Dreadnoughts in Nova?

if there is interest and it is practical to do so, I will make them

I have been thinking of designing a plug with super powerful but extremely sluggish ships that appear in Nova as both invading forces in enemy systems and as defending forces, and would be available to the player as soon as the other capital ships are. (Archon's topic on ship classes gave me this idea.) Perhaps they could even come in fleets including dreadnoughts, carriers, destroyers, etc. This would also make the player have to worry more about domination of planets or incursions into enemy territory, because if you face one of these dreadnoughts in anything but another dreadnought or without strong escorts, you will die.

Also, to balance the plug, I would halve the number of mantas per bay. It would not do to have a dreadnought class of raven invade an auroran system, facing even two or three of the auroran dreadnoughts, if its mantas were only outnumbered by two to one. I believe that an A.I. manta could kill at least four auroran fighters before death, and I don' t think it would make much sense that the Polaris ships destroy everyone in the system every day but don't capture the station or advance further into auroran space. Since I want the border changes to be determined by the story lines, I want the fleets approximately balanced.

Then again, if the sheer number of fighters required to wage such a large scale battle interestingly is too high to be allowed in the system, or if the dreadnoughts are too large to pilot and obstruct the view of the enemies, I may have to rethink or discard my plans for the plug-in.

Here are some potential ideas for graphics ideas for if the plug is implemented:

For the auroran dreadnought, I thought of a bigger EV override merchant courier.
For the fed dreadnought, I thought of something like a resized anathema titan, but it could be many other things.
For the Polaris dreadnought, I thought of a slightly bigger raven.
For the rebel dreadnought, I have no image ideas. Suggestions?
For the Vell-os heavy cruiser (do they really need a dreadnought???) I thought of a bigger and slower version of Archon's ship in the newest release of the excellent storyline expansion plug Anathema chapters 1 and 2.
For the pirate dreadnought, I thought of something like two leviathans stuck together to make a long ship, then putting the engines from several leviathans on the back and making it look like a dark gray and leviathan-like version of Princess Leia's ship in "a new hope" with gray metallic polls connecting the corners of the engines to the frontal tip of the ship.
For the Wraith cruiser, I am once again open to suggestion.

If it is possible to make the plug, then I will begin work on the ship setup, balance, etc. immediately and will specify their stats and equipment. Unfortunately, as many of you may know, I am completely inept at graphical design and will need someone to execute even the simplest of graphical modifications (resizing for example) for me. I will link all the resources together and create all non graphics- related resources. However, if no one helps me, the plug will be very boring to play, and the chances of me uploading and publishing it are slim at best.

Why just make a plug that throws dreadnought in, whether it changes balances or not? Couldn't this be a parallel (or mirror) universe? Take the stock Nova story:

Humanity reaches to the stars.

Humanity builds huge colony ships that are essentially stations (dreadnought precursor?) to make it possible for groups of people to travel immense distances over long periods of time without starving.

Aurora goes south, colonizes tons of space, divided by five Houses

But in this parallel universe...

The Houses of the Auroran Conglomerate are united. They colonize planets rapidly, and share resources and skill to develop technology faster than anyone else. The Federation responds by building large ships that despite their crude technology, hold out remarkably well against the Auroran fast scouts that skirmish the front line. The Aurorans respond with dreadnoughts of their own, first by bringing the former colonization ships that still exist online and retrofitting them as mobile battlestations, and building new smaller warships of similar design. Big, bulky, and teeming with huge guns and bays full of small, fast, and advanced fighters...

The Polaris Corps. expedition was merely a scientific one, and though the Polarans were at first hesitant to share the wealth of technology they discovered, as the Auroran threat became obvious, they joined hands with the Federation to stop this force...

But the Wraith are not silent. They have watched the building tension and fear that either military expansion or refugees will soon encroach on their territory, so they turn to guerilla tactics to indiscriminately destroy entire fleets of ships close to their borders. Many develop a fanatical fear of approaching their space, and stations crop up all along the border of the Wraith and the rest of humanity. Building up resources to prepare for long defense, the Wraith explore westward from gas planet to gas planet, and unwittingly uncover a secret enclave of humans who lived in seclusion for generations since their ancestor the prince Vellios left Earth during the Spanish Inquisition by means of his telepathic abilities. The Velli-Os are not oblivious to the happening around them, and are waiting for the right moment to intervene, before the galaxy implodes...

Somewhere in the midst of this chaos, a team of Auroran scientists happen upon a secret entrance to the ring of Contik. Unwittingly, they activate a mysterious device that causes the ring to glow furiously. A ripple in space opens, but only for a few moments before collapsing. The ring is silent and dead as before. The amazed Aurorans scan the area of the dimensional rift, and discover only one small object. A probe bearing markings hauntingly similar to that of the Federation they fight against...

What do you think?

This post has been edited by Geek : 16 October 2009 - 07:33 AM

Remember, you have to get permission before you use anyone else's work (i.e. graphics)

QUOTE (Geek @ Oct 16 2009, 08:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What do you think?

I think that that would be an awesome plug, but unfortunately it would be significantly beyond my current capabilities to create such a plug. I want to start relatively small, then perhaps graduate to larger and more impressive plugs, but only if I can make this one well.

QUOTE (n64mon @ Oct 16 2009, 02:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Remember, you have to get permission before you use anyone else's work (i.e. graphics)

I know, I was just thinking of the general appearance, not necessarily specific images.

Actually, it wouldn't be too much work if one just started with the barebones of Stock Nova (ships, and entire galaxy minus all alternate systems that appear from mission bits), and renamed systems and planets here and there, and then changed around the hyperlinks to make the whole map feel different and unique. I could do that much sometime.

This post has been edited by Geek : 16 October 2009 - 09:05 PM

QUOTE (Geek @ Oct 16 2009, 10:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, it wouldn't be too much work if one just started with the barebones of Stock Nova (ships, and entire galaxy minus all alternate systems that appear from mission bits), and renamed systems and planets here and there, and then changed around the hyperlinks to make the whole map feel different and unique. I could do that much sometime.

That would be very nice of you, and I'm sure you could do that way better than I, but that would take copious amounts of time. It would probably take more time than I would spend on the plug, making it your plug, especially since you came up with the basic idea in the first place. Also, if I did no graphics work whatsoever, everyone else who worked on the plug with me would have done more work and planning than I did. Right now I am not in the position to spend enough hours on the plug to complete my portion of it in a timely fashion. I could refine my abilities to learn more resources and increase efficiency somewhat, but that takes a lot of time as well.

I guess my point is that it will definitely take many many days to make the expansion because of my sluggish working speed and because of my inability to work with many major aspects of the game. (I lost)