Topic: Xeryx's Kitbashing

[xeryx]

So I am brand new at kit-bashing models, and am just learning the basics right now.  Of course, 3Ds Max is a real pain to learn, but I am stumbling through it.

Here is my first Kit-bash, Adam made the Excelsior with the Mega-phasors attached originally after I showed him some blueprints of it.  I really wanted an Excelsior BB that looked good, so I added some engines and redid the hardpoints.  I think it turned out pretty fair. She will be a real ball buster!

She isn't for release yet, in case you are wondering. I finished up the rest of the hardpoints and everything is now working as it should.

I also made some nifty UI's for it.

[d4v1ks]

Good work.
Looks great! 

[TarMinyatur]

Well done.

Not sure if two Klink C7's (360 bpv total) could easily destroy it. Let's see...range-8 passes with a +2 shift against 8 forward-firing OL Photons? The Ph-4 are LS/RS or FAR/FAL? Ph-G's and AMD6 take care of 8 slow missiles each turn. The Klinks would hope the Fed would get impatient and fire all the Photons at 16% accuracy and then get in a knife fight with 20 Ph-1s vs 10 Ph-1s. The Ph4s would likely be hit&run if a shield were cracked. Now if the Fed BB has an atypically high HET success rate, then it has a chance of survival. If the breakdown is 50% then it can't afford to let the C7's attack its flanks.

[TAnimaL]

any tactical plan that hinges on your hopes that the opponent "will do x" is doomed to failure....

[xeryx]

You guys crack me up..

Currently, it is just for fun and hasn't been balanced yet.  The Photons will probably come down a bit.  Unfortunately, you will be doomed..when the X-Version is released. I plan to so some remappign later.

I have been toying with the idea of flipping the lower engine up, keeping them inside of the other nacelles.

I think this one makes more sense structurally.  However, I will have to do some firing arc limiting.

I have so much to learn, about 3dMax hopefully I can pick it up quickly.  I have been hard at work making UI's.  I think we ought to make a UI exchange thread.  Maybe then we can save each other some work.  I also made some improved shield graphics for the Feds to make it easier and give a more updated feel.

SO do you guys typically increase the number of photons per launcher as the era's progress, as it seems the only logical way.

[Captain Adam]

Well done.

Not sure if two Klink C7's (360 bpv total) could easily destroy it. Let's see...range-8 passes with a +2 shift against 8 forward-firing OL Photons? The Ph-4 are LS/RS or FAR/FAL? Ph-G's and AMD6 take care of 8 slow missiles each turn. The Klinks would hope the Fed would get impatient and fire all the Photons at 16% accuracy and then get in a knife fight with 20 Ph-1s vs 10 Ph-1s. The Ph4s would likely be hit&run if a shield were cracked. Now if the Fed BB has an atypically high HET success rate, then it has a chance of survival. If the breakdown is 50% then it can't afford to let the C7's attack its flanks.

Personally I would have the following as it's armaments:

14xPh1 2xPh4 6xPhot

14xPh1:
2xFA
2xFRR
2xFLL
2xRRR
2xLLR
2xALL
2xRA

2xPh4:
1xMLR
1xMLR

6xPhot:
2xFA
2xFA
1xRA
1xRA

Maybe, an additional refit with 2 more photons added to the aft tubes.
If the Ph4 seems overkill than maybe substitute PhA's since the mega phasers are connected to the engines so it makes sense.

[Captain Adam]

Then again I'm a little anal and have OCD so don't listen to me lol

[TAnimaL]

Oh, i think your stats make sense Adam, but I don't know about your "other" issues...

Increasing the # of photons per launcher makes sense and comes across that way in canon ST, tho SFC has a limit of 4 wpns per mount. It's more or less the same way in SFB, except it's 1 photon per "tube," as it were.  A bit of design trivia - in the earliest days of SFB (40+ years ago) they played with making photons come in different sizes so that all ships would have 4 tubes. The DD photons would be half the power of a CA photon, which was half the  power of a DN's photons. They quickly settled on the "one size fits all photonts" and adjusted the # of tubes per ship. There's only 2 kinds of photons in OP, but you could tweak the several types of disruptors to try this outm if you were so inclined.

[Captain Adam]

 

It really depends on your mod. In the stock game Heavy Photons deal double damage as Standard Photons, so you can utilize that as an upgraded torpedo as time advances. I really wouldn't increase the number of torpedoes on the same ship bc one would assume that if the ship remains the same (no added torpedo launchers/or phaser emplacements) only the payload would advance or the rate of fire. One thing to note is torpedo count isn't really accounted for in our game so I would only increase the amount of torpedoes per tube based on size. I normally follow this rule when making ship lists:

Frigates/Destroyers: 1x per Tube
Heavy Destroyers/Light Cruisers/Medium Cruisers/Heavy Cruisers/Battle Cruisers: 2x per Tube
Heavy Battle Cruisers/Dreadnoughts/Battleships: 3x per Tube
Battle Stations/Starbases: 4x Per Tube

Some others such as Carriers depends on size, if it's a Carrier in the DN range then 3x if it's a Carrier in the Cruiser range then 2x
Asteroid Bases and Base Stations also depends on size. But like I said, thats my take on it, everyone has different views on what their ship lists should be like.

As the eras advance I would upgrade the torpedo yield. Just like you upgrade the Ph1 to PhX on X-ships.

[TAnimaL]

I was playing with a photon mod that changed the yield slightly (to 9) but changed the power cost to 3 (1.5 per turn), so a Constitution could have 6 torpedoes, as it seemed to have in TOS. Food for thought

[Captain Adam]

I also tried that too.
Many ideas.