MV-AC Heracles

[Meph]

***EDIT: I removed the pics from this post te be able to updare the thumbnail.

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Wehey after (almost) completing the ISCS Olympic which I started in september '06 I felt it was dire time to schratch a certain itch. After playing around with a Space Liner/Cruise Ship for so long I felt the urge slap some gunzzz and missiles on it and make a militarizerd version.

For those of you who have seen/read the little date sheet I made for the Olympic, I sorta came up with a rough background that the Martian military got their hands on the plans for the Olympic in exchange for development of the large heat sink covers for the reactor. So roughly a year after the Olympic was launched, the military versions started coming out of the shipyards at Olympus Mons, Mars.

I decided to name the military variant class: Argonaut, there are 49 of them. I actually wanted to name it after the leader of the Argonauts but everywhere I look I find that the original greek name WAS Jason... frankly I though it was one of those absure english bastardisations (like the names of Jezus' apostles for instance) but nooo it really is Jason. And seriously, who in their right non-greek mind would name a starship, or any ship for that matter, Jason... sigh... Sooo I went for the probably most famous of the Argonauts, Heracles, or Hercules as he's known in modern tongue.
MV-AC stands for Martian Vessel -Assault Carrier
Complement I'm roughly going for 4 light fighters (Freak's design that i converted and textured)), 4 heavy fighters (my own, only a block shape now) and one or two dropships (also in the pipeline for me).

Guys, big question mark... what colour for the hull? If i'd follow a logical camo thought-pattern I'd have to paint it matte black but where's then fun in that? Right now I'm going roughly for a navy grey, it seems to suit nicely. I also thought about army green, but kahki in space...? I aslo thought about a martian camo scheme but terracotta or brown... hmmm... I could also go for a colourful scheme like Homeworld but I don't know about that.

How about you guys, any thoughts on this?

Consider next render a teeny weeny doodle... the render artefacts are going to be fixed too

Oh, and the latin on the emblem stands for
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
I'll either find a way or make one

[nhall]

Go with gunmetal on this one -- or you could go with a novel science fiction concept, based on real-life sound ideals. I call it:

Currently, we are developing cheap, efficient organic LEDs -- they're currently found primarily in cellphones, and sometimes keyboards.

In the future, massive amounts of these OLEDs will be cheap, and energy efficient. It seems in your universe, btw, the military has its own, effective R&D program as evidenced by Olympic's heat sink development. Therefore, the following tech isn't really so far fetched.

OLEDAC -- Organic Light Emitting Diode Active Camoflauge

Basically, the ship's exterior skin is coated with an OLED matrix, essentially turning the outermost skin into a giant display on most surfaces.

The practical upshot of this is that, like a chameleon, the Heracles can blend into almost any background if need be. When in friendly space, or flying formation, the ship's skin defaults to standard fleet colors for both identification, and higher visibility, preventing collision. The OLEDAC is not capable of rendering the Heracles completely invisible to the naked eye, like a cloak, as any display that size would not have a real-time refresh rate -- however the system would be a practical, affordable upgrade from old-style paints (and allows you to retexture Heracles to suit your mood, Meph )

Unfortunately, OLEDs can be easily damaged, and have little to no protection from enemy fire, as they are not beneath armor, the idea however follows, that with good enough camoflauge, the OLEDs would hardly ever incur damage.

Just a thought.

Anyway, personally, I would keep the engine compartment from the original mesh, and redesign the bow section -- right now, Heracles and Olympic could be mistaken for one another during a wartime scenario, and you could have Olympic destroyed all too easily, having been mistaken for a re-painted (retrofitted?) Heracles (Remember the RMS Lusitania!!!)

Cheers
Nick

[-=sAs=-]

hmmm,very nice!....

[S.W.Ninja]

Woot been waiting for this military version for a long time, I saw the original and just knew it was begging for a hardcore version . I love the latin saying by the way.

So far I agree with nhall, the bow section does need to be modified, mainly for the fact the large open section where the glass was is a weakspot. Im gonna take a guess and assume thats where your going to have the hangar deck?

I like the colour though Id consider darkening it slightly and then add some more specular gloss to make the paint more metalic.

[Freak]

Woohooo about time.

[Meph]

Cheers guys!
@nhall: Thanks for the comprehensive feedback, I appreaciate it loads Actually something like that did cross my mind. It's a very real priciple and they're even working it out as we speak. years ago in Japan, some guys came up with a system cameras and projectors to simulate this kind of active camouflage. It's a great idea but a bit impractical for texturing, perhaps worth a sidetrack later on.

I'm also considering making more than one military version. I'm also thinking about a dedicated cruiser/destroyer and a dedicated platform for an experimental weapon (humongous plasma cannong sticking out the front anyone?)
But for now it's a fast response cruiser for the Marines. A bit along the lines of the USS Sulaco of Aliens. A few dropships for two amphibious 8-wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicles each (I got a rough design for in mind, got to start making some sketches though) and also some air support in the form of 4 fighters and 4 fighter/bombers.


I need some structural feedback on sometjhing. I want to leave the original shape as much intact as possible and work as much as possible with addons. It's a to keep in mind the background of the design as well as saving me loads of work, the dtachable engine section, as per background, I do intend to use on different hull designs later on.
For those of you who have seen/read the little date sheet I made for the Olympic, I sorta came up with a rough background that the Martian military got their hands on the plans for the Olympic in exchange for development of the large heat sink covers for the reactor. So roughly a year after the Olympic was launched, the military versions started coming out of the shipyards at Olympus Mons, Mars.

Soooo the promenade section is just begging for one, perhaps two launch tubes for fighters and from the dome I'm going to make a landing pad with large lift. Perhaps even an interior all the way to the launch bays. But this is what's making me scratch me head like a chimp in a ballet tutu, looking at a pair of scissors lying in front of him. I'd like to incorporate a short landing strip on top of the bow for the returning fighters. Since the top of the bow is relatively curved and even one end of the open dome space is sticking op higher than the other, the only real solution I see to to build a superstructure that obviously added on after the construction of the hull. A bit like many of the first aircraft carriers, Y'know, some heavy metal framework and girders to support the flat deck. I also thought about using the top bit of the promanade window as dech but then fighter and carrier will be flying head-on to land, sounds dangrous... So the only obvious solution I see right now is to have one, or two landing strips put in a V shape with the tip of the V just in front of the dome section so that fighters have an approach path much like a current day navy fighter on a carrier, offset from the aft. But I'm afraid that perhaps the space needed will be too big and plain ugly. Perhaps I should just settle for a VTOL landing, like Harriers are doing today with the US and UK navies. Any thoughts on this would be very, very welcome...

[S.W.Ninja]

Well its completely upto you but in keeping with your back story it would make sence that all the attachments are modular, that the military just fit to the existing structure. Ive attached an example of what I mean the whole hangar and landing pads are a single module. the main bit up front has all the lift equipment for taking aircraft down below. You could also fit launch tubes to the front lower section making the whole landing, launching system as one whole modular package.

Hope that gives you some inspiration if even a little

[Tinukedaya]

Well I would say that you don't really need an "runway" for the space fighters. An VTOL like platform would be just fine I guess. It's all about adjusting their relative speed to the MV-AC and then drop it where they need it. If you want an set approach corridor, all you need are some position lights, not whole landing platform. Actually letting them really land on the runway will make an interesting physical problem including alot of artifical gravity.

just my 2 cents on the question on hand... Anyway I love the work you've done on Olympic/Heracles so far

[Caeser4031]

I like the color of the hull, slight blue tinge to it minds of the new Vipers on BSG.

[liam887]

looks great what are you going to do with the large section that was the sort of domed garden on your old ship,i was thinking maybe that could be the hanger inside? And maybe some large oversized blast doors at the opening that close sort of like the iris on the stargate? Looks good overall though!