reddsun1 Posted June 5, 2005 Posted June 5, 2005 Oh no, the thanks really should go to UN Spacy for first posting the link to the Yamato Mechanics page; and of course, to those talented people maintaining that site. They've put up some really wonderful drawings/artwork, of the Yamato and some kick-ass captial ships in addition to all those cool fighters... Quote
Father Jack Posted June 5, 2005 Posted June 5, 2005 Starvin' Marvin's ship from that south park episode. Honestly I thought it looked kinda cool Quote
Coota0 Posted June 5, 2005 Posted June 5, 2005 Oh no, the thanks really should go to UN Spacy for first posting the link to the Yamato Mechanics page; and of course, to those talented people maintaining that site. They've put up some really wonderful drawings/artwork, of the Yamato and some kick-ass captial ships in addition to all those cool fighters... Is the link in this thread or another? Quote
reddsun1 Posted June 5, 2005 Posted June 5, 2005 This thread, page 8. Or of course, here: http://yamatomechanics.org/ Quote
Fugly Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 If the two sections of Gunbuster count, then those would be my faves. Also, the original Core Fighter...just because it's a big flying box. Quote
Chronocidal Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 I usually have to say that the X-Wing takes the cake as far as my favorite ship... but it's not nearly the best designed. It just looks cool. Star Wars fighters are up on the top of my list. The gunstar is an interesting concept as well, but it's by no means sleek... kinda boxy, sorta ugly... still incredibly cool in my mind, but I tend to think of it more like a gunship than a fighter. Kind of like a flying laser tank. The vipers from both the old and new BSG are nice, wouldn't mind having a model or two of those. Some of my favorite designs come from the Wing Commander universe (games only.. stupid A-10 ripoff midget fighter ). The older games had some kinda dorky designs, but the latest games seem to be going more towards classic aircraft design principles (bubble cockpits, etc). The WCII Morningstar, WCIII Excalibur, WCIV Dragon, and WC:Prophecy Panther and Vampire all rank up among my favorites. Quote
reddsun1 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 You're right, Chronocidal. How could I have forgotten the WC ship designs? I love the designs from the first games--much moreso than the newer ver. of WC (WCIII and on...). Sure, they may look crappy and pixelated compared to the newer ver. ships, but they had much more character than the newer ones. I always thought the new game ships just looked too bland and polygonal--just a bunch of rectangles and squares and such tied together with some color skins. Each of the original games' designs seemed to "fit" their designed function much better. Chris Robert's et. al. also did a good job with those games, lending a very "cavalier" atmosphere to the games, like the feel and design cues were heavily influenced by aviation during the WWII era. My favorite? Actually the Raptor from WCI. Slow as a tug, with crappy rearward vision, but thick skinned and what a wallop those guns packed! Yeah, that's right. I'm goin old skool... I remember beind disappointed that they didn't use any game-influenced designs when the movie came out. What a letdown that one was...great set designs, good strong talent base of supporting cast; but the story was out in left field (weak at best), and those dreadfully forgettable turds they used for spaceship designs! Quote
reddsun1 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 (edited) The Rapier, definitely the "P-51 Mustang" of the game...quick and deadly, but more vulnerable too. Required a skilled hand to get the most out of her. Edited June 6, 2005 by reddsun1 Quote
reddsun1 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Ahh, the Sabre. The graphics definitely improved with ea. successive game, and this one packed a real punch. Quote
reddsun1 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 (edited) Can't forget the bad guys. The Kilrathi ships were pretty interesting too. I like how the game creators went to the trouble to create a variety of ships, both capital and small, each with a design to serve a specific function. Small/med/heavy fighter, bomber, transports, carriers, etc...pretty cool for back in the day on old 486's. Edited June 6, 2005 by reddsun1 Quote
reddsun1 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 (edited) I always liked how much attention they paid to detail in these games--although primitive by today's standards. I liked how they even went so far as to color the ships to give them a "used" appearance, with paint weathering and damage/blast holes in the cut-scenes (ironically, something that was lost from the 1st game to the next). I'd like to see how these would come out if given a current treatment to run on modern systems in a new game engine... Edited June 6, 2005 by reddsun1 Quote
Coota0 Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 This thread, page 8. Or of course, here: http://yamatomechanics.org/ thanks Quote
Uxi Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 off the top of my head: 1) TIE Defender. Thing exudes the coolness of the TIE fighter but the firepower and ability to to match anything the Rebels have. 2) Original B5 Starfury. Cool "realistic" YPR 3-axis movement. 3) new Jedi Starfighter (Eta 2 Arctis something or the other). At first I liked the sleek lines of the Attack of the Clones one better, but this one has grown on me. 4) Colonial Vipers from the original Battlestar Galactica. Yeah they were kinda an X-wing rip off, but that booster was pretty cool. 5) Vorlon 'red baron' from an Episode of B5. Chews up shadows and flies right through them. Literally. Quote
Godzilla Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Here is my list: 1. X-wing 2. Cosmo Tiger from Space Battleship Yamato. 3. TIE Defender 4. Other Star Wars fighters 5. The Hammerhead from Space:Above and Beyond. Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 . My favorite? Actually the Raptor from WCI. Slow as a tug, with crappy rearward vision, but thick skinned and what a wallop those guns packed! Yeah, that's right. I'm goin old skool... I liked the Raptor too. Top speed wasn't too bad once you got her going. And I preferred Mass Drivers (Raptor) to Laser Cannons (Rapier). Anyway, the WC1 AI was SUCKY so good firepower is more important then fancy flying. I remember that one mission where you had to take out the Kitties before they blew up the defecting Kitty Cap ship. Only a Raptor could have done that mission. Quote
Guest Bromgrev Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Does the TIE Bomber count? Not a fighter, I know ... but I loved that little ship back in the days of the PC game. No shields, no speed, no firepower - now there was a ship where the pilot made the difference. Quote
Graham Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Hmmm.... I'd have to say my favorite non-anime Starfighter designs are: - *Colonial Vipers, from both the old & new Battlestar Galactica. *SA-26 Star Fury (the improved 2 seater version) from Babylon 5. *X-Wing from Star Wars. *Gunstar from Last Starfighter. Graham Quote
Graham Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 My favorite console game starfighter would be the ship you fly in the 1995 Playstation game 'Philosoma'. Graham Quote
Flaming Guantlet Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 (edited) My favorite console game starfighter would be the ship you fly in the 1995 Playstation game 'Philosoma'.Graham Hey Graham that fighter is called the F/A-37 Strega and you should check out the wood model this made out of it too! http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/3324829/ Hmm, well here is my personal top picks. -RVR-01 Guantlet (Thunder Force V, PSX) -RVR-02 Vambrace (Thunder Force V, PSX) -Silverhawk (Darius game, various platforms) -Endymion FRS Mk.II (Einhander, PSX) -R-9 "Delta" (R-Type Delta/Final, PS2) -Axelay Starfighter (Axelay, SNES) -A-144 Phalanx Enforcer Fighter (Phalanx, SNES) -Starfleet "Valkyrie" class fighter (Star Trek Invasion, PSX) -F/A-37 Strega (Philosoma, PSX) -Vic Viper (Gradius, various platforms) -X-Wing Starfighter (Star Wars) -Earth Alliance Starfury (Babylon 5) -ARC-170 Starfighter (Staw Wars Episode III) -Gunstar (The Last Star Fighter) Oh and here is a pic of what starfleet's valk looks like incase anyone was curious. Edited June 7, 2005 by Flaming Guantlet Quote
Druna Skass Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 Crap how could I forget to mention this one. RB-79 Ball Quote
B-52 GUNNER Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 Has anyone chose this as there favorite Starfighter? The Good Ole F-104 Quote
B-52 GUNNER Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 I've been thinking about all the sci-fi movies I've seen and games I've played and the worst transformers ever thread got me thinking why not a best starfighter thread. Also feel free to add some ones you hate. There is only one BEST STARFIGHTER DESIGN... EVER: (trumpets) Lockheed F-104 STARFIGHTER Regds, Gorgon, the Joker... (p.d.: I can't believe nobody as come out with this silly joke yet...) (p.d.2: check the link, the coloring of this particular 104, with the "ripped" skin is GREAT) OOPS!! Looks like someone did. Sorry for reposting this one Quote
myk Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 (edited) I always liked the thieving Einhander.... Edited June 7, 2005 by myk Quote
retroborg Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 Speaking of large star ships (Macross/Robotech Type) dimensions... http://www.merzo.net/ This site is intended to allow science fiction fans to get an impression of the true scale of their favourite science fiction spacecraft by being able to compare ships across genres, as well as being able to compare them with contemporary objects with which they are probably familiar. Apparently, it turns out that the Macross SDF-1 Fortress isn’t as massive as it looks in the series, especially compared to some of the other Starwars ships or Zendraedi flagships. Even the Trade Federation carrier droid battleship is larger! I wonder how they managed to fit a city of 60000 people inside the SDF-1 it?! Surprisingly, the Bodolza/ Zentraedi Mobile Command Base, is much larger than the Star Wars Death Star II! But what I find shocking is Unicron’s size! In the grid he looks larger than Bodolza’s Command Base, the Death Stars & the ID4 mother-ship put together! Also, I never new that the ID4 Mothership was Mushroom shaped! By far, it's the best site of its kind! It would have been perfect if it had the Starwars Trade federation (Invisible Hand), Techno Union & Banking Class star ships. These images are not the right scale by the way, they should be viewed in the gridded home site. And here are some impressive Star Trek Ships schematics: http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/new_02_22_2002.html Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts (“Super Star Destroyersâ€) http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ssd.html Quote
Phalanx Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 (edited) I consider the Nirvana from Vandread the greatest starship design ever IMHO. Also, here's a good one , Tom's spaceship from Toonami I can't also forget my favorite starfighter of all time, the beautiful R-GRAY 1 from Raystorm. GRAY03.bmpmi. Edited May 17, 2006 by Phalanx Quote
reddsun1 Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 Not too long ago I found some info on a fan project for a game inspired by the original Wing Commander; breathes new life into those pixelated old sprite designs like the Hornet fighter and Ralari cruiser--even makes that raggedy old bucket of a Scimtar look pretty cool. Apparently, the project is still in the works though... Quote
Phalanx Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 Whoa Redsunn1, those Wing Commander ships don't look so bad after all. I really underestimated their appearance and learned to never judge a starship by it's design. Quote
Graham Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 With those canopy designs most of those Wing Commander ships would have really crappy visibilty from the cockpit. Graham Quote
Southpaw Samurai Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 With those canopy designs most of those Wing Commander ships would have really crappy visibilty from the cockpit. 400075[/snapback] Just how much physical visibility DOES a starfighter need, though? You're fighting in space, which (unless you're close enough to a direct or reflective light source) isn't too much different than fighting at night. In most cases, BVR starts at a few meters away. Pilots would most likely rely their detection equipment and probably have that fed into their HUDs or eyepieces to highlight ships or even create VR-like simulations. A decade or so ago I did some starfighter designs for a game idea some friends were tossing about. The more I worked on it, the more I started applying 'realism' to the designs' and one of the latter designs was a canopy-less fighter, taking protection of the pilot over the limited benefits of direct visibility. Of course, at that point your next step is to ask, "If the technology is there to allow the pilots great situational awareness without visually 'seeing' everything, why not just take the pilot out of the tiny ships and allow them to pull harder turns and quicker acceleration/deceleration?'....at which point you lose all the 'coolness' of the whole one man/one machine mystique of fighters. Of course, we ARE talking sci-fi, where everything's brightly lit, spaceships use WW2 airplane physics, and starfighters always engage in knifefights at ranges that WW1 pilots would've said are dangerously close. Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 With those canopy designs most of those Wing Commander ships would have really crappy visibilty from the cockpit.Graham 400075[/snapback] Well, I finished the game many times over without once having to check my six. Quote
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