Drydock Update and Artwork

Good news, boys and girls, we've finalized the UI for the Drydock module. This will also include red and blue alert visual change, plus something that we'll save for you to discover on your own...

Here is the Nova class, one of the first five starship classes that will be released with LCARS 47 version 6.5.

In related news... For those wondering what the first five starship classes will be released, we can confirm that they are as follows...

1. The Nova class light explorer,
2. The Intrepid class medium explorer
3. The Galaxy class heavy explorer
4. The Sovereign class heavy explorer, and
5. The Prometheus class medium tactical cruiser.

And for those of you wondering... yes, starship separation will be fully supported in both the Galaxy and Prometheus classes. We may add separation capability to the Sovereign at a later date based on John Eaves concepts.

After the first five starship classes are released, we will be releasing 2 classes each month. Each month will have a specific theme. Details will be posted here, nearer the time.

That's all for today, don't forget to hit share so you can help spread the word.

6.5 and Drydock III

During the development of LCARS 47 version 6.5, we've decided to prioritize Drydock, the feature that allows a user to select their own class of starship to be displayed throughout LCARS 47. The previous incarnation of Drydock was admittedly limited due to the time required to design and animate cutaway diagrams.

Well, that's changing in 6.5. Not only are we gonna release more ship class selections than ever, we're also thinking of including refits and variants further down the line. Moreover, Drydock III plugins will be even more detailed and even more animated. 

Here are two I just finished. They're ready for handing over to Lee for Quality Controlling before being approved for use. It's the Nova class (and its Rhode Island variant below), one of several classes on our highly classified list of inclusions (don't worry, the Sovereign, Intrepid, Galaxy, Defiant and Prometheus are confirmed).

Drydock II

As you might have guessed, for the new custom cutaway MSDs to work, you'll need to install them via Drydock. This means we're gonna be updating Drydock completely in successive releases hence the current blog poll. We figured we'd release each starship class in order of popularity (starting with the Sovereign class).

The new Drydock plugins will be installed just like the old ones, but will contain the new MSDs as well as some completely new interactive diagrams—landing struts, saucer separation, that sort of thing.

The image to the left shows the cutaways so far (the Intrepid class landing pad animation is incomplete and the Defiant class is just a quick doodle so far, to get the basic scaling right). The Akira class will be harder, since there are no canon diagrams to work from, so I hope you'll forgive the artistic license that will be used. As for the Prometheus, it's had a slight redesign of the shuttlebay to make it structurally sound during the MVAM animation (big thanks to Greg Mortensen for the input there).

At this stage, I'm still taking suggestions of what to include in the cutaways, so as always, let me know if you have any ideas.

In related news, there will also be a separate Drydock plugin for use with Anticuus that will have all the features of Drydock II but with older ships like the Excelsior, Constitution Refit, Miranda, et cetera.

Prometheus Class MSD Cutaway

If you're with us on Facebook, you've likely already seen the Prometheus class MSD cutaway. If you're not, then here it is. It's almost there; about 50% complete.

This MSD turned out to be harder to work out and draw up than anticipated since we've incorporated the Multi Vector Assault Mode view configuration—this is LCARS 47, baby. The landing pads are also animated (as are the landing pads of all the starships with landing capabilities).

There's a little bit of artistic license involved to make it all work correctly and to make sure it's technically plausible. Although these are still basic draft images, they represent the final outline and layout of the ship. The shuttlebay has been altered slightly to accommodate a Starfleet Runabout and I've added a few extra torpedo launchers for good measure.

Engineering Overhaul

You may remember the post about the new Warp Core control system module (right). Well, that's been scrapped now, and replaced with a new, more technical looking layout (below), similar to the Defiant's warp core situation monitor. I think that this gives us more variation in the LCARS UI, rather than having the same basic layout for everything. The bad news is that this will delay the 6.2 release, but I'd rather hold off and work on something better than spend a month on something that could be better.

The image is currently gray, but we'll add color to it when the layout is finalized. And yes, it will support custom warp core diagrams when you install your preferred Drydock plugin.

Anyways, that's about it for today. Have a great weekend guys.