I wonder if there will be any bio-engineered ships.

maceman wrote:
so Maceman Propaganda got no votes!? *sniff*

nope! Life is sometimes cruel



I say Military Power

What I'm curious about is what kind of template choices can we use for ships? Is there a lot of diversity? Is it race specific? Examples I can think of would be: modular (e.g. USS Enterprise), warbird-like (Klingon battle cruisers), asymmetric (Babylon 5 Terran cruiser), robot-like (like those anime mecha cartoons), saucers, wedges (Imperial star destroyers), fish or squid-like, complex curve shapes, cavities within structures, rotating objects, etc...

Stretchycheese wrote:
What I'm curious about is what kind of template choices can we use for ships? Is there a lot of diversity? Is it race specific? Examples I can think of would be: modular (e.g. USS Enterprise), warbird-like (Klingon battle cruisers), asymmetric (Babylon 5 Terran cruiser), robot-like (like those anime mecha cartoons), saucers, wedges (Imperial star destroyers), fish or squid-like, complex curve shapes, cavities within structures, rotating objects, etc...

I too wonder about the themes of the rest of the ship sets, to me the look of things are very important and I am quite "picky" when setting up my custom race not to over think the looks of my ships. IMO so far they have strived to get culturally defined ship hulls, while being mindful of model complexity and texture demands; so I would expect the rest of the ship sets to at least try to resemble the cultural aspect of their owners/creators. Now that you mention B5(my favorite space opera series ever), I would love to have some Narn looking ships in there; just because I like the aestethics really. But B5 is one of the first shows presenting ships that look functional and are in fact simple, at least among the young races.

Stretchycheese wrote:
What I'm curious about is what kind of template choices can we use for ships? Is there a lot of diversity? Is it race specific? Examples I can think of would be: modular (e.g. USS Enterprise), warbird-like (Klingon battle cruisers), asymmetric (Babylon 5 Terran cruiser), robot-like (like those anime mecha cartoons), saucers, wedges (Imperial star destroyers), fish or squid-like, complex curve shapes, cavities within structures, rotating objects, etc...

I'm not sure what you mean by "template choices". Each of the races will have a specific design of its ships. So far we've seen only UE and Cravers ships and they look quite different. There are going to be 8 factions in the game, that means 8 fleets of ships of different size, purpose and design.

Ahh another B5 fan around here!



AFK doing the happy dance!

reynanuy wrote:
I too wonder about the themes of the rest of the ship sets, to me the look of things are very important and I am quite "picky" when setting up my custom race not to over think the looks of my ships. IMO so far they have strived to get culturally defined ship hulls, while being mindful of model complexity and texture demands; so I would expect the rest of the ship sets to at least try to resemble the cultural aspect of their owners/creators. Now that you mention B5(my favorite space opera series ever), I would love to have some Narn looking ships in there; just because I like the aestethics really. But B5 is one of the first shows presenting ships that look functional and are in fact simple, at least among the young races.

Sharidann wrote:
Ahh another B5 fan around here!

And another one, even if a bit rusty, Vorlon and Narn fan

Stretchycheese wrote:
What I'm curious about is what kind of template choices can we use for ships? Is there a lot of diversity? Is it race specific? Examples I can think of would be: modular (e.g. USS Enterprise), warbird-like (Klingon battle cruisers), asymmetric (Babylon 5 Terran cruiser), robot-like (like those anime mecha cartoons), saucers, wedges (Imperial star destroyers), fish or squid-like, complex curve shapes, cavities within structures, rotating objects, etc...

ships are race specifics.



for example UE have a lot of Art Deco inspiration while the Cravers are more seen as scavengers without much interest for aesthetics... every faction will have a strong visual style (on top of their gameplay).

SpaceTroll wrote:
ships are race specifics.



for example UE have a lot of Art Deco inspiration while the Cravers are more seen as scavengers without much interest for aesthetics... every faction will have a strong visual style (on top of their gameplay).

Such posts are so delightful... It's hard to wait for the beta.

I'll use this thread instead of starting a new one, those art concepts of UE and Craver ships in the articles on the main site that some of you might have missed, I found them in twice as big resolution on this site:

http://www.gamersglobal.de/screens/51186



Have to admit the Craver Big Ship concept is my favorite so far! Oh boy I'm going to have fun turning enemy ships to scrap with this baby

Yeah ! I like them both. See in the center up front on the Craver ships they have what looks like a really big gun. Love all the pipes & hoses running about too. The UE ships look distinctly different, which gives a great feel for the uniqueness of the races. I really like them too. The artists have done a fabulous job. Can't wait to see the other races!

The look of them are really distinct. The screenshot of a space battle is really good too. Is it gameplay footage or just a "photoshoped" screenshot ?

so Maceman Propaganda got no votes!? *sniff*

I think there are some races still missing. Therefore maybe. ;-) I think so.

Will arcs of fire be represented?

ObiMark wrote:
Will arcs of fire be represented?

One question: Why "arcs"? It is a space-fight. Unless the projectile is massive and you're fighting very closed to a gravitational well or the projectiles have electrical charge and there's a massive magnetic field nearby, like a neutron star or a sun, everything runs straight?

I'm pretty sure "arcs of fire" doesn't refer to the effect of gravity on a projectile. It's the angle that you can swivel the guns to hit a target, like a battleship can't fire its broadside directly in front of it. This was something that annoyed me about soase to be honest. I'd have a kol fire the main gun which goes halfway along the hull and then the beam fires out at a 90 degree angle.

TOCFFTM wrote:
I'm pretty sure "arcs of fire" doesn't refer to the effect of gravity on a projectile. It's the angle that you can swivel the guns to hit a target, like a battleship can't fire its broadside directly in front of it. This was something that annoyed me about soase to be honest. I'd have a kol fire the main gun which goes halfway along the hull and then the beam fires out at a 90 degree angle.

As far as we know, there is no direct ship control. Cite out of the unoffivial FAQ:

Raptor wrote:
Question: How do space battles work in Endless Space?

Answer: Space battles go through 4 phases: Preparation, Long range, Medium range, Melee. In Preparation you choose your strategy and battle actions for the next 3 cinematic phases. Other factors play a role in determining the outcome of a battle such as Hero abilities, research, ship customization, etc.

I'm not sure were such arcs of fire would actually benefit you, then. During ship construction?

I think he means if in the cinematic phases the ships will be firing through their hulls or firing arcs of different mounted weapons will be modeled correctly. Say you have lasers on both sides of your ship and on the front, when the enemy ship is to your left only the lasers on the left sideboard should be able to fire at it. That's something that would look realistic, not having weapons that miraculously go through your hull like it's not there in order to hit the enemy whatever his position might be.

Yeah it's the small details that help create a real sense of immersion. The SOASE beams, although pretty, were a little distracting when they fired out of the wrong sections.