Previews from the impatient

[Yizzzy]

Here someone made a tutorial http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=28723

Thanks a bunch man, and thanks Whiteweasel for the tutorial.

[MrRazerWolf]

Happy to help

[NarnKar]

A thing to note is that Zoltan ships aren't really like...asymmetrical? I mean they kind of are. But a lot of them actually have 3-fold symmetry, or triangular; they have three main nacelles of the body, and one happens to be different from the other.

I've found this model here to be helpful for illustrating that point.



Aside from that, the art looks pretty great so far. Can't wait to see the finished result!

[R4V3-0N]

A thing to note is that Zoltan ships aren't really like...asymmetrical? I mean they kind of are. But a lot of them actually have 3-fold symmetry, or triangular; they have three main nacelles of the body, and one happens to be different from the other.

I've found this model here to be helpful for illustrating that point.



Aside from that, the art looks pretty great so far. Can't wait to see the finished result!

This can be true but I could never look 'hard' enough to try to find the three-fold symmetry...

I also looked at the zoltan fighter and bomber and they are far from symmetrical...

[SciGuy303]

Sorry if I keep on doing something wrong about my weapon sprites.

The Rotary cannons! They do no damage, but have one side effect each variation(ion, incindary, breach, stun) and shoots 10 minimissiles every 10 seconds in a wide area. Tell me what you think! I'm still reletavely new here, btw.

[NarnKar]

Those look good!

[Gencool]

Love the rotary idea- wp shots seems a little high though? Do they use missiles?

Also Zoltan fighters are symmetrical, but the symmetry is across Z [top to bottom] rather than Y [left to right] (as in, you're seeing one half of it, and it's a mirror image of the half facing away from you, almost like you're looking at it from the side rather than the top)
They're also slightly turned [maybe 10 degrees around Y], so you can see a bit of the other side (which would otherwise be obscured) and a bit of the ship's left-hand edge.

In fact the Cruiser follows the same rules, just rotated so the front is facing right like the other Cruisers and tilted the other way to match viewer perspective (it's not three way symmetry, sorry, and the more I think about it, that Lego kit's pretty far off)





I had a go at this a while ago. It's no where near perfect but may be useful as further reference; http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 350#p94415

[steamtex]

Let's see, what have I missed while I was gone?

Oh, some missiles and great looking weapons.

Wait.

Wait a second.

How did I miss this? An entire Ion Cannon Satellite? I really should pay more attention.

[Chrono Vortex]

Where have you been!? It's been an ENTIRE MONTH!

Soon...

Do you have any idea when your gonna be able to make this happen? We've been waiting for it for a while and the anticipation is killing me.

[Gencool]

So, part of my actual work is translating 2D images into 3D objects - I figured I'd give it a go with The Adjudicator.
It's very rough and blocky, but it's pretty much how I see the ship in my mind's eye.

Feel free to disagree with me, but it may be helpful in designing more Zoltan ships.


(turn table)


(from directly above)


(from roughly the angle it's shown in-game, + re-scaled in-game image)








[edit]


Actually, the more I look at it, I think I underestimated the tilt of the ship...
It could well be that there's just one line of dots on the underside, and the two fins on top come out further.

That said, I'm probably reading more into it than is actually there. Obviously if I was making this for a client I'd edit it to match their own opinions, but as far as I'm concerned - according to the in game graphics; if there's symmetry, it's along Z, and not radial.