quote:However, they were introduced on screen after the Prometheus...
Yes, that's what I meant.
Anyway, I don't think it's logical to base an assumption on future starship design solely on one ship. The Miranda, Oberth, and Excelsior were all developed at about the same time, relatively speaking, and none of them look alike. Same with the First Contact ships. Despite the registries, I'm guessing that the designers (the real ones, not the Starfleet ones) imagined that these were all brand-new designs, created around the same time as well. Yet none of the ships look like each other either.
Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Nim': I loved the Prometheus-class, I just would've wished the four nacelle pylons were jointed so that they could fold into two pairs, like on the closed S-foil X-wing.
Someone should paint the word "fanboy" on a baseball bat. Then beat you severely with it.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by TheWoozle: It SEEMS that higher advanced ships get away from needing to be streamlined, having more functional designs.. like borg cubes, fer'instance.
Although we've seen an opposite trend with Federation starships...
Since the Galaxy we've seen a progress towards more a more 'pointed' trend in the long-axis direction with a flatter side-profile.
I would have liked the oval of the galaxy to be left in it's current orientation but made more 'severe' - pulled out at the sides rather than being turned 90 degrees and stretched, like we see with the Voyager and the Sovereign.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
One trend I might point out might be that the ships seem to be getting smaller while keeping the same degree of functionality. Within the Federation we haven't seen any designs that increase the manpower or volume of the ship above that of the Galaxy class. Personally, I think this corresponds well with a trend in today's navies, where miniturization and automation is reducing crew sizes in the larger ship classes.
I will agree with some of the other commenters that the designs seem "busier" than when Star Trek began. More nooks and crannies, appendages, and knobs every which way. Not terribly unlike designs of aircraft today with all the antennae and sensors protruding from their structure. Of course, there is always a continuing effort from one class of craft to another to integrate these into the hull. And then something else comes along that needs to peek out. So I would say to Andrew we might yet see the upper right hand Nova-class concept on page 178 of the TNG Technical Manual.
-------------------- "Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Tao to survivial or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed."
"...attaining one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 6th century B.C.E.
Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Starfleet ships do tend to be getting smaller, the Nebula class Promethius and Belerophon were both replaced by a new small design and an Intrepid respectively. Likewise these ships don't seem to have families aboard and don't seem suited to flying the flag. The loss of the Yamoto, Odyssey, Farragut and Proxima probably resulted in the loss of over three thousand personel, a crew pool that could have staffed over twenty Intrepids. With the post war federation facing a manpower shortage (Vreenak) starfleet vessals will no doubt get smaller still.
-------------------- The disappearance of Donald Love
Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
Thats' not "replacment" in any sense other than the ship's name was carried by something smaller.
Those classes were not decomissioned.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
They weren't replaced your right as they were destroyed, but rather than fill their space with a larger older design they obviously chose to give the name to newer models, both of which are smaller and more compact than the previous ones. The Bellerophon was probably the best ship they could spare at the time, rather than pull a Galaxy from the front lines, and indeed probably because it had a bar!
-------------------- The disappearance of Donald Love
Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Aban Rune: The Bellerophon lead a Federation delegation to Romulus. Sounds like flying the flag to me.
Sounds like a ship with little use except for non-threatening diplomatic missions.
In wartime, it's wise to build many smaller ships rather than one large battleship- they could probably build three Intrepids in the time (and with far less materials) it takes to build one Nebula.
From a wartime POV, the Intrepid calss Beleraphon may have been given it's high-profile mission to mask the whereabouts of the (still existing) Nebula calss Beleraphon.
They did something like it in WWII after all.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
I thought they chose the Bellerephon because of it's speed. The Intrepid was the fastest Starfleet design we ever knew off canonically, and it would probably have made more sense for a ship carrying VIPs to be able to outrun enemy forces than outfight them.
Either that, or they just wanted to use the sets.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
USIGN SETZ IZ A RAEL_WURLD EXXPLANSHUN!!1!1! WE CANT TALK AbUOT THAT!
I for one was thrilled to see the Intrepid class finally sow up in DS9. It was one of the state-of-the-art ships at the time, being newer and faster than the Galaxy Class. Certainly a good show of Starfleet's overwhelming coolness. Janeway said that the Intrepid Class wasn't classified technology, so this could also have been a way to prevent Romulans from, in any way, getting a scoop on any of Starfleet's powerhouses, like the Sovereign.
posted
I cant belive people actually think it is the writer's intention to give the flagship title to anything but the USS Enterprise
Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, technically any ship with a flag officer on is a flagship. So pretty much any ship could be a flagship.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
I definitely think the Enterprise is still supposed to be the flagship of the fleet. There are certainly other ships more than capable of making a good show when needed. It's not like they ferried the delegation to Romulus in an Oberth or something.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
