Hull markings

posted on April 12th, 2010, 5:35 pm

A minor, Starfleet-exclusive aesthetic request.

As you know, FO tends to negate name/registry markings seen on some stand-alone models due to the 'fleet of Enterprises' problem. What I wanted to ask is; could markings be put on them, but instead of recognizable english, using a made-up noncense language similar to the Simlish language from The Sims?

That way would allow markings that would resemble registries on the hull, without having about 50 Enterprises or Defiants.

posted on April 12th, 2010, 5:40 pm

Eww really dislike this idea 

Sorry 

posted on April 12th, 2010, 5:46 pm

Actually what i was hoping for is that the team would modify the engine to add id areas to the hull that could be generated from the game.

posted on April 12th, 2010, 6:51 pm

Actually what i was hoping for is that the team would modify the engine to add id areas to the hull that could be generated from the game.

that sounds like crash city to me... that's a lot of rendering and tracking for the engine to keep up on, for a feature which really wouldn't have any affect except for the federation.

but that could just be me.

posted on April 12th, 2010, 7:04 pm

yeah, why dont the rommies write the names of their ships on the hull?

posted on April 12th, 2010, 7:45 pm

yep we have some ideas for registry but some other engine improvements are on todo with higher priority

posted on April 12th, 2010, 7:49 pm

yeah, why dont the rommies write the names of their ships on the hull?

Well i would say secrecy it would make their ships harder to track

posted on April 12th, 2010, 7:51 pm

haha good point. but we saw in tng that wherever a ship goes it gets crap stuck on the hull that allows to track it, as most ships go different places, these blobs of gunk stuck to the hull may allow tracking easier.

[Tyler]

posted on April 12th, 2010, 9:08 pm

Last edited by Tyler on April 12th, 2010, 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Isn't the 'namenumber on the hull' something carried over from Earth tradition? Only the Federation has Earth roots. Other races never seem to have more than their logo on the hull.

Well i would say secrecy it would make their ships harder to track

No point, they are identified by their Warp Field and the Romulan Logo on the hull. To races familier with them, the basic design is rather distinctive.

Actually what i was hoping for is that the team would modify the engine to add id areas to the hull that could be generated from the game.

Bridge Commander can set one model to use multiple textures, maybe a way can be found to duplicate that in FO?

posted on April 13th, 2010, 10:04 am

we will work on that sector once we get the shaders done

posted on April 13th, 2010, 1:38 pm

How big of a gameplay element is this?  It's not like it's something that would be seen or even noticed almost at all.  MAYBE for some high-detail screenshots, but even then... 

Attachments

posted on April 13th, 2010, 1:39 pm

Why not have it as a variable sprite node that puts the Ship's Name and registry on it? I believe Legacy pulled that off. Though I could be mistaken.

posted on April 13th, 2010, 1:40 pm

thats what we said

posted on April 13th, 2010, 1:48 pm

Legacy... Bridge Commander...  Games like these happen to include a lot of close-up, high-resolution shots of their ships.  Even on the mightiest of resolutions:  Fleet Ops?  Not so much.  (not even taking into consideration the majority of players using the lowest res/graphics for better FPS.
Maybe... JUST MAYBE, a hazy, generic, greyish blur that sort of resembles an NCC registry mark.  I know some people really enjoy the satisfaction of having your mark put somewhere, but if you need to get that out of your system, go outside and write your name in the snow/sand/etc.