the Barge

[Jinx]

side by side ...

the current barge is a horizontal cylinder / tube that has a more pointy end - the revision is basicly a horizontal hexagonal tube with a blunt end. but regarding to length, volume and general dimensions, you can expect it to be as close as it gets.

as for the extrusions ...

well - firstly of course - a new barge wouldn t make it in till 4.87 ( that is a time when 90% of you have left the community anyway or when after the world has collapsed regarding to the aztec calender )

secondly - the very large control tower ( the wide thing in the rear ) would "fold" inwards and hug the hull when the ship goes cruise; the ramp of the hangar would retreat inwards.

i expect that in 4.87 - we d work on ships/mobs animation as a primary task ( as modellers ) cause we covered most ships anyway. - so that model is already build with separate mesh groups in mind.

about the ship looking zoner ...

i m sorry, but "come again?..." - not every ship i make is a zoner ship ( in fact - i made like 10 times more non zoner ships ) - but then - looks and perception are subjective and i cannot argue with them - so i won t.

anyway ... here are some "zoner" designs, i trust you don t find many similarities ( other than the use of vanilla textures - and you d also see that they are completely different to the barge )



and these 3 look similar to

?






in general ...

this is mostly a "survey" to assess what ... or if people believe that the barge might be looked into - now that its public.

i d do the same if the necrosis suddenly turned public or the emperors flying palace or the leviathan. and you can be damn sure that we d also look into it if the keeper ships, scra ships, phantom ships turned public.

along with revising the visuals ( taste and design changes in time... and the time between the original import and now has been quite long ) whats sufficient then doesn t need to be sufficient now, hence revisions are necessary - and also keep the mod alive ( even if some people consider them redundant ) - but every revision of visuals renews something.





if there is a majority feeling that the old model is not only better - but also no change needs to be done .... no change WILL be done, cause devs are there to do stuff the community wants - and not to do their own thing and force the community to adjust.


*edit: the barge revision was actually modelled and hardpointed as a "stationary base" rather than a playership... but that was when the plan was to only have one flyable playerbarge on the server so having another one looking different would not have been a big deal, as they were supposed to be unique in design.

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC

[Vladimir]

To be honest, i like the current model more. Still, some changes to stats could be alright, like the hull doubling and gb missile turrets, provided it can fire them, of course.

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[Soban]

I prefer the new model, more detail on it. And the global shape is better.

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[Enoch]

I still don't get why it should have more armor than a Battleship.

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[dodike]

Because it's twice as big, perhaps

[Enoch]

Big =/= Resistant

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[dodike]

Big =/= Resistant

Barge =/= Cardboard

[Jinx]

to elaborate on why the barge should be a tough target..

.. even if its now semi-public ( or who knows - maybe purchasable at a base without being beamed to bastille one day ) - a barge should be the "crown jewel" of a mining cooperation. it is NOT just a superframe where you stuck a few rusty containers on, even if thats the basic idea. - it is supposed to be a superadvanced ship. - there are not many factions that can pull off building such a size of a ship.

.. gameplay-wise ... such many hitpoints shall discourage a "battle of endurance" against like 2 bombers. sure ... 2 bombers can do the job - but they ll probably die to boredom before they finish the barge. - the barge is meant to be destroyed in an epic battle.

something we wished to see normal battleships to die in, too - and we all know that normal battleships are a pushover and die quickly in a furball - hence, no epicness at all.



so to make that clear - this is not about logic ( although i can certainly pull enough reasons why it ought to be armoured so much ) - this is about gameplay. - however... the second i see barges replacing the 5k trains - and being seen at any corner, i wouldn t fight for them to be tough at all anymore.

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC

[Enoch]

I don't think it will be replacing supertransports, at least as long as the Barge is so utterly sluggish (it's how it should be, don't change that too).

.. gameplay-wise ... such many hitpoints shall discourage a "battle of endurance" against like 2 bombers. sure ... 2 bombers can do the job - but they ll probably die to boredom before they finish the barge. - the barge is meant to be destroyed in an epic battle.

Someone who exposes his Barge to 2 bombers deserves his nifty ship to be torn to pieces.
Speaking of powertrading, I forsee some players doing it (if its armor is raised) with their indestructible Cap8 Barge (olol 14 million hull)

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[Bobthemanofsteel]

Honestly, it's lore has been destroyed in a similar way as the Jinkusu, by making it public.

This is a solid idea, though obviously I can't speak for the quality of the model, and if it's going to be animated, all the better.

As for the dev team doing what the community wants, I can go grab a comment of Zelot's that kinda destroys that illusion.