Designing the Da Vinci-class (Star Trek Online) 

So the guy who makes professional looking ship videos actually is a professional ship designer. Who’dathunkit?

Henry: "... I've been designing ships for Star Trek Online for the past two years or so, and-" Me, after 2 years: "Aah, now it all makes sense."

Truly awesome work. Really cool to get a sense of the design process and philosophy.

I respect the immediate flex

DUDE! Your making STO content? AWESOME! Edit - and I was the 1,000 thumbs up. Woot. Great work on the ship! Looks great and loving the lore around it.

Well that explains why so many of the designs are so great!

You called it strange for Starfleet, but I say I LOVE it. It's a perfect leave from the typical saucers while maintaining a familiar style Starfleet is known for. It looks much more like a Spaceship now. The nacelles being built into the main Hull, the Hull being a single, solid piece. I hope Eaglemoss makes a replica.

Well, now we know why a lot of the newer ships are looking so great. On a side note, this gorgeous little boat is looking to be my next t6, alongside the t6 Equinox. Great work as always :)

I don't think there is any ship in that game that I wouldn't want to hear the thinking behind. There are a lot of gorgeous ships in that game and plenty that I just don't get. As somebody that has a passion for Starfleet ship design specifically, anything more you can bring to the spotlight from that game would be wonderful.

Design the Enterprise Era Steamrunner. The model was used in a fleet shot.

I think the Da Vinci-class we got looks great, mostly as it has the silhouette of the Sabre-glass, and it looks like it came from the shipwrights as the Odyssey-class, such as the Enterprise F.

I didn't know you did design work for STO. I loved this ship and was thinking when they started the "ships of the line" stuff that I wanted a modernized saber. This makes me love this design that much more. Good job.

I adore this ship design, I don't play STO but if I did it would be pretty solely to get ahold of this thing. It's beautiful!

This is why I love the Saber-Class. I have a lot of respect for the "Tough little ships."

I really love the design, and I can definitely see the relationship to the Sabre class. I also think that it actually looks a lot like a Ferengi Marauder.

Damn, I had no idea you were doing work for STO! I’ve enjoyed a lot of the original ship designs they’ve made over the last decade. Could you give us a list of all the ships you’ve designed in STO? I’m REALLY curious.

EC Henry, Since *Alex Jaeger* created the Sabre-class [along with the Steamrunner, Akira and Norway-class(es)] for _Star Trek: First Contact,_ was he consulted at all for this process? Alternatively, did _you_ get to speak or message with him about the class? EDIT: I originally had John Eaves listed as the ships' creator; my mistake!

It reminds me of a horseshoe crab in shape, but I see the influences of other ships in Star Trek. I like it. Nice job 👍 Edit: ducking autocorrect thinks “horseshoe” means “hermit”

Now this is the kind of content I love, even if I'm not a fan of STO in general. Positive, breaks down design principles both with in-universe design logic and real world reasoning, etc. Also love that you have a logical reason for some light greebling unlike so many designs in fiction which just slap it on without a care. Was not expecting an ersatz cloaking device nor the gatling phaser. I never read the SCE books and I wasn't expecting anyone to tap the gatling pulse phaser concept from the early drafts of Star Trek: First Contact. I do like the gatling implementation here more (1) since it feels like an evolution of the _Defiant's_ breakdown prone pulse phasers (given how often it's implied they had to replace components for it during the Dominion War) or possible a further development of the 'megaphasers' mentioned in the original design documents for the _Reliant_ in Star Trek II. Speaking off, was really getting a _Wrath of Khan_ impression from that animation. (1) Even if I'm not crazy about pulse phasers. Beam phasers are my jam since they look cooler, are portrayed as a far more flexible weapon system, and just are more impressive/powerful in general.

Now this is the sort of starship/spaceship designing that I like. A lesson in how to make a distinctive and visually pleasing design that makes sense at the same time.

Dude, you are a GENIUS! AN ABSOLUTE GENIUS! My God your designs have so much depth it's a joy to behold!

I would like to hear your opion on other sci fy ships like the normandy from mass efect, the many ships of babylon 5, and of course the battlestar galactica

Now I'm curious about which other ships you designed.

Oh, this video gave me such nostalgia for STO... think I'll download again just to see how it goes o.o

You make ships for STO?! That's amazing! Really interesting going over the design phases. The general shape from the ship it's based on, using patterns and curves for depth and contrast to the finer greebles of detail to go along with in-game abilities. Amazing work. Love some of the designs from that game, even some of the stranger/awkward ones (just between you and me, I have a soft spot for the old NPC Jupiter Class Dreadnought)

If future Starfleet is taking its design cues / technology from other sources, that explains how many of the STO designs of late appear to ignore the age-old "nacelle line-of-sight" rule. Fair!

Ok... So.... I love this ship. I loved the Saber Class, I loved the USS Da Vinci and the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, and I Love sleek, streamlined ships. This was all of those combined. I bought this ship the instant I could, and I've been having a massive blast playing it! IT's amazing and so much fun! And now knowing that one my favorite ship designers is the designer of it is just the absolute perfect cherry on top! Excellent work done on this ship, and keep up the good work. STO benefits in *every* way from your designs

As a STO player, I've been wanting a updated saber escort for ages as it's one of my favorites. Now I've finally got one and the fact that you designed it is all the cooler to me. While looking at the model in game, I noticed what appears to be a landing pad for a runabout on the upper hull (you can see it at 3:46). Is that what it's for or is it the entry for the whole shuttle bay?

Really cool to see, this is actually the first ship I’ve bought for STO, and I’ve had loads of fun with it. The fact that you were involved in the design makes it even better

Wait, you’re designing ships for STO? That’s awesome! Now I want to know what other ships you’ve done and if I have any of them. Also, you should tell them to let you make more videos like this. I love getting to hear about your creative process.

wow I never knew. I love to play STO. I hope we see more videos talking about what designs you done in the game or will do. Also are you allowed to share what designs you worked on?

Ayy, legitimately one of the prettiest fed ships that's been put into the game. Glad it was yours ♥

Couldn’t find it anywhere explicitly stated that you designed the Da Vinci, but seeing as the Sabre is my favorite ship I got it ASAP. I hoped you designed it as it’s so good looking. Hopefully my purchase helped support you and your work.

I'm a huge STO addict, I would LOVE to see more videos like this about the ships you've designed!!!

This looks fantastic. I can really see the design philosophy carry through into this ship. Beautiful as always.

This is absolutely GORGEOUS, even if it is in that plucky, underdog way.

It looks great, such a beatiful ship. It makes me almost wanting to hop into STO again, I stopped playing it some years ago but checked it out some months ago just out of curiosity, the Zenn store was dead on PC... looked to me like its dying slowly

She is gorgeous! Glad you’re on the STO team . It means that a lot of the ships in the game are going to get a BADLY needed design or skin remake. Can’t wait!

This is the single most beautiful Horseshoe Crab I've ever seen. Also the single most effective advertisement for ST:O I've ever seen.

I feel like not having the video end with a warp animation is a missed opportunity, but always LOVE to hear and see a designer discuss their process. Great work.

Cryptic Studios has sponsored this video so you can just talk about your newest design. Kudo, Cryptic Studios.

I just see an assault horseshoe crab and i adore it.

I absolutely love the fact that the newest Star Trek Online Starfleet Ship was designed by one of my favorite Trek RU-vidrs! This is the victory lap video for your achievement good sir, and to you I say congratulations! LLAP

When I first looked at the design I thought that it would make sense by the 25th century for Starfleet to take in elements from other species to enhance their new ships. Good work! It's definitely different than your standard 24th century designs with the bulkier, yet more organic shapes, but I think it can definitely integrate into the next century of Trek lore.

I had no idea that you work on STO, and I find that really cool. The game is dated (the ground combat is in such desperate need of an overhaul that will never come) but the space combat is still fun. And honestly? STO's timeline is superior to having Picard or Discovery being the future, STO's storyline is fun and it feels like Star Trek. That being said, I would personally, as a ship designer myself, change some things on this model. I find the Saber class to be just unforgivingly ugly so while not a total departure, my design changes would definitely distance it from it being a direct successor to the Saber. I will just never be a fan of the 'gaptooth' portion there on the front of the ship, so I'd just complete the saucer entirely. I'd also reduce the overall width of the saucer by about a quarter and get rid of the sections that connect the nacelles to the saucer itself, essentially shrinking it to the size of the saucer we see in the underside shots of the central hull. I'd move the nacelles to the rear, beef the stern up just a little bit and make it just a tiny bit longer and then mount the nacelles there, maybe even with some variable geometry action. I'd tuck the lower hull and deflector section a bit closer to the saucer as well. It's just a little too 'beer belly' for me as it. Not much, but a little nip/tuck would work fine to fit my personal aesthetics. The upper hull design used in the thumbnail is overall a better saucer. But yes, as one ship designer to another, those are my thoughts.

Hi, just wondering, when do you think you will release the next mystery ships video? I really enjoy your designs and lore :)

Definitely the most unique Star Fleet vessel I've seen thus far. I really like the Gatlin emitter as well.

as a long running player of STO ive chit chatted on socials and streams with Ian and Thomas and Nick over the years playing the game talking about how great there designs are and i have to say your design is great ive always been a saber fan and this ship really is a great looking successor to the line of ships . and thank you for being apart of the STO team

This is awesome to see your ship designs and you talking about the ships, the game is still fun and seeing you talk about your ships but for the game I play is just amazing to see and to play with your ship, once I can get it will be the coolest. Keep up the good work.

man i wish you would do your own redesigns of discoveries 32nd century fleet. i would love to see someone who actually understands star trek aesthetics make a far future starfleet

God, I loved your explanation of how you designed it, and the way you took the original design and its underlying aesthetic details into account to give the new ship a very strong sense of legacy that isn't just communicated via text/lore dumps, etc.

Now that I know you design some of the ships for STO, I wanna play even more!

I get major horseshoe crab vibes from this design, too. Wonderful work all around.

Love the design. It's a really great update and it's great to hear about the process you took. I hope you can do more videos like this in future.

Brilliant breakdown video. You communicate very well, especially the way you overlay those basic shapes on top of your final design. It helps others who want to do the same to emulate your thought process.

The Saber class was always a favourite of mine. And see you create this new class that follows the same over design template is amazing. This is definitely one of my new favourite ships. Keep up the amazing work with STO!

Wait... So you were the one who made the beautiful M'Chla Refit that actually fits in continuity? Excellent. Purely excellent.

Now that is a fantastic ship! I remember the Sabre being one of my favourite designs in STO. It was also very interesting to hear your thoughts on how you approached the design. This is so informative for anyone trying to walk the same path. Thank you!

I love the Da Vinci class, very sleek and gorgeous design. Define one of the best looking ships in the game

I really love this ship design. I've always loved the Saber-class, so seeing a 25th C. version is the bee's knees. Keep up the great work.

I love all your Star Wars stuff. As an STO player, I had no idea you were working on their designs, but it makes sense because they've really come out with some great looking ships of late. Masterfully done, as usual!

This is such a great design a real evolution. I love designing Trek ships and lore for them.

I just discovered you and play STO everyday! It was really fun to learn about what you do and how you do it in game. I really enjoy that ship. Thank you!

This is awesome. I'm glad that STO is sponsoring you and duly impressed that you work on designs for them. Wow!

She looks amazing - easily one of my favorite new STO designs!

Awesome design! Definitely one of the better Star Trek ship designs I've seen. I really appreciated your comments on how you came up with it

WHAT???? Dude that's awesome! I've been watching your videos since before I started playing STO. I never would have guessed that despite your obvious talent.

I’d love to see this guys takes on some of the Star Citizen ships. They haven’t gotten anything as big as the STO ships in terms of scale, but they have full interiors and multi crew stations

Oh man do I love this ship. Someone posted it on Twitter and now it's my desktop background. It makes me really want to get back into STO! Excellent job. This ship is a thing of beauty.

loved every ship design you have made, the Legendary NX skin has a special place in my heart, love that ship to the Neptune and back! keep up the good work, the Da Vinci class is an awesome design XD

As someone reading my way through the Star Trek SCE novels, this was a such a nice suprise as a lapsed STO player. Lovely looking ship!

Once again you did a fantastic job @ECHenry, and seeing the design process at work was facinating. But as a native Floridian and sci-fi nerd... I am left with a single take away. "In space, everything is become crab." Thanks for another great video and another beautiful ship!

Fascinating to hear your in-depth design process

I’d love to see more videos exploring the behind-the-scenes thought process behind designing your ships! 🤩

Thank you! This is the type of cross-promo content, and educational information, I like to get from my games. Hearing your explanations add to the concept and design of the ship, and how it fits into STO and Star Trek overall. As opposed to some of the other ships coming into the game, which I am really struggling to not mention here, your explanations on the concept and design make a good deal of sense, and are appreciated.

This is a well-earned flex, good sir. You're producing some truly beautiful ship designs, the likes of which Modern Aplha Canon Trek is struggling to keep up with. It's clear to me how much passion and dedication you put into your work through this masterpiece of a ship and all the others you're credited for, and like the namesake, is true artistic genius on display. It all goes hand-in-hand into making it all fit seamlessly into the 25c. Trek Universe we've come to love with STO, and to know that you're part of that makes it even more enjoyable for me. Keep up the excellent work. You've put a lot of smiles on many Trekkies faces today 😊👍

This and the steamrunner are my favorite ship designs i have seen so far! Great work!

I love your care and respect for the ships and lore of the settings. I immediately latched onto that Mchla refit design you did and loved it for my newer raider type char in STO with the Klingon recruit event. It held the funky shape of the original, but actually looked and felt like a klingon design.

Man... it is extremly cool what you did with this ship design. Thank you to talks about it. I realy like this design.

I just got this ship in the two pack with the Equinox class. The Da Vinci is beautiful. The Appalachia class is awesome too.

Really interesting to get a little peek into how you design ships, keep up the great work

Beautiful work, this video was a pleasant surprise and i love the insight!

Amazing design, splendid commentary. Loved it, thanks.

This is a very well done design! It's clearly had a lot of thought put into it, and it shows. Looks good, and looks *right*. Kudos!

You do really great work! I'm definitely looking forward to buying your creations and adding them to my Federation/Starfleet collection. Here's hoping you'll keep making really cool Federation Starships!

I had no idea, that’s why those designs are so great!

I had no idea you were designing ships for STO. Mad respect, man. Some of the ships in that game are gorgeous.

Great work! Thanks for sharing your design process!

This is awesome, and explains so many of your videos. I hope this keeps up

Glad to hear some more about the design process behind some of these designs and seeing more details about them. STO has been a fun game and many designs have been interesting with a few down points being the lockboxes, events that take half a month to complete, and a fair amount of the newer ships locked behind paywalls. Yet, again, gameplay and storyline can make it worthwhile.

I'm absolutely loving this design. Great work man!

Your ship designs are fantastic! Love how you integrated the impulse engines into the saucer area.

I love your ship designs! When i hear you work on a ship it’s a day one buy for me and get floored by your work

EC, First, glad to see a new video from you after so long. Second, the DaVinci is GORGEOUS. It has a cool stingray look, which is appropriate for its function. Like a stingray, the DaVinci can hide unnoticed until it launches a stunning attack. Brilliant work.

This ship looks fantastic. You really do have an amazing talent for sci-fi ship design.

Wow, I knew the Da Vinci wasn't your first design for STO, but I had no idea just how many ships you've created for the game. I love what you've come up with and seeing the thought process does make it more appreciable. Very well done!

Beautiful work Captain. Thank you for your hard work.

1. EC Henry videos always make my day! 2. F*****ing cool design! Just amazing! 3. Finally someone recognized your design talent and hired you! I really hope this is a stepping stone to studio work b/c you deserve it! I'd kill to have you as art director in a Star Trek or Star Wars series/movie. Can't wait for that to happen!

Oh my god, so thats why the ships have been looking so awesome these past few years, thank you for the amazing work!!!!!

Thank you for sharing your design process! Another great result! Looks like a beautiful and deadly Horseshoe Crab!