Mystery Ship in "Surface Tension"

sorceror01

So I spotted this anomaly when the mission first debuted, but only got around to making a note of it now.
Everyone remembers the mysterious wrecked starship that we usually see, that's basically pretty much the old Perpetual STO concept art flag ship?
Well, it shows up in "Surface Tension", if you have a keen eye, and it's most definitely not as a derelict hulk.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v402/GtSaiyaman01/Forum%20Image%20links/STOMysteryShip_zpsbc82ea4a.jpg

This ship has been a subtle influence in a handful of starships in STO, such as the Venture variant of the Galaxy class, and even in the current Guardian class.
I'm just wondering, why make so many starships that are basically cousins of the ship, have an actual in-game model of it that could pretty much work as a player ship, and just relegate it to an Easter Egg? I personally would love to finally see this thing available to players.

captinwh0

wow good find

drreverend

Looks more like one of the wonky Galaxy or Sovereign variants to me, like the Celestial or Noble classes.

sorceror01

drreverend wrote: »

Looks more like one of the wonky Galaxy or Sovereign variants to me, like the Celestial or Noble classes.

It absolutely is not. Play the mission yourself. Heck, go to any random exploration cluster mission, or one of the earlier Undine missions, the ones with the fake Alpha Quadrant starship wrecks? It's there, too, and it's the same ship model.
The pylons on the variants you mentioned don't jut out from the very top Engineering section in the same placement, firstly, and the necks are completely different.
Here, in this image, if you zoom in, you can even sort-of see the inlaid arrangements on the back of the neck (lights, bay doors, that kind of deal) that are present in the Perpetual ship concept.

admrenlarreck

I've spotted it before a number of times. Not just in Surface Tension, But sitting outside of ESD, and in several other areas. In those times it was player controlled. I sent the person a PM about the ship and they immediately left the system.

drreverend

I'll have to take another look then. I haven't noticed it before.

sorceror01

admrenlarreck wrote: »

I've spotted it before a number of times. Not just in Surface Tension, But sitting outside of ESD, and in several other areas. In those times it was player controlled. I sent the person a PM about the ship and they immediately left the system.

Really? Strange. Could be a dev goofing around on their developer account. They tend to be able to change their ship appearances to pretty much anything in the game's library, and it wouldn't be the first time they've tooled around in unknown ship designs.

markhawkman

yeah, it's a perpetual thingy. I don't know if it still works like this, but the holograms in the Fed shipyards used to show them occasionally. I think the SB 39 and K7 ones might still do it.

Rumor is that Perpetual actually did finish making wireframes, and skins for at least a few Fed ships, apparently not high quality, but good enough to use as debris objects and NPC ships. And for whatever reason they got added into the art assets when the devs were making STO. You can see them in the Foundry even and some of the wrecked ship props are Perpetual hulls.

sorceror01

markhawkman wrote: »

yeah, it's a perpetual thingy. I don't know if it still works like this, but the holograms in the Fed shipyards used to show them occasionally. I think the SB 39 and K7 ones might still do it.

Rumor is that Perpetual actually did finish making wireframes, and skins for at least a few Fed ships, apparently not high quality, but good enough to use as debris objects and NPC ships. And for whatever reason they got added into the art assets when the devs were making STO. You can see them in the Foundry even and some of the wrecked ship props are Perpetual hulls.

Ah, this I already know. And yeah, Cryptic inherited any assets Perpetual might have come up with when they acquired the game from them.
I'm just wondering if this more... prominent spotting of it is indicative of anything, or if it's still just an Easter Egg. Like, if this is hinting that it may show up as playable in the nearly estimable future and whatnot.

jonsills

I'm just glad that particular concept art never made it in as an actual ship. It looks like SCE got bored halfway through building a starship and just sealed the aft end off and said, "Here you go."

psyloaf

Next time, click on the ship and press the little i. It should tell you the name of the class. That'll be a good indication of whether it's a kitbash or a new ship.

sorceror01

psyloaf wrote: »

Next time, click on the ship and press the little i. It should tell you the name of the class. That'll be a good indication of whether it's a kitbash or a new ship.

Can't.
It shows up during a cutscene and can't be targeted.
Like any good Easter Egg, it's a wily thing to spot.

Unknown

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mustrumridcully0

Yup, I've noticed that, and I could swear I created a thread about this when the mission came out.

But no one cares what I write about.

sorceror01

valoreah wrote: »

That design still looks like a dog wiping it's butt on the floor to me.

I don't know where you weirdos get ideas like this. The ship looks just fine.

mustrumridcully0 wrote: »

Yup, I've noticed that, and I could swear I created a thread about this when the mission came out.

But no one cares what I write about.

Aw, now I wish I could remember if you had or not, haha.

markhawkman

sorceror01 wrote: »

Can't.
It shows up during a cutscene and can't be targeted.
Like any good Easter Egg, it's a wily thing to spot.

I think they just tossed in a random Fed cruiser.

sorceror01

markhawkman wrote: »

I think they just tossed in a random Fed cruiser.

Again, it clearly isn't a random Fed cruiser, because it can't easily be identified as any other playable ship.
From the picture I posted, even a cursory examination of the profile reveals it to be an active version of the until-now wrecked Perpetual STO cruiser ship.
Once again, just look at the picture.

sirokk

sorceror01 wrote: »

I don't know where you weirdos get ideas like this. The ship looks just fine.

You want weirdo?

Ok...

It's a Section 31 test ship from the supposedly lost Starbase 51 that was for testing time travel without needing to use planets or stars for sling-shoting.

The size and arrangement of the time travel components required a ship that was custom designed from a standard ship.

So, yes, there is a "different" looking ship out there that pop-up now and then that only the trained eye of a Federation captain would be able to detect as out of the ordinary.

sorceror01

sirokk wrote: »

You want weirdo?

Ok...

It's a Section 31 test ship from the supposedly lost Starbase 51 that was for testing time travel without needing to use planets or stars for sling-shoting.

The size and arrangement of the time travel components required a ship that was custom designed from a standard ship.

So, yes, there is a "different" looking ship out there that pop-up now and then that only the trained eye of a Federation captain would be able to detect as out of the ordinary.

See, THAT? That I like.
Plus, the ship itself was always somewhat small in concept art. Like, almost Intrepid sized? So I guess it'd be like a medium cruiser of some kind.
But buh, the disparagements of the ship design are just completely nonsensical at times, I say.

sorceror01

Caught another screencap of the ship, after acquiring a new Guardian class cruiser. Tried to do a quick comparison of the rear profiles of each ship, to try and highlight the differences (such as pylon placements and angles, number of impulse engines, neck differences, basically).

sorceror01

Went back and replayed "Fluid Dynamics", which was the first mission that came to mind and the easiest to dig it up, and snapped another screenshot of this Easter Egg ship.
Until recently, this is how this ship usually appeared. I kinda wish I could get a better look at it in "Surface Tension" though, as it seems to have the texture applied to active starships on it, glowing nacelles and everything.
It's not a bad ship, honestly. And you can kinda see how its influenced certain 2409-era starships. And obviously the nacelles are what the Guardian class is currently sporting.