posted
1) The original design size of DS9, as specified in Sternbach's blueprints, is not 700m -- it's 3600 feet or 1097m. This is also the scale of the model kit. The habitat decks are about 15 feet tall using this number, a bit high though consistent with a cutaway Rick did showing a few human figures (Ryan McReynolds might have it, I've lost my copy). They also correspond to the 15-16 foot deck heights of a 481m long Galor. However, the interior sets and the model don't necessarily match up at this size because RS said he and the others didn't bother ensuring that.
For whatever reason, the Visual Effects Department scaled up the station to 1609m (5280') as early as the pilot, and used this figure until the end. It seems Rick and Mike tried a compromise in "The Making of DS9" by giving a 1350m number, which turns out to be the exact average of these two sizes (I averaged them and got 1353m). I'd go with Rick's design size because it really is a good compromise between the structure and VFX shots.
2) IIRC, the Magazine has a "Designing the.." article about Dukat's freighter explaining how every little trapezoidal box is actually a cargo bay. Knowing the rough size of the cargo bay set, and the fact that the ship has at least five decks according to the dialogue, we might be able to calculate a range for its size.
3) You could explain how you got the 98m number for the Hideki, or say "approx. 98m". This is my reasoning: we know that at least two sources set the Hideki equal in length to the Jem'Hadar attack ship: the DS9TM (70m/68m) and Stipes (152m/152m). We know the Jem'Hadar attack ship must be about 100m long because it's buried 90m into the rock according to the dialogue in "The Ship", while the visible portion is not that big. Hence, the Hideki should be about 100m long as well. The way I got the 98m figure is by setting the Defiant equal to 110m, while adopting Stipes' 152m/171m ratio of sizes.
However, the Stipes numbers obviously showed up onscreen a few times -- I believe some of those fleet shots show the Hideki at about half the size of a Galor, supporting the 152m/366m ratio espoused by Stipes. We've also seen the Jem'Hadar fighter at 152m, though the earliest shots have it at around 100m. In the interest of overall accuracy, these numbers should probably be discarded.
posted
I think they mentioned some facts about that Cardassian OWP in one episode, right before Starfleet hit Chintaka. IIRC, it used plasma torpedoes and a lot of it. Which is somewhat surprising if you consider that up to that point, Cardassian had clearly inferior torpedo technology to everyone else.
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posted
Question, Bernd: Are you going to make larger versions of the small ships in the database that we can link to, such as the Surak class, Klingon ship type from "Unexpected", the Conestoga, etc.?
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Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
The first bajoran ship has been seen in at least two sizes... one the size of a runabout->Maquis Raider - i.e. the cock-pit was for 2-4 people... the second size was where it was big enough to house a proper bridge - the first episode of season 7 - had Kira on a Bajoran bridge.
Also in "Accesion" there was a different type of Bajoran sailing ship.
[ December 05, 2001: Message edited by: AndrewR ]
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Good point about the winged ship being of two distinct interior designs. Then again, most of the interior remains unseen in both variants. We could very easily claim that the ship has *both* bridges. The small cockpit would be for flying the ship, while the larger set would be a place from where Colonel Kira could command a fleet. IIRC, we never saw any windows on the larger set...
But did we really see the interior of this design in "Preemptive Strike"? There were multiple Maquis types there, and we saw two interiors - that of Ro's ship ("Alien shuttle" set reworked) and of a second Maquis ship ("Starfleet shuttle" set heavily reworked, or custom set?). But did we truly get a clear association between the latter set and the winged Bajoran exterior?
Note that we should probably disregard all data from the mirror universe, where this ship also made an appearance. Also note that the Maquis ship most probably had warp drive, while the Bajoran ship may or may not have had one. Despite DS9 TM claims, there's nothing in the episodes to suggest that the Bajoran ships lacked warp capability.
About the Wadi ship... Every time it made an appearance in seemingly Bajoran hands, it was hauling VIP passengers. Why not say it was the same ship every time? Perhaps Wadi vessels are eminently suited for VIP transport, at least in the price range Bajor could afford?
Then again, the Xepolites fly that design, too (although in a vastly larger scale - see "The Maquis"). But fortunately for us, that vessel was filmed from such interesting angles that the similarity is not all that obvious.
The ship that premiered as the rather puny Pakled vessel was seen in Cardassian hands in "The Wounded". There, it was a far larger freighter, perhaps 300-400m long. The model also made an appearance in that size range in DS9, as a Rigelian freighter in "Vortex".
Since the model was a regular "guest ship" throughout TNG, the Cardassians could have purchased it from the wide interstellar market. However, it's IMHO good to note that the triangular shape is VERY remniscent of the other two triangle ships seen in Cardassian hands, and in that same tan coloration. Perhaps the triangular design motif is native to Cardassians?
Bajorans would probably have access to the two triangle-ship types only because the Cardassians left some behind after the occupation, and the Bajoran design style would be closer to the graceful winged interceptors...
As for the cargo holds in the "spiny" freighter being separable pods, they sure didn't look like that from inside in "Return to Grace". I'd love to see a "container ship" fly with an empty container berth or two even once, or with differently colored containers or something... (The DY-100 does seem to lack the top two or three containers, but then again, that ship is never seen with a full set!)
And re: the shuttle/ship in "Profit and Loss". I seem to remember it docked on the ring, not on the pylons. It was the Hideki model, in its first appearance ever, and the scale vs. DS9 suggested there was roughly commensurate with the big military Hidekis that later were seen attacking the station.
One shouldn't forget a reference to a "Cardassian frigate" in VOY (I think "Dreadnought" was the episode, but I'll check). Is that the Hideki, or an unseen type?
There is one unknown Ferengi design - the ship that Bok's son used in order to attack Picard and the Stargazer. It can't have been a D'Kora, since Picard did not recognize the design after "The Last Outpost". I doubt it was one of the shuttles, either - but all we know about it is that the faked logs of Picard mentioned a "subspace antenna cluster" that Picard would have mistaken for a weapons array.
Perhaps this ship was not of Ferengi manufacture, so that possible surviving witnesses could not prove a Ferengi connection after a pirate raid. But it's at least potentially an unseen Ferengi vessel.
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