Uniform Updates for the Star Army of Yamatai

[Wes]

Re: Star Army Belts and Boots

The slanted belt on female uniforms becomes a trend due to the reference page, and appears in commissions...

Note the belt buckle is not gold in this one.


This one has the belt buckle colored gold by me:




This continues as Zairyo makes his take on it:

 

[Wes]

Re: Star Army Belts and Boots

Things continue to get more varied as more artists make their own takes on it.


These next four art from the same artist. Note the various belt colors and silver buckles and the various designs:

 

[Wes]

Finally here's some from this year, note the same up/down belt issue exists:







Bonus content: Tools!

 

[Aendri]

Re: Star Army Belts

I think that could be easily justified by saying the loop is actually an additional piece, rather then a built in one. That way it could be purely personal preference in terms of how you wear it, and we could even list a specific manner it has to be worn for formal occasions to simplify that part of things. Personally, I think it's a small enough quirk that it's more of a passing note then anything that really needs clarification.

 

[Wes]

Star Army Boots and Footwear

In this thread, we look at some of the various boots found on Star Army of Yamatai characters over the years. White boots have often shown up despite never being in the regulations (standard issue was always gray until YE 35).

Classic gray on a male (Type 22 Duty uniform)



Classic gray on a female bodysuit:




White boots (male) from the classic era (Type 22 Duty Uniform) by Zairyo:



Female boots on a dress uniform:



Thigh-high white boots from the old formal white uniform, but also seen used on Katsuko, Misaki, and other command nekos.



Later Zairyo style (YE 30 or later) with detailed soles. Note the dark color.



Male boots, white again. Type 30 uniform.

 

[Wes]

Re: Star Army Boots

More variety of boots from the YE 30-YE 34 era:









Hanako's techno-thigh highs (these are done by Lexxy by the original design was in the Type 30A uniform design by Saejin Oh).



Rare sneakers, possibly a variant of the Saejin-oh technoboots



And here's the heels for the current duty uniform, which were introduced in YE 32 with the black coat and the flat hat:

 

[Wes]

Re: Star Army Belts

I think that could be easily justified by saying the loop is actually an additional piece, rather then a built in one. That way it could be purely personal preference in terms of how you wear it, and we could even list a specific manner it has to be worn for formal occasions to simplify that part of things. Personally, I think it's a small enough quirk that it's more of a passing note then anything that really needs clarification.

Well, it's a military so there's the desire to have a common standard; although, uniforms of this area, the boot, belt, and glove colors were allowed a variety of colors: blue-gray, gray, dark gray, black, brown, or white. The issue was finally put to rest (hopefully) by adopting the duty uniform type 35 and having a standard look and color to the belts.

On the Type 35 belt, it always goes straight across the wearer and the belt buckle horizontal and the secondary strap on female uniforms (only) coming out of the belt on the bottom (always) just to the side of the belt buckle and with the holster attached to both the belt and the strap.

 

[Wes]

After reading this Washington Post article on the asinine way that the US Military has bumbled its way into having 10 different camouflage uniforms, and also having experienced some of this from the inside while I was enlisted, I've been doing some thing and want to comment on the Star Army of Yamatai's uniforms.

Over the years the Star Army has had three major uniform phases, with notable updates in between:

1. The original YE 22 uniforms (bodysuit and dress, male (duty) uniform.

• 1A. As above, but with the color panel changes (removed purple, orange, pink, add gray). YE 26ish.

2. YE 30 "modernization" updates - working uniform, 30A and 30B (mainly spawned by Artist concepts from Zairyo and Saejin Oh take on things). EPJs appear.

• 2A. YE 32 Coat and hat added (at the start of this thread) to duty uniform accessories but actual duty uniform is not changed

3. Current Era (YE 35): Duty uniform updated to look more professional, closer to the original.

In additional to the main series of uniforms, a bunch of secondary uniforms have showed up, such as the engineering jumpsuit, exercise uniform, flight suit, AMES suit, and field uniform.

I have attempted to wrangle the number of uniforms, and I still think there's room to go, cutting out uniforms like the phase 2 variants (jumpsuit, Type 30 bodysuit), the dress whites, and the original bodysuit (though it's a classic and managed to come back in YE 34 despite being replaced by the working uniform in YE 30).

So what is next? Well, for one, I want to continue cutting down the number of uniforms. I think we can merge the flight suit and EPJs and space suit into a single space suit that can also be used for ground battles. We may even be able to use the base jumpsuit of this setup as the working uniform or even take our existing working uniform and make a spacesuit upgrade to it.

I want to ditch the field uniform. Nekovalkyrja can use stealth and we could built stealth into the suit. Personal shields too, even. I mean, if we're in combat we also have power armor we should probably be using anyway. Camouflage is a pain for artists (and this uniform barely appears in art at all and never with a consistent look) and it makes the faction look more modern than futuristic. It's more important to look like Yamatai, the empire of metahumans, synthetic warrior space elves and alien badasses.

Some general thoughts:

Duty uniforms: The new ranks are a bit generic and I'm looking for an update to them at some point. This will probably be something lke replacing the rank bars with a patch that has the rank bars on it along with an emblem above them, like an Eagle or Shield or something. It's hard to find an animal or object to represent Yamatai, though. I'm also considering increasing the number of stripes for admirals (Which would make them more like modern ones). That's about it, though. I want to use the design for a long time. Art with females wearing pants is needed.

Duty uniform hats: I need to make a decision on this beret thing. I'm leaning towards just scrapping the beret in favor of the common hat. I'm considering a white hat with a brim (eg: combination cap) for command officers (white panels) and a hat of the same design, but with duty uniform blue, for other officers. Your feedback is wanted. If the beret is used I'll need art for it.

Exercise uniform: I'm still considering tracksuit design suggestions, but I think I might put this on the back burner for a while.

Working uniform: Need to get an image of this with the baseball cap shown in use.

 

[ShotJon]

Body suit needs to stay. That is a thing I want to say first.

As for field uniform I think it should stay too. It may not be used much in RP, but there are good reasons for that. After all they are not uniforms for attack or for navy personall. It is more of a uniform, people in bases that are near enemy threat would wear, and non-powered protection details as well. Not to mention it looks really good.

 

[Amaryllis]

I too would like the bodysuits to remain. My character has worn one since I first came to the site and made it.

I don't really think there's any need to change the rank insignia. It doesn't have to be exciting.

 

[Aendri]

I've always been a big fan of the Type 30 variants. I know most of my Yamataian characters wear one of them, and I'd be remarkably sad to see them go.

The old bodysuits were never my thing, but they DO have a major part in Yamataian history, and lots of people liked them, and didn't want to see them go in the first place. They're rather iconic, even if they're not my thing.

 

[Fred]

I had ideas for a duty uniform, new rank insignia and an all-in-one power suit... but I kind of dropped them when you came out with the Type 35.

If I come out with a new duty uniform /w rank pin, it'd be for YE 36 (Type 36) - since I want to avoid confusion with the Type 35 nomenclature-wise.

I figure the ideal power suit could kind of default with EVA-functions, strength-enhancing capabilities and some baseline protection. From there, I could see it branch out towards stealth-coating or armor plating. The armor plating additions would no doubt end up having a similar visual presence as the MACO armor in STO or the hardsuits in Mass Effect have.

Such a power suit would not end up fitting inside some of the power armor designs we have out presently like the Daisy and the Mindy. In fact, if the power suit in question comes to mainstream use it might obsolete the M2 and M6. Any future power armor would need to have the room to house the power suit inside it and that means significantly greater girth and the complication of accommodating a non-power suited user (that was a major design roadblock for me). Also, power armor sizes would go beyond the Bubblegum Crisis Knight Saber-style hardsuit and increase in girth to Motorslave or AD Police K-Suit size.

Because of the above caveats, I'm skeptical that Yamatai should go in that direction. If it does, it causes some major changes possibly unseating the LAMIA armors from current use. Considering the symbol used on the Hinomaru I previously thought Yamatai was simply not ready for such a transition and that stylewise it wouldn't be welcome.

 

[Wes]

Old uniforms have been merged into a single page to prevent wiki clutter.

If your character still has one of these for historical reasons, you will need to update the backlinks on your inventory.

 

[Wes]

Changes for YE 36 (2014):

Discontinued:

- Engineering Protective Jumpsuit (use AMES).
- Field Uniform (Seemingly impossible to draw consistently; unnecessary due to power armor)
- Ceremonial sash (no longer needed since medals can go on the Type 35 duty uniform)
- Forest green beret for Legion troops (we never did get art for it).

Bodysuits will continue to be authorized for Nekovalkyrja.

Under investigation:

- A futuristic update to the old bodysuit (spaceworthy?).
- Cold weather parts for exercise uniform (track suit)

 

[BionicSamurai]

A quick thought that came up from reading the recent post. Tear-away pants for the exercise uniform.

 

[Nashoba]

I'm actually a fan of the EPJ. It is more compact than an AMES and being used by the Engineers on ship gives them the protection they need without clunking around in the ames.

 

[Yoshi]

Why replace a engineers jumpsuit with a spacesuit, one doesn't equal the other. it's like saying a swim team should exchange their speedos and swim trunks for a wet suit.

Plus I really do like that suit, it gave a bit of verity to the crew, now all the crew gets to ware is there normal uniform or a AMES. It's a shame we keep getting rid of all the older uniforms, and filing down to just a few choices.

 

[BionicSamurai]

Don't we still have the working uniform?

 

[Wes]

Don't we still have the working uniform?

Yes.

 

[Nashoba]

EPJ has features that the Working Uniform doesn't