Sometime in the future, Vendetta has to go through a graphical make over. I have some ideas about what this could be like. I think that the most important aspect is that the Itani and Serco ships really clash in their looks. More so than just curves vs. lots of angles. Since I'm not a very skilled graphical artist, I'll try to explain what I have in mind with words. I'd appreciate any feedback, or additional concepts in the same spirit of dichotomy.

I. After escaping from Sol II, the Itani spent a great deal of time researching different methods of terraforming. As they rediscovered the types of flora lost since the colonists were first separated from Earth, their architecture began to subconsciously reflect their knowledge of plant life. Both beautiful while strong, today Itani ships are commonly seen with such patterns as the flowing veins reminiscent of leaves, or the spiraling grain shape found in center of a sunflower.

The Serco have always favored gene manipulation of creatures to attain certain unnatural advantages. Their specialty creation, the guise stands testament to their ability to form mechanized fauna. This technology found its way into spaceship design, where the networking used to interface with the pilot has its own degree of intelligence. Serco ships visually represent this eerily organic method of construction, and in the darkness of space the fuselage turns into a serpent's tail, the fore guns into fangs.

II. During the years of prosperity after the founding of Armand, much thought was given to nature of light within the visible spectrum. By the time of Eo's passing, it became a custom to craft monasteries from glass, so as to be more connected with the beauties of their planet even while indoors, and as a reminder to the greatness of even such a gentle being. This method of construction eventually made its way into the acrobatic ships used by Itani monks, as it was discovered that when mixed with Denic ore found in the area, a translucent, light, and durable material was the result. When the Akanese revealed themselves, they had an alternate reason for preferring this kind of ship structure; sensors had a notoriously hard time tracking down these obsidian-like plated ships.

The Serco during their many years of solitude from the Itani spent a great deal of lives in tournaments, entertaining the populace. As mechanical implants became more common place, it became clear that more important than the reaction time to an outside stimuli was the method of sensors used to obtain data. So, arenas were coated with a black material mixed with Pyronic alloys that absorbed nearly every kind of radiation. When the combatants also wore suits like so, it made for a kind of match unlike anything history had seen before. Serco fought against Serco in a ring revealed only to the audience. By the very sounds of their steps, sniffing each other out, they used any means possible to kill the other first. When war erupted between Itani and Serco, they found they were singularly suited to fighting in the darkness of space. Their ships, a mesh of crags, wires and spikes, indeed did the job of baffling the primitive Itani sensors.

III. Itani technology took a wild tangent after the exodus from Sol II. More focus was given to developing maneuverable craft over efficient, and so extraneous developments became founding techniques which can be noticed today. Itani ships are more like a web of materials woven together to hold the rest of the ship. The end result is something which looks vaguely like some sort of jellyfish, and flies with the grace of wind and water.

Serco technology continued on its current path of ever increasing complexity. The ancient nighthawks were retrofitted to incorporate this type of construction. Although not pleasing to the eye, these masterpieces of cables, pipes, gears, and other machines to which there's no common word for make for a superior fighting vessel, because the networking rivals that of a human nervous system. No sooner is one engine knocked out than another series of machines take its place.

space ships will keep looking like space ships i don't want to be fling a giant root shaped Itani behemoth

its a neat idea ill give you that

Very cool. Imaginative and showing good knowledge of the backstory.

unfortunately since VO has no separate gfx design team I wouldn't expect this anytime soon :'( fun to think about tho.

Greatly imaginative. I also believe that the Itani ships looked a little too similar to Serco, and I love the first two descriptions.

What about the UIT? Don't leave them behind... Or, they could have gone off with the kind of ships we all pilot today...

I think there are way to many similar ships between Itani, Serco, and UIT. the peoples need more individualization!!

Well...

Itani and Serco share all Ships but one special for each nation, and even those can be obtained, so... I'm all for it. Except perhaps for some of the conclusions in the orignal post (a bit too detailed in my opinion, leaving little room to breathe).

Most of the ships look alike because the hulls are being produced by TPG (a UIT corporation), not by the respective factions. The factions are making the tweaks for their specific variants. One source, one set of ship designs.

With the exception of the Valkyrie and the Prometheus, of course.

I just think that the Serco and Itani should fly very different looking ships, for multiple reasons.

MSKananka makes a good arguement, TPG sells a stock ship. But the IBG for example has no differences at all from a normal cent. It isn't like TPG sells the fully made IBGs to itan. if that were the case then what's to stop serco from secretely buying them from TPG and vice versa.Though i agree that most ships should be pretty much the same (EC-89 looks the same everywhere). i think that some minor modifications would help with specialized ships. and maybe some non-TPG made ships would deal with this issue

Yeah, a visual dichotomy would be pretty damn cool, but only for the nation-specific ships. To clarify for those who might not know about this aspect of ships: There are three types of ships: mass-produced, nation-variant mass-produced, and nation-produced. TPG (and a few other corporations) mass-produce most of the ship hulls in use throughout the galaxy - the EC-series, the Behemoth, the Raptor, etc. This is nice and cheap, since there's no variation. These, obviously, would all look the same. Then there's the nation-variant mass-produced, such as the IBG Centurion, or the Serco Vulture Guardian. These are based off of the hulls of said mass-produced ships, but are customized and licensed for use by that nation only. In turn, these could be customized somewhat in the looks department, although they'd still be easily recognizable as the parent type of vessel. Finally, there's the nation ships themselves, the Valkyrie and the Prometheus - visually, you could go all out on these. Even now, there's somewhat of a difference: the Valkyrie is streamlined, clean, and (mostly) white, while the Prometheus is sharp-edged, dully-colored, and darker, with gray being the primary color. These differences do reflect the different styles of the two nations. But further differentiation would rule, too. Oh, and I'd personally like to see this expanded beyond Itani-Serco and into other factions - the Corvus Vulturius could be slimmer, smaller, and darker than the normal Vulture, for instance. Just a thought.

I am just not happy about Lysethia's suggestion that Serco ships should not be 'pleasing to the eye'. I am also not happy with the way the Serco are portrayed in the backstory, but that is a different topic. I really think the Serco are/should be more than just Vendetta's Bad Guys, which is an opinion I've seen expressed ever since the backstory was released, and more so recently.

Perhaps this is just my personal preference making me biased, but I think that a highly cybernetical society is an 'ideal world', just like the Itani religious society is one, or the almost purely capitalist one of the UIT. People can decide where they want to be, but I wouldn't want to be part of the Bad Guys, simply because they were ordained to be that.

Oh well, enough with the ranting.

Do you have some ideas for Serco designs?

I do, but I don't think they amount to much.

Personally, I like to assosciate the Vulture's sleekness with Serco design paradigms, and if that could be carried over to other ships as well, retaining the slightly boxy look, I'd be more than happy with it. The Prometheus goes in that direction, as well.

The colouring is not my primary concern, but a dark grey or brownish grey would be fine from my point of view.

If you know the Thunderbolt, you know what I mean.

I deffinatly think that they should have a lot more individualization then they do now. of course they do need some similar and same ships because of the TPG corp thing. maybe they just get BASIC ships from them like EC-98's, Vults, 'hogs, and moths. others should be more individual. I think.

On a similar note, what if the neuts bought in Serco land were red, and the ones in Itania were blue, or something? Small visual cues is all.

Color is not the best solution to customisation. The problems are manifold. Simply you have to take into consideration the color-blind. Or even personal preference for colors.

I detest the color red, why would I want to fly a red ship?

while were on the color aspect i was wondering.

why can we only change half the color of the ship?

in some cases we cant change the stripe color

in others we cant change the body color.

why is this?? and please change it, its very anoying.

Hoshi No Koe has some pretty cool dichotomy, as far as Good vs. Evil. The former, Humans, fight against the invading latter, "Tarsians" with all of the classic Sci-Fi moves. I like how the ships, similar as they are at a distance, use very different tactics, and up close are different as night and day.



Here's a youtube that (eventually) shows a battle between the two, which albeit low budget is pretty cool.

Also, Part 4 warms up after about the second minute, with some Cap to Cap-ship fighting.

Man, I didn't know anime could suck _this_ badly... Or is it made for people with attention deficit disorder?

Part of is that I posted the wrong link. (Fixed now) But if you still haven't noticed by now, it's made with some very cheap graphics. No doubt Makoto Shinkai was relieved to even have pushed it into production. It's a piece of work made by people with good ideas, and not necessarily the resources to make them a reality. Coming from a game like VO, I'm surprised to hear you judge so harshly, although admittedly I wish it were longer myself. But discussions about anime are for neither here nor there.