The new Terran Defense Cruiser

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Subject matter:

The Earthling Cruiser

The Terran Cruiser replaces the "Earthling Cruiser" both in name and design to better match the idea that the Vindicator class is a prototype thus new ships should have some resemblance to it.

- Frogboy; August 6, 2018

I'm very crestfallen over the change to the Earthling Cruiser.

In my eyes, it's existence as it previously looked was an homage to the previous iterations of Star Control. Not identical, but easily recognizable. But now you've chosen to remove that one link that I was actually very fond of.

The name change, I get. But the reason to the design change is entirely nonsensical to me.

  • The Vindicator-class is the latest homegrown Earth Star Control design. It's meant for exploration, so, it's even more long-range than any other vessel. You probably didn't need rings on the previous designs (insufficient crew complement, shorter operational range - i.e.: Ceres)
  • The previous Earthling cruiser was built, by your own references, after Lexite tech. With had more angular lines and predated the Vindicator.
  • The EM Drive test ship seems heavily inspired from that same Lexite style (basically, angular lines). The Vindicator-class was really the first ship to adopt curves and rounded surfaces in your Earth ship lineup.
  • The planet lander has several design cues to the Earthling Cruiser as well that indicated obvious commonality - especially with the thrusters.
  • Making the Vindicator-class appears to have nearly broke the bank (hence the incentive to use Landers to collect minerals). And it was just made: would a new design really be so readily churned out immediately after? Wasn't it just 3 years ago that the Lexites left with many of their toys?

So, I would submit that the first Earthling Cruiser you presented in this game is far more appropriate for use as a pre-Vindicator design (not to mention you'd be putting plenty of nice key art to waste). I'm not adverse to the design presented here to be used, but to me, it's a post Vindicator-class design that ought to appear after as part of the Earth fleet, and ought to be considered stronger (as in, not a cruiser; a battleship?) - a between step between the original cruiser and the Vindicator-class.

Please consider this my protest as Founder. During development, I generally had a positive outlook on much of what you created and never had much to complain about (aside from performance issues relating to beta testing). This, though, is an unpleasantly cold shower to me. The newer design being an addition would have been awesome... but it being a replacement feels very much the contrary. I really hope you won't do this.

Thank you for reading.

6,842 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from StarControl Forums Top

Unfortunately, Paul and Fred continue to threaten to DMCA Star Control: Origins unless we placate them.  

So even if I were to agree with you, we have to weigh  the risk of further harassment from Paul and Fred versus changing the design to be different to ensure we are able to release the game without Paul and Fred filing additional DMCA take down notices which, unfortunately, are automatically complied with.

Once the dispute is resolved, we can revisit this.  At the very least, it could be argued that the Earthling Cruiser style from SC2 came from a much later date (2120) than where Earth technology is likely to be where SCO is set (2088).

 

Reply #2 from StarControl Forums Top

Unfortunate, but understandable. :(

As I felt the Earthling Cruiser was very symbolic, I was a bit upset... but I now realize that likely for that very same reason the why of the compromise you had to make. I may not like it, but at least now I can relate... which really does help. Hopefully the new defense cruiser will grow on me just as the Vindicator-class has.

Thanks for having taken the time to explain it to me.

 

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Reply #3 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting zoberraz, reply 2

Unfortunate, but understandable. :(

As I felt the Earthling Cruiser was very symbolic, I was a bit upset... but I now realize that likely for that very same reason the why of the compromise you had to make. I may not like it, but at least now I can relate... which really does help. Hopefully the new defense cruiser will grow on me just as the Vindicator-class has.

Thanks for having taken the time to explain it to me.

 

My pleasure.  No need to thank me either. I work for you. :)

 

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Reply #4 from StarControl Forums Top

You could always release the original Earthling Cruiser as workshop content, and then we could just replace the new one with the old one. Since workshop content is free, there should be no legal issues.