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Just had an itch I had to scratch, ever since I saw the defense laser datafax, I knew I had to build one of those beasts. Right now, I've finally settled on a design that will be buildable, and looks suitably impressive. It's loosely based on the neutron accelerators from Dark Reign (if anyone remembers that game) with attached flying buttresses. I have some concept sketches, but they won't survive a scanning.

The Redeemer part comes from a blast of inspiration I had. Since the majority of players are going to go for a ginormous gun as their laser, why not make mine a little different, and use a statue as the actual gun? It could be fluffed out as some chunk of Dark Age of Technology archeotech enchased within the statue itself, and here lies the problem.

The statue I am thinking of using is one of Christ the Redeemer, converted to become the God Emperor the Redeemer,  as it would have a suitably impressive pose. The trouble is that I can't seem to find *any* of them for sale anywhere, despite them doubtlessly being souvenier items from Brazil. If anyone has a 6-8cm high statue of CtR that they are willing to part with, or can direct me to a dealer, then it would be much appreciated.

Alternatively, A 6-8cm high figure of a guy with a sword upraised (kinda like the Statue of Liberty, but with extra choppy) would work as well. None come to mind at the moment, though...

Building will begin tomorrow. If anyone has any good thoughts/ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Cheers

P.S I know I'm totally ripping off Toreador's statue idea, but I'm pretty sure what he's coming up with will be *far* more impressive...

How about using one of those (sideshow) Marine statues?
They should have the right size and came in various poses.
And since the hype about them is long over they are dirt cheap on ebay.

Alright, started work on the beast. After a little testing, I've scrapped the statue idea, gonna cost too much to get a decent statue up there, and I think structurally, the model won't be able to handle it since it's only made out of mounting board. I've decided to go with a more standard "Hoth Ion Cannon" look.

The majority of structural details are complete, I just need to embellish it:

Things left to do:

1. Cathedral-like windows for the blank walls.
2. Additional greeblies under the buttress areas.
3. Decoration for the door.
4. Roofing slates around the first 'roof' area.
5. Roof details
6. Gun details
7. Possible autocannons and heavy bolters
8. Need more spikes and skulls...

Cheers

Some updates...

Added the windows with printed murals (currently closed up with protectors for painting), the cross window above the door, arch details and a turret ring for the gun. Have loads more detailing to do...

Anyway, I'm thinking of adding something to the blank areas above the buttresses. My first thought was a projecting structure (like a gargoyle) that would have some sensors on top, and guns at the bottom. However, on second thoughts, I think that might unbalance the lines of the building, so the other option would be to build a smaller 'sponson'-like structure with the heavy bolter sticking out of it.

What are the thoughts of the many here?

Remaining to-do list:

1. Cathedral-like windows for the blank walls.
2. Additional greeblies under the buttress areas.
3. Decoration for the door.
4. Roofing slates around the first 'roof' area.
5. Roof details
6. Gun details
7. Possible autocannons and heavy bolters
8. Need more spikes and skulls...

I would *really* appreciate some comments... this thread looks really bare

P.S If any mods read this, can you remove the "God Emperor The Redeemer" bit from the title? Since I've scrapped that particular idea, I think it's pretty superflous...

I like the look a lot, though I would have made it either shorter and sqatter (too late for that) or I would add some pipes/giant conduits that connect to other buildings to give a more stable appearance. As it stands, I feel that if it fired, it would topple the tower. The attached out buildings wouldn't help support it of course, but would give it more of a massive feel, making it seem less likely to kick the tower back like a 10 guage knocks over a 9 year old.

It's a laser. Lasers don't recoil.

Not to get all geeky on you, but most 'lasers' in sci-fi aren't lasers at all. They're particle weapons, so I wouldn't try to impart any actual physics on something like this.

BYE

I know they don't recoil, I am just saying human expectation wise, one expects something that hits with tremendous force to be quite forcefull on it's own end, and thus have a very solid base. I suppose a few thousand years of mechanically driven projectiles sort of embeds that in the collective consciousness. Like I said, I "feel" that it is too delicate and free standing, not that I know it would be. Honestly, like HMBC said, I certainly don't know how it would actually work, but enough giant pipes, cables and support buildings makes just about anything seem possible

Enough skulls and spikes will make anything possible as well. But they're more expensive to build compared to pipes