posted
I was wondering what the two tubes on the saucer and one underneath the enginnering hull were? I read that they were torpedo launchers? But they look a little big to me for that. I always took them for impulse engines.
Real answer: They were extra bits that Mike Okuda added to the model so that it wouldn't look so similar to the Galaxy class.
Star Trek Universe answer: Who knows.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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And the answers "weapons pods" and "sensor arrays" are the two answers you're going to hear from almost everyone. But since there's no official word or evidence about them at all, there's no real answer. Just opinions.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, perhaps we could speculate on the most probable function for these little add-ons? Perhaps they're swappable equipment pods. One set of pods could be for weapons, one set for sensors, etc. I'm not exactly sure how big they are, so I can't say if they'd be big enough for more shuttle storage or for expanded sickbay facilities or something like that.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Looking at pictures of the miniature, there already appears to be the torpedo tube in the neck so others wouldn't necessarily be needed. Also, the marker things on the top side strikes me as being a risky place to put a torp launcher - too likely of blasting your own saucer IMO.
I also highly doubt that they're any form of additional engine. So maybe they are sensor equipment? I really aren't sure.
It's a shame though, I personally think the ship would've looked better and made more sense without the marker modules.
posted
The launcher in the neck may have been rescaled to oblivion, though - being half the size of its Galaxy counterpart, the muzzle may be too small to let a torpedo through...
Even though we have only seen one type of torp casing prop used in the shows, I see no reason to think that there couldn't be varying sizes of torpedoes in use. In the various tech man pics, the torpedo casing seems to be crammed quite full of equipment, so one could think that size is a bottleneck in creating bigger and badder weapons. So why not install a special large-caliber weapon on some ships?
The caliber of the highlighter pen "muzzle" is impressive enough - one could launch shuttlecraft through it! Presumably, such weapons wouldn't be needed too often, so it makes sense to pod them.
Proximity of the pod to the hull doesn't seem to be a problem, really. The fwd tubes of an Intrepid are in a far more precarious position...
I suspect these pods could be fitted to some other ships of the era, too. Swap the ventral pod of a Springfield for two or four of these babies and you get a nice little battlewagon. Gives a raison d'etre to these ships, too (something specifically built to accommodate the pods and yet be smaller and cheaper than an Excelsior).
Once you've got the hardpoint for a torpedo pod, you can then install other kinds as well. The highlighters don't look much like "sensors", not with the prominent "muzzles", but it wouldn't be difficult to glue a different household object to that position and call it a sensor dome.
posted
Fighter launchers? Probe Launcers? Updates of the Soyuz class 'additions'? Warp field stabilisers? Warp enhancers? Ion pods!?! ;o) Emmiters for opening rifts in to dimensions like Fluidic Space ;o) Exhaust ports? Large-scale tractor emitters? (for pushing/towing)?
Andrew
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
well like a few people have said they could be anything, i'd just say they are multi-purpose equipment pods: which could be swapped out or configured for extra weapons, or science labs or sensors and watnot - like what the Nebula has.
that way we could encompass a wide range of answers - even a bowling ally!
Buzz
-------------------- "Tom is Canadian. He thereby uses advanced humour tecniques, such as 'irony', 'sarcasm', and werid shit'. If you are not qualified in any of these, it will be risky for you to attempt to decipher what he means. Just smile and carry on." - PsyLiam; 16th June
Registered: Aug 2001
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