[SHIP] Vesta class (from Star Trek) [UPDATED for AE]

[Xorte-Renshe]

[Update at bottom]
Okay! So here's my first ship creation, as I really wanted to play as the Vesta class (my favourite ship in Star Trek). If any of you have read the Star Trek Destiny novels, this is the class that the Aventine is a part of.
=Edit= The "ISS" in the ship name is because I just like the Mirror Universe designations better. "Imperial Space Ship", I'd imagine it stands for. Sure, not something for a "Federation", but meh.

This ship is a bit powerful, but for the most part isn't too much so. It's capable of every subsystem, but a few aren't installed initially.
=Edit= I'm brainstorming some custom room images to make, which may or may not come to fruition. But, since some of the rooms aren't correctly scaled (in terms of the texture-to-room size), I might as well give it a go! ///_^

Screens:
Rooms and stations: http://i.imgur.com/UVFyhhS.jpg
Unique Cloaked appearance: http://i.imgur.com/oRWtMzv.jpg
Custom gibs (took like 30 minutes in Photoshop to make the edits): http://i.imgur.com/9IzKzXV.jpg
In game:
http://i.imgur.com/lKYGWdQ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MYLNmVz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ttMQdCT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/V04VgMt.jpg <--took a while for them to kill me with me just sitting there motionless. So, it'll take a lot to die early on.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?0by3gvy2ibpfzcj
It replaces the Kestrel.
Tell me if there are any problems (there hopefully shouldn't be).

[UPDATED NEW]
Here's the new incarnation of the ship, this one a bit more difficult, along with new rooms to go with the new systems.
Image of the new layout:
http://i.imgur.com/uMqmuEW.jpg

It now uses beam weapons and one missile launcher. Because of the power cost of beam weapons, you start out with a bit of an upgrade so that you can have both the missile weapon and at least one beam active at the same time.

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/1rvlo ... ta_new.ftl
Still replaces the first Kestrel.
Since this was made using the beta of the new Superluminal, let me know of any problems and I'll see what I can do.

[UltraMantis]

Good stuff.
Nice looking ship, but there's a small issue with system interiors. They are a pain in the ass to make from scratch but you can use bits and pieces of existing images to speed up the job. That is, unless you can find an existing system interior image that fits your needs.

Problem is you are using 35x70 px interior images in the O2, Sensors and Helm systems and the rooms are size 70x70 px. Game engine will stretch them to fit unless you use 70x70 px images. You can set the system interior image in the bluprints.xml.append file.
Example snippet:

Code: Select all

      <pilot power="1" room="1" start="true" img="FRSS_Magma_pilot"> 
         <slot>
            <direction>right</direction>
            <number>1</number>
         </slot>
      </pilot>
      <doors power="1" room="7" start="true" img="FRSS_Magma_doors"/>     
      <sensors power="1" room="3" start="true" img="FRSS_Magma_sensors"/>
      <oxygen power="1" room="2" start="true" img="FRSS_Magma_oxygen"/>   

The img=" tag tells the game what filename to look for.

Optional - Manned systems require console glow images, but the game will not crash if they dont exist. The computers will just stay dark all the time. Glow images can be made by selecting the console screen (and/or area around it), using feathering or whatever it's called on the selection mask, and dropping some color in a new layer. Blue is for when a system is manned, green for skilled crew, gold for expert crew.
Save/export the new layer with transparency, and hopefully you will get a good result.
If possible, i'd suggest using the existing glow images, but i know from my own experience that they can't be used for every position.

But frankly, other than stretched images, i'm just nitpicking. The mod looks very good, gibs especially. Maybe you're just a little too generous with airlocks.

[Xorte-Renshe]

Haha, the airlocks are there because of my crippling pyrophobia! They didn't help as much as I would have hoped in my latest run of the game.

As for the console glow, I did allocate them. I've never really paid much attention to them, even in the vanilla game, so I didn't actually look and see if they were functioning. I'll check out that and the stretched textures once I have some more free time. I could make them from scratch. I'm good with that kind of stuff (especially since I have the interior images to see what the pixel size should be.)

Thanks for the comment! ///_^

[speedoflight]

Nice ship and nice gibs. Are you sure the Vesta class had cloak?? lol. I never read a star trek novel (i just ended in the movies just in the year 2379 - 2380) , but it looks like a bit odd.

[Xorte-Renshe]

Nope, I dont think the Vesta ever had a cloak. But, FTL (or any game like this) reminds me of Voyager, where, during the journey, the ship is outfitted far beyond it's original specifications. The Vesta doesn't start out with the ability, but it's possible to acquire cloak.
Just as a fail-safe, I do think it's possible to get a cloaking system for any ship in Star Trek Online, haha (I haven't, but I'm pretty sure it's out there.)

[5thHorseman]

Nice looking ship! I love how you expand the bounds that most would consider the "correct size" for a ship and make it work. I also like how the gibs show weapons scarring. Is that jarring when the ship dies? I always thought it would be.

Seems pretty strong in the weapons, though. You could have that 2nd burst laser up in just a few jumps and be a powerhouse through most of the rest of the game even if you were otherwise weapon screwed. Maybe swap those for BL1s?

But all in all a good, solid first effort. Hell, that's a pretty awesome 5th effort right there

[Xorte-Renshe]

Thank you, 5th!

It is a wee bit jarring when the scars appear out of no-where, but as much of the ship is covered in explosions, it's not too bad. Only off part of the appearance of the weapon scarring in-game is that pixelation the gibs get as they twist away (which, by the way, while looking fine in Superluminal, is a bit fast in-game. I'm trying to experiment with slower movement speeds of the gibs to see what looks right.)

Yes, putting in some BL1s might be more balanced (those fire 2 lasers, right? Or is it 1? I cant remember.) I want to keep 3 weapons, since that's what the Vesta starts out with in STO, but those BL2s are pretty powerful, heh.

[5thHorseman]

Thank you, 5th!

It is a wee bit jarring when the scars appear out of no-where, but as much of the ship is covered in explosions, it's not too bad. Only off part of the appearance of the weapon scarring in-game is that pixelation the gibs get as they twist away (which, by the way, while looking fine in Superluminal, is a bit fast in-game. I'm trying to experiment with slower movement speeds of the gibs to see what looks right.)

Yes, putting in some BL1s might be more balanced (those fire 2 lasers, right? Or is it 1? I cant remember.) I want to keep 3 weapons, since that's what the Vesta starts out with in STO, but those BL2s are pretty powerful, heh.

Yup, they still cost 2 power but fire 2 shots. Still fairly well powered for the first few sectors. You could even consider dropping those to basic lasers though those only cost 1 power. So, you could drop the power on weapons futher to slow down growth even more. Playtesting will tell you when you've found the sweet spot, but my gut tells me 2 basic lasers (or maybe 2 heavy lasers) would probably be just about right.