A pirate ship, around 50 meters in length, with 'vertical' decks and two big cannons.
Probably built by some 'neutral' power (like the Orions) and used by various pirates and other galactic nuisances.
Anyone who can come up with a proper Starfleet nickname for this ship gets a turnip-flavoured cookie.
(BTW, those Chinese characters are supposed to mean 'Red Sun', and I blatantly stole them from http://www.china-redsun.com/ )
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Hmm. You should make it a bit more flashy and scary if that's supposed to be a pirate ship. I'm thinking maybe some kind of spikes along the mid-aft edges, kinda like the Reaver ship in the Firefly pilot episode. (Or, if you haven't seen that, maybe like Masao's Spectre-class destroyer.)
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Why are Orions labelling their ships with Chinese characters?
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
Because the owners of the vessel aren't Orions?
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
I smudged it up a bit, added thrusters, and stretched the fusion engine a bit, but I'm a little apprehensive about adding Reaver-style spikes and sharky bits without knowing what they are there for.
I should have realigned it after stretching. Meh.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
They are for purely decorative purposes. Makes the ship look mean and fierce. No, they serve no practical purpose.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Nice ship, Harry. I like the hint of an underbite. Reminds me of a cartoon bulldog. I don't know if it looks particularly piratical, though. The sans-serif Chinese characters looks a bit bland. I'll see if I can make you something more fierce. Maybe some traditional pirate markings would help (skull and crossbones, hour glass, etc). I don't know about what emblems Chinese pirates use, unfortunately.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Harry, I tried to rewrite "Red Sun" in a few fonts. The problem is that that final character doesn't seem to be used in Japanese, only Chinese. Here's as close as I could get: Red Sun. The first two characters are fine, but to get the original third one, combine the left part of the third character in the gif with the fourth character (which should be squeezed slightly horizontally. You could also you the fifth and sixth characters in the gif (rather than the second and third), which are used to right sun in Japanese. Of these fonts, I think the third down looks most fierce!
Posted by Captain Boh (Member # 1282) on :
what about some kind of Technical Manual cargopod connector? So it could make off with whole pods!
Posted by Paladin181 (Member # 833) on :
I like the idea of going with nosensical names like NATO use to give Russian plans... Coke, Choker, Yanker, Fulcrum, etc. Name it something like Fuzz, Pop, or Tin Class
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Blue Sun, surely?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
The Pooper-scooper. Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
quote: Anyone who can come up with a proper Starfleet nickname for this ship gets a turnip-flavoured cookie.
Turnip class.
Posted by Masaki (Member # 1030) on :
I also tried to rewrite "Red Sun" in a few chinese fonts. Some Chinese fonts are contained in the Mac OSX standard package of the Japanese version, but it is not rich in variety like the alphabet or Japanese fonts. These fonts should just be help for you.
quote:Originally posted by Harry: ... but I'm a little apprehensive about adding Reaver-style spikes and sharky bits without knowing what they are there for.
They're there purely for the purpose of scaring the crap out of the victims. After all, isn't that why the pirates of old flew the old skull-and-crossbones flags?
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
UPDATE: TR-18 'Grouper' Class (this name was suggested by the One We Shall Not Mention, so the cookie's gone!)
It's easier to fly a flag than to add spikes to the hull of a spacecraft. And it's a rather small TOS-era vessel...
Anyway, here's the latest. It now has a big giant skull on it's hull, and brand new Chinese characters. Thank you, Masao & Masaki
This is also a bit of an experiment in presentation. It's based off the usual fandom blueprint style.
It's about time I start on the other views and perhaps an MSD.
Posted by Captain Boh (Member # 1282) on :
what are the side facing things at the front and back? Thrusters?
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
I still don't think it's that scary. Maybe some big guns, grapplers, or hull cutters. It needs impressive looking weapons and propulsion. Although pirates sometimes enjoy killing people, it's better if they can scare a ship into giving up without a fight. Maybe a color change to black/dark grey or green would help too.
Also, think about how this ship would operate. How does it find it's prey. Does it hide among asteroids or is it stealthed? Does it need to knock a ship out of warp? How does it transfer stolen cargo (physically or by transporter)? Does it have enough storage space?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
I think I'm with Masao. It's sort of cool and obviously it's well rendered, but it looks too vanilla right now for a proper pirate. I would expect a pirate vessel to depart significantly from the clean lines of Starfleet. Plus that gives you an excellent opportunity to put some quirky details on there and give it some scale. As it stands, I'm not really getting any real menace from it.
Posted by Paladin181 (Member # 833) on :
I don't really agree, actual Pirates used average ships that anyone could buy (or capture) and they didn't repaint them or modify them to be more menacing, save the pirate flag. Its the idea that a pirate is after you that scares a merchant. Personally I like a more human design for a pirate ship, besides having a super distinctive ship makes you easier to find at port, a pirate would want to blend in until he would want to reveal himself. Sure he might have a secret pirate base, more often than not he wouldn't, but in order to get from said pirate base to your target area you would probably have to slip through Star Fleet patrols and then slip back out. Now what Star Fleet Captain worth his gold braids wouldn't stop a ship with spikes, a pure black paint job with the Jolly Roger boldly painted on the bow?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, most pirates don't put in at ports where anyone cares about enforcing anti-piracy laws.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Paladin, you're confusing pirating with privateering. Privateers were legitimate trading ships that had a "letter of mark" from a ruler giving them permission to conduct attacks against the shipping of another nation. The privateers would be the ones who would launch surprise attacks by concealing their identity until they get close to the target, then raise the flag and make the attack.
Pirates, on the other hand, don't care about hiding their identity because they're loyal to no one, and attack just about anyone.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
I don't think modern pirates operate in the yo-ho-ho way anymore. They usually slip onto a merchant vessel using Zodiacs or other fast, small boats under cover of darkness, put off or kill the crew, disquise the ship, and pilot it to a corrupt port to sell the goods or transfer it to another ship. Where's the romance? Large merchant ships have such small crews that piracy is easier today. Also, your insurance company advises you not to resist.
So, depending on your SF paradigm, Trek piracy might be like the 18th century Pirates of the Caribbean or the 20th Strait of Malacca.
Posted by Paladin181 (Member # 833) on :
I agree with that, but a pirate would still want to be able to have a cheap, dependable ship that could just join the flow if he had to slip a SF patrol. Being all big and bad is great and all, but eventually Star Fleet would crack down and the smart ones would be the ones that look like any other ship. A good pirate has "balls" yes, but he shouldn't be stupid.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Well, space is really really REALLY big, so IMHO 23rd century pirates can survive 18th century style. Plus, there's a lot of 'neutral' space, and a number of equally 'neutral' alien governments to get protection from.
BTW, it's over 30 degrees Celcius here, so I'm not particularly in the mood for CorelDRAW 8)
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
35 in the shade around here isn't uncommon this time of year...
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
New and improved (?), with grappler, laser cannons, Big Giant Gun, and still two launch tubes.
These beasties hang out in asteroid fields, and are definitely not suited for high-warp raids in interstellar space. Basically, they hunt in packs and attack supply ships, civilians, hospital ships and other 'weak' targets as they enter a solar system or are in orbit around some unprotected planet. Preferred territory includes 'failed' colonies, busy trading planets and semi-neutral systems.
The aft section is basically one big inline warp engine, with an impulse unit in the sphere. Those little things are indeed thrusters. The midsection is largely empty, with a big transporter system to beam up the booty. As these are usually heavily customized ships, there are probably also Groupers with complete container-towpads or some heavy-duty tractor beams to haul larger treasures. The forward section is mostly for the crew. These ships are obviously not intended for long-term missions, and they're definitely no pleasure cruisers.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Deadly Viper"? Is that ship crewed by Mountain Snake, Black Mamba, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, and Sidewinder, by any chance? B)
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
=better
Posted by Nim the Merciful (Member # 205) on :
Add a few grasers to the sides, then we're talking. As for a pirate ship, in my experience they're usually more scroughy-looking and neglected, the Kazon-vessels are perfect examples.
As for the prize, I don't think I can have any cookienips ready for this weekend, I'm taking orders from all over. Maybe tuesday, I could fix you up, best speed. I'm out of those little "certificate of authenticity"-stamps.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cartman: "Deadly Viper"? Is that ship crewed by Mountain Snake, Black Mamba, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, and Sidewinder, by any chance? B)
Shh! Although now that you mention it, Black Mamba is a good name for #94
What's a graser? Are you talking about gamma-ray laser or a gravity laser (both called grasers in various scifi).
Posted by Nim the Plentiful (Member # 205) on :
It's a short-range (500000 km) weapon in the "Honor Harrington"-novels, sidemounted (the spaceship-culture is inspired by Horatio Hornblower) and about three times more devastating than a laser, but it takes up more space. I don't remember if they went into the technical differences between a laser and graser, it's been 20 years since I read the 'HH'-series.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Much more piratical! I'm thinking that your original version would be the stock ship, which the pirates then souped up to make the current version. A scaly ridge along the nose and spine (like on Walt Disney's version of Nautilus), might look good.
As long as you've added eyes, you should also add some teeth. Eyes without teeth always remind me of a Greek or Egyptian ship.
(that nose spike looks sort of familiar somehow...)
Posted by Captain Boh (Member # 1282) on :
Can I do a 3d model of it?
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
I don't know if you can, but I certainly wouldn't stop you from trying.
Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
Wow. Would this ship fit into the SF Museum, Masao?
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