Hello!
With this short post I would like to politely express my dislike for the design of the new Javelis LRM cruiser…
I don’t mind it becoming a cruiser, being (a bit) sturdier than a frigate and I guess a stronger damage dealer… I am all for asymmetry among factions!
What I don’t understand is why changing the look of the ship from an interesting three-dimensional frigate (which makes sense for a ship that doesn’t need to land) to a flat, almost 2d ship reminiscent of something like star-trek or early star wars ships. I feel it doesn’t have enough character as it is now.
The changes to the Light and Heavy frigates, although maybe a bit divisive, still gave us recognizable and interesting looking ships.. with the Javelis I just get generic ship vibes.. am I the only one thinking this?
Are there supporters of this ship’s looks who can sell me on it?
Again, I miss the insight that Dev Blog posts gave into the new designs and the lore behind them!
It is the best design there is, I dont understand why you wouldnt loveit !!!
Isnt it reminiscent somewhat of those corellian gunships, corvettes somewhat ?
Anything related to Startrek, personally, the only thing I remember was that disk with two pipes. (25+ years ago) And I think it is for the best. Im no westerner, so for me it was 'weird 'Sheet'', best treated in a treasure manner: You dig a hole and bury it. Never to be found again.
You could say it makes for a flatter target in 3D but really, I think it looks somewhat too flatty, like it underwent a heavy press treatment.
Come on, how can you have a divisive opinion ? In a proper Democratic (R) Society, only Democratic (R)-approved opinion is legal. One smells an agent of the Bugs, I mean Vasari. Maybe those ships after all are meant to be capable of endo-atmospheric flight and even belly landing.
What say you of Cobalt model ? It is too now a flattened model, with two guns in the front, mostly useless when trying to chase things, as it often flies in parallel, meaning, on targets that do not stop,(say trying to leave grav well) it will not fire and only tag along, due to those two guns, acting as a single weapon, that cant turn. Flattened ships when they take up less space can be more easily massed, causing less pathing issues.
I wonder how Orkulus starbase would look after a Press treatment, perhaps similar to Enterprise plus 6 pipes instead of 2.
Cobalt having a turret on top and below would be able to have a 360 radius, having two essentially immovable with mediocre output, still, acting as just one weapon, It reminds of tank destroyers or self propelled guns that were usually carrying heavier than turreted guns because much space and complexity was saved. Sure it follows in 1-directional, unmaneuverable dps platform of SoaSE:R. But as far as usability and usefulness goes ? But if they had those turrets, those corvettes wouldnt be able to flank.
If they were more maneuverable, had pathing such that would allow them to align their point of aim to a point, where their target is heading, such design problems would be mitigated. Many other sources of dps tend not to have such immobility probems due to turrets, plus turrets actually carrying heavier stuff.
Back to Javelis, I dont view it good or bad, the old one I looked for a few images, one was from the side, it looked weird/bad. Instead of missiles silos point at target, they could have in a submarine fashion shot from below and from above Maybe they would land on their sides then After looking at the old, the new one even after Press treatment seems better to me at least. Vertical launch could be used to target things anywhere, so in order to be able to be flanked, you have to give them design flaws
The overall issue for many of the designs seems to me is that if there is even a press treatment, you can still flip the design by (or differently) 90 degrees to the side, so that you can save space differently, not the X sides axis, but the Y height axis. So, I do consider your point valid, that some or some more of the designs underwent some hammering, where they become flatter and wider. And for some reason, if you have an endo-atmospheric ship that lands on either side, belly or roof compared to space use, what would it matter.
After all, which way in space it is up.
Lots of times, I did look up the stats quite a bit, ships seem unable to rotate freely (that is my impression, correct me if Im wrong) , say in search for most optimal dps output regarding their target. And quite a number of ships designs are oriented toward surface ship design philosophy.
That beiing said, SoaSE:R say, cobalt, missile frigates arent things of beauty, the designs do follow what seems more space-only would-be craft.
TEC Argonev Starbase, look at the design, unable to rotate, it is unable to almost at all engage targets directly above or below since turrets are in its waist area. Unlike say Orkulus that does not have to deal with blind spots due to being to change its angle. In SoaSE:R starbase did rotate a bit. Since turrets have to shoot at targets directly, having to obey firing angles, it causes problems for it at 'minrange'.
Ships in the game are generally in such a position you do not see their belly from above. But it does seem overall movement is quite significantly stuck in 2D space and units holding top-down posture.
I never played games like Homeworld, but I did see some snippets, mods etc., where it was in what seemed like actual unlimited 3D movement. So, imagine SoaSE game being actually 3D. There you could have physics like proper space. Then you could have gameplay that could replay those cinematics. where ships arent mostly side by side, but overall in space all around. How much more stuff you could then stuff in without being forced to 2D like at all. Devs seem to want to play it largely safe and I understand that, but in the future I think it is only natural to make things actual 3D. Sure that requires much more reimagining things. At the same time, systems in place are already capable enough imo - if the engine is optimized for it I wonder. You could make a wing commander game from commanding whatever ship/s fighters, bombers whatever youd like if youre interested.
Back to your topic, at least a bit of making things less flat and more 3D in some ways is something that could be looked at at the least.
Maybe, perhaps modders will try out something like that full 3D stuff.
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