Well, I already made my contribution to the new Flatgrass map.
It's a 3D model of an old sketch I made way back when of what I called a blade-craft (this one is shaped like a sai, a multi-role class). Think of it as a class of ship that's made for collisions as a last resort, or first move, depending on combat conditions. Usually first waves of battles between similar class ships there are freaking tons of them (up to hundreds battling at the same time, and that's just one class of them), and simply firing like mad won't do well enough whittle down numbers or win, you must eventually collide. Strongest fuselage wins in this kind of duel.
Much like TIE craft from Star Wars, these kinds of craft are supposed to be cheaper to build (simpler models/classes at least), and don't require as much maintainence on the weapons on board, because of the usual inevitable end of them. But for a more silly/awesome reason why I also designed more craft like these; I wanted to see how dueling in the skies or space would be like if it was dealt with more like a swordfight, than a gunfight, or missile/beam dodging. Ranged combat is frowned upon, collision is mandatory. That takes some freaking skill. Not only to hit your target, but also to keep your ship intact for another target, as well as survival. Due to the fact that pilots would have to fight their opponents on the ground if they both plummet, and manage to survive impact (or successfully eject, and land safely).
Being an ace with these isn't measured by how many kills you make, but how many skirmishes you survive, and how many ships you managed to fly back after at least 1 kill. Cowards are doomed to fly a yellow one of these which are supposed to be easier to spot; also labeling them as "Yellow".
And as a last-resort sci-fi explanation on how a stupid idea can be explained to be... reasonable I guess (I had to deal with some total douchbag realists about this, and I'm thoroughly sick of them now. MST3k mantra is my response from then on.): Shields, 2 of them. One to reinforce the blades and the ship (engineering of the skeleton also helps, which I also took time to work on), as well as a secondary shield system to protect the pilot, somewhat. Mostly from kinetic whiplashes which would be the primary killer.
How these things usually duel. Think of power-sliding in mid air; that's one method. There's of course the obvious, drive-through direct collision (you'd have to reverse thrust if you survive to pull out of the opposing craft); and many other crazy maneuvers you can think up, adapting swordplay into flight and dogfighting. These are spacecraft normally, so they would have plenty of boosters on the sides and such to force maneuvers of various kinds, and to further manipulate their flight pattern; an internal ballast system is installed to help adjust the center of gravity of these to the necessary requirements to pull off certain moves, including power-slides amongst the clouds. Enough counter-thrust would be needed to keep the ship balanced during -slides, otherwise it'll just tumble and stall out in mid-air (sometimes also an ace maneuver if intentional).
1 (2x thrust) Primary engine
3 Support engines
2 machine guns (standard); auto-cannons or better if ace-class, which retains weapons after skirmishes
1 Self-contained pilot-pod (cockpit and all) with separate ejection seat within, in case pod fails.
-Dis/Embark via wheeled, VTOL, and air-air carrier (Katana-Class Carriers are well known for often hauling 2 squadrons of these apiece; amongst the other kinds of ships aboard).
Standard for Sais:
1 Primary driver vibro-blade (to make evisceration easier, even in direct-encounters)
2 supplementary stopper-blades with reinforced wings (internal skeleton) for defensive measure (much like the weapon it was designed after)
I might upload my original sketch later.
EDIT:
Thanks for the compliments.
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Topic: Minecraft - It has blocks. (Read 2422207 times)