Warships in the work - Commissions by PLOG.

[marauder648]

All comments are from our discussion via email.

The Nightlord Class battleship

http://i.imgur.com/ef99xT0.jpg

The Nightlord i was figuring from what you were saying that the main visual problem was that derpy section attached to the bottom.  I thinned the center hull section and enlarged and moved the butt-box to more form along the lower side of the center hull.  The overall ship is longer too, as befitting a ship more than a kilometer long.


Both pictures have a little Overlord dropship pictured with them as well.  Mostly that's so i can keep a sense of scale of the various bits, and it's really up to you if i keep them when these get finished up.  Let me know what you think, if there are changes/alterations needed.  Or if you'd like me to take a whole different stab at them.

SLDF Era Congress (and hell keep it as the Clan era one too because the 90's era PC mouse of doom looks bloody aweful).

http://i.imgur.com/NMoydB0.jpg

The main problem with the old congress was really that there was no differentiation in it's sections.  It was really just one big sausage tube.  I've added some character to the different parts and streamlined much of it to better convey that it's a fairly fast warship.  On the side wings i filled in their structure and made them the housing for the broadside missile launchers.  As well as the location for the two docking collars at the wing root.  The engine section also a big more evident, again for the speed angle.

What do you folks think?

[Giovanni Blasini]

Congress isn't bad, but I do like the '90s PC Mouse o' Doom.

[Red Pins]

Looks good.

[Daryk]

I really like that Congress!

[beachhead1985]

Wow! I love em both!

[marauder648]

Mr Plog finished these not too long ago and are our ideas on different art for the Nightlord class battleship and the Congress class frigate. 

The Nightlords art was imo a bit...iffy, it had that weird box structure on the underside but otherwise it was just a block of flats or the universes most angry flying retail store.  And for something over a km long it looked squat, short and just plain dull.  Not the disaster of the redone Texas but just...it was a space Volvo estate.  (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/1993_Volvo_240_Classic_Estate,_front_right.jpg  )

The other one is the Congress, the original art for that was very nice, if a bit plain, it was just a big long tube, and the re-done art made it look like some kind of weird cordless mouse or a very strange toy you bought down the corner store for your cat.  I wasn't a fan of the redone one either so asked Plog to modernise the original art and bring both the Congress and Nightlord (who of the two needed the most work) up to more modern art standards.

So with my old man grumbling out of the way...I give you the Nightlord and Congress.  Well...links for them, as the pictures are freaking HUGE.

http://i.imgur.com/CQC3TaL.jpg

The CJF Emerald Talon

http://i.imgur.com/6tcd4vb.jpg

The NCS True Vision


Thoughts and comments are always welcome and the artists page can be found here;

http://mattplog.deviantart.com/

[Intermittent_Coherence]

I love'em. That Nightlord looks badass. And that Congress...

[Mech42ace]

Those are excellent!

[marauder648]

I'm glad ya like, Plog was a pleasure to work with :)  And there's been a small edit to the pics, they now have their Clan markings on them.

[Phobos]

Damn, now that's what I was talking about!!  O0 O0

[Dragon Cat]

I like the Nightlord, not too sure about the Congress

[Trace Coburn]

  Threads merged for reader convenience.  Plog does nice work, and putting it all in one thread makes it easier to find!  ;)

[beachhead1985]

These new ones are great!

[marauder648]

Aye if he opens up for commissions again i'll definately have to see if I can get some more :)  And i've already got my eyes on two ships that need work. 

The Potemkin (It was redone as a Bussard ramjet...why???) and the Vincent Mk42 which should not ever ever ever look like some kind of decorative tea strainer or a whistle. 

[Gaiiten]

I would rather see Star Adder markings on both (  ;) ), but both are true beauties  O0

Very well done and thank you very much for sharing.

[Wrangler]

Pretty snazzy drawings.

[marauder648]

Some good news, Mr Plog's working on two more ships for me :D  With luck will see what they look like in a few days.

[Wrangler]

Some good news, Mr Plog's working on two more ships for me :D  With luck will see what they look like in a few days.

Cool.  I hope you enjoy them.

[marauder648]

Cool.  I hope you enjoy them.

I'll be sharing them with folks here of course :)

[marauder648]

New Units Approaching!

These are the sketches and parts of the discussion me and Mr Plog had.

Potemkin class Transport Cruiser

http://i.imgur.com/N8VMCys.jpg

The original art for it was pretty damn decent but the re-working...they turned it into a Bussard Ramjet for some bloody unknown reason :s Or a space man's sex toy.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/c/c9/Potemkin_3057.jpg
*shudders*

The idea I had was for a somewhat less...towering vessel, instead of having the dropship ports seemingly splashed all over it how about in groups of five on the lower flanks?
\
|
/   - the belly and where the DS collars are, on the down angle as it sweeps towards the underside or a flat belly.

The final group of five could be along her dorsal or ventral hull.  This arrangement would mean that once the dropships are away, the firing arcs for her guns are not obscured quite so much and just looks neater instead of a scattering of collars all over the hull.  It also allows you to cut the hull height down so they are not quite so galleon like.
But these ships are also verrrry functional and blocky, curves and the like are great for a Warship to present a smaller profile or the like but these are troopships and would probably carry their troops onboard (god knows why they had a single grav-deck :s ) so curves and the like would just make it harder to maximise use of hull space. 

They are basically these ships - http://www.jeffhead.com/worldwideaircraftcarriers/tarawa1.jpg  in their role, and they are not an elegant looking vessel, they are functional and efficient.

And Plog's reply.

Potempkin.  So the majority of the dropship rings are moved to the keel, as suggested, in four groups of 5.  The drum section they run along is actually the housing for the grav deck.  Though only a 95m diameter, a measure of comfort rather than capacity, it could easily be 7-800m long.  With the drop ships attaching so closely moving troops on and off would be a simpler affair.  Foreward from the Gdeck section the shaft for the main keel elevator can bee seen.  With the majority of the keel dedicated to dropships and their loads along the grav deck, and the top of the midship dedicated to the NPPC bays and their massive accompanying heat systems.  The  bow becomes the logical place where all the cargo space ends up.  So direct access for the troops on the grav deck to their supplies is important.  The remaining 5 dropship colars are mounted fore-dorsally and are likely reserved for the dropships that will be flying cover for the carrier.  The cargo and small craft doors and bays are also located on the front, below the diamond of naval lasers.

Vincent Mk42 Class Corvette.

http://i.imgur.com/nSLb6Vg.jpg

Again the original art for them wasn't bad but the re-done art turned the poor thing into a bloody referee's whistle.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/2/20/Vincent_Mk_39.jpg

Small enough that you'd see their four NAC-10's (front/aft left and right quarter mounted in single turrets) the Vincent is more a patrol ship than a warship (why this thing had 92,000 tonnes of cargo space is beyond me :s )

And that's how I see them, as a kind of mixture of the worlds angriest Coast Guard vessel and a small escort ship in time of war.  They could jump to where a ships in distress and aid the crew and ship, even act as mobile tankers and supply caches (what with that obscene cargo capacity)

I know I'm just rambling here so I'll stop :p  The vague idea I had was that again you kind of keep the original design just make it a bit less...sausage shaped like you did with the Congress, but perhaps have those docking bay like areas (this thing can't take dropships) have some (retracted and folded up) manipulator arms/clamps or something for when she has to come alongside a ship for boarding/inspections.  But unlike the Congress, don't make them look sleek and built like a speedster. 

I'm not sure how to describe it other than..dumpy instead of svelt.

And Plog's reply.

Vincent.  Though that whistle look is terrible, i understand why it changed from the old version.  It's just too heavy and short to justify the "long" configuration.  It needs to be kinda squared off, with big ass engines.  It'd also help to justify it's good maneuverability, being just as easy to turn in more directions as any other.  Now, the vincent has very little armor, so all the bulkiness it's showing off is just "puffer fishing", with much of those outer sections likely being the rediculous cargo space you were talking about.  Fact, the large opening on the view-able side is the main cargo door, with the small craft door on the other side.  The two fighter craft doors are mounted high on either side of the center hull facing forward.  I added the flanges from the older version, both for looks and as excellent places to mount attitude thrust from.  Also changed the sail reefing mechanism.

What do you folks think?

[Sharpnel]

I'm not liking the Potemkin, the dockingarea is way too compact. The Vincent is fine.

[marauder648]

I'm not liking the Potemkin, the dockingarea is way too compact. The Vincent is fine.

Aye spotted that and sent it up to him.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

That Vincent is the first to truly deviate from the 2750's aesthetic. And I love it. It just screams "fast attack patrol craft" to me.

[marauder648]

That Vincent is the first to truly deviate from the 2750's aesthetic. And I love it. It just screams "fast attack patrol craft" to me.

Yar Plog and I agreed that the long sleek 2750 look of the Vincent just didn't suit the class, the thing can carry a super tanker in its cargo bay and its pretty short at a mere 402 meters long, to carry that amount of cargo (97k tonnes :s ) she'd need to be more dumpy, otherwise there would be no room onboard for ANYTHING but cargo and the engines.

So we broadened the hull in a nod to the god aweful whistle of the re-done art to basically have it fit that huge mass of cargo in such a short hull. 

[Daryk]

The new Vincent looks MUCH better than the whistle, but I have to admit I'm still partial to the original 2750 art.

[Wrangler]

Vincent was winner of the two drawings.

[Ice Hellion]

I like what is being done here (evenmore since I don't know how to hold a pencil)  O:-))but I always have troubles with "squarish" ships that are as wide as long.
I might be under influence of comics, cartoons, books but I think a ship should rather be longer than wider.

[gyedid]

Given that the Potemkin was nicknamed the "Corncob", that seems to suggest that the docking collars fitted around it in rings.  In that sense I think the 3057 art conveys that better.  Not to knock Plog's rendition of it here, but I still think those collars should be spaced around the longitudinal circumference.

cheers,

Gabe

[Intermittent_Coherence]

Yar Plog and I agreed that the long sleek 2750 look of the Vincent just didn't suit the class, the thing can carry a super tanker in its cargo bay and its pretty short at a mere 402 meters long, to carry that amount of cargo (97k tonnes :s ) she'd need to be more dumpy, otherwise there would be no room onboard for ANYTHING but cargo and the engines.

So we broadened the hull in a nod to the god aweful whistle of the re-done art to basically have it fit that huge mass of cargo in such a short hull. 

I didn't actually mind the short squat design. It's just that when laid out side by side, as another thread is doing, it ends up looking bulkier than heavier warships. And that utterly broke my SOD.

Given that the Potemkin was nicknamed the "Corncob", that seems to suggest that the docking collars fitted around it in rings.  In that sense I think the 3057 art conveys that better.  Not to knock Plog's rendition of it here, but I still think those collars should be spaced around the longitudinal circumference.

cheers,

Gabe

The fluff says 5 rings of 5 dropships each. So the 3057 art actually got that part right. It's everywhere else that they failed.

[marauder648]

We had discussed that, but we thought it made the ship basically look messy and would probably be a mess internally as well.  The main advantage of having dropship collars splattered over it willy-nilly would be that it make docking easier.  A dropship would just be able to choose or be designated a collar and go for that one which would be handy if you're docking quickly before the ship jumps.  The 3057 redone space fleshlight didn't even have the dropships in symetrical groups, it was as if someone just threw darts at a drawing of it and where they landed thats where the dropship collar would go.  The 2750 art seemingly had 8 in the bow in two rows of 4 and there was no sign of other collars on it at all

With a more orderly docking arrangement you'd need to have a dedicated air traffic controller and their crew telling what ships to go where.  But the result would be clearer arcs for the guns which would not be potentially obscured by a dropship and it would also be easier to launch the dropships en mass as you've less risk of ships running into one another as they would all be going off on the same vectors rather than swarming out like some angry hornets. 

There would also probably be internal layout benifits as well and make it easier to have the crews/troops disembarking.  The Dropships docking on the belly are minutes away from the hugely long grav deck and could all be boarding it from the same point rather than all over the hull which would require a lot more tracking/rail systems for boarding the grav deck than having it all localised.

It was also more asthetically pleasing to have all the collars grouped together rather than having the ship's flank cratered like a teen with acne.