Excellent observation Judge! And not something that has gone unnoticed in my design process..she does have PDCs (not yet modeled) which provide a full spherical arc of covering fire but will not have any main aft firing weapons arrays as she wasn't originally designed for CQB engagement. I'll explain more in my "blog" entry on the ship and her design history...Right now I'm finishing up the fine details.
Here is a close up of a PDC / PHIDS (Point Defense Canon / Phased Hi Intensity Discharge Servolaser) turret for the frigate.
This work is heavily influenced by Karnak on Deviant Art....as its a modular mount..The PHIDS can be replaced with a small EMAP (Electromagneticaly Assisted Projectile ) unit or a conventional rotary canon.
Nice looking turret! Very technical and detailed looking.
I was thinking your ship could have more versatility if you made several missile pods for it. For heavy assault it might carry the pods you have now, with a small number of very large heavy missiles. But for other duties it might carry other pods, maybe with a large number of small missiles for something like escort duty where it might be trying to dissuade attack from large numbers of small craft or trying to launch volleys of intercept missiles against incoming volleys of heavy missiles. It could also ppossibly carry pods containing something like a mine for minelaying missions, sensor drones to be deployed for data gathering, etc.
Way ahead of you partner! But I like the way you think! The missile quads are mounted to hardpoints...there are several different ops packages and equipment that can be attached to the points.
ASM-40 Hordefire missiles (as shown), ASM-260B Bright Denier Mine Deployment Pods, BSM-4 Ballistics Surface Attack Missile system, EMQ-6 Electronic Surveillance and Countermeasures package and some other ideas I haven't fully developed..I'm toying with a "Rescue Pod" system that enables the ship to act as a makeshift disaster relief vessel but that's more the purview of the USTO Solar Guard vs the Navy.
Here's an idea: If those pods are big enough make them insertion vehicles. One use drop pods meant to carry a commando or other elite team and drop them close enough to a planet to make entry and land. Actually make them small, one use landing vehicles.
Post#24, your image "departure.jpg" is pretty good, the lighting on the image seems pretty accurate for low earth orbit. And really liking how the ship is coming on.
Here's the latest update...I started working on the Orthos that will be part of the Tech Manual for the ship that I want to do but probably never will LOL..
Not complete obviously as I'm still adding text and have a few more patches to create. The patch top left will be gone..its just a placeholder.
To view the image in full resolution Right click then view image.
Looks really good, but everytime I try to right-click-etc it downloads a copy of the image. I had about six copies before I realized what was happening.
LOL..yeah it used to be easier to post a large image...something has changed with the HTML code maybe...Photobucket also won't let you link to full res anymore...unless its operator error and I'm doing it wrong.
I haven't been here for a while but I really like how the ship and its systems look now. One thing I really like is that your ship conveys mass. It looks so solid! :thumb:
I like it, but will the scourge of fluorescent tubes never leave us?
Even as I type this, there's one somewhere in this office erratically flickering...
Haha! I know what you mean...In this case they aren't fluorescent...they are LCDT's (Liquid Crystal Display Tubes)..They use curved LCD wrapping around the tube that has a simple electric element running through it. They never burn out! Can have their color temperature changes through a computer setting and can be removed from their mounts and used as handheld emergency lighting with a battery life of 36 hours.
Posts
This work is heavily influenced by Karnak on Deviant Art....as its a modular mount..The PHIDS can be replaced with a small EMAP (Electromagneticaly Assisted Projectile ) unit or a conventional rotary canon.
I was thinking your ship could have more versatility if you made several missile pods for it. For heavy assault it might carry the pods you have now, with a small number of very large heavy missiles. But for other duties it might carry other pods, maybe with a large number of small missiles for something like escort duty where it might be trying to dissuade attack from large numbers of small craft or trying to launch volleys of intercept missiles against incoming volleys of heavy missiles. It could also ppossibly carry pods containing something like a mine for minelaying missions, sensor drones to be deployed for data gathering, etc.
ASM-40 Hordefire missiles (as shown), ASM-260B Bright Denier Mine Deployment Pods, BSM-4 Ballistics Surface Attack Missile system, EMQ-6 Electronic Surveillance and Countermeasures package and some other ideas I haven't fully developed..I'm toying with a "Rescue Pod" system that enables the ship to act as a makeshift disaster relief vessel but that's more the purview of the USTO Solar Guard vs the Navy.
Not complete obviously as I'm still adding text and have a few more patches to create. The patch top left will be gone..its just a placeholder.
To view the image in full resolution Right click then view image.
Corridor WIP
Even as I type this, there's one somewhere in this office erratically flickering...
Haha! I know what you mean...In this case they aren't fluorescent...they are LCDT's (Liquid Crystal Display Tubes)..They use curved LCD wrapping around the tube that has a simple electric element running through it. They never burn out! Can have their color temperature changes through a computer setting and can be removed from their mounts and used as handheld emergency lighting with a battery life of 36 hours.