"I know this is going to generate a lot of strong feelings due to nostalgia and I share many of those feelings. However I truly think these new versions look amazing and that in the long run this is a change that people will look back on as an obvious positive." - CCP Fozzie
It is an obvious change and a change that makes sense. Moving the Command Ship models to the correct racial Battlecruiser hulls makes perfect sense and I fully support the idea. As much as I loved my Sleipnir Cyclone, or the Evil Cyclon Eyes on the Absolution, the change makes sense from a game perspective. So that is all well and good.
What doesn't make sense, and what insults my sensibilities as an artist, is the new Sleipnir model. The big bold stripes of the Nighthawk, the truly Amarrian Abso shininess, even the Eos Myrm, all seem worthy of Command Ship level awesomeness. And we could, as adults, argue about each of them in turn. Did they go far enough? Nope. Are they just re-skins and not new models? Yep.
Fozzie said something else I'd like to remind you about, "opening up options for the art guys in the future".
Ok, fair enough. The stage is set for some truly inspired and worthy model invention down the road. I encourage that on all four ships. Let us remember the Vagabond, as it stands as the perfect example of how to handle the expansion of a line of hulls. From the Stabber, to the Stabber Fleet, to the Vagabond, each ship is well designed and reflective of its position in the line. The top of the food chain even gets something special, as it should. The Command Ships should be treated the same way. Especially now that we have Navy versions of them in-game.
The Sleipnir is a special case at this point in Eve's history, because it is based on the Hurricane model. And the Hurricane model needs some special attention. Nothing drastic, but it needs a ground-up remake to take advantage of the love other models have received. It is time for the Cane to grow up a little bit and match the rest of the line. Think Tempest when you think of the Cane. The Pest model got that kind of love and it is perfect.
I admit, I'm a spaceship nut. So I'll be watching and waiting to see what happens. You guys can knock it out of the park, I know you can.
So let's grab some Quafe and get those sketch pads out shall we?
PS: Yes I know the formatting is screwed up on these posts lately, it is not on my end and isn't something that I can control. I'm working on it, trust me, it annoys me more than it annoys you.
PPS: Ha! I found a line of code that seems to have fixed the formatting issue.