Proof of Concept

The wings should probably be moved forward, IMHO; not the whole thing, just extend the leading edge. Yeah, they're kinda thin, but they work well enough I suppose. No idea what to do about your dorsal/ventral designs; not my greatest area.

Siriondil Daragon wrote:Well with wings like that, you're basically now making an enormous, supercharged Sentinel landing craft. As such, you could probably do very well by putting a sort of back-sweeping superstructure on the top, moving towards a dorsal wing a lot like the Sentinel's.

Honestly I'm not even sure I want to keep them - I'm trying to avoid it being so close to the Sentinel-class, so I think I'll ditch the wings entirely, even if they look kinda nice-ish.

Tetrahedron wrote:The wings should probably be moved forward, IMHO; not the whole thing, just extend the leading edge. Yeah, they're kinda thin, but they work well enough I suppose. No idea what to do about your dorsal/ventral designs; not my greatest area.

Yeah, that's the trick I suppose. I'll hopefully sort something out soon. When school is over for the calendar year. And I'm not sick anymore.

This looks awesome!!! I agree on the wings, they don't fit the ship.

Niiiice work!!!

Yeah, I say ditch the wings. You need something original and super bulky to go with this. Maybe something like a secondary superstructure on top, with a third engine back-center and another, smaller area for troops? Or perhaps a drone bay with holding and repair facilities? Also, you should definitely add some smaller weaponry-- those cannons are good for blasting through enemy lines, but there's nothing quite like a set of miniguns to clear out an LZ or take down an incoming missile swarm.

Siriondil Daragon wrote:Yeah, I say ditch the wings. You need something original and super bulky to go with this. Maybe something like a secondary superstructure on top, with a third engine back-center and another, smaller area for troops? Or perhaps a drone bay with holding and repair facilities? Also, you should definitely add some smaller weaponry-- those cannons are good for blasting through enemy lines, but there's nothing quite like a set of miniguns to clear out an LZ or take down an incoming missile swarm.

Now there's an idea! Thank you, Supe, you just made my day!

Score! Looking forward to seeing it, if you decide to go with it. xD

Drones, drones...this is a lot of space for a bunch of drones...hmm...maybe what I need is an autonomous fighter unit! Buuut that would get expensive as all get-out, and this is barely an ideal trade-off with the design I currently use a primary troop transport.

Ideas on that part, guys?

I've got some drones that I built recently; I'll try to upload them sometime soon.

I don't think that would be too much space for drones-- think medium sized, smaller than a typical starfighter (which would be maybe 1/3 the length of the ship) but larger than, say, a person. Kind of like a bunch of UAV's, but they could be for repair or some such. OR, that top part could hold a "workshop" of sorts, like a modular system that could be a command center, or armory, or bunker... then detach on hoverpads or treads and embed itself in the ground.

Maxwell Augustus Damirius wrote:I've got some drones that I built recently; I'll try to upload them sometime soon.

That would be appreciated, and just cool to look at anyways.

Siriondil Daragon wrote:I don't think that would be too much space for drones-- think medium sized, smaller than a typical starfighter (which would be maybe 1/3 the length of the ship) but larger than, say, a person. Kind of like a bunch of UAV's, but they could be for repair or some such. OR, that top part could hold a "workshop" of sorts, like a modular system that could be a command center, or armory, or bunker... then detach on hoverpads or treads and embed itself in the ground.

Ah, that would explain it, given the fact that I made the little recce flyer about...eight studs by ten studs?

Hmm...that's a pretty good idea, too, especially since this would be the kind of shuttle to be sent off on independent missions (for commandos, usually), or for local-area field commanders, since I've been able to determine I can carry about a full Company of Marines in this thing's cargo bay.

Ahh, combining roles, why not? It still seems like it needs as little something changed in the design, something to make it look slightly less boxy, even if it mostly retains it's box with engines and too many missiles look/design. IDK, that's just how I see it.

I'm running a Toshiba Sattelite from.....*counts*1998?...something like that, it was 10 years old already when I got it, so yes, I still have my go-to excuse.

Commander Ant wrote:Ahh, combining roles, why not? It still seems like it needs as little something changed in the design, something to make it look slightly less boxy, even if it mostly retains it's box with engines and too many missiles look/design. IDK, that's just how I see it.

I'm running a Toshiba Sattelite from.....*counts*1998?...something like that, it was 10 years old already when I got it, so yes, I still have my go-to excuse.

I don't know what to tell you, Ant, this is what I'm sticking with - it's been almost a month working on this thing, I'm not overhauling it to make it look sleeker - it ain't meant t' be sleek, so why bother?

I can understand that, I have several items myself that need fixed but that I refuse to due to time required. And that's just ones that need fixed, not overhauled or little asthetics changes made to update with people's opinions.

Commander Ant wrote:  I can understand that, I have several items myself that need fixed but that I refuse to due to time required.  And that's just ones that need fixed, not overhauled or little asthetics changes made to update with people's opinions.

Honestly I don't think it needs to be "fixed." This isn't some Imperial Sentinel-class that looks sleek and delivers a moderate amount of forces, this is, yes, a conglomeration of boxes blended together that delivers a level of firepower by itself and within its cargo holds that a single shuttle can be sent on low-level operations with an expectation of success.

Also, MORE PICTURES OF PROGRESS!

PROGRESS:

I added some thickness to the bottom deck, so it'd blend better (kinda) with the "chin" of the cockpit box, as well as a pair of rotary cannon turrets.
Oh, and some admittedly pretty flimsy legs for it to stand on, but really this relies on anti-gravity/repulsorlifts to stay aloft even when off-loading troops. The legs are there to make sure the turrets don't get crushed, really.

Mmmmm, another great update! the ship is really looking up!

One thing that caught my attention: if this thing can carry a full company of (presumably fully equipped) marines, why are you still using it as a commando craft? Or are you using it as a frontal assault craft?

Either way, keep up the great work!

It's looking better and better with each update! Keep 'em comin'!

Tetrahedron wrote:Mmmmm, another great update! the ship is really looking up!

One thing that caught my attention: if this thing can carry a full company of (presumably fully equipped) marines, why are you still using it as a commando craft? Or are you using it as a frontal assault craft?

Either way, keep up the great work!

No no no, the original purpose was as a larger-scale commando craft (drop pods able to be launched from the cargo hold), and then it became a boarding shuttle (thick armor, powerful shields, big engines, heavy cannons), and then a general assault shuttle (carrying a full Rifle Company of Marines), and then a heavy-lift cargo shuttle (with some modifications I'm not going to try to make in LDD).

In short, the Deferat-class is, as Arik himself put it, a "master of all trades" modular shuttle design. I used the commando version of the cargo bay because that was the most complex to work out - the rest of the functions are all pretty straightforward.

Lord General Spud wrote:It's looking better and better with each update! Keep 'em comin'!

As do most of my designs, it seems. All that's left is the top of this bad boy, some color details and somehow some greeblies, and she'll be done.

I wouldn't quite say it's all-purpose-- you won't be boarding anything in this baby, and it's not exactly stealthy enough for any sort of commando insertions. xD But it's definitely versatile enough for any assault/invasion purposes, on any scale.

I could board a starship with this, since I'd only ever board a mostly-disable starship, and then the issue is the people inside resisting.

As for commandos, well, they aren't always about stealth insertions - have you never heard of the WWII US Marine Raiders? Or Paratroopers?

The rounded corners on the front, rounded engine sides, and addition of the turrets help it to keep its box comglomeratoin/boxy look without looking really bad, nice. It's raelly starting to look good now.

Commander Ant wrote:The rounded corners on the front, rounded engine sides, and addition of the turrets help it to keep its box comglomeratoin/boxy look without looking really bad, nice. It's raelly starting to look good now.

That's what I thought, too. Now I just need the top and then maybe greeblies and I'm done.

Now, what to do for the top?!

Okay, so other than another pair of rotary turrets I couldn't think of anything for the top. It looks really strange and honestly even I don't like it, but for the sake of getting started on my next big project, here it is, I'm calling it done! *exasperation*

Shuttle:

Hmmm.... I'm not quite sure I'd call that done. Without anything for wings or a top, it just looks,... odd. There's a way to make the whole just-one-solid-body-without-anything-sticking-out look work, but this ship doesn't really capitalize on it.

That being said, as the guy who's been working on that one huge ship for, what, four months now, straight, I can certainly relate to the I-just-want-to-get-this-over-with thought process. Believe me, I *really* just wanna finish up that ship and move on, so I understand where you're coming from.

Tetrahedron wrote:Hmmm.... I'm not quite sure I'd call that done. Without anything for wings or a top, it just looks,... odd. There's a way to make the whole just-one-solid-body-without-anything-sticking-out look work, but this ship doesn't really capitalize on it.

That being said, as the guy who's been working on that one huge ship for, what, four months now, straight, I can certainly relate to the I-just-want-to-get-this-over-with thought process. Believe me, I *really* just wanna finish up that ship and move on, so I understand where you're coming from.

I believe it was agreed that wings looked too strange on this guy, and I can't think of anything that would follow that "one solid body" look without limited the movement of the rotary turrets. Like I said, I'm not really content with it, but I need it to be done, and I can't think of anything else to do to it. On top of that, nobody's been able to make any solid design suggestions, so, yes, for the sake of my sanity and starting my next project, after a month of work, this thing's out of my WIP folder.

Fair enough, I suppose.