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3DHonorverse stuff

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  • sojournersojourner0 Posts: 0Member
    Hey MaxxRush, how do you feel about how the Honorverse ships have been redesigned to make them more "media friendly" now that they've kicked off the whole multimedia thing?

    I was a bit disappointed.
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    I've read the books, more than once. For some reason, i don't get the sense of scale from the hatches et al; perhaps i just dont have the right frame of reference. Still, nice job!

    Okay... just so you know, the personnel hatch(es) on the Condor is 1 x 2 meters The personnel hatches seen inside the boat bays of the Fearless are 1.25 x 2 meters. All cargo hatches are 2 meters tall as well.

    In the boat bays, the boarding tube openings that attach to the pinnaces, cutters, and whatnot are about 2.5 - 3 meters tall (at the inner surface), because they have to conform to and surround standardized hatch openings. The outermost height of the tubes themselves are about 3.5 - 4 meters tall.

    I think part of the problem also is that most people are used to details like greebles and windows that give a sense of size or scale, and for the most part, there isn't anything like that in the Honorverse. Because it tries to be more realistic in that respect. What kind of idiot navy would expose pipes, power runs, and other important crap *outside* the armor?
    sojourner wrote: »
    Hey MaxxRush, how do you feel about how the Honorverse ships have been redesigned to make them more "media friendly" now that they've kicked off the whole multimedia thing?

    I was a bit disappointed.

    Ah, fun question time, eh? :D

    When I first saw the art at HonorCon last November, I was pretty much appalled. The designs looked great, don't get me wrong... but they *did not* fit in the Honorverse. In fact, many of the designs reminded me of the Shivan ships from Freespace.

    After calming down and thinking about it a bit more (and getting yelled at almost literally by David Weber in his forums), I realized that a lot of what we were seeing was *extremely* early concept art, and that it would change somewhat over time. It also helps now that Evergreen is actively soliciting feedback in David's Forums. They've already made several changes based on things commented on there, mostly for the comics, but the comics are kind of a design test-bed for the movie designs.

    At this point, while I would very much prefer canon designs (like I've been doing for BuNine), I understand the "why" of it. Most people who aren't Honorverse fans are going to have trouble distinguishing a ship from the Star Kingdom from a ship from the People's Republic of Haven, since their ships are similar. After all, in the real world, what works best gets copied - MiG-25 looks a lot like an F-15, naval ships are almost identical from one nation to another, tanks differ mainly in the details and not the general configuration.

    Evergreen feels they need to distinguish the ships of the Honorverse a bit more so that non-fans won't get confused. As much as I'd like to hope that the average moviegoer is intelligent enough to figure it out, I don't have any real faith in that, so I can see where EG are coming from.

    The current designs are much closer to canon than what was shown at HonorCon, which is good, but from what little I've seen, they still differ enough to be able to tell them apart from one star nation to the next. I'm hoping issue #2 of the comic shows a bit more of the different ships, along with some more improvement with coming closer to canon.

    The worst thing about the comic is the look of Nimitz. Right now, he's a hairless horror right out of your worst nightmare. Evergreen (and Top Cow) are aware of this issue and both have said that Nimitz is still a work in progress and that he will change over time. It also didn't help that the artist is Korean, doesn't understand english, and wasn't told that Nimitz is supposed to be furry and cute until he turns into a 24-bladed buzzsaw. He's also too big in the comic. I don't care how well-adapted, genetically, Honor is to a high-grav world, there's still no way she's gonna carry something *that* size on her shoulder. He's basically the size of a cougar, when he *should* be only slightly larger than a Maine-Coone. Issue #2 comes out at the end of the month, so maybe there will be some improvements.

    Evergreen has already changed the look of Horace Harkness based on forum feedback, and they are also fixing the race/sex issue in the comic - Issue #1 had everyone as white, and mostly (like 90+%) males. Matt Hawkins, the writer, even facepalmed himself, saying, "I can't believe I missed that!"

    So, overall, while I'm not ecstatic about the ship designs at present, I'm not as upset as I was at HonorCon, and can accept that they *are* trying to listen to us. I think that if they can bend to accept some of what we suggest, then we should also bend and accept that there *are* some valid reasons for making the ships look the way they are. David has already stated that there will be "book canon" and "film/comic/game canon". BuNine (and of course, David) is in charge of the former, and Evergreen (with input from David and Tom Pope, BuNine's "boss") is in charge of the latter, and whether the twain shall meet, who can say?
  • sojournersojourner0 Posts: 0Member
    Good to hear they are responding to fan input. I'll admit I haven't seen anything since the initial announcement. I think they could have gotten away with using the canon ship designs and just resorting to radically different markings, maybe go with a Chris Foss bit of color scheming. Honestly I think the redesigns were an over reaction to what they perceived would be a "hu-hu-hu. those look phallic" reaction from Joe public.
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    sojourner wrote: »
    Good to hear they are responding to fan input. I'll admit I haven't seen anything since the initial announcement. I think they could have gotten away with using the canon ship designs and just resorting to radically different markings, maybe go with a Chris Foss bit of color scheming. Honestly I think the redesigns were an over reaction to what they perceived would be a "hu-hu-hu. those look phallic" reaction from Joe public.

    Possibly, but really, if you think about, phallic symbols aside, the designs *are* pretty plain. Not what most moviegoers expect from starships nowadays. They want Star Destroyers, or Galacticas, or Enterprises. Trust me, we've been over this on David's forums enough over the past few months. Chris Foss-type color schemes have been mentioned, as well as simply changing the overall color, depending on which nation's ship was on-screen. As long as most of the major features of Honorverse ships remain intact (impeller rings, wedge, sidewalls, broadside and chase weapons, boat bays on the bottom, and more or less cylindrical in shape), I can live with them adding extras to distinguish ships and direction (see next paragraph).

    I meant to put this in my previous post, but forgot: I think they also want to design a ship that's easier to discern as to which end is the front. Even when I was building the Fearless, I occasionally forgot which end was which, and would have to refer to sketches. Some of the earlier ship designs had really huge engine exhaust nozzles at the back. All hell broke loose in David's forum when we saw that. The latest art, including that in the comic, has gotten rid of them completely. The uniforms have been made to better match canon art from both BuNine and David Mattingly, although it appears that they are combining them with the skinsuits, so that there's no changing into skinnies before a battle. I don't have much of an issue with that, but the helmet design is atrocious.

    Here's the Tales of Honor website: http://tales-of-honor.com/honor-harrington

    There's some videos from the writer, one of the artists for the movie, and some of the art. Most of what's there is pretty much already outdated as far as I can tell, but in the "Read" tab, there's the first 8 pages of the first issue of the comic if you want to get an idea of where they are as of a month ago. There's also some screenshots from the game, which I'm not interested in unless they port it to a proper gaming platform - the PC.

    I'm not into comics normally, but I did buy all four versions of the first issue (four different covers), and thought that it was well done. I've had a few people who *are* comic fans read it, and they liked it, especially the interior art. I also mentioned that the first issue ended up getting a second printing, which made them open their eyes a bit wider. I was told that that's not something that usually happens with a comic. Of course, the cynical side of me thinks the first issue may have sold out because of all the fanboys (like me) buying four copies. <shrug> No idea if that's the case or not, but a second printing still looks good on paper.
  • spacefighterspacefighter2 Posts: 0Member
    all this ship concept art you mentioned, can you provide some direct links to it. would be interesting to see how the original designs from the novels relate to those prosed for films.
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    all this ship concept art you mentioned, can you provide some direct links to it. would be interesting to see how the original designs from the novels relate to those prosed for films.

    Everything available can be seen at the link I provided above, and in the comics. The stuff that was shown at HonorCon is not available online anywhere - Evergreen requested that photos taken during their presentation *not* be distributed online. Edit: Probably because that stuff was shown before they went "official" with their website and their forum on David's board.

    There *may* be some stuff floating around in the Evergreen forum portion of David's forums, but some of these threads are a few months old and the imagery linked to in some of the threads are gone now. Still, if you're interested enough to keep track, here's a link to the Evergreen forum: http://forums.davidweber.net/viewforum.php?f=19

    This is a special forum set aside at David's forums for Evergreen to post and to respond to comments from people. The threads on the second page will be the ones most likely to have any images, especially the ones containing more than a couple pages.

    Also, this thread is the one where David gets a bit... ummm... peeved at me (I'm MaxxQ there). Starts about midway down this page and continues to the next: http://forums.davidweber.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4998

    A Google image search using Tales of Honor in the search bar doesn't show much of anything different from the link I posted earlier.
  • homerpalooza67homerpalooza67228 Posts: 1,891Member
    I finished House of Steel and am flipping through the illustrations in the companion section - i like the work done there, and i think I saw your pinnace hiding in some of the artwork! :thumb:
  • homerpalooza67homerpalooza67228 Posts: 1,891Member
    Oh, another point that I feel needs to be addressed: An accurate starmap showing the wormhole bridges and junctions to accompany the Operation Laccoon (sp) plotline in the Shadows of Saganami subseries. It gets really difficult to try and track down it all with existing maps :)
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    I finished House of Steel and am flipping through the illustrations in the companion section - i like the work done there, and i think I saw your pinnace hiding in some of the artwork! :thumb:

    Kinda-sorta. The drawing of the Mk30 Condor II that's in the lower left corner of the RMN and GSN Ship color plates is my pinnace that's been painted over by Thomas Marrone. The Mk30 is basically just an updated Mk28. I suppose you could think of it as a Super Hornet compared to the original Hornet. I don't really mind that none of my *actual* renders are in there, since I understand Baen (and BuNine) wanting to have a consistent look. It's not like *none* of my stuff is completely invisible elsewhere - this thread is a good example, and I've got links to my videos and Deviant Art page in my sigs at other message boards.
    Oh, another point that I feel needs to be addressed: An accurate starmap showing the wormhole bridges and junctions to accompany the Operation Laccoon (sp) plotline in the Shadows of Saganami subseries. It gets really difficult to try and track down it all with existing maps :)

    The only person that has that is David. None of the other maps are all that accurate, partly because most of them are based on what's been made available through the various books and the Jayne's books. Because of printing requirements, sometimes these maps are distorted, or slightly rotated to fit, or both.

    We *had* someone in BuNine working on an accurate 3D map (or at least, as accurate as he could get with the already available information), but he's not with us anymore. David is keeping everything else close to his vest, because there are some locations and other things that give away a lot of info that's not in any of the books yet.

    I have a feeling that we won't ever see his full map until the series is completely finished, which may be in another 5-7 books. David recently participated in a Reddit Q&A along with a few folks from Evergreen: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/221wrp/we_are_evergreen_studios_creators_of_the_tales_of/

    Relevant portion to number of books left:
    [–]Terminatorguy 1 point 10 days ago
    Is there more books coming that is part of the Honor Harrington series of the Honorverse?
    permalink
    [–]EvergreenStudios 3 points 10 days ago
    This is David. There are additional books coming. Exactly how many I don't know at this point. I suspect by "Honor Harrington series" are the books which center on Honor herself. If that's correct, I know there will be at least one and probably two more of those. There will also be at least some other books which center on other characters who have been brought front and center of late -- like Mike Henke, Aivars Terekov, Helen Zilwicki, Abigail Hearns, etc. How they'll break down in numbers and content is more than I could tell you at this point. Hope that helps!

    Back to maps... There's a guy at Weber's forums who's currently working on trying to make a more accurate map, adjusting for print resizing and other issues like that. You can find it here: http://forums.davidweber.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5544

    I'm afraid it doesn't have all the information you'd like to see, but it's probably the best thing available at the moment, and he's still working on it.

    Edit: Hmmm... I suppose I could also add links to my vids and DA page here as well. Never really thought about it since this is one of the main places I post my stuff anyway.
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    New pics have been authorized to be uploaded, as well as a couple new videos. Now we have missiles - first up, the Mk-13 missile used by the HMS Fearless I've posted before:
    106279.jpg106280.jpg106281.jpg106282.jpg
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    Next is the Mk-16 DDM (Dual Drive Missile), followed by the Mk-23 MDM (Multi Drive Missile):
    106283.jpg106284.jpg106285.jpg106286.jpg
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    Now the Mk-21 CM and Mk-30/31 CM (countermissile)
    106287.jpg106288.jpg106289.jpg106290.jpg
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    Now we have the Mk-9 Viper countermissile/dogfighting missile and a family portrait of the countermissiles:
    106291.jpg106292.jpg106293.jpg106294.jpg106295.jpg
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    Last, there's the family portrait of the shipkillers, along with a Viper for reference, and the flat-pack missile pods, as well as links to the videos:

    http://youtu.be/i99Ufp_wAnQ

    http://youtu.be/byq68MjOlJU
    106297.jpg106298.jpg106299.jpg
  • Knight26Knight26191 Posts: 837Member
    So do the warheads separate from the main torpedo?
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    Knight26 wrote: »
    So do the warheads separate from the main torpedo?

    Second video linked in post right before yours, or fifth in the links in my sig.

    That said, yes they do. Be sure to read the description for the video.
  • homerpalooza67homerpalooza67228 Posts: 1,891Member
    I assume the little red christmas bulbs on the missiles backsides are the separate impeller rings?
    isn't there supposed to be a small buffer (mini "sidewall"?) separating each ring, to prevent the after-drives being overloaded by the initial drives?
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    I assume the little red christmas bulbs on the missiles backsides are the separate impeller rings?
    isn't there supposed to be a small buffer (mini "sidewall"?) separating each ring, to prevent the after-drives being overloaded by the initial drives?

    They're orange, but yeah... those are the nodes. TBH, I probably should have changed the color and re-rendered these, as the nodes are supposed to be a bronze color, but I wanted to get these posted. These renders are probably 4-5 years old.

    Yes, there's a "baffle" between drives, but it's not physical, so it wouldn't be seen. Of course, as with everything else, things are "subject to change".

    For example, BuNine had their annual meeting this past weekend - I attended via videoconference - and Mr. Weber just threw out a couple of things on the Fearless that we in BuNine thought were final. It's minor, but tedious work to make the changes, but it will have to be done. Unfortunately, it was a mistaken assumption on the part of myself and my "boss", and so we had never questioned David about it. Somehow, the subject came up yesterday at the meeting, and as soon as David mentioned it, I was like, "Uh-ohhhh!" and "Oh, crap."

    :lol:
  • homerpalooza67homerpalooza67228 Posts: 1,891Member
    ah thanks :)
    BTW, what is the difference between a Medusa class SD(P) and an Invictus?
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    ah thanks :)
    BTW, what is the difference between a Medusa class SD(P) and an Invictus?

    The name. :lol:

    Seriously, though, I'll post the specs from House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion below. If you haven't already, I suggest getting the book. There's a new novella in it (I Will Build My House of Steel) from David that is about King Roger's (the present Queen/Empress of the Star Kingdom of Manticore/Star Empire of Manticore's father) initiation of the SKM's military build-up to defend against the expansionist aggression of the People's Republic of Haven.

    The other 2/3 of the book is technical, political, and military organization background for the SKM and the Protectorate of Grayson, including *all* classes of ships from the time of On Basilisk Station to just before the Oyster Bay attack.

    The next book is House of Lies, and will be covering The Republic of Haven/The People's Republic of Haven and the Andermani Empire. I believe, but am not certain, that it will contain somewhat shorter stories (but more of them) from David featuring key folks from both star nations.

    Now, on to your question. This info is typical of what you'll find in the book, and is accompanied by line art for each ship class:

    Medusa-class pod superdreadnought
    Mass: 8,554,750 tons
    Dimensions: 1383 × 201 × 187 m
    Acceleration: 502.8 G (4.931 kps2)
    80% Accel: 402.3 G (3.945 kps2)
    Broadside: 26M, 13L, 15G, 54CM, 52PD
    Fore: 9M, 4L, 5G, 18CM, 22PD
    Aft: 6MP, 4L, 5G, 14CM, 20PD
    Missile Pods: 492
    Number Built: 63
    Service Life: 1914–present

    The Medusa-class pod superdreadnought was in secret conceptual development for over a decade prior to Operation Trojan Horse in 1909 while the Weapons Development Board and Project Ghost Rider worked to develop the weapon systems the class would eventually carry. The success of the prototype pod system in the Trojans threw the project into high gear, however, imposing a great deal of strain on BuShips’ design staff.

    Even before the first units were laid down, the RMN had begun a carefully crafted disinformation campaign, including a leaked “spring study” for the next generation (conventional) superdreadnought replacement for the Gryphon-class. Thus the RMN diverted attention from the decrease in new Gryphons and gave the Havenite intelligence agencies a plausible explanation for the secret programs being conducted at HMSS Weyland.

    Following the Graysons’ lead, the class was renamed the Honor Harrington-class to honor then-Commodore Harrington after her presumed execution. Following her dramatic return from Cerberus, the class name was changed back to the original Medusa. Deriving from the same joint design program, the Medusa is similar in design to the final Harrington-class, the first units of which were commissioned over a year before the RMN managed to get the first Medusa into service.

    As the first RMN warship designed from the keel out to deploy missile pods from an internal magazine, the Medusa faced some unique design challenges. The most obvious difference between it and any conventional ship of the wall is apparent from the broadside. All of the primary armament has been pushed into the forward half of the main hull to make room for the double rings of missile pod storage in the after section. The second most notable difference is the sheer number of surface arrays, which provide both fire control and telemetry uplinks for the hundreds of missiles these ships can launch in a single stacked salvo.

    Finally, the defensive armament, located at the upper and lower turn of the hull, extends along its entire length; and the number of point defense and countermissile installations have been greatly increased over any previous design.

    While massively enhancing the ships’ first strike capabilities, the hollow-core filling the after third of the hull reduced its survivability in comparison to pre-pod superdreadnoughts. In addition, the need to mount armored hatches through which to deploy the pods forced the designers to sacrifice some of the after chase weaponry.

    Despite the huge increase in offensive firepower, the Medusas contain a significant degree of automation in their design and require a crew less than half that of an older conventional design.

    The pod rails on the Medusa-class were designed originally for a modification of the old Mk10 missile pod, of which it could carry five hundred and sixty-four. Later pods were designed with the same rail attachment points and footprint, varying only in their depth. As deployed during operation Buttercup, the Medusa-class carried just under five hundred Mk11 missile pods, while currently deployed units can carry as many as eight hundred of the Mk17 series of flat pack pods.

    Invictus-class pod superdreadnought
    Mass: 8,768,500 tons
    Dimensions: 1394 × 202 × 188 m
    Acceleration: 562.6 G (5.518 kps2)
    80% Accel: 450.1 G (4.414 kps2)
    Broadside: 18G, 84CM, 62PD
    Fore: 10G, 24CM, 22PD
    Aft: 6MP, 10G, 14CM, 24PD
    Missile Pods: 1074
    Number Built: 53+
    Service Life: 1919–present

    The Invictus-class was on the drawing board at the end of the First Havenite War as the improved successor of the Medusa-class, but construction of the first wave of ships had barely begun when the High Ridge Government agreed to a truce with the People’s Republic. As per the drawdown of forces ordered by the new government, construction of the majority of units in the class was suspended and the unfinished ships were placed in storage in their building slips in the Manticore and Grendelsbane shipyards.

    At the resumption of hostilities, only twelve Invictus-class ships were in commission, with a few more nearing completion in Manticore from previously suspended construction programs. Dozens were lost in the Grendelsbane attack, and over a hundred were laid down as part of the emergency war construction program for completion over the next couple of years.

    In many ways the Invictus is simply an evolution of the Medusa design, with a pod core extending half again as deep into the hull. In a departure from both traditional Manticoran and contemporary Grayson practice, all broadside missile tubes were eliminated to allow for the maximum extension of the missile core, which is capable of holding upwards of a thousand of the new “flat pack” missile pods. Internally the differences are even greater, however, as one of the major weaknesses of the pod layer concept has been partially offset by armoring the interior of the pod core almost as heavily as the outer hull armor. Almost all of the tonnage advantage over the Medusa went into this new armoring scheme, which has greatly increased survivability.

    Nevertheless, the greatest weakness of the design remains in the pod rails; and, even with the new armoring scheme, a single lucky hit on the pod core can cause enough damage to jam up deployment of the pods “upstream” of the hit. Cross connecting rails, the ability to quickly jettison debris and destroyed pods, and a tractor system that can help the system “leapfrog” over broken rails all help mitigate the effects of this damage; but the incidence of mission kills in pod layers with otherwise light damage remains potentially high.

    By far the most significant improvement seen in the Invictus-class, however, is the new Mk20 Keyhole platform. At least two versions of this versatile tethered platform exist, but both of them share a number of the same features. Although Keyhole was originally envisioned primarily as a means to improve active anti-missile capability, conceptual evolution during development produced a very different end product. At their heart, Keyholes are telemetry relays, multiplying the number of telemetry links the ship can maintain, which in turn allows for even deeper stacked salvos, or a layered approach where conventional ships in the squadron can hand off their onboard and pod-launched missiles to an Invictus to centrally control.

    In addition, the Keyhole platform extends the sensor reach of the host ship, both with dedicated offboard arrays as well as with the ability to deploy outside the wedge and relay information while the ship has rolled against the threat axis.

    Finally, the platform not only replaces and enhances the traditional tethered decoy platform, mounting sophisticated jammers and ECM gear, but is very heavily equipped with point defense laser clusters of its own.

    Although no more than two can be carried by even the largest of ships, they are still cheaper to replace than an entire warship; and their heavy onboard array of point defense laser clusters not only allows them a degree of self-defense far in advance of any previous tethered EW platform in Manticoran service but also contributes significantly to the defense of the deploying ship.

    While the Invictus is a new design, tested so far in only a few engagements, it is indisputably one of the most powerful and capable warships in existence.
  • homerpalooza67homerpalooza67228 Posts: 1,891Member
    I did read House of Steel, but i only skimmed through the technical part. I did enjoy the novella, but i would have liked to see it developed into a full book on its own.
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    I did read House of Steel, but i only skimmed through the technical part. I did enjoy the novella, but i would have liked to see it developed into a full book on its own.

    Ah, okay. I agree that HoS would have been even nicer as a full book, but David's already busy with the new Safehold, co-writing the new Manticore Ascendant series with Timothy Zahn and Tom Pope (my BuNine "boss"), and working on the new mainline Honorverse book, so I guess he could be forgiven for making it a bit shorter than we'd all like.
  • homerpalooza67homerpalooza67228 Posts: 1,891Member
    MaxxRush wrote: »
    Ah, okay. I agree that HoS would have been even nicer as a full book, but David's already busy with the new Safehold, co-writing the new Manticore Ascendant series with Timothy Zahn and Tom Pope (my BuNine "boss"), and working on the new mainline Honorverse book, so I guess he could be forgiven for making it a bit shorter than we'd all like.
    I hear that. I was not impressed with the first MA novel, tbh. Zahn did a fantastic job with the star wars books, but his grasp of Webers technology and the super genius but misunderstood protagonist who always wins the day left me uninspired.

    David himself needs a better (or more thorough) editor. Ashes of Victory and At All Costs were too just too bloated. The newer books were a little better, but I'm really missing the energy of stuff like Honor of the Queen and Flag In Exile.
    Ah i could go on and on, but you get the point. :)
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    I hear that. I was not impressed with the first MA novel, tbh. Zahn did a fantastic job with the star wars books, but his grasp of Webers technology and the super genius but misunderstood protagonist who always wins the day left me uninspired.

    David himself needs a better (or more thorough) editor. Ashes of Victory and At All Costs were too just too bloated. The newer books were a little better, but I'm really missing the energy of stuff like Honor of the Queen and Flag In Exile.
    Ah i could go on and on, but you get the point. :)

    Yeah... you're not saying anything that hasn't already been said in Weber's forums. A *lot* of folks are wanting to see more individual battles, instead of all this fleet stuff going on. Most understand we won't see *Honor* going on death rides anymore, but there's still Abigail, Scotty, Helen, and others. Some are even hoping the Sollies manage to figure something out so that the one-sided losses they've been suffering won't end up being boring. Personally. I'm not as critical about it.

    Re: the Travis books - that's what I call the Manticore Ascendant series* - I've only read the short story in Beginnings, so couldn't really say as far as Zahn handling the tech. That seems a bit odd though, since Tom knows the tech almost as well as David, and in some cases, even better. Then again, this is shortly after the Warshawski Sails were developed, so maybe they're still trying to reconcile the early tech with the current tech.

    *I have an odd pattern for the side-series: There's the Torch series, the Talbott series, the Treecat series, and the Travis series. Even David commented on it once when I said the *Shadow* series by mistake.:D
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    So... new meshes to show. As always, they are as finished as I can get them right now, but because many of the details still have yet to be worked out, they are Subject to Change™, and should be considered WiPs.

    Specs on the ships can be found in House of Steel, but if you don't have it, I might be convinced to do a little copypasta from my e-copy to post them here.

    First up is the Falcon class destroyer:
    106472.jpg106473.jpg106474.jpg106475.jpg
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    And last of all, a pair of group shots of all three new ships, plus my earlier Star Knight class heavy cruiser for size comparison. Note the size creep of the newer Roland DD compared to the last-gen Falcon and Chanson DD's. If you look closely, you can see some of the generational differences between the three older ships and the single new one, besides size creep. Some are obvious, some not so much.:
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  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    Here's the specs on the ships as written in House of Steel. I've also added notable ship names of each class. The specific ship names will be fairly familiar with anyone who has read the books, but if not, here's a reminder:

    HMS Hawkwing was the ship Honor Harrington served her midshipman's cruise on.
    HMS Troubador was the ship Alistair McKeon commanded at First Yeltsin, when he accompanied Honor's HMS Fearless (CA) in defending Grayson in the book The Honor of the Queen.
    HMS Tristram was given to Naomi Kaplan after her promotion to commander and after her actions as tactical officer aboard HMS Hexapuma at the Battle of Monica.
    HMS Fearless was Honor's heavy cruiser command (The Honor of the Queen) after losing her light cruiser bearing the same name to damage at Basilisk, from taking on a battlecruiser-equivalent Q-Ship alone (On Basilisk Station).

    Falcon-class destroyer
    Mass: 70,500 tons
    Dimensions: 355 × 42 × 24 m
    Acceleration: 523.6 G (5.134 kps2)
    80% Accel: 418.8 G (4.108 kps2)
    Broadside: 3M, 4L, 3CM, 4PD
    Chase: 1M, 2L, 2CM, 2PD
    Number Built: 88
    Service Life: 1851–1916

    HMS Hawkwing was a Falcon-class.

    Chanson-class destroyer
    Mass: 78,000 tons
    Dimensions: 367 × 43 × 25 m
    Acceleration: 520.7 G (5.107 kps2)
    80% Accel: 416.6 G (4.085 kps2)
    Broadside: 3M, 3L, 4CM, 4PD
    Chase: 2M, 1L, 2CM, 2PD
    Number Built: 204
    Service Life: 1867–present

    HMS Troubador was a Chanson.

    Roland-class destroyer
    Mass: 188,750 tons
    Dimensions: 446 × 54 × 45 m
    Acceleration: 780 G (7.649 kps2)
    80% Accel: 624 G (6.119 kps2)
    Broadside: 5L, 10CM, 9PD
    Chase: 6M, 2G, 6PD
    Number Built: 46+
    Service Life: 1920–present

    HMS Tristram was a Roland

    Star Knight-class heavy cruiser
    Mass: 305,250 tons
    Dimensions: 523 × 63 × 53 m
    Acceleration: 509.3 G (4.994 kps2)
    80% Accel: 407.4 G (3.995 kps2)
    Broadside: 12M, 6L, 3G, 8CM, 8PD
    Chase: 3M, 1L, 5CM, 5PD
    Number Built: 74
    Service Life: 1893–present

    HMS Fearless, yada, yada, yada
  • spacefighterspacefighter2 Posts: 0Member
    some nice features on them, they all look very similar though.
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