posted
Funny that you mention that about carrying more cargo, beacuse the C-141 was stretched to carry more cargo in the 70's. And, the A-10 was designed for battlefield interdiction, and that's what it does today.
But changing the external characteristics of something requires a bit of reasearch and development on its own. Especially in the realm of aerodynamics, which would probably be anologyous to warp dynamics. The ST:TNG Tech Manual talks about the shape of structures and their placement affecting the warp dynamics. I would imagine changing the shape of such a large structure as the warp engine would have many effects that would need to be addressed before they made the changes.
A "for instance" would be the addition of winglets on large aircraft. That apparently simple addition of adding a mini-wing on the tips of the wings requires lots of engineering. The areodynamics of the wing are changed quite dramatically when they are added. And getting them designed right takes a lot of work. That's why they didn't just slap winglets onto all existing planes. I imagine that changing the warp engines shape and size would also require lots of reasearch and the precieved benifits don't outweigh the costs of doing that.
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posted
The nacelles of a starship most likely are designed to the ship itself. Thats why when the Enterprise when she was refitted never retained her orginal nacelles. In fact the nacelle pylons and everything around it was totally different.
Everything is designed around something. Cars are designed around the engines, wheels, and such. Naval ships are designed around their propulsion system which includes their hull shapes and propeller shafts. Planes are design around their jet engines or their propeller engines.
I doubt that Starfleet when it comes down to the normal refits t replace the warp coils that they use newer coils instead. If you think about it, if they have to shape the older coils to fit inside the nacelle then the newer ones can be shaped as well.
We seriously don't know if the Excelsior is as fast or slow as we think. But Geordi did have a sort of a competition against another ship, I forgot what the name of her was but I believe that ship was in fact a Excelsior class. I have to check this though.
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posted
LaForge had a competition going on with the Intrepid. Now, the Encyclopedia says that this is the same Excelsior-class Intrepid that Sergey Rozhenko served on. However, the local theory here is that this is in fact the class ship for the Intrepid class, which makes more sense for LaForge to be in competition with.
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quote:Originally posted by Topher: LaForge had a competition going on with the Intrepid. Now, the Encyclopedia says that this is the same Excelsior-class Intrepid that Sergey Rozhenko served on. However, the local theory here is that this is in fact the class ship for the Intrepid class, which makes more sense for LaForge to be in competition with.
Of course, the Intrepid class wasn't even a twinkle in Berman's eyes when that episode was aired, so this is probably just a bunch of fans who feels that the Excelsior class isn't up to the task of competing with a Galaxy, at least in the engines department.
I mean, just look at the Excelsior! She's got speed written all over her!
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
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posted
quote:Originally posted by David Templar: I mean, just look at the Excelsior! She's got speed written all over her!
So does half the NFL.
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posted
David: Acually, it has more to do w/ the fact that, if the Excelsior-class Intrepid was still around at that point, there's very little time for it to be destroyed/decommissioned, the NX-Intrepid to be launched, tested, and approved, and the Voyager to be built and launched.
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
considering that major ship classes take years of design work, the new Intrepid was probably named and designed for a long time, the prototype built and in use, and then the warp systems swapped out with 'continuum-safe' versions after the Force of Nature problems were revealed
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posted
Yeah, the Excelsior could have been around for Geordi to be contesting it. The NX Intrepid could still be in space dock being built.
Voyager would have been built along side the NX, just as the Galaxy, Yamato, and E-D were. Built around the same time, but finished differently.
As for old nacelles. The shape of a nacelle doesn't matter, IMO. What matters is the refinement of the warp field coils, and the power they get. If you have crappy field coils, but you've got the best power system in the universe--- you're still going to be stuck at Warp 5. If you've got great field coils, but only fusion generators, you're still going to be stuck at around Warp 5. The Excelsior Class Intrepid could have some TNG-era warp field coils, and with some appropriate modification to the warp powerplant, it's possible that an Excelsior Class could have a theoretical or even efficiency competition with the Enterprise, but never a real world speed contest. [The Excelsior Class would probably shake itself apart at such a high warp speed.]
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posted
Oh I forgot... there has to be a delay in the launch of the Intrepid Class as a whole. The NX could be around before "Force of Nature" in trial runs, but after "Force of Nature" it would have been pulled back, work would have stopped on all the other ships [including Voyager], and a "solution for warp pollution" would have been designed.
-------------------- Later, J _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ The Last Person to post in the late Voyager Forum. Bashing both Voyager, Enterprise, and "The Bun" in one glorious post.
posted
Why would they start building more than one of the class before the first one is even done? What if it turns out to be non-spaceworthy?
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posted
That's one of the risks of shipbuilding business. It's economically unviable to wait for results from a prototype in most cases. Your ship may turn out a complete dud, like the British Type 42s, and yet you are committed to producing a dozen ships at the very least - stopping and starting anew would cost extra billions, but having originally only contracted for a prototype and then re-contracted for series production would have cost extra billions as well.
And even a successful prototype doesn't guarantee the ship will be a success. Take the Type 42s again: HMS Bristol was basically the prototype for them, but a minor fault was found in her - she was one heck of a lot too expensive. So the "series production version" was halved in size, but the MoD folks kept telling themselves that this was a tried and true concept now...
With the replacement Type 45, they aren't prototyping at all, because that's too expensive. They do pretty computer art and then order immediate series production, since correcting the design faults after the fact is still less costly than prototyping. (And anyway, the British let the French or the Dutch or the Germans prototype their ships for them, and vice versa, by initially supporting a "joint project" and then withdrawing at the last moment...)
posted
Hey, I'm a Perpetual Member now! And just when I thought I would finally get that tagline fixed!
Perpetual Member, woooowww.... I'll never wash that member again. I mean line. I will never alter that line.
Unless there's another cool upgrade waiting after I re-double my number of posts (does anybody know if the Perpetual Member will be eternally up, or if there's a higher level of existence?).
Or unless somebody else begins to show off his Perpetual Member here.
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
after reading this thread, i designed a Soyuz-class ship that was more 24th century-refit looking, making the nacelles look sovereignish Bozeman
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