NuckElBerg

Great micro build, love the design, colour shifts and blockyness!

Wow, beautiful as ever Kianna (and your build is pretty nice too)! Failed flirtation attempts aside, I really love this build! Great colouring and beautiful use of different plant parts make for a really great looking environment. Hat's off!

Great story, beautiful little sub and an absolutely gorgeous looking reef! Really, really love all the colours! Some tips (if you want ): - For camera angling, the hide-tool in combination with right-click centering is very useful. Makes basically any angle possible. - There is a built in button in LDD for taking screenshots. It grabs the current picture, but removes overlays, such as the rotation arrows. Also, I saw you in the Bluerenders thread, so I'm really looking forward to seeing your builds rendered! That said, great build!

Thank you all for your heartwarming comments! Haha, yes, I explained the whole process when replying to Aera earlier. Basically, when I had such I nice-looking space-station, I needed a background to really make it shine, so I did that. Regarding the time, I had one main session going from around 02:30 on Sunday to around 12:30 (yes, my sleeping schedule is completely f*cked up ), i.e. around 10 hours. Then I started the rendering and went to sleep. On top of that, there were setting up the additional renderings/taking additional photos/cropping pictures, etc., which maybe added an hour or so (plus of course extra waiting for the renderings) and 1-2 hours writing the story. So, all in all maybe 13-14 hours (with my main stationary computer being tied up for around 30 hours straight)? Since this is only my 6th LDD-build/MOC ever, it feels like I'm always improving, getting faster and using more and more advanced techniques, so that (in addition to all nice comments and the fun in building/creating itself) is a great driver for my part.

Great story, and I really like the Duplo/Lego Movie (right? ) integration. Plus, as always a great looking build (love the ruins)!

Heh, I realized now that I haven't commented in the actual thread of this ship (I wrote about it in the PM-thread, but not here)! i like it, great shaping and very cool looking, functional design. In fact, I liked it so much that I incorporated a couple of micro-scale versions of it in my build this week. I hope you find them to be a worthy representation!

Cool scenery, really like the story and the paintings!

Great story, landscape (really love how the colours blend together) and laundry room (cool use of the windows and rubberbands to make a... laundry basket, is it?)! Totally agree that M.A.N.T.I.S. upped the level of storytelling in the game!

Haha, okay, you're in charge! Wow, 94 builds to judge, that's going to take some time! I'm sure you'll do a great work though, good luck and have fun!

Which I completely agree on, but then it's probably easiest to just put a specific time and date in the rules (for example 10:00 GMT, June 22, like the weekly build).

Heh, well, it's the width of a stud, not the height (I could probably have been clearer on that, but I was mostly focused on the calculations ). But you are correct, it is a really big antenna (over 1 km long). Although I have hinted in several places in the text that there might be more to it than meets the eye... Regarding the Swastika-bit, I completely agree. What I had written originally was, well, exactly that, that it's a symbol which the German National Socialist party stole. But after mccoyed's comment, I realized that there was no need to point that out, since it was unintentional anyway.

Uhm, I have already posted my builds, but just for the sake of the rules. Didn't they they say "as long as there is June 21 anywhere in the world" regarding Challenge 1? In that case, there is still 3 hours and 46 minutes left (UTC-12:00, plus the fact that GMT is UTC+01:00 now that it is daylight savings time (which the UTC-12:00 places don't have)...

Thank you Evan! No, I think you're right about that... I've edited it out now. The reason that I put it there is that I dislike the overvilification of symbols in general. I mean, if you go to India, for example, you see Swastikas/Sun Crosses everywhere, as it is a holy symbol to them... But still, it was unintentional so there is no need to put that there in the first place.

Great looking sub and dock, really nice effects! I also like the incorporation of your Challenge 1-build in the last shot! Awsome!

Great ship and hangar, really like the design of those wings!

I really look the industrial look of this, plus the feel that the AC is really one big machine (and of course the balconies, great job there)! Good job!

Cute! Reminds me of a mixel!

Damn you, stop stealing all my comments! But I agree, really nice way of capturing two layers!

That's such an excellent phrase! I really like the design of the "flying car", looks great! Great job!

Wow, great build as usual Sal, but what I'm really impressed about is how you got such a big part of M.A.N.T.I.S. to join in and set it up! I had thought about the nausea comments in some of the builds, but I didn't connect the dots until now! Beautiful teamwork! :D

@Aera: Thank you Aera! I really love the residential rings as well, and I loved making them! The whole idea started out with the pretty basic idea of a centrifugal space station, so, I designed a ring. Then I needed some variation, and a bottom, so I designed the docks and the bottom. By this stage, I had 2 residental rings, and I had already been at it for quite a while, but I felt I needed more variation, so I thought "what the hell" and designed the big ring. After I managed to get that to work, I redid some earlier things, added a top and felt "ah, nice to be finished". This lasted for about 3 minutes until I felt I needed something better than a white background to really let the Kaiju shine. So, I designed the walls (which took a looot longer than expected... those things are huge) plus the ground. While I did the walls, I designed the Akena:s (I always knew I wanted spaceships in the finished picture, and Wedge's dreadnaughts fit the bill perfectly). Then, to round things off, I added some more details to the surface of Guinevere to really make it feel more alive (despite, you know, being a desert planet). Designing the rings actually proved to be more than a challenge than one might expect. For example, making the end pieces connect is not that easy (plus, you have to be really careful about height differences, as the clips actually have a little room to move), plus the fact that the inside of the ring is an odd number of studs high (i.e., if you want some sort of centerpiece, you have to make the connectors half a stud high (!), which then had to be solved using technic pieces). @Beltar: Thank you Beltar! As I wrote above, I always knew I wanted spaceships in it, and the Akena:s fit perfectly. Meh, no need to be coy, M.A.N.T.I.S. have already attacked us this week... I also really would like to see a real life version of the Kaiju, and who knows... one day I may actually build it... (I have actually managed to accumulate quite a large collection of bricks (~150,000-170,000 pieces, almost entirely MISB sets) since I came out of my Dark Ages in the middle of February, but I dont think I have the pieces to build the Kaiju (yet ).)

[K - A06] Arrival at the Behemoth Kaiju So, you guys know the drill. I plan on doing something smaller for this week's build. I fail. This week I failed especially hard, considering that the Kaiju space station is ~6000 pieces (of which the space station itself is ~2500). However, I had great fun doing it, and I'm especially happy that everything could be done using legal techniques and pieces (so, if someone wanted to build it IRL, just contact me!). About the build; the base plate is 48x55 studs, no idea how tall. The high quality rendering took around 10 hours using LDD to POV-Ray (I should probably switch to Bluerender soon... I think some images would even look better using it, for example I'm not super-happy about the fourth rendered picture). After the "story", I included a little discussion regarding the size of the station, including calculations and assumptions, if anyone is interested. Also, when I edited everything together, I kinda noticed that the some of the parts resembles certain German WW1 and WW2 symbols. This is purely unintentional, so if anyone feel offended, I'm terribly sorry. C&C always welcome! --//Recording of a private conversation. Date: 2106(38)15. Scramble code: oaffalHLAkj2nj4lmkaa.//-- Narbilu: Hey, Q, everything okay with you? Q: Yes sir, everything is awsome. The new mines on Guinevere pump out gold at a steady pace, and our military bases should be able to keep M.A.N.T.I.S. at bay. Narbilu: Okay, that's great... how about... the wasps? Q: What do you mean sir? Narbilu: Well, you know, those private recordings we have... they aren't really private. See what I'm saying? Q: ... Narbilu: And, you know, as our chief engineer, you don't have to be at the front line all the time. Q: I don't? Narbilu: No. Q: ...but what about my awsome looking guns that I carry around with me all the time? Narbilu: You don't have to carry around them either. Q: I don't? But I thought they were standard requisition. Narbilu: *Sigh*, okay, first of all, you are a Colonel, and between you and me, soon to become a Brigadier General, so you don't have to use standard requisition. Second of all, have you ever seen any of our troops carrying around weapons like that? I mean, seriously, where did you even get them? And, I mean, you're an engineer, why would you even need those? Q: ...because they look awsome? Narbilu: *Sigh*, you know what. One of our Behemoth class space stations, the Kaiju, has arrived at Guinevere. You were in charge of designing them, so hop on the next Akena, take a tour around it, and see what can be improved. Since most of our gear is either manufactured there or ships via it, you will still have full control of our operations at Guinevere. Does that sound okay? Q: Sure, can I bring my guns? Narbilu: What, why wou... yes, fine, whatever, yes, you can bring your guns. The next Akena leaves from forward base 37/4-Gamma in 2 hours. Make sure you catch it. --//Recording of a private conversation stop. Scramble code: oaffalHLAkj2nj4lmkaa.//-- --//Private Log Begin. Date: 2206(38)15. Scramble code: 123StopListeningToMyPrivateStuff.//-- Heh, I love playing dumb with Narbilu. He gets riled up so quickly. Of course I know they are listening to all my private recordings. I generally like being on the front lines. Keeps you alert and makes sure you really understand what your men need. Not Guinevere though. Crappy piece of dust with those d*mn wasps. Guinevere is the 'Gates' equivalent to that place from those ancient Terran stories... Bruges, I think they call it. Anyway, it's good to be back on the Kaiju. Last time I saw her, she was in the space docks above Orinshi being built. Oh how far you have come my beautiful gargantuan lady. The Behemoth class space stations are truly the masterpieces of the Kawashita Group. Currently, there are two active; the Kaiju, and the Atlas, which is en route to Traig IV as I record this, with a third one, the Shiva, being built in the Orinshi space docks. The Behemoth class space stations are 100% modular and consist of three main types of parts; Residential, docks/engineering and science facilities. The residential areas are the big "rings". They have an independent propulsion system in order to create artificial gravity and super high speed MAGLEV elevators for transportation to the core. The Kaiju has two types of residential areas. The larger ring is configured for non military personel, i.e. science, engineering, miners, settlers, etc. The smaller rings are configured for military personel due to their proximity to the dock/engineering bays. The docks/engineering bays come in three different sizes depending on the type of ship. The largest host Ad Alpha class ships, including carriers, settlement, mining and maintenence vessels (in the docks closest to the largest ring), in addition to docking solutions for Dreadnaughts such as the Akena class. The second biggest host Alpha class ships and the smallest host fighters and bombers. Since gravity is not as important in the docks, it is simulated using directed magnetic fields. The dedicated science facilities on the Kaiju are fairly limited. There is an observatorium at the top of the station and a... sensor array on the bottom for... picking up signals? However, there are a lot of makeshift laboratories in the largest residential ring. Perhaps this is something that can be improved upon? Apparently there were some major destruction in one of the sectors after two junior researchers injected some sort of yellow reptilian creature with Awsomnium without the knowledge of their superiors. According to them, they had heard that "M.A.N.T.I.S. are doing it everywhere and creating a new breed of super-strong biological weapons". Seriously, why would anyone come up with an idea like that? It's just stupid. --//Private Log End. Signature: Q. Scramble code: 123StopListeningToMyPrivateStuff.//-- Discussion: 1. Regarding the size of the space station; when I decided to introduce the Akena class Dreadnaught to the build, my idea was that they were around 1.5 kilometers long (i.e. roughly the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer). This would make the bigger ring have a diameter of around 4.5 kilometers and a circumference of around 15 kilometers (D*Pi), and the smaller ones around 3/10 kilometers. Now, based on the Akena being 10 studs long, 1 stud is 150 meters. The rings are around 2 studs thick, i.e. 300 m. This would mean that the area for the big ring is (2.25 km ^ 2 - (2.25 km - 0.3 km) ^ 2) * Pi = 3.96 km^2 (and 2.54 km^2 for the smaller ones). The rings are 3 and 2 studs high respectively, i.e. 0.45 and 0.3 km, which yields a volume of 1.78 and 0.76 km^3 respectively, resulting in a total volume of ~3.31 km^3 in the residential area. If we assume that we are pretty generous with the space, for being a space station, and that each inhabitant would have 80 m^3 each (40 m^2 * 2 m), including all other area required, this would result in the station being able to host 3.31 / (80 / 1000 000 000) = 41.375 million people. If we assume the extra space takes up about twice as much as we initially thought, we'd still be able to host around 20 million people on the space station. Pretty nice. 2. Why are there no visible guns? Well, first of all, the base hosts an enormous fleet, which could take over an entire world by itself, so it doesn't really need that many guns. Second of all, even the biggest guns we have seen so far in AG are around 30 meters long (in my Polar Base), which would only be a fifth of a stud, so guns aren't really visible on this scale. Third of all, what's up with that absurdly huge sensor array which kinda looks like a doomsday device and is only close to military facilities? Wait, why did I bring that up when we were talking about guns? Nevermind. More pictures/comments under the spoiler button!

Thank you everyone! The environment turned out much better than I could have hoped for initially. Most things I did were basically "that sounds like it could work, let's try it", and then they actually worked (which I'm very surprised about )! The combination of "stair-building" and SNOT for the volcano, and then later the flairs basically worked like I thought they would "right out of the box", for example.

Well, I hope you have the time to do it (or make a new build and post this for next week's weekly, it truly is a great build )!