I can see a more consistent red being used for the collectors. The current texture matches the Sovereign collectors, which emphasize their gaseous nature, but after spending some time looking at other ships (the new images of the Vesta in particular), I'm definitely leaning toward something more similar to the other ships. I will not change the plasma vents to a grill design, but I will experiment with a change in color once I get this into Photoshop. My plan there is to go with more of a turquoise color.
I've also adjusted the color scheme to be darker. The eggshell blue is now blending with the base gray more, and the dark gray accent is much darker. A few minor alterations to the escape pods were also made. The cut-out where the deflector is located is meant to be completely smooth and without additional design or panels. It will have a different level on the specular map so that it appears shinier.
Finally, I'm going to decrease the opacity of the current paneling and add a completely new layer of larger, individually designed panels that fall more in line with the Sovereign and particularly the Vesta. I just haven't been able to shake the feeling that the ship looked incomplete. Some of that is due to it's current lack of hardware details (like sensor panels), but I think the paneling is the biggest issue for me personally.
The light map is mostly finished. Hopefully I can get these changes made this week and get the textures completed. After that, Starforce offered to convert the model to Bridge Commander so that I can get started on a re-imagined Prometheus class (which maintains MVAM but only in two parts and only with two nacelles).
