I am currently in the process of writing a theory as to why ships look the way they do. Its coming along quite nicely actually. Though its very tempting, I'll refrain from getting into it now since if I start, I won't be able to stop. And this post will end up being War and Peace.
But in one sentence, the reason Federation starships look the way they do is because they are designed - more than any other species - for speed.
If I can get some webspace, I'll put up the detailed stuff that I have so far.
[ August 12, 2001: Message edited by: Stingray ]
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
No doubt this is going to involve subspace mechanics, continuum drag coefficient, forcefields, SIF, IDF and all those other treknical goodies.
Posted by Stingray (Member # 621) on :
To a certain extent, of course. But the goal is to explain such with such terms as to be completely understandable to the turn of the twenty-first century layman. There are not and will not be any technobabalide flux capacitors in this, and where such cannot be avoided, it is simply referred to as 'new technology' or 'advances in warp systems engineering' or some such. The idea is to provide a purpose for the physical appearance and create rules that encompass everything we've seen to this point (except for the Akiraprize, that threw me for a loop).
Speaking of which, I am tenously incorporating Enterprise into this, but not the Akiraprize design itself, for all the reasons debated so heavily already (not to mention that there is no real reason for just changing nacelles from up to down or vice versa on an otherwise exact same design).
But please do not turn this into an Akiraprize debate. Any thoughts are welcome and anybody that would be willing to host a coupla pages of text temporarily I'd be most grateful.
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
What about the DS9TM kitebashed classes? Are you going to consider the subspace geometry of those monsters?
Posted by Stingray (Member # 621) on :
Fuck no.
Only canon.
Posted by Stingray (Member # 621) on :
So I guess nobody is interested in what I'm trying to do. Or would be willing to help a guy out witha a couple pages of plain text webspace?
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I could give you some server space....when it goes back up.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I've got some web space available for your paper... right now.
I was figuring on your help, MinutiaeMan, as your sit seemed the most logical for it.
Thanks again, I'll be sending an email soon.
Posted by Treknophyle (Member # 509) on :
Well, as a technophyle (hence the sig), I look forward to reading it.
Posted by Woodside Kid (Member # 699) on :
I don't know if you've ever seen it, Stingray, but the novel "Federation" goes into why ships look the way they do, to a small degree. On pages 280-281 of the hardcover, Zefram Cochrane takes one look at the Klingon battlecruiser and immediately understands the reason behind its design.
In some ways, I prefer this novel to "First Contact", even though I really like that film.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
I'd love to write a Crisis on Infinite Treks that explains all things canon and noncanon coexisting. Federation is a great book.
My favorite part of it is how Zefram draws the illustration of warp field.. it graph out as the old star trek symbol, with the high-pointed star equaling the speed of light, the lower irregular wave representing normal space and the upper curve over the star represents warp speed
