Pioneer dev forum

I figured I start a sketchbook like thread for exploring visual ideas.
#0 Here's a quick first entry:

It's a light fighter from the same shipyard of my two other ships.
It's layout is quite similar to the Pumpkinseed, but more compact. High thrust, low deltaV. It has a gimballed cockipit in the inside, near to the center of mass, and there's a cluster of sensors under a dome where the cockpit would be. It has two larger cannons with limited tracking, and a smaller one with wider firing arc. Kind of like an attack helicopter's cannon. There are at least six missile tubes on the nacelles. Heat sink flaps can be folded somewhat behind the ship for the sake of less visibility and protection.
I imagine it as a previously existing design, that got hastily redesigned for military use. There could even be a civilian/militia/police version with smaller armament, with smaller/fewer weapons, more conventional cockpit instead of a large sensor cluster, less thrust, more deltaV.

Any feedback?

Looks like a badass ship, and it sounds like you've got the technical details nailed down pretty well.
Planning to stick with the fish themed names? Got some name suggestions if you aren't sick of them... "Sunfish Industries" has a nice sound to it for a company name. For the ship names Smallmouth for the military model, Largemouth for the civilian... the smallmouth is a VICIOUS bastard of a critter, probably THE toughest freshwater fish pound for pound...

Right now the shipyard is called OKB Kaluri, OKB for Experimental Design Bureau in russian, Kaluri for fisherman in estonian.
Yeah, sticking with fish names for this bureau, and I like the names you suggested. They may not sound as badass as intended (if that's the intention). They are more like for a transport for me (mouth = cargo bay door) at first hearing. Latin names Dolomieu and Salmoides aren't helping, they sound like some kind of luxury craft. I like the german Schwarzbarsch and Forellenbarsch for them, but they may sound out of place for the rest of the names.
But naming is the last concern :D, first lets get them ingame.

The aim for today for me is to draw sketches for a few other ships fro this bureau, and put it up for discussion, before doing any detailing work. And to expand the line of Zordey's Deneb and Venturestar's manufacturer too. I kinda like those ships.
@Zordey: do you mind if I do some quick sketches for that line of ships?

Also, here are some other ones I made while traveling:

1. A large transport from Kaluri:


2. A shuttle from Kaluri:


3. A light luxury vessel from Kaluri. Somewhat fast and nimble, but low deltaV


4. Large transport, maybe from Kaluri too, I'm not sure about it:


5. Some blocky medium transport from another manufacturer:


6. A large transport:


7. A large passenger transport from a SolFed yard.

And another buch:

8. Some ideas for extending the Deneb/Venturestar line, I dubbed it Cygnus after the Deneb. They are all to scale:

I'm not sure about the bottom right combat one. (Also it's falling off of the drawing since I've screwed up perspective relative to the others.)

9. A Kaluri large transport I kinda like:


10. And another Kaluri medium craft I'm not entierly sure about:

Maybe an explorer or military trans of some kind?

Edit:
11. And an update, an idea for a line of SolFed ships. A fighter first, since I wanted to draw a smaller ship first:

It's a bit more elaborate then the previous thumbnails. The main feature is a more vertical layout (I want to make a line more vertical ships, they are kinda interesting). Missile launchers on the nacelles could be replaced with tracking cannons if needed. Cockpit is on the center of mass, and gimbaled. It's a low deltaV, high thrust ship.
Also there could be a lighter version based on this fuselage, without the nacelles. This could have a civilian version too, with a more common cockpit in place of the sensors, less and smaller weaponry, more deltaV

I think I would like to see all of these ingame asap :D

Also that last one especially looks superb. #4, #5 and the Venturestar line of ships also work to give them a series or lineage... hell they all look like that'd fit right in

Thanks!
I'm not that fond of #4 for some reason, but it could work.
I'd like to explore the style of #5 more for sure, it seems interesting. What faction would it fit?

I've thumbed trough my older drawings to check if I can find anything usable:
12. This could be some kind of Kaluri explorer or science vessel. Maybe an older type with it's large radiators. I kinda like the shape of the nose anyway.


13. And this is some kind of utility vehicle from Kaluri too. Something like a motorcycle: small, fast and nimble but uncomfortable.


14. And another, even smaller Kaluri motorcycle:


15. Another very small Kaluri craft, a maintenance fitter, with arms and such. Would be good to populate the area around Starports.


That's it for the older ones.
16. Some more heavy fighter/artillery kind of ship, maybe from Kaluri (because of this rounded form)


17. Some elaboration about the civilian version of the previous SolFed? fighter:


18. Another with some other craft ideas (more heavy fighter to the right, transport to the top):


19. A SolFed? transport:


20. Another SolFed? transport:


I was thinking about how would I extend the Natrix line. It's a bit difficult due to it's very minimalistic geometry, but also quite fun to work with. And it's hard to avoid the classic elite feel. Not that we should avoid that kind of inspiration though.
I kept the snake themed names for the other craft. All names are from the same subfamily of snakes, the Natricinae.
I think this line could belong to an independent shipyard, or maybe a more conservative SolFed one.
21.A small utility craft first, sitting next to the Natrix:


22. A larger transport and a lighter one:


23. Some other ideas. I like the bottom right Atretium and left Balanophis more then the others:

They are all very nice! I like the idea of #15: small utility veichles doing maintenance around spaceports. How about some small service trasports to help load and unload big haulers that cannot dock? And little service shuttles for the passengers?
Also nice are the natrix and the solfed variants! :)
#13 and #14: maybe they could be some kind of short range ultra light fighters like babylon 5 starfuries? ...or used in some futuristic motorsport (new kind of mission: racing championship)? :)

Thanks!
Cargo tugs/forklifts are a very good idea. I want to concentrate on civilian ships more anyway. Fighters are nice, and are an established comfortable trope to start from, but my main aim is to create rich, diverse and interesting selection of civilian crafts. That's why I started with a fighter most likely, since it was the first thing that came to my mind. Military crafts should be more like a curiosity in my opinion, and not something you see at all corners. Fighters shouldn't even sport hyperdrive in most cases if you ask me. Police/militia crafts are another and quite interesting matter and middle ground though.

As for #13 and #14, I imagine them more like multi-role crafts for short range/time travels mostly. And sports for sure :) They are nice for a quick Hohman transfer from station to station, or meeting a friend on the surface, but they would be quite uncomfortable even for interplanetary travel, not to mention interstellar. They might have their narrow specific roles interplanetary/interstellar, like scouts and couriers, but would require quite an undertaking from the pilot. Like if you travel trough a continent on a motorcycle. It has it's challenges, but it has it's rewards too.
The book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is something that comes to my mind about small ships.
These ships would provide very limited opportunities for the player too. They could be a nice starting ship for a harder starting point.

These kind of "useless" ships are one of the main background extras that make the universe more lively in my opinion. Provided if they have a purpose in the universe. Even if the player can't really have much direct benefit from them/using them. Like the forklifts/unloaders you mentioned. Most likely their deltaV capability and crew space is too small to be useful for any interstellar operation. And sometimes a remodeled/repurposed one could pop up on the used ship market. Like a Robur truck as a motorhome. And it's a good thing in my opinion to give the opportunity of choice to the player, like if he wants to smuggle radioactive materials in an ice-cream van, then it's his choice :D, and a lot of interesting narrative could come from this kind of choices (in the imagination of the player that is.).

I really like the "used" texture style from your Mola Mola Light Transport. This ship and the Pumpkinseed are very believable ships. Everyone can easily imagine that they are already some years old and now sold on the second hand market. They have similar cockpit and engine style. If you keep these two parts similar I see no problem with your new sketches for heavy and light fighters (11+17+18) if you want to change the design a bit toward this shipyard. Sketch 16 looks already like Kaluri shipyard. In fact the vertical design adds plausibility to their role in distinction to courier and transport class ships. I am looking forward to fly them ;)

I also like the Deneb and Venturestar line. These ships look like brand new ones. Just one thought from me. I don't like the seperate engine designs. In fact I like the hidden Deneb engines more. It adds to the luxury and clean design and the whole ship design is very lean and functional. I would like to see your Sador and Albiera design in game. Albiera could be either a small transport or a bigger courier with enough room for 1-3 passenger cabins. Sador looks to me like a courier or fighter type ship. The combat one you mentioned on the bottom right looks also nice but compared to the venturestar with 900 tons it really looks to big for that. I would scale it down to the size of the Sador. Because of the massive design it should be a heavy fighter.

Your new sketches similar to the Natrix (22+23) are also fine. They share all the same angular lines and engines. I like to have the possiblity to choose from three completely distinct shipyards.

As I said before Sketches 11+17+18 are great in my opinion. I am just not sure if they could be from another shipyard or if they can be changed a bit to look like either Natrix or Pumpkinseed.

nozmajner wrote:That's why I started with a fighter most likely, since it was the first thing that came to my mind. Military crafts should be more like a curiosity in my opinion, and not something you see at all corners. Fighters shouldn't even sport hyperdrive in most cases if you ask me. Police/militia crafts are another and quite interesting matter and middle ground though.

That makes sense. If you are an officer or a military, you should be very careful on where you jump. You sould have a permit to jump to a system that's in another jurisdiction. As a military it could be even worse, it could ben seen as an act of aggression that could lead to a diplomatic incident.
So, I agree with you: military and police ships that could jump should be rare.

nozmajner wrote:As for #13 and #14, I imagine them more like multi-role crafts for short range/time travels mostly. And sports for sure :)

The idea of sport races in space intrugues me a lot! Just think about what it could be with fast and agile ships with pioneer newtonian engine. I think it will be a fun activity. (I added this idea here, hoping that some mission coder could be interested: http://pioneerspacesim.net/forum/viewto ... p=299#p299 :) )

nozmajner wrote:They are nice for a quick Hohman transfer from station to station, or meeting a friend on the surface, but they would be quite uncomfortable even for interplanetary travel, not to mention interstellar. They might have their narrow specific roles interplanetary/interstellar, like scouts and couriers, but would require quite an undertaking from the pilot. Like if you travel trough a continent on a motorcycle. It has it's challenges, but it has it's rewards too.
The book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is something that comes to my mind about small ships.
These ships would provide very limited opportunities for the player too. They could be a nice starting ship for a harder starting point.

So, a ship for romantic adventurers with a philosophical passion, that can do their own maintenance. :)
(OT: I have read that book, and its sequel Lila, and I love them both :) )

nozmajner wrote:These kind of "useless" ships are one of the main background extras that make the universe more lively in my opinion. Provided if they have a purpose in the universe. Even if the player can't really have much direct benefit from them/using them. Like the forklifts/unloaders you mentioned. Most likely their deltaV capability and crew space is too small to be useful for any interstellar operation. And sometimes a remodeled/repurposed one could pop up on the used ship market. Like a Robur truck as a motorhome. And it's a good thing in my opinion to give the opportunity of choice to the player, like if he wants to smuggle radioactive materials in an ice-cream van, then it's his choice :D, and a lot of interesting narrative could come from this kind of choices (in the imagination of the player that is.).

Again, I absolutely agree ;)