Yup. You'll get the mail soon. They're mostly pencil sketches. Not very artsy, but they should get the idea and basic proportions across.
Sounds great. I wouldn't place her earlier (like some people do), but also not much later (then she would have more Sovvy influence). The specs make sense, too. I especially like the sizing!Well today I and Katala have been busy cleaning the house for our inspection tomorrow, however this evening I did get a chance to work on the Dawnstar. I did start on saucer textures but they are horrible so I haven't progressed any further on them.
However I did get this done:
Dawnstar Class
Classification: Heavy Cruiser
Design and Production Facility: Utopia Planita, Mars
Commissioned: 2378
Crew: 450
Decks: 40
Mass: 3,875,000 metric tonnes
Dimensions: 573m(L) x 325m(W) x 142m(H)
Armament: 13 Type XII Phaser Arrays and 2 Photon/Quantum Torpedo Tubes
Defence Systems: Auto-Modulating Metaphasic Shielding system with a Duranium/Tritanium Double hull with 60mm ablative armour and a high level structural integrity field
Propulsion: 2 Impulse Engines and one matter-antimatter warp core feeding 2 warp nacelles.
Support Capacity:
Unit Run:
NX/NCC – 78135 USS Dawnstar
NCC – 81792 USS Los Angeles
NCC – 81793 USS Antaeus
NCC – 81794 USS Rogers
NCC – 81795 USS San Diego
NCC – 81831 USS Tennant
NCC – 81832 USS Hartnell
NCC – 81833 USS Charon
NCC – 81834 USS Juno
NCC – 81835 USS Medusa
NCC – 81567 USS Damocles
NCC – 81568 USS Roanoake
NCC – 81569 USS Cortez
NCC – 81570 USS Agrippa
NCC – 81571 USS Vesta
NCC – 81740 USS Elanora
NCC – 81741 USS Tugun
NCC – 81742 USS Swansea
NCC – 81743 USS Adelaide
NCC – 81744 USS Belmont
NCC – 81894 USS Ohio
NCC – 81895 USS Wellington
NCC – 81896 USS Talos
NCC – 81897 USS Gettysburg
NCC – 81898 USS Terra
Class Overview:
The Dawnstar Project was originally conceived in the 2340's as a replacement for the Ambassador heavy cruiser which at the time was the premier explorer and combat vessel in Starfleet. Slightly larger than the Ambassador, the Dawnstar was to pioneer the next Generation of explorers onwards into the decades to come. However the Dawnstar lost out to the larger and more powerful Galaxy class which was based off technology being developed for the New Orleans, Cheyenne and Nebula classes. This made the Galaxy more appealing over the Dawnstar due to the ease and effectiveness not to mention the low costs of having a fleet of state of the art ships utilising the same technology and parts.
Due to this the Dawnstar remained on the drawing boards for the next thirty years, with her designers constantly tinkering and updating the design whenever they got the chance. In the early 2370's the Dawnstar Production team once again attempted to get the design approved for testing, however in 2374 war broke out with the Dominion, and with Starfleet in an arms race they didn't see the merit to produce an experimental vessel and instead opted to produce more Galaxy, Akira and Steamrunner vessels, which were already in mass production and had proven themselves countless times over the last 5-15 years.
In 2376, the Dominion war had come to an end with the Federation victorious. After the dust had settled the brass at Starfleet Command was finally able to go through the after action reports that had been piling up on their desks since the war. It was shown that despite the victory, a good 50% of the Federation fleet was made up of obsolete designs dating anywhere from the 2270's onwards. It was also reported that the majority of Federation causalities were due to the ineffectiveness of these old out-dated designs. Command decided that a new fleet overhaul, not seen since the 2270's, was in order and many older designs were ordered back to space-dock to undergo major refits. Such designs as the Galaxy and few remaining Ambassador's found themselves getting complete overhauls. However many older designs were being retired from service, most notability the Miranda and Excelsior classes along with the severely damaged Ambassador's that had not fared well during the war. While the Steamrunner was to pick up the Miranda's original role, and the upcoming Archangel class was to fulfil the Excelsior's role the Ambassador class while reviving a refit was few in number and many of that number were being retired due to the extensive damaged suffered during the war. Of the dozen or so Ambassador's that survived the war, close to half of them were too badly damaged to warrant a refit. This presented Starfleet with a problem, it was considered that a restart in production of new Ambassador class vessels could solve the issue , however with the Ambassador were coming up to it's 50 year anniversary and it was ultimately decided that the class was too old to follow through with a renewed construction contract. The Archangel was too small and lacked the diplomatic capabilities to be a successful replacement, being aimed to replace the old workhorse Excelsior class and the Galaxy was too large and expensive as was the upcoming Legacy class that was being produced to eventually replace the Galaxy. Hence a new vessel was needed.
Thinking the time was right the Dawnstar Project Team for a third and final time present the Dawnstar as a viable replace to the Ambassador class as it was initially intended. Having spent the last couple of years updating the design the Dawnstar was as up to date as the team could get her. With a few modifications to the design, including new nacelles inspired from the upcoming Legacy class, the Dawnstar was immediately approved and a working prototype was authorised. The USS Dawnstar's kneel was laid down on November 24th 2376 at Utopia Planita in orbit of the planet Mars in the Sol System. She sat there under construction for almost two years until she left space-dock to complete trials on September 11th 2378. After the successful completion of her trial run her registry was changed from NX- 78135 to NCC-78135 and handed over to Captain Margaret Shenandoah for a one year shake down cruise along the Cardassian boarder assisting in post-war aid. In 2379, a total of 24 Dawnstar class vessels were ordered by Starfleet Command with various contracts handed out to shipyards all over the Federation.
She is bigger than the Ambassador class, but need less crew to operate. She is not as big as the Galaxy however. I decided to do my own take on the Dawnstar as this Dawnstar is the one that is in my Midway Universe.
Sweetness. Class histories and established technical specs always make a design more credible. Also has a nice tie-in to your upcoming works. Thanks for adding the Archangel as well.
So how "bad" are the progress on the textures anyway? Colors not blending well? Or adding hull plates is a problem?
Sounds great. I wouldn't place her earlier (like some people do), but also not much later (then she would have more Sovvy influence). The specs make sense, too. I especially like the sizing!
And I lol'd at seeing my USS Terra on the list. Epicness!
Ah, I can see the problem now, from the attached sample you posted, I have to agree that it needs more work. First off, the jagged lines on the edges. Better get them smoothened to reduce to feeling of low polyness. Adding more hull grids seems to be the next logical choice. And I think the hardest part of all would be the windows and escape pods. I'll see if I can help you out with this if you want.
Also, I'm pretty much open for any alterations you desire for the Archie. After all, concepts are bound to have changes when it comes to the final product.
I took much care in replicating the style and general color scheme of Aad's textures. His work tends to be a lot on the grey tones but has crisp detailing.
Tedious work at face value, but the result is certainly worth it. Lining all of them up was pretty challenging. But I eventually got the hang of it. (Copy-Paste ftw) I also took some reference with official schematics. Specifically the Sovereign. I also added the impulse engines as you said Maj, looks great!
Only joking. Looks superb; a slight panelling pattern over the top and maybe a quick cloud layer blended in is the only suggestion I can make - the texture looks a bit too clean at the mo'.
I guess I could make the aztecing stand out a bit more ya? Looking at it again, it reminds me more and more of the Ambassador's hull.
Love how things are shaping up.
I've sent in the recent set to you. I've just finished it today.
Aaahhh, amazing!! Only majestic could make a great ship like that look better.
If I could suggest something though, it looks like the nacelle pylons are a little skinny. Maybe have them get wider where they meet the nacelles? Just a thought.
ditto to the others.
That's ok, I'll be perched on the nearest high point giving you some sniper cover.
