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So I got a galaxy class...

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
WARNING: This is a rant. This is only a rant. If you don't have the time or patience to read this, then move along. Yes, I know this might not be a priority in the scheme of things. Skip to the last couple of paragraphs if you just want to get to the payoff.



I got a galaxy class cruiser finally today. Yes, I know it is slower than a drugged sloth. That horse has been beaten to death in other threads, which are being studiously ignored. I have no interest in discussing it here.

I figured that I would just put up with its slow turn rate. I mean, heck, I get to play using a galaxy class, man! The Enterprise D! Considered by many to be one of the prettiest ships in Star Trek. I can put up with it, if I look cool slogging around.

...SIGH...

Here is the deal: It looks bad. Not bad as in badass, and not bad as in fugly. Bad as in sloppy and rushed.

Some key notes, in order of least problematic to most:

1 - I've already gone over the edge of the saucer section in a previous post. Now that I can see it up close, I can form a better opinion on it. It is defiantly too squared off, but here is the kicker. There are already more than enough polys in the saucer edge section of this model to fix it! They don't have to add polys, and heck, if they paid attention to this they could have REMOVED some polys and it would have looked BETTER than now.

2 - The warp pylons are done a bit poorly. They are a bit too long vertically. The nacelles and secondary hull positions are just fine, so don't move those, just shorten the height of the vertical struts a bit. This becomes quite distracting when you see the ship from underneath, like...oh...say EVERY TIME IT GOES TO WARP. The pylon bit sticks down underneath and looks very sloppy.

3 - No phaser strips...at ALL. Yes phasers fire from points on the ship (which, on the saucer are not the right points, but whatever). However, if you look at...oh...say EVERY SINGLE CRUISER UP TO THIS ONE, there are those phaser strips on the model. There are NONE on the galaxy model. They therefore become obvious by their absence, and detract from the appearance.

4 - This is the big one. The neck on the ship looks very very bad. It looks like it is angled backwards. The front of it does not line up with the front edge of the secondary hull, and the back top actually STICKS OUT from the saucer. This pretty much destroys the smooth and graceful lines that were part of the whole intent of the original design. It looks awful, and needs to be overhauled.


Now, as to why this is important in the overall scheme of things:

This model looks very sloppy and very rushed. Like the art department had the order come down that they needed a Galaxy class, so they just shoved this out with a minimum attention to detail so that they could get on with other things. It shows a lack of attention to detail, and more importantly a lack of commitment to doing the job right.

Frankly, this would have made me NOT buy a lifetime (or a preorder) as this can very well be a symptom of a company wide unwillingness or lack of resources to get the job done right. This lack of attention to detail reflects poorly on Cryptic, and the face they wish to present to their customers.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    bump


    10chars////
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I do still like how it looks, but I do agree with the opening poster. The model could be, with a little more work, much more refined to the standards the Excalibur and Vesper ship classes hold.

    For me, the more glaring points were:
    ~ the front and rear torpedo launcher were not represented at all. The rear torpedo launcher is... a big stub that peeks out from the dorsal curve much more than it ought to. I looked over ship customization to see if it was about being compatible with other pieces... and no, that wasn't the case.

    ~ I disliked how the nacelle struts were a visible addition under the Galaxy-class' ventral rear. You can see that it's a piece, instead of it blending in better (read: clipping into the secondary hull model).

    ~ ...and phaser strips, yes.

    I could understand some of those details having been changed on the grounds of the Galaxy-class having been refitted after three decades. It being slightly different isn't an issue - it's the noticeable lack of detail compared to the benchmark other ships set.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Please tell me you're joking in that you're bumping a thread about the visual appearance of the galaxy class ship.

    This probably falls somewhere below replying to the cruiser thread on the priority list for cryptic, which is to say it's not on the radar at all.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    The patch notes revealed they did visual tweaking on some ship models in order to make the game look better.

    If there's interest and that it would make some players happy, why not? When the 3d art team had extra time, they worked on the bridges. If comments are made, then they have directions they can base themselves on to polish their product. I hardly see that as blind or deluded.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    That's what i call a nice model of the Galaxy

    http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/screenshots/File/89383/1

    I know it's a BC model but hey...high res models for a 10 year old game :D

    Edit: Just wanted to show one thing what i loved about BC :D Modding Community FTW
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I agree with the OP...

    Another Ship that has problems by the way is the Stargazer Class. If you use variations of ship pieces the engines can clip right into the saucer section of the vessel. Very poorly laid out. :(
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    JustTray wrote: »
    Please tell me you're joking in that you're bumping a thread about the visual appearance of the galaxy class ship.

    This probably falls somewhere below replying to the cruiser thread on the priority list for cryptic, which is to say it's not on the radar at all.

    You have to be joking, right? The aesthetics of one of if not the most iconic ship in Strr Trek are not important? - well of course it's important. Getting this right is the absolute minimum I would expect, not because I live my life wearing spock ears in my sister's blue lycra vest but because it's often ther little things that matter the most. And Cryptic seem to understand this as the most recent patch fixed some ships (unknown if this was one of them) so you are wrong about it not being on their radar. When I play a game I want to see attention to detail, I want to feel that all the little things that you might not even notice individually add up to something greater than the summ of its parts.

    There are bigger fish to fry but the basics should still be right or there's no foundation to build up.

    So yes this matters and yes I agree with the original poster that it should be fixed.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    EaglePryde wrote: »
    That's what i call a nice model of the Galaxy

    http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/screenshots/File/89383/1

    I know it's a BC model but hey...high res models for a 10 year old game :D

    Edit: Just wanted to show one thing what i loved about BC :D Modding Community FTW

    The funny thing is that the original devs for that game got the galaxy class horribly wrong. It was TERRIBLE.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    The funny thing is that the original devs for that game got the galaxy class horribly wrong. It was TERRIBLE.

    Yeah...and that's where the modding community of most games shine :D I wish we could have such models in STO....i would just stand there for an hour to just look at the model :)

    Edit: The best mod models i had for BC where roughtly 70k polys with 2048*2048 res textures. Given the old engine but with global mods on it i could have huge battles without performance impact. Suppose with a newer engine like STO's it wouldn't be a problem to have high detailed models and fleet battles. Sure it depends on the rig someone has and mine is fairly powerfull but such things could be set in the game options.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Guys, compared to the LegoPrise that we saw in Beta Footage, we should be grateful that we didn't get stuck with that. ;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010


    It seems like I have nothing good to say about this game, and this is simply not true. But alas, I am forced to agree with the OP, the galaxy looks awful.

    I posted about this WAAAAAY back when but no one agreed with me and said "but its only beta". But alas, it wasn't fixed, and others apparently agree.

    I am still really annoyed they didn't bother scaling ships correctly.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Teleon wrote: »
    I agree with the OP...

    Another Ship that has problems by the way is the Stargazer Class. If you use variations of ship pieces the engines can clip right into the saucer section of the vessel. Very poorly laid out. :(

    I agree with the OP and this guy. Too much of this game was a rush job and no where near ready for launch.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I do thoroughly enjoy this game... as I've said in a lot of posts however:
    I agree the game seems rushed BUT I seem room for improvement... you can actually see clearly what features are missing and have just had filler.

    For me this isn't an issue, I personally think if people can enjoy it as a Trek game and stick with it, it should improve(as opposed to people leaving and the devs slowly abandoning support which has happened to a lot of MMOs) BUT:

    For a universe as detailed and rich as Trek, broken things that seem trivial are in fact game breaking such as game models of important ships(ie Galaxy class discussed here). It sounds silly but these things are integral to such a rich IP... at least imo.

    In saying any of this, I'm more than happy to stick it out as this is the only continuation of trek canon I can see on the horizon after "that" movie.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    You know what? You guys are right about the torpedo tubes. I guess I didn't notice it since obvious torpedo tubes are also missing from the T3 config I used.

    Now that I'm looking for them, these are also conspicuous by their absence. Torpedo tubes are present on the T1 and T2C ships, so why aren't they on T3C and T4C? When I get a T5C, I'll have to see if they reappear.

    The front torps launch from the sides of the deflector dish on the T4C. This looks kind of silly, and once again points to a lack of attention to detail.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    welcome to a cryptic game
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Teleon wrote: »
    I agree with the OP...

    Another Ship that has problems by the way is the Stargazer Class. If you use variations of ship pieces the engines can clip right into the saucer section of the vessel. Very poorly laid out. :(

    Actually, if you go with all Stargazer pieces (in effect, the Stargazer-class), you end up with the bottom nacelles clipping with the bottom of the Stargazer's saucer section. I was a little taken aback by that.

    Sorry. Went on a tangent.

    Well, as long as I'm on a tangent: does anyone know what those little black domes with a red dot in the middle are? All the ships inexplicably have them and I don't know what they are supposed to represent.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Zoberraz wrote: »
    <snip>
    Well, as long as I'm on a tangent: does anyone know what those little black domes with a red dot in the middle are? All the ships inexplicably have them and I don't know what they are supposed to represent.

    Nipples. Lots of nipples.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    This is specific, detailed feedback that gives the modelers something to act upon. Well done.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    whilst not an urgent problem, I do hope Cryptic will be fixing the asthetic looks of the current ships, before adding new ones to the game. They have a lot to be desired.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    if they just did some graphic model updates in the recent patch, theres no reason to believe they wont do the same for the Galaxy Class

    not urgent but the point is perfectly valid...especially considering how iconic this ship class is
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Many of the ships seem very rushed. My T2 Escort has terrible UV mapping (it's especially noticeable with the Gemini pattern on the front of the saucer). The worst thing though is that when you use the Rapier Saucer with the Saber Nacelles, the nacelles are in different positions (front-to-back) so the ship is not symmetrical.

    I really hope they'll take the time to go back and clean up the ship models & textures.

    - SC
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    The Intrepid needs a bit of work too, the pieces don't joint together properly giving lips where the ship should be smooth. I'd love to see the nacelles pivot for warp too.
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