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Taldrenites => Starfleet Command Models => Topic started by: MajorRacal on January 13, 2005, 07:22:49 pm

Title: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: MajorRacal on January 13, 2005, 07:22:49 pm
This is based on the Mandukam class Gunboat from FASA, and she's ready for the taking:

http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com/users/majorracal/Mandukam.html

(http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com/users/majorracal/images/mandukam2.jpg)

MajorRacal
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: stewiedude on January 13, 2005, 07:25:05 pm
Nice work MR.... very different  :)
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: FPF-Wanderer on January 13, 2005, 07:30:39 pm
Very nice, Major!  This will make a great Rom PF or OP.
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Azel on January 13, 2005, 07:35:15 pm
Sweet another Fasa design :)
Great work mate :)
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Red_Green on January 13, 2005, 08:05:31 pm
Nicely done.
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Captain Pierce on January 13, 2005, 09:22:05 pm
Interesting interpretation...  the "nacelle" details you've added to the wings make it look a tad larger (IMO, anyway) than the FASA intention...  that's not any sort of criticism, BTW, just an observation...  :)
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: E_Look on January 13, 2005, 10:02:11 pm
Hey... I like how you executed this mesh; textures are cool, too!
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: MajorRacal on January 14, 2005, 04:35:53 am
Thanks guys.

Captain Pierce, I see what you mean about the nacelle details relative to the originally intended size (53m long) - and no offence is taken of criticism, good or ill...

This has always been a FASA design I liked, with reservations...

The ship was supposed to have only one nacalle, incorporated in the top rear of the ship.  I wasn't keen on this in a huill which allegedly came from the TOS era - I could'nt accept a ship that small and that old being sufficiently shielded for it to be safe - so I felt inclined to change this.  The problem then, is where to put it/them and not spoil the overall shape...

I also disliked the the way the wing carapace tapered and turned-in in a bizarre manner... I felt it gave it a mildly ridiculous look.  But worse, the wings seemed utterly superfluous...  I considered that they could be for weapons hardpoints, but the listed firing arcs precluded that notion - so I thickened them to make them slightly more function as nacelles.

I'm sure there are flaws in my thinking - for example would a TOS/TMP era Rom have integrated nacelles?  Well, there I took the same liberty as with the Klingon BoP (and at least you can see some sort of warp assemblage in this version of the Mandukam  ;D)

Anyway, hope you guys like flying/destroying her.

MajorRacal

MajorRacal
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Starforce2 on January 14, 2005, 06:19:48 am
Hmm, not sure if I like it or hate it...I'll have a look through max so I can see it a bit better. Some nice cannons on the outside/upper plating of the nacelles..not bop style but something that looks like it's not detachable...might be cool too.
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Klingon Fanatic on January 14, 2005, 07:30:31 am
Yup one more for the collection Major Racal!

I like the coloring and the improvements you made. I'd also like to recommend resizing a version of this as an alternative Romulan fighter.

KF
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: MajorRacal on January 14, 2005, 08:38:52 am
Awww, c'mon SF, you know you want to love her... she'll grow on you like the Akagi did
I considered wing mounted cannons but decided against it - if you look real close, you should see that there are a pair of emitters mounted either side of the nose (you should see that the inner bore has a green glow) - I also included an underslung forward firing plasma launcher... however, seeing as you asked real nice, I'll see about a variant with wing cannons.

KF - I'll likely tinker with her a little and reduce her to a fighter-ish size for you too (maybe you could suggest a name for her in advance?)

MajorRacal  :D

PS - both will have to wait - I'm off to Perth this weekend where I've got some Hypnotherapy exams to do.

Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Starforce2 on January 23, 2005, 11:42:36 pm
hey, how big is this ship?
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Dizzy on January 24, 2005, 09:24:26 am
Bro, that is sweet. U know, it looks like a Rom Ftr. I D/Led it and noticed a few areas of super high poly and my fps told me, No Dizzy, you cant use this as a fighter in your Server mod. ::sniff:: Good model tho. I ended up using select Thu11s and Spider Murphy models.
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: MajorRacal on January 24, 2005, 09:40:00 am
SF, the FASA spec says 53 metres long if that's any help.

I've been workin' like a dog - up at the crack of dawn and not getting home till really late at ngiht, so the Fighter and Heavy variants I'm releasing have been somewhat delayed.  (Un)fortunately I have a dental appt on Wednesday, so after that I'll should be free and I'll do what I can to complete them for then.

Diz, what sort of poly count do you need her to be to work?

MajorRacal
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Dizzy on January 24, 2005, 10:38:18 am
Under 400 for a Fighter. For a ship, 5000 polys.

U see, with a fighter, if you run into 2x full carriers loaded with this fighter, then thats 32 fighters. 32x 400 = 12800. Thats 2-3 ships equivalent. So in the dynaverse missions some have 3x Battlestations, 3x FRD's, 3x DefSats, 2x Planets, and a total of up to 7 ships all of which could have PF's and ftrs.

Now, you throw in your fighters and if they top out over 400 polys each, that mission could be so full of polys, even an average video card will cause the game's FPS to freaking drag to a halt.

That's why I ask modelers to keep their polys for fighters and PF's low, so they are usable. Right now, My dynavers server is up and running. I have cuztom models from WZ, Spider Murphy, Thu11s and Brezgonne. All of which had to pass the FPS test so I dont have to tell folks they need a minimum system requirement in video card and processor speed to play my server, lol.

But its up to the modeler. If they want eye-popping candy coated models, great. If they want their models to be used, there is a different perspective in which to approach model making...

Diz
Title: Re: Romulan: N-8 Mandukam class Gunboat
Post by: Starforce2 on January 24, 2005, 03:40:46 pm
hmm, perhaps then I can use that with this rom ship iver here. Doesn't really have any weapon ports bbut it has several big bay doors...