Hey guys. I've been so busy making this stuff lately I haven't have time to post it. So here's the backlog of most of the ships and covers I've made lately. Let me know what you think. Federation Old Light Cruiser: The SFU doesn't(and can't!) use any Star Trek material outside of TOS. In their continuity, this is the first cruiser built by the newly unified Star Fleet. It first appeared around 100 years prior to Kirk's time. These ships began life as ironclad non-tactical warp ships armed with warp-targeted lasers and atomic missiles. As technology advanced, these ships' sturdy construction lent itself to repeated refits and updates, including the addition of full warp drive, phasers, photon torpedoes, tractor beams, and more: Klingon D4: This is the first Klingon ship built from the keel up to use full tactical warp drive. These ships first appeared about 70 years before Kirk's time:
Orion DW: Orion Dreadnought: This ship never existed, as the Orions didn't really need one. Blueprints did exist though. Had it been built, it would have been monstrous, given Orion engine doubling and stealth. All the various nations' police forces lived in fear that some insane Orion billionaire would actually build one.
Last but not least, here are some of the covers I made these all ships for. FedCom Border Box 7: FedCom Booster Pack 22: FedCom Booster Pack 23: FedCom Booster Pack 24: Star Fleet Battles Module Y2: Enjoy guys.
Adam: Your Starship Texas is a very interesting idea. I've never been into the gaming. Is there any more information you can share about the Texas? Crew size, deck cutaway, capabilities, etc.? ALSO: where did the Texas' shape come from?
It's basic shape was designed by Steve Cole years and years ago. I filled out a lot of the small details on my 3D model. I'm not sure why he designed it to look the way he did, but it's his game. Basically, the Texas-class would be the SFU equivalent of the NX-01 Enterprise, if you must make that comparison. It was one of the first ships built by Earth to use non-tactical warp drive, and when tactical warp drive was invented, it was the first Star Fleet ship to be refitted to use it. (Note: tactical warp drive allows for combat at warp speeds, while NTW only allows for basic travel.) Since it was designed before shields existed, its hull is armored and its structural frame is exceptionally tough. It's this toughness that gave the Texas such rediculous longevity, as as it was refitted again and again over a period of 100 years and brought up-to-date technologically. By Kirk's time it was definitely a second-line cruiser, not able to go toe-to-toe with the modern cruisers. But they still served Star Fleet in good stead, performing many of the tasks the newer ships couldn't be spared for. Also, since they had been steadily produced and maintained for a hundred years, there were many of them, and they proved to be a valuable source of hulls for conversions to different special mission variants. As a result, by the end of the General War, most of the Texas-class cruisers were electronic warfare platforms, point-defense escort ships, hospital ships, minesweepers, survey ships, carriers, and more. As far as capabilities, the standard configuration around the time of the General War had six phaser-1's, two phaser 3's, two photon torpedo launchers, and a drone missile rack. It has a crew of approximately 350, plus eight marine squads, consisting of five people each. That's about all the relevant information I can think of at the moment.
The various organizations collectively known as the Orion Pirates is actually composed of many different races. They have their original roots in the Orion Enclave, but as pirate operations expanded they took on beings from all over known space, including, obviously humans.
Don't forget that the old CL saw a significant lease of life in the Omega Octant, as the base hull for a fleet's worth of starship designs in the Federal Republic of Aurora! (I'm still hoping to see an FRA-scheme CL done up one of these days...)
Gorgeous as always, Icy. I love the Texas the most, although I have a real fondness for the Orion ships as well. My only complaints are Steve Cole and even Matt Jefferies oriented. The torpedo tubes look ungainly and those port and starboard running lights are the size of a VW Bug. But, that's what we have to live with in Trek.
It's TOS. The whole galaxy speaks English. Awesome work as always, Icy_Penguigo, especially on the Texas. Marian
Uh, yeah. The Orion pirates were introduced in TOS, but practically nothing was actually revealed about them. Fact-wise, IIRC, their ships were hard to detect, and they were shown to be willing to commit suicide rather than be captured. And they seemed willing to use spies to involve themselves in galactic politics when it suited their needs. (It's been a long while since I watched "Journey to Babel") Nothing else. Steve Cole basically did his best to fill in all the blanks about the Orion pirates from this one episode. Since there was so much room for interpretation, it doesn't agree with later portrayals, but it was 1970-something, and at the time, literally no other hard facts existed. It was a believable and internally-consistent(in the Star Fleet Universe) take on them, so I'm absolutely fine with it.
Oh by the way, thanks everyone! You're comments are much appreciated! (Makes the long nights I spend working on these things worth it.)
Has ADB ever established an origin for the Orion Raider? It'd be interesting if they were actually retired hulls from one of the major governments (say early or even pre-Federation spaceships) acquired through questionable deals and refitted with new systems. One might even see one or two old CLs refitted in such a fashion.
Ahhhh, the Texas class, my all time favorite SFB ship. Good work Adam! The Old Light Cruiser was drawn by Steven Cole and sculpted by Richard Kerr, he is a talented artist who brought the design to life in three dimensions. I have an OCL mini here on my computer desk, it and a Federation Heavy Carrier sit to the left of my monitor. All I need is a pair of DDLs and I'll have a carrier group. Very good rendition of a ship that's been refitted a few times, going back and doing an as-built picture would be neat to see. Your other art is first rate as well; I see your work on the miniatures boxes in game stores and it is eye catching. SFB is a niche game and not all stores stock it front and center ( uhhh, actually, most of the time SFB is in a back corner somewhere ). The color, action, and movement help a lot to attract attention where the product is in a "non-optimal retail display environment" ( hey, I work in research and some of my projects are in marketing ) Once again, it's always a treat to see your art and doubly so when it is of my favorite ship.
awesome! i was just starting to wonder where you'd gone off to. clearly, some field work, which has paid off well.