dust through exploration? and Monkeychow, your concepts are freaking me out, why are they so blurry XD

Monkeychow67 wrote:
Submission Concept:

On the wings of Eagles. I'd almost advocate these for a Horatio redesign. But the clockwork looks good.

Here is an updated concept for an Automatons dreadnaught. While big and tough you can see the mechanical elements showing through. The outer skin would be the same shiny, shimmery green used for the Automatons as shown in the sample images.

Lord_S wrote:
I'm not sure if anyone said this before because I didn't read all of the thread. So sorry if I only repeat something.

But I think that the Automaton don't live on their planets but on their ships. So they should have lots of space for this reason.

Only wanted to say this. Maybe someone will think of it when drawing.

True, but I dont think that their Homeships/Stations are for military purposes as well. Perhaps they guard their domes with defensive systems, but I am pretty sure, they wouldn't risk the lives of hundrets of "civilian" Automatons on a explorer-mission or in small combats with alien factions. Therefore, military ships should be designed for military purposes only and be shaped as it is best for combat. (Means as much weapon range around the ship as possible, best plating, shape hard to target/hit...)

Monkeychow67 wrote:
Submission Concept:

Like it. ^^

FarOceans wrote:
Here is an updated concept for an Automatons dreadnaught. While big and tough you can see the mechanical elements showing through. The outer skin would be the same shiny, shimmery green used for the Automatons as shown in the sample images.

I hope you don't intend for all that machinery to move at once... as cool as that would be...

Building the machinery to go "inside" my Automatons Dreadnaught design would not be hard. Make a shell of the outer faces of some smooth cylinders, not that many polygons. Apply a metallic surface and an animated bump map for the gear teeth. With a little tweaking it'd look awesome and not require building things akin to automobile transmissions. The animated bump map wouldn't need many frames, just enough to cycle a few degrees and let it loop. The model elements are static. A second way to create this effect is to repeat a gear map around the cylinder then rotate the texture over time.

Codename_Veers wrote:
True, but I dont think that their Homeships/Stations are for military purposes as well. Perhaps they guard their domes with defensive systems, but I am pretty sure, they wouldn't risk the lives of hundrets of "civilian" Automatons on a explorer-mission or in small combats with alien factions. Therefore, military ships should be designed for military purposes only and be shaped as it is best for combat. (Means as much weapon range around the ship as possible, best plating, shape hard to target/hit...)

Actually the Automatons don't really have "warships" they live on the platforms basically defenseless which is why the UE faction war brought so much devastation to them. Granted, they have learned their lesson, but they do not commit to building full scale weapons of war, they simply convert their massive platforms to military star ships, but they never actually build warships like the other factions do; there is simply no need for them until such time that a war begins. But if a war was to begin, the standing fleet would be enough to hold back the enemy long enough to set up the planet side platforms into more defensive stances as well as to convert many of them to battle ready ships. They don't believe in real standing armies is what I am trying to say

Well, here's one of my concepts.





The "crecent" is borrowed from the shape of one of the Automatons in the official art. I decided to go for a more asymetrical ship, for I do feel that the Automatons would see something that functoins well and in symbiosis with its environment would be beautiful regaurdless of its aesthetics.

The small sketch to the right is just a different concept for its engine. Pretty much the same idea a lot of us cape up with of the "floating" cog ringed around a cylender at the butt-end, but I thought perhaps it could have a dust-cloud forming around it and being sucked/propelled through the center of the cog/ring.

so the arch on the ship has empty space in between? And what are those lines on the left side of the ship? And Whats with that sketch of a shirt below the engine concept?

stasik28 wrote:
so the arch on the ship has empty space in between? And what are those lines on the left side of the ship? And Whats with that sketch of a shirt below the engine concept?

it is indeed empty space between the platform and arch. Those lines were when I was making the first rough outline/sketch before I decided to make it asymetrical. The "shirt" is a very rough top view I did to get a better sense of how to draw the ship.

Hi, I'am quite new to this game, but I like to play sometimes strategy games in my spare time. As I bought this game I saw, that here is this ship-design contest. So I decided to join it, because I thought it could be fun to do it and a good exercise to practise my skills. So here I'am, presenting my concept::



As I've read the story about the Automaton by Panzer, most of all I thought it would be important to emphasize in the design of their ships the special relationship to Ecology and Nature, because of the knowledge that the Automaton had, about the self-destruction of their creators. I mean, as the Automaton developed sentience, they must be awfully traumatised by this knowledge!! Anyway, my first idea was the following:







But pleas don't be mad at me. Even if it seems like a joke, and it is somehow, it has an earnest core and I mean it seriously as well!! This is just my style of approaching creativity.

Anyways...The picture above, which I showed you, was just in my head. And it was quite diffuse. So I started thinking (by writing my concept in words on a paper with some cheap scribbles) more about the clock nature of the Automaton.

And basicly the idea was born to combine clock-gears and biological, natural things to something biomechanical. So here we go:







At This you can see the idea of the movements of the Engine:







This is just a perspective frontview of the whole spacecraft:







That's it basicly. I appreciate any critics.



Have endless fun, gaming in Endless Space!

Peace and a long life!

The wings are rather wierd for a space ship, but I do like the consept.



Could such a structure be applyed to other objects like asteroids and more industrial looking hulls?

Igncom1 wrote:
The wings are rather wierd for a space ship, but I do like the consept.



Could such a structure be applyed to other objects like asteroids and more industrial looking hulls?

Yes, that structure could be applied to other objects, too. I could imagine, that it could get more functionality during the game-process as well; For example: It could evolve into a cloaking-kind of device for these objects, after you've researched a specific technology. This would even fit to my concept, because cloaking in nature is a common topic. The Automaton would know about this concept in nature, if they really love nature. And for a space travelling civilization cloaking would mean tactical advantages.



To the wings: I thought about this, too. They look overly aerodynamic for an airless space. Maybe I should bend the wings forward to the bow or shorten them what do you think!?

Other then the scientific reasons that make my brain scream against cloaking (RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)



How would the cloaking work? Like a chamelion?



Becuse wouldn't the light form stars behind the ships kinda negate them?

I've been keeping up with this thread, and I have to ask: why don't we combine the creator's premise with our own desires?















I'm no artist. I have no intentions of pretending to be. However, I do have an idea to merge both the lore and the ideas that seem to be prevalent in this discussion.



Picture one is an overhead view, two underhand, and three from the side.



The sphere in the center of the platform is life support, perhaps it was a terraforming facility before it was repurposed for combat? The platform is obviously the rectangle, while the circles below are rapidly rotating gears that, while in the presented pictures, are used to assist the "dust modified green energy" power core in providing the lift required to keep the platform afloat. In space, for the sake of realism, the disks could orbit the platform, rather than simply spin underneath it, to create a gravitational effect through gyroscopics? - or not, whatever works.



I'm not submitting my ideas as the future art of the Automaton ships, obviously, but I am submitting my ideas. I don't mind if someone with more artistic skill takes these concepts to build their own ships, as long as you reference me if these ideas where the inspiration behind them.



My goal is to find the concensus between the original vision and the artistic desires of the community, while still being realistic (terraforming facilities converted to life support, floatation devices converted in to gyroscopic gravity generators, and repurposing the engine previously used for left for thrust) in terms of their repurposing industry, and would explain their ability to stockpile it (repurposing platforms being a more accurate description of what is happening).



If any of this doesn't fit the Automaton theme, feel free to discard it, but this is my submission in hopes to help make the best Automaton ships we can make.

Panzer wrote:
Actually the Automatons don't really have "warships" they live on the platforms basically defenseless which is why the UE faction war brought so much devastation to them. Granted, they have learned their lesson, but they do not commit to building full scale weapons of war, they simply convert their massive platforms to military star ships, but they never actually build warships like the other factions do; there is simply no need for them until such time that a war begins. But if a war was to begin, the standing fleet would be enough to hold back the enemy long enough to set up the planet side platforms into more defensive stances as well as to convert many of them to battle ready ships. They don't believe in real standing armies is what I am trying to say

Well ok - didn't though of that but still the concept works: The UFO-Shapes still have the perfect form for colonies providing Ring-World-Gravity at the edge of the rings. You can assume that before actual war, the ships have more free space and windows for sun gathering and gardens (like the center of the small UFO, the sphere could be entirely out of transparent material, while the moving platting of the cruiser is actually additional build to the ship during war).

That still means we don't need a design that looks like civilian or garden-ships, because the war-ships are only recruited for war-purpose only and so, you will just see the ships, when they go to war (or form a defence fleet - I usually don't recruit fleets if I don't have an iminent threat or an aggresive neigbour. I guess that fits perfectly into the idea of the Automatons, right?) while the civilian ships are represented by opulation: in the game.



Now the my design represents the war status of the ships, while you can still imagine them without a war-purpose. The Dreadnaught is nothing more than a giant research-station with the most advanced engine-core of all ships, while the Destroyer and the battleship provide perfect living condition for medium and large population even in battle. The Cruiser and the Corvette are what comes the nearest to the term "ship" because they are designed for traveling and exploration purposes.



I hope that fits better into you concept of the Automatons - by the way a Faction that I really like and enjoy playing.



Just two questions:

1. If the Automatons are defending and attacking with their actual colony-ships, wouldn't it be better definied by the game, when you recruit a ship, you pay less dust (just paying for modifying an existing ship) but you loose one opulation: (temporaly) for every ship bigger than cruiser? And when you destroy your fleet you get your opulation: back? That would mean, that while you are at war, you generate less FIDS, because your people are all in space for war.

2. The nature of spacefights is to loose ships, so if you loose a ship in battle, you loose an entire home. Should the whole colony travel WITH the warships, that would mean loosing a whole Population! Or would you outsource some of your "civilian entities" to other ships? One solution could be that all Automaton-ships are basicly bigger that other factions ships, meaning an Automaton-Corvette is two to more times bigger than any other Corvette-Class Ship. Also they are better equipped in the beginning (meaning better defense), but upgrading them wouldn't bring as much advantage as for other factions.



Just thinking...

CubesArtifex wrote:
Hi, I'am quite new to this game, but I like to play sometimes strategy games in my spare time. As I bought this game I saw, that here is this ship-design contest. So I decided to join it, because I thought it could be fun to do it and a good exercise to practise my skills. So here I'am, presenting my concept::



As I've read the story about the Automaton by Panzer, most of all I thought it would be important to emphasize in the design of their ships the special relationship to Ecology and Nature, because of the knowledge that the Automaton had, about the self-destruction of their creators. I mean, as the Automaton developed sentience, they must be awfully traumatised by this knowledge!! Anyway, my first idea was the following:







But pleas don't be mad at me. Even if it seems like a joke, and it is somehow, it has an earnest core and I mean it seriously as well!! This is just my style of approaching creativity.

Anyways...The picture above, which I showed you, was just in my head. And it was quite diffuse. So I started thinking (by writing my concept in words on a paper with some cheap scribbles) more about the clock nature of the Automaton.

And basicly the idea was born to combine clock-gears and biological, natural things to something biomechanical. So here we go:







At This you can see the idea of the movements of the Engine:







This is just a perspective frontview of the whole spacecraft:







That's it basicly. I appreciate any critics.



Have endless fun, gaming in Endless Space!

Peace and a long life!

Hey, I like your design, even though the fornt of the ship reminds me of a dolphin and thus fits more to the amoebea. But still it looks good.

Perhaps you can apply (for other ships with a similar engine) a long, cylindric front with rotating arms and spheres, representing gravity-positions for gardening or living? You know, a bit like shaped like our ISS in Space or something similar.

CubesArtifex wrote:
Hi, I'am quite new to this game, but I like to play sometimes strategy games in my spare time. As I bought this game I saw, that here is this ship-design contest. So I decided to join it, because I thought it could be fun to do it and a good exercise to practise my skills. So here I'am, presenting my concept::



As I've read the story about the Automaton by Panzer, most of all I thought it would be important to emphasize in the design of their ships the special relationship to Ecology and Nature, because of the knowledge that the Automaton had, about the self-destruction of their creators. I mean, as the Automaton developed sentience, they must be awfully traumatised by this knowledge!! Anyway, my first idea was the following:







But pleas don't be mad at me. Even if it seems like a joke, and it is somehow, it has an earnest core and I mean it seriously as well!! This is just my style of approaching creativity.

Anyways...The picture above, which I showed you, was just in my head. And it was quite diffuse. So I started thinking (by writing my concept in words on a paper with some cheap scribbles) more about the clock nature of the Automaton.

And basicly the idea was born to combine clock-gears and biological, natural things to something biomechanical. So here we go:







At This you can see the idea of the movements of the Engine:







This is just a perspective frontview of the whole spacecraft:







That's it basicly. I appreciate any critics.



Have endless fun, gaming in Endless Space!

Peace and a long life!

That is a nice texture you have there, i was going to go for Hexagons covering the ship. Good work. Some people and their fancy modeling tools...

Panzer wrote:
Actually the Automatons don't really have "warships" they live on the platforms basically defenseless which is why the UE faction war brought so much devastation to them. Granted, they have learned their lesson, but they do not commit to building full scale weapons of war, they simply convert their massive platforms to military star ships, but they never actually build warships like the other factions do; there is simply no need for them until such time that a war begins. But if a war was to begin, the standing fleet would be enough to hold back the enemy long enough to set up the planet side platforms into more defensive stances as well as to convert many of them to battle ready ships. They don't believe in real standing armies is what I am trying to say

The UE attacked the Automatons in the ES canon? Where can I find out more about this conflict between the UE and the Automatons?

Troodon wrote:
The UE attacked the Automatons in the ES canon? Where can I find out more about this conflict between the UE and the Automatons?

It's a very special side story that I wrote, I made it canon,





Here is more or less all the "fiction" that I wrote for them. Steph'nie should really post these up to the wiki



/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16432-fanfiction-the-automatons-faction-contest-timeline

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16428-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-fleet-base

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16429-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-protection-of-planets

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16430-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-the-end



It's in order, enjoy

Panzer wrote:
It's a very special side story that I wrote, I made it canon,





Here is more or less all the "fiction" that I wrote for them. Steph'nie should really post these up to the wiki



/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16432-fanfiction-the-automatons-faction-contest-timeline

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16428-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-fleet-base

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16429-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-protection-of-planets

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16430-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-the-end



It's in order, enjoy

Ah, I see. It was a SPLINTER faction of the UE, not the UE itself. In that case, the Automaton's actually did the UE proper a favor.



Unfortunately, ES does not yet have an official canon policy like Star Wars. (As a big wiki editor, this is a source of eternal frustration for me.) If and when such a standard is created, though, I am sure this backstory will be in it.