Forums » General
Regarding the Frigate
Is this frigate about as large as ships can practically be in the game?
If so, I think that's fine. I'd rename her a battleship in that case. Something a bit smaller could be a cruiser, smaller yet a destroyer and smaller still would be a frigate. Before I saw the preview images way back I assumed the frigate would be about the size of the standard station without the gravity wheel.
I think that in the Vendetta universe it would make sense if all capital ships had docking bays. Even a small frigate the size of the stations could have a couple of repair bays.
How many classes of capital ship might there be in the final game? Classes could include:
Battle-Carrier: Plenty of weapons and lots of room for docked ships.
Battleship: Mostly weapons, but respectable docking capacity
Cruiser-Carrier: Smaller, faster battle-carrier
Battle Cruiser: Smaller, faster battleship
Cruiser
Destroyer: Might have enough docking space for a wing of 10 friends.
Frigate
Corvette: These would be fast and could reach their destinations almost as quickly as their fighter escorts could. They'd probably have only one docking bay accomodating two ships. One escort would repair at a time. If the frigate was heavily damaged, its pilot could hop into his fighter and escape.
If a capital ship or a station is desroyed you lose whatever inventory you had inside... unless you salvage some of it from the wreck.
To me the frigate looks like a battle cruiser or a cruiser, mainly because it's relatively slender and it has no visible docking bays. A battleship might have a greater ratio of width to length.
Asp
If so, I think that's fine. I'd rename her a battleship in that case. Something a bit smaller could be a cruiser, smaller yet a destroyer and smaller still would be a frigate. Before I saw the preview images way back I assumed the frigate would be about the size of the standard station without the gravity wheel.
I think that in the Vendetta universe it would make sense if all capital ships had docking bays. Even a small frigate the size of the stations could have a couple of repair bays.
How many classes of capital ship might there be in the final game? Classes could include:
Battle-Carrier: Plenty of weapons and lots of room for docked ships.
Battleship: Mostly weapons, but respectable docking capacity
Cruiser-Carrier: Smaller, faster battle-carrier
Battle Cruiser: Smaller, faster battleship
Cruiser
Destroyer: Might have enough docking space for a wing of 10 friends.
Frigate
Corvette: These would be fast and could reach their destinations almost as quickly as their fighter escorts could. They'd probably have only one docking bay accomodating two ships. One escort would repair at a time. If the frigate was heavily damaged, its pilot could hop into his fighter and escape.
If a capital ship or a station is desroyed you lose whatever inventory you had inside... unless you salvage some of it from the wreck.
To me the frigate looks like a battle cruiser or a cruiser, mainly because it's relatively slender and it has no visible docking bays. A battleship might have a greater ratio of width to length.
Asp
I basically could have written that myself.
I personally think that this is about as big as the engine can handle in a balanced fashion (given the speeds of ships, velocities of weapons, and so forth), but I don't know what the devs think. I've heard various stories that the 'frigate' term is merely a working title and often as not they refer to the model in question as 'the capital ship'.
I like to think of the ship as a heavy battlecruiser (BCH), because she's the size and firepower I envisioned in a battleship (or dreadnought) but looks to have cleaner lines and maybe not quite the durability.
The only thing I differ on is that I'd rather their not be specific carriers. For one thing, the need to have a large flat deck in order to land on or get up to sufficient speed to generate aerodynamic lift is not necessary in zero gee with fighters that can 'hover' or move in any direction. For another, I'd prefer that all ships were configurable, so that you could convert any ship into a carrier of some sort by exchanging heavy weapons for docking bays. So all ships might start with 2-6 fighter bays and could get more bays depending on thier size.
I personally think that this is about as big as the engine can handle in a balanced fashion (given the speeds of ships, velocities of weapons, and so forth), but I don't know what the devs think. I've heard various stories that the 'frigate' term is merely a working title and often as not they refer to the model in question as 'the capital ship'.
I like to think of the ship as a heavy battlecruiser (BCH), because she's the size and firepower I envisioned in a battleship (or dreadnought) but looks to have cleaner lines and maybe not quite the durability.
The only thing I differ on is that I'd rather their not be specific carriers. For one thing, the need to have a large flat deck in order to land on or get up to sufficient speed to generate aerodynamic lift is not necessary in zero gee with fighters that can 'hover' or move in any direction. For another, I'd prefer that all ships were configurable, so that you could convert any ship into a carrier of some sort by exchanging heavy weapons for docking bays. So all ships might start with 2-6 fighter bays and could get more bays depending on thier size.
it was never named the frigate, goofy users kept running around like hamsters going "frigate frigate frigate frigate frigate"
the info page calls it flag level capital ship, the in progress called it mysterious capital ship I have never seen a dev refer to it as a frigate. I have seen one say it is more like a battle cruiser, but they didnt say that was the name
the info page calls it flag level capital ship, the in progress called it mysterious capital ship I have never seen a dev refer to it as a frigate. I have seen one say it is more like a battle cruiser, but they didnt say that was the name
When I say carrier I don't mean that it has a flat deck like a contemporary Earthbound aircraft carrier. A space carrier would just have a great deal of internal space dedicated to storing, repairing and launching auxiliary spacecraft. There could be a giant docking bay from the back end to the front of the ship or there could be many small bays. I like the idea of a giant bay for receiving ships so that it's easy to dock with a moving carrier. The launching bays could be small and launch one ship at a time.
Asp
Asp
Kuvagh: "When I say carrier I don't mean that it has a flat deck like a contemporary Earthbound aircraft carrier."
Well, I know you don't, but I was just pointing out that the only real reason we build special ships to be carriers is that we need big flat decks so that the can fulfill thier function. In space, a ship that is acting as a carrier and another acting as local space supremacy or fire support need not look all that different nor be built as separate classes of ship. Instead of building a 'carrier', you would build a 'Escort Carrier' (CVE) by taking a destroyer hull and stripping out the heavy weapons. You'd build a 'Fleet Carrier' (CV) hull by taking a heavy cruiser and stripping the weapons off, and so forth. All that internal space dedicated to storing, repairing, and lauching auxilliary spacecraft would be allocated, not intrinsic to the design.
Well, I know you don't, but I was just pointing out that the only real reason we build special ships to be carriers is that we need big flat decks so that the can fulfill thier function. In space, a ship that is acting as a carrier and another acting as local space supremacy or fire support need not look all that different nor be built as separate classes of ship. Instead of building a 'carrier', you would build a 'Escort Carrier' (CVE) by taking a destroyer hull and stripping out the heavy weapons. You'd build a 'Fleet Carrier' (CV) hull by taking a heavy cruiser and stripping the weapons off, and so forth. All that internal space dedicated to storing, repairing, and lauching auxilliary spacecraft would be allocated, not intrinsic to the design.
Wait... are you calling me goofy, or a hampster?
...frigate frigate frigate
Seriously though.. my question regarding the mysterious-capital-ship-often-referred-to-as-a-frigate-but-more-accurately-some-kind-of-cruiser is this:
Why doesn't it move? I know... the wisea@@ answer is "because it doesn't have to"
Overall, I'm very impressed with the thing: I've only been able to log on long enough to see it once, but I did a fly by and the spray of fire was glorious! But then the alien ships chased me off and by the time I got back someone had killed it :-(
Anyway, I want a capital ship that looks like the comet empire in "Farewell to Space battleship Yamato"...
...frigate frigate frigate
Seriously though.. my question regarding the mysterious-capital-ship-often-referred-to-as-a-frigate-but-more-accurately-some-kind-of-cruiser is this:
Why doesn't it move? I know... the wisea@@ answer is "because it doesn't have to"
Overall, I'm very impressed with the thing: I've only been able to log on long enough to see it once, but I did a fly by and the spray of fire was glorious! But then the alien ships chased me off and by the time I got back someone had killed it :-(
Anyway, I want a capital ship that looks like the comet empire in "Farewell to Space battleship Yamato"...
I suspect it doesn't move because the AI hasn't a clue of what to do with it.
One very simplistic tactic would be to have the AI turn the ship so that the most guns are facing the area with the highest concentration of attackers. To override-this, have it turn the ship so that the most damaged section of the hull is facing away from the attackers. (assumes that damage is location specific)
Or (assumes that the AI can't warp) have the AI retreat away from the wormholes if it has sustained heavy (50%) damage. This would make it more difficult for attacking forces to gather reinforcements and would put the aliens/bots at an advantage. Use the alien fighters to lure players and try to keep them by the gate so that the mother ship can retreat beyond radar range.
If the AI can warp, have it kamakze itself by launching an attack on the sector 5 station once it reaches 25% of its hull!!
If all of that is too hard, just give a slow loop where it doesn't react to anything and just moves between waypoints... just so we can see it move :-)
Or (assumes that the AI can't warp) have the AI retreat away from the wormholes if it has sustained heavy (50%) damage. This would make it more difficult for attacking forces to gather reinforcements and would put the aliens/bots at an advantage. Use the alien fighters to lure players and try to keep them by the gate so that the mother ship can retreat beyond radar range.
If the AI can warp, have it kamakze itself by launching an attack on the sector 5 station once it reaches 25% of its hull!!
If all of that is too hard, just give a slow loop where it doesn't react to anything and just moves between waypoints... just so we can see it move :-)
We call it a frigate because the devs DO call it that. Wait for it to spawn and press "u". What do you see?
You can keep your battle-frigate-cruiser-carrier, I'm waiting for the Cylon Battle Yo-Yo.
Actually CrazySpence, It was originally named the Frigate by the Devs. Way back in my day. In the News section, it said "Heres a teaser for you all" and then in blue letters (link) it said "Frigate"
The frigate/capital ship/whatever can move under control just fine. It's turning that's the problem. It has such a massive angular inertia that the control system, which works for ships of roughly the same scale, fails utterly for that thing. I've tried flying it manually, and once it starts spinning it's very hard to stop. There's that, and there's issues with child objects (the turrets) which aren't solved 100% yet, so it doesn't move.
Huh. I woulda thought that the turrets were switchable components, like on other ships. That would end the separate destructability of them though, unless component damage was introduced... >:)
ctishman: I would imagine that in terms of the code the turrets are more like a bunch of ships flying in formation. The trick is probably keeping them embedded in the the larger ship.
I surmised as much. This, as a control scheme is a major hack that I'm sure will be seen to in future revisions.