Today was short and I only made progress on The Lyre of Binding Chapter and some of the Hipper’s new paint job.
With the Lyre chapter I’m writing events chronologically and leaving small gaps for additional content later on. I’m just getting key events written before they start morphing out of control again. Less essential content can come later. It’s going well and there’s a good chance I’ll have the first draft finished before September. I do need to pick up the pace, though.
As for Hipper, there’s less good news there. I just can’t find a paint scheme that both looks good on this particular style of ship, and fits the Kaiser faction as a whole. I might just have to keep experimenting with different combinations until something sticks. The only problem is that the fastest way to change the colors of the grid requires a tool that uses hex values for identifying blocks, but rgb values for inputing color changes. Having to run all of these color conversions (that look different in different programs mind you) makes things take five times as long as they should. It also forces me to write down a bunch notes to keep track of the values.
And this is the ‘fast’ way of making specific grid-wide changes.
Well, I spent way more time on the Hipper’s internals today than I meant to, but overall it was time well spent. With a few areas I might need to rework slightly, the interior is just about finished, design-wise. Now is the interesting part. I’m going to repaint the entire ship starting from the outside and working my way through the interior.
The ship only has about five decks because each one is no shorter than three blocks tall. The idea there was to make sure I could color any floor whatever color I wanted and the ceiling of the next deck down wouldn’t be affected. There are some areas where this isn’t possible for various reasons, but in general the interiors are going to have a varied and unique look to them when I’m finished. Much (more) inspiration is going to be taken from SBY on this.
I wanted to go into this well rested, or at least with some kind of rest, but I had too much on my mind to lay down and stay put for eight hours. Best if I stay out of DDs on this one, but we’ll see. I’m going to at least show up on principle.
Unfortunately, the excitement of playing a tier besides X for once has already worn off and Clan Battles haven’t even started yet (as of this post). I’m going to chalk it up to my not wanting to play World of Warships in general right now. It’s starting to feel like a chore with no events I’m interested in going on. Not to mention all the other things going on.
Maybe that fire will come back when 11.8 is finished. I’m really looking forward to the updates in that one.
I need a project to actively work on if I’m going to hold onto any of this Javascript knowledge. While I’m still planning another website or two, I’m still lacking a fundamental understanding on the js front. I can read code just fine, but comprehending entire structures in order to write it myself hasn’t clicked yet.
I’m looking into some options, but whatever route I go it’s got to stay relevant to ZAP this time or it’ll just set me back even more.
One thing that’s been giving me trouble while trying to finalize the Admiral Hipper‘s externals is the weapon loadout. I don’t like having one more than one weapon mod, but Northwind has the right type of main battery gun I need for most of the Hipper class. If the SBY mod by ribera manages to fix whatever’s wrong with the small grid of the shock cannons, I might be able to make working custom turrets, but for now it’s a waiting game.
I’m not just waiting for him to fix the small grid shock cannons–that’s probably a tricky combination of factors. What I’m waiting for is the phase 1, or Garmillas update. Adding those weapons will give me a much better selection of possible primary and secondary weapons for the Kaisers and KI. I still want the Kaiser energy projectiles to all or mostly be red, so there are a few weapons I’ve got my eyes on.
I’m also lowering the number of CIWS on the Hipper since, big or small, no weapon in the SBY mod costs less than 300 PCU. Since the torpedo/missile count is fixed at this point, the only way to dial down Hipper’s PCU cost and try to keep it below 70k is to trim down the AA as much as I can get away with. Fortunately this limitation is making things interesting on the outside. You can tell there’s room for upgrades, as if the Kaiser’s own economy was catching up with them during the building phase and–like me–they had to cut back on a few ideas to make the whole thing work.
It’s far more annoying on the inside. With the interior rapidly filling out, it’s getting harder and harder to stay under the 70k PCU cap I’ve set for Kaiser cruisers. I still have several major areas to do, including the 2nd bridge, and I’m already in the 65-70k PCU range. A few too many interactables and doors here could make all the difference, and I need a good deal more of them.
I don’t expect the phase 1 update to help me fix the PCU budget, but the closer I can get the ship to how I want it as a whole, the easier it’ll be to whittle her down to her most necessary parts and then polish things up.
