posted
The Centaur is one confused ship. There are two suggested sizes, each of which has about the same amount of evidence going for it. The saucer, nacelles, and shuttlebay all point to ~380m. The "rollbar," bridge module point to ~210m. The VFX might seem to support this as well. However, since its classification is an Excelsior-class variant, and since that shuttlebay would be waaaay f*cking small at the 210m length, I'd prefer to have it be 380m. That's what's in the DS9TM and wouldn't the windows also indicate a larger rather than smaller ship?
-MMoM
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Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
The windows would probably indicate an Ambassador-sized vessel if taken seriously. Contrary to many later ships, the Excelsiors don't have a deflector grid pattern that corresponds to the internal deck structure - yet the windows on the Centaur are arranged according to the grid pattern, suggesting seven decks above the saucer rim and below the bridge. That means the bridge dome itself is about seven decks high!
I'd rather go with the 200m size range. That "shuttlebay" need not be a size-defining feature, since (as the good bird Peregrinus suggested ages ago, on page 16) it could be a navigational deflector array and thus wouldn't have to be scaled to allow even the tiniest shuttlepod to pass through.
Those 175m Curry and Raging Queen interpretations are interesting, too (although the bridges would be quite small then). Anybody think that these would make good cargo pod tugs - not with the "secondary hull" replaced by a pod, but with the FJ-style pod carried flush against the undercut of the secondary hull?
posted
Interestingly, the Excelsior saucer is six decks between bridge superstructure and rim, which would be able to match the windows on the Centaur were it not for the fact that the grid spacing remains constant, while the slope of the saucer does not. That is, there's a surplus of deck height at the lowest slope deck, and less than half normal for the uppermost.
Add to that the problem of the ventral windows -- that even the ones right down by the navigation dome would be on the floor.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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Registered: Feb 2001
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I like the 380m size for the Centaur. I do not believe the shuttle bay is used as a deflector grid, but as a shuttle bay. Fits the bill as a medium range cruiser. It probably has armament comparable to a standard Excelsior (minus the forward dorsal phaser bank - though depending on the type of shuttle bay used...some Excelsior's had phaser banks on the top of the shuttle bays).
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
BTW.. I just realized why it was completely necessary to label the Yeager as such: the word 'Yeager' is created by rearraging the letters in 'Voyager' without having to print any new decals, just like the registry of 65674 is 74656 backwards.
Also, is it possible that the Centaur, in its 'smaller than a constitution saucer' scaling, has the forward shuttlebay that perhaps only holds two shuttlepods hard docked (I'm thinking like NX-01 here), so its not an actual shuttlebay like we know?
Nemesis, shouldnt your Publicly Displayed Name have spoiler warnings?
[ June 06, 2002, 10:30: Message edited by: CaptainMike ]
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Registered: Sep 2001
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quote:Originally posted by CaptainMike: just like the registry of 65674 is 74656 backwards.
It is?
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Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
It is if you take the hobby knife, cut the "74" from the front of the Voyager decal and put it after the "656". Mind you, if they went so far as to rearrange "Voyager" to read "Yeager", they could have/should have kept the NCC contemporary with the times.
Mark
[ March 22, 2002, 10:39: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
What if that huge "bridge" dome is actually some additional armor that's welded on to the hull to protect the (rather exposed) command center? There are so many other jeebles that are attached almost at random -- why not some protective armor as well?
See, I'd rather believe that the normal Centaur is a standard Excelsior saucer and impulse engine assembly with modified Excelsior-style nacelles attached by a set of pylons that coincidentally look similar to the Miranda-class rollbar. Everything else that we see on the Centaur model is stuff that was retrofitted onto the ship during the war, for whatever reason.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Yeager = 1 Y, 2 E's, 1 A, 1 G, 1 R Voyager = 1 V, 1 O, 1 Y, 1 A, 1 G, 1 E, 1 R
I'm sensing that they used more than one decal. They could have at least done something like 75664 or something. But if they used 2 decal sheets, they could have done 7465674656, so I suppose we're lucky.
Registered: Oct 1999
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I am not sure if I would buy an armored bridge module. Perhaps a raised bridge module, allowing more room for the support equipment for the shuttle bay. If the saucer is the same size as an Excelsior saucer, then the shuttle bay is the sam size as an Excelsior shuttle bay...
posted
I know they used the shuttle bay part from the Excelsior right under the bridge dome on the Cenatur...but I'm not sure we can say it's a shuttlebay. It certainly doesn't seem like a very bright idea to have big, moving, M/AM powered vessels flying staright towards your command center all the time.
"Boy...the Hawking seems like it's coming in a little high... I wonder if they're going to ...AHHHH"
quote:I know they used the shuttle bay part from the Excelsior right under the bridge dome on the Cenatur...but I'm not sure we can say it's a shuttlebay. It certainly doesn't seem like a very bright idea to have big, moving, M/AM powered vessels flying staright towards your command center all the time.
For that crack you will be given command of a Miranda Class w/rollbar and a faulty torpedo targeting system...(thinks a shuttle is bad - try a photorp).
posted
I have returned to 380m for the Centaur. I don't think that the Miranda pod serves as a torpedo launcher but rather as small secondary hull with the deflector. The pylons, now holding the main plasma conduits, would serve a very different purpose too, so I don't think that these components would be taken from the Miranda.
The bridge, with all the copper bits, bears only a slight similarity to that of the Conny. It is a bit large, but doesn't strike me as oversized. Finally, I would really like to have the shuttlebay in front of the bridge.
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
you guys suck. i realize that there are two 'E's in 'Yeager'.. but thanks for bringing it up. But I'm saying that theres a reason that they didnt choose a name that had say a bunch of 'Q's and 'Z's because obviously there arent in 'Voyager'. and i know that 65674 isnt 74656 backwards, but its is a rearranging of the digits (which is easier to do rearranging two digits at a time rather than one digit at a time to yield the exact backwards).
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