Once again i've embarked on the task to modeling a large heavy interdictor - been down this road twice before but always got to a point where i was unhappy with the basic shape - to flat - to steep - to bulky etc but this time I THINK i am happy with the basic shape so i might actually finish this one
decided to give it its own thread rather than revive my own dead star wars ship thread - but i do have another smaller ship (still star destroyer sized though not in the same mass category) and will show it here too - did it a while back and forgot all about it ironic when its one of the more complete star destroyers i ever made - not sure if i have shown it here before or not but its not he main focus anyway just threw it into the scene as i thought it would do as an escort for the larger ship
i like agressive shapes and have always felt that side mounted weapons on most star destroyers didn't seem right - enemy can escape and you have to choose between chasing them with little firepower on the target or letting them get away - so at least half the ships guns can fire in the forward arc
i also have always thought that the hanger bays would be a bitch to land in if the star destroyer was underway - so while the hanger on the underside is still there its more for visiting ships and capturing operations or finally to possibly carry smaller corvettes etc - its not used for the fighters which launch and land below and between the engines
comments and suggestions welcome
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As for the hangar issue, why not pull an idea from Ep.VII and install a side/trench hangar, one per side? TIEs, gunboats, and shuttles launch from the side hangars, but land in the rear hangar, only to later on be transferred via tubes/connecting tunnels to the side hangars
Also, since you mentioned captured ships getting hauled into the ventral hangar, you might want to add at least two more ion cannon turrets on the ventral side of the new hull - in case any Rebel captains decide to try to play dead, only to shoot out your tractor emitters at the last second. Nothing like slapping them occasionally with one or two 'just in case' heavy ion cannon bolts to ensure that their ship truly is immobilized.
as to the heavy interdictor - interestingly i was thinking something similar for the launching of the fighters - was actually thinking more like battlestar galactica launch system though - just some tubes they get fired out off rather than proper hangers etc
and yes i will be adding ion cannons to the ventral surfaces - as you said dont want any active hostile ships inside your shield perimeter!!! - i just started modeling details from the top down
I like the smaller Destroyer too, looks familiar so you have definitely shown it before at some point.
The small ship is awesome looking. The big one has some interesting elements to it - the partially revealed dorsal bulb is really cool looking.
You sure? All it'd require is that the main ion engines be permanently angled slightly off centerline on either side of the landing bays, rather then point directly aft. Between 8-12 degrees would likely be more then sufficient. That or have it so that the nozzles can swivel slightly off-centerline, and then swivel back after landing operations have finished.
With a ventral approach, if the ship needs to move (say, it gets taken under heavy fire), it just moves and the fighter aborts its approach. With an aft approach, the ship moving for something critical means the ion wash can slew around into the approach path. Just needless complication imho.
It doesn't have anything to do with how the model looks, just with how it might actually be run.
i cant quite get over the 'dog leg' landing maneuver while the ship is acceleration and while the tractor beams would help could they handle the entire fighter wing doing an emergency landing before the ship escapes into hyperspace?
also how dangerous is the engine wash anyway? - in the old tiefighter/x-wing games it jostled your fighter around a little but nothing major and with the hanger being potentially vulnerable spot on the ship its got to have strong shields perhaps they could be used to deflect the engine wash away from the approach path?
finally if the engine exhuast was vectored towards the ships center line then the wash would hit the hull of the ship before it was likely to seriously impact fighter operations anyway - and as the ship would be turning the approach would be an arc too that should still be between the 2 exhuast plumes
anyway little update to this section of the ship - i've recessed the hanger further into the ship think it looks quite good - will add some launch tubes on the side and front of this section make it clear this is the flight deck area
the dorsal hanger bay i've descided is actually used for resupply freighters drop off cargo containers etc and they are pulled and and unloaded in this area - and the equipment that grabs cargo containers etc also doubles for capturing hostile craft and holding them
By the same token, anyone wanting to try to get in a lucky 'up the kilt' shot, can suddenly find themselves facing the engines pivoting inwards, and making it pure hell for them to line up an accurate shot, let alone any possible concussion missiles or proton torpedoes from accurately hitting.
But, I have a solution that may not even require any modeling - make the aft bay the launch hangar - that way all ops are predictable, controlled by the ship, and while a little more inconvenient, at least shielded from fire. About to make a turn? Suspend all launches. Do all recoveries from the forward bay, and anything bigger than a fighter launches from there as well.
for now this is light tactical tie bomber - i modified it from the interceptor model i made ages ago - like the interceptor the bomber sports shields, 4 lasers and a hyperdrive (yes i know that would negate the need for emergency docking but hey things can get damaged) -6 concussion missiles - and for the bomber it gets 14 torpedos - 2 ion cannons and a tractor beam
why the cel shading you ask - to hide bad lightning and no textures
main flight ops is still between the engines - partly because not sure what else i'd put there if i removed it and i do like the look of it there
as always crits and comments welcome
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ohd67exti8uec3c/Screenshot%202016-03-10%2000.48.47.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6mnip4b252in23/Screenshot%202016-03-10%2000.49.55.png?dl=0
as you can see from this it leaves enough room even under worst case scenario of both engines being deflected into the flight path (cant see any reason why this would be done) there is still a clear flight path to the bay - and since at a maximum turn one engines would be vectored away from the hanger the flight path would be fine specially as you would need to fly that arc anyway since the ship is turning
so i'm now happy with the positioning of the hanger
As for the exhaust issues, it doesn't appear to be too big a deal, especially seeing those images you posted with the cones. Sure, the pilots still have to avoid the exhaust when coming from directly aft of the ship, but they can always come from below and aft. Besides, whoever said being a pilot for the Empire was safe?
Plus their "ion" engines, so....
since the plasma must be coming out at very high relativistic speeds the expansion can be minimised, possibly, depending on plasma desnity even forced to converge by the magnetic fields of the engine for a short while but that would just cause extra well drag and the gas will ultimately expand anyway
no the fighter craft need to avoid the blue cones ideally and certainly avoid the orange one which are of course mobile but are shown in about the worse case position for recovering fighter craft
They're ion engines. Though, I suspect that you have the word ion in quotes because you're going with the scientific meaning of ion. That I can't speak on because I'm no good at science. However, ion engines are the name of sub light engines in Star Wars. In fact, there are a number of things in Star Wars that use "ion" in the name. Ion cannons, for example.
The former lets you keep the launchers relatively safe from incoming fire, but the latter, while exposing them, means you could potentially flush missiles from the ship's magazines right into the tubes, and launch them, as fast as its mechanically possible. If however, meaning that they can only be launched in the ship's broadside arc.
*chuckles* Choices, Choices...
Love how you made it so that from directly ahead, you can see that there's a whole secondary 'wedge' below the main hull, which is where the hangars are located. I like how there's that gap there between the two.
anyway just a small update