Completed Patches & Designer's Notes

[Morgan Shackelford]

Mr. Kor finally settled on a federation ship for his patch; though being in command of the ITS he typically is more involved on that side of the house.

This is a simple design modeled after the patch for the USS Paul Revere (LPA-248).



The only thing of note here is that this overall patch shape is probably the first one I've made where I didn't use any preformatted shapes in photoshop. Circles and other basic shapes are usually easy enough to create, but for things like the shapes of the banners (or for patches that are not circular) I am often using downloaded files from other artists to get the shapes I need. In this case I tried my hand making them from scratch; it was an interesting learning process.

The shape of Paul Revere here is from an 1899 sculpture by Cyrus Dallin:



And finally, the ship itself is represented below Revere.

[Morgan Shackelford]

While this is Runaz's second patch, I certainly felt like he'd earned it. In any case, I wasn't particularly fond of his initial patch (The USS Jennifer); and beyond that - much like the Johnnie Hammons patch - this was a more personal request.

The motto, as relayed to me by Mr. Runaz, is a statement from a eulogy for a friend. His only other request was the use of a Nodachi; an ancient japanese great sword that is something of a precursor to the more widely known katana. The crossed nodachi's display prominently on the patch here, creating the lower border of the central area and dissecting the motto and fleet insignia.

The use of Saturn in the central patch area is a reference to the idea of truth; in mythology, Saturn was the father of Veritas, the goddess of truth.

[Morgan Shackelford]

This is the first patch I've designed for the Veteran Chimera Destroyer, a vessel with some fairly unique capabilities which are represented in the patch's design. The overall design is based on the actual patch for the USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5):



In the case of the STO patch, the shape of the Chimera is front and center. Two oversized lances represent the Chimera's special ability in Tactical Mode, the Phaser Lotus. Behind the Chimera the shape of the shield - as well the ring outside the ship itself - represent the Chimera's special ability in Regenerative Mode, the Tachyon Inversion Beam, which strips shields from opponents and augments the Chimera's own shielding. The lances visually split the shield into the four facings we are familiar with in game terms, with each quadrant displaying the registry and motto.

[Morgan Shackelford]

Patch requests aren't necessarily created in the order they are requested, and when Mr. Davis was made Ops officer, I pushed his patch request to the head of the line. Rank should have some privileges.

The patch itself is loosely based on version of the patch for the USS Tarawa (LHA-1):



The eagle is the prominent symbol in both of these patches. Above the motto on the STO patch are three stars meant to represent the 'former' vessels of the same name:

U.S.S. Tarawa, Aircraft Carrier (CV-40) comissioned in 1946.

U.S.S. Tarawa, Amphibious Assault Ship (LHA-1) commisioned in 1976.

U.S.S. Tarawa (NCC-82143), Iwo Jima Class Assault Ship, launched in the 24th century (2377).

Some of the initial feedback on the release of the patch seemed to remind people of a police style patch, even so far as to compare it to something from the Judge Dredd comics. Personally, after finishing it, it made me think of Wing Commander for some reason. Also,



disagrees.

[Morgan Shackelford]

Mister T'vaans request simply asked for the IDIC symbol to be included in the patch somewhere; his character is Vulcan (in case the Vulcan style character name didn't give it away).  He flies an odyssey class cruiser.

I decided to use the IDIC symbol as the shape off the overall patch.  The patch itself is very Vulcan in theme; the name of the ship appears in Vulcan script beneath the English spelling.  The inner circle of the patch behind the odyssey shape (where the 'fleet 7' appears) is actually a map of the planet Vulcan's surface.  The background of the patch is just a cracked red stone texture with a red brushed metal inset which is slightly pitted as to appear aged.  The runes along the outer edge and laid over the Vulcan map are simple runes that are not necessarily Vulcan in nature, but they add to the overall ancient and mystic feel of the patch.  The section where the ship name and hull number appear is backed by a muddied piece of sheet music.  It is a nod to the IDIC philosophy; there is an eastern philosophical quote which essentially says something along the lines of 'there are only 7 notes, but their combinations are infinite' - the quote goes on to include the same idea with other sense, such as color (sight) or taste.

[Morgan Shackelford]

The Fleet Admiral asked for an update to his patch similar to the Deputy Commander - he just wanted a small change.  In this case, he wanted to remove the FA rank symbol from the bottom of the patch and replace it with a Fleet 7.

It's actually much more difficult to try and reproduce something than it is to start from scratch; however, these kinds of challenges are what open doors in the software for me.  I was forced, in this instance, to learn a completely new tool in photoshop, which will be incredibly useful in the future.

Historical patch image included below.