Well, I'm all for alienating and ridiculing newbies, I'm just a little shocked that I'm with the establishment on this...

Anyway, having spent most of the day thinking up of other ways to limit the number of the damn things, I'm sad to say I have no better ideas. Sorry.

you could have it where players who are not trade level 16 or above dont get any ships but the moth, that would be fun

Ugh. It isn't about alienating newbies. And, frankly, newbies can have access to the ship just as easily (assuming they buy a 6-month subscription). This isn't an "absolute, only for old-school players" thing. It's just a "thank you to the most supportive players, and we have to limit the distribution of this ship anyway".

I am with you there incarnate.

M. Duncan

Aehm ... I don't care about the 6-month part, but why is it necessary to limit the _distribution_ of ships with high poly count?

so they don't bog down peoples' systems. DUH.

The problem is, with lower-poly ships we have some concept of how many people in a sector is going to become a burden. With a high-poly ship.. well, it can bog things a bit, yes. Since we're an mmo we have no control over whether 50 people choose to get together in sector blah (even if it's improbable of late ;). So, we just try and scale our game and artwork around a "fuzzy" goal of making stuff "as cool as possible within min-max system requirements" and also making stuff "scale as well as possible in all the crazy scenarios that we have no control over". That's part of why we did the whole progressive-mesh engine thing. But yeah.. anyway, that starts to go into a whole other discussion.

Inc : Actually I have a question : why even distribute a ship with high-poly count? I mean, ok, the ship looks really cool and all, but if it is going to be a burden, I'll be happier with a ship with less poly count but a more smoother gameplay. Eye candy is cool and all, but if it slows down systems, then it'll take away the most cool feature of this game which is fast paced smooth twitch combat.

Hmmmm..... Well, uh, er, etc etc. This decision will not effect me because I've been
around for years and have been paid-up since pay-for-play started. However, it
DOES leave me with a somewhat uncomfortable feeling. Incarnate, I think I under-
stand your reasoning (even some of the technical aspects) and I must agree with the logic of it. Still, I have some vague misgivings. At any rate, I really appreciate the
efforts of you and all the Devs.

softy2: basically, he had already finished it. Once a ship has been completely textured with a given poly count, it's something of a hassle to go back to redo the UVW coordinates (not to mention all the textures) for a lower poly count. And, for a really well-modeled ship.. it's sometimes easier to re-model the thing from scratch than it is to reduce poly count after the fact. Most low-poly modelers prefer to "shoot" for a destination poly count, not overshoot and backtrack by a factor of two. The only cases where you do that sort of thing is for distant "level of detail" meshes where you really don't care about how the ship looks at all, just that it looks vaguely similar to the "close up" version.

It's much easier to simply reduce poly count with some objects than with others. Roundish things.. like people, or other organic shapes.. it's pretty trivial. Angular, jutting things like spaceships that have been very carefully created to form an overall look at a *given* polycount.. not so easy.

Lastly, we're hard enough up for new content that I'm going to take it whereever I can get it, regardless of what limitations I have to place on it. At least it puts new "stuff" in the game. And it's a very cool ship, to boot.

LeberMac, I've been subscribed for a year now.

I'll let you look at my Raptor!

Yea, verily, Shadowbane does that, with their races. Fortunately, none of those races are very interesting, except for some very special builds and some PvP implementations... (perhaps that's just me, but only the Aracoix ever seemed to offer anything the races available from the beginning did not. Centaur speed, possibly. Windlords, scout's running buff, Fleet of Foot bla bla, something like that, cannot quite remember, since it was two years since I last played SB).

But even in Shadowbane, a game I've vowed to support no matter what (mostly because there is so much in the game that will make you wish you've never even downloaded the game in the first place), I found this rewarding mechanism annoying, and even a bit dishonest, in a way I can't quite explain.

But on the other hand, I agree that it's very good thing to give something back to the supportive players. And symbolic rewards of the sort I mentioned in my last posts might perhaps be too little, too late.

But I must say that this is still the best subscription-length based reward I've come across in a MMO, as it is even available to new players, if they choose a six-month subscription. So perhaps I'm going to agree it might actually be a good idea, like almost everyone else. As long as it's not based on contiguous subscriptions, and not only fer my own sake (but partly :-P), but for honesty, truth, freedom, love, and stuff like that.

Inc : Ah. Thanks for the answer. If it is too much work to reduce the polycount, then I'll take a new ship anytime over nothing :).

I've been playing for a year but cancelled for about a month and that wa sless than six months ago. Can I still get the raptor?

Touriaus: They way I've understood it, most definitively. As long as you've been subscribed for six months running, at one point, and hopefully even if you've only been subscribed for a total amount of six month with interruptions, if the devs find a way to implement that.

On to my questions regarding the actual SHIP:

1. What's up with the "tongue" sticking out the back? Is that a taunting mechanism for those who would chase you?
2. Will there still be a TPG Destroyer or will this replace that design?
3. Can you give us some idea of scale? Is it about the same size as a Behemoth or what?
4. How does it dock? (If it's bigger than the Behemoth)
5. Thought of stats yet? (Ports, armor, turning torque, etc)
6. Is it multi-player or single-player-piloted?
7. Will the new "capship" UI be available to pilot it with?
8. How will the "6-month" thing work?
9. Will it be able to carry cargo? How much?
10. Will it be able to carry other ships like the current capships?
11. (MOST IMPORTANTLY) Will there be a bar inside? If so, "LeberMac's Lost & Found" Tavern will be opening up in the first available raptor, and will make a tour of grayspace, serving only the FINEST tequila. And maybe some food as well.

I've heard that it's to be placed around the scale of a vulture and that both the raptor and destroyer are destined for ingame.

"LeberMac's Lost & Found" Tavern will be opening up in the first available raptor, and will make a tour of grayspace, serving only the FINEST tequila.

Finest tequila? Mmmmm. Where do I sign up?

http://www.patronspirits.com/
http://www.herradura.com/
http://www.cabowabo.com/

I want to know how much it costs to buy my own permanent barstool at this bar.

Wait. That thing's the scale of a VULTURE?!? Ummm. OK. <yoda> Odd, that is. </yoda>

So, no bar inside, eh? Humpf.

lol!

6 months, hell... I've been paid up through well into 2007 since September... I'm just gonna hafta figure out how to park the danged thing...

:)