Favorite/Least Favorite Shipset Poll

PvK · #1 March 29th, 2002, 04:33 AM

There are many really excellent player-made ship sets out there. See for example The USy page, but these are only maybe half of the sets out there.

I don't really have a favourite. My least favourite are the sets that are a mix of all sorts of different sizes and styles and perspectives, with no apparent pattern. I also wish more sets would use a different image for the leader portrait than they do for the population images. Otherwise, it looks like it's an empire of clones of one particular bozo.

PvK

Dracus · #2 March 29th, 2002, 04:37 AM

Pvk,
Just like the cylons???

PvK · #3 March 29th, 2002, 05:34 AM

Well for races that are supposed to be identical-looking it's fine. If the portrait looks like a distinct individual, and the population icon looks exactly the same, then it's not so good. Mainly this happens with humans and near-humans, because we can tell they look like an individual.

For example, the default Terran set... that admiral with the big schnozz is OK for the leader, but having cargoloads of identical population with the same nose and the same medals on their uniforms, is peculiar. Even worse are the ones that use photos of media stars. I kind of like the TOS (Trek original) set, except that its portraits make it look like the "Empire of Captain Kirk Clones!"

On the other hand, all those Jraenar look the same to me - I guess I'm biggotted.

PvK

Baron Munchausen · #4 March 29th, 2002, 06:24 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ColdSteel:
I'm just curious about what everyone's favorite and least favorite shipsets are (just the graphics).

My favorite shipset is the 'Dra'kol' custom shipset created by Don Phillips (Voidhawk) and Tampa_Gamer for the TDM Modpack. I just drool whenever I look at those ships.

My least favorite is the original SE4 Terran shipset. It's just so 'blah' to me. Boxy and kind of square. Unsexy. Nothing wrong with it technically, mind you, but it just doesn't have the panache that some of the others do. We must do better for Mother Earth. I really like Hadrian's 'Federal Union' shipset so I renamed the graphic files and put them in the Terran directory of the TDM mod. Looks *sooo* much better.

Anyone else?

I think the quality of the SE IV default shipsets is very uneven. The Fazrah and the Ukra Tal have a couple of the plainest (as in undetailed), most unrealistic and uninspiring sets available. Many of the 'monochrome' shipsets produced by teenagers using PovRay are better!

On the other hand, some of the SE IV default shipsets are really good. The Amon Krie, the Cue Cappa, the Jraenar, the Norak sets are excellent! The Abbidon, the Phong, the Sergetti, and the Xiati are decent. The others like the Terrans and the Sallega are kinda boxy and not too 'sleek and dangerous' looking but not nearly as bad as the Fazrah and Ukra Tal sets. Even the 'green fur' shipset of the Drushocka is better. The Xi Chung is not as cool as an organic shipset ought to be but is also still much better than the Ukra Tal have.

Of the third-party shipsets I've seen, I'd have to divide them into two classes. Derivative designs based on a SciFi show or movie, and original designs. The derivatives are hard to judge. The movie/tv show they come from is going to heavily influence your opinion regardless of the quality of the shipset itself. And anyway, how much credit do you give to an artist for skillful video capture?

Or for seeing a ship in a movie or show and making a good copy in a modeling program?

Some of the Trek and B5 sets are nice, but that's more of a tribute to skill at copying than at design. Not that copying a design isn't a lot of work, too.

Some of the original shipsets are about as good as the best ones in the SE IV default sets, though. I like the Ixaris, for example. And the Cephalopeians are a cool 'novelty' design. I can't say I've seen any originals that I like as much as those four best SE IV defaults, though.

[ 01 April 2002: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Mudshark · #5 March 29th, 2002, 07:38 AM

I must admit that the most fun I ever had was combining two different Borg technologies. 0ne was an assimilation trait; the next was Borg technology (researchable). It was so much fun to just plow thru the galaxy combining the two, It is to bad that no one ever made a mod combining the two together. They would have been a very tough race! They are both in the AI/race shipset. Combining the two sets would make for a very tough race indeed. With the Malfordian facilities, they would be a tough fight With the mod authers blessing I would love the best of these to be combined, almost instant regeneration, ability to have a huge resource base! The Borg the way they were meant to be!

PvK · #6 March 29th, 2002, 08:45 AM

In reviewing these, I notice that the Praetorians actually have a separate baseship image in Gold! Neat!

Interesting, Baron, to hear some different appraisals than I might give, in some cases. After inheriting the Ukra Tal in our test Gold PBW game, I actually got to like that ship set pretty well. Some of the ships are pretty flat and omelette-y and homely, and I guess it may not've required a lot of technical skill, I admit, but I do like the battleship, space station, battlestation, destroyer, starbase, and the portrait.

I think I prefer the Ukra Tal to the Xi Chung.

I like a lot of the Cue Cappa, but I don't particularly like the main warships, although that's personal preference rather than thinking they're not well done (they are). I fill similarly about the Krill and Abbidon (well done, but I don't really relate to their warships).

I actually like the Sallega, but think the mini images are too small - the small ships are nearly invisible on the starfield.

After checking out the sets on The USy page, though, I think there are a few that are at least as good as even the best ones that come with the game. At least, to my own tastes.

Some of the nicer ones on that page: Angellicans, Vidrihne, Darlok, Federal Union, Gryphon Sector, House of Aleskander, Nloam, Nostropholo, Pacea One, Rintax, Aquilaean, Tlaxcalan, United Flora, and some others seem more or less top rate to me, and I'd prefer all of those to playing the Cue Cappa or Xi Chung.

Well, enough sharing of tastes... back to work...

PvK

Phoenix-D · #7 March 29th, 2002, 09:49 AM

"but think the mini images are too small - the small ships are nearly invisible on the starfield."

Yup.. Geo actually ignored one of my ships in Dimension X for the longest time. I'm sitting here wondering, "why isn't it dead yet". I found out when I asked if he was blind- my ship died shortly thereafter, since he knew there was something there to look for..

Phoenix-D