Here, gentlemen, is where you decide whether I should be the one to texture my models:

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m573/InfinityAmbassador/PossibleSercoBus-Hermesrender1.png

This is a shot of my WIP texturing of a little fighter I call the Hermes.

This little guy is brilliant, instant inspiration. 10 meters, 672 tris, quick and manuverable. Maybe 2 small ports, 'cause it's Serco?

Give it one large, 'cause it's Serco...

In addition too, in replacement of, the small ports? Remember, this a Serco "Bus".

How's my texturing? The newest render:

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m573/InfinityAmbassador/PossibleSercoBus-Hermesrender3.png

I like. Where would custom colors come in?

I don't quite know how to go about applying cc areas. I could mark some likely spots though, in the next render.

There is NO ship with a single L-port... And Serco are famous for the "heavy fist"... so, make it 1L 0s.

I also like this design a lot.... but what if you focus in one ship until you complete it, avoiding that "forgotten galley"?

About CC, why not make it different, and cover whole "metallic" surface with it, but the details, cockpit, etc?

Problem: The only weapon they'd be able to get, cuz of their licenses, is the Stingray which is -/-/-/-/-. All other large port weaps are above.

Very nice design.

"I also like this design a lot.... but what if you focus in one ship until you complete it, avoiding that "forgotten galley"?"

I intend to. I'd still be workin' on the cappy on if this guy hadn't demanded to be made. It had started out as texture practice anyway. This is my first textured ship.

What about 1 small, 1 large?

Again, no idea how cc is done in this game.

If it has more than one weapon port it would probably need to be a special unlockable bus, rather than a starter bus. A 1L starter bus for the Serco would be cool if the devs allowed it. Maybe it would have more mass or a weaker engine than the EC-89 to keep it balanced despite the larger port.

As for only having stingrays at first: so? They aren't as bad as people keep making them out to be. Stingrays are actually very effective against the sorts of bots that a level 0 player should be trying to fight. Anybody who says otherwise needs to go back to the academy and learn how to fly. Yes, stingrays are hard to use against the more advanced bots and pretty much worthless in PVP, but so is the gov cannon. They work quite well on stationary collectors, and even work alright on collectors who are flying around, if you aim properly (they are not the kind of missiles you can just shoot in a random direction and expect to hit the target). By the time you get to the higher leveled bots you should be able to upgrade to energy based large weapons.

Regarding custom colors, here is a relevant bit from the art asset post:

Each ship needs to have (at least): diffuse, specular, illumination, and normal (tangent space). Additionally, we have different regions set aside in a proprietary alpha format for dynamic coloration.

Doesn't say specifically how to do it, but it sounds like the alpha channel of one of those maps is what is used.

Alloh, the Aeolus Light Behemoth has a single L-port.

Neat looking little ship, TerranAmbassador!

1 large port it is.

I can probably make a seperate, second diffuse and just apply it in a way that it blends into the main, I've done that before in practice.

Your mom is famous for the "heavy fist", Alloh.

Terran, maybe you should get one of these right before you go puking half-baked ship ideas all over General. Just a thought, jackass.

Well thank you so much for such kind words Lecter. It's compliments like that that keep me coming back.

They work quite well on stationary collectors, and even work alright on collectors who are flying around, if you aim properly (they are not the kind of missiles you can just shoot in a random direction and expect to hit the target).

Are you joking? When was the last time you botted with stingrays? They rarely hit stationary collectors, let alone moving ones. There needs to be a new 0 licenses large port cannon if this ship is a starter bus with 1 L port.

Stingrays have one of these: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/24660#305133

Just read that thread through, yikes. Do all missiles have contact fuses? If they do, I think I'll stay with blasters for the time being.

No, only some missiles have contact fuses. More advanced ones have small prox fuses. Missiles in general aren't very good PVP weapons though, other than for causing distractions and diversions (though swarms make good shotguns if you use 'em right). Anybody with any skill can continue fighting 80-90% of the time that missiles are actively seeking them, and the people who don't have any skill just turbo around like ninnies until the missiles die out, then resume their fight.

And Tarenty, I was not kidding. If you read the thread you linked to, I specifically went into the game, grabbed a stingray, and tested it out just to see what the big deal was. I had no trouble against stationary targets. If you cannot reliably hit a stationary target with a stingray, you are doing something wrong. Tip: if having trouble, try backing up and firing from a greater distance, so that they have more time to home in properly.

As for when the last time was, I don't remember precisely, but it was sometime in April.

EDIT: I just re-tested, and yep, I can still kill stationary collectors easily with stingrays...

More work on the texture:

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m573/InfinityAmbassador/PossibleSercoBus-Hermesrender4.png

Yes, I like caution stripes.

The white stripes are propsed cc areas. They're a second diffuse I've blended over the primary one in Blender.

I like. Another option would be if the yellow were also part of the custom colors. Might be better left yellow though.

Yeah. Adds visual complexity this way too.

I like it. It gives a visual distinction between the nations. The only thing I don't like, is the size of the cockpit.