The ring is actually nothing new, it's been part of the design for a good couple of years now, it just hasn't made any recent appearances. What is going to change is the way the ring is built; there are enough radial lines going on in the deflector dish already so I'm going to eliminate the slots in the ring and make it more or less solid. Actually, very little has changed with the torpedo launchers. The launcher above the deflector dish is actually a side-by-side pair of photorp tubes, although you can't see them too well at the moment because they're not lit. The launcher below the deflector is a single quantorp launcher. All of that is the same as it was previously. The launcher in front of the lower sensor dome on the saucer is new, also a quantorp launcher, so the saucer has its own heavy-hitting capability when separated. Haven't totally figured that out yet. The big pulse cannons are still going to be located there, but I'm trying to come up with a way to make them look a little less like massive gun barrels but still obviously powerful weapons. Fundamentally, they should still look a lot like the ones in the image you posted. Windows are definitely coming but will be one of the last details added. Some more markings will be added, possibly including a fairly radical paint scheme as part of the texturing work, depending on input from Captain Roop, The Commander, et al. The nacelle pylons are basically the right shape but have hardly had anything more done with them at all. Eventually they will have some grillwork added and a lot of blending and refinement done to them. I actually rather liked that one myself but it had some problems as far as integrating it with the design for the neck and secondary hull. So no, I really haven't "rolled back" any of those particular design elements.
Four new WIP images: Yes, I'm aware that the ship has lost all power. The crew in engineering is working frantically to restore it before the next set of WIPs. The main thing to note about these images is that, for the first time in the four-year history of this project, the overall design is basically complete, including the underside of the primary hull, which I thought I'd NEVER figure out. Aside from some minor tweaks and refinements here and there, the big stuff is all DONE! Even though it's not obvious from these latest renderings, I have been cleaning stuff up all over the place, making adjustments and corrections, smoothing out curves, aligning edges, optimizing base meshes, and generally trying to get the model in shape for the final detailing stage. Current face count is 220,495, but I have a lot of optimizing to do once the bigger Sub-D objects are frozen and expect that to drop back well below 200K. Into the home stretch... :thumbsup:
Has anyone said yet that this is a more pleasing ship design than anything Paramount's approved since around 1994? It is.
To say she's a beauty is an understatement. You might want to urge your engineers to get that power up quickly.
NFC-90125-A? Maybe I missed the explanation for this, but why not NCC-90125-A? Oh and ditto what Dennis said. This is a grand design, and I'm digging the direction you're going with the hull textures. :thumbsup:
^^^ Mmmm... yes, I seem to recall that part, but I didn't recall any explanation of why "NFC" instead of "NCC". I would have thought a role playing group would still stick to the established Starfleet/Trek universe. No matter... I shall still drool at this lovely ship.
I gotta echo what UWC said as well. Simply beautiful. Some how this ship manages to evoke feelings that say to me "Look at me, I am the perfect blend of grace and power in one package." Its like seeing a bodybuilder who is also a world class gymnast. Its elegant, its got panache, and it also says "dont mess with me"
Dennis and Borjis are right. Not only is this ship beautiful, but it's better than what we've been seeing done professionally. Maybe its the time constraint the folks at Paramount work under, but I bet any future team of artists for Star Trek productions could use a man of Vektor's talents. I liked 1701-E when I first saw it, but over time my appreciation for it has diminished ... especially when I saw other designs that hadn't been approved. This ship feels like such a better successor to the D!
Ok Here we go once more and I am just copying this from what I said a few pages back and other places as well on other boards where people have the same question. The NFC is the beginning registration letters we use in the IFT (International Federation of Trekkers)<--- Real Organization, She is one of several that belongs to a special division named the Interstellar Federation Taskforce (IFT)(More fictional name) and is distinguished by an NFC (Non-Fleet Commission) registry number rather than NCC, due to the fact that she is Federation sanctioned but not part of Starfleet herself. If you would like a little more detail other then what I provided send me a private message, I will be happy to explain a bit. Also one other thing, The IFT is a Organization made up of many club/ships/chapters. we are NOT an RPG, we do no roleplaying in that respect.