Battlefield airships in the 41st milennium, need help with designs

[Neknoh]

So, doing some more fiddling, concepting and planning on my neo-steampunk guard, but for neo steampunk guard, I need some sort of world war one-esque tincan tanks, but I've got some thoughts there... but what more... they need airships... at least for apocalypse.

And the airships will count as titans, and I'll make two "small" ones and one big one, two warhounds and one emperor, armament has not been decided yet.

And yes, I know there are people opposing the idea of airships, and there are people opposing steampunk, please do not voice those opinnions here, it will only serve to derail the thread.

Now, I need a few thoughts on what design I should run with. I have been thinking back and forth on the looks, and the closest thing I've got so far, is the typical blimp/zeppelin design, a bit more blockified, and mounting all of the weapons below. This will work for the smaller airships, however, for the big one, I have absolutely NO idea on what to do.

I know I will have large ammounts of organs on the big one, at least organ pipes, but for the weapon placements, I have no thoughts at all.

The weapons will not look completely 40k, but they will be big and they will be mean and it will be clear what kind of weapons they are.

So, some suggestions for the weapon placements? What about the "command and weapons beneath armoured balloon"? Any other ideas and thoughts are welcome as well.

[Azhrarn]

Something a bit like the Skycat attached below?
One of those should be able to carry a good bit of weight around, since that's what they're designed for. You could even space the 2 chambers apart a bit more and mount some of the weaponry between the envelopes.

The guns would need to be recoilless though, it's bound to get messy if you're expecting a blimp to catch several tonnes of recoil every shot.

[TheBigBadWolf]

Have you seen the anime Laputa - Castle in the Sky, there are a few millitary style airships in there, especially the large army one that is searching for Laputa.

[Neknoh]

Nopes, haven't. I have watched Last Exile many, many times though, and that green fleet which I still cannot remember the name of at least has the proper blocky look to them.

[Niibl]

Are you looking for something like that?
I've planned to have such flyers instead of valkyries.
Well, this one is also quite nice.
Well, if you google "sky galleons", "Space 1889" or "Aeronef" you should find something.

[TheBigBadWolf]

Its called the Goliath

http://anime.nx-studio.net/laputa_castle_in_the_sky.php

there is a small pic of it there, though the angle doesnt do it justice as it is a lot longer and less bloated than in that pic.

[Neknoh]

More like this
http://media.photobucket.com/image/a...atorayship.jpg
http://inferno.slug.org/jpeg/last-ex...t-exile_03.jpg

Coupled with this
http://members.gamedev.net/dbaumgart...irship3-10.jpg
http://aftermathnews.files.wordpress...ip_concept.jpg

With a hint of this
http://kofler.dot.at/40k/units/Imper...Battleship.gif
http://andygomez.files.wordpress.com...06/emperor.jpg

and this
http://www.sodemons.com/gwmuseum/chaostitanx.jpg (blockyness, not spikyness)
http://screenshots.filesnetwork.com/59/others/sister8

[Doppleskanger]

There was an epic airship for the squats. Wasn't up to much IMO

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/2349426387/

but might scale up ok

[Niibl]

If youwant to have antigrav flyers you could follow this road.
Use the the gothic city fight building parts to get a proper 40K look.
If you want it more zeppelin like, go trimaran or squat overlord (see post above).
For bigger flyers you can always add transepts (like a cathedral-nicely gothic) as outriggers for huge titanguns for example.

[SimonL]

Quote

And yes, I know there are people opposing the idea of airships, and there are people opposing steampunk, please do not voice those opinnions here, it will only serve to derail the thread.

Anyone who objects to them being unfluffy hasn't read Guns of Tanith. There are kilometer long drogue/dirigibles that serve as carriers for Lightning and Marauder squadrons as well as carrying thousands of IG troops.

How can anyone complain when the Imperial Navy is stuck in 1940's-esque style of aerial combat?

I hate reposting people's art from the net, but I found this...
http://media.photobucket.com/image/g...rddesign04.jpg

[Neknoh]

Well, if size wasn't an issue, I would likely model one of the Massive Class concepts I've got... the problem here is that they'd be a gaming board or larger in size if I modeled them to 40k scale rather than the planned Above the Seven Seas scale (8cm long, tops). www.freewebs.com/steamflight

As for the zeppelins, I really do want the BLOCKY look of 40k, I just don't want flying boxes, I've got a lot of the actual "look" figured out in my head, it is good that people come with ideas, but I have a difficulty seing the appeal of "let's take a round blimp and stick guns to it". What do people think about sponsons? Do I put the main-guns on top or below, or on the sides? Do I add organ pipes, huge imperial eagles?


.... huge... imperial.... eagles... I think I just got an idea for part of the design at least... someone did some 40k comic based army around here, the Redeemer or something, and he built a vehicle out of it, that had an imperial Aquila as a galeon figurine , maybe that would be something to stick to the front at least?.

Any ideas on how to do a bigass airship? Do I just double the width and length of it and park one weapon in front of the other on the underside? Do I go for two "keels" and mount the weapons on those? Maybe two keels with the weapons in between as suggested earlier? Or maybe some opened bombing hatches in between the keels, with semi-large weapons on the keel and then something like a Plasma Destructor being heaved down the middle in between them?

[Pacific]

Originally Posted by Doppleskanger

There was an epic airship for the squats. Wasn't up to much IMO

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/2349426387/

but might scale up ok

No! Squats in epic were the one place where they had some identity, and really cool war-machines (like the land train for instance!)

I would recommend Laputa as well for inspiration, great little anime (one of my favourite of all time, infact).

*runs off in search of other threads in which squats are being slandered*

[Robespierre]

Have you seen Steamboy?
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steamboy
I'd imagine a balloon reminiscent of the Steam Castle with the guns along the bottom edge and the gondola steering mechanism on top. That should fit nicely with the zeppelins you already have envisioned. Though it might seem kind of Orky being a metal balloon.

[Doppleskanger]

Eazy now stunty lover! Nothing wrong with Squats in epic, it's just this particular model is a little, well, underwhelming. Though now you mention it, my guess is that Squats would have suffered from vertigo, so maybe an airship is a little whack

In terms of gun mounts you have to figure out what the vehicles primary purpose is. Is it a giant floating gun platform for raining death down onto the battlefield, or a giant floating fortress for dominating arial combat? I would prefer the former for 40k, so lots of Super Heavy guns underneath pointing down, and then lots of smaller anti aircraft guns around the rest to protect it. If you do go with a blimp design, why not have a weapons platform balanced on top somehow, like an armoured crows nest, to keep those pesky flyers at bay?

[Neknoh]

Originally Posted by Doppleskanger

[...] a giant floating gun platform for raining death down onto the battlefield,[---]

This

So the gunmounts ARE to be placed as to fire down... I just need to figure out HOW. The Vulcan Mega Bolters can simply be scattered across the underside of the hull, rather than having two sets of rotating barrels, why not simply have a whole slew of barrels representing each VMB?

But it is the BIG guns I'm contemplating on how to place and where to place them, also what to do slightly different for them to look good. I simply have a hard time seing how a huge lascannon with a barrel that is larger around the actual end of the barrel would look good hanging on its own beneath a big, hulking mass. It just doesn't sit right.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Ever heard of the graphic novel series Red Star? They had some huge military airships in that setting. Here's a link. Click on "World of the Red Star" if the link doesn't take you right to a picture of a young girl staring up at an airship.

[Neknoh]

That is the kind of blocky look the ships will have, yes.

But I fail to see any weapons.

[MajorWesJanson]

I can see something like the Iron Vulture from Tale Spin making a good 40K airship. Atypical airship shape, birdlike head, air carrier, room for gunnery emplacements on the top and bottom, even a roughly similar aesthetic. Also, it's amphibious.

http://prettysideofpain.ketnar.org/T...nVulture03.jpg

[Neknoh]

Might work, might not.

However, it is NOT the overall look and design I need too much help with, it will be a blocky and kinda boxy armoured balloon, THAT I know.

What I need some help with is WHERE to place stuff such as:

Titan weapons
Command Bridge
Other stuff to place on the ship.

Essentially, the balloon is there, now I need to put stuff onto it

[Azhrarn]

Well, the smaller weaponry can easily fit in turrets spread around the hull, but you already mentioned those.

Larger weapons are probably best used in either very large side-mounted turrets (think Homeworld 1 Battlecruisers), mounted on the back (Missile launchers placed similar to modern Missile subs for instance) or in Spinal mounts (lengthwise through the air-ship, along the center-line or mounted between the envelopes, a bit like BGF Tau missile-launchers or Nova-cannon, or Homeworld Ion Beam Frigates)

A Vulcano cannon or something similar could probably be mounted in a huge underslung turret quite easily, these have no real recoil since they're energy weapons so they wouldn't risk destabilising the ship like a normal cannon would. (Homeworld 2 Hiigaran Battlecruiser style turrets maybe?)