Your latter idea. Meaning 9 bays? Or did I misunderstand? The fleetyard I is supposed to be six bays. I'm trying to think if there is a fleetyard II.

Only the Federation has a Fleetyard_ii. It again has six bays.

The Cardassians have a Fleetyard II Kenneth, although Iceman seems to be against them having one.

All of the Fleetyards have 6 bays, regardless of whether they are a I or II. The difference between them is their build efficiency (And thus build cost and requirements - races that have 1 Fleetyard get them at mid-tech level with a relatively high bonus, whilst races that get two will get them at early tech and late tech, but will get smaller individual bonuses). The Fleetyard I and II get a % industrial bonus meaning they build ships at more than 100% of the system industrial output. So a system producing 1000 industry with a Fleetyard that had a 10% bonus, would be able to put 1100 industry into ship construction per turn.

The minor race special shipyards will all also have 6 bays. Obviously since they are minor race designs, they are a low priority, and you'll get free reign on their design.

News to me. The Cardassians never got a model for their Fleetyard_ii. The minors only have a yard_i model. Not that it is a bad idea. I think canon has it that Cards build ships
fast. Will Minors develop to the point where they us a fleetyard?

That information about the output of shipyards is outdated. They don't work like that anymore. Industry and shipbuilding are seperate things now.

As for the Cardassian fleetyard II, the Monac shipyards were a joint Dom-Card venture, so it seems kind of odd having it in the game, for the Cards. I also mentioned the fact that most fleetyards are in the alpha quadrant (Feds, Cards, minors)
A bit like DS9 / Terok Nor, if it's not the Cards that annex the Bajorans.

Funny thing is, usually it's me saying screw canon...

Their ships have lower costs in the game, so they build ships faster.



These are special shipyards, only available to some minors - 4 to be exact. If you annex the minors, you can build them for your empire, to build your own ships. If you conquer the minors, you won't be able to build the fleetyards.

At some point I hope to be working on the models for 3D combat again. Is there an updated list of what will need models? What minors have ships? Are there any changes to the major race ships?

For my part I would say make it simple and leave shipyards out of 3D combat all together. Let Captain B or whoever make 2D images and show them as Mike has done in the user interface. That should be enough.

Agreed, shipyards aren't really going to participate in battles.

I was meaning 6

So like:

Layer 1 (top): 3 pads (not bays)
Layer 2 (mid): 3 Bays
Layer 3 (bot): 3 Bays

pads being those disk things in the pic you made, I like them.

Got it.

What I said above is the latest information I have Iceman, and it's how it's worked since the last game release. If you have more up to date information then please share rather than simply saying my information is outdated. How have they been separated and why?

...

Having shipyards in combat is something we've always said we'll have. If we decide to not have them then that's yet another long-standing planned feature that we'll be scrapping. I'm not happy about that.

I guess if the yards are in or out depends on Mike or whoever codes the combat engine. If there is a good reason, like it would look nice, they will be in combat. It would be one more thing to see exploding.

I know I have no say in it.

I have explained it to you before, and so has Mike. All the last few internal releases have shipyards not use industry output, but their own shipbuilding capability, which increases with shipyard level. Haven't you noticed it?

Well, you have an opinion, which is what all of us have. You expressed it half a dozen posts above, and I agreed with you. For reasons of practicality. What I meant was, since they don't have any combat stats (and never had that I know of... they were Buildings), they won't be doing anything in combat. They'll just be pretty and affect performance. That's all I meant.

Now, we can give them combat stats (they're not Buildings anymore, they're orbital entities), like armor and shields, so that an attacker can make suicidal attacks to destroy the SY - that's the only good reason for making SYs be in combat really that I can see.
Then we need to determine how damage will be applied to the SY, namely to the docks. And how ships under construction in those docks will be affected. And come up with a way to determine the repair rate of docks. And how damage affects range extension and fuel distribution. Etc etc. And then we have the scale problem, mentioned a few days ago - if it's going to look odd, then it won't exactly look "good", which would be one of the pros of having them in combat. And if it's going to "get in the way" in combat, with the positioning of the fleets and OBs and possibly of Stations (OPs/SBs)...

It's not impossible, not at all. We just need to ascertain if it's worth it.

What would Mike do? He would balance the work needed to put yards in combat vs. Value of having them there. It is harder to do without a combat engine. We can make the 2d images for now and deside the rest when we know more.

I'm making progress on the Oberth Class science vessel.

Really Superb my friend!

That will make a nice ingame png image. We can use a decimate modifier to cut the poly down for a combat engine.

FYI: it is a Wessel not a Vessel.
Oberth Class science Wessel

Thanks you two. As much as I have done, it is amazing how much there is still left to do (Docking port on the sides, Hanger doors, Greebles on the inside of the Booms, windows on the top and bottom small domes, ribbed pattern on the large dark indentation on the bottom of the hull, plating pattern on the engines and top of the lower hull, and of course UV mapping and painting)



I keep writing with my accent.

Wow that’s impressive and its not even done yet...

Given the over 400 models to rebuild it is clear we will need a team of artist to finally complete the project. Until then we will be running on a mixed bag of ship models.

As long as there is some image (large or small, the program handle both sizes side by side) we can play. Meanwhile, whatever artists we have, can keep plugging away...

Oh, and thank-you Kaladin

How many ship models have been completed so far if there is 400ish total?

Is there a way to increase efficiency? something like have one person work on all of one type of race since the skins, and certain objects like windows can be reused more easily, additionally the artist will develop a quicker and better understanding of that style of ships. Not say this is a good idea but might help.

Also do you guys have a priority list, like doing major races first.

Do you guys share resources like skins, pallets, models, objects, etc.?

I'm guessing you guys already do all of the above, but thought I'd mention it incase. Wish I could offer more, but I can’t draw nor do I have the programs so best I can do to help is bounce ideas off me or do internet research.

We have models, such as they are, for all the ships. They are of variable quality.




It is a good idea but will take more people working on the project




We intend to have a combat engine but non is currently being developed. That makes the models a low priority.



As much as we can.



Download the program called blender. It is free and there are a ton of online learning tools that are mostly free. You can do it without paying for classes. The price is time and the reward is skill.
http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

We are also using Lightwave but that one is not free. It is discounted for students but blender will get you started. Do that and you will be part of the CG art team. We will include you in our online skype and teamview meetings.

All good suggestions Kaladin. Ken, is primarily responsible for the ship models, and I am primarily responsible for other 2D art and Stations / shipyards.

I did the Oberth class only because a nice model was being done on another forum, and I was filled with inspiration to try and duplicate it.

Major races are certainly being done first. I think Ken has most of those meshes and just needs to find time to redo the render in the larger 640 x 480 size. But we should get more systematic about it. Ken wants to conquer the major race videos first.

I might just do that, unfortunately I'm no longer a student so I doubt I can get a discount.

Blender is the free alternative. It would have to become your hobby given the time required to learn it.

I will be back to models at some point. The larger format ship and station png images will help even without a combat engine.

Started UV mapping and surfacing the science ship.
Edit: I redid the texture in a larger size so that the emblem on the side is crisper. Enjoy!

Nice duranium

Awww Kenneth, you always know just the right thing to say.