So I've been trying out a few different ships, particularly bombers, in open singleplayer lately trying to find something that fits the new character I want to create... got nothin yet. However, I did come up with an interesting idea for a new ship that might be workable.
Mainly it goes off the corsair praetorian bomber design. I really like the way the vertical wings on the engine/torpedo modules are shaped - gives it a very aggressive look, but still fits the feel of the game. What I dont like is the central vertical wing all the corsair ships have... not only does it give them a huge side profile but it just looks akward and out of balance on the fighters (and in this case the bomber).
So I got to thinking about how to design a ship that took out that wing, and... decided it wouldnt fit the rest of the corsair ship line if you just took that center vertical wing off - but what about a joint construction project with the order? A mix between the nephthys and praetorian.
Now originally I had some sketches of this, but my art skillz are absolutely terrible and didnt really relay the point, so I'll just go off of screenshots here.
Here's the Nephthys:
And the Praetorian:
What I'd like the thing to look like:
-The body/cockpit of the anubis, minus the engines
-The side wings of the praetorian attached to that body (the 'pods' that hold the engines/torpedoes, as well as the vertical wings coming off of them)
Something like this laughable thing I came up with:
Now, all comments on my leetsauce paint skills aside... the stats.
M20 "Shrike" Class Strike Fighter
Constructed as part of a joint project between corsair and order starship engineers, the Shrike serves as as a fast-attack interceptor, while carrying enough firepower to take out small capital ships. While the Order uses the Shrike as a rapid-deployment defensive craft against nomad attacks, the Corsairs have taken to fielding it as an offensive alternative to their bombers for hit-and-run raids.
Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
Armor: 8,000
Cargo Space: 50
Max Bats/Bots: 50/50
Optimal Weapon Class: 9
Max Weapon Class: 10
Additional Equipment: 2xCD/T, T, CM
Price: 6,250,000 credits
Now for hardpoint info:
The thruster/countermeasure are centered at the rear of the ship body, with the thruster being on top and the countermeasure underneath. The ship has no mine dropper.
The four weapon hardpoints (2 class 9's and 2 class 10's) are located behind and to the sides of the cockpit, attached to the main body of the ship (one on the top-left, one on the top-right, etc.) in a box pattern. That means very close hardpoint spacing, to help make up for lack of gun numbers.
The two 'pods' on the outer tips of the wings, just like the praetorian, have engines at the back (no engines are on the center body of the ship) and house torpedo hardpoints firing forward.
Immediately underneath the cockpit is the cruise-disruptor hardpoint.
Now for the balancing... got some concerns with this. Basically I dont want this thing to have a bomber power core, as it isnt intended to be able to use supernovas. The two torpedo hardpoints are for standard torpedoes or Mini-razors only - so maybe just a VHF power core... it needs enough power to fire two mini razors in addition to it's main guns, but not enough power to fire a supernova. I dont know much about power cores though, so I'll take any comments on that.
The ship needs to be fairly manuverable, as good as a VHF if not better - it has significantly less armor than most vhf's in the game. It'll have a class 10 shield hardpoint for VHF shields, and be able to equip up to MkVIII armor - but no cap armor as the cargo hold is far too small.
Overall the intent for the ship is to be capable of going against other fighters due to manuverability, but to have the razors as the heavy-hitters for fights where you're up against transports or gunboats. Without a supernova, the ship wont have much of a chance against anything larger than a gunboat.
Aint at all. The Anubis' body is meant to have low wings while the Praetorian's wings are meant to be in the centre of the body. I even pulled in the bottom bit of the Anubis' body but it still looks rather pregnant and just plain strange.
That looks nearly perfect linkus! Except for the mesh clashing (not sure if that transfers into the game, but if you look at the praetorian in the ship purchase menu the textures seem to clash together on the top wing, which basically means that two planes are intersecting).
So what does everyone think of adding a ship like that to the mod? A joint strike fighter?
the changes jamez made are good but I still prefer the larger wingtips on the engine pods like the praetorian currently has, they give the ship a rounded appearance similar to the falcata.
you really think it needs a top fin? I think it looks fine without it.
guess all the images dissapeared... damnit, why do people still use photobucket? It's worthless.
Here's the images of the sehkmet:
The idea with the praetorian/anubis mix was to have a fighter with enough agility to go up against other VHF's and bombers, but to still have enough energy and the hardpoints required to fire 2 torpedoes or mini razors (but not supernovas, they'd be overpowered on this thing)