Meloncov's Sci-Fi Illustrations

Hussar · Jul 13, 2006

I like the tank.

Question though, why would the gun turret be on the bottom on a hover tank? One of the points of a turret is to be able to shoot up. (ok, a nitpick I know, but, seems kinda strange to place it there.)

The assualt deployment vehicle reminds me of the old Eagle's from Space 1999. Not that that's a bad thing. Again a nitpick though. The rear turret is nestled down between two engine pods. This would greatly restrict its field of fire. Turrets should be on the highest points on a vehicle.

genshou · Jul 13, 2006

I'd say it's probably because it doesn't look to be a swivel laser, not to mention there's already a turret on top.

Meloncov · Jul 13, 2006

Hussar said:
I like the tank.

Question though, why would the gun turret be on the bottom on a hover tank? One of the points of a turret is to be able to shoot up. (ok, a nitpick I know, but, seems kinda strange to place it there.)

It's a laser, so it can't fire ballistically, reducing the need to fire upwards. If aiming at a target above it, the entire ship can rotate to point upwards.

Hussar said:
The assualt deployment vehicle reminds me of the old Eagle's from Space 1999. Not that that's a bad thing. Again a nitpick though. The rear turret is nestled down between two engine pods. This would greatly restrict its field of fire. Turrets should be on the highest points on a vehicle.

Are you refering to the top or bottom turret? The top one, yeah, I need to elevate it slightly, but the bottom turret looks fine to me.

Ilium · Jul 13, 2006

I noticed you STILL haven't really gotten any feedback on your animation, so let me say: very nice. The music is evocative and the visuals are great. I like the design of the ship with the "legs" that fold up during flight. Cool.

One minor quibble: I'm pretty sure it's "copyright" not "copywrite".

Meloncov · Jul 13, 2006

Ilium said:
I noticed you STILL haven't really gotten any feedback on your animation, so let me say: very nice. The music is evocative and the visuals are great. I like the design of the ship with the "legs" that fold up during flight. Cool.

One minor quibble: I'm pretty sure it's "copyright" not "copywrite".

Thanks.

Hussar · Jul 14, 2006

Yes, I meant the top turret on the deployment vehicle. Again, these are minor nitpicks.

Having to move your entire tank to be able to elevate doesn't make a lot of sense even with a direct fire weapon. There's always the chance that the enemy is up or down a hill. If you are firing on the move, you would be required to always turn into your shot, meaning that unless the target was directly in front of you, you would lose a lot of control as you maneuver the tank up to allow the turret to gain facing.

If the turret was independent of the tank's pitch, then it would make a lot more sense.

Quibble, quibble, quibble. THe pic looks good. And I did look at the animation. Very, very cool.

Meloncov · Jul 14, 2006

Hussar said:
Yes, I meant the top turret on the deployment vehicle. Again, these are minor nitpicks.

Having to move your entire tank to be able to elevate doesn't make a lot of sense even with a direct fire weapon. There's always the chance that the enemy is up or down a hill. If you are firing on the move, you would be required to always turn into your shot, meaning that unless the target was directly in front of you, you would lose a lot of control as you maneuver the tank up to allow the turret to gain facing.

Well, I'm not sure it would be that much harder to tilt a hovertank upward than it would to turn the turret. The only problem I can imagine is at high speeds, where the g's could be dangerous if you maneuvered to tightly. However, I was thinking it did need some sort of explanation as to why the primary turret wasn't on the top, and as such I was considering adding missles to the top (which would definately benefit from the elevation.)

Hussar · Jul 14, 2006

Missiles on tanks=chewy goodness.

If I could offer some advice - take a look at real world designs of tanks. By and large, you aren't often using tanks for artillery anyway. You can, but, it's not the primary role.

Think of it this way. If the target is at 90 degrees to your path of travel and elevated, the hover tank would have to do some very funky maneuvering to shoot. That means the bad guy gets to shoot first and that is very bad in armored fighting. THe main reason there are some current turretless designs in tanks is to have an incredibly shallow profile. In a hover tank, that's not really going to work since you're already a few feet in the air.

I feel really bad criticising someone's work when I couldn't possibly do half the job. :/

Meloncov · Jul 15, 2006

Hussar said:
Think of it this way. If the target is at 90 degrees to your path of travel and elevated, the hover tank would have to do some very funky maneuvering to shoot. That means the bad guy gets to shoot first and that is very bad in armored fighting. THe main reason there are some current turretless designs in tanks is to have an incredibly shallow profile. In a hover tank, that's not really going to work since you're already a few feet in the air.

I'm still unwilling to get rid of the bottom turret (I find the "treadless tank" designs rather boring), and I realized that missles would be suprememly stupid (in order to damage most shielded ships, the missles would have to blow out a large portion of the landscape). However, I did replace the anti-air turret with a second anti-armor turret:

Hussar · Jul 15, 2006

Now THAT looks like a tank. :applause:

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