Ship Design and Shear Size

Versus 1 Hit Point

from GalCiv2 Forums
"Thats not a moon its a freaking space station!"

We have all heard that before but the reality has sunk into me since I finally nailed down the design of my General Cargo Vessel Mk 1 (Altarian Appearance). I was thinking to myself... damn I have put three runways basically down on the ship. Huge wings, walk ways, etc etc. How big is this thing...

A US CVN is typically (at its extreme dimensions), 1100 feet long, 250 feet wide, 40 feet high and weights in at a respectible 100,000 tons. Standing beside one is freaking awe inspiring. Being a crewman and seeing a picture of one from tiny submraine periscope in the crosshairs causes a distinct pucker, I would imagine.

A Cargo Vessel though of the GCV Mk 1 size range (located in the library, pending approval) would need to be even larger. Unless my math is way off I estimate for my purposes in this post, that the GCV Mk 1 is about 9000 feet long, 9000 feet wide and 3600 feet high (at extremes), additionally it has to weigh in at about 8,000,000 tons. Thats roughly 1 3/4 miles long and wide plust 2/3rd a mile high.

The PDS Kat Land in my mine is a vessel of similar dimensions (see Prydean Miiltary History, Kat's Eye View). All that size, all that money, all that time to build, all them bodies and/or material to haul, preserve, and protect... what do you have... A nice design worth 1 HP, yet that costs 5 logistical points. It doesn't add up in my mind.

Something needs to change HP wise with the cargo hulls, to keep it even with the logistics. I would imagine something between a large and a medium for hit points, with base cost being adjusted is what I am leaning torward.

What are your alls thoughts?

Good Hunting,
With Respect,
Suralle Straykat
Kat Lord @ Large
8,611 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have no idea how to calibrate the size of the ships objectively. However in this game, I think the difference between they tiny and huge hulls isn't nearly large enough. I know thats probably the case because of display issues, but I really want my big ships to be scary.

Freespace had some terrifying ship scales, but it was a space sim and the big ships were basically terrain. Nothing like flying a space fighter the size of an F-18 over a 4 mile long ship that makes an aircraft carrier look like a canoe.

I guess the 1 hitpoint signifies that non combatant ships are really fragile. It really just speeds up battle anyway. It isn't like they can ever win a match with no guns.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cargo hulls are not for combat purposes.

If you want ships to be able to defend themselves, use a military hull.
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
How do you access the military hulls instead of the cargo hulls? I don't see a tab for military hulls.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
SHEER size, even
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
How do you access the military hulls instead of the cargo hulls? I don't see a tab for military hulls.



All Non-Cargo hulls are considered Military.

Cheers,
Reaver

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cargo Holds are merely for early-game usage; they are calibrated for playability, not realism. They give you something to work with in the early stages but emphasize the importance of researching more advanced hull types.

There are no military hulls, specifically. The Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, etc. Hulls exist primarily for military purposes, but they are listed in the same category as the Cargo Hulls once they are researched.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think the cargo hull has a high logistics points value because it has the same carrying capacity as a large military hull. It may only have 1HP because it is meant to be an unarmoured civilian hull. This is reflected in the price of the hull (half that of a large military hull) and the fact there is no tech prerequisite.

There is no reason you would not be able to use the large hull for purposes traditionally the domain of the cargo hull if you feel it may be placed in harms way. It'll just cost more. Extra protection usually does.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use Cargo Hulls for attack sometimes, mostly when miniturization is incredibly high and mass drivers are at gravitron IV. That may only work at my difficultly but i find it fun to not have a large hulled ship and still have 5+ guns on it.

Still, a YT-1300 Non-Modified Freighter (Think Mullenium Falcon w/o the guns) can still take more damage than most cargo hulled vessels here. Turbolasers pwn Particle beams, So.... I kinda agree with Suralle on this one.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm personally fine with the HP and logistics of the cargo hulls. Not much more to say there.


I'll have to agree that the scale really big ships are displayed at had me disappointed, though, when I built a rediculously huge ship (just for the heck of it) and called it "God." Building "God's God" proved equally disappointing, too.

There should be a slider in the options that lets you set a flat scaling rate for the ships; after all, it won't bother me if a ship's model is larger than the tile it's sitting on.