We talked a little bit about the D’deridex’s new function in Fleet Ops and now she will be getting an upgraded model to go along with it. The D’deridex model is one of the oldest in Fleet Ops, dating back to the original release of the Romulans in Beta 2. This warbird was one of the most intimidating models I’ve had to work on for Fleet Ops. Besides being a fan favorite, she is incredibly complex. The interior between her wings has many cool devices and little details that needed to be captured in the model. This includes bird-like claw devices, greebles that connect the neck and head to the rest of the body, scores of windows, and more. However, while she has many points on her that are highly detailed and complex, she is also very smooth and streamlined. The exteriors of the wings have an air brushed metal texture, composed of just a few raised lines to outline feathers. And of course her complex shape makes it harder to see all these details.

Another interesting aspect of the D’deridex is her documentation - or should we say - lack thereof. While many other Star Trek vessels that we’ve made for Fleet Operations have schematics or orthographics available either on the web or on screen, for such a prominent vessel, the D’deridex has neither! Or, should we say, no accurate ones! Instead, there is a plethora of copied schematics that are each wrong in their own way. Maybe the belly of the beast is too fat, the wings too squashed, the neck too short, and so on. Thus, the best that we could do for schematics is to scrounge for good screenshots. Furthermore, not all angles are represented by a single model. The early and late TNG physical models cover most of the shots, but a bit of influence from the DS9 and Voyager CGI models was necessary to complete the effect. Each of these models has its own changes, but the basis for most of the work I did here is the early TNG physical model.

The D’deridex has a very different design ethos than other Romulan ships we see in Fleet Ops. She is from a different generation of Romulan ships, but still the standard in the Romulan Fleet. The D’deridex is more minimalist in some places, unlike the Norexan. The D’deridex is themed after a bird of prey without explicitly exhibiting feather-shaped wings, talons, a beak, or threatening eyes. I am hoping that we can see more ships from the D’deridex family in the future.

Here is the fruits of all the labor. She is easily my most complex and detailed model for Fleet Ops to date. I can’t wait for you to include her in your upcoming fleets.