The first thing I thought when I jumped into GSF on the Imp side was how horrible the Imp strikers look. I couldn't even bring myself to fly the stupid looking things. I shouldn't even have to bring this up.

The first thing I thought when I jumped into GSF on the Imp side was how horrible the Imp strikers look. I couldn't even bring myself to fly the stupid looking things. I shouldn't even have to bring this up.

 

You aren't the only one They look more like tugs/shuttles than space superiority fighters.

 

You'd expect the primary starfighter of the SITH EMPIRE to look aggressive and predatory, like the Sith Fury class ship.

I'm convinced the poor apperance of the imperial strike fighters is actually part of what's lead to the massive imbalance between the reps and the imps. basicly people fly for the side with the best looking ships. and that's the Reps.

 

it's also worth noting that when you que for a match and get imperial newbies they almost ALL take the blackbolt instead of the Rycer despite the rycer being. IMHO, a better ship to learn on

I'm convinced the poor apperance of the imperial strike fighters is actually part of what's lead to the massive imbalance between the reps and the imps. basicly people fly for the side with the best looking ships. and that's the Reps.

 

it's also worth noting that when you que for a match and get imperial newbies they almost ALL take the blackbolt instead of the Rycer despite the rycer being. IMHO, a better ship to learn on

 

I think it's also why so many Republic pilots flew Flashfires with BLC's before 2.6. It looks like an A-wing.

 

But if you put BLC's on a Sting it looks ridiculously stupid.

 

I think most people generally prefer the Republic Gunships to the Imperial ones as well.

 

Before 2.6, I think the only Imperial ship people generally liked was the Blackbolt (and even then most folks want the ubiquitous version with S-foils open). At least with Bombers, Imperials got some nicer looking fighters (Razorwire at least), while the Republic Bombers are hideous.

I dont mind the look of the quell and rycer, but they certainly dont look 'imperial'. They fit my bounty hunter character just fine, almost looking like a hutt designed ship (similar structure to the enforcer, more rigid/square design). They dont fit the imperial military at all though.

 

I generally like the look of the cartel market ships more than others, though. My main flies an enforcer strike fighter, I love the look of the cartel market bomber, and the cartel gunship (the strongarm/demolisher), even though being terrible stats-wise, looks far better than gunships on either side.

Perhaps I just like the underworld motiff, though.

Edited February 7, 2014 by Tenacity

I actually like the look of the Rycer and Quell. That's just me though.

I'm convinced the poor apperance of the imperial strike fighters is actually part of what's lead to the massive imbalance between the reps and the imps. basicly people fly for the side with the best looking ships. and that's the Reps.

 

it's also worth noting that when you que for a match and get imperial newbies they almost ALL take the blackbolt instead of the Rycer despite the rycer being. IMHO, a better ship to learn on

 

Exactly. I'm not saying anybody at Bioware needs to be let go over it but good golly, those ships look terrible! I could sketch something better on a napkin. Nobody needs to admit their mistake, just fix it and make SWTOR a better game for everybody.

Exactly. I'm not saying anybody at Bioware needs to be let go over it but good golly, those ships look terrible! I could sketch something better on a napkin. Nobody needs to admit their mistake, just fix it and make SWTOR a better game for everybody.

 

This was actually feedback given as early as October during closed beta. I suspect it's far too costly to change it now. The best we can hope for is some nice Cartel alternate models for the Quell and upcoming third Strike.

This was actually feedback given as early as October during closed beta. I suspect it's far too costly to change it now. The best we can hope for is some nice Cartel alternate models for the Quell and upcoming third Strike.

 

There's no reason for it to be costly to change a ship model. All they have to do is render it and put it in. It's nothing that needs to be prolonged or drawn out for any reason. Just get it done and move on. I'd be happy to do it myself if they're really that strapped for cash.

Edited February 7, 2014 by arkanone

I think the only good looking ships on the Republic side are Bomber's and the Star Guard, the pub Gunship looks too much like a boat or something, same with the Flashfire.

 

I love the Imperial scouts, but the Strike and Bomber looks too clunky for me.

Well, they can't change the models. They could make some OTHER models going forward, of course.

There's no reason for it to be costly to change a ship model. All they have to do is render it and put it in. It's nothing that needs to be prolonged or drawn out for any reason. Just get it done and move on. I'd be happy to do it myself if they're really that strapped for cash.

 

It's time consuming, and far more complicated than you seem to believe. Time is money, therefor it is also costly to change ship models.

 

I used to help mod a game called freelancer (which has almost identical gameplay systems to GSF, actually, though the game is much older). For a new ship to be added in that game, you needed a variety of things done:

 

1. First and foremost, the model itself (which had to be -properly- designed and rendered as a single polygon mesh, most 3d artists like to jumble numerous polys together which doesnt work well with game engines).

 

2. Create a hitbox for the model. You could be lazy and just build an oversized oddly shaped cage around the ship model as a hitbox, but that often led to balance issues - making the ship too hard or too easy for the game engine to register hits against. For better quality, you want hitboxes that are as close-fitting to the visible ship model as possible, while not containing too many faces or vertices which could cause lag for the ingame rendering engine.

 

3. Create texture and light maps for the model which mesh well enough with ingame environments and do not cause visual issues. In freelancer, the most common issues were ships not rendering at all when viewed from specific angles or in specific environments (like nebulas), textures showing up too light or too dark, or not reflecting the color of an environment properly, so on and so forth.

 

4. Creating a hardpoint file which designates weapon and equipment hardpoint connection locations. Ships would often have in excess of 4-6 weapons (sometimes as many as 20 or 30 weapons for capital ships), and half a dozen or so equipment hardpoints for various thigns like engines, thrusters, shields, countermeasures, mines, missiles, etc. etc. Hardpoint files are a rough combination of 3d modelling and text file programming.

 

5. Create the game data files associated with the ship. In freelancer, this involved seperate notepad documents which would detail out the ship's stats (turn rates, speed, hitpoints, and the like), where the ship was sold, how much it cost, what kind of ship it was, what weapons and equipment it could use, what factions could or could not use it, the list goes on and on.

 

6. Extensive testing of the above aspects to ensure that there are no bugs related to either the statistics or aesthetics of a ship.

 

 

In GSF, those steps would be compounded by the fact that ships need additional models and such created for all of the visible components.

 

So many people think "oh, I've used 3ds max before, I could make a ship in a day!" and dont actually realize what really goes into creating something like that.

The Strike fighters are pretty ugly to look at. I wish they looked more like Star Wars ships or at the very least like ships from other science fiction movies.

You aren't the only one They look more like tugs/shuttles than space superiority fighters.

 

You'd expect the primary starfighter of the SITH EMPIRE to look aggressive and predatory, like the Sith Fury class ship.

 

The Fury would be a good start at least. They'd only need one more model after that...this shouldn't be rocket science.

In the beginning I also thought the imp strike fighters left much to be desired, but after flying them both pretty extensively they have grown on me. I especially like my Quell. I also believe they look better when they are actually in flight rather than viewing them on the hanger screen. I loved seeing the the Quell parted in the new KDY area.

In the beginning I also thought the imp strike fighters left much to be desired, but after flying them both pretty extensively they have grown on me. I especially like my Quell. I also believe they look better when they are actually in flight rather than viewing them on the hanger screen. I loved seeing the the Quell parted in the new KDY area.

 

The Quell is the least offensive, because at least it has a forward-pointed silhouette. It looks a bit predatory, much as the Blackbolt does.

 

But the Rycer and the Imperium have no aggression. The only ships they look similar to are Lambda shuttle (with wings folded for landing) or the tugs from X-wing.

 

Even if the Rycer just had wings that folded down and out instead of up and in.. it'd look a little better. Like this http://www.revell.de/starwars/reqRessources/img/produkte/06672_RepublicAttackShuttle_new.jpg.