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Tekka-Croe — Nimbus (2018)
#interceptor #sciencefiction #scifi #spacecraft #spacefighter #spaceship #starfighter #starship
Published: 2018-10-31 02:43:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 24079; Favourites: 768; Downloads: 374
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Description
A colorized version of yesterday's Inktober entry along with artwork of Nimbus from earlier this year. While this is not the first depiction of Nimbus, it is wholly disconnected from the fighter's previous design . The current conception of Nimbus has a much tighter and more compact hull shape.An ultralight interceptor used by the Cirrus crew. Nimbus is a so-called Gaia Spearpoint, the term referring to a nearly limitless variety of configurations used by Gaia's planetary militia. The unifying feature of all Gaia Spearpoints is that they are, without exception, built on the Norrinn Shipworks "Gunsprite" interceptor frame. Nimbus is armed with a hull-integral beam lance on its center-line, a pair of offset coilgun pods, and possesses mounting lugs for small ship-to-ship missile systems. The fighter can be stowed inverted on a docking pallet mounted to the dorsal surface of Cirrus' hull.
Setting and art ©
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Comments: 23
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Compact sleek practical...Three out of three..... Style 11/10...Detail 10/10. I want one factor...Off the chart..I sir doff my spaceship designers cap to you!
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Nice. I love that this is a significant departure from the design philosophy of atmospheric fighters -- no aerodynamic streamling (unnecessary in vacuum) and no windows (visual sighting is a lot less useful in space). Kudos on the attention to scientific detail; there's not enough of that in science fiction art IMO.
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Cool design! It feels very practical for a space fighter, but still has a bit of sleekness to it.
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I love these! Great design and colour schemes - somehow both believable and appealing.
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This is absolutely lovely!
So, with this current iteration now coming to fruition, could the previous design still exist in some fashion? Or is it now mothballed?
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Love it. Looks like a cruiser, but stings like a fighter.
Although, like with all sci-fi fighters, there's the problem of "if you take out the human and put an AI computer instead, you'd gain nothing but benefits in fighting abilities". But this is another thing I like about this design - to do that you literally have nothing to do but change a couple of phrases in the text in the description and the art! (Well, if you want to, of course)
But also got a little confused - a human for the scale is supposed to be for the left image, or for the right two images with components layouts?
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The little scale guy corresponds to the ortho views on the left side of the image.
As for the fighter being manned, this is relatively rare outside of civilian/paramilitary arenas. In a military context, only a small handfull of fighters are manned, those being squadron commanders whose ships are accompanied by flights of networked drone fighters.
It's crucial to understand that in NI, so-called "smart AI" (AI which is self-aware and capable of "thinking" along lines similar to sapient beings) is extremely rare and heavily regulated. The main reason for some fighters being manually controlled is the simple fact that while the AI controlling drone fighters is capable of rational problem-solving to some degree, it's not able to make judgement calls (or "command decisions").
While remote operation is sometimes viable, it's vulnerable to jamming, and that vulnerability gets worse with longer ranges. Hence, some fighters are manned.
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It definitely looks very fast! Very utilitarian and KISS-effective, too.
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Very cool, although I'd say the fuel storage doesn't look even remotely sufficient enough - looking at it from the perspective of current spacecraft.
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The liquid fuel is just for the little maneuvering micro-thrusters. It's an extremely light craft, so it takes only a small amount of force to reorient. The main drive engines have a separate power source.
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Gosh your space ship designs always blow me away!
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Nice design. Not a lot of people do the internal cockpit for ships like these, which for a space setting would be the most realistic way of doing any sort of piloted combat spacecraft. The overall look of this is great really, it comes together nicely in the shape. As someone else mentioned, I'm also getting the Homeworld vibe, which is definitely a plus.
I hope you don't mind me asking this, but would you be okay with me using this for a Mass Effect RP site I'm in? I'll definitely be sure to credit you and send you a link to the site if you want.
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A nice design, i like the Homeworld vibe i get from it.
Plus it has the cockpit completely enclosed, i imagine either a holographic display surronding the pilot OR a direct mental link of some sort.
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It's got a little of both, though neural augmentation/interfaces are extremely rare in NI. By default it has something akin to Ace Combat's COFFIN system, with a series of panoramic displays surrounding the pilot. There are also options to connect the visual feeds to a helmet display. The only members of Cirrus' crew who can effectively use the fighter in a combat role are Dee (as she is formally trained as a combat pilot) and Reina (because by integrating with the fighter via her nervous interface, she can exert "intuitive" control over propulsion, maneuvering, sensors, weapon systems, etc.).
The rest of the crew understand the fighter well enough to use it as a sort of one-man shuttlecraft if necessary, but would be way out of their depth in a combat situation.
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Panoramic displays are what i meant with "holographic cockpit", sorry for phrasing it so badly
What i am wondering (might be relevant for your universe as well) would be how a non-intrusive neural interface could work.
You know, one that does not require any implants. Maybe via brain scan and microwave?
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love the design, picturing a civilian getting hands on one and turning it into a race ship for asteroid belt racing
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