[Taku]

For the upcoming Season 18 Kelvin lockbox, Lead Ship Artist Thomas Marrone and I decided to take a look at our existing Kelvin-Timeline ships to see if there was anything that needed a visual upgrade to match the quality of the newer ships that will be included in the bundle. And while the U.S.S. Vengeance / Kelvin-Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser was a fine model for its time, it’s material was showing its age so we decided it was the prime candidate for such an upgrade.

Thomas and I then took a look at Mauricio Tejerina’s original model and material to identify areas we thought could be improved. We were thrilled that the model geometry itself was mostly up to par; we made note of only a few things we’d like to polish. After a couple of days of work, I’d wrapped up these relatively easy changes to the geometry and was ready to move on to the material.

Thomas and I knew going in to this task that the material applied to the ship was what needed the most work. The obvious offense was that the distinct “Aztec” pattern of the hull paneling of the Vengeance in the movie was missing entirely from Mauricio’s original material. Aztec paneling has been a trademark of the majority of Starfleet ships since it’s debut on the newly refitted Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, so we felt it was imperative to change the material’s existing hull paneling to reflect this unique Starfleet look. The original material was also crafted in a time before Star Trek: Online switched to its new lighting model which greatly enhanced the way reflections and materials look in our game. I added some variation in the hull panel’s reflection values to give it that “shimmer” effect you always see when the light hits a starship just right in the TV shows and movies. In the end we had a material that makes the Dreadnought look much closer to the Vengeance we see in the film.



I made some additional changes to the original material, notably the color of the impulse engine glow to be less in the magenta range and more towards purple, again to be more accurate to the movie. I also noticed that the original model was missing the distinctive spotlights on the underside of the saucer and on the nacelle pylons, so I quickly added those to the model.

While the new material looks great, we didn’t want to rob players of the old material if they preferred it over the new one, so we decided to keep the option to use it open to players. There was also one other thing Thomas and I wanted to add to the Dreadnought as a bonus option to the fans of this ship design: decals. While the U.S.S. Vengeance didn’t have a registry number or decals in Star Trek: Into Darkness, we thought it would be a nice touch to allow the option to have your version of the Dreadnought decked-out with either the traditional red Starfleet decals or black Section 31 decals, the latter of which looks great if you apply a white or grey hull material to the ship. We included options for either black or white registry numbers as well.



We hope you enjoy the upgrade we’ve made to the Kelvin-Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser. If you already own one and wish to see these updates on your ship, simply set it as your active starship, go to the Starship Customization screen and select the "Dreadnought" option from the list on the left. Thanks for playing, and live long and prosper!


Donny Versiga

Staff Ship Artist

Star Trek Online

Source: https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/st...etail/11245813

[Arno12]

It's...*sniff*..... It's.....GLORIOUS!!!!!!
Now, GIVE IT AN EXPERIMENTAL WEAPONS SLOT CRYPTIC!!!!

[Necronin]

uuugghh...an Experimental on that ship would be awesome.

[Taku]

...Or another Hangar Bay.

[Necronin]

That would be nice, too.

[Taku]

...Or both? Why not be greedy? 😈

[Petrarch]

That's an enormous improvement over the original model, the Starfleet detailing gives it that extra little something to really lift it as well.

[Arno12]

...Or both? Why not be greedy? 😈

Nah Experimental weapon, extra hangar would be nice though, make it unique compared to other dreadnoughts.

[Taku]

Slap a Type 6 skin on it, load up the black racing stripes, and the USS Meat Mountain will be ready for her closeup.

The new texture is looking MILES ahead of the old one. Pity I'll never actually see it in-game. (Anyone have a 2GB dual monitor video card going cheap?)

[Miles]

+1 vote for the extra hangar. A formidable starship, and IMO probably in the top 5 of this game.

[Stryker]

I am certainly looking forward to this since my primary is this ship. I do typically run a 'borg' skin on the ship because the green circuitry looks cool in the black backdrop. Just see my signature ship below this.

[Bridger]

While it is a great update, I would have loved it way more if the Galaxy, Nebula Family and similar ships would have gotten the Atztek Pattern the Enterprise-D and Farragut got in Generations.

[Stryker]

While it is a great update, I would have loved it way more if the Galaxy, Nebula Family and similar ships would have gotten the Atztek Pattern the Enterprise-D and Farragut got in Generations.

When are they gonna do a model update of the Galaxy ?

[WelshAvenger]

Slap a Type 6 skin on it, load up the black racing stripes, and the USS Meat Mountain will be ready for her closeup.

The new texture is looking MILES ahead of the old one. Pity I'll never actually see it in-game. (Anyone have a 2GB dual monitor video card going cheap?)

*pats pockets* Nope, must have left my 2GB card at home.

ON a side note, what on earth happened to your signature?

[Taku]

*pats pockets* Nope, must have left my 2GB card at home.

ON a side note, what on earth happened to your signature?

Well, if you FIND that video card, PM me and I'll give you my address. I can pay up to $6.35. That's all I have in the bank right now.

As for my sig, I made it that way. It's a flattened version of the template I created based on other sigs I've seen. I can never take a decent toon selfie or ship beauty shot. So I was playing around with making one of my own... And here we are.