flesh:

Primary Hull:

Secondary Hull:


Here's an image of just the frame, skeleton and flesh (I don't care if the flesh is meant to go over the skeleton, I think it looks better this way)


Here's an image of the whole thing together:


One side with flesh exposed:



And you know what? This still doesn't meet my standards. I think I could have done a lot better, and I'd keep trying to refine the concept except I'm utterly sick and tired of staring at your original design and bashing my head in over how ugly it looks.

You challenged me to do better, whether explicitly or implicitly. I have. I hope you've learned from the experience.

[TheBuilder]

I had been hoping for some constructive criticism, not, "this style is ugly", or whatever, but I knew I would not get, "that is freaking awsome yo", so whatever.

@Anna
Good work, you have thus proved that this style of building can be good, mabye not great, but good. You also have done better than me at it obviously, so congrats.
One last thing, you didn't have to remake one of the ones I had already made, you could have gone ahead, and picked a different one. Though then I supposed that would have kinda defeated the purpose though, oh well.

I will study your work and see if I can do better, cause I will not stop building like this, since this is my style, and to everyone else, their own.

[DoomBringer]

Yeah Anna is right the only thing remotely good would be the back story. even the stock ships you based these on are better.

now for the constructive criticism
Stop over reapeating the same type of sections continuously. But instead try to change every now and then. The colour sucks especially the red sections, change the colour to someting brighter. And the shape sucks try canging the shape of it to more angular not rounded.

[TheBuilder]

Brighter, I thought you guys prefered more subdued colors? As for the same pieces, I'm guessing you mean the vidboi one I use for the angled plates. That unfortuantely is a main feature of this style, since I use them like scales that have grown in rather than being built there.

Like I said previously, I will try better with the next ships, which are of course the Hecate and probably another patrol craft.

Till then. . . . .

[Anna]

Here's some serious pointers from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

1) DON'T MIX AND MATCH SECTION STYLES. vidboi's sections do not go with SWA sprites, period. Using them together looks utterly horrible. It is a bad idea and you should never, ever, ever fucking do it again. They have completely different shading styles, completely different textures, and their visual styles DO NOT MESH. It's as bad as using Stock Sections with Shiny Sections.

2) The problem with your red musculature was that you made it too dark, and too flat, and too highly saturated. It's just a really, really, really dark red. It looked like a dark red smudge. For that sort of thing, you want to use faded, LOW SATURATION colours. I used a sort of pinkish-red for mine, and look how much better it turned out.

3) Section variation is a GOOD THING. It's okay to tile sections in places, as I demonstrated, but don't do it ALL OVER THE SHIP. Don't use the same section repeated again and again for 90% of any part of anything. It looks like shit and demonstrates a severe lack of creativity.



So basically: 1. Find a section style that works for you and STICK WITH THAT. Do not mix and match section styles unless they blend well, or unless you're feeling very confident in your skill. (You shouldn't feel confident in your skills yet.) 2. PRACTICE LIKE FUCK. 3. For most things, and ESPECIALLY things like flesh, faded, muted colours work best. 4. Don't repeat sections over and over again.

That's my advice.

I'd say take it or leave it, but leaving it shouldn't be an option. This is all crucial advice for if you really want to become a master shipbuilder who genuinely makes good-looking ships. Your sig says you want to make the most epic thing ever. All of the advice in this post is critical for you to ever come remotely close to that.

I hope you have found this post educational and enlightening.

[TheBuilder]

Ah, you try to use my sig against me eh? Then click on the first part of my sig to hopefully see me in a different way.

As to stop using different styles of sprites together, since you say it looks bad, is your opinion, though I like it.

I accept that I'm not a good shipbuilder, yet. However, I'd rather get good while trying a difficult style of my own, that I feel comfortable with, rather than something simpler, that I'd feel uncomfortable with.

As to the colors, the red is 255-Red, 0-Green, and 0-Blue, so I don't get how its dark. Same goes for blue only its 0-Red, 0-Green, and 255-Blue. Also, I was going with a muscle and veins kind of look, since this being has grown armor to replace its skin.

But seriously, think of these as living beings rather than ships. As such, if someone were to see these in real life, don't you think they would be terrified to find that bone is not the base of their being but binary code?

Think of it if you were to have to battle these things, as the fight progresses you would see that these are not just ships, but living things, so you would be confused and scared. And as you get close to what you think is destroying them, you find that under their bones they are nothing but concentrated binary code, naturally you should be terrified out of your wits as to how these being can exist, (unless your a scientist, then you would be fascinated).

I tell you this because none of you seem to look at these the same way I do.