posted
Curious how we've both included an aft facing, wrap-around Cargo Ops console. The design was a bit of a problem for me as the ship is supposed to be able to fly with just two crew, 6hence the large SS Raven style piloting console, which can be configured to control everything, while at the same time have enough consoles to accommodate a crew of up to six.
posted
I'm not sure I see the need for a starship-style captain's chair on a lowly freighter. I'd expect that the captain would double as the pilot, or some other job. Besides, on a freighter, the extra chair is a waste of valuable cargo space. I'd imagine something much closer to the runabout style, myself.
Err, wait... I was just about to submit, when I took a second look at the drawing. Is the round arc around the front of that central chair supposed to be bridge-style steps to a lower-level floor, or is that a wraparound console? If it's the latter, then obviously you're on the same thought track as I am.
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posted
Yes I am ;-) That is indeed the pilot's station. I even nicked the console from the Raven bridge set, which was also not down with the captain's chairage....yeah, that's a word!
On the other hand, there is a precedent. I forget the exact episode, I think it was one of those crap ones from DS9's 2nd season. I remember Bashir (possessed by something or other) sat at the captains chair on the bridge of a Federation freighter. Though, I'm inclined to ignore it.
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Yeah, the PRECEDENT episode has Bashir being posessed by some alien guy's DNA. He took over a freighter with a captain's chair and a couple flat top consoles. It was one of the earliest re-dresses of the "Starfleet Bridge" set that was seen as the Saratoga, Prometheus, Odyssey et. al.
And if you're looking for a two-man transport bridge design, you can always try this:
posted
No and yes, respectivly. Remember that the nominal crew compliment is only six and there are four sets of quarters, each of which can be converted to double bunks, so in reality there's room enough for eight. Before anyone says that's too crowded, remember that even with eight people on board, a three shift rotation means they're not all going to be sleeping at the same time, so in reality there's plenty of private time. Compare that to the bunk rooms seen on the refit Constitution (in ST:VI) and the Excelsior (VOY - Flashback) two to a room is nothing short of luxury for a ship that small. As I'm sure our resident ex-swabbie would agree. Actually, if I recally even the Galaxy class had double bunks for the junior officers, to say nothing of the crewmen.
For the Deneva, the way I see it, with a Crew of six you're going to get two senior officers - probably Lieutenants, or one Lieutentant and an Ensign, maybe even a Lt Commander - as "Captain" and XO respectivly, with cross training in helm/ops duties. A chief engineer (Probably an experianced NCO/warrent officer) and an engineer's mate (crewman, or even an Ensign.) That leaves two spots for say a cargo specialist, security officer and/or possibly a medical officer, at least until the 2370's when LMH's and shipwide holoprojectors are included in the scheduled refit cycle. I imagine most crew members on a ship this small would probably require cross training in medical, science and engineering, at least on a basic level so everyone would have at least two jobs to fill.
In the case of the USS Arcos, they only had a crew of two, which as I recall consisted of a pilot with no rank insignia (probably an NCO) and an engineer, (probably an elisted man.)
In that situation I imagine neither is technically captain and it'd have to be a relativly short cargo run in a "safe" area of space since you can hardly expect them both to pull 12 hour shifts alone. One would think the computer is technically on watch duty most of the time, especially while at warp.
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Is this a military transport? I doubt every small civilian ship would have a doctor, security officer, etc when their basically hauling crap from A to B. I would think the crew roster would be pilot/commander, navigator, engineer and 3 cargo guys. On a small ship probably one of them will be cross-trained as a medic, if not several of them, and they'd all have a modicum of engineering knowledge from helping out the engineer from time to time.
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posted
I wouldn't say it's a military transport exactly, at least not exclusively. It's supposed to be a small general purpose Federation freighter. The kind generally used for quick (re)supply runs to far flung, off the beaten track type colonies and outposts. Though the ones operated by Starfleet could certainly serve as troop transports, or even landing craft, with the appropriate refit and some well armed escorts.
But, yeah that's basically what I had in mind for the crew. Mostly engineer and pilot types with medical cross training as needed. Of course as I said by the 2370s that wouldn't be as necessary with the advent of EMH's & LMH's.
posted
Some updates to the exterior, most of the modifications were done to accommodate the deck plans - for example note the work bee airlocks. Also, I got tired of the BIG RED cargo modules. Dorsal Starboard I've also redesigned the landing gear and the phaser turret.
posted
Hmm... The new exteriors make me wonder if it wouldn't pay off to tweak the interiors a bit.
It's interesting how the container section of the ship is basically the same length as the enclosed cargo handling section aft of the engineering spaces, and both are of slightly different diameter from the engineering section forward of them. What would the ship look like without the enclosed area, with two lengths of container section there instead? Or with two enclosed sections? Perhaps the ship could fly with either one or two sections, and sometimes with none at all...
Creating a separation line just aft of the computer cores would require some minor tweaks on the interior - truncation of the lateral corridors and creation of a centerline access to the cargo sections, mainly.
But there could also be a separation line aft of the current upper transporter - and if that transporter were brought one deck down, things emerging from there could then be directly shoved to the central corridor of whichever cargo section type was carried. That would mean having a shorter enclosed cargo section than container section, but the former could then easily be stretched to be the same length as the latter, possibly with improved aesthetics.
Modularity isn't always good, but in this case I think it would make some sense to have a variant that only hauls those small containers; perhaps another that only has a big bulk tank for a cargo section; and just a few individual ships that have all this multimission versatility. IMHO, this ship is lacking in humility - it's too survivable and too capable to really be a Star Trek ship, especially a damsel-in-distress kind of Star Trek ship!
posted
I have to say I agree in part with Timo, I think the majority of these ships would be all internal or all container.
I too dislike the way almost every fan designed Trek ship has to be built to try and handle every situation and have special equipment handy for it. If a ship is supposed to be a cargo ship then it will be a flying box or container tractor with the minimum of living space for the people looking after the tractor. It would likely have no weapons, or very few small ones anyway, engines and some bunks, etc. Cargo ships handle cargo; they dont fight, they dont race, they dont rescue, they just haul boxes from A to B.
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posted
Then again, I would have no problem with this class ship NCC-6200 having become a "showpiece" vessel, generously bell-and-whistled in order to impress the potential customers.
I mean, six auxiliary craft of four different types for a ship that sports a crew of six? Each and every one of them could serve a function, and specific customers might be attracted to specific types. But probably only the Reverend Yards Sales Dept would need all of them at once.
Incidentally, since the lifepod is the forward section of the Nenebek type civilian shuttle anyway, how about (normally) equipping this ship with multiple examples of that only? It could serve as a light shuttlecraft with the "booster stern" attached; as a lifeboat and a travel/inspection pod without it; and perhaps even as a heavy duty workbee for serious cargo hauling.
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I'd imagine something much closer to the runabout style, myself.
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