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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 1, 2006 10:51:04 GMT -5
Project: Nova Class Star ship As many of you know I have been working on creating a nova class star ship. For those of you that are not familiar with the nova class, there are a variety of sources out there to fill you in. techspecs.acalltoduty.com/nova.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_class_starship My proposal for the project would be to have the ship as a permanent addition to the Galaxy Sim for the general use of the Star Trek group for a variety of roles: A ship for the RPG, A source of income for renting out rooms, a location to ‘chilax,’ etc… The ship would have all 8 decks and all of the primary rooms created such as the bridge, engineering, sickbay, holodeck, mess hall, etc… and creating/using the other rooms as seen fit. A few ideas have come up with what to do regarding the excess space, some of which include creating shop locations, or creating living space that can be rented out. Both options could provide a source of income to offset the Sim fees. The main issue that comes up with it is the prime usage. To complete the hull, and to have a half decent interior designed, I estimate about 5k primes will be needed. The more primes that potentially get allocated towards this proposed project, the higher detail and quality we can have in the ship. One conflict that comes up is ‘room’ since the decks are only going to be 3m in height, it makes it a bit crampt for the movement of avis with in the ship. Possible solutions have been to increase the height of each deck, and just have less decks in the final product. An option that has come up is to have the ship temporary, and just res it just for the RPG missions, and what ever else it may be needed for. I am aware of 2 options that can do this. 1: box hoping. By having one person sit on a box, they can select their objects. Another person moves the box along, allowing the other person to select all of the objects in the ship. Problems: when resing the ship, if the center of the ship is not perfectly placed on a good, even axis (eg: z=100.000 y=100.000 x=100.000) but is something a bit off. (eg z=100.598 y=100.329 x=100.101) it makes it extremely difficult to build and mirror each half of the ship. A lot of creating the ship is just quick, mental math in my head, which gives me a head ache, as it is. I see this option as un-feasible if we want to do a good job. 2: Rote prime. Using something like Multimove, were all of the children primes are position coded with respect to the parent prime. A similar issue comes up similar to that of option 1. I have not had to much time messing around with the Multimove, but I will get in contact with some of my sources, and spend time figuring it out to see if this option is feasible to use. Additional conflicts come up with resing such a massive amount of primes all at once, it tends to cause servers extreme lag, and in the worse case, cause the sim to crash. This is extremely evident when around the sandboxes, were they appear to crash every other day. Another problem with this is Prime use. There will have to be the same amount of free primes as the ship requires, or it will not res. This is all I really have to say right now. I believe I have addressed most of the key issues regarding this proposal. Any insight, or views regarding this proposal is much appreciated. The only way this proposal has a chance to be accepted, is if we all work together to come up with a conclusion. |
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Post by katinabixby on Mar 1, 2006 18:00:57 GMT -5
Thank you for the outstanding ship preview. I liked it very much. The sim Galaxy does need a Star Ship in its home, we have a few in mine already, but may be we can put it to member vote or officers vote. In any case I dont expect any permanet decisions to be made anytime soon, at least not until most of the sim is finished that way there will be better estimates on how much prim is available for the placement of the ship.
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 2, 2006 12:11:47 GMT -5
I personal would like to attempt to mirror the Cannon Star trek within SL. I don’t really see many other ships that can be created that are small enough to fit in a sim.
I estimate to get the project to some state of completion (phase 1 completion) it will take me at least a month, if not longer.
Phase 1: Get the basic hull done, primary rooms.
Phase 2: Cut back on primes, increase detail with better textures. Make ship look a lot less Spartan.
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 8, 2006 0:44:13 GMT -5
Their appears to be a lot of discussion regarding the Status of the proposed ship within SL between me, and a few others (Ta, Al, to name a few) And there is 2 main ideas that have come up that I support.
The creation of “Stage 9”. Basically recreating the voyager stage used for filming the interior of the USS Equinox. Additional rooms would be added on as needed by the RPG.
Estimated Prime usage: 500
The creation of an empty Nova Class hull. (with all 8 decks and hallways) Only the required or needed rooms would be created/decorated. Reason for creating all the hallways is to allow for EASY expansions and addition of more rooms if requested and required by the group.
Estimated Prime usage: 2k for hull. More rooms, more primes required. Request an additional 1k primes for insurance.
More conversation is much requested regarding this, on the forums or in SL conversations with myself.
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Post by Dora Resistance on Mar 9, 2006 19:49:00 GMT -5
Ok, Sakai, You know I want to see a ship here. (I didn't spend 2 weeks building one here for a lark). Obviously, the majority of the group wants the ship to be 'Modern' and not nostalgia.  Of all the possible modern designs, I think that the Nova Class is indeed the easiest to build. I'd love to work with you on such a project. That said, I don't think that a complete vessel is neccesary or wanted. Since SL corriodors and rooms need to me 3.8 meters tall, 'officially' A classic naval hall or room just won't do the trick. Since this is so, trying to get the internal decks correct goes from tricky to impossible. (I've been there) I made my decks 3.5 meters high, and my halls 3.4 meters wide, and I still had people complaining about claustrophobia.  As you know, that's over 50% bigger than reg. Hence the main problem. The solution? Don't try to make it work correctly. Al and discussed this, and we think the best way to make the project work, is to set up the ship diagram as a model, then put the needed rooms down on the diagram, as close together as feasable, with connecting hallways, exc,and judicious use of teleporting turbolifts to make it look right. Then, the hull would be built around that, making the hull primarily solid. (With one exception, the shuttle bay,which would have to be carefully fitted.) People don''t walk all the corridors in a ship like this. they go where they are needed, and take turbolifts when they can. We just need the needed rooms. Hallways could 'continue' past needed rooms with well matched textures, like backdrops in the movies. and we then say that hall's internal forcefield is up... lol. This idea leaves alot to be desired from a purist's view point... I wanted every corridor and room to be to scale in my NCC-1701-A. But in this SL, appearance is reality. My two cents. (oh, a solid hull would save a TON of prims.) |
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 9, 2006 21:17:38 GMT -5
I can make it to 1.25 scale if that will help. The new hull dimensions of 206X101X43. This increased hull size should only marginally increase the number of primes required (about 100 more, but this will fit in with the 2-3k primes I had limited the project to before.) Each deck would be 3.75m for height, and will give us good easy numbers to work with when setting up the walls.
I have modified a small portion of the ship to these new parameters. I had to make my avi as big as it could possibly be in order to be proportional to the size of the ship. (if you avi size is not at max you will look like a midget with respect to the ship) Try to see what the new portion of the ship looks like, and give your opinion regarding increasing the ship scale.
As for modifying the room sizes with in the ship I am flexible with doing that. I still would like to have all of the corridors inside the ship made. This will make it easier in the future if we decide to have any expansions towards the ship.
Ship navigation: Even though this is a small ship it could seam like a maze to some people. All of the Turbo Lifts will be marked, and a deck map will be posted at the entrance to each Turbo Lift. In addition, a ‘navigation guide’ will be available at all of the entrances of the ship. It will include the ship floor plans, and will have a list of room locations. All rooms that are accessible will have a door control panel.
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Post by Dora Resistance on Mar 10, 2006 20:40:31 GMT -5
Sakai, I love your ideas, and your enthusiasm. I'd love it too if a full, completed model, hallways and rooms included were accepted by the Admirals. (If they did say yes, we could switch out starships every week, and have a different Ship in place for different events. We could have the prims saved for your Nova, then put in a Huge Borg cube with full compliment, then a Classic Trek ship or a miniaturized Enterprise-D... the possibility's! Even put the ship's appearances in the Local news, so we attract torists... Then Galaxy would seem like a working port... heck, with the Station there permanently, and a different full size ship there every few days, Galaxy would seem like a real starport! Oh boy, I'm scaring myself here... better go on to what I actually wanted to say.)
I have a few suggestions however.
3.75 hallways are great, but you need to modify the doors and wall panels in these hallways to match average AV height. I know this requires some creativity, but, if you want, I can show you a few easy ways to do this without losing the look of your amazing ship.
(I also know how odd it sounds to ask for wall panels and doors built for 2.1 meter AV's and Ceilings built for 3 meter ones, but this isn't RL. It's SL. Perception is more important than reality here.)
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 16, 2006 9:06:46 GMT -5
For all of you that still care and want to see the proposal I had submitted come to a completion, I have an update for you. Right now I am planning to make the bridge more of an active piece, I am going to script in a few control activated sounds. The helm will be able to operate entering/exiting warp. Tactical will be able to operate a various selection of weapon sounds. Etc. I have sketched out an outline to have Tactical, Helm, Science, Communications, Engineering, and the First officer having access to sound bits. I think that having a crude ship interface such as this may improve the RPG’s that potentially could occur on the ship, and may make the RPG more ‘realistic.’
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katrinabixby1
Divisions Moderators 
Success is when preparation and opportunity meet!
Posts: 184
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Post by katrinabixby1 on Mar 16, 2006 14:29:37 GMT -5
Sounds very interesting. And exciting! I look foreword to the completion of the project. Please keep in mine the nominations on the division officers. You will need to work closely with the building and logistics officers (Your, superiors.)
-End of Admiral's log...
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 16, 2006 18:42:50 GMT -5
Aye ma’am, I just try to do what I am told, and attempt to show my input every once in a while.
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Post by Al Kaiser on Mar 21, 2006 10:13:09 GMT -5
Your efforts and enthusiasm are to be applauded. You are a very good builder. Some of the design features I have seen in your Nova Class are great. Like I love the touch pad doors, the ejectable warp core. All great stuff.
However.
We must accept the limitations of Second Life, wether we like them or not. For example we all walk around like drunken sailors. if the corridors are too narrow we don't walk down them we ricochet down them. If the ceilings are too low we can't see were we are going. If the rooms are too small we keep bumping into each other, kinda hard to stand in one place that way.
The best way to build in SL is to follow the golden rule i.e.. the Builders Tape measure which is freely available. It sets the standards recommended by Lindens Labs as the minimum. the sizes may be larger but not smaller. If you want to build an exact scale model of something it must be scaled up so that every part meets the dimensional requirements specified by the Tape Measure. The other alternative is to build the outside to exact scale then fill it with rooms and corridors that meet the rules. This, of course, will mean leaving out a great many items.
The other limitations we have to contend with is prim count. Currently it appears that we will have a total of 1000 prims to devote to our ship. I for one would rather have a 1000 prims inside where we play rather than in a nice hull. Again I understand that this is offensive to a true builder/modeler but it is what we must do to accomplish what we want at Galaxy - a living breathing Star Fleet environment not just a ship. We expect members to live here. SL citizens to shop here, members to play here. this all takes prims.
Let me give you an example, is my Engineering room to scale -NO. Is my engineering room an exact replica of any Starship Engineering room - NO. Does my engineering room fit SL - Yes. It is easily identified as an engineering room, it is roomy and low prim. So I enjoy it and enjoy watching other members enjoying it - that is what it is all about. And since I don't have to worry about a hull when I complete this one I can start another one that hopefully will be better and slip right into the Holo Ship.
I would be glad to give you any of the blanks that fit the Holo Ship for you to detail the interior.
If you want a home for any part of your ship at Galaxy you must take the above mentioned factors into consideration like all of us do.
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 21, 2006 16:14:02 GMT -5
As some of you are aware of, I have created the Engineering section for the NOVA CLASS star ship. One of the main features that it has is an eject-able warp core, by pressing a button the warp core will slide down out of its holding apparatus.
Positioned on deck 7, by using the ‘gangway’ (stairs located behind the warp core) there will be access to deck 6 engineering support, and deck 8 anti-matter containment.
Note: Decks 6 & 8 attachments may not be created for the Galaxy sim mockup because of ‘forced’ space limitations/constraints.
Since the ship is going to be a nova class variant I am open to a few minor alterations and additions to fit its potential role as the RPG set for the Galaxy sim. One thing I have added in is a small sized equipment bay, which for example could be used for a cloaking device.
On other notes: for people that do want to take part AND HAVE YOUR NAME PERMINATLY ON THE DEDICATION PLAQUE, now is your chance, I am looking for a talented ship builder (I know there are lots of you out there) to create a 1:1 SCALE wave-rider auxiliary craft for the Nova Class ship, which can be seen on the underside of the saucer section. I will provide information regarding this ship for anyone who wishes to take up this task.
-Does not have to be under 30 primes, go nuts with detail =P
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Post by Dora Resistance on Mar 22, 2006 0:25:58 GMT -5
I'd consider doing this without the incentive, Sakai.
(Oh, and It'd fly, you can count on it.)
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 22, 2006 18:27:22 GMT -5
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Post by Sakai Takashi on Mar 27, 2006 16:20:53 GMT -5
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As you know, that's over 50% bigger than reg. Hence the main problem.
