So ok, many people have different views on what a Federation ship looks like. That doesn't mean Cryptic should leave the Federation building norm and design wacky ships to appease the different views people have on a 'good' Federation ship.
Rather, what I think they should do is create design eras in STO. In the canon universe, the devs did the same, only on a much larger drawn out scale. TNG for example is a design era. Many similarities can be seen between the ships in this era such as the Galaxy, Nebula, New Orleans etc.
They all feature similar yet different designs. VOY then came along, introducing the Intrepid and Prometheus class, both of which are also similar.
Each of these design eras takes the overall ship design from the previous era and tweaks it until it looks quite different, yet still continues the traditional Fed design. Multiple ships are then made using the tweaked design norm. With STO however, you could argue that the war has led to faster development to keep one step ahead of rival ships, so there's a design era every so many years, each era having four ship designs each, or something along those lines, or even multiple design branches occurring at the same time. Every second or third ship would have customisation, to appease the fans different design wants.
But again, designs would be simple, yet iconic if possible. No fins, no hull protrusions, no bits jutting away from the ship that do absolutely nothing.
Beta Antares Shipyards advanced Starship development project.
CLASSIFIED
So ok, many people have different views on what a Federation ship looks like. That doesn't mean Cryptic should leave the Federation building norm and design wacky ships to appease the different views people have on a 'good' Federation ship.
Rather, what I think they should do is create design eras in STO. In the canon universe, the devs did the same, only on a much larger drawn out scale. TNG for example is a design era. Many similarities can be seen between the ships in this era such as the Galaxy, Nebula, New Orleans etc.
They all feature similar yet different designs. VOY then came along, introducing the Intrepid and Prometheus class, both of which are also similar.
Each of these design eras takes the overall ship design from the previous era and tweaks it until it looks quite different, yet still continues the traditional Fed design. Multiple ships are then made using the tweaked design norm. With STO however, you could argue that the war has led to faster development to keep one step ahead of rival ships, so there's a design era every so many years, each era having four ship designs each, or something along those lines, or even multiple design branches occurring at the same time. Every second or third ship would have customisation, to appease the fans different design wants.
But again, designs would be simple, yet iconic if possible. No fins, no hull protrusions, no bits jutting away from the ship that do absolutely nothing.
Couldn't agree more. Cryptic's habit of making every ship completely unique, instead of indulging in the time honoured Trek tradition of kitbashing, is another pet peeve of mine. Plus I really just want to see the Excelsior and Ambassador eras of Starship design fleshed out a little (that may just be me though).
On the opposite side of the spectrum, i'm not sure I am comfortable with Cryptic kitbashing ships and selling them as new. While its sure to save time and is a quick buck, it would seem weak the the lack of budget excuse isn't there.
Of course then again, they have been doing this. All the refits and retros fits tend to allow you to use new pieces and a hull color for you to kitbash with.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, i'm not sure I am comfortable with Cryptic kitbashing ships and selling them as new. While its sure to save time and is a quick buck, it would seem weak the the lack of budget excuse isn't there.
Of course then again, they have been doing this. All the refits and retros fits tend to allow you to use new pieces and a hull color for you to kitbash with.
To be honest I wouldn't be happy if Cryptic kit bashed some designs together either in the way TOS, TMP and TNG did. They had a very tight deadline however and creating new ships from scratch was very expensive, so they well... improvised.
Technology has progressed since then, and STO's a game, so Cryptic cannot use those excuses. The dev's shouldn't necessarily kitbash as such, but merely modify. A little bit like how the Vesta class was actually a heavily modified Sovereign, design wise. For a particular design era, make one design then modify it until it still looks similar and has all the design era features present, but draw the line at that. That's how the Vesta class was made, and Cryptic could do something similar. If they're finding it difficult, tap that fan population for inspiration.
But the most important part: Leave the damn fins, hull protrusions and items jutting away from the ship out of the design.
Beta Antares Shipyards advanced Starship development project.
CLASSIFIED
Except when they don't. The T'liss and T'varo have great aesthetics, yet look nothing like birds. I'd love to see them going that route more, over trying to make "bird" designs that look more like bunny rabbit ears and giant bugs... But I have to admit, there are a lot of good looking original Romulan designs in the game, more so than Federation.
Yep, that's the one.
The designer, going by the name "DJCurtis", is a Canadian and entered the contest early on before the rules were "clarified". From what he told me, he actually received an email telling him he had won and then 5 mins later received another that he had been disqualified for not being in the US (aka, the goalposts shifted).
There was also the case of numerous others trying to pass off the work of others as their own.
Well that's a damned shame. I played bridge commander back in the day and I really wish they'd have just gone with the Century over the Odyssey. Much sleeker drive section and nacelles that don't look like bananas.
The Oddy steals the deflector and forward torpedo designs from DJ Curtis's Century anyhow. Sigh. Oh well.
Cryptic-Designed C-Store Ships I Think Are Great (includes fan-made "STO originals")
Exeter
Thunderchild
Venture
Sao Paulo
Odyssey
Atrox
Aquarius
Avenger
Cryptic-Designed C-Store Ships I Don't Like
Dyson
Chimera
Regent
All the rest, I'm pretty ambivalent toward. Overall, that's a pretty good track record.
...talking to players is like being a mall Santa. Everyone immediately wants to tell you all of the things they want, and you are absolutely powerless to deliver 99% of them.
Cryptic-Designed C-Store Ships I Think Are Great (includes fan-made "STO originals")
Exeter
Thunderchild
Venture
Sao Paulo
Odyssey
Atrox
Aquarius
Avenger
Cryptic-Designed C-Store Ships I Don't Like
Dyson
Chimera
Regent
All the rest, I'm pretty ambivalent toward. Overall, that's a pretty good track record.
And it's all very subjective, anyway.
Have to agree, the Exeter, Thunderchild and Sao Paulo were good refit models. Venture takes the funny neck design and well, yea I guess it makes it work, though the Refitted Dreadnought Venture works better cause of the correcting balance made by the third nacelle.
Have to agree with Saeyn with the drive and nacelles of the Odyssey being strange, but I actually like the Odyssey class being the bearer of the Enterprise more in my opinion. Aquarius is also good, but designed to fly with the Odyssey than be its own ship.
The Atrox isn't Starfleet designed and was merely issued to the Federation so doesn't count, though it is a good design. Avenger was horribly designed along with the Regent (the neck really does it in) while the Chimera's engineering section has way too many decks on it, increasing the chances of a nice dirty torpedo sinking into it.
The main problem with Federation ships is keeping the fins, hull protrusions and useless bits out of the design for aesthetic reasons while maintaining the balance of the design. For me the ships that I would love for Cryptic to consider for their perfection are: Century class Argonaut Class Jigoku Class Proteus Class Courageous Class Kyoto Class Vivace Class, although it's a heavy nockoff of the Intrepid, so being a variant of that class would be best.
I am aware that people have their different views of what Fed ships should look like, but again the Star Trek canon universe employed simple "boring" designs, and it's these boring ship designs that have become iconic designs for fans. These ships are similar in that aspect.
Beta Antares Shipyards advanced Starship development project.
CLASSIFIED
H
The main problem with Federation ships is keeping the fins, hull protrusions and useless bits out of the design for aesthetic reasons while maintaining the balance of the design. For me the ships that I would love for Cryptic to consider for their perfection are: Century class Argonaut Class Jigoku Class Proteus Class Courageous Class Kyoto Class Vivace Class, although it's a heavy nockoff of the Intrepid, so being a variant of that class would be best.
Man, you really like Jetfreak-7 :P
I think the Courageous in particular would work well as a Federation-Romulan collaboration. It's a nice combination of the Romulan sleek wings with the Federation saucer.
I am NikkoJT, Foundry author and terrible player. Follow me!
There used to be a picture here, but they changed signatures and I can't be bothered to replace it.
Man, you really like Jetfreak-7 :P
I think the Courageous in particular would work well as a Federation-Romulan collaboration. It's a nice combination of the Romulan sleek wings with the Federation saucer.
Most of those ships were designed by other people. Jetfreak just happens to have a similar eye to me in regards to perfect Fed ships. Why put up an unappealing ship when you can show off these beauties instead?
And yes I agree the Courageous would be perfect as a Fed-Rom collaboration. Too bad Cryptic doesn't have the same eye and ideas.
Beta Antares Shipyards advanced Starship development project.
CLASSIFIED
Century; looks like a flatter version of the Ent-E
Argonaut; looks a lot like Cryptic's Nomad
Jigoku; Prometheus, but with different nacelles
Proteus.... is this even a different design than the Argonaut?
Courageous; looks like one of Cryptic's neutral race designs.
Kyoto; new defiant skin... not much else.
Vivace; zzz....
what's with the flat engineering section on all these ships? It doesn't look very Starfleet. Also.... most of them look like arrowheads with nacelles... which is boring. MUCH more so that things like the Galaxy or Intrepid. I don't understand why you like them, I find them to be rather unappealing myself.
Century; looks like a flatter version of the Ent-E
Argonaut; looks a lot like Cryptic's Nomad
Jigoku; Prometheus, but with different nacelles
Proteus.... is this even a different design than the Argonaut?
Courageous; looks like one of Cryptic's neutral race designs.
Kyoto; new defiant skin... not much else.
Vivace; zzz....
what's with the flat engineering section on all these ships? It doesn't look very Starfleet. Also.... most of them look like arrowheads with nacelles... which is boring. MUCH more so that things like the Galaxy or Intrepid. I don't understand why you like them, I find them to be rather unappealing myself.
You mean they don't look very TNG. They are easily recognisable as Starfleet ships, more so than many of Cryptics designs, and a flat engineering section on the same plane as the Saucer section was already taking shape within the canon design universe.
Now I agree with you; the texturing on the hull of most of these ships is quite boring, but I'm not saying these ships should be imported as they are into STO. Rather I'd like Cryptic to grab these designs and play around with them. The overall shape is what is good about those ships, and some features they hold are clearly late 24th/ early 25th century in design. Cryptic lacks these features big time on most, if not all of their ships.
Just remember: Boring is good! Canon ships which are easily recognisable in STO are favourites to the players because they have a boring design, but are appealing to look at, and that makes them iconic. Similarities between ships aren't bad either. The Galaxy class hones a lot of its features from the Ambassador class. We both love them regardless. Prometheus class is a sharper version of the Intrepid with an updated look. It's what people love. To see the advancement of ships in the design phase pleases fans.
Cryptic's design team hasn't realised this very well. Many of their Fed ships are unbalanced, with useless fins, hull protrusions and things jutting away from the ship which do absolutely nothing, but ruin the look. Cryptic's habit of making new ships completely unique from others doesn't work cause there's no look of advancement in the designs. The textures used are largely outdated, dull looking and unappealing. Take the Argonaut and Proteus design against the Star cruiser line. I for one can say I'd want a version the Argonaut and Proteus instead of any of the Star Cruisers present.
Beta Antares Shipyards advanced Starship development project.
CLASSIFIED
I personally love the design of the Chimera because it looks like what this 'Excelsior Study Model' would have looked like finished and in a more modern fashion to me.
Oh boy, improvement! Federation at a glance, similar to previously established designs but distinct from them as well. A bit long for my taste but solid overall.
Looks scrappy. The nacelles really need to be raised or lowered, though, such that they don't line up with the plane of the saucer. That never looks good on Federation ships. Good idea, needs some tweaks, not a bad source of inspiration.
Hahaha, people misunderstand me, have to remember to be careful when putting posts on the forums.
The designs I put up before weren't supposed to be criticized as direct game addons. Rather they're those sort of designs Cryptic should be looking at feature wise. Smooth shape. No random jutting outy bits that do nothing. Simple uncluttered hulls. Flat engineering areas that are just as hard to hit with a torpedo as the main hull is. These ships in my view were explored in the same area as STO's ships were, only these were better conceived. Reason is: Balance. It is key in Federation starship designs.
Again, similarity isn't suppose to be a problem. It's like getting the point through a brick wall. Canon devs did this. Use already existing designs that are appealing, and modify it while maintaining the balance. It's all there is after all to choose from. Make something from scratch with absolutely no similarities with another design, and you get rubbish. Half the Fed ships Cryptic makes is that exactly cause they don't employ canon logic in Federation ship building while maintaining that balance.
Century class isn't as boring as you might like to think, considering it was nearly selected for the Enterprise F before the devs realised a Canadian built it. Sto ships on the other hand are much worse cause they need things deleted/modified in their designs. The Avenger is the nemesis to balance in this regard with the sleek saucer being completely overrun by the bulky and unruly engineering section and the nacelle pylons. And that neck...
Beta Antares Shipyards advanced Starship development project.
CLASSIFIED
I think that Cryptic have done a decent job on some of their own-design ships.
I love the Bellerophon Skin for the Intrepid class.
The Avenger is pretty nice, in a rugged 'no-nonsense' sort of way.
Heck, the Vesta & Luna classes are not canon designs, having been produced for the book series, and plenty of people like those. And the Odyssey was a fan design......
One thing about the Bellerophon skin and the other paid skins, e.g. Venture, Regent, etc, they seem to have some common elements that I found enjoyable to think of as the "future of Federation design", Oddyssey shared some of these elements as well, the black markings on the hull, the sensor globe under the saucer etc. I understand the Avenger wasn't meant for this, but I personally enjoy that design direction and would like a return to it.
I can't say that I am a fan of the Romulan ships. At least not those Ha'apax / Haakona and similar ships, they look ugly.
That said, you're not wrong about the Fed ships. I am not so happy with the newer ships either.
What they should perhaps experiment with:
Aside from the standard "Enterprise" concept - saucer, neck, engineering hull, pylons and two nacelles, there were also the Constellation and the Nebula concepts:
- Constellation was saucer, pylons, and four nacelles
- Nebula was saucer, pylons, 2 nacelles and a roll bar thingy.
They should perhaps consider using existing good looking designs following the "Enterprise" model and figure out the Constelaltion/Nebula versions.
It might be easier to build this from the start, then to adopt existing designs.
They could do this by starting with a new "Enterprise" type design, and build the other 2 around it. So you could have one as Cruiser ("Enterprise" design), one as Science Vessel ("Nebula" perhaps?) and one as Escort ("Constellation" consequently).
Though I'd personally love to see the Sovereign based versions.
Beyond that:
And it would also be great if they could add some variants to existing ships that are just not that neat-looking. The DSSV and particular the RSV just don't look great. (The RSV engineering sections/deflecors are just all so ugly.)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I think that DEV team must make an option in game where users can modify the whole ship, I mean outer structure like adding new parts , stretching parts, change paintings, add special visual effects etc.
The best example is the game called Galactic Civilizations... I have played this for years, it is exelent, you make your own ships and build empires, colonize worlds, mine asteroids etc.
I think that DEV team must make an option in game where users can modify the whole ship, I mean outer structure like adding new parts , stretching parts, change paintings, add special visual effects etc.
The best example is the game called Galactic Civilizations... I have played this for years, it is exelent, you make your own ships and build empires, colonize worlds, mine asteroids etc.
Any similar thoughts ?
That would be fantastic, but it might make any new ships a hard sell; unless they were just there for the parts, special consoles, and Boff slot arrangements (which might be enough I guess, but who knows?).
A while back I had the thought that kitbashing starships ought to be added as a sort of crafting activity.
Open up Utopia Planitia and equivalent KDF and ROM facilities. Gather materials, assign shipyard personnel, construct different nacelle types, hull types, etc etc and put them together how you want. Could have different recipes obtainable through different activities in the game.
I don't know anymore what to expect, it seems like they are hell bent on giving us every damn thing but the ships we should be getting for the factions we are in. What was the name of this game again?
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
The thing is, maybe they ARE giving us nice looking ships, just not nice looking to others. Personally i Love the Defiant Class ships. They look different and powerful. The avenger, i LOVE that ship as well. She was never meant to be pretty. She reminds me of the BS Pegasus. Big, mean, powerful, and ready to go out guns blazing. the type of thing that makes people think twice about attacking them, you either cant kill it, because its TOO tough or cant fight it because its too powerful.....or both.
only thing is, i thing the Avenger COULD take 4 basestar and WIN.
Someone mentioned following the Constitution-Miranda-Constellation train of thought - it makes sense as a good starting place for designs; Galaxy-Nebula-Cheyanne were the same way, and one could argue that the Centaur is the 'Miranda' of the Excelsior. The very first concept art for the U.S.S. Pegasus from TNG: "Pegasus" was a 'Miranda-ized' version of the Ambassador, almost, in fact.
Using already existing designs as a starting place would be a good way to make sure that new ships keep that Federation feel instead of looking like two hot dogs on a hamburger bun... but since they added the 'Center Pylon : None' option for the Patrol Escort, it's been a step in the right direction on that one, anyway...
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." -- Q, TNG: "Q-Who?"
^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
Now imagine this: Cryptic provides customisation for all the new ships that have recently come out, like they used to do. One bulky brute, a semi bulky/sleek ship, and a sleek ship. I can bet for one that ESD would feature way more sleek Fed ships than the bulky variety.
I support this. If you are going to pay real money for one of these ships it would be nice to have superior customization. It makes sence from a customer relations point of view, I think.
The problem is how Starfleet is obsessed with Flying Spoon designs. We need more spearhead shape designs, like Wells/Mobius, S'golth, and Jem'Hadar Escort Carrier. :rolleyes:
I for one approve of the Wells and Mobius designs (bloody shame they're so ridiculously expensive to get); that said, I would suggest that the Patrol Escort/Mirror Adv. Escort can be... well, not ugly. Consider by way of example the ISS Schwarze...
Comments
Rather, what I think they should do is create design eras in STO. In the canon universe, the devs did the same, only on a much larger drawn out scale. TNG for example is a design era. Many similarities can be seen between the ships in this era such as the Galaxy, Nebula, New Orleans etc.
They all feature similar yet different designs. VOY then came along, introducing the Intrepid and Prometheus class, both of which are also similar.
Each of these design eras takes the overall ship design from the previous era and tweaks it until it looks quite different, yet still continues the traditional Fed design. Multiple ships are then made using the tweaked design norm. With STO however, you could argue that the war has led to faster development to keep one step ahead of rival ships, so there's a design era every so many years, each era having four ship designs each, or something along those lines, or even multiple design branches occurring at the same time. Every second or third ship would have customisation, to appease the fans different design wants.
But again, designs would be simple, yet iconic if possible. No fins, no hull protrusions, no bits jutting away from the ship that do absolutely nothing.
CLASSIFIED
[/SIGPIC]
Couldn't agree more. Cryptic's habit of making every ship completely unique, instead of indulging in the time honoured Trek tradition of kitbashing, is another pet peeve of mine. Plus I really just want to see the Excelsior and Ambassador eras of Starship design fleshed out a little (that may just be me though).
Of course then again, they have been doing this. All the refits and retros fits tend to allow you to use new pieces and a hull color for you to kitbash with.
To be honest I wouldn't be happy if Cryptic kit bashed some designs together either in the way TOS, TMP and TNG did. They had a very tight deadline however and creating new ships from scratch was very expensive, so they well... improvised.
Technology has progressed since then, and STO's a game, so Cryptic cannot use those excuses. The dev's shouldn't necessarily kitbash as such, but merely modify. A little bit like how the Vesta class was actually a heavily modified Sovereign, design wise. For a particular design era, make one design then modify it until it still looks similar and has all the design era features present, but draw the line at that. That's how the Vesta class was made, and Cryptic could do something similar. If they're finding it difficult, tap that fan population for inspiration.
But the most important part: Leave the damn fins, hull protrusions and items jutting away from the ship out of the design.
CLASSIFIED
[/SIGPIC]
My character Tsin'xing
Well that's a damned shame. I played bridge commander back in the day and I really wish they'd have just gone with the Century over the Odyssey. Much sleeker drive section and nacelles that don't look like bananas.
The Oddy steals the deflector and forward torpedo designs from DJ Curtis's Century anyhow. Sigh. Oh well.
Exeter
Thunderchild
Venture
Sao Paulo
Odyssey
Atrox
Aquarius
Avenger
Cryptic-Designed C-Store Ships I Don't Like
Dyson
Chimera
Regent
All the rest, I'm pretty ambivalent toward. Overall, that's a pretty good track record.
And it's all very subjective, anyway.
Have to agree, the Exeter, Thunderchild and Sao Paulo were good refit models. Venture takes the funny neck design and well, yea I guess it makes it work, though the Refitted Dreadnought Venture works better cause of the correcting balance made by the third nacelle.
Have to agree with Saeyn with the drive and nacelles of the Odyssey being strange, but I actually like the Odyssey class being the bearer of the Enterprise more in my opinion. Aquarius is also good, but designed to fly with the Odyssey than be its own ship.
The Atrox isn't Starfleet designed and was merely issued to the Federation so doesn't count, though it is a good design. Avenger was horribly designed along with the Regent (the neck really does it in) while the Chimera's engineering section has way too many decks on it, increasing the chances of a nice dirty torpedo sinking into it.
The main problem with Federation ships is keeping the fins, hull protrusions and useless bits out of the design for aesthetic reasons while maintaining the balance of the design. For me the ships that I would love for Cryptic to consider for their perfection are:
Century class
Argonaut Class
Jigoku Class
Proteus Class
Courageous Class
Kyoto Class
Vivace Class, although it's a heavy nockoff of the Intrepid, so being a variant of that class would be best.
I am aware that people have their different views of what Fed ships should look like, but again the Star Trek canon universe employed simple "boring" designs, and it's these boring ship designs that have become iconic designs for fans. These ships are similar in that aspect.
CLASSIFIED
[/SIGPIC]
Man, you really like Jetfreak-7 :P
I think the Courageous in particular would work well as a Federation-Romulan collaboration. It's a nice combination of the Romulan sleek wings with the Federation saucer.
There used to be a picture here, but they changed signatures and I can't be bothered to replace it.
Most of those ships were designed by other people. Jetfreak just happens to have a similar eye to me in regards to perfect Fed ships. Why put up an unappealing ship when you can show off these beauties instead?
And yes I agree the Courageous would be perfect as a Fed-Rom collaboration. Too bad Cryptic doesn't have the same eye and ideas.
CLASSIFIED
[/SIGPIC]
Argonaut; looks a lot like Cryptic's Nomad
Jigoku; Prometheus, but with different nacelles
Proteus.... is this even a different design than the Argonaut?
Courageous; looks like one of Cryptic's neutral race designs.
Kyoto; new defiant skin... not much else.
Vivace; zzz....
what's with the flat engineering section on all these ships? It doesn't look very Starfleet. Also.... most of them look like arrowheads with nacelles... which is boring. MUCH more so that things like the Galaxy or Intrepid. I don't understand why you like them, I find them to be rather unappealing myself.
My character Tsin'xing
You mean they don't look very TNG. They are easily recognisable as Starfleet ships, more so than many of Cryptics designs, and a flat engineering section on the same plane as the Saucer section was already taking shape within the canon design universe.
Now I agree with you; the texturing on the hull of most of these ships is quite boring, but I'm not saying these ships should be imported as they are into STO. Rather I'd like Cryptic to grab these designs and play around with them. The overall shape is what is good about those ships, and some features they hold are clearly late 24th/ early 25th century in design. Cryptic lacks these features big time on most, if not all of their ships.
Just remember: Boring is good! Canon ships which are easily recognisable in STO are favourites to the players because they have a boring design, but are appealing to look at, and that makes them iconic. Similarities between ships aren't bad either. The Galaxy class hones a lot of its features from the Ambassador class. We both love them regardless. Prometheus class is a sharper version of the Intrepid with an updated look. It's what people love. To see the advancement of ships in the design phase pleases fans.
Cryptic's design team hasn't realised this very well. Many of their Fed ships are unbalanced, with useless fins, hull protrusions and things jutting away from the ship which do absolutely nothing, but ruin the look. Cryptic's habit of making new ships completely unique from others doesn't work cause there's no look of advancement in the designs. The textures used are largely outdated, dull looking and unappealing. Take the Argonaut and Proteus design against the Star cruiser line. I for one can say I'd want a version the Argonaut and Proteus instead of any of the Star Cruisers present.
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I just wished it was bigger.
But yeah, I really find the dyson ship to be visually unappealing. I rather like the Rom and KDF dyson ship designs.
I also like how the Avenger looks as well. More of a classic ST design than most of those.
Oh boy, improvement! Federation at a glance, similar to previously established designs but distinct from them as well. A bit long for my taste but solid overall.
Looks scrappy. The nacelles really need to be raised or lowered, though, such that they don't line up with the plane of the saucer. That never looks good on Federation ships. Good idea, needs some tweaks, not a bad source of inspiration.
It's a slightly different Argonaut. Yay?
It's like a Romulan/Federation hybrid ship. Looks like it belongs in a different franchise entirely. Pass.
Ew, what?
Oh hell yes, alt skin for the Tahoe-class.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
The designs I put up before weren't supposed to be criticized as direct game addons. Rather they're those sort of designs Cryptic should be looking at feature wise. Smooth shape. No random jutting outy bits that do nothing. Simple uncluttered hulls. Flat engineering areas that are just as hard to hit with a torpedo as the main hull is. These ships in my view were explored in the same area as STO's ships were, only these were better conceived. Reason is: Balance. It is key in Federation starship designs.
Again, similarity isn't suppose to be a problem. It's like getting the point through a brick wall. Canon devs did this. Use already existing designs that are appealing, and modify it while maintaining the balance. It's all there is after all to choose from. Make something from scratch with absolutely no similarities with another design, and you get rubbish. Half the Fed ships Cryptic makes is that exactly cause they don't employ canon logic in Federation ship building while maintaining that balance.
Century class isn't as boring as you might like to think, considering it was nearly selected for the Enterprise F before the devs realised a Canadian built it. Sto ships on the other hand are much worse cause they need things deleted/modified in their designs. The Avenger is the nemesis to balance in this regard with the sleek saucer being completely overrun by the bulky and unruly engineering section and the nacelle pylons. And that neck...
CLASSIFIED
[/SIGPIC]
One thing about the Bellerophon skin and the other paid skins, e.g. Venture, Regent, etc, they seem to have some common elements that I found enjoyable to think of as the "future of Federation design", Oddyssey shared some of these elements as well, the black markings on the hull, the sensor globe under the saucer etc. I understand the Avenger wasn't meant for this, but I personally enjoy that design direction and would like a return to it.
That said, you're not wrong about the Fed ships. I am not so happy with the newer ships either.
What they should perhaps experiment with:
Aside from the standard "Enterprise" concept - saucer, neck, engineering hull, pylons and two nacelles, there were also the Constellation and the Nebula concepts:
- Constellation was saucer, pylons, and four nacelles
- Nebula was saucer, pylons, 2 nacelles and a roll bar thingy.
They should perhaps consider using existing good looking designs following the "Enterprise" model and figure out the Constelaltion/Nebula versions.
It might be easier to build this from the start, then to adopt existing designs.
They could do this by starting with a new "Enterprise" type design, and build the other 2 around it. So you could have one as Cruiser ("Enterprise" design), one as Science Vessel ("Nebula" perhaps?) and one as Escort ("Constellation" consequently).
Though I'd personally love to see the Sovereign based versions.
Beyond that:
And it would also be great if they could add some variants to existing ships that are just not that neat-looking. The DSSV and particular the RSV just don't look great. (The RSV engineering sections/deflecors are just all so ugly.)
The best example is the game called Galactic Civilizations... I have played this for years, it is exelent, you make your own ships and build empires, colonize worlds, mine asteroids etc.
Any similar thoughts ?
That would be fantastic, but it might make any new ships a hard sell; unless they were just there for the parts, special consoles, and Boff slot arrangements (which might be enough I guess, but who knows?).
Open up Utopia Planitia and equivalent KDF and ROM facilities. Gather materials, assign shipyard personnel, construct different nacelle types, hull types, etc etc and put them together how you want. Could have different recipes obtainable through different activities in the game.
Could be fun.
I like to mix things up a little and this game is known for it's customization so....
only thing is, i thing the Avenger COULD take 4 basestar and WIN.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Firstusspegasus.jpg
Using already existing designs as a starting place would be a good way to make sure that new ships keep that Federation feel instead of looking like two hot dogs on a hamburger bun... but since they added the 'Center Pylon : None' option for the Patrol Escort, it's been a step in the right direction on that one, anyway...
^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
I support this. If you are going to pay real money for one of these ships it would be nice to have superior customization. It makes sence from a customer relations point of view, I think.