Hammer of Justice

[rossmum]

Well, me and Reaper decided we should make a map. Of a ship. A Covenant ship, no less.

So, after much considering of the constrictions of Halo's engine, we've come to some basic points.

Firstly, the ship will be named Hammer of Justice. I came up with the name (go me) and we may include... a little something... to go with the theme.

Second, the ship will be a frigate bearing a few resemblances to the T & R (due to the fact we found that the early T & R concepts looked awesome, and also good for a smaller ship). Here's one here. (CLICK ME)

Third, due to size constrictions and the fact we want a complete interior in the ship, we've decided on a length of about 500-600 metres, a little longer than the human frigates from Halo 2. This also means the ship will be about 300m wide, so we're working over a fairly big area here. The inside of the ship will likely be based off the T & R architecture, with modular sections to help us speed up the time to make the BSP. The ship will have most or all areas accessible, including:

Control Centre
Reactor and engine rooms
Both of the two hangar bays
Prisons
Grav lift bays
Storage bays
Engineering passages and hatches.

Another thing we want to do is make the players Elites. The story is that one group is still loyal to the Prophets, and control the ship; the others have sided with the Humans and must take it. They will be most likely "spaceman Elites", since I think we might make the frigate drifiting dead in space, with its gravity and propulsion systems offline and its reactors producing barely enough power to keep the ship's life support and electrical systems online. One hangar bay's shield will be flickering, and either a boarding craft or dropship will be inside, which is Blue team's point of entry and flag base; Red's flag is located in the Control Room. The hangar will be badly damaged, leaving only the other operational (well, as operational as a dead ship's hangar can be). Players will probably not be able to go outside the ship, or maybe only to a certain extent such as a hundred or so metres around it.

I think Reaper's started modelling it, although any help we can get would be great.

[Reaper Man]

ugh this model's being a b***

[rossmum]

See, that's why we need help

Anyone who can model, skin, get shit ingame or anything, WE NEED YOU!

[hogdeath18]

spaceman elite?
i think you mean rangers

[Reaper Man]

spaceman elite?
i think you mean rangers

yeah
well its not much atm... but

DONT BUG ME ABOUT SMOOTHING GROUPS OR HI-POLY-NESS! ill worry about em later.
click to enlarge

[Patrickssj6]

Very nice.What type of modeling?

[rossmum]

spaceman elite?
i think you mean rangers

NOES! THEY'RE CALLED SPACEMAN ELITES!

Sounds so much cooler than Rangers, hehehe.

Damn net... it won't load ANY pics, I'm angry now... I wanna see how far Reaper's got...

[Reaper Man]

Very nice.What type of modeling?

reaper man style modelin f00!
made 100% in maya (cus maya > 3ds)

[rossmum]

She's coming along well, once you get the top roughed out you can add the details there. Don't forget the little tear-shaped pod thingies attached to it like the ref Or the loads of fins and sharp panels on the lower bow. Makes it look aggressive, I like aggressive-looking ships Also the big bit on the top needs a little tweaking, make the cut longer and slimmer on the sides to a taper, and widen the space to the bulby thing. Fuck it, look at the pics, you'll know what I mean.

Polycount so far mb?

[EDIT] I got bored. So:



...Because I can. Pic thanks to Bungie, 2-min photoshop thanks to me.

[Reaper Man]

update:
slightly more detail and a basic smoothing group.

@ross: nvm 'bout tweaking the blobs, u can see i did it myself

EDIT: i need an opinion

which 1 do u think looks better? it is based off this concept wich has a less pronounced nose

personally i like this short, stubby appearance, but i want to know what u think.

edit edit: woah! i just noticed sum wierd thing with the bulge at the back... *fixes*
ugh, ignore the fact that the blob at the back looks too small... fixed already, too lazy 2 upload pics

[SnaFuBAR]

the enlongated, pronounced one is the correct one. the main body on the concept art is actually quite wide. judging from the perspective, it looks like the width may be about 2/3 of the length.

[hogdeath18]

looks great so far

[boo_diddly]

wow, that looks sweet. Great ideas. I woudl help but I'm working on sandstorm *I figured out uvws, and its a pain in the gas*, fixing up my win 95 75 mhz, and Ive got physics and trig in the same semester. But I wish you good luck. Just a tip, don't go hog-wild with light-emitting textures, your hallways *and rooms* will become a very bright color.

*I tried a whole hallway of LETs, it was f'in purple.*

[Soccerfreak]

I WANNA HELP, I can model interiors and skin and UVW them, what room should I model first?

[Reaper Man]

I WANNA HELP, I can model interiors and skin and UVW them, what room should I model first?

add me on msn or aim and ill talk 2 yah bout what u should do
msn: gwailo_la@hotmail.com
aim: reaper man hk

mb... make the bridge, base it off the truth and reconcilliation's bridge, but not as big (this is a small ship) have the same kinda raised centre area, and. like in the books, have sum viewscreens thanks for volunteering

[rossmum]

The nose should be a fair bit thinner, but I think a bit less pronounced than the cruisers'. Also like I said on MSN, she's a little out of proportion, the ship is too squat. Try getting the shape identical to the top view silhouette ref I sent, same with the side (to get the bumps the right height and shape side on). Looking alright, though.

As for more info... I think we should make a few compartments compromised (read: holes in decking plates and armour) as access points for those outside the ship. Also these areas may vent atmosphere from adjoining passages (make a new door open effect or something, not too hard). Also some sections of the ship will have bad lighting and such due to the fact only one reactor is fully operational, the ship will be spewing debris and plasma into space (similar to the PoA in the cinematic where MC escapes it, new emmitters mb?) and some decking plates will show signs of wear and tear. I'm considering making the dropships in the remaining operational hangar bay driveable to get around the exterior of the ship, but I'm not entirely sure yet, watch this space. Also we have to remember the crew quarters, mess, armouries, slipspace drives and stuff

@ soccer: Yeah, control room would be a good place to start, although don't make it too much smaller than T&R's.

@ Reaper: The viewscreens described in the books are shown in Halo, they're the holographic panels all around the central platform. And try fix the proportions a little, then we're set. Also the back end needs a bit of work, and there's the blobs like eyes on the front to do once that's sorted out plus two more on the rear engine covers.

@ everyone: http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/sloftus_covenantcruiser/

[Reaper Man]

ugh ur kidding ross, ur not ripping holes in my ship, plus the viewscreens in t&r are just covered in text >___<...
ross. imo it shud be a nice, shiney, new ship. ive got that h2 ship model we can u se as scenery. and snafubar said he'll send me sum stuff, like corridors etc

[rossmum]

The ship is dead in space, it's not going to be shiny and new. Else it would look out of place on its own with no gravity. Besides, we'll only make a few hull breaches, don't worry... and when we're done, it'll look good. Besides, everyone knows a damaged ship makes a better battlegroud than a new one.

I think we should have the ship, knocked out, floating in a debris field. No live ships, just destroyed ones and chunks of metal. Makes it creepy and cool. Lights, holo panels, etc. in some areas will be flickery and in others will just be off, full stop. A few compartments will be breached through the hull, but not too many. (Remember, the ship's problem is the fact that only one reactor is supplying any power at all and the engines have been critically damaged, not that it's about to fall apart.) The engine access hatches and corridors will all be burned and damaged, with a massive hull breach just fore of the port engine which opens the access hatch to the stars, and the other engine will be trailing a stream of molten metal particles as the ship silently drifts through space, with only some systems remaining online. One hangar will be badly damaged by plasma fire (melted bulkheads and such) from where the blue team inserted, and the other will be more or less intact.

I mean, how cool would it look - a Covenant fast attack ship, running dark and silently drifting in the blackness of space. Trails of debris and molten decking coming out of hull breaches and damaged engines, burned decking and flickering shields (forming the perimeter of the map, leaving maybe 30-80m free moving space outside the ship. The shields are form fitting around the ship and a silvery colour). But for the most part, the ship is still in good condition, and would be a very valueable prize for whoever can fix her damaged reactors and engines first.

[Reaper Man]

wat i wanna do is have 2 ideas for a map: either the ship in space with an animated sky (moving stars) to make it look like it was moving, or have it in geosync with a planet. not just plain orbit cus i wanna make the engines glow

[rossmum]

Well, you can add BSP sections and call it like, Geosyncronous Justice or something

But for the initial map, Hammer of Justice dead in space, for sure. Actually, animated stars... good idea, make them move real slow to give the impression of a gentle drift...