The Defiant is an "escort" ship -- sure, they built her to fight a war, but they haven't admitted it. It's sort of like an "open" secret. Everyone knows what the ship is, Starfleet just isn't confirming it.
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The last reg number for an Excelsior-class starship I have is 62043 (USS Melbourne, lost at Wolf 359).
From my research (briefly mentioned in the "Starfleet and Numbers" forum) I have found that the number 62043 would belong to a starship built in the early 2350's - therefore Jeffkardde is correct (based upon this info), that Starfleet is not producing any more Excelsiors. The same would also apply to the Miranda's, the latest I can find being USS Saratogo - 31911 - placing it's construction in the early 2340's.
Have I got too much time on my hands or what? Hehe!
That works only if you take registries as chronological, and as representing the construction date. Not that I see any reason why not, but there are exceptions, like the Melbourne.
We've had a few good discussions on the Melbourne, and I'll see if I can pull a JeffKardde and dig them up.
The fact that 62043 is such a high number throws the production scale of Excelsiors off. Using fancy doubletalk and excuses to explain away the Melbourne works best.
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[This message has been edited by Ultra Magnus (edited April 19, 2001).]
Excuse me I don't recall the Steamrunner and the Norway class ships acting like target decoys when the Borg came to Sector 001.
And where did you get the number of phasers and torpedos for these ships?
If you think the Akira was closest to a warship, why not the Steamrunner, the Norway and the Saber. All four ships belong to the same bag anyway (designed by Alex Jaeger of ILM) and debuted in the screen at the same time, in the same battle and for the same purpose.
posted
Yeah, the ones with the big red concentric circles have me worried though....
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posted
Didn't Jaeger himself say that he gave the Akira a whole crapload of torpedo tubes, and such?
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posted
These are my predictions as to what roles starfleet is going to use it's ships for.
Warfare: Akira, Defiant, Promethius, Saber Diplomatic: Galaxy, Ambassador, Norway Long range exploration: Intrepid, Sovereign Short Range exploration: Nova, Oberth Police forces: Steamrunner Frighter/tug/personel transport: Excelsiors, Mirandas, New Orleans
Ships like the Cheyenne, Springfield, Nigeria, ect. ect. I think has been long sense been old news. I honestly think that those ships are no longer in sevice. The Oberths, New Orleans, Excelsiors, and Mirandas aren't that far behind either. I honestly think that the Steamrunner would be serving as a Police ship. Someone has to keep the peace within Federation borders.
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posted
Sounds good to me MIB however the Sovereign I think is not built for long range exploration. Yes she's fast but she way too heavily armed to be wasted exploring the galaxy.
In FC you see Steamrunners being blown apart easily wile the Akiras and the Sabres actually hold there own. The fact that you see the Akiras and the Sabres more than you see the Steamrunners and Norways in the DS9.
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posted
If TPTB had decided not to design new ships for FC, and instead used all old designs such as Oberths, Mirandas, and Excelsiors, then I have no doubt that they would have been destroyed just as easily as the newer ships. Same argument goes if they'd used even newer designs such as the Prometheus. It's all about effects, people! They needed ships to be destroyed, so they destroyed them. I really don't think they cared how many of what type of ship bit the dust more or less than any other ship.
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Seeing Steamrunners destroyed does not say anothing. Actually Akiras took it heavily in the Battle of Sector 001 and in the Dominion War. The fair rarity of Steamrunners and Norways may only suggest the ships may still be a bit experimental.
One thing I must mention and don't forget that the Steamrunners, Akiras, Sabres, Norways are all ILM ships, just like the Klingon Bird of Prey. These people like Alex Jaeger do ships for everyone, not the least for Star Wars. Thus the five ships have a fairly odd non-Trek look that seemed more fitting on another fictional universe (e.g. Star Wars) than Star Trek. Do people ever noticed that Trek ships that debuted on TV (e.g. Prometheus, Nova class, New Orleans class) look more correctly and properly "Federation".
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The only ship out of the 4 ships that debuted (except E-E) that you definately see and classify is the Akira class, not only that she is the only one (except E-E) that has a Federation look to it.
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posted
On the ILM ships looking less-Trekkish, sure. Sternbach et al know the "Federation look" or the "Klingon look" etc. like the back of their hands. They, for the most part, "made" that look. So it's only natural that their designs fit in more seamlessly.
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posted
I gather we are talking about Federation ships, that have appeared new in TNG movies, because ships that have appeared new in TOS movies - have been perfect examples of Federation ships.
So we have:
The Lakul The uprated Excelsior the armagosa observatory the akira the sabre the norway the steamrunner the phoenix the captain's yacht - E-E version the new shuttle Data's scout the holodeck ship
I always thought the Lakul was an alien ship the Excelsior looks fine - since it is mostly the Nilo Rodis ship from III the observatory - looks... fine - a generic observatory.
The Akira - radical, but Federation-y. Overboard on the armament? The Sabre - looks to me like the design was pinched from Rick Sternbach's idea for a Vulcan ship as seen in "The Continuing Mission" and "The making of DS9" The Steamrunner and the Norway - well, we really haven't seen much of them, I think the whole 'problem' with the FC ships - is that they are too angular and don't fit - ANYWHERE with what has come before. They are too... alien. Non-trekkian. Where as TNG ship design was based on Gene's idea of "Technology Unchained" where you could trace the design origin between ships - especially the Enterprises.
The Insurrection ships just became woeful. Wierd colouring, trying to be TOO streamlined for Trek ships.
I hope they get someone else for the Effects in this new movie. The Insurrection effects were disgusting. The Bak'u planet was uninspiring. AND the worst part were the 'atmosphere' effects - where the matting of the drones and the shuttles was really - crappy. It looked very fake.
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