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Author Topic: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Topic: Dry-Dock)  (Read 14212 times)

Itnetlolor

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A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Topic: Dry-Dock)
« on: February 18, 2011, 04:10:43 pm »

Project Title:
ARMOK'S BLADE!!!

Nazushilbash Anrizsombith Nòm

Bloodaxe the Sky-Executioner of God


I think I found an acceptable name that translates well into dwarven to work off of now. Much thanks to those who helped (namely Boksi; candidate for foreman of first embark party), as well as the dwarven translator in-game. Bloodfist was a fortress-class ship, this one is an executioner-class ship. Sky-throne of God (Anrizkalur Nòm) is another potential class name, considering it'll be noble-suitable as well, considering it's size. Unless I work on a throne-class ship at a later date (more a luxury juggernaut if anything; plenty defense, suitable for royalty to live aboard indefinitely, definitely larger than any of the warships for luxury reasons exclusively (you know nobles)); but that can be up for grabs for someone else to take on, if they're willing to, that is. It would, after all, be a flying throne/kingdom, and not as much a warship or fortress. As a portion of Armok, it would probably classify as Armok's Breastplate: Bloodarmor the Sky-Throne of God (Nazushtosid Anrizkalur Nòm).

Simple shape description: Like the bastard-child of the Bloodfist and a hammerhead shark
(No design plans have been established yet to work it out yet.
My mind ran some functional design plans and that was a consistent ergonomic and efficient shape that also held true to it's name. Long aft portion, medium/small abdomen, broad and wide head resembling an axe horizontally. Most structurally sound and aerodynamic setup I can think of for the time being.)

Logo design: Still working out, but like the last one, it must be red, and have spikes and a ring of red. Spikes on the ring like the last one is acceptable or encouraged. Must translate well into low resolutions.

Logo Concept: So far, following the design structure of the Bloodfist's, the ring will remain the same, but the axe will be symmetrical and translate well enough with a 1-tile tolerance on both sides of the handle (with support tiles on 2 or 3 points between), and a 1-tile tolerance of the blades rounding near the ring, resembling an axe shape within the ring's open area. Again, the ring will not be changed, but the fist will instead be an axe. Light and dark red shades will be used. In the case of underground vegetation, red materials should be less difficult to obtain (especially dark red with clay loam), and would likely be made of more woodlike materials, than toxic rock materials (looking at you cinnabar, and your mercury ores; an unwritten complaint, until a chief medical dwarf took notice and filed a decommission report on the Bloodfist on the bases of "Air Madness", explaining why everyone could "communicate with the souls in the ship".).

What helped me with the designing process: Some inspirational music and A related video



Considering   the new release of DF, and at least almost a year since I last finished   the Bloodfist, plus it's popularity, I recently got myself a flash of   inspiration, and much like how making the Bloodfist helped me learn 40d   rapidly, building a successor to it in 31.xx will help me adapt to it   rapidly. Of course, in order to make a proper successor to it, I'll   learn from my mistakes, but I'll also have to adapt to the new elements   of the newer version(s) at the same time.

Anyway, the dimensions   of my old ship was 5 decks tall (5 Z-levels), and about a region tile   and roughly third long, if I measured correctly, 63 tiles long (63 / 48 =   1.3125 region tiles long), and roughly 3/4 of a region tile wide (37 /   48 = .77083 R-wide). I'm maybe thinking of topping that, and   updating the design a bit as well, while keeping to a similar style. Of   course, updates may have to be less frequent, at least map-wise, though I   would probably provide screenshots of the ships progress. I'll have to   get around to planning it however.

If the Bloodfist was a mere   frigate, then this thing's gonna be a juggernaut (well, battleship if I   top the successor with it's successor). More engines and boilers may be   mandatory; of course, as would be the crew quarters and weapons. Burrows   should definitely make the successor project a hell of alot easier to   manage once everything gets moving.

Link to the original Bloodfist Project (completed April 4th, 2010)




Currently, I am thinking of taking up the 31.xx environment like I did with the 40d environment, and am willing to see if I can construct another mighty airship worthy of Armok's honor. However, I want to see if I can top my old creation and be able to create something mightier. I think the Bloodfist in it's most basic state is under-armed, under-armored, and underpowered. I aim to remedy that with it's successor. By comparison to what I have in mind, what was once considered a battleship is no more than a frigate-class airship. To be more accurate, however, it's more like a caravel-class airship.

My plans will up the ante and make for a more proper battleship fitting of a title more comparable to at least a galleon-class battleship, if not that, then a juggernaut.

We already know the dimensions of the old Bloodfist: (region tiles = 48 fort-mode tiles)
X: 37 (.77083 of a local region tile)
Y: 63 (1.3125 of a local region tile)
Z: 5

V-Engines: 12 (According to number and placement, just enough to suspend with 9 of them alone, and all of them, lift at the rate of a bird)
H-Engines: 4 (According to number and placement, just enough to move at twice to triple horse-speed, provided all engines powered simultaneously (2x if all, 3x if 75% vert power distribution).

I'll definitely go larger than those dimensions. Of course, still building according to what would conceivably make it float and remain aerodynamic enough to not rattle apart when in-flight or suspended and follow at least a limited set of physics laws. Again, I'll be learning from my past mistakes as well as adapt to the newer mechanics of the new versions. Seeing as I'm new to these features, much fun will still be had. Help is accepted for ideas to implement and names for the successor (made a choice, and a future choice for a post-future project for an even later version of DF to work with). If any fans are still about, but missed the production of the original, feel free to help out (along) with the process.

I'll be repeating some past methodology like I did with the last project however, so a skeleton of the ship will be constructed before the rest of the ship is made, for starters, as would also be a dry-dock for loading and unloading, as well as construction purposes. I may or may not reconsider where I place the docking platform. Maybe I'll use multiple docking platforms this time around; who knows? I'm still in the planning/concept phase, so I'm welcome to additional ideas. Features will be similar to the classic Bloodfist to retain style and within the shipwright family however.

Planning, concept, and construction will follow a similar, or the same procedure: I'll do some idea gathering, gathering necessities and learning what features are in the version I'll be working with, implement them with the design, and anything else I (or the fans I'll involve this time) want to include, then work on the actual concept work and refine the art, reduce it's resolution, in a sense (using LDD again, or a program that is cube-with-flat blocks-friendly, that builds on a 3D grid; LDD for familiarity most likely) so I can translate it to the DF environment easier, ensure the version I'm going to work in is stable enough and not too broken to be able to work on a seamless design (with it's own fun per-version; with hopes that it is forwards-compatible or the new version is backwards-compatible, just in case), fun ensues.

Like stated before, I'll make 2 separate threads, one for the project itself in this thread, the other with the fun of production in the community thread in order to keep the serious building discussion, and the silly stuff that happens along with the storytelling separate from each other. I don't want to draw too much confusion like the last project would, and I know how much fun thumbing through all those pages is. That's why I'm going to do it this way, and don't worry, I'll put in links where relevant in both threads for reference.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2013, 02:30:05 pm by Itnetlolor »
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Itnetlolor

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Status and Links)
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2011, 04:11:08 pm »


Status:
Current Status:  :D We're getting started. (OLD): Concept art produced, colored in, and posted (SEE: next post)
 8)    -Planning: (UPDATE) Ship is conceptualized, or simply put, done.
 8)    -Development: (UPDATE) I have a working model I can use as a blueprint. Thanks, Paint.Net. I can call this done. Feel free to comment on it.
 :)    -Construction: See below Gonna get started on this after Easter. In the meantime, I gotta go searching for a good site to work with. Suggestions are welcome. Preferably, something with a volcano, and easy access to water.
 :)    -Deployment: Ship needs a bit more work, but I'll adapt it as I see fit. The model might evolve as I work on it. So far, I have something I can work with.
Fortress Status: ;D Once we get ourselves a site, You'll know the rest.
Community Status: ;D See above
Overall Status:  ;D (UPDATE) We have ourselves a basic blueprint to work with. I am also better motivated to get to work as well. Hopefully, my schedule will comply.


Links:
Old Bloodfist Project

ARMOK'S GAUNTLET: Bloodfist, The Sky-Fortress of God; +50,000 VIEWS
Mine-craft (Version 1 schematic file for Minecraft's MCEdit. Version 2 is WIP.) +1500 served so far

New Bloodaxe Project
Future Link to Community Thread (No real link, community board right now)


However, this makes a good post opportunity to mention this: I will not post my updates in the same thread like I did with Bloodfist. Instead, in honor of my fandom, I'm actually going to make a community fort effort of this project, so all the records of the project and social developments and other hilarity will be happening in the DF Community Board thread of the same project name (maybe paraphrased). This will allow me to keep the project based stuff (discussions and etc. regarding building the ship), and the community fort shenanigans separate and in their relevant boards. Plus, it would also make linking a bit more sensible in the project thread, while keeping in the style of the last one. Plus, I also want to make a community fort as well for once, and what better way than to get my fans involved in the project. I nearly used up all my captains in the last one, and am a bit under-staffed, especially since this next project is post-timeskip by at least a century or half. This also gives me more opportunities to provide some more creative backstory, allow fan submissions and such, and even provide some interesting tidbits of my techniques that can be applied so others can replicate my work and expand the inner-universe around the Bloodfist and the future branched off it. I wanna see more ships sailing the skies. I can't be the only sky-captain of the world of tomorrow.


Learning from last time, I'm posting some reserve posts for progress reports and whatnot.

In due time, and when I get around to it, the layout should end up becoming:
OP: Front page, basic info, links to main project and related stuff.
2: Stats (population, deaths, MVD, etc.) and document links (similar to Bloodfist's progress reports).
3: Screenshots of progress or features
4: As of now, suggestion post; What suggestions or opinions I'm currently open to for the time being. Could possibly become a fan post or FAQ.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2013, 12:42:18 pm by Itnetlolor »
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Itnetlolor

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Image Post)
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2011, 04:11:26 pm »

Concept Art:

Development Screenshots:

Production Screenshots:

Fan Art (if interested):


Still in Planning phase.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2013, 12:46:32 pm by Itnetlolor »
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Itnetlolor

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Suggestions Post)
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2011, 04:11:48 pm »

Open to suggestions so far:
-Additional design features for ship
-A name for the ship (must convert well in dwarven; must be at least a bit different from the original (IE- not 'bloodfist' nor 'sky-fortress of god' can be repeated/involved)
-A suitable embark location (Made a list below of my requirements.)
-A suitable embark setup/starter setup (dwarf skills and equipment)

Preferred Embark (Use PerfectWorldDF if you must. I don't have the most finesse in it myself, I've tried.):
-Bauxite or fireproof-material access (so I can also embark with some or find some; at least, without digging deep first.).
-Copper-rich and possibly gem-rich (both factors may be a dice-roll however)
-No aquifer preferred, little is allowed, provided I can find a use for it, as long as it's away from a potential quarry or "Dig Deep" zone. Speaking of which, a cave opening is an option. I'm okay if there isn't one.
-Heavily forested location. Not to be an elf, but the denser, the better. This is gonna be huge, and the seasonal growth better be favorable for harvesting annually and/or constantly which also minimizes wandering distance for expanded harvesting (risk of ambush increases the more distance between harvesting and the project site; according to previous notes).
-A fertile, moist, seasonally friendly biome where lakes/ponds won't dry up, as would the grasses. If we face any fires, I don't want our lands to char up like last time. Especially considering the latest features to come.
-Easy-access magma pool/pipe is welcome to speed up metal and glass processing, as well as assist with ceramics (if ceramics can involve magma). I'll worry about any imps that come out if they appear.
-Considering the version, I doubt chasms or bottomless pits will make any appearance anyway, but I'm open to them for added challenge like the last project.
-Nearby hostile activity can keep my builders and defense contractors on their toes, at least, until they lose them somehow.
-Anything else, or no magma readily available, I can always risk it and dig deeper. I can always make a processing plant. Thank you burrows.
-To keep tradition (and for security reasons) we prefer to keep this project, or at least some of it, on a secure rocky base. Something solid enough to plant a drydock firmly into the foundation, as well as a landscape we can take advantage of for the sake of crafting some adequate defense lines. I speak, of course, of a mountain, or at least, rocky landscape should claim about 1 local embark tile at least.

In case I'm too chicken about messing with magma deep underground (I have yet to make a fort that involves being deep underground), I can always make an access pipeline to it like I would in Minecraft, and make a walled-in pocket to it. I wish my woodcutters farming the colorful fungus the best of luck, unless the military is more user-friendly.

Old design:
We already know the dimensions of the old Bloodfist: (region tiles = 48 fort-mode tiles)
X: 37 (.77083 of a local region tile)
Y: 63 (1.3125 of a local region tile)
Z: 5

V-Engines: 12
H-Engines: 4
Boilers: 2 (sufficient to power 16 engines (1 boiler for every 8 engines, 10 if redlining))

Crew Quarters: 6
Captain's Quarters: 2 (1 for captain, the other for the navigator/cartographer)
The spare rooms are for the chef the brewer and maintainence mechanic.
Barracks/Dormitory Housing: 27 troops/guests

New Design:
As of now, probably something that requires the use of 4 boilers, considering the scale of the project, so I'm looking at maybe a total of up to 32 engines. This thing will be big and heavy. I may also make use of a dedicated section of a deck for placing the machinery so I can apply more luxury to the rest of the ship, and have the moving parts less exposed.

Considering the complexity of the machinery, and potential extended uses (at maybe the sacrifice of an engine or 2), up to half a deck will have to be sectioned off, only through a series of maintainence hatches will it be accessed by engineering crew (with possibly a bed or 2 stationed within, in case we have gearheads).

If we are to have any livestock aboard (if I choose post-31.19 to work in), we'll need a proper animal storage deck. This can also be used for maintaining any mounts for high-ranking officials (sounds similar to the Highwind with the chocobos), and an assigned dwarf with sufficient husbandry skills to maintain the deck and animals.

Considering a number of complaints from the troops of the Bloodfist, as well as well-established crew members of the same said ship, medical concerns were not a consideration, especially given your average dwarven lifespan when it was created. I wouldn't blame them. Considering we still have most of our original crew intact over the years, and that a new ship is in order in the new world we've colonized (much thanks to reaching it by our former glorious craft, showing it's years, being retired as a monument to our first claiming of the skies, awaiting restoration for any dwarf interested), a welcome suggestion is a utility we have in our new kingdom, a proper medical station on board, and for strility reasons, it's own supply storage and treatment station locked away from the rest of the ship. This may be the only portion of the ship that may also be made of a metal, or of a stone that ensures cleanliness. Copper, I feel, would make an appropriate material metal-wise for an operation room.

Processing all the information the new ship will have to deal with will defiinitely call for a much more elaborate Chenjesu system. The previous ones (A and B) were only 1-3-3 LCD (Linked-Crystal-Dynamics) systems. We may need to double the output at least (say a 2-3-3 Y-symmetry setup?). I hope we can still have enough in reserve to make a backup like we did with the original design.

I heard reports from other mountainhomes that we haven't explored the underground enough, and that there are amazing and horrifying things that lie deep underground. Cave systems with all kinds of splendid colorful materials and such. Tower caps are not the only dense fungus we can use. For living under rocks, I'm surprised we missed this. Anyway, we can elaborate on more designs and color schemes and still keep the ship light enough to keep the stress on the engines low enough. Mayhaps we can put designs on the sides as well? After all, we ought to go larger than 5 decks. Right? Let's give the new ship more vertical dimension. Make it more luxurious.

Granted we did well with the initial setup, there have been times where we have been under-gunned or both of our balista have broken down. We had to place more hardpoints, and at times, even remove parts of our ship to stock up on bolts and mounting more balistae to protect ourselves from those damn giant birds, or protect topside from attacks from the many dark fortresses we had to strike. I advise next time we add more default hardpoints to the next ship. I mean, if anyone is going to learn from the remains of the old ship, then we might see some air-to-air combat, and we need some tactically placed hardpoints, plenty fixed, and a couple flexible. Of course, this will mean more mandatory housing for siege operators to man them, and at least one dedicated room for a siege engineer to maintain them. Let's hope this won't cut into the luxury factor too much.

An odd request has come in, but I wonder if it's possible to move land onto the topside of the ship to serve as a garden or area for the animals to graze. Could work for those multiple purposes if it can be pulled off (Modding thread might have something that can allow for it to work; part will have to be installed before takeoff however). (Idea also inspired by One Piece with the Going Merry, and that it has tangerine trees on the upper deck.)
« Last Edit: February 18, 2011, 09:28:10 pm by Itnetlolor »
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Girlinhat

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2011, 04:21:46 pm »

Is it possible to suspend it from the sky, utilizing supports, so you can go without anything holding it up and have cave-ins active?

Itnetlolor

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2011, 04:28:11 pm »

I can always have it supported and everything, but I also like building in an open area so when I remove the supporting structures, it'll become independent from any ground and convincingly look like it's flying.

The reason I made it as I did last time was to prevent invading goblins and creatures from getting into the fort via the airship access or scaffolding. Of course, I might make use of scaffolding this time around as well.

Regarding the question though, I don't think it's possible for supports to be used that way, and I don't feel like running that risk. Plus, I can always activate [CAVE-INS:OFF] when I start disassembling the support beams and scaffolding for the structure. Especially by the final piece(s).
« Last Edit: February 18, 2011, 04:30:45 pm by Itnetlolor »
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Girlinhat

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2011, 04:30:39 pm »

A test world for proof-of-theory should be easy.  I know that I was able to support a floor tile with a support above it, but I didn't test with adjacent tiles.  If it's possible, then it can make you capable of being completely removed from the ground by hanging from the ceiling.

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2011, 04:31:25 pm »

So the dwarven captain of the skys wishes to once again build a might ship of war in the name of Armok... Today it a great day for dwarf kind! May your stern be sharp and bow be strong!

Sarudak

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2011, 04:32:28 pm »

I think you can't build on the top layer is the problem and you would somehow have to cast an obsidian wall up at the map top to support it. No idea how you would go about doing that if you can't build anything up there though...
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ggamer

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #9 on: February 18, 2011, 04:37:38 pm »

May this ship grow to become the pride of the mountainhomes, master ship builder...

EDIT: Holy shit, one of the mods need to change your tag to Master ship builder

Girlinhat

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2011, 04:38:26 pm »

You cannot build anything that provides a floor above it, namely walls, but you can put floors, statues, fortifications, and other things there, just so long as they don't generate anything on the level above them.  You can build supports on the top-most level, and I assume pumps but I've never tried it myself.

Itnetlolor

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2011, 04:41:26 pm »

I think what is meant is something like this:

Side view: (I is support, obviously)
  ██████
  I    █
  █    █
  █    █
       █
       █
████████
« Last Edit: February 18, 2011, 04:43:21 pm by Itnetlolor »
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Girlinhat

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2011, 04:56:45 pm »

Nope, just a support hanging from the sky.  You can, in fact, build a support on the topmost level and have it function, because apparently the level above the topmost level is counted as a floor, so the support is hanging off the "ceiling of the sky" and therefore is an active support.  Gen a low-sky world with [SPEED:0] and test it yourself.  Shit floats on the sky!

adwarf

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2011, 05:05:01 pm »

Call it the Ship of Doom, and it shoudl have 10000 Balistas on each side at the least
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Itnetlolor

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Re: A Successor to the Bloodfist! (Megaproject Pending)
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2011, 05:11:58 pm »

Well, using a support off the sky wouldn't exactly work well for me, considering how I do things; plus, it would give my dwarves a bit too much unnecessary work to do. They already have enough of that establishing a dry-dock foundation (like the one you see at the original build site.

And "Ship of Doom" or "Doomship" doesn't sound good enough to be a successor. Something like "Bonesword" or "Bloodedge" or something Armok-related would suffice.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2011, 05:13:53 pm by Itnetlolor »
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