Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations

Hi there,

One of the features permanently requested by fans in the forums is a new Descent Class.
In fact the "old Descent" was a list-minute addition and we never found time to give her the model quality a flagship should have...

Until now!
The 3000 polygon baby will arrive in the final v3 release to make everybody pay who might dear to attack the United Federation of Planets. As you can easily see its not only a model redo but a complete design change, away from the kit batch to a unique battleship.

But not only the graphics have changed. The Descent got a complete game play redo as well. She will feature a new multi-layered shield - visualized by our new shield effects - and be much more endurable. You can also expect to see new and interesting special abilities on her. More facts on the game play as soon as they are fixed.

But now on to the showroom. Have fun!

(http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/6353/foscreenshot07070219304sk0.th.png) (http://img164.imageshack.us/my.php?image=foscreenshot07070219304sk0.png)

(http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6703/foscreenshot07070219340bt1.th.png) (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=foscreenshot07070219340bt1.png)

(http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3275/foscreenshot07070219361zs8.th.png) (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=foscreenshot07070219361zs8.png)

See you on the battlefield!

Nice look! However I find the nacells a little odd.

Awesome.  I think the nacells look really cool  :thumbsup:

Sheeesh...what a battle ship!

How bad we can't see the ship in all its glory when playing from top down few. But she'll rock the battle field...I can feel it in my right hand.... ;)

Wow!  :thumbsup:
That IS COOL!!!

Respect!  :thumbsup:

It's a sort of cool, but the thingy that connects the saucer with the rest of the ship seems a bit odd to me.

fab a very futuristic look fro the feds :woot:

I sure will dudes!!

Those Klingon bastards won't know what hit them!  :guns:

I like the look alot the problom I have is the shape of the sosor section. I think a triangular shape would serve the ship beater.

The ship is made of right angles the round sosor dose not work well.

actually I agree, a triangular saucer section would fit more >_< but I feel bad now because that was a lot of work that Optec put into that.

Maybe they thought about making it tiangular and finally decided to make it the way it is.
I agree that a triangular saucer section could be interesting - would have a touch of the Prometheus - but I like the new Descent just the way she looks.
It's a great and pretty menacing design. Seems like Section 31 had its hands on it.  ^-^

I really like this. I can see the "oddities" some people have mentioned, but i believe that thats the whole idea; the nacelles look odd becuase they've got layers of armour all over them. The engineering hull looks blocky because its been reinforced. The look just breathes armour; that ship could probably take a beating or two. Its meant to be an odd ship; the Feds have never piled quite so much armour onto a ship before.


Indeed she will. She will defeat all foes...
...wont be for the Federation though... >:D

I'm assimilating that baby!

That thing looks like a heavier Version of the Sov.
Like a Flying Fortress, and thats what what it should look like.
Only beaten by the biggest Romulan Vessel or a giant Armada of grim Klingons  :rolleyes:

I don't think a triangular saucersection would suit her, I kinda like her round saucersection. Only that thinghy that attaches the saucer with rest of the ship that should be a bit smaller, I think.

Wonderful job, guys!  Just, wow.

I personally don't really see all that many things to be fixed.  The nacelles, while otherwise being freakishly weird, actually manage to fit the ship, and I thing that the rounded saucer gives homage to other well loved fleet mainstays such as the Galaxy and Sovereign.  I personally think that a triangular or otherwise cornered "saucer" would take away from it's Federation-looking majesty.

All in all, a superb job.  Once again the FO team delivers more than expected!

-edit-

One small thing I noticed, however, is that the window scale, at least to me, gives the impression that it won't be much bigger than the Sovy.  I don't know if that is intentional or not, but I figure I might as well bring it up.

yep, thats intended. the descent got a little smaller, around the size of a sovy. like the defiant the federation battleships .. or escort ships  ^-^ .. are not that large

What will be the closest ship in terms of firepower?

The Descent wont be a firepower-unit :) it is a unit with many fleet support ability and a hight durability. It will however still feature the dual-quantums and its firepower should be a bit higher then the sovys one :)

sweet. So the feds have effectively gained another support ship, albeit a heavy duty one?

The old one was indeed kind of.... lame.
This is something totally new. I have to get used to it , especially the heavy looking warpwings.

Because of its massive and heavy look, it pitches out of the common fleet and gives it the feeling of a true battleship. Not like the sovereign class. * Ouu I hope I dont break it*

Now Iam really looking forward to the last big battleships.
Dominion Dreadnaught (my favorit)

And of course the borg, but after I saw the first ship you did .... I am sure the rest of the fleet will look fantastic and terrifying as well. ^^

wow, awesome  :thumbsup: :woot:
are there more other battle ships for these race and others races?
edit:
and has that also this?  (multie?( Pulse )(cannon) I don't or this correct are not but see img
multie ?... >>>see here what i  mean<< (http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m16/Warp_ie/warp/multie.jpg)

YAAAAY! Finally! It's gonna be SICK to play with her!

Those are short burst phaser shots in an attempt to find the scimitar. They are regular phasers, just on probably a lower power setting why searching for the Scimitar.

I'd like to know what these support specials are.

Most of the abilities the Descent will feature are thematically arranged around the topic "shields" :) We are still working on them at the moment, balancing and scripting remains. Most probably she will have a few different "shield patterns" to chose from. The Beta-Pattern is quite fixed already. It will power up all 3 shield layers to maximum, rendering the descent nearly invulnerable to all kind of damage for a short period of time. While in this shield mode she can however not use her weapons.

Sounds like she will be able to break through any kind of defense-line in that time with this special ability.
Do you have plans for an ability which could extend the Descent's shields around about one or two ships flying right next to her? Or something like a shield-recharge?
I'm just too curious  :sweatdrop:

yep similar stuff floats around the development desk at the moment :D

Cool  B)
I'm really looking forward to see the new Descent in action!

I have to say i think that it looks perfect the way it is, I like the armourd nacells, I like the round section and i hate the idea of a tri saucer as it would look like the time traveling ship. the only thing i would say is it looks like it can seperate like a galaxy can. can it?

Since the Galaxy itself can't separate in FO the Descent won't be able to do that neither. Me thinks...

But the two sections of the Descent would look much cooler than the Galaxy's.  :thumbsup:

Though the Descent seems to become a mighty support-vessel which makes me doubt that another special ability like saucer-separation will be available for the Descent.

i think this thing looks brutal and deadly, the kind of ship people will want to steer there fleets away from and as for the triangular looking saucer thingy i think it looks kick ass.

That's the best ship I've ever seen!  :thumbsup: This Descent class is going to be much more powerful than any Federation Ship, and a deathtrap on impulse for the borg. Doesn't it have a Tachyon Anti-Cloak Scanner?


What are it's weapons?

One more thing

What do you mean by "multi-phasic shielding"?  :borg:

isnt that what Admiral janeway equiped voyager with when she went back in time to help voyager get back to the alpha quadrant?

That was a type of anti-borg :borg: armor. I think you were referring to multi-phasic torpedoes.

One thing I wanted to know was how it would compare to "ultimate" ships available to the other races. i.e.: the romulans have the Tavara which is supposed to rival a borg cube... (if I remember precisely). I guess the question I am asking is how powerful is the Descent now compared to the Tavara or to the Borg cubes or even to the Dominion's... uh... I forgot the name of the ship (Klingons don't really count for me because their top ranking ships don't seem all that powerful in game)?

-DN

That Multy Phasic sheilding was actualy invented by Jordie in TNG, they had to fly into the suns outer atmosphere or what ever its called using the said sheilding, it was an episode with alot of borg who Lore Commanded

You're right

it wasn't invented by Geordi, it was invented by a junior officer.

I got this from a canon website:

"Metaphasic shielding is a technology invented by Dr. Reyga, a Ferengi scientist, in 2369"

There was an episode about it in TNG.

This is a Fine look for an Artillary Starship. But NOT a Flag Ship!!

I have a Much more Streamlined Design for what I call the Novell Class.

It has 67 Decks, and Transwarp Drive. Dual Torpedo Tubes Forward, and Dual Aft Tubes.

I'd like to send a Pic over Email, but here is a Preview:

To critique it if I may... the nacelles look a little on the small side. Plus, transwarp drive? Aren't we supposed to keep to cannon?

In the end what does everyone else think?

i prefer the ship the FO team designed :D cant wait to watch my Romulan ships get destrpyed by that thing :D

I have to agree. The ship the FO designers made looks incredibly well armored and powerful. It looks like something you have to take seriously: a real threat to those not of the federation. It looks like the fed's version of a heavy battleship, excuse the redundancy.

im so tempted to change back to playing feds >.>

Well, I'm trying to find a way to express my thoughts...

The Descent, the FO-team designed, is what I would expect a Federation Flag Ship to look like.
The redo we were introduced to here is one of the staff's finest works in my opinion.

@ MutantHippie: You never should have stopped ;) Don't you know: "Damn, it's good to be in the Federation!"  :D

Don't give in mutant hippie. You'll never join the... errrr.... light-side :ermm:

Romulans ftw! From the shadows!

it is very tempting...BUT the war bird just keeps pulling me back :D..ya never know, maybe ill play evrynow and again as the feds.

I'm not listening... LA LLALALALALALLLALL lALL lLALLAL *with fingers in ears*

Romulans are fun.  But nobody destroyer-spams like the Feds.

I can't wait to get one of these surrounded by a fleet of Sovy's, Phalanxes, Defiants, and Akiras and sweep across a map.