I guess web was not the best word. Was talking about the 3rd screenshot in your part of the blog (the part with the nodes). I think its called the advanced texture editor or something like that.
Was just curious as I have not used max in a while... Mostly solidworks now (bleh drafting). Not many opportunities for entry level modeling/animation for games in central US
And of course i know what a wireframe model is :rolleyes:
This isn't Max's material editor, it is our own, propriety material editor, within the game. In max, we specify which material to use, but all of the actual material work (texture assembly) is done within our editor.
I would grind for these ships in a heart beat and grind for the dilithium to get the module to get the fleet version if I so choose too.
Four to five fleet modules per ship for a fleet version is my guess ... Toss in that you have three factions.
You see ... THAT's where they make the money.
But then ... How many people roll around in standard free ODDYs and Ambassadors ?
A couple but not many.
However ... The difference there is that we didn't have to grind a few weeks for those freebie ships.
That said ... I could live with this if two things happen ... (1) ... no fleet ship ... This is it. ... (2) ... The transforming feature is built into ship and NOT a console.
Then it would be like a fleet vet ship ... and I say that in that the vet ship's transformation *is* a console that goes in the tenth slot.
But the problem then? .... No fourth tac slot.
I think I'd rather have ten consoles and the transformation a console that I could pick where it goes. ... However, I can see where that might be a problem .... I don't think this ship can work WITHOUT the special ability as certain things are dependent on the transformation from one mode or the other.
Okay. One thing I've noticed is that there's some absolutely amazing concept art pieces.
More customization is always nice, and the KDF/Romulan sides have a severe lack of this. A bit of parts-customizing is what helps make the ship feel 'yours', after all.
Are there other pieces, perhaps less perfectly detailed but still actually built, that could see some use getting spread around instead of left in dry-dock and forever forgotten? Say, ones that didn't make the cut for the Dyson vessels but could perhaps find a home elsewhere? Because there's some really amazing nacelles, pylons, saucers hulls and other chunks of ship on the images and art we've seen here, and it would be a waste to toss'em in the bin if any have been modelled!
Although I do hope they're on the fleet ship level for the work; 9 consoles could be cause to worry, though the Fleet Norgh I believe had that in exchange for the bonus level 3 officer slot.
I'm only disappointed with the fact that these ships, in shape, look like already existing ship classes. I was hoping they would do something a bit more unique in hull arrangement.
I'm definitely going to have to create a couple more science toons now. I don't have a KDF Sci yet because I didn't like the ships. So probably make one for each faction to fly these ships. I can't say enough how pleased I am with this blog and the new ships... but I'll be sure to vote with my wallet. Please please please let there be a fleet version :-)
Gold Sub since March 2010
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
This isn't Max's material editor, it is our own, propriety material editor, within the game. In max, we specify which material to use, but all of the actual material work (texture assembly) is done within our editor.
The game changing question ..... DOES IT COME WITH A TACO BAR?????
These look really nice, just fearing that like the last anniversary ship there will only be the 9 console variant as it is awarded from doing a single mission. Would have preferred this as a winter or summer ship where you have to grind but end up with a decent 10 console ship. Hopefully like the obi there will be a lobi 10 console version...
These look really nice, just fearing that like the last anniversary ship there will only be the 9 console variant as it is awarded from doing a single mission. Would have preferred this as a winter or summer ship where you have to grind but end up with a decent 10 console ship. Hopefully like the obi there will be a lobi 10 console version...
Actually .. even if 9 consoles. ... You WILL grind this year just like the summer and winter events.
That was one of the best Blogs ever. I was really impressed with the details you guys revealed from behind the curtain. Lots of nice pictures (that could be clicked for bigger views, too). Feel free to post in that detail (or even more grandular) at any time! Thank you to everyone involved for putting that together!
The ships look pretty interesting. From what I can tell the KDF and Rom versions are especially cool... I'm not sure about the Fed, but I'll wait and see it in-game to know for sure (generally I'm not a fan of underslung nacelles - Maybe they're customizable? >hopes hopes hopes<). The new ship colors/textures are interesting, though for some of my characters I hope faction-specific standards are still available.
The new mechanics seem fun... Transforming ships, switchable BO slots, secondary deflector dish... All very intriguing, to be sure. Can't say I'm a fan of Proton weapons, so not sure about the (embedded?) cannons, so will wait and see.
I can't say I'm all that happy with the thought of grinding for another ship after just finishing the Winter ship-grind. I guess I'll wait and see how that goes... I've not logged on to STO for weeks as I'm in burnout at the moment. I'm not pleased at the thought of replaying a bunch of the same missions over and over and over and over and over and...
Sadly, it's the Same ol' Stuff, Different Day... Of course this all leads to the root of the problem with STO... Lack of Content. Having new ships (gear, weapons, etc.) is great. Having new things to DO with the new goodies is even better.
Sure you're going to add a new mission. But it sounds like we're going to have to over-play that to get the ship... Then, uh, what do we do with the new ship?
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Very cool. I knew it took effort to make ships, but I didn't realize it took that much effort. When you guys first started selling ships way back when for $25 I thought that was insane for just a video game ship. Now I see why.
Actually .. even if 9 consoles. ... You WILL grind this year just like the summer and winter events.
Where do you get this info from? All I see in the bogs is talk about a featured episode ?A Step Between Stars" that Tim Russ/Tuvok has been brought in for.
Where do you get this info from? All I see in the bogs is talk about a featured episode ?A Step Between Stars" that Tim Russ/Tuvok has been brought in for.
for me they would look better if the hull was darker , it does not look that much different than putting ships into st armada 1 & 2 . all I say now is give us a cruiser that can turn into a true dreadnought :P
Okay let me get this straight, you are giving us a Science ship that can become a tactical ship, and this is for all the factions. Excellent, I have to say am very impress about the level of information that was posted at once. Usually you give it to as in bits. I have wanted a ship like that my science captains both the fed and the Romulan toon. My only question now is when can we begain the testing for this ship.
"You ask why we give our ships computer normal emotions. Do you really want a warship incapable of loyalty?"
Very interesting insights from the team. Its very easy to forget that there is an extensive process behind everything in this game. From ships to maps to items to missions.
Great blog!
p.s. Christine really needs a better item description entry GUI. A single line bar for lore and technical descriptions? =(
p.p.s in the hopes any dev sees this - is anyone looking into a buff/debuff indicator (and tooltip info) revamp? I don't find buff/debuff icons informative at all without 'effect' info attached.
Nice ships and some overdue love for sci-captains (i am none, but i'm happy for them). Guess every sci ship will be able to mount 2 deflectors after the release patch?
But 2 questions:
Will there be Dyson Ships with 10 consoles as fleet variants?
Or will it be that ...
a) ... a little while after the event the gift-ships will be in a +1 version in the C-store?
b) ... we will have to squeeze the +1 versions out of the new lockbox or one out of the lockbox and one from lobi store to complete a set?
Will there be Dyson Ships with 10 consoles as fleet variants?
considering its a brand new ship design essentially made from new materials, there could be a lot of undiscovered potential. i cant see any reason why it wouldnt make it to fleet.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Drooooooollll !!!! OMG!!! I have been waiting for this opportunity Forever!!! I have done every Rep system there is in-game ,,Omega,,Romulan,,Nukara,,And Dyson...ALL Tier 5...I have gotten Ambassador status,,and beyond,,and I also have UFP Medal Of Honor..I have been testing alot on Tribble,,and I sooo need to test this New ship of ships...I think that the ability to have a Good battle plan,,and then being able as a captain to "shifton the fly" when you are in battle is very important,, am a SCI ,,,and so hence I am a healer ,,but I am also dealing damage at the same time,,so being able to have sufficiient power for both at the same time is IMPERATIVE to me..Please let me be a tester for this ..You will not regret it.. Thanks People!!! Bellus Natura is my name in game....It is going to rock the house !!! :P
How will this work in terms of the skill tray? Especially for people who don't have the Bridge Crew Tray enabled and are only using the Big Personal Tray?
I mean, will the inactive Cmdr. ability be disabled, yet visible on the tray, or are we going to have to drag it back to the tray every time we change ship modes? Because as cool as this mechanic sounds I'm kind of concerned, considering all the UI issues in the game...
It could be simpler than that, the seats on the bridge can be attached to a big Lazy Susan that spins when the ship changes mode... at least that was my Engineer's suggestion.
My Science officer, suggested to just teleport the BOffs between the seats.
My Tactical officer, suggested to kill the BOffs and replacement with other officers with alternating careers and ranks for each ship mode change.
(I think I need to start looking at that long list of recruits and replace my senior officers... )
Star Trek Battles Channel - Play Star Trek like they did in the series!Avatar: pinterest-com/pin/14003448816884219Are you sure it isn't time for a "colorful metaphor"? --Spock in 'The Voyage Home' SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
It could be simpler than that, the seats on the bridge can be attached to a big Lazy Susan that spins when the ship changes mode... at least that was my Engineer's suggestion.
My Science officer, suggested to just teleport the BOffs between the seats.
My Tactical officer, suggested to kill the BOffs and replacement with other officers with alternating careers and ranks for each ship mode change.
(I think I need to start looking at that long list of recruits and replace my senior officers... )
Too bad it's not an Eng slot, they would just *gasp* reconfigure the controls. :P
Very cool article, and very informative. It really shows what it takes to do a computer model. I remember reading articles similar to this when it comes to die cast cars/trucks. They go through about the same amount of planning, work, up to product release.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
I do hope you built a more traditionally designed variant for the fed ship. The current engineering hull doesn't do much for me. I do like the Rommie ship. Can we get more in it's general design theme?
I'm sorry but I think these Dyson ships are ugly and I personally am disappointed that Cryptic is moving away from traditional Star Trek and making the Federation look more alien than it was canonically shown. We seen future ships like the Enterprise-J and the Relativity and they are nowhere near as alien as these Dyson ships. Besides, how could they create new ships within days of setting foot in the Dyson sphere?
I really hope we get choose to have a standard Federation/Klingon/Romulan hull with no fancy Dysonification.
I agree, STO is becoming less and less star trek and more and more stargate.
Giant gates in space, reverse engineering starships and claiming starships just "because you found/bought" them.
Everything that was said in the blog great and interesting! just wish it was a real starfleet/KDF/Romulan ship at the end
First of all thank you. That was a fantastic blog and I appreciate the behind the scenes look.
Second thank you. I love the design of these Hybrid tech Dyson Ships and the Science Destroyer concept is quite exciting. I think my Romulan Sci just found her new command ship. The mode shift is going to be interesting with the load-out system.
Third Thank you for all the hard work.
Fourth thank you, this anniversary looks like it's gonna be to an even higher standard than your already excellent prior efforts.
Fifth thank you in general, great work.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
I agree, STO is becoming less and less star trek and more and more stargate.
Giant gates in space, reverse engineering starships and claiming starships just "because you found/bought" them.
Everything that was said in the blog great and interesting! just wish it was a real starfleet/KDF/Romulan ship at the end
Problem being, they are running out of canon ships. All the ones that are left are so obscure that most people won't recognize them anyway, so why not just make up their own rather than try and make something like the New Orleans kitbash (which was primarily a Ertl Galaxy saucer with highlighter pens glued to it - not kidding)?
Pretty much every ship left on the list of canon or semi-canon are things that appeared in a frame or two of a single episode. Most of them are from the battle of Wolf 359 aftermath, and were battle damaged in those couple of frames. Personally, I'd rather see something good that's original, rather than try to bring back something thrown together just for the sake of a background shot and then purposely destroyed, just because the latter is "canon".
Comments
This isn't Max's material editor, it is our own, propriety material editor, within the game. In max, we specify which material to use, but all of the actual material work (texture assembly) is done within our editor.
Four to five fleet modules per ship for a fleet version is my guess ... Toss in that you have three factions.
You see ... THAT's where they make the money.
But then ... How many people roll around in standard free ODDYs and Ambassadors ?
A couple but not many.
However ... The difference there is that we didn't have to grind a few weeks for those freebie ships.
That said ... I could live with this if two things happen ... (1) ... no fleet ship ... This is it. ... (2) ... The transforming feature is built into ship and NOT a console.
Then it would be like a fleet vet ship ... and I say that in that the vet ship's transformation *is* a console that goes in the tenth slot.
But the problem then? .... No fourth tac slot.
I think I'd rather have ten consoles and the transformation a console that I could pick where it goes. ... However, I can see where that might be a problem .... I don't think this ship can work WITHOUT the special ability as certain things are dependent on the transformation from one mode or the other.
U.S.S. Maelstrom, NCC-71417 (Constitution III-class/flagship) --- Fleet Admiral Hauk' --|-- Dahar Master Hauk --- I.K.S. qu'In 'an bortaS (D7-class / flagship)
More customization is always nice, and the KDF/Romulan sides have a severe lack of this. A bit of parts-customizing is what helps make the ship feel 'yours', after all.
Are there other pieces, perhaps less perfectly detailed but still actually built, that could see some use getting spread around instead of left in dry-dock and forever forgotten? Say, ones that didn't make the cut for the Dyson vessels but could perhaps find a home elsewhere? Because there's some really amazing nacelles, pylons, saucers hulls and other chunks of ship on the images and art we've seen here, and it would be a waste to toss'em in the bin if any have been modelled!
Although I do hope they're on the fleet ship level for the work; 9 consoles could be cause to worry, though the Fleet Norgh I believe had that in exchange for the bonus level 3 officer slot.
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
The game changing question ..... DOES IT COME WITH A TACO BAR?????
U.S.S. Maelstrom, NCC-71417 (Constitution III-class/flagship) --- Fleet Admiral Hauk' --|-- Dahar Master Hauk --- I.K.S. qu'In 'an bortaS (D7-class / flagship)
Actually .. even if 9 consoles. ... You WILL grind this year just like the summer and winter events.
U.S.S. Maelstrom, NCC-71417 (Constitution III-class/flagship) --- Fleet Admiral Hauk' --|-- Dahar Master Hauk --- I.K.S. qu'In 'an bortaS (D7-class / flagship)
The ships look pretty interesting. From what I can tell the KDF and Rom versions are especially cool... I'm not sure about the Fed, but I'll wait and see it in-game to know for sure (generally I'm not a fan of underslung nacelles - Maybe they're customizable? >hopes hopes hopes<). The new ship colors/textures are interesting, though for some of my characters I hope faction-specific standards are still available.
The new mechanics seem fun... Transforming ships, switchable BO slots, secondary deflector dish... All very intriguing, to be sure. Can't say I'm a fan of Proton weapons, so not sure about the (embedded?) cannons, so will wait and see.
I can't say I'm all that happy with the thought of grinding for another ship after just finishing the Winter ship-grind. I guess I'll wait and see how that goes... I've not logged on to STO for weeks as I'm in burnout at the moment. I'm not pleased at the thought of replaying a bunch of the same missions over and over and over and over and over and...
Sadly, it's the Same ol' Stuff, Different Day... Of course this all leads to the root of the problem with STO... Lack of Content. Having new ships (gear, weapons, etc.) is great. Having new things to DO with the new goodies is even better.
Sure you're going to add a new mission. But it sounds like we're going to have to over-play that to get the ship... Then, uh, what do we do with the new ship?
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Mine Trap Supporter
Where do you get this info from? All I see in the bogs is talk about a featured episode ?A Step Between Stars" that Tim Russ/Tuvok has been brought in for.
Thanks for the update
From here: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=991321
There was a leak from Tribble about it.
Mine Trap Supporter
DELTA PRICE RISING
Great blog!
p.s. Christine really needs a better item description entry GUI. A single line bar for lore and technical descriptions? =(
p.p.s in the hopes any dev sees this - is anyone looking into a buff/debuff indicator (and tooltip info) revamp? I don't find buff/debuff icons informative at all without 'effect' info attached.
But 2 questions:
Will there be Dyson Ships with 10 consoles as fleet variants?
Or will it be that ...
a) ... a little while after the event the gift-ships will be in a +1 version in the C-store?
b) ... we will have to squeeze the +1 versions out of the new lockbox or one out of the lockbox and one from lobi store to complete a set?
considering its a brand new ship design essentially made from new materials, there could be a lot of undiscovered potential. i cant see any reason why it wouldnt make it to fleet.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
It could be simpler than that, the seats on the bridge can be attached to a big Lazy Susan that spins when the ship changes mode... at least that was my Engineer's suggestion.
My Science officer, suggested to just teleport the BOffs between the seats.
My Tactical officer, suggested to kill the BOffs and replacement with other officers with alternating careers and ranks for each ship mode change.
(I think I need to start looking at that long list of recruits and replace my senior officers...
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
Too bad it's not an Eng slot, they would just *gasp* reconfigure the controls. :P
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Yup, it was the Plesh Brek heavy raider that was available for free over the winter event.
I do hope you built a more traditionally designed variant for the fed ship. The current engineering hull doesn't do much for me. I do like the Rommie ship. Can we get more in it's general design theme?
I agree, STO is becoming less and less star trek and more and more stargate.
Giant gates in space, reverse engineering starships and claiming starships just "because you found/bought" them.
Everything that was said in the blog great and interesting! just wish it was a real starfleet/KDF/Romulan ship at the end
Second thank you. I love the design of these Hybrid tech Dyson Ships and the Science Destroyer concept is quite exciting. I think my Romulan Sci just found her new command ship. The mode shift is going to be interesting with the load-out system.
Third Thank you for all the hard work.
Fourth thank you, this anniversary looks like it's gonna be to an even higher standard than your already excellent prior efforts.
Fifth thank you in general, great work.
Problem being, they are running out of canon ships. All the ones that are left are so obscure that most people won't recognize them anyway, so why not just make up their own rather than try and make something like the New Orleans kitbash (which was primarily a Ertl Galaxy saucer with highlighter pens glued to it - not kidding)?
Pretty much every ship left on the list of canon or semi-canon are things that appeared in a frame or two of a single episode. Most of them are from the battle of Wolf 359 aftermath, and were battle damaged in those couple of frames. Personally, I'd rather see something good that's original, rather than try to bring back something thrown together just for the sake of a background shot and then purposely destroyed, just because the latter is "canon".
'heavy breathing' sorry for my late reply to your post, I had work to do.
Well here it is: Stop emberassing yourselve
OK, that wasnt my best shot