' Wrote:It looks nice, though i dont see the need for the bio-dome, ive always seen the barge as more of a mobile refinary/storage facility, meaning that it would be mostly automated and have a small crew, not enough to demand a bio-dome (thats something that should be kept for Juggernauts, as in RP they have a civilian population).
I want the bio dome, this thing would be PERFECT for an RP of mine...
Well perhaps this can be added as an alternative model, seeing it seems like a rather big change in RP angles from the current barge.
Meaning that, for example, we at Bowex use the current barge as a massive floating warehouse and customs and excise outpost for gold mined in Dublin, it doesnt have to move anywhere or support a large population. The new barge however looks more like it could be a used on deep space expeditions, given that it looks like it has much more 'living space', plus the bio-dome and as such can sustain a significant crew for extended durations (almost like the Juggernaut).
I'd say add this as an alternative Barge, but keep the current one also, as by the looks of things this one will fill a different RP niche.
- That biodome is going to be extremely problematic. Furthermore I am at a loss as to explain its presence/purpose. I would dare say that the ship is capable of storing sufficient nutrients to keep the crew going for a spell at far greater economic return.
- If you are going to rebuild the ship I would suggest moving the transport mooring fixture to a place that makes sense. That location does not, nor does it on the current barge. The idea of refueling/unloading/disembarking/manning transports perches so precariously on a ship with enough real estate to move them properly, in fact one could place a legitimate landing platform or even hanger, seems absurd.
- I dig the new factories.
- I don't dig the new cargo pods. They do not suggest ease of loading, especially in the context of loading them in space. They also feel like they're losing a quality of purpose which would enable one to load a fully finished biodome, large station components or other modules into the current barge for rapid assembly in the field.
- Conceptually the habitat area would make a better refinery/manufacturing center. Sort of like the Nostromo from Alien. Ore/parts/whatever can be sifted from the rear, moved through processors, deposited in the front. A manufacturing center which runs from for to aft would be ideal for this sort of thing. There is TONS of room in the for of the ship for habitat. The fore-section of the barge is larger than some stations.
- I really think that there should be, conceptually, room in a more practical location for docking measures. Especially as there is almost certainly room in Disco for this ship to be used as a station.
This is more of a complaint in general to ship/station/system developers, but it applies to this, too;
Can we please, please stop putting biodomes on things? Biodomes are difficult to build and difficult to maintain. The fact that we see so many around Sirius now hints at some preposterous feats of engineering that don't make much sense.
Put 'em on the Jinkusu? Sure, fine. That thing is supposed to be a marvel of engineering, anyway, and has to support an entire colony of people.
Put them on random police/civilian stations throughout the houses? Well, maybe... that's gotta be pretty costly, though, and with so many self-sufficient stations like that, what happens to trade?
Put them on all the super-bases in pirate guard systems? No. Just no. If pirates were as self-sufficient as their guard systems make them seem, then they wouldn't even need to be pirates!
The reason a lot of people turn to piracy is to get things that you can't produce yourself. But put all these shipyards, smelters, and biodomes in, for example, the GC Gaurd system, and what's the point of stealing when you have everything you need in your own, unimaginably over-protected fortress?
So can we lay off the biodomes for a bit? Especially on the Barge. This doesn't need a biodome at all. Remote space stations rely on transports to carry food and water to them, and the Barge shouldn't be any different.
This might be passable without the biodome.
The dome made me go like this:
The structure perched needlessly upon the side of this monstrous vessel, like a loathsome shoggoth crouching upon the peak of a roof in search of prey to devour in its unspeakable way, made me recoil instantly in the most utter and intense horror I have ever had the misfortune to experience. After some time of breathing deeply and attempting to bleach my mind with actual bleach administered through my ears, I brought myself to chance another glance at this eldritch monstrosity again, and it elicited the same reaction, no less diminished in severity as the first time. I then opted to block all pictures from your Photobucket album, retire to my overstuffed chair for some time, taking a gin and tonic, before replying to this thread to tell you just how unspeakably, abjectly, grotesquely awful that biodome looks.
It also isn't needed.
Zuk is also right. There's way too many biodomes.
Also, you've apparently never flown the barge. It's very hard.
With that cyclopean beast hanging off the side like an atrophied Siamese twin, this ship would be nigh-unpilotable.
As far as critique goes,
Factories: Awesome looking, nice job.
Biodome: See above. (No. Just no.)
Cargo pods: See Dusty's post, they don't really make sense.
Mooring post: Needs to go further back, like in the old model.
Other: There's actually an internal hangar bay on the Barge, right above just aft of the mooring post. That would be essential to have in a ship this big. Also, I'd like to see the Armoured Transport landing platform included in this model. That made a lot of sense, looked cool, and was useful in-RP.
Overall: This barge is WAY too sleek. It should be an ugly, industrial behemoth of a ship, not a streamlined luxury resort that looks like a Whale bred with some of your newer ships and then gave the baby to someone with a fetish for the grotesquely fat. More industrial and blocky. The barge needs to be more like a flying city/factory.
I friggin' LOVE this thing! In addition to being a playable ship, this should be turned into a dockable "station." It looks like it could operate out in deep space for years on end, perhaps as a mobile mining outpost.
As the main purveyor of the fine vessel that is the current Barge, I will say this has some good, and bad, parts to it.
-I agree that the biodome is unneeded. The Barge is not self-sufficient, nor should it be. It relies on the transports that dock with it to bring supplies, in return the transports haul away goods from the Barge.
-This is space, why not have the mooring fixture attached sideways, or at the aft of the ship. First in First out, and if you're packing supplies and materials back to front. Or, the mooring fixture could be put between the refinery sections, coming UP from the top of the ship too. Or, a hatch going down from the bottom of the "Hoop" structure under the ship, and making it an inverted "T", with the mooring fixture horizontal.
-The Cargo section of the current barge is what I personally envision as what it should be; one continuous hold. These sections look like they are made of the current cargo-modules that could be loaded/unloaded from Gulls and Trains. Problem is, that the Shetland, Ryujin, and Colossus use different cargo pods, and the Mastodon uses none, so standardization doesn't work.
-If there's really no reason to change the model other than a bad texture, I vote that it doesn't get changed.
-The Refinery/Habitat section look good, but symmetrical. That is possibly why the biodome was added, I'm not sure. I have noticed that many of your models, Jinx, have an asymmetric quality to them, and I think you tried too hard this time for that with the dome.
Many of these are aesthetic, but some are from actual experience flying the ship. One small bump by some over-zealous player and the Barge gets flung 2-3k from where it originally was. I was lucky I was in open space, but some have to deal with asteroids and such. Getting the thing back into position, especially with large protrusions like the mooring fixture and the biodome hanging out, is a challenge at best.
It doesn't have to be a biodome, but it can be a port or living quarters. A lounge area. Whatever the case, this feels more according to the size of the ship. Going through trade lanes may be an issue.
Overall, a great change change nontheless.
I disagree that models should not be replaced. This mod is a work in progress. If we come across a better design, use it.