posted
(Note: in the following fantasy world, First of Two imagines he has full run of the editing department, creative control, and an unlimited budget. You should be so lucky.)
First, I'd hire several of you people. People whose conjectural designs I admire. (This is called 'effective use of resources.')
Now, here's my layout:
At MINIMUM, a ship class should get a 2-page entry, consisting of:
Page 1: I. a Technical schematic. As many views as possible, but must include dorsal, forward, and port/starboard. Naturally, asymetrical ships would require more.
II. A full-color screenshot, or rendered color oblique view. If at all possible, more than one. If a model exists but no detailed screen shot exists (IE: some Wolf 359 ships), preference will be given to existing models (and the model photographed) whenever possible.
In either case, if no model or official design exists, one will have to be created. (That's where the brilliant minds here come in.)
III. Class name. IV. Class ship's dedication quote (or maybe plaque?), manufactured if necessary.
Page 2. I. Technical specifications. The usual. Class construction dates, weaponry, warp capabilities, crew complement, performance, cargo, mission design, etc. II. Full listing of ships in class and their registries. Including but not confined to all canon vessels. III. Brief biographies of vessels (mostly canon) where history is known. IV. Brief ship design history. (I remember being very fond of the old Utopia's Nebula history...)
Anything I missed?
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
And what about the Insanely Overpowered Fanfic Weaponry(TM) section?
Don't tell me that's going on the backburner!
Anyway, you seem to have everything down, but I'd urge caution in the Making Up Stuff category. There would have to be a clear distinction made between what is canon and what is non-canon. Either that, or get Paramount to sanction it, making it canon!
What about a small( )section on such delights as the existence/classification/survival of the U.S.S. Endeavour, Daryus' three BoP's, the U.S.S. Melbourne and the U.S.S. Brittain Spears?
...red rag to a bull...?
------------------ Remember December '59 The howling wind and the driving rain, Remember the gallant men who drowned On the lifeboat, Mona was her name.
[This message has been edited by Gaseous Anomaly (edited May 06, 2000).]
posted
Hmmmmm I though nearly exactly the same when I saw the title to this thread.
I would have full colour as many views as possible - a la the star trek mag with the akira and prommie and equinox so far...
Then an ??oblique?? view - i.e. diagonally on...
Then a 'beauty shot' this has to be either crisp clean pictures like the DS9 with Wormhole and Runabout or the E-D with Planet and Shuttle Craft pictures...
Tech can go light - seeing as filling in to much would make a writer's job tough - i.e. of episodes... so registry name/'job' a little history would be nice.
That would do it - seriously.
OK in the tech something also like Design length of use and also anything that stands out as being different - like Voyager's two warp cores etc.
Oh and the book would be lovely if it was hard cover with glossy pages.
------------------ "Who wouldn't be the one you love Who wouldn't stand inside your love." - Stand Inside Your Love, The Smashing Pumpkins
[This message has been edited by AndrewR (edited May 06, 2000).]
posted
Something like Jane's Recognition Manual with colors would do fine - three-way or five-way pictures of the ships, one or two "beauty shots", and the very barest essentials of the tech: how many phasers of what type (no manufacturer, no exact model, no output power), how many other weapons of what type, how many shuttles (not necessarily even divided into types), how many transporters (not necessarily even mark given)...
Then the short description of why this ship exists, and the design history, and finally an operational history. Instead of full listing, one could simply say "45 ships built" somewhere. An entry "Historical ships of the class" would then list three or four well-known ships (those of the canon ships that actually did something meaningful, plus possibly made-up ships to flesh out the list), which would then be mentioned in the body of the text under "operational history".
Full list of ships with registries is the one thing I would want to avoid at all costs. It's the worst form of straightjacketing the writers. There will always be a story need for something as vague as "A small but heavily armed ship, a bit older than the current hero ship, preferably fast-looking and easily recognizable from a distance; I want to name her after a well-known feminist, and could you make her landing-capable as well?"... Pre-existing ship listings cannot accommodate things of that nature.
posted
First: You and me seem to have pretty much the same thing in mind here. I want glossy pages, I want a four page spread on each ship, I want cutaways of the bridge and other areas like in Trek: The Mag.!! I want to see the dedication plaques.
I agree that there should be plan views from all angles, an MSD, a technical run-down and various high quality CGI or Model shots. Let's see all the models used at Wolf 359. Let's get class names for the Centaur and the Raven.
I don't know if I trust the people making this book to create new ship designs though. If it were fans (as in your premise) fine! But not Pocket Books (or Bantam, I can't remember which). I recall what happened with Last Unicorn Games new book. Blaahhhhh!!
This should be a very high quality book though. Custom plaques and MSDs. This should be a good enough book to be considered cannon.
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
posted
About conifining it to cannon stuff: The problem with this is, I already know all the cannon stuff! I want to have a reason besides pretty pictures and cool design to buy the book. I want to see something I don't know about every ship in the book. Show me the Intrepid and the Nova's dropships. Give me some cutaway detailing of the Akira. You know what I mean? The problem with THAT, though, is as soon as the book gets released, an ep will air that completely contradicts the book...
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
posted
Well, good. Now, the next step is to go make our brilliance known is subtle ways to the people who may actually see it and take ideas to work with them. Think I may have to pay the Trek Book discussion board over on the Simon and Schuster star trek page (www.simonsays.com/startrek), if anybody wants to know, a visit. That's how people convinced them to finally start the Ship book in the first place, you know.
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
That sounds cool. Do TPTB actually visit that board and pay attention to what's being said? That's amazing! If that doesn't work, a few of us go on a midnight raid and...detain the senior editor
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
posted
Yes, they pay attention to it. I just read 10 messages from Chief Editor John Ordover there.. as well as from author Greg Cox and Marco Palmieri (who's editing the coming post-WYLB DS9 Books.)
I left a message myself. You'll know it when you see it.
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
)section on such delights as the existence/classification/survival of the U.S.S. Endeavour, Daryus' three BoP's, the U.S.S. Melbourne and the U.S.S. Brittain Spears?
Printer-friendly view of this topic
