(outdated) Guide of random shipmaking stuff you want to know

[Lizzie]

Not going to sticky it yet, since people always seem to ignore stickied threads.

I'd rather they ignore it then it fade into obscurity later on.

[ArcaneDude]

Stickied as requested.

[Water_and_Wind]

To make shock beamers act like normal beamers set Max Charge Time to 1 and Max Dmg Multiplier to 0. (this is more for my own reference since I keep on forgetting which is 0 and which is 1)

[Arcalane]

To make shock beamers act like normal beamers set Max Charge Time to 1 and Max Dmg Multiplier to 0. (this is more for my own reference since I keep on forgetting which is 0 and which is 1)

Or set the damage multiplier to 1. 5*1 = 5, after all.

[FIREST0RM000]

I figured out a way to do good looking and effective shields, and because I don't think anyone has posted this on the forums yet, I'll post here.

this is my example of a shielded capital ship. the shields are more visible if the railguns are disabled:

http://www.wyrdysm.com/battleshipsforev ... edalus.zip

basically this involves taking a component in the center of the ship and using it as the parent for a ring of unattached components forming a complete ring around the ship. then each one is aegis shielded. railguns still penetrate but beams and debris are stopped. any suggestions on improvements are appreciated.

works well with ablative armor and point beams for a great defence, even against uber weapons.

[ArcaneDude]

Eh. That's been done numerous times before, with many variants on it (visible, invisible, with/without aegis etc.). It works, but it's butt ugly when not done right. And making them invisible will result in easy penetration, as projectiles will just skip the section.

[FIREST0RM000]

I was wondering if there is a better way to do it. I came up with the idea without looking on the forums so that's why I posted.

I suppose I should go elsewhere if looking for help on making it look better, but while ur here, it would be nice to here ur opinion on this particular version.

the color is an obvious place to start, but one of my problems is that the parenting just doesn't look right. after a long battle, you end up with one little blue section floating in space. any way to get rid of that?

[ArcaneDude]

By parenting the individual sections to the outside of the ship, instead of the core.

[FIREST0RM000]

thanks, I'll incorporate that into version 3.

I'm trying to stay at least similar to Daedalus class battleships of the Stargate series. on that note, can I make the railgun look more like a bullet than a streak, and is possible to make the plasma weapon look more like a tactical nuke?

[ArcaneDude]

If you're looking for advice on those weapons, i'll send you a PM.

[FIREST0RM000]

that would be great.

[bien4500]

Send the same advice to me too!

[ArcaneDude]

Know what? I'll just post it here.

For railguns/machineguns;

Using blasters or pulseguns will get the best effects, I'll post a few strings and pictures here.

weapon|Pulse|92.50|5|12|50|10|-1|600|0|-1|Light Repeating cannon|65535|200|1|-1|-1|-1|-1|0.60|0.70

This is a pulsegun variant.


Machinegun fire from a Hunter corvette

And here's a blaster variant;

(Credit goes to Exethalion for this one)

weapon|Blaster|45|-1|1|4|30|-1|2000|5|-1|Linear Salvo Gun|32896|150|-1|-1|-1|-1|-1|0.30|0.30

You may even want to vary clipsize and reload time to get a sort of Battlestar Galactica feel when using multiple ones of these.


Coilgun broadside salvo's from the classified

You can also simulate chainguns by using Repeaters.

[ArcaneDude]

A'right. I've come across several hidious versions of the USS Daedalus now, and I'm tired of it. So here's advice on fanships, in general.

This is a picture of Firestorm's Daedalus, with bubble shield.



Now tell me, is that pretty? NO IT AIN'T. Sorry, man, but it just isn't.

To make the nices and most genuine fanships, use reference pictures. I don't have a picture of the USS Daedalus, so I will draw (yes, folks, that's right, DRAW!) one myself later, and post it up for use, but I'll give an example with the Covenant CCS class cruiser later one. Here's the ref pic I'll use;

http://tn3-1.deviantart.com/fs28/300W/i ... aKoopa.jpg

Now there's a real beauty, isn't she? Convert that to 24 bits-bitmap, turn it around and load it into the shipmaker to have a fine underlay to build your ship on. I'll see what I can do with it, post up the results, and I'll try to see whether I can find a good picture of the Deadalus. A good tip is deviant art, as many official 3D models are sometimes shown there.

EDIT; and this is the result;



As opposed to the blob up there, that's alot better, rite? It's not the same ship, I know, but it's far more genuine to the original, and I didn't use many complex building tricks or anything. Only the usage of section 3's and 4's is relatively sophisticated, but that's about it. Nothing too fancy.

EDIT; See? First hit on deviantart for "Stargate Daedalus".

And thar she blows.

AND SOME MORE ADVICE;

FANSHIPS; numbers or looks?

If you're building, or better, arming a fanship, there's something you need to consider. Do I stay with the numbers or do I go for looks?

A good example is the Lucrehulk I built for the 3rd BP. According to Wookieepedia, it had hundreds of PD guns, several dozens of turbolasers, and whatnot. Laaaaaaaaaaag. Thing is, you never see those in the movies. You barely see it fire. But we do see it in games; Empire at War for example. The mod I have has a Lucrehulk in it, that carries only four quadlasers, which is far closer to what we see in the movies.

So, a good tip is, if the numbers are ridiculously large, try using your knowledge of the ship to get it right in appearance!

[Da_Higg]

7. When you set core health. The larger your ship is the more health sections farthest out of the core lose. It's not a noticeable amount but it might be wise to Custom HP your ablatives.

The section's rotation affects the HP too, though I forgot the details.

Horizontal fliping of section also affects this; try section 17 upsidown for extra health.