Your browser does not seem to support JavaScript. As a result, your viewing experience will be diminished, and you have been placed in read-only mode.
Please download a browser that supports JavaScript, or enable it if it's disabled (i.e. NoScript).
Actually, DarthKev, you've inspired twice over. Simply your mention of "cartography" lends me to think that the artillery cruiser could very aptly be named the Cartographer Class Heavy Cruiser. It is primarily meant for self-sustained operation in deep space for long-term missions, and possesses powerful scanning and communications equipment to help it relay enemy coordinates to the rest of the distant Enclave fleet.
So thus far we have the Horizon, the Ecliptic, and the Cartographer class ships in the "unique" ships category of the Enclave fleet (as opposed to appropriated NDC vessels).
QUOTE (Delphi @ Jun 17 2010, 03:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
For some reason, I'll never be able to enjoy the end of the day any more, simply because all I can think of is thousands of 14-year-old girls simultaneously screaming, "Oh my god, Twilight is such a good book they even named a time of day after it!"
The day I see this happen is the day that the world will explode at the level of Fail such a stupid statement generates. lol.
Don't worry, no offense taken or even considered. In fact, I hadn't even thought about the Twilight books. I completely forgot about those when I suggested it.
So I inspired the names for two ships? Cool. Can't wait to see more, Delphi!
I feel for you, Delphi. I'm an English teacher. Over the last two years of teaching, I've gotten over a hundred book reports on the series, enough so that last semester I banned the book as an eligible one for book reports, much to the screaming of dozens of freshmen girls who had already written reports on the entire series for second semester.
Anyways, the Enclave ships look quite nice. The fusion of NDC technology and the Enclave's proprietary work is really well done.
This post has been edited by krugeruwsp : 17 June 2010 - 06:57 PM
@krugeruwsp It's kinda like the SAT essays--they're all the same, except the Twilight Series has a lot of fangirls who spend paragraphs obsessing over Robert Pattinson (I don't even know if that's the correct spelling, but I don't care), huh?
This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 17 June 2010 - 08:11 PM
The names fit quite nicely. Here in Toronto 14 year old girls obsess over twilight characters and recently because of Fifa, soccer players. I feel for you krugeruwsp reading the same opinion in the words of many people is never fun.
QUOTE (of doom @ Jun 17 2010, 08:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hey, you're Canadian? Me too!
The following is unrelated, but I don't care. Its my thread and all. What music do you guys listen to to inspire the most creativity? Myself, I use a blended mix of death metal, classic metal, and experimental orchestra stuff like E.S. Posthumus and Globus.
By the way, if you've never heard of Globus, go and listen to their song Preliator. It'll put some fire in your soul.
QUOTE (king_of_manticores @ Jun 17 2010, 09:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Most of the girls don't even give a s### about the man, only the role he played. I know a couple die-hard fans of the 'books' (if you can even call them that) that didn't know the name of the actor and referred to him only as "My Edward /swoon". But hey, at least Just in Beaver missed my generation for the most part.
(I have no compliments for delphi's and darthkev's epic art seeing as I have already reached the limit of my ability to express praise and therefore any more praise would be redundant)
This post has been edited by oryhara : 18 June 2010 - 12:11 AM
QUOTE (Delphi @ Jun 17 2010, 09:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Music? What's that?
I don't listen to music while I'm creativity-ing, instead I focus on making it silent around me. Music distracts me so I listen to it only when traveling or trying to forget how bored I am when I am bored.
And seeing as I'm posting anyway:
QUOTE (oryhara @ Jun 17 2010, 10:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thanks, man, and welcome back! If you want to see more of my stuff, click the link to my gallery in my signature.
@DarthKev Shameless self-promotion, eh? Eh???
@Delphi Mostly I listen to instrumental songs. For creativity (though I sketch cars, not maniacally-insane spaceships), I listen to "Mushroom" by Junkie XL. I'm unsure as to why it works, but it seems to get my creative juices flowing.
Depends on what kind of creativity crusade I'm on. Metal is surprisingly good for most uses. Bands like Zao, Mastodon, Amon Amarth etc are quite good. Queens Of The Stone Age, Pearl Jam etc are quite good as well. Then we have things like Aphex Twin, Infected Mushroom, Massive Attack (Butterfly Caught is a good one). Ambient and Post-Rock work quite well too. I'd specifically like to suggest giving If These Trees Could Talk a listen Wikipedia Article--Myspace Page
That being said, most any music can help give a creative boost for me personally. Tend to listen to A Perfect Circle in the background while playing EVN, as a side note.
When I'm creative, I listen all kinds of metal.
And while I'm posting here, Delphi, your work is awesome.
Classical and 30's/40's big band. I'm a traditionalist.
Gotta say, will be playing the Enclave so hard I might just break their ships. So, so, so pretty.
As for music...Either Massive Attack, or some Touhou metal remixes. Juno Reactor is also pretty good.
Also, I love experimental orchestra, so thanks, Delphi~
That's weird most of us listen to metal. I listen to Iron Maiden myself. But then again you've all seen my amount of creative work coughchoughNILcoughcough made in the name of EVN.
Delphi, just curious--where do you come up with all your ship names? I know you've showed us a screenshot with at least 50 names on there, and they're all quite unique.
Actually, the question should be how you do. Do you just find a set of ships (i.e. strike cruisers), come up with a certain scheme to follow (i.e. bladed weapons), and just list off whatever comes to mind?
To be honest, a large number of the names are just collected syllables. I'll find a few single-syllable word pieces and stick them together, which is ironically the same way that a lot of the ships are being created now. Here, let's try an exercise, and see what weird and futuristic ship names we can come up with.
First, we have to consider if we're making this thing brutal or sleek. Neutral is another world altogether, because you have to find a balance between the two. Let's assume we're going with brutal, like the name for a heavy cruiser on the NDC side, perhaps.
In the "harsh" or "brutal" phonetic category, we have a lot of plosives (yes that's a real word). Plosives are phonetic pieces that do exactly as their name suggests: they "explode" from the mouth. These include: Ka Keh Kee Kai Ko Cha Chai Ta Tae Tai ...etc.
There are always a few neutral-sounding phonetics that are useful for rounding out the sound of a name and making it sound more natural. These softer phonetics are good for finishing off the name, or adding a syllabic break in the middle of the title. Many of these use vowels as their primary focus, as well as consonants that have an easy, flowing sound.
Ora Aree Ior Io Aro Era Eara ...etc.
By combining the plosives with these softer sounds, we can make some neutral-sounding names like Kaiora (KAI-oh-ra), or maybe Taelika (Tai-LEE-kah).
But we're here to make rough-sounding names, so let's add some more plosives and chop in a few more syllables to make the transition between phonetics quick and somewhat grating.
Tessecharach (TESS-ah-kar-ack) Chaitemtua (KAI-tem-too-ah) Kaennack (KAY-nak)
These are, of course, just nonsense words, but they demonstrate how simply combining almost completely random syllables can produce fantasy names with relative ease. Almost every word in the english language can be easily broken down into its constituent phonetics and analyzed to create new sounds and names. In the word "Kodiak", you can see how the leading "K" provides an introductory plosive, quickly giving the word a harsh attack. "Odi" functions as one of those smoothing phonetics, but remains somewhat to-the-point and keeps the word aggressive. Finally, the word finishes on another plosive, "Ak". The word Kodiak is very easy to interpret as a sign of at least moderate guardedness and aggression, even if you've never heard of the animal that has the name. Characters given the name of Kodiak are usually portrayed as brave, less-than-talkative hard-edged warriors with a slight vein of vengeance in many cases. It's a quick, harsh name that implies power and strength.
Conversely, I'm sure that you've all heard the mumbo-jumbo about the word combination "Cellar Door"; supposedly the most beautiful combination of two words in the english language. The reasoning behind this is simple phonetic analysis, which reveals that the word has almost no harsh plosives. The closest it comes to such is the beginning of the "D" sound in the second word, but this is offset by the way that it can be segued into from the previous phonetic, "ar". "Sell-ar-dor" is very easy to pronounce, and easy on the ear hearing it.
The human ear listens for three things in the tone of pronounced language: Hard sounds, soft sounds, and neutral sounds. Hard sounds suggest violence and threat. Soft sounds suggest compassion and tenderness. Neutral sounds suggest comfortable conservatism; a lack of change as could be influenced by either soft or hard sounds.
Ships such as the Chrenari or the Gammadon are combinations of neutral and hard phonetics, giving them a slight edge that says "this thing is generally an icon of comfortable neutrality, but has a hidden hard side that should not be trifled with." Basically, you can engineer a name to give your audience whatever kind of presuppositions that you so choose. Give a hard name to a defenseless freighter, and people will simply assume the crew must all be roughnecks. Give a soft name to a military ship, and people will likely assume it is diplomatic in nature.
True, there are several names from older languages that follow a directly contrary system, such as "Ares" or "Zeus" which are both composed of soft phonetics, but it is an understanding of their mythology that infuses a sense of power into the word in such a case, not the core pronunciation.
There's a lot more in terms of phonetic engineering, such as why "Slartibartfast" sounds like a dirty word, but that's too much to go into detail on.
Addendum: Of course, some of the ship names are just based on what I want their function to be, using quick-and-dirty pulls from the dictionary. The Scimitar is named as such because of its asymmetrical design, and its ability to cut a swatch of destruction through an enemy fighter brigade.
QUOTE (of doom @ Jun 19 2010, 01:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
That's weird most of us listen to metal.
I noticed a strange thing about metal. It seems like even if it's just an illusion as a result of the metal culture of "awesomeness", people who can at least appreciate metal seem to branch off to appreciate all forms of good music, and generally seem to always be in relatively high spirits. If I'm ever in a down sort of mood, listening to something like Linkin Park will just put me further into the gloom, while listening to Circus Maximus will force a sudden and abrupt rebound. I've had far more happy days listening to metal than I have had while listening to depressive emo stuff or sad rock abound broken homes and ruined relationships.
I don't know, really. I guess a simple analysis of the lyrics does pretty well show that many metal songs are both deeper than typical rock, and more uplifting than most emo or rap about hard life on the streets.
Scar Symmetry - A Parenthesis in Eternity
We're formed to read events, apply certain ways, Our visions buried to the light of day, What if the clues we lost are here and can be found? We'll soon find out they're just one thought away.
Born unaware we view the sun as one with the Earth, Forms entwined, a single entity, Justification of disrespectful means, For an outcome will affect and restrain the original dream.
Take a look at the trail behind you, this is terrain you know, It might reappear again. Now you stare at the path before you, so tell me what is shown, Decipher eternity.
Or...
Nickelback - Photograph
Look at this photograph, Everytime I do it makes me laugh, How did our eyes get so red, And what the hell is on Joey's head?
And this is where I grew up, I think the present owner fixed it up, I never knew we'd ever went without, The second floor is hard for sneaking out.
And this is where I went to school, Most of the time had better things to do, Criminal record says I broke in twice, I must have done it half a dozen times.
One has you getting misty-eyed and nostalgic, while the other has you figuring out the very nature of the universe. There's just a certain degree of awesomeness inherent in that.
Not to say I don't appreciate other forms of music. Rap and country are the only two I've never been able to really dive right into.
Plus, who can argue with metal guitarists who play like they were sired on Mount Olympus? I mean, really.
The most uplifting song in the world isn't metal, though.
That naming guide is really useful, as I've been falling into the nounverber trap a little too often recently. Also, you think about this a lot. ._. You doing linguistics?