Hermes-class Transport Ship

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Meet the Hermes-class Transport Ship, a vessel designed to move large Marine and Army forces to the battlefield. Not just the planet upon which the battle is taking place, but the actual field of battle.
The Hermes TS has heavy armor and shielding to protect it from all forms of attack, allowing gunships and drop ships to flood the skies and deploy Marines, soldiers, and light armor units. Upon landing, the TS will then deploy heavy armor units, artillery units, and a mobile command center connected to every troop, MUV, tank, Mech, gunship, and cannon on the field.

Now for pictures:

Hermes-class:

I'll...post specs and LDD file later. I'm lazy right now, despite having just whipped this up in an hour or so.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

I like it! Not too close to a Starfleet ship, but still very good. Well done!

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

I like it! Not too close to a Starfleet ship, but still very good. Well done!

Well, like I said, it's not supposed to be a Starfleet ship. I kept seeing all the saucer-stick-and-nacelle ships and decided I wanted to try it out.

I've decided that I kind of like the concept, and may use some of the techniques I used here for future starship models.

That and I needed to come up with a new transport vessel and this gave me a prime excuse.

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

Awesome! My only issue comes from two things:
1. the cannons: They just don't seem to fit into the design and more importantly, they can't incline or decline.
2. aesthetically, all the detail 1x2 (or is it 2x1) plates: they look too random to fit together, especially with the cannons.

Those two cmlainst aside, I like the saucer section very much! Overall shape is pretty good.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Awesome! My only issue comes from two things:
1. the cannons: They just don't seem to fit into the design and more importantly, they can't incline or decline.
2. aesthetically, all the detail 1x2 (or is it 2x1) plates: they look too random to fit together, especially with the cannons.

Those two cmlainst aside, I like the saucer section very much! Overall shape is pretty good.

Well obviously they don't have the full detail they should - full vertical traverse and such. As for the 2x1 detail plates, they're supposed to be anti-fighter/missile point-defense batteries.

[ForgeRecruit (No Affiliation)]

I like it! But I dislike the porcupine effect from all the little cannons, it really detracts from the look. Maybe you could try to find a better way to mount them? That's really my only complaint, nicely done.

[Lord General SpudLord General (MSI)]

Nice! This is a very unique shape. I love the SNOT work. Very well done!

On my ships, I just imply that there are weapons on the hull. I don't actually build them on the model anymore, because I go for the streamlined look. Maybe you could do the same with this ship. It would resolve the so-called "porcupine effect," as Ant dubbed it ( ), and make this ship even better (in my opinion).

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

That's an advantage to phasers, AA! Streamlined ships that are well armed.

[ForgeRecruit (No Affiliation)]

It's the only benefit, and if you fight a war with asthetics on your mind, you wlll quickly find yourself losing. Thus why PXR and I are so good. And then there's Kojan and S-H, who can just blend perfect power and might and funciton with beauty, and then everyone's too busy drooling over it to realize they're getting blown up.

[PXRRecruit (No Affiliation)]

@Ant: Haha lol! No point in being pretty if you're going to end up dead.

[GuestGuest]

Very nice! Creative use of the nacelle modules. I also like the guns, though perhaps a few less of them would help the aesthetics. Maybe try recoloring them. Great ship overall, though; well done!

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

@ Well, everybody:

I'll see about an alternative way to denote that weapons do in fact exist where they do - probably a 1x1 round panel without the stud. They'll still be laser cannons (or whatever) because I still don't like "fazers."

Honestly I'm sure we've been over this before, but I'll say it again: Star Wars weapons are, in my educated opinion, better than Star Trek's. Phasers have their use, I'm sure, but from what I've seen in the latest few episodes of The Next Generation I'll take a half-dozen laser cannons for the same amount of space needed for a single phaser bank.

Hermes Dos-Point-Oh:

Okay, so yeah, that looks much better.


Now for the specific comments...

@Spud: Thank you. I was told that the SNOT method would be difficult, but really the trick (for me at least) is to use the brick with two or four studs on the sides, and lay them so the top stud faces forward, and where you'd connect another stud backwards:

Cross-section (Sorta):

Then just put plates or sloped bricks (or both ) on the top and bottom for a nice even look, and better ways to add on details.

@MAD: I thought it was a nice touch, since I had no idea what to do with the outside studs on the cargo compartments, but they aren't "warp nacelles" they just look like them.

I think that kind of addressed everything...

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Actually, those aren't phaser banks on the Galaxy class. They are phaser arrays. Big difference? Arrays are many banks linked together, with VASTLY greater power. So putting a dozen laser cannons there instead of that phaser array wouldn't really be ideal as that phaser array is more on the line of multiple heavy anti cap ship turbolasers. And phasers really are a viable weapon for starships, although some people don't like them (which is okay) I believe it is a subconscious decision biased against bright colored beam weapons that have no barrel. So go with what floats your boat, but remember that a big, modern phaser array takes up the space of so many smaller weapons because it is equal to many of those smaller weapons. Also, phasers are capable of a MUCH greater arc of fire without any moving parts, thus allowing fewer big guns total to be able to hit targets in all locations. Eliminating big blind-spots and wait times for turrets to rotate into position.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Dino: *Ignoring the fact that you didn't say anything about the new Hermes-class... (Yes I'm still using Greek mythology and history terms for Grelfucan ships).*

Fine, fine. But unless I'm mistaken they can only fire one beam. I'll take the extra (negligible) time to turn a turret and the risk of blind spots in order to fire in more than one direction. Not to mention that if the phaser array's connection to the targeting computers gets knocked out it's a lot harder (if not impossible) to aim them, compared to a weapon with a barrel.

That being said. I'll...look into employing one or two on future PCG-based designs. Probably not for the Garuda Vanguard (my Star Wars paramilitary that I'm never going to stop working on), but maybe for the Grelfucans/MSI, since they're always stealing adapting new and exotic systems to use in their designs.

[Lord General SpudLord General (MSI)]

Jace: Yeah, that's the method I used on my last series of ships. It's really handy, and allows for some great sloped looks.

[TalmidCommander (PCG)]

I really like what you did with the StarTrekStyle design! The LookLikeWarpNacelle hangers are really cool.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Jace: Yeah, that's the method I used on my last series of ships. It's really handy, and allows for some great sloped looks.

Indeed it does, and your ship looks great, too.

I really like what you did with the StarTrekStyle design!  The LookLikeWarpNacelle hangers are really cool.

Thanks, Talmid. I'm glad you approve.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Spoiler:

Hmmm right.. commenting further on the ship itself. I like how chunky and armored the design is. And your SNOT work is very good. Using the nacelle space as hangers was quite clever. Well done! And I like your Greek mythology naming, although it seem to me that the Hermes would be better suited to corvette, but what do I know? P.S. the trans-pink pieces give it a nice unique touch.

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Spoiler:

Hmmm right.. commenting further on the ship itself. I like how chunky and armored the design is. And your SNOT work is very good. Using the nacelle space as hangers was quite clever. Well done! And I like your Greek mythology naming, although it seem to me that the Hermes would be better suited to corvette, but what do I know? P.S. the trans-pink pieces give it a nice unique touch.

Spoiler:

I didn't specify anything about the size, actually. Also, the scale is a bit ridiculously but I needed the space set at 1 stud=40 meters...so it's a rather large ship, hence the ability to move such massive forces.

The transparent pink panels are/were meant to be proton torpedo tubes (or groups of them given the scale ) but either way I suppose they do add a nice bit of detail.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

First, allow me to apologize in advance if I accidentally judge this as a ST ship and not as a SW-modeled-after-ST ship. I'll try not, but I may slip.

Judging from the second round of pics, I do like the overall design; however, it just feels a bit too bulky IMHO. I think it's that the saucer is so thick, combined with the thickness/positioning of the hangar/nacelles. The overall design is excellent, but the nacelles could use some streamlining (by which I mean "making longer/more slender")- although it may be that I'm just used to seeing them like that.

Also, what are the red/blue transparent bricks on the side? Are they warp engines, or are they SW engines you made to look like ST ones because the rest of the ship did?

One final nitpick- a 1:60 ratio? Considering everyone else builds at a sixth of that, it seems a bit excessive- although I understand you don't have a whole ton of faith in your abilities, so I get it if you were just trying to stay inside your boundaries.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Everyone else does not build at 1/6th of that, exactly. Myself and RMM included.

The "nacelles" are actually hangers, so they are supposed to be big to house lots of fighters.



Carry on.

[TetrahedronCaptain (PCG)]

He builds at 1:60, everyone else does 1:10. I'd call that 1/6. (unless my math is completely wrong, which is possible. )

I know, there were nacelle-looking things on the side of those.

[GuestGuest]

Yeah, I like the new version a lot better, ARC. The long guns on the last one detracted from the streamlined-yet-hulky look that the Hermes class has. Great work!

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

First, allow me to apologize in advance if I accidentally judge this as a ST ship and not as a SW-modeled-after-ST ship. I'll try not, but I may slip.

Judging from the second round of pics, I do like the overall design; however, it just feels a bit too bulky IMHO. I think it's that the saucer is so thick, combined with the thickness/positioning of the hangar/nacelles. The overall design is excellent, but the nacelles could use some streamlining (by which I mean "making longer/more slender")- although it may be that I'm just used to seeing them like that.

Also, what are the red/blue transparent bricks on the side? Are they warp engines, or are they SW engines you made to look like ST ones because the rest of the ship did?

One final nitpick- a 1:60 ratio? Considering everyone else builds at a sixth of that, it seems a bit excessive- although I understand you don't have a whole ton of faith in your abilities, so I get it if you were just trying to stay inside your boundaries.

Well, as I said this is a big, heavily-armored and therefore bulky ship. So it might look really thick and bulky because, honestly, it's supposed to be. That's how it doesn't get torn to shreds by enemy fire as it moves to deploy the forces embarked and during said deployment.

The bricks are simply lookalikes to Warp nacelles to match the theme of looking like a Trek ship.

As for the scale, that was mainly to keep the model's size down because my old laptop (upon which I made this model) was, in a word, lousy with LDD towards the end of its usage. While I still have it for Microsoft Office (school summer assignments and such that I should have started a month ago ) I will see about fixing it to make it longer/sleeker/more detailed, though I make no promises.

Everyone else does not build at 1/6th of that, exactly. Myself and RMM included.

The "nacelles" are actually hangers, so they are supposed to be big to house lots of fighters.

Carry on.

Actually the hangars are huge so they can carry an attack force with a couple dozen thousand Marines, with tanks, Mechs, and other logistics in the topic I most recently made.

[Sponsored content]