This is an idea I've been knocking around doing, ever since I heard the explanation for Trek registry numbers, the one that says that there were 16 classes of ships built by Starfleet before the Constitution Class. That seemed fertile ground for fun, and I realize it's ground that many others have tread before me.
But, any way, here it is.
THE FLAGSHIP - FEDERATION
After the UFP foundation in 2163, the new polity needed some way to visibly project their identity as a collective to others in their shared field of influence. Thus the idea of the Flagship was born. The Flagship was conceived as a unifying symbol of the UFP as a whole and none of its contingent races were to be predominant in its appearance. The design asthetics of its major ship-builders were all melded into one design - the Andorians, Humans, Tellarites, and Vulcans all contributed intellect and inspiration and pulled resources together to create the Flagship.
The Flagship very clearly displays its component influences. The impulse drive unit was designed by Andorian engineers, while the warp nacelles and internal warp systems were the work of Human engineers. The primary hull, a melding of Vulcan and Andorian styles, came to symbolize the reconciliation of the longest-running rivalry among the founding members. The secondary hull demonstrates long-held thoughts about warp field dispersal among the Vulcans. The Tellarite influence is seen right up front, in the Flagship's navigational deflector array.
From its dedication in 2165, until its decommisioning in 2185, the Flagship functioned in little more than ceremonial capacity, partly because of inefficiencies introduced in its ecumenical approach. While rated at Warp 7, the Flagship rarely travelled faster than Warp 5, because of incompatibilities between the differently-designed subsystems. These would take decades to work out, and none of it ever came soon enough to prevent the Flagship named Federation from the UFP Museum.
The four classes of ships that made up the first fleet were chosen after long analyses of current ship numbers, usage, both commercial, scientific, and military among the component members. It was determined that 4 distinct classes of ships would be most practical to complement the already-existing fleets of the member worlds. These were the Cruiser, Corvette, Surveyor, and Tanker/Transport.
Much redundancy was discovered in the production, refinement and distribution of deuterium and antimatter. As 76% of existing exploratory and military vessels used matter-antimatter reactions to generate power (and all of the new designs would), it was determined that a unified system would be the more reasonable way to produce, distribute and keep track of all shipments. Only UFP-sanctioned tankers would be allowed to transport volatile antimatter. There were precious few that passed the requirements of the new government. Hence, the tanker/transport. It was introduced in 2169, and its functions were largely automated, crewed by 28 persons.
The corvette, commissioned in 2169, was a logical next step, to provide the bulky ungainly transports with adequate protection from marauders and bandits. It was served by 40.
To cut development time, the basic spaceframe of the corvette was used for the surveyor, with the changes of smaller impulse decks, lower-class of weaponry, and the addition of powerful mapping and other types of instruments. It was crewed by 28, with a supplementary scientific team of 16. It began service in 2171.
The cruiser was the pride of the line, serving as frontline exploratory and military vessel. With a maximum speed of Warp 7, the cruiser was ideally-suited for expanding the frontiers of the UFP. With a crew of 229, the cruiser was designed as a refinement of the ideas introduced into the Flagship, adapted to a spaceframe that could perform in a long-term active, flexible capacity. It was designed to function for terms of 2 years and longer outside of direct contact with Starfleet HQ. The first cruiser - Daedalus - left spacedock in 2174.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I like what you've done with the Daedalus but I think you're gonna have to be a bit more varied in your nacelle designs. As in, having more than one.
Posted by Irishman (Member # 1188) on :
I'm not sure that variation in nacelle designs would happen in a decade, especially given that these are their first efforts.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I think what Lee is trying to say is that there's no variation, even between the two sizes of nacelles. Consider that even the Intrepid had very similar nacelles to the NX-01, but was also quite distinct. Perhaps what you could do is create a variation, and have one type for the big ships (flagship, cruiser, and transport), and then a different, smaller type for the corvette and surveyor.
Other than that, though, I really like your designs and the reasoning for them. Though I don't agree with the overly-strict assignment of registry numbers. Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
I like your version of the Daedalus. Still I would have given at least the Daedalus more distinctive nacelles.
Posted by Irishman (Member # 1188) on :
Well, thanks Bernd, but I'm not about to slap that "pressure banding" or "strength banding" or whatever Greg Jein calls this feature on his Daedalus
I was trying to move away from the soda can look of Jein's Daedalus, while incorporating design asthetics from Enterprise. It was fun. There will be much more coming. Remember, this is only the first of four fleets.
Just trying to incorporate a dymamism and sense of motion to these designs. They do tend to lean forward or back in pose. I suppose that was unintentional in retrospect.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Quite yummy. May we see larger versions, please? Especially of the Tanker and the Surveyor.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
I especially like the tanker, too. And the flagship definitely looks like something designed by committee. Although the text doesn't specify, I assume the others are not collaborative designs, but designed solely by Earth?
My only criticism at this point is they look too small, especially the tanker/freighter. The ones on ENT nearly dwarfed Enterprise.
B.J.
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
Me likey! Sort of a reverse-Starfleet Museum extrapolating ENT-era designs instead of TOS-era designs (no offense, Masao, your stuff's awesome too!)
Are you going to make top views?
Posted by Irishman (Member # 1188) on :
Thanks so much for the good words and observations guys. Everything you say is so welcome. I can only see so much with 2 eyes.
I am going to have 3 more generations of ships before going back and making 5 views of the ones you see here. I think (at least I hope) that you'll enjoy the variation.
Also, I will be taking your observations into account when I do those 5 views, and will make a revised fleet chart taking them all into account when I do it.
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