Project XR2 Ravenstar - Mk II

[n122vu]

I'll agree with this--it looks like it's made a gear-up landing or two

I agree with the armored battle suit comparison. Not so much Mechwarrior though, IMHO. More Halo-esque if you ask me. Not that I don't like it. It looks good, but I agree it seems out of place on an XR2, unless it were being released as a Halo-themed version.

The XR2 Reach-enstar

 

[Izack]

The XR2 Reach-enstar

:lol:

Keeping the battle-worn version is a good idea though. The current XR-2 has a pile of default skins, like the Prototype skin which looks like a jumble of metal plates and thermal tiles, so I think most of us could live with a battleworn plated Mk.II as an option. I for one quite like it.

 

[Coolhand]

ok well for a start its totally not meant to look battle damaged...:lol: though that is always a nice idea for a texture, but not really appropriate at this point.

maybe someone else can have fun making a battle damage skin, i have no time for such frivolity

I think what you guys are interpreting as damage is just where you can see the old texture through the new, because this is only partway through the painting. its particularly apparent around the scram engines... also the texture has a bump and a spec that are exactly the same as the colour map, which is never a great idea but will have to do for now. I have turned the bump down a bit though.

texture was about 50% done in the last update, more like 75% now, btw the attached image is entirely unaltered apart from text.

Why not tiles? The answer will be revealed in this informative press release:

Here at Altea, we've found that our customers tend to put Ravenstars under extreme stresses, the newly developed Thermal Armor System (tm) offers increased safety and reduced maintenance bills. Less lawsuits and fewer ground crews will see your bottom line soar to the moon, unless you actually live on the moon, in which case...(/snip)

 

[Hielor]

I like the gold coloration behind the scrams...looks almost like tail feathers

 

[Keatah]

ahh better..

 

[Coolhand]

I like the gold coloration behind the scrams...looks almost like tail feathers

There's a certain feathery theme to the panel design which i've accentuated a little more this time around, but it originated from the mk1. the panel lines mainly follow the main lines of the old tiled maps... those gold panels are pretty much the same also in shape, but they used to be dark brown.

here's another pic, again no textures or geometry should be considered 100% finished.

 

[Messierhunter]

I love the ladder method of entry, very cool, and it lead me to a quick thought, though it might be a bit unrelated to your current area of focus; it'd be a nice touch to have handrails or hand holds of some sort in the cabin to indicate a way the crew could climb up into their seats should the Ravenstar be mounted to a booster in a vertical position for launch.

 

[Coolhand]

There will be ladders in the ceiling, both to provide a means of transit in the vertical, and which also swing down in a couple of places to allow access from the floor to the ceiling exits. Those upper hatches are the only way in or out if its mated to a booster.

 

[White Wolf]

just curious, will there be optional cabin types? It seems to me that a fellow would go mad sharing one little CHM with that many passengers, even with the addition of lavatories. Could there maybe be a cabin that has room for a few passengers but also room for research kind of like in the shuttle?

I don't expect you to custom tailor the ship for individual people, but i have always looked at the xr2 as a more advanced space shuttle. But when i look behind me while sitting in the cockpit, all i see is seats and no room to do anything functional.

 

[dbeachy1]

Well, anyone can create a custom, larger CHM for the XR2 -- for example, one that fills the entire cargo bay. The Mk II's payload dimensions are identical to the Mk I's, so any payloads for the XR2 will work in both the Mk I and the Mk II. In other words, it wouldn't have to be Steve creating a custom CHM. Remember that any Orbiter vessel can be an XR payload: details are in the XR Flight Operations Manual. :tiphat:

 

[Moach]

just curious, will there be optional cabin types? It seems to me that a fellow would go mad sharing one little CHM with that many passengers, even with the addition of lavatories. Could there maybe be a cabin that has room for a few passengers but also room for research kind of like in the shuttle?

I don't expect you to custom tailor the ship for individual people, but i have always looked at the xr2 as a more advanced space shuttle. But when i look behind me while sitting in the cockpit, all i see is seats and no room to do anything functional.

that's a valid point :hmm: i too would think that a ship of this nature, even being a very futuristic design, would still be geared mostly towards science and exploration missions, rather than passenger transport....

now, i'm not saying the cabin should be revised, by all means, who am i to tell you what to do... - but if it was me making it, i'd have it more "space-shuttle" and less "airliner" in the back


just a thought - feel free to ignore me as much as necessary :thumbup:

 

[PeterRoss]

that's a valid point :hmm: i too would think that a ship of this nature, even being a very futuristic design, would still be geared mostly towards science and exploration missions, rather than passenger transport....

That's exactly what I've thought all the time flying Ravenstar. It can be much more versatile than it is now with passenger seats removed.

Still it's a great vessel.:thumbup:

 

[fireballs619]

Seeing as it would serve no actual function in Orbiter, I am content with just pretending it is there. While I've never truly preferred the space-liner type vessel, I don't care as long as the cockpit looks nice (and the MK II's sure does), as that is what I am looking at most of the time.

 

[Coolhand]

well the answer is simple, this particular vessel exists in a solar system in the near future where commercial ventures in space are far more common than scientific. This is more representative of the eagerly anticipated future of making space travel affordable for many more people than today, maybe it seems out of context given Orbiters default, sparsely populated solar system... and i think there are plenty of people who could see how a paying passenger cabin could be "functional".

Of course though We try and make it as flexible as possible, as any aircraft manufacturer might... we were not able to do everything with the mk1 that we wanted and only a page or two ago we were talking about different interiors and how thats been planned from the start, and even how it could possibly be user editable.

If this hasn't been implemented yet and perhaps may never be, well i do apologise, but i hope no one has the impression that we owe the community one type of vehicle or other... neither of us ask for money - I dont know about Doug I've had just one donation in the 3 years i've been working on the model and that guy had no complaints, so i'm basically happy satisfying my own curiosity and making my own model first, as long as Doug has no strong objections. and between us we do try and make everyone happy, but we only have so much time to devote to this project... not meaning to complain or anything, no ones forcing us to make stuff for orbiter, but thats just how it is. and if its not useful to you, well no ones forcing you to fly it.

At the end of the day though can do everything with it that you could do with the dg, xr1, xr2mk1, and more... so its plenty functional.

some of its up to you guys also of course, there's more features, more room, more panels and doors and whatever else we can throw in, and you'll no doubt have more room to be creative with your own ravenstar this time around... given the planned features if you read the thread, I see no reason why it can't be outfitted for everything from your exploration mission to slyly shooting down someones satellite or even more imaginative things.... thats why you already have editable cargo for example and payload bay at all.

 

[fireballs619]

well the answer is simple, this particular vessel exists in a solar system in the near future where commercial ventures in space are far more common than scientific. This is more representative of the eagerly anticipated future of making space travel affordable for many more people than today, maybe it seems out of context given Orbiters default, sparsely populated solar system... and i think there are plenty of people who could see how a paying passenger cabin could be "functional".

Of course though We try and make it as flexible as possible, as any aircraft manufacturer might... we were not able to do everything with the mk1 that we wanted and only a page or two ago we were talking about different interiors and how thats been planned from the start, and even how it could possibly be user editable.

If this hasn't been implemented yet and perhaps may never be, well i do apologise, but i hope no one has the impression that we owe the community one type of vehicle or other... neither of us ask for money - I dont know about Doug I've had just one donation in the 3 years i've been working on the model and that guy had no complaints, so i'm basically happy satisfying my own curiosity and making my own model first, as long as Doug has no strong objections. and between us we do try and make everyone happy, but we only have so much time to devote to this project... not meaning to complain or anything, no ones forcing us to make stuff for orbiter, but thats just how it is. and if its not useful to you, well no ones forcing you to fly it.

At the end of the day though can do everything with it that you could do with the dg, xr1, xr2mk1, and more... so its plenty functional.

some of its up to you guys also of course, there's more features, more room, more panels and doors and whatever else we can throw in, and you'll no doubt have more room to be creative with your own ravenstar this time around... given the planned features if you read the thread, I see no reason why it can't be outfitted for everything from your exploration mission to slyly shooting down someones satellite or even more imaginative things.... thats why you already have editable cargo for example and payload bay at all.

I just realized that my post made it sound like I was whining about the model, so sorry 'bout that. I just want to clear some stuff up and say that I absolutely love your guys's work, and would happily fly any craft you guys put out. I don't want to give the wrong impression here...

 

[Coolhand]

that was not aimed at anyone in particular. you just had bad timing

Though its possibly just the first of several layouts, the concept of hauling passengers around is perfectly valid and worthwhile, and though others may not agree, its to my mind far more realistic for this design than using it for any other purposes, so thats why this is the first one to be featured, everything else at this point is undecided.

So thats why we're where we are now i guess, it does nothing to diminish the other things you could already do with the mk1 or reduce the functionality, it just adds a lot more to the existing package.

 

[Sky Captain]

IMHO XR2 primary function is to haul passengers and light cargo to LEO and maybe perform dome short duration science experiments in LEO. In reaity a vessel like XR2 would never go beyond LEO, for that task there would be dedicated in space ships.

 

[Coolhand]

well yes and no, for example it has its hover engines and its perfectly happy monkeying around on the moon, Its built to take people or some valuable, small cargo to LEO or the moon, or even be used just for suborbital hops... and the whole idea is that it can be configured in many different ways with its payloads and interior layouts. but its practical, money making uses might well end there - given more specialized, larger vehicles for going further.

That said. I'm not really interested in telling people what they should and shouldn't do with it and i'm sure Doug isn't either... It can do a lot, and we've deliberately made it so it can do other things... Its just that i consider its more likely that a ship like this would be used for people more than anything. Maybe some people have a hard time with that concept given that its in Orbiter, and not FSX or something.

Anyway, XR2 owners are the scourge of the solar system, recklessly rocketing from planet to planet... No one who likes the XR2 wants that to change and it hasn't, and it won't.

 

[White Wolf]

I apologize, i didn't mean to cause problems with my question. I never meant to imply that the ship itself wasn't functional, i just meant it felt wierd from an immersion standpoint. but by all means, it's your project and no matter how you slice it, the MK2 is drop dead gorgeous.


I actually quite liked dbeachy's idea of just making a bigger CHM, pehaps i should take up modeling.

again, i apologize for creating an uproar.

 

[Coolhand]

I'm surprised you don't have one already... I'm sure i built one.

That in mind, if more customisation features are put in, are people even going to make use of them?

Anyway, heres some progress on the new airlock with its access hatch, looking up from head-height into the ship. The hatchway is large enough to allow a person in an eva suit to use it. i think you could squeeze 4 people in at a time, decompress and lower the ladder, but 2 at a time is more comfortable. The peice of equipment at the top connected to the bulkhead by a pipe forms the life support header for this compartment. Maybe i should add a pass-through connector so a hose could be run out the forward hatch into another docked vehicle to bolster its LSU.