posted
Why is it do you think, that we see so many Excelsior ships compared to Ambassador class ships? If the Ambassador was the next step in ship design, shouldn't we have seen more of them on the front line during the Dominon War? We see alot of Excelsior ships, but I personally have only seen the Ent-C in any Trek Episode....then again, I could have missed one
the RL reason could be because the Excelsior model is more avaliable or maybe someone at Paramount has an obsession with the Excelsior ships(I personally think the design is way cooler than the Ambassador)
However, I wonder what the ST reason is. Just a thought
posted
I believe the RL reason also includes a destroyed Amb. class model. Also, the Exc. design is more famous because of the movies, and the mentioning of the 'great Excelsior project' in one or more TOS episodes.
I don't really know the Star Trek reason. I too thought that the Amb. was made to replace the Exc.
BTW: (from the Star Trek Archive)
Ambassador Class (TNG Technical Manual)
USS Adelphi
NCC-26849 Captain Darson ST Encyclopedia, TNG "Tin Man"
USS Ambassador
NX-10521 TNG Technical Manual (Not explicitly named in this reference)
USS Enterprise
NCC-1701-C (classified as cruiser in alternate timeline) Captain Rachel Garrett Lieutenant Richard Castillo Destroyed in battle over Narendra III ST Encyclopedia, TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise"
USS Excalibur
NCC-26517 ST Encyclopedia, TNG "Redemption II" Commander William T. Riker (temporary) ST Encyclopedia Borg encounter; possibly destroyed VOY "Survival Instinct"
USS Exeter
Alternate reality ship ST Encyclopedia 2, VOY "Non Sequitur" NCC-26531 ST Encyclopedia 2 (part of the 9th Fleet stationed at Deep Space Nine) DS9 "You Are Cordially Invited"
USS Gandhi
NCC-26632 ST Encyclopedia, TNG "Second Chances"
USS Horatio
NCC-10532 ST Encyclopedia Captain Walker Keel Destroyed by possible saboteurs; debris found in Sector 63 TNG "Conspiracy"
USS Valdemar
NCC-26198 Omnipedia, DS9 "Tribunal"
USS Yamaguchi
NCC-26510 DS9 "Emissary"
USS Zhukov
NCC-62136 (registry is an error in labelling the model) NCC-26136 ST Encyclopedia, TNG "Data's Day" Captain Gleason TNG "Hollow Pursuits"
------------------ Presenting the NX-59650. It can slice! It can dice! It can seperate into THREE parts!! Now available with THREE FULL warpcores! But wait! Buy now, and get a free number upgrade to NX-74913!
posted
The last known appearance of the Ambassador Class starship was in DS9. The last time I saw it was in the DS9 episode "Emissary."
------------------ "All you people, can't you see, can't you see How your love's affecting our reality Everytime we're down You can make it right And that makes you larger than life"
posted
I have a completely non-canon explanation: The Excelsior (and its derivitives, such as the Ent-B) was very heavily overdesigned because it was initially supposed to use the Transwarp drive which (I hypothesize) would have caused much greater hull stress than a standard warp drive. (Whew! Long sentence, I know. Trust me, I do talk that way!)
Anyhow, the Excelsior class ships were satisfactory (and perhaps well-liked due to their durability) but the Ambassador was designed to get a better cost/benefit ratio from the resources committed to each ship. The Ambassadors, however, wore out at the same rate as "normal" ships, while the Excelsior class hulls just soldiered along, requiring refits to remain current, but little in the way of hull maintenance.
As the Ambassador class ships reached their "high hull time" the Galaxy class was being introduced. A cost/benefit analysis showed it was more economical to retire the older Ambassadors when they reached the end of their service life than to refurbish them for a different mission. As front-line ships they had been subjected to hard service and the ones which weren't destroyed in the line of duty were definitely showing their age. Restoring one to "like new" condition would have required rebuilding it almost from scratch.
If there is a wide spread of Excelsior class hull registries, this might be due to some Ex-class ships being retired, with the hulls gutted for resources and put into mothballs. Later, the empty hull may have been pulled from storage, refurbished, and recommissioned as a new ship.
Of course, all the above is wild speculation, definitely non-canon, and probably wrong, but I like the idea.
posted
Regarding the real-life reason, I believe the story goes that someone dropped the model and a nacelle broke, and the model is now sitting in some exec's office, or something like that...
------------------ "Agh! Save me from the wee turtles!" -Groundskeeper Willy, The Simpsons
posted
Indeed, I heard one of the Ambassador nacelles broke, too. They could have built a CGI model but they obviously can't be bothered. Can't say I really care, though.
It strikes me that the Excelsior-class is the most common in the fleet. (Just a pointless observation)
------------------ "Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, Tears of the Prophets) Dax's Ships of STAR TREK
posted
Didn't the unuseable model have something to do with an earthquake?
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
posted
heh, just as well. I personally think the Excelsior is way cooler than the Ambassador(If coolness has anything to do with starships The design, IMO looks more modern than the Ambassdor class too.
posted
And yet, eventually, the Excelsior Class starships must be retired. What then, we see a fleet of Galaxy Class starships? There must be a balance of ships out there. The Excelsior Class, and Miranda Class should be phased out of the fleet gradually though.
------------------ "Women feel the emotions of happiness, hatred, anger, helplessness, and desire.
Men on the other hand feel the guy version, Horny."
posted
What is the excelsior's role in the fleet? More specifically, before the war started. I could see the Soverign class replacing it, but that would have been a huge gap between the replacements. I think the Miranda classes are being replaced by Nebula class, correct? Just a guy trying to get caught up on some stuff...
posted
It will take time for the Sovs to replace the Excels. It must take good time and effort to build a Sov. There are plenty of relatively recent Excels running around (4xxxx regos), so there's no rush.
I don't think the Nebula-class is suitable to replace the Mirandas. The Nebs are, if anything, alot bigger than the Mirandas. 3 times the crew complement. On the other hand, the Sov is only slightly bigger than the Excel (in terms of crew). The Steamrunner-class would make a nice Miranda replacement.
------------------ "Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, Tears of the Prophets) Dax's Ships of STAR TREK
posted
One might also note that the Ambassadors are way bigger than the Excelsiors. Obviously, the former did not replace the latter. So perhaps this is because the two filled a completely different niche? The Excelsiors would be fleet workhorses, the Ambassadors the handful of "elite" ships, and both were being built concurrently. If Starfleet suddenly needed a hundred more ships, it would pick Excelsior instead of Ambassador because the former would have all the necessary goods and not the expensive extras. And it certainly wouldn't begin to design all-new ship types to fill the gap.
Once this kind of logic is applied in a war or two, Starfleet will have large numbers of Excelsiors (or later Akiras) in its hands, while the number of Ambassadors (Nebulas/Galaxies) hasn't grown a bit. So when the time comes for peacetime downscaling, more modern construction projects are put to halt and the 'Fleet tries to make best possible use of the hordes of Excelsiors (Akiras) until the next war comes.
This is a perfect excuse to keep the numbers of Sovereign ships down as long as the TNG movies are going to run. If there is no war in that time, then there is no reason to build more of these ships even though they are better than what Starfleet already has. Newer and better starships only proliferate when there is a sudden need for great numbers of ships and these newer and better ships happen to be the most cost-effective designs available. I suspect that if we get to see hundreds of Sovereigns, it will be in an era where there is an even bigger and newer "elite" design in operation.
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