I really like the choice to use muted/rustic colors instead of the super chrome'd up cliche spaceship look :b
it fits the 'early tech' aesthetic you mention there in the description

Thank you very much!

I really like the look of spaceships in Star Wars, that's probably my main inspiration for most spaceship designs. I just think most spaceships would have to be kinda rugged and look sorta beat up, especially the ones that see regular use. Oh and sometimes I put headlights on them for some reason.

I sorta based the look of this one vaguely off the Apollo spaceships and lunar lander stuff too, though. I love those "capsule" aesthetics quite a bit too.

I like that idea! it just feels more realistic, it makes sense.
honestly sometimes crafts look kind of creepy to me? idk why..
imagine these big crafts hurdling around in space. just gives me shivers Xb
but also is really interesting at the same time?
like that black knight satellite- whatever it ended up being.

and oh gosh who could forget this charming little thing
http://cyberneticzoo.com/wp-content.....antis-x640.jpg

I gotta admit, I like some of those sleek sci-fi designs from the mid-20th century, but a lot of those designs just seem so impractical, you know? And then you drift too close to an asteroid field and the shiny paint gets all scuffed up by micrometeorites and space dust... I guess I think of it like fancy sports cars, they're cool to look at, but if you want something affordable and reliable you're probably gonna go for some sort of Space Toyota, not a Space Lamborghini.

Big spaceships are imposing too though, I should probably actually draw one of the big Dominion interstellar cruisers looming over a planet sometime. That's just what the Lightbearer Dominion *does* though, when they want to make First Contact, they make their presence known even if they have no hostile intentions whatsoever and pull up into orbit with big interstellar cruisers. This, however, is typically considered a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive by the rest of the galaxy and is regarded as a "dick move" by most other interstellar factions.

I think it turned out the Black Knight was actually just some sort of Space Tarp or something? I remember a lot of YouTube videos about creepy mysteries talking about it a few years back, but then everybody stopped caring about it, so I guess it probably was just some sort of space junk.
(Interesting aside, that's one of the reasons I give for why spaceships typically drop out of FTL a bit away from any planet, and approach at far slower speeds--you don't want to hit a satellite or space station or other ship in orbit, not to mention all the space junk that tends to accumulate in orbit over time.)

OH MY GOD it's a space mosquito! That's the sort of weird Space Age conceptual stuff I love, it's not necessarily the most practical design ever but it's definitely interesting to look at and would definitely mess with any alien that saw it.
But then the reality of space travel is, like, little capsules that look like salt shakers and space shuttles that look like RVs with rockets stuck to the back.

oh true, they would be difficult to keep pristine.
what I wanna see is what an 'off roading' jeep type spaceship might look lol
the car-ship idea is interesting though, opens up a lot of possibilities
(I say, as if I know a damn thing about cars)

omg please! at some point if you can draw the giant ship near a planet or in the sky or something
and yeah I can't blame people for seeing it that way. is there ever any trouble caused by it?
like any punishment?

aww.. I guess all along I knew the black knight was just random space debris
but still pulled me right in </3
I hadn't thought of satellites and stuff being an issue for incoming ships
reminds me of that one airplane that almost crashed because birds got sucked into the engine?
like how does that not always cause an issue? how do people avoid that

being practical? who cares
being charming to look at? way more important

Alright cool I'm gonna show off some of my ship designs now since we're talking about this.

So this space van looking thing is pretty much the most common ship in my galaxy.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/37653816/
And it's popular because it's a space van, you can use it as a small cargo shuttle, or to ferry around small groups of people, make it into a camper or mobile research center, or you can trick it out with weapons and armor and use it as a gunship, like this variant.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/37663679/

This one is another common ship variety, a bit chunkier but still very much a space truck, owned and modified by a bounty hunter I haven't drawn in years...
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/37718455/

You got me thinking about making exploration ships now though, like what sort of stuff would be added? When you say "off-road" and "jeep" that makes me think of some sort of scout ship that wouldn't be particularly fast, but would be very robust and easy to control, and probably has extra armor and lights and sensors and stuff for exploring.
I include headlights in a lot of my ship designs already, oddly enough, but I think it makes sense for if they have to navigate an asteroid field or when operating around a busy space station or something.

Oh, if you show up to First Contact with massive cruisers, you're either trying to intimidate or impress the primitives down on the planet, or maybe a bit of both. It's a risky stunt to pull though if you don't know the military capability of the planet you're trying to impress. On the other hand, such a show of force might actually help keep initial contact peaceful because if they have that level of technology, maybe it's a good idea to NOT just launch missiles at them before trying to communicate, and risk annihilation if they retaliate.

I have yet to really get into interstellar politics of my universe in great detail, but the Lightbearer Dominion is sorta like Space European Union, with a bit of Space British Empire mixed in, and a lot in common with the Galactic Republic from Star Wars despite only controlling about 20% of the galaxy (and most of that space is just, well, empty space). There's not really much anybody else can or will do about them scaring primitive space critters with their massive interstellar cruisers before sending down a peaceful delegation to make contact.

I know I rambled about this in one of our other comment chains but I love thinking about realistic/practical reasons for things and ways of doing things in a fantasy setting. Sure, dropping out of hyperspace at a distance from the planet you're approaching might just be an etiquette thing, but having practical reasons for it makes it feel like less of a plot hole, I guess?

Honestly I think about practicality a bit TOO much, like I have space mechanic characters that I can totally imagine sitting around in the hangar venting to each other about how much they hate working on walkers because the legs are overengineered and overcomplicated and the hydraulics always have problems, or how annoying it is to calibrate the antigravity engines on hover vehicles... I legit think most of my factions, even the advanced space-faring ones, would still be fielding vehicles that have wheels or treads for the most part just because that stuff is simpler and more efficient to operate and maintain.

space van- idk what else I was expecting, it's exactly that! I love it :'3
a very realistic idea to have there be different kinds of ships, but that each can still be customized differently for other purposes.
That gunship has a lot of unique shapes to it, definitely something that would make me shit my pants if I saw it in the sky. And a "robust scout ship" sounds perfectly fitting of a space-jeep. Just your average hillbilly asteroid belt-bouncer. (I say this with affection, as my ohioan ass used to own a jeep)

walking the line between 'impressing' and 'intimidating' is so risky, but still so very accurate to reality.
man oh man though you really have put thought into this! I so rarely ever try including politics into my worlds. even just what you're explaining here is a bit lost on me :'b

you really do think too much into these. but like I've said, it gives your work so many layers of detail that most people wouldn't think to brainstorm about. would be interesting if you did something comic-like sometime? or even just a drawing with dialogue? only if you have the energy/time ofc

Thanks! The Vega V-Series transports are one of my favorite small ship designs even if I don't draw them often, because of just how versatile they look! At one point I was going to draw an elongated variant, maybe even two variations of the same variant where one is a space bus and the other is a space truck. It's just a very utilitarian design that I could design customization and modifications for constantly just to see how it could be used in all sorts of different roles.

I gotta say I still love the idea of "asteroid belt-bouncer space jeep" lol. Such things would definitely be useful for research missions, perhaps law enforcement entities searching for fugitives and smugglers and pirates hiding out in asteroid belts or stashing loot among the space debris, I'm sure mining companies would need small and robust scout vehicles to check out asteroids that seemed promising during an initial sensor sweep up close, and I'm sure scrappers roaming the debris fields of long-forgotten space battles and orbital scrapyards and scouting out derelict vessels adrift in wild space would love having a small craft they can use to get up close and look for anything of value--bonus points if the Space Jeep has powerful enough engines and some sort of tractor beam or tow cable or clamp that it can use to pull or push interesting items back to a full-sized ship waiting nearby.

You really got me thinking about how every space-faring faction needs, and probably already has, such craft available to them for all those uses and more. Robust, nimble, yet powerful short-range exploration craft that might even be useful in the aftermath of an emergency for rescuing stranded personnel from a crippled or damaged cruiser or collecting escape pods and tugging them to safety.

Also, space tugboats would have to be a thing lol.

I honestly hate politics and putting that stuff into fantasy realms always seems to ruin the escapist aspects a bit, but it's also sorta necessary for some stories to function, you know what I mean? I try to keep it fairly vague and basic unless it's absolutely necessary.

Also in late 2020 I designed an angry space gerbil man that I was going to use as something of a parody of Donald Trump, and scheduled it to post in January 2021, and we all know what happened at the beginning of 2021... definitely ruined the idea of "arrogant and pompous space hamster CEO with a temper and Napoleon complex" before it could even take off!
I really liked the idea of that guy running some immoral interplanetary corporation and having it function like its own interstellar government in some ways, having a creepy yet cowardly reptilian yes-man following him around, getting into disputes with the Lightbearer Dominion *and* Cygnian Federation, making deals with more villainous factions, disregarding the rights of most any developing but primitive planets and species they come across, and just generally being Recurring Villain fodder vaguely reminiscent of Captain Planet villains... and of course, being a very acceptable target for stories where I wanted to have space pirates like Djamil or mercenaries like Wassa Rydarr and Domarion portrayed as protagonists instead of antagonists.

Not gonna lie, comics are a big fuckin' OOF. I've tried. The failings are multi-faceted, ranging from "I just can't motivate myself to draw that many pictures" to being good with *ideas* but not actually being a *writer*, if that makes sense.
Drawings with dialogue, though? That's a maybe. Or even just drawing a scene of characters interacting and writing a short story about their interactions, or including a transcript of their conversation, that's actually something I've done before a few times.

This is an interesting design. design. Sort like the Nostromo got partially built and then they decided to go with more of a Sputnik look after the bridge was built. Also, I like that you've worked out a reasoning for the design. Such things help not just with making suspension of disbelief easier, but also with making possible related future designs having certain similar necessities, and possibly helping to show future innovations as older designs might get phased out.

I based Vlad Yvhv's ship design more closely on the SR-71, for a fairly simple reason. The jet was capable of flying high enough that the pilots had to wear space suits and were given astronaut wings. If not for the limitations of 1960s technology, that thing would've likely been capable of escaping the atmosphere and going fully orbital. Its speed was limited more by physics than a lack of power, also. The air friction at mach 3+ actually re-tempered the titanium alloy skin every time the jet was flown. As of 2022 the SR-71 holds the world record it set in 1976 as the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft. So, it makes sense for me that a more advanced version would make for a good spacecraft that could also function in-atmosphere. I added a structure resembling the D-21 drone, for a combination of additional look and functionality, and tweaked a few details here and there (such as removing the cockpit, as it's boarded through the cargo hold and piloted from closer to the middle of the internal areas). Proportions and sizes are a bit different, since it is made to be lived in and also used for long-term storage and transport.

Thanks! One of my favorite parts of ship design is figuring out justifications for my aesthetic choices. Admittedly, a lot of this world-building is done in reverse, with me first following my whims for the visual design, and then figuring out why it looks how it looks later on. This time, though, I did actually set out with the intent of designing something that looks straight out of the Space Age, with things like Sputnik and the Apollo capsules being major inspirations.

Having a fairly consistent visual language for various factions helps design more of their vehicles too, even if I often fail to put it into words. Antilliopan/Starfarer ships tend to favor a "tried and true" aesthetic that leans heavily into practicality and ruggedness, and often looks like it came out of the original Star Wars trilogy. The Jeroban, and by extension the Cygnian Federation, uses designs that are simple and utilitarian owing to the Jeroban coming from a desert planet with limited resources, so many of their larger ships are very plain and drab while most of their smaller ships resemble cars and vans because their personal transportation industry shifted to constructing space vehicles as a result of needing large quantities of starfighters very quickly at a point in history.

That leaves a few established and semi-established factions I need to design (or redesign) spacecraft for--the Dakromai in particular being a faction whose starcruisers would look a lot like a blend of fantasy warship, 20th-century battleship, and Star Destroyers. The Ysel, not really being a unified faction but rather a race scattered throughout the galaxy and basically filling the role of "space goblin", use whatever ships and parts they can get their grubby hands on and assemble into operational craft, even to the point of attaching parts from several unrelated factions to the same vehicle. The idea of the battered hull of a Dakromai warship being powered by old Lightbearer Dominion interstellar engines with mismatched weapons comes to mind, and it would be an interesting vehicle to engage in combat to boot as you don't know whether any given weapon on the ship is a Jeroban pulse cannon, a Dominion plasma cannon, Dakromai beam or microwave weapon, Zerdan ion cannon, naval artillery that fires explosive shells, or some sort of mass driver cannon constructed from old mining equipment--and the cargo bay might have been converted into a bomb bay, using magnetized rails to drop cargo containers packed with explosives and depleted fuel cells like the Jeroban did during the Lucifer War.

I also need to design some ships for the various interplanetary corporate entities and other non-government factions--I get the feeling there would be a handful of "generic" freighter and cruiser and shuttle designs, presumably manufactured by some other interplanetary corporation, that would be used by most of these groups, and pirates and bandits would just make use of whatever they can get their hands on, potentially with janky modifications and repairs made to them that make them stand out from their run-of-the-mill counterparts.

I do quite like the idea of basing ships on aircraft, and even modifying existing fighter jets to be space-capable. Dominic Wolff's small space fleet would consist primarily of modified ShadowHyena Tactical Enterprises fighter jets (mostly generic redesigns of USAF jets like the F-22 and A-10), fitted with space-capable engines and deflector shields and possibly even energy-based weaponry. Such vehicles would probably confuse and terrify hostile alien invaders that are used to such craft being evaded by simply exiting the atmosphere, only to have these jets follow them into space and rip them apart with both bullets and plasma bolts.

What was I supposed to be replying to, again? Sorry, got to rambling...

Just about ship designs, and I don't think the rambling went off-topic, so all's good. Or at least good 'nuff.