The First Annual BSF Beauty Pageant - Finished

[Squikker2001]

The Aegis from Starscape.


My rendition of it in BF.


The Aegis was a research station that was traveling to deep space in order to test a prototype dimensional drive. When the test was started, something went horribly wrong and transported the Aegis and all of its accompanying ships into "The Grid", a series of nodes that are connected by the singularity of a black hole. Upon entering the Grid, the Aegis was attacked by the Archnid, who stole a large portion of the Aegis's computer core as well as the dimensional drive.

Edit: Oops, I didn't realize that I forgot the DL link for the blueprints when I posted. So, here ya go.

http://www.wyrdysm.com/battleshipsforev ... /Aegis.sb2

[Anna]

Well entries are now officially closed. I will judge the submissions within 24 hours, and then the other judges can post their scores using the same format, just to simplify things.

Good luck, contestants.

[Anna]

Bah, sorry for the delay, people. Had things I needed to do today that unfortunately couldn't be put off. However, it is 1am now, and instead of sleeping I shall judge the entrants of the first Annual Battleships Forever Beauty Pageant! It's not like I'm going out of my way, though. If I wasn't doing this, I'd probably be playing a game or designing a new ship...

Scores are rated 1-10, with 1 being really bad, 10 being the best, and 5 being around average. Stories are rated from 0-5. Having no story will result in a score of zero, stories will be given a score of 1-5, with 3 being the average.

Please note that I will be brutally honest in my judging. Think of me as like... the mean guy from American Idol, or whatever. If I think your ship is bad, I will say so. It's nothing against you, so try not to take it personally.

Okay, first I shall Judge the ships of the Original Ships Category:

Derelict Dreadnaught by Arcalane
--- Aesthetics: 7/10
--- Originality: 8/10
--- Creativity: 10/10
--- Functionality: 6/10
--- Backstory: 4/5
Total: 35/45
Comments: I really like the concept of this ship. It's quite original to make a damaged derelict like this, and quite difficult to pull it off, but Arcalane did a magnicent job.

Rikatch Daskilia by AmnEn
--- Aesthetics: 9/10
--- Originality: 10/10
--- Creativity: 9/10
--- Functionality: 8/10
--- Backstory: 4/5
Total: 40/45
Comments: Holy hell, I love this ship design. It's incredibly original, and quite frankly, a thing of strange and alien beauty. In action, it's monstrous, and frankly, quite frightening to behold for lesser vessels. Whatever AmnEn hoped to achieve when he created this ship, I believe he did with near perfection.

Enplus by Raithah
--- Aesthetics: 6/10
--- Originality: 5/10
--- Creativity: 5/10
--- Functionality: 9/10
--- Backstory: 3/5
Total: 28/45
Comments: The Enplus is a nice looking ship, but sadly, in terms of design there is very little that is either original or creative about it. It seems like a bit of more of the same. However, it's still a very solid design, and I'm actually quite fond of it.

Sidwes Howitzer by Natch
--- Aesthetics: 4/10
--- Originality: 6/10
--- Creativity: 3/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 0/5
Total: 20/45
Comments: Ah... I'm not quite sure what I can say about this one. The concept for the ship is sound. The execution, however, misses the mark. It serves its purpose, and does so quite well. Unfortunately, it looks like it was made out of Legos. It's thick, blocky, and lacking in any detail or creativity.

Colossus by Water_and_Wind
--- Aesthetics: 10/10
--- Originality: 8/10
--- Creativity: 9/10
--- Functionality: 8/10
--- Backstory: 4/5
Total: 39/45
Comments: I am not ashamed to say that this ship makes me weep with envy. The attention to detail, the appearance, the creative use of pieces... it all comes together to make a thing that somehow manages to look so beautiful and elegant, despite both its size and firepower. I debated about it with myself a lot, but in the end I found myself forced to shave two points of the functionality score, because it looks a little more fragile than it should, in some ways, and is a little faster than a ship of its size should be. In the end, though, this ship is a must have. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

Damascus Dreadnaught by TormakSaber
--- Aesthetics: 8/10
--- Originality: 7/10
--- Creativity: 5/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 5/5
Total: 32/45
Comments: I really liked this design, but there were quite a number of things about it that bothered me. Something that really saddened me was the lack of thrusters, which really took a lot away from the whole design, at least for me. It's quite reminiscent of a Star Destroyer, from Star Wars, but with just enough differences to make it stand out. Still, a great design. I'm finding myself rather hard pressed to find ships I don't like, so far.

Solarian Siba Numtar by CroIntel
--- Aesthetics: 9/10
--- Originality: 9/10
--- Creativity: 9/10
--- Functionality: 6/10
--- Backstory: 5/5
Total: 38/45
Comments: Another wonderful ship design, this time from CroIntel. This thing is, quite frankly, a masterpiece. At once so ethereal in appearance, and yet sharp and crystalline and, quite frankly, a little bit scary. It looks good, it feels good, and is going into my favourites folder.


Fan Ships Category:
Serenity by AmnEn
--- Aesthetics: 7/10
--- Creativity: 8/10
--- Accuracy: 9/10
--- Functionality: 10/10
Total: 34/40
Comments: Anyone who's watched Firefly or Serenity can tell almost instantly what this is, and quite frankly, any minor flaws don't really matter, simply for the sheer effort and detail put into it. This is the Serenity, and superbly made, at that.

Earth Alliance Omega Destroyer by RayvenQ
--- Aesthetics: 1/10
--- Creativity: 1/10
--- Accuracy: 5/10
--- Functionality: 5/10
Total: 12/40
Comments: Is my score harsh? Maybe. But this ship may well be the worst ship submitted to the competition. No attempt was made to replicate the feel of the Omega Destroyer. Instead, Rayven simply made a pole, added big, ugly chunky bits on the side, and said "Eh, good enough". Well, it's not good enough for me, not by a long shot. I'm not even a fan of B5, but I wager most fans would be offended by this horrid rendition of a ship that actually looks quite cool.

Aegis by Squikker2001
--- Aesthetics: 2/10
--- Creativity: 1/10
--- Accuracy: 4/10
--- Functionality: 5/10
Total: 12/40
Comments: What can I say about this? What the hell can I say? It's a cube. A fairly detail-less, uninspiring, fucking cube. That's not the entire reason for the low score, though. Where the hell do I even begin? In the picture of the ship, the Aegis clearly has rounded edges, with flat engine pieces. This has flat edges, and rounded engine pieces. What the hell, man? What the hell?

Ugh... well, the Fan Ships were rather disappointing, compared to the original ships, which were almost entirely excellent. I'll leave off doing the fleets for later. I think I need some sleep. Judges, feel free to commence judging now. Fleets are judged the same way as Original Ships, except judged on the merits of all the ships composing it.

[Da_Higg]

Original ships first

Code: Select all

Derelict
Ath = 8
Orig = 10
Creat = 8
Fun = 6
Story = 4

Total = 36
Great design, brilliant idea.  The rotating gave it a problem testing though.

Rakitch
Ath = 7
Orig = 6
Creat = 9
Fun = 7
Story = 4

Total = 33
My comp blocks Rar files, so I judge this one visually.  A low originality as alien mother ships have been done to death.

Enplus
Ath = 8
Orig = 7
Creat = 7
Fun = 8
Story = 5

Total =35
A nice ship; the custom weaponry isn’t too much either.  However, the nano cannot repair the front of the ship.

Sidewes Howitzer
Ath = 5
Orig = 7
Creat = 7
Fun = 7
Story = 0

Total = 28
It maybe an artillery ship, but it doesn’t need to be so god awfully slow.  Sadly my own siege ships found it and destroyed it…
 
Colossus
Ath = 7
Orig = 8
Creat = 9
Fun = 8
Story =5 

Total = 37
Brilliant.  Just Brilliant.  Also much overpowered, but in a good way.

Damascus

Ath = 9
Orig = 8
Creat = 8
Fun = 8
Story = 4

Total = 37
Another big ship.  Bizarrely scoring the same as the other big ship

Solarian Siba Numtar
Ath = 7
Orig = 8
Creat = 8
Fun = 7
Story = 4

Total = 34
I liked the solar sails on this ship.  I’ve used them myself sometimes and they always look alien.

Oh, and Seraph, i believe you mean Simon Cowel :evil:

[Himura.Kenshin]

Quite frankly, I believe that he does mean Simon Cowel, although I say that the "rubric" was not properly drawn out before hand, and it was, frankly, quite confusing.

Other than that, I thought the entire competition went down quite well, although personal tastes did come into the judge's opinions.






Quite frankly.

[Anna]

Quite frankly, I believe that he does mean Simon Cowel, although I say that the "rubric" was not properly drawn out before hand, and it was, frankly, quite confusing.

Other than that, I thought the entire competition went down quite well, although personal tastes did come into the judge's opinions.

Quite frankly.

Are you mocking my usage of "quite frankly"? Yeah, personal taste does come into it a bit. That's why I recruited three other judges basically at random. The first three to sign up got the job.

And yeah, I did mean Simon Cowel. I'm not an American, so I couldn't remember his name off hand, and couldn't be bothered to look it up. I'm curious to know what you mean by saying that the "rubric" was not properly drawn out.

RRoan, Kazuael, if you could submit your judging sometime with the next... oh, two or three days, that'd be great. I don't want to rush you or anything. I know people have other things they need to do. I'll finish mine sometime in the next 24 hours.

[Kazuael]

I’ll also pass on the fleet entries for now, but I’ll get to them on the weekend.

Derelict Dreadnaught
Aesthetics: 9/10
Originality: 8/10
Creativity: 9/10
Functionality: 7/10
Backstory: 4/5
Total: 37
I rather like the idea of floating space hulks serving as treasure troves of information, and even though the backstory suggests that it was a human built ship and not some long-abandoned ancient vessel, it is still very interesting. Good job on simulating battle damage, it looks rather good. The functionality score is a bit lower because, well, it’s a floating wreck, and usually floating wrecks aren’t very functional. The only things I didn’t really like were the color scheme and the rather standard shape of the ship, but all things considered it’s a very good entry

Rakitch Daskilia
Aesthetics: 9/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Backstory: 4/5

Total: 41
Very impressive there, AmnEn. It’s a very unique design, and it was executed very well. The solar sails look very nice, with my only complaint being the rather lumpy placement of the thrusters on them, but that’s mostly a personal preference.

Enplus
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 6/10
Functionality 10/10
Backstory: 4/5
Total: 33
I’m going to have to agree with Seraph on the fact that it’s not a particularly original design, though it is an extremely functional and capable ship. It seems rather heavily armed for a small ship, but that may be due to the universe that it originates from I suppose.

Sidwes Howitzer
Aesthetics: 5/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity : 9/10
Functionality: 8/10
Backstory: 0/5

Total: 28

It’s not a shape that’s particularly pleasing to the eye, but it is very uniquely shaped. It is quite functional in its long range role, I’m just not too fond of its design, though I think you deserve a high creativity score for using the pieces in a very unorthodox manner. Also I’m voting no for the redesign as I still think this one looks better than the version with the thinner back.

Colossus
Aesthetics: 10/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Backstory: 5/5

Total: 40

This is a very impressive ship by anyone’s standards, and certainly by mine. It’s very well built, and I especially like the engine pods on the sides. The only real criticism I have is that the ship moves a bit too fast for being so massive, and even though it is explained in your rather creative backstory, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.


Damascus Dreadnought
Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Creativity: 7/10
Functionality: 9/10
Backstory: 4/5

Total: 33

I think that the shape of your ship is appropriate to its naming and its backstory, and it is a fairly nice design. I do disagree with its armament however, as I really don’t think you need a gun on every “feather” and every outer panel, as it seems like the front panels are sort of there for shape and/or armor anyway. The feathery thing is rather nice though.

Siba Numtar

Aesthetics: 7/10
Originality: 9/10
Creativity: 9/10
Functionality: 7/10
Backstory: 5/5

Total: 37

The fan shaped solar sails are very creative and very nice to look at. The only reason that I gave you a lower score in aesthetics and functionality is that it seems weird to use the solar sails to push the ship instead of pulling it.


Now on to the fan ships.

Serenity
Aesthetics: 9/10
Creativity: 9/10
Accuracy: 9/10
Functionality: 10/10

Total: 37/40

I have to congratulate you on an extremely faithful recreation of the Serenity. The attention to detail is extraordinary here, and I only docked points because the signature firefly-ey engine is a little less bulbous than it could have been. Regardless of that fact, you get an A in my books.


Earth Alliance Omega Destroyer
Aesthetics: 2/10
Creativity: 6/10
Accuracy: 5/10
Functionality: 5/10

Total: 18/40

Well, you picked an interesting ship to do, so I gave you creativity points for that, and the loadout of the ship is rather faithful to what it should be, so you got points for that too. However, it kinda is just a stick with more sticks on the side, and even though it is difficult to build a 2D representation of what needs to be a 3D model to get the spinning effect, it could have had more detail put into it.



Aegis
Aesthetics: 2/10
Creativity: 4/10
Accuracy: 2/10
Functionality: 5/10

Total: 13/40

Well, it’s a very nice cube. The Aegis, however, is not really a cube, as it is rounded on the edges. I understand adding the deflectors and point defense to make it functional in this game, but it’s not really faithful to the original, as the Aegis never did have shields or point defense in Starscape. As for the engine pieces, it’s not a bad choice to use, but they would probably fit better if they were facing the other way.



Those are my two cents on all of the ships. Though the fan ships were a little disappointing in their execution, at least you guys picked less well known ones. I was afraid I was going to have to judge five different star destroyers or something like that. Congratulations to everyone that entered, and I’ll try to get around to doing the fleets on the weekend.

[Da_Higg]

Okay, Fan ships.

Code: Select all

Serenity
ath = 9
creat = 7
acc = 9
fun = 8

total = 33
It seems I missed some good Sci-Fi here.  Oh well.  This ship is a great redition of the pics I've seen.

Earth Alliance Omega Destroyer 
ath = 3
creat = 2
acc = 1
fun = 7

total = 12
Ack!  This ship is [b]bad[/b].  Though to be fair, it seems a hard choice to have picked.  Still, it could have been a lot better.

Aegis
ath = 4
creat = 3
acc = 2
fun = 5

total = 14
Could do better.

[RRoan]

Original Ships

Derelict Dreadnaught by Arcalane [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 8/10
--- Originality: 8/10
--- Creativity: 8/10
--- Functionality: 9/10
--- Backstory: 4/5
Total: 37/45
Comments: Though the concept of a mysterious derelict is much over-used within the realm of science-fiction (and thus a point has been taken from an otherwise excellent backstory), it is one I haven't seen before in the BF community. As such, it scores high in originality. It's stats, armament, etc. reflect its state as a derelict(as does its looks), so it scores high in functionality. Many of the pieces are used in creative ways, so it gets a high score for that. And, of course, it looks good. Overall, I would consider it an excellent ship.

Rikatch Daskilia by AmnEn [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 10/10
--- Originality: 7/10
--- Creativity: 9/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 4/5
Total: 37/45
Comments: An amazingly beautiful ship, in addition to being creatively put together. However, its scores in Originality and Backstory suffer, as alien motherships have been done to death. Still, the quality with which it and its backstory have been put together is outstanding, and I feel that downloading it is a must.

Enplus by Raithah [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 7/10
--- Originality: 4/10
--- Creativity: 5/10
--- Functionality: 9/10
--- Backstory: 5/5
Total: 30/45
Comments: Though it is a solid shp design, I feel the Enplus is neither especially original, nor is it put together very creatively. However, it looks and plays well, and just feels functional. The backstory isn't really special, but since the computer is awesome I'll let that slide. In general, the Enplus is a good ship, though not particularly special.

Sidwes Howitzer by Natch [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 6/10
--- Originality: 5/10
--- Creativity: 5/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 0/5
Total: 23/45
Comments: An utterly generic ship, though it does its job well. There really isn't anything else to it.

Collosus by Water_and_Wind [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 9/10
--- Originality: 7/10
--- Creativity: 9/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 3/5
Total: 35/45
Comments: This ship is beautiful. Most of its parts are used creatively. It looks functional and plays well, though there are a few niggling issues that keep it from getting a higher score in Functionality. The backstory is not anything special, but it does its job. Overall, this ship is an excellent example of what the ship-maker can do.

Damascus Dreadnought by TormakSaber [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 9/10
--- Originality: 7/10
--- Creativity: 8/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 3/5
Total: 34/45
Comments: This ship is very good overall, marred only by an average backstory. The ship looks very good without using an exorbitant amount of pieces, so it gets high score in both Aesthetics and creativity. A massive dreadnought is not the most original idea, however, so its score for both Backstory and Originality aren't as high as they could be.

Solarian Siba Numtar by CroIntel [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 7/10
--- Originality: 9/10
--- Creativity: 8/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 5/5
Total: 36/45
Comments: Though this ship is excellent, I simply don't like it for some reason. It is Original, and put together creatively, but in play it simply felt a little awkward. The backstory is excellent, and the effort put into it must have been enourmous. Overall, I feel this is an excellent ship, despite my personal reservations with regards to its aesthetics.

Fan Ships

Serenity by AmnEn [Download Link]
Serenity by AmnEn
--- Aesthetics: 9/10
--- Creativity: 9/10
--- Accuracy: 7/10
--- Functionality: 9/10
Total: 34/40
Comments: A beautiful rendition of the Serenity, complete with a modelled interior! Many of the parts have been used in extremely creative ways, which leads to a high Creativity score. Some minor issues with accuracy bring its score down, but is still looks and plays like the Serenity. An excellent job overall.

Earth Alliance Omega Destroyer by RayvenQ [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 0/10
--- Creativity: 2/10
--- Accuracy: 5/10
--- Functionality: 3/10
Total: 10/40
Comments: this ship is utterly and completely ugly, hence tho low aesthetics score. It gets points for creativity, but only because it must have taken a highly creative mind to come up with a ship this ugly. Its armament matches the "canon" one closely, so it some points in Accuracy and Functionality.

The Aegis by Squikker2001 [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 2/10
--- Creativity: 3/10
--- Accuracy: 4/10
--- Functionality: 5/10
Total: 14/40
Comments: It is a cube. Even though the ship it is based upon is not. Its engines are round, even though the engines on the ship it is based upon are not. Still, its loadout is similar to that in the game, so Functionality and Accuracy both get more points than they otherwise would have.

Fleets

The Star Crusaders by Bluhman. [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 7/10
--- Originality: 6/10
--- Creativity: 7/10
--- Functionality: 8/10
--- Backstory: 2/5
Total: 30/45
Comments: Though simplistic, both ships look very good, and the use of some of the parts is creative. Still not the most original, but they play and look functional. What little backstory there is is simplistic, so points have been taken away for that. All in all, it is a good fleet, if a pair of ships can really be called a fleet.


The Massive Defense Force by M123. [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 5/10
--- Originality: 6/10
--- Creativity: 5/10
--- Functionality: 7/10
--- Backstory: 2/5
Total: 25/45
Comments: Although nothing really stands out about this fleet (either good or bad), it's still pretty fun to play, though due to the lack of descriptions I had to figure out what all the ships were used for.


Theta Fleet by Boba Fetuccini. [Download Link]
--- Aesthetics: 8/10
--- Originality: 6/10
--- Creativity: 7/10
--- Functionality: 9/10
--- Backstory: 4/5
Total: 34/45
Comments: A very good fleet. They're all good-looking, in a simplistic sort of way, and some of them are made creatively. Their backstory (though unoriginal and somewhat simple) serves its purpose, and all the ships behave pretty close to how they are described. All in all, this is a good, solid fleet.

[Boba Fettuccini]

w00t!

[Natch]

Well, I thought the Howitzer would do better. It seems alot of people found it to be weirdly shaped, but noted it does the job it's supposed to do.

Oh well. I want another one of these so I can try my hand at it again. I plan to make a new ship if another competition is set up.

[AmnEn]

Complaints would probably come across as bad sportsmanship so... eitherway, thanks for the competition.

[Boba Fettuccini]

now the other judges need to hurry up.

[Normandy]

now the other judges need to hurry up.

But all four judges are accounted for, Anna, RRoan, Kazuel, and Da_Higg.

So who wins? I'm anxious to try my hand at entering this competition

[Anna]

now the other judges need to hurry up.

But all four judges are accounted for, Anna, RRoan, Kazuel, and Da_Higg.

So who wins? I'm anxious to try my hand at entering this competition

Actually, Kazuael, Da_Higg and myself have yet to judge the Fleet entries. I would have done it yesterday, except something came up and I didn't have the time. I'll do so soon. In the mean time, here's the final scores for the original and fan-ship categories. I just added them up and it's goddamn uncanny, that for a total score out of 180, there are two tied ships.

Original ships:
First Place: TIE! Colossus by Water_and_Wind and AmnEn's Rakitch Daskilia both claim first place with 151 points.
Second Place: ANOTHER TIE! Ascalane's Derelict Dreadnaught and CroIntel's Solarian Siba Numtar both won second place with 145 points each.
Fifth Place: TormakSaber's Damascus Dreadnaught claims fifth place with 136 points.
Sixth Place: Raithah's Enplus takes sixth place with 126 points.
Seventh Place: And finally, Natch's Sidwes Howitzer takes seventh place, with a total of 99 points.

Fan Ships:
First Place: This one was a no-brainer, I think. AmnEn's Serenity stomps all over the competition, scoring 138 points out of 160.
Second Place: Skuikker2001's Aegis barely claims second place, scoring 53 points.
Third Place: And RayvenQ's Earth Alliance Omega Destroyer comes third, with 52 points, and also goes home with the award for "Ugliest Ship in Competition", after scoring 5 out of a total of 40 in the "Aesthetics" category.