HanSime

Ah, hadn't seen the webinar, but that's good to know. Makes sense I guess. :) Of course, they should probably realise fans already have a tendency to think big and people looking through the submissions likely are more impressed by bigger things. So if they want smaller submissions maybe, they should provide some incentives for that (higher chance of winning, bigger economic incentive). For right now their economic incentive is bigger means more money for the fan designer, so if they want more smaller designs, maybe they should incentize those sub 2000 parts more. Ah well.

There's no feedback from the Designer Team on what was proper or not from a LEGO sales reasoning, unfortunately. However, some people commented they loved the idea, but would have no idea where to place or store it. Hence why I made it much more possible to break it down into smaller sections. It would still require quite a bit of space, but then, that was in part the point of the design. :) Hence it would preferably have to have at least two and have free angle options on the corner so you can make a square. Otherwise you're potentially reliant on scalpers for a third. Of course, you could just have your neighbour, grandpa or mother in law buy an extra. But few would go through the trouble and ofc. IMO it'd be more fun if more people could have a full star fort with just the one without requiring an extra mortgage. I mean, 4000 pieces is expensive enough as is. :) If you look at each individual section and the bastions as a group, what kind of features would you not mind removed, and what would you really like to see added? What kind of detail would be most important to improve on?

So I'm not sure if I'll have time to submit this for january's BDP 10 as I haven't started work on it yet. Unfortunately didn't receive a whole lot of feedback. The critique I've received from BDP9 was: Could be too big, too costly due to too many bricks, yet not detailed enough for collectors - BDP10: Well that's the way it's gonna be with a project this big if I'd submit it for BDP10 again. :) - Too large might be an issue I can take on long term though as it doesn't fit most vitrines and if that's where it needs to go then that would become a design parameter (initially I designed for a floor space, then to put it in separate sections in a display case). I could opt to downsize the design to just two bastions with walls on each side and aim to make it possible to place in say an IKEA Besta vitrine (~37x56cm). But then use the same parts for two more different designs. Basically make it a Creator 3in1 set and make alternate instructions available. That would demand a much smaller setup though and would be a massive back and forth redesign undertaking that would probably not let me submit till BDP 12 or 13. But then I might be able to make a version where you have two setups for two bastions and one version with just the one bastion, but add a ship (that would somehow not look like a stone fort). "Too little colour: too grey." : probably the low hanging fruit. One critique I got from the guy reviewing piraty stuff was it's too boring in colour. I can see why he says so even though unforutnately a lot of colours wern't available for BDP9. Seem to be more for BDP10. Though I gather he seems to love lots of cobblestones and plants anyway, which I find tedious and not contributive to play value opposed to collector's value and I don't have the parts for that in this build. Either way, I'm thinking of replacing some colours as such: - light blueish grey stoneworks on the outside by tan or white bricks. Perhaps mix it up a bit more to suggest building on rocky outcroppings. - replace dark blueish grey masonry by dark tan masonry (maintain white on top) - replace some dark blueish grey around the bottom edge to create a more wavey pattern. - here and there some greenish parts for moss. Minifigures: - Red epaulets are optional again! :) - Replace one imperial soldier for another female pirate as there's a striped female top available now. Would balance the genders a bit more too. Backgrounds - Will see to replace the backgrounds and keep it from flying off. It may have been distracting too, so perhaps I'll just go with a blank background for most images again. :) Less features is more room for detail? The really big thing is, I'd need to get parts from somewhere againto change anything significantly. So where can I cut? I'm feeling the view of the courtyard got a bit too obstructed with the bell tower. The balustrade near the toilet is perhaps redundant too and not in line with that of the governor's section. - Considering removing the bell tower and replace it with a simple ballustrade like the one of the governor's section with maybe a turreted corner. I'm not sure if it added that much and detracted from the lighthouse tower by being so high. Would restore the pidgeon/parrot cote's prominence there too. - Remove one palm tree and use the part count to add greenery elsewhere. - A bit more visual variation on the bastion exteriors? Like say some battle damage. Someone also didn't like the "nose" of the bastions. So perhaps I can redesign that a bit too. - I didn't completely like the way I did the plant parts on the lower end of the bastions to represent seaweed. Maybe should stick to mostly starfish, crabs and barnacles and such and make a bit more dedicated plants that don't seem slapped on last minute. Also see if I can add a couple of sandy areas to provide more variation. Unfortunately I found that can eat up parts quickly. Any other suggestions?

Going to be tough competing with all the castle sets with new factions. Realistically I fear the big pirate sets are out by default in that regards. Shame they don’t do these contests by theme.

Thanks for the vote! Yeah, they are available! Replaced them with those some time after I had the render done. Saved me dozens of bricks to use elsewhere too. :) Couldn’t be bothered to update the render as that 25second rotation took three and a half day to render at medium high resolution. Would really like to know how I can upgrade the lighting in the renders though, it’s always very dark inside the buildings.

Final version submitted and approved for BDP9. :)

Haha thanks. :) Well there’s now a couple more torso’s that are suitable for pirates on top of one fancy suit suitable for a governor or a Californian Rancher from the Spanish era, there’s now a new lady torso, an eye patched pirate face, the cannons, some parrots returned, scorpion… Didn’t go over everything though. Just some stuff I came across. Castle fans will likely be happy too. Several castle knight torsos were added (particularly from the new horse faction).

Okay so I've indeed decided to forego the own cannon designs (saved 70 parts). Apparently the pallet finally got a little update and became slightly more expansive. :) New in this version: More animals! Two parrots, three monkeys, a pidgeon and a scorpion joined the two mice, four various coloured birds, a bat, a frog, the shark, two crabs, the German shepherd and its puppy. An artillery training buoy, given the period, it's made from barrels and a lantern. Poor monkey is being stalked by the shark. :( Five old school cannons instead of five custom ones An extra rowing boat with imperial theme (near copy pasta, but extra triangular flag) The cote made a last second return, just with a pidgeon on top now. A globe was added to the governor's map room and a small tile was replaced by the antarctica map. Poseidon found his beard. :) New torso for the shopkeeper, quite the fancy lady! Small change to the bastions with a facet brick instead of a wedge brick to make the transition smoother. Five spare 4x12 plates added for covering up the holes in 180deg mode. They can be used for floor material in the square otherwise or just left out altogether.

They arr! Thanks for the feedback and image adding. :) The renders I’ve done so far have the own design cannon. Including a 25s rotating high res render (took 2,5days to render. :p ). Still need to make them into compilation images. Think I‘ll make another version with the old school cannons and have a poll on Facebook on which version they’d prefer submitted. :) For the bastion’s 180 deg straight wall mode (rather than the 72 deg corner mode) I could add five extra 4x12 plates to cover the gaps that would form and lock those in place.

Sorry forgot to add, in star fort config, according to Bricklink, it would be around 92cm max diameter (opposite to the bastion with the bird's nest), depends a bit on which angle you'd pick. The smaller fort would be a little closer to 70cm iirc. I've done a lot of renderings the last two days. Will be posting a lot soon. :) I'll be sure to add a scale chart top view.

That looks like it's going to be one tall ship indeed! How high do you plan to make the masts? You're building it in removable slices rather than removable decks?

I've got one huge burning question of conscience at the moment, which is: Should I: stick with the pretty, large self-designed, but non-firing cannons (5x 21 = 105 bricks)? replace them with 5 old school actually firing cannons, which are available again for BDP9 (5x 9 = 45 bricks) and use the remaining 60 bricks for further beautification (cobble stones, animals, plantlife and such)? replace them with 5 old school actually firing cannons (45 bricks), use 15 on an extra imperial themed rowboat and use the remaining 45 for further beautification? replace them with 10 old school actually firing cannons (10x9 = 90 bricks) and use the remaining 15 bricks on an extra Imperial themed rowboat? I mean I only created these cannons back then because the old school cannons were not available for BDP8. And these don't fire, but they do look quite nice I think, so it's a question of display. Glad you enjoy it! :) You're right, it basically was tacked on (purposely), but you're not the first to state it felt out of place. And turned out it was a good thing you made me look at it as the door isn't in the new palette but didn't show up in the list. :x So decided to give it a full overhaul and let a few design elements from other parts return to make it feel more a part of the whole. Here's a look at the new version and of the bottom level fresh water spring. Thanks! :) I feel the use of rock panels also gave it a bit more sturdy appearance in some of the wall sections. I'll share some more images of each individual new section later this week. Probably going to start rendering soon once I made the final decision on the cannons.

EDIT 2: Updated with a short video of the final design as entered for BDP 9 (the still renders are the final final version though, couple tiny details ;) ): Ended up at 3999 parts. :) Edit 1: Updated image: https://www.reddit.com/34c7b879-0a8a-401c-af0e-c07346016863 __________________________ So turns out with the new palette reducing many of the available bricks and generally having time to work out the issues I had with my BDP8 version, I'm working on a large revamp for BDP9. Since I've also gotten myself a new laptop (the ten year old one was kinda in need of replacement), the rendering goes a bit faster, so I could do an early trial render. There have been quite a few changes since making this render though, but it gives a good general idea of the redesign. Feedback requests: What do you think of the display value of the set in the WIP state (render) below? Should I go with my own cannon designs, or old school projectile firing cannons and save on parts to be used elsewhere? Should I replace the sturdy 2x 2pin connections (top and bottom) with El Dorado click system so it can be attached to that? The link below holds more images that give a general idea, but of course since these are even earlier, a lot of changes have been made since. Still, gives a reasonable idea of what can be expected. Main critiques Below I'll give a list of changes and reasonings. The main critiques I got from people online, was a lack of suitability as display piece(s). It was considered a little big too big, despite its attractive pentagonal form, unless if it were possible to place on a shelve and lacked beautification. So on the one hand I've been aiming to reduce the amount of parts required to the whole (merging parts where possible, using rocks, slightly reducing structure sizes etc.), while making each individual section more attractive to look at (as individual or combined display pieces), embellish the interiors and make them connect better as modules and standalone. I also tried to give a bit more room for organic material and natural outcroppings. In the spoiler below you can find a non-exhaustive list of changes and reasonings for them. General lay-out changes: I wasn't quite happy with the amount of lay-out combinations that were available in the original as you couldn't put everything in any order you want. In the new setup, only two sections (for now) can't sit directly next to eachother (lighthouse and harbour), I'm pondering on making the sea side a bit more modular so this can be reconfigured entirely as desired. The main wall sections have each become 16x16 baseplates with some having additional large plates attached, while the bastions have been integrated with the corners and the connection tunnels have been mostly removed to free up parts for elsewhere. The bastions can now form their own mini Star Fortress, but can also be reconfigured to 24 stud wide 180° wall section! You can combine these sections to create either a star fortress, or (a) seawalled city street(s) of up to 1.6m long! Below (an again already somewhat outdated) screenshot of what you can expect in terms of lay-out options for the set: a city wall and mini star fortress, a big star fortress or a combined sea wall. Note that in the below version I still had to make a small adaptation (elongated the neck to the star fort by 1 stud) to ensure it could easily fold out to a 180° connection. Unfortunately the 180° mode will have some small gaps in the walkway as is. I fully expect more changes need to be made if the BDP9 palette changes further. However, I got a reasonable idea of render times now and don't expect as many last second surprises and stress as last time. ;) Changes to the various sections:

Replaced the images in the first post with a video. :)

These bars can be removed to the sides to reveal a narrow path along the water stream of the fountain.

Hey all, new poster here and new to LEGO designing, that is in Studio and trying to be professional about it. ;) Been collecting LEGO since the '80s and '90s, since I was a kid then and they'll have to pry those LEGO's out of my cold dead hands. Just like my TransFormers. I’m here to promote my Imperial Guards’ Star Fortress for BDP8. :) Anyway. Sad Origin Story Time. You can skip ahead. :P Ran across Studio earlier this year and realized I could finally design stuff. Didn't know where the previous Bricklink stuff was designed in, but already bought a few and really wanted to do one of my own. So. Better start ambitious and not read the fine print, eh? Went straight in and started designing a Star Fortress with all the mini figures and parts deemed necessary - not quite realising the BDP8 pallette wasn't active for every mode (like the exchange tool). Wanted to do something big, different and in a shape that's not too rectangular. So. Pentagon. Went in too quickly, added too much detail, yadda yadda. Long story short, used 2000+ parts on a single wall section that was too wide (had harbour, gate, fountain, lighthouse, storage and stables in ONE section) and could start over. :) Went for a more structural and modest approach: 2-3 'themes' per section of main wall at most, but still didn't notice the BDP pallette wasn't active. Submitted the design. Ouch. Could redo 10-15% while finding bricks for a lot more. While also trying to keep the instructions proper. While on holiday. With just a really old laptop which luckily had a decent Nvidia card, but could only render one thing at a time and would take over half an hour per image, while only having time after 8PM... Gah. Long story short, submitted with less than half the renders done and made due with what I had from the old stuff, then had to resubmit everything rendered while editing some stuff on my iphone in the middle of an amusement park within what amounted to a cage of Faraday to make the submission deadline and not losing track of my three and six year olds. I wasn't stressed. Nope. Nope. NoOoooOOooOooo. Fine. It was very stressful. D: Anyway. Done a few more renders now, would have been nice to do some animations, maybe in the future. So without further rambling, the Imperial Guards' Star Fortress! :D Open to any constructive comments and critiques. :) -Hans PS: Bigger pics here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LEGOPirates/comments/1kgkrxd/imperial_guards_star_fortress/ EDIT: Replaced the images by a short video. :)