Yep. Btw. you can experience this with some modding even in sins.

Just mod every ship so, that it has no max speed. No make it so, that acceleration and slowing down happens on the same rate.

Also mod the grav well to a larger size.

No, when two fleets meet each other, the following, quite interesting thing, happens:

Each fleet begins to accelerate. They get faster, and faster and faster. Some seconds before they meet, they begin to brake. Now half a second before they meet, they begin to fire at each other, a second goes on and the fleets are to far away from each other to shoot each other anymore. They still brake until they nearly stand still, they than reverse their course and accelerate again. They get faster, and faster until they again meet each other and fire some shots against each other.

(Unfortunately this doesn't really work with capital ships, usually capital ships will just ram each other, since they're too slow the avoid hitting. )

It's quite fun, although it doesn't really work, since shield regeneration is too fast. You probably need to increase weapon damage tenfold and decrease shield regeneration to a hundred of the current amount, to make it feasible. But such a mod could be fun, fore some time.

Yes, I have made a few games in my time, and still mod or do modeling when asked. One game I made had a full physics engine very cool and a totally different way of playing (though my version played like the older naval game harpoon) I do not expect them to do that here. Also I have moded each of the homeworld titles to incorporate a “more” space like environment, with good results.
Things are a bit tight in SINS though scale is skued badly (good for RTS) not good for any space sim

I like the Kol, its not meant to be overly big or massive, or powerful looking. It is supposed to serve the purpose of defending TEC planets.

I dont think the TEC care much about the appearance of their ships, they care about efficiency, and the ship looks efficient, though it does look like its design was rushed. But, you have to remember that its the fist real battleship they have designed in 700 years, they are practically starting from scratch again.

Hmmmm, I guess the KOL looks alright when you look at it from the point of view that:

A) All the other TEC ships are jury rigged/refitted civilian ships and that is why they look so big, bulky and nasty.

The KOL looks sleeker because it is the more efficient design. Also, all its weapon/power/shield/strikecraft systems were designed specifically for the KOL = KOL packs a bigger punch for its size when compared to other Cap Ships.


....That said, I still like the above Marine ship models from Aliens and Starship Troopers better than the KOL

Well its not like they would have copied those you know.

Personally I dont really care what the TEC look like since I plan to be a Vsari player anyways.

The Kol reminds me of the Babylon 5 human destroyers as well (without the rotating center section). I really like the design, especially the launch bays up front and the sleek look. The only issue I have is specifically with the 4 laser beam "antennae" in the front. Beef the laser mounts up some to match the size of the beam and then make them static (maybe a 5-10 degree firing arc). To offset the static nature, give them a forward facing as well as rear facing orientation so the ship never has to turn more than 90 degrees to bring main weapons to bear. This also would help protect the Kol when it has to make a strategic withdraw from combat.

The Kol is supposed to be TEC's flagship.
A flagship is supposed to be big, mean, and made of god, win, and awesome combined. The appearance of a flagship should tell everyone, "We are TEC! Don't screw with us!"
The appearance of the Kol gets a big "meh" from me.
It's smaller than the rest of the cap ships, it's guns are 4 little satellites, and generally looks rather uninspired, compared to some other ships.
And what bothers me the most is that the ship's main gun ( the 4 lasers ) can shoot in almost any direction, regardless of the ship's position. Instead it would be much better if the Kol was to line up towards his target, and shoots in straight beams coming from the antennas.

Ugh, not this again. A flagship does not have to be big. It does not have to even be mean. A flagship of a fleet is just the ship that has the ranking naval officer of the it's fleet onboard.

In calling the Kol the TEC's flagship battleship, it just means it's the first one, which it is.

Thank you Advalary, for actually getting it.

The TEC are practical, they dont have time for apperance, they only have time for survival. And designing an eye appealing ship isnt part of surviving.

[quote]it just means it's the first one[quote]

In 700 years, in the old site it even said the TEC have almost completely forgotten what war was, only in the most ancient of libraries did you find any mention of conflict.

About the KOL not being huge, it is the first TEC warship designed to be a warship. It would have a more efficient design than the other TEC Capships, and so would offer more bang for its size.

Just turn the sad looking 4 laser prongs into turreted lasers or something. Hmmm, maybe you could make them more powerful forward firing only spinal mounts? This would bring a bit more maneuvering into any battles with KOLs.

I also don't like the present horizontal hangars on the side of the ship. Maybe having just 1 vertically placed hangar on the side would look better.

And you thought this post was dead... hahaha...

"And what bothers me the most is that the ship's main gun ( the 4 lasers ) can shoot in almost any direction, regardless of the ship's position"


This is one of the parts I like . . Having Dealt with real lasers (and yes the burning kind) and know a bit about them (Holography and manufacturing – the little laser in you DVD burner is a powerful little bugger and can pop balloons - a bit of fun).
Lasers are NOT projectiles! They NEED no barrel no antenna and do not need to look mean . . all they need is a director (perfect mirror in a magnetic field or the like) so can be pointed anywhere very very fast. (has potential of making fighters rather unsafe )
There could definitely be a few different kinds for different uses,
“Beams”, requires lots of power for a “long” time. Effectively a energy transfer you transmit all of the energy you can dump into the laser onto one spot on another ships hull, hopefully achieving burn through, and burning the innards. (these could be big and powerful or small and numerous) Crazy accuracy (if you or your sensors can “see” it you can hit it the trick is keeping it there)
“Pulse” These could be more useful, instead needing a constant power supply. These build up power and then dump all of it in a femtosecond or so. This would have an effect similar to a projectile. The strike would vaporize (heat to plasma) a small section of the hull. This would “explode” in a manner similar to normal explosives (gas expanding quickly) this does allot of damage. But is not necessarily a penetrating hit. (also tends to be totaly invisible)

Also, powerful laser emitters can use gasses (currently most common for big applications), use solids, or arrays of diodes with other items. The funny part is people do not normally think most lasers need “ammo”. Often they do, since the gasses/solids need to replaced (and often they can be toxic)
In short even today Lasers can be the ultimate turrets because they do not need a barrel or a loading mechanism, or massive hardware to move it or keep it from ripping a hull in you own ship from the recoil. (funny too people don’t think that if you had a massive “normal” gun on a space ship that every shot flinging a massive projectile as extreme speeds would also throw/jerk the ship off course . )

well not really. as TGE said its there first war for a millenia so they would panic.
thinking "OH GOD!!!!" so there going to strap the biggest guns, the latest tec and design a ship that can handle it all. then ship it off.



i agree
itll be like, "what do you want, lasers, yeah, strap then to the front, turret mounts, put em on top, fighter bay, stick it too the side"

itll look like a asmatic slug with a back problem   but they wouldnt care the tec just want a powerful ship that can defend there ever decreasing list of planets

phew   

As far as changing the fighter launch bays, I don't feel that vertical bays would look all that great (I assume that you mean the "pop-up" style of bays that are featured on the Sova carrier). In their current configuration, they provide a sort of balance to the ship design. The gauss turret on the left is balanced by the launch bays on the right. They probably could lower the number of bays from three to two, but otherwise, I wouldn't mess with it. Erog above has a great point about the foward mounted beam cannons, as far as not requiring a turret to aim them.

Personally, for all those who want the ship to look meaner, the large cannon mounted on the side looks mean enought for me. Anyone who approaches it on an attack run thinking that it is a "sissy" will quickly be in for a surprise!  

Also, great feedback all around!  

we try our best   

....Those three things on the side are canons? I thought they were smokestacks. At least, they look like smokestacks. Aren't the KOL ships coal and steam powered?

Seriously though, those smokestack guns look a bit lame...especially since they seem able to shoot at crazy angles like the antenna lasers.

We do, and now that I actually have the game there maybe hope for this noob ridden forum.

No offense meant to anyone

You werent here when Ironclad told everyone that they werent going to make rotating turrets or implacements unless they were on the biggest structures. Because in a large battle if you comp has to waste CPU on turning turrets the slow down would be considerable on anyones computer, sure it would look cool, but it would also be incredibly annoying.

Hey, some of us can afford really REALLY high end computers -- and can play AND enjoy Supreme Commander!

Some of us, is the key word here, and even on a high end computer it would slow things down considerably.

And you enjoy watching circles fight triangles while getting bombed by squares? I sure dont.

Too bad for you Graphics isn't even very high on my list, unless I'm zoomed in for a screenie, at least.

All I meant was the smokestack barrels on the side of the KOL look awful.

Not true. The TEC are very financially oriented. They would look for something that is powerful, and can be produced efficiently. A big ship is not necessarily an efficient ship. Especially in terms of production cost. While ingame they wouldn't be looking for mass production, they would probably be looking for semi-mass production (what I mean by this is that they wouldn't be looking to make 100 every month, but they would be looking for something that doesn't take a year to build).

Hey 8Mickey8, the "OH GOD!!!!" times would occur when the TEC were first attacked. The ships produced during the "OH GOD!!!!" times would be the bulky inefficient ships with battle systems welded onto their sides.

The KOL came after that and, being designed from scratch, would be a far more efficient warship.