zoberraz.bsky.social

S'alright. You take your shortcuts when you can take them.

Besides, I actually think it's a shame that STO ships don't take after each other more.

This looks stellar.

I always much preferred the original aft shuttlebay to the Aquarius dock.

I'm not hating on the Aquarius. But I wish the Odyssey-chassis could have lived up to the ambition of being modular and of those part swapping/replacing if the console was equipped or not.

I know the Patrol Escort remasters - if they happen - are a long way off. But to me the Gladius is not only lovely, but an encouraging preview.

Thanks for making it happen! :D

A reminder if you don't recall:
The Gladius and Maelstrom both shared similar visual language with a lower deflector pod jutting out, downswept saucer structure with flaring grill components, and reinforced struts securing these to the main body. Almost an X-shape with the nacelles angled upward.

It's lovely to see what the Gladius has become! If I use the escort-chassis, it's likely going to be the costume of choice I'll pick.

It's also an nice look-ahead: I always considered the Gladius to be a miniature Maelstrom-class.

Also glad to see this particular flavor of nacelles return and presented so sexily on this remaster.

I always loved the Deihu-style warp nacelles (the ones the D'khellra and Dinaes were inspired from) and which they'd seen more use. They seemed like a successful design iteration for the RRF faction

Also, one thing I like is how you actually brought it up to speed with the design language of the latter Romulan ships: the Kholhr, Ra'nodaire and Rahhae.

The silver feathering on the early Republic "improved" warbirds never felt like it worked great to me.

This is a warbird I wanted to love.

It just looked so cool in its concept art too. But the in-game model just came so short.

Stellar work!

The episode does dovetail this by lauding Jarok's courage, Jarok's example. Toward a more hopeful future.

I'm glad STO thought of paying homage to it, through the use of his daughter, and having an Alliance ship named after him. :)

That peace, however, isn't even bought at the cost of Alidar Jarok's sacrifice - which is, in itself, a poignant tragedy. Had he not defected, nothing would have happened. It was, as he bemoaned, for nothing.

I agree.
Also, of note, is that this episode does not have an happy ending.
It strikes highs when Picard turns the situation around thanks to the Klingons. It has suspense. But the resolution is merely survival, a maintaining of the status quo. Peace prevails, for the time being.

Scorp did.
bsky.app/profile/scor...

Some concept art of the 25c ships have been posted as well.

Even though I'm not a player that enjoys using anachronistic ships in the 25th century STO, it's a very welcome surprise to see a 3 ship bundle with 3 visual variants each.

I appreciate the effort that went into it. Thank you for all the hard work, and happy release day!

But it appears to be a tough balancing act. For example:

1- I find the Ahwahnee's saucer too visually noisy, and IMHO it detracts from what could have been as a cleaner design.

2- On the other hand, I find the Titan-class undersaucer for its lack of detailing unfortunate, it's rather plain.

There's been a tendency in the last couple of years of making 25th century Starfleet design much more visually noisy. So, I want to point out what I think is a good direction in the hopes of seeing it repeated.

The Warden, in my opinion, hits a sweet spot.

I would like to give Art Direction feedback:
the Warden-class is an exemplary 2411 Starfleet design.

It is clean, elegant, with an appealing level of surface detail to sell its scale, its greebling is judicious and indicates function. The black paint pattern accents well without being overwhelming.

You turned the Molecular Reconstruction doodad on the TOS model into a Warp Field Governor. It looks like a very good way of framing it. :)

Many of the 2411-styled Starfleet ships in the last couple of years - I'll use the Ahwahnee as an example - ended up being very visually noisy to the point of my feeling they detracted from their beauty.

I find the 25c Ranger hits a sweet spot here. Very well done!

This is such a streamlined, strong 2410 Starfleet design and silhouette. Clean, elegant, and the greebling on it seems to have purpose. I hope I can be forgiven for first thinking of it as a better T6 Akira. :)

I laughed at 0:51, seeing the Okinawa tractor some poor ship stuck in an asteroid field. Yup, that's one of the things I did in Starfleet Command with it!

Your perspective work is impeccable!

Was this a paintover of a rough 3d model?

That's a great revision on the design.

Going across my feed, I noticed your before and after and at first I thought it was official: "No way! When was it updated? I never noticed it in the game until now!"

...which is, I think, the best form of flattery I can give for this work. Nicely done!

Sweet attention to detail there. Awesome work!

Whoo!

Thanks! My ride is a Titan-class, so, I definitely know what you're talking about.

(you didn't mention the Comet-class, which is the Fleet Version of the Titan, but it looks fixed now too - thanks again!)

Well, I'm not in the US, but on the bright side availability might make its price on sites like Ebay go down a bit.

Because, as much as I like the -F, 400USD isn't something I feel great shelling out when it<s supposed to be 95 (plus shipping)

It's frustrating to have the IP decide I'm not the target audience and aim harder at the 4x audience... but I suppose that's where the money was.

And if others have grown to love the current direction, good for them.

A sore point for me, but there are other games.

But then, I felt like I was "peeing in someone else's cereal". Thomas was just trying to celebrate a game he loved. He didn't need to be saddled with my baggage.

So, I censored myself and deleted all the posts I'd made on the topic.

Having opinions on the internet is tricky. 😕

Thomas Marrone talked about Age of Wonders 4 recently and I made this multi-post piece where I essentially talked about the IP disappointing me in straying from the formula that had made me love AoW1 so much.

Or... I just have a bad way of saying I thought what you said was thought-provoking, and egg you about telling me how you find the TNG ship style by contrast since you're more eloquent than I am! :D

Just trying to quantify what the TNG aesthetic would mean by contrast, and I have nothing as eloquent as "Cathedrals of Light". :/