Fishtail

One possibility:

It would be a good candidate for being in player color I think.

Seasnake

(artist's rendering)

Again, these latest stern adornments are to be considered as rough drafts. Also, remember that in the game, the ship will be smaller and much of the details you see in these shots could be lost or obscured by the sails.

Any comments? or other ideas?

Of course a plain, unadorned stern without an animal or such is also an option.

I'm going to go back and work on the sails now. Let me know what you'd like to see.

Sails

To give you an idea of how the ship will look with sails (and how much will be obscured by them), take a look at these views of the ship with no adornment on the stern:

This is not the final look of the sails, but it will be something very similar.

Oh oh oh woooow!

Chuck, maybe you already get sick of hearing it, but: you do a very very good job here! Your models look more than just good - just stunning!

Personally I would prefare (1) the new swan look, followed by (2) the sea snake, (3) the old swan and the (4) ship without adornment on the stern. To be honest, the fishy thing is not my taste.

Cheers Peter

Chuck, the ship is really great!

Personally I think it's fine without any add-on at the stern. If something should be there I'd vote for the swan, either the old or new one.

I know you're still modeling it, so the look can change. But the back side of the swan (facing the deck house) looks hollow (concave). In my imagination it should be something convex, like the back of the swan merging with the deck. But I don't know if this is historically correct. And it would be a waste of space.

I guess it looks different it the sailors are visible on deck.

@Nasenbaer - Glad you like the ship. The "fishy thing" is a design taken from the stern of a war galley image I saw. I could do a more realistic one if there is a desire for it.

@fuchur - Regarding the back of the swan, it is partially unfinished. I have noticed that when the structure on the upper rear deck was as large ours are, they often were turned into a shelter (probably for the captain). What I am trying to say is that I will fully hollow it out so its functionality is more obvious. I'll have it in my next progress report.

Thanks for listing your favorites.

The ship looks very good until now!

I wouldn't miss an adornment if there was no one on the stern. The seasnake would look good, but I'd rather link it with more northern mytholgy (North Sea and Loch Ness), but why not? I could get used of it. The attacking swan doesn't look bad too.

Go on with that great work, Chuck!

Thanks, wl-zocker.

My version of a seasnake could definitely use some more work. Right now it reminds me more of an angry salamander.

As for that shelter in the stern adornment, here is an image that shows one.

Discussion Tabled for now

With so much more to finish for Build17-rc1, I have decided to table the animals on the ship and go with a plain shelter FOR NOW. We can take up the discussion of an adornment when I have no other deadlines to meet.

I'll put a plain hut on the stern of the ship that will be similar in design to the base of the existing swan models.

This will take the urgency out of making a decision on a design that could impact more than just the ship if the element will be also included in a coat of arms and possibly elsewhere.

So, we'll pick up this dialogue after Build17 is in place.

Now let's Build this ship!

Tabling the animals

For the sake of getting something of a ship in by Build17-rc1, I have decided to put a plain shelter on the stern and pick up the discussion of how it could be adorned after the pressure of the March 15 freeze is past.

In light of the somewhat parallel discussion about what should appear on the empire coat of arms, I think this is a practical approach for the ship FOR NOW.

My next progress report will show the ship as I plan to implement it.

Now to get that ship BUILT!

EDIT - I posted this entry when my previous entry did not appear when it normally would. Sorry for the repetition.

The Empire Ship for Build 17

Player color on sails, shelter and steersmen. The color arrangement on the main sail is patterned after the empire road flags (for want of something better for now.)