Opinions needed! new name for an old ship
Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:32 pm
Hey folks
The recent technical achievements got my creative juices flowing again and, while even returning to working on the almost forgotten Blue Phantom campaign, I also went on to get some more work done in the various ships involved. One project I was eager to accomplish is the revision of the BX-800 Dragonfly heavy attack fighter.
Here's a reminder of how that thing in looks in its current version:
Now, for quite a while I've been somewhat unhappy with the design, for a number of reasons:
- Odd placement of the weaponry
- wing setup, while unintended, is too similar to the X-Wing
- Overall sice is too small for a heavy attack fighter / bomber
So I pretty much reimagined the whole damn thing. In the end I came up with a sort-of modular design with various possible wing and weaponry configurations, which looks somewhat like this: There are basically two versions, one(not shown above), where most weapons hang on the lower wings, which are static in place to replace either the Y-Wing or the missile boat(more on that below), the other, like you see in the pics, would carry heavy weapons and, using the B-Wing slot, have those lower wings fold in to cover the weaponry.
Here's a clean overview of all the variations:
Column 1: 4 small wings, Option for add. Turbolasers
-> Rows 1&2: Static Weapon mounts
--> Row 1: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads (Replacing the Y-Wing or Toscan Fighter)
--> Row 2: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads, 2x Turbolasers (Replacing the Toscan Fighter)
-> Rows 3&4: Foldable Weapon mounts (Replacing the B-Wing)
--> Row 3: 2x Turbolasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads
--> Row 4: 4x Turbolasers, 2x Ions 2x6 Warheads (Probably not gonna use this one, too powerful)
Column 2: 2 large wings, Option for add. Turbolasers or Warhead Launchers
-> Rows 1&2: Static Weapon mounts
--> Row 1: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads, 2x4 Warheads (Replacing the Missile Boat, probably gonna strip some lasers/ions for balancing)
--> Row 2: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads, 2x Turbolasers (Replacing the Toscan Fighter)
-> Rows 3&4: Foldable Weapon mounts (Replacing the B-Wing)
--> Row 3: 2x Turbolasers, 2x Ions, 2x4 Warheads
--> Row 4: 4x Turbolasers, 2x Ions 2x6 Warheads (Probably not gonna use this one, too powerful)
Now, while 90% of this is a totally new ship, I still intend to replace the former design with this.
HOWEVER I also have the feeling that the name "Dragonfly" isn't exactly fitting anymore, since this new design is more massive than its precursor. I've tried similar insect names but those don't seem to fit either - Bumblebee sounds somewhat cute, hornet is too fast (and also already taken by an 20th century USAF fighter jet)
So, what would you think? Any suggestions?
The recent technical achievements got my creative juices flowing again and, while even returning to working on the almost forgotten Blue Phantom campaign, I also went on to get some more work done in the various ships involved. One project I was eager to accomplish is the revision of the BX-800 Dragonfly heavy attack fighter.
Here's a reminder of how that thing in looks in its current version:
Now, for quite a while I've been somewhat unhappy with the design, for a number of reasons:
- Odd placement of the weaponry
- wing setup, while unintended, is too similar to the X-Wing
- Overall sice is too small for a heavy attack fighter / bomber
So I pretty much reimagined the whole damn thing. In the end I came up with a sort-of modular design with various possible wing and weaponry configurations, which looks somewhat like this: There are basically two versions, one(not shown above), where most weapons hang on the lower wings, which are static in place to replace either the Y-Wing or the missile boat(more on that below), the other, like you see in the pics, would carry heavy weapons and, using the B-Wing slot, have those lower wings fold in to cover the weaponry.
Here's a clean overview of all the variations:
Column 1: 4 small wings, Option for add. Turbolasers
-> Rows 1&2: Static Weapon mounts
--> Row 1: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads (Replacing the Y-Wing or Toscan Fighter)
--> Row 2: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads, 2x Turbolasers (Replacing the Toscan Fighter)
-> Rows 3&4: Foldable Weapon mounts (Replacing the B-Wing)
--> Row 3: 2x Turbolasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads
--> Row 4: 4x Turbolasers, 2x Ions 2x6 Warheads (Probably not gonna use this one, too powerful)
Column 2: 2 large wings, Option for add. Turbolasers or Warhead Launchers
-> Rows 1&2: Static Weapon mounts
--> Row 1: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads, 2x4 Warheads (Replacing the Missile Boat, probably gonna strip some lasers/ions for balancing)
--> Row 2: 4x lasers, 2x Ions, 2x6 Warheads, 2x Turbolasers (Replacing the Toscan Fighter)
-> Rows 3&4: Foldable Weapon mounts (Replacing the B-Wing)
--> Row 3: 2x Turbolasers, 2x Ions, 2x4 Warheads
--> Row 4: 4x Turbolasers, 2x Ions 2x6 Warheads (Probably not gonna use this one, too powerful)
Now, while 90% of this is a totally new ship, I still intend to replace the former design with this.
HOWEVER I also have the feeling that the name "Dragonfly" isn't exactly fitting anymore, since this new design is more massive than its precursor. I've tried similar insect names but those don't seem to fit either - Bumblebee sounds somewhat cute, hornet is too fast (and also already taken by an 20th century USAF fighter jet)
So, what would you think? Any suggestions?