Another Romulan Warbird Spotted in the Shipyards

posted on December 9th, 2011, 11:39 pm

posted on December 9th, 2011, 11:51 pm

Nice birdy.
Any info for weapons, shields or special weapons?

Would love to see this one in action 

posted on December 10th, 2011, 4:12 am

Very pretty - nice work 

posted on December 10th, 2011, 5:25 am

Kinda looks like the follow up version of Norexan / Tavara, but even more "look at me, i'm huge and scary".
Of course, it could be a smaller vessel too.

Anyways, i already fell in love. 

posted on December 10th, 2011, 1:41 pm

Glad you guys like her.    Here's the upswept winged version.

[davel27]

posted on December 10th, 2011, 2:06 pm

Last edited by davel27 on December 10th, 2011, 2:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Isn't that the gold falcon off "Mysterious citys of Gold". Its an 80s kids cartoon for the younglings among us .

posted on December 10th, 2011, 4:56 pm

Pretty neat - like Zimpi asked, do you have a specific role in mind for her, etc? I always thought of the especially bird-like Romulan ships as being quite unique in the Star Empire, and thus having some different role than a standard combat ship 

posted on December 10th, 2011, 5:23 pm

Over the years I have been trying to make some of Atolm/Azel's Romulan designs.  I haven't given much thought as to her name, function or weapons loadout yet.  The hard part awaits....texturing.  He has a particular set of them that work nicely as a fleet.  If I can find the sketches I'll post them up to show you what I mean.

posted on December 10th, 2011, 5:59 pm

Not to be a jerk, but I prefer more practical ships.  How do I say this...

As the likeness to an actual bird increases, so does the likeness to ships from other shows.  Like that golden bird show, or the Swarm from Gratuitous Space Battles.

I would like it a lot better if the wings were shorter and not tilted as much, as that would be more in line with existing Romulan style.  Romulan ships are inspired by birds but none of them actually look like birds because, like I said, that would make them too similar to other Sci-Fi races with bird motifs.

Finally, it needs to have nacelles.  If you pay close attention, every Warbird design has them embedded in the wings somewhere.  It's part of the lore and it gives them that Star Trek uniqueness that's so cool.

By the way, even though I think it needs more work to be considered a Romulan design, it's a SWEET model.  Very good work putting it together! 

Also, I know it's a stolen name but I propose that this ship become either a support or an Avatar-specific ship and be called the "Isolis" class.

posted on December 10th, 2011, 9:29 pm

Finally, it needs to have nacelles.  If you pay close attention, every Warbird design has them embedded in the wings somewhere.  It's part of the lore and it gives them that Star Trek uniqueness that's so cool.

Like many of Atolm/Azel's designs, this one has the nacells embedded into the wings.  I through a quick texture on it to illustrate what he had in mind.  Now these could be modelled into the wings but that would raise the poly count.

posted on December 10th, 2011, 10:47 pm

Wow, I have to admit that texture makes it look much better as a Romulan ship.  Still, my preference still stands.

The broad wings speak of extra effort being put into its design, like a flagship or at least a very expensive ship.  I can accept it as some sort of support vessel, but I still think it needs more mass in the center and less in the wings.

Which brings me to the nacelles.  A nacelle is a long, thin shape similar to a boat pontoon, not a glowing strip.  Think like a fuel tank on the underside of an airplane.  The Star Trek designers wanted to show that while the different races had very unique ship styles, they were all based on the same technology which works well in a long, thin configuration.

Only a small handful of ships in Fleet Ops are lacking external nacelles, with the canon explanation that they are small and designed for close combat, so their warp nacelles are internally housed.  This has the advantage of being more protected, but if the nacelle blows up the crew is less likely to survive.

If you look at the other Warbird designs, they all have nacelles tucked into their wingtips.  The idea behind the design is that Romulan ships value maneuverability, so they space their nacelles farther apart to allow for faster turning just as birds turn quickly using the tips of their wings.  The only reason the wings are that broad is to spread out the nacelles without leaving them vulnerable.

Now, I would be totally okay with the nacelles being near the center of the ship, given the non-combat look of the design.  Like the Remore, they could be optimized for speed and efficiency instead.  They could even be embedded in the hull and not stick out, so they exist only as a texture, but there really should be a pair of nacelles in the design.

I love the green on the wings, it's really cool.  But according to ST lore those can only be the sub-light engines.

posted on December 10th, 2011, 11:05 pm

But in fact we don't know how Romulans designed their warp ins - they are powered differently and may use different mechanisms. It is ST after all . Personal taste means more than technology here - also, maneuvering at impulse speeds I believe is due to thrusters and impulse engines - not the warp nacelles . Romulan ships as I recall have no visible thrusters or impulse engines, so... 

posted on December 10th, 2011, 11:48 pm

just speculating here but the relative big space between warpnacelles could be contributed to leaving minimal concentration of warp trail and stuff to make the cloak work better. same as the hollow space in between top bottem "wing"of the classic warbird that pops in my mind, thats what i always thought at least....

and i agree with tryptic about the long relatively thin warp nacelles but yes they could have experimented with other engines like the borg transwarp coiles

posted on December 11th, 2011, 10:17 am

I think the design also looks pretty cool, but lacks a little aggressive manners. This bird looks beautiful without teeth. The Tavara got something you fear on the sides and in the center and with such large wings, you may put in some weapon pods on it or integrate them into the hull. I think of the design above of the base structure that now should be extended with practical implementations like those already posted warp-nacelles, shield generators, weapon-pods, sensor-arrays, navigational-deflectors, one or two shuttle bays or whatever comes in your mind and integrate them like a simbiosis into the design, so that it looks like those systems are part of it and not just put "onto" it. If you manage this balance of design, this could be a VERY beautiful ship - perfect as romulan-flagship.

Unlike the federation and the klingons, who often use "pods" on their ships (Nebula, Vor'cha, Negh'var) which is not very beautiful, I thought on a more sleek and integrated design like on the defiant class, where the system perfectly fits into the architecture of the base-hull.

If you make it, make it perfect. This thing has a lot potential.

posted on December 11th, 2011, 12:18 pm

Nice work, but i do agree with Tryptic on some aspects.