Topic: Tholia drafts... HELP!!

[Dizzy]

Julin, there is a new developing science in crystal microgravity that explores what happens to crystals in low to no gravity. STS 107 was coming down with a rather large experiment about it, but I guess we will have to wait till the next time.

You can look up on the net all sorts of cool things about this stuff. Apparently, Crystals that are grown in zero-G have zero flaws and zero sedimentation compared to earth grown crystals. True crystals (pure) can be grown only in space. The kinds of crystals that have zero sedimentation (and a myriad of other benefits to science) have scientists drooling from jewelry makers, medical practitioners, laser scientists and space materials scientists just to name a few.

So... take a stretch of the imagination and move a tad bit away from the been-there-done-that 'magma' tholians to 'crystaline' tholians. They grow their ships, mb? That could be the whole theme of this new fleet Brez is doing.

Afaic, those Tholian bases based off of a Dysons sphere is ridiculous. You cant move something like that. There is supposed to be a sun inside of it. It's a bit too much of a stretch to imagine tholians associated with something like that. When I think base or home planet for the thols, if crystal is the theme, then we go with a crystal looking home grown variety.

Anything else doesnt 'fit'.

If you guys want dysons sphere, or a tholian base that looks like magma, Brez has already made those models.

This is a new direction for thols, one that I welcome, and one that I feel better suits them for how I imagine them being. If you want a steel plated hull, or a coppertone finish, go shop in the Lyran or Klingon shipyards and bring along your favorite can of paint. But if you want something alien. Something new and unique that isnt from this galaxy, then go with Brez's new Crystalline mod. But thats just me.

[FoaS_XC]

I agree dizzy - i think something new needs to be done and this is right for the Tholians.

[Reverend]

same here.... Dyson Sphere concept is interesting, possibly feasible, but a crystalline motif is far more unusual and exciting, definately. I play Tholians a lot in my own mod, just because the yare the underdog, and they are so darned interesting!

Fantastic work Brezgonne!!!!

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

I agree 100% with Dizzy, I like the crystaline models as they just make a whole lot of sense, are in the Tholian character, and plain look the best of all the models.

It must have been an extremely talanted mind that thought up that concept......

I would like to see you add some of that nice blue from the outside of the hollow world mixed in with the green and see what that looks like.

P.S.  Brez, feel free to buzz me on MSN anytime for this type of project, I didn't miss playing on Squad Commander one bit, as I found our brainstorming twice as fun and 10 times as interesting.  I got some other ideas as well, if your amazing talanet can put form to some of these ideas we could knock the socks off alot of people.

[Julin Eurthyr]

I ain't saying anywhere that Brez (or any modeler for that matter) is limited to making only 1 "Tholia".

Dyson sphere Tholia for the SFB-themed fleet, Crystalline Tholia for his Crystal fleet...

It's just that, to me, none of the Crystalline designs clicked as a homeworld (or colony or whatever) for the Tholians...


And for the record, I would think that whoever has the technology to build a Dyson sphere probably knows a trick or 2 to make it movable...

[Dizzy]

And for the record, I would think that whoever has the technology to build a Dyson sphere probably knows a trick or 2 to make it movable...

And for the record, even the smallest of suns are immovable due to simply: mass. Silly froggy! Dont forget to include the mass of the sphere that would at least need to be on or outside the orbit of Mercury.

Things of this size are simply not moveable with any kind of warp drive. A Crystal planet/base, however, could start small and have grown larger along the journey...

[Julin Eurthyr]

Stars aren't so massive that they are immobile.

While I can't recall the exact speeds, and I don't think anyone has been able to accurately measure them, our own star, the Sun, is currently in orbit around the Galactic center, on a vector radiating away from the big bang...

Granted, it might take a tremendous amount of power to generate the thrust necessary to move that much mass, a race that has the capacity to build a Dyson sphere just might have the means to generate enough power to move that much mass.

And anyway, who's to say exactly how it moved?  For all we know, someone got real creative with artificial gravity fields, and used them to pull the world much like warp drive bubbles travel with a starship.

Oh, and while I'm thinking of this, why don't you try a crystalline dyson sphere hull texture there Brez?  Who says that the sphere has to be built, what if it were grown from the space crystals Dizzy's getting so fond of...

[Dizzy]

Oh, and while I'm thinking of this, why don't you try a crystalline dyson sphere hull texture there Brez?  Who says that the sphere has to be built, what if it were grown from the space crystals Dizzy's getting so fond of...

Welcome aboard the Crystaline Brick Road!

[USS Mariner]

Sorry to be the first bad apple, but to me, none of these look good at all. They just don't say "planet" to me, more like "spherical Tholian Base gone whacko." I'd always expect Tholia to be some kind of magma world, with large flat plateaus and canyons with rivers of lava. Crystaline formations and cities would gleam in the sunlight, and light the dark side of the planet like beacons on a runway. It should look very very hot, as it's stated in ENT "Future Tense" that the Tholians are indeed a "hot planet" race. I think the idea was fan born anyway, so it works for SFB too.

[FoaS_XC]

Sorry to be the first bad apple, but to me, none of these look good at all. They just don't say "planet" to me, more like "spherical Tholian Base gone whacko." I'd always expect Tholia to be some kind of magma world, with large flat plateaus and canyons with rivers of lava. Crystaline formations and cities would gleam in the sunlight, and light the dark side of the planet like beacons on a runway. It should look very very hot, as it's stated in ENT "Future Tense" that the Tholians are indeed a "hot planet" race. I think the idea was fan born anyway, so it works for SFB too.

I would agree with you normally, but not in this case. The tholians are from another galaxy - one that they left in exile and brought a Dyson Sphere with them. Now i think your idea would work for the homeworld back at their home galaxy, but not here.

I was just playing around in 3d Max, and i came up with an idea: a sphere of triangular facets with a space between each facet. On the outside each facet is one color of crystal (lets say green for the sake of argument. Next there is a lattice work between each facet, along the outside of the sphere. Then a crystaline core and a single beam going from the core to each facet. The Lattice work and core would be blue, the inside of the facets would be worldlike.

[SSCF-LeRoy]

The upper lefthand draft of n3 would make a bang-up Tholian homeworld