Chainships, anyone? (Signups closed)

[thanto_]

I believe it makes the most sense to choose a good group of people first, then among those, decide on a style/theme/whatever, and from that, determine a basic idea of the general hull shape. Make sure everyone agrees ahead of time.

Triggers should come after the ship design, though. You can't really do that well in the middle of building the ship. You can end up with all sorts of really nasty problems if you try to do that.

Also, if you're going to do triggers, maybe decide on what they'll be for ahead of time. If for transformations, you'll need to design the transformation into the ship ahead of time. Otherwise, it'll end up not looking right.

[Verminator]

Adressing some points that rose up:

Kaelis: the whole theme of the ship largely depends on what the first two or three people decide to do, and that might not be guaranteed to be a traditional Terran battleship. I don't want to channel people down paths too much, the idea is that each person gets a chance to stamp their mark on the ship rather than just going along predictable lines. So long as what is done blends with the previous version and doesn't look entirely stupid, it's fine by me, and if someone presents something that doesn't look good we can always trash it and revert. A little freedom isn't a license to abandon common sense.

unsunghero: asymmetry is a big no-no here. I don't want people having to do twice as much work due to not being able to mirror.

th15: That's the plan. I definitely don't want massive, complicated transformations either, that'll just confuse everyone involved.

Silverware: Adressing your points in order:

We are using a roster.
There will be a small board of judges.
Maybe we would have competitions another time, this is all cooperation for now.

Raul: Ideally I'll be be picking someone who I know can deal with criticism and won't get upset over spilt milk. If we're going to have judges, I'd like good shipbuilders, and I'd like good shipbuilders working on the ship. Maybe things won't pan out that way and I'll need neutrals to judge, however. We'll find out soon enough.

thanto: see points addressed towards Kaelis / th15.


If anyone wants to talk about chainshipping, hop on IRC and check out the swanky new #bsfchainshipyards channel! I won't be there most of the time, but if I am, feel free to put questions or proposals to me. If I'm not, feel free to use the place as general discussion about the project with whoever is there. Muchos Gracias to Eri for setting the place up for me.

[Verminator]

Okay, I think I can start taking some names of people who've expressed interest.

So far we have:

Swamp Fox
Droid
Raul
Silverware
Derekiv
EriErin
Cycerin
Seraph
Deltaflyer
Hydraneth
Hege (?)
Bad Boy
Pick yer Poison
Thanto (?)

Now, that's a lot of people for one ship, but seeing as we've got a lot more stuff to do with SM, I think it balances out. The bulk of you are going to work on the basic hull design, At least one person is going to have to custom colour it, two or three people can work on doodads and other final aesthetic effects, and at least two people need to arm it. That should leave around five or six actually fleshing it out, with amount of people we've got now. There's still room for a couple more, I think, although those people'll have to be quick.

Now, for the really important message. Whether you've already expressed interest or you plan to, I need all of you to indicate what kind of job you'd prefer. However, keep in mind that a more experienced shipbuilder is more likely to get a position they want than a less experienced one, and when it comes to hull building, I'd like to have the early and late phases occupied by the more experienced hullmakers - those are the most important phases.

[Anna]

I'll take one of the building positions. Early or late, either is fine, though honestly, I'd probably prefer to be later. That way I can build upon what others have made. I'm not especially good at making "half done" things that others can build on, so it's probably better that I have something to work with.

[Kiltric]

I would like to participate, if there's room. Any position will do.

[AidanAdv]

If there are any positions still available, I would like to have a crack at this thing.

Edit: We could also do our own versions of different stages of the ship's construction and do something similar to Arc's ships and races of the Galactic Counsel or whatever it was called.

[Swamp Fox]

I would prefer one of the build slots. Which one doesn't matter a whole lot to me, but I probably wouldn't be one of the best choices for a starting role.

[Bad Boy]

I'd prefer a build spot, probably a later one.

[thanto_]

I'm nowhere near accomplished or skilled enough to do this justice, so I'll watch from the sidelines.

[Silverware]

By the looks it might need to be split into two teams given the exact same starting ship and guidelines.

That could prove a little more interesting too... adds a bit of competition.

[derekiv]

I'll take anything

[AlphaDetisMegas]

i'd like to participate(in doodads) if thats possible.

and yeah, its a pretty big team.

[EriErin]

I'll take a finishing/detailing slot, as with ADM.

[Anna]

I would like to assert that AlphaDetisMegas lacks the desired level of skill to even touch this ship. To even mess with it slightly. Hell, if I had my say I'd say he shouldn't even look upon it, for fear that his very gaze might somehow corrupt it.

But that's just me.

[pick yer poison]

I'd like to take one of the later hull-building slots, but I'll just take one somewhere in the middle if there isn't one available.