posted
Project "Peekaboo" is a current project of mine, in association with Jason Colbert and Jonah Rapp. Project "Peekaboo" is a project to create a modern (2370's) ELINT scout, similar to the Soyuz (if you subscribe to the theory that the Soyuz was an ELINT scout, used to monitor transmissions). I was inspired by the post in the Flameboard about the US plane that was shot at over China. I drew a quick sketch, and thus Design Phase 1 was created:
I showed the sketch to Jason, and he liked it quite a bit. And, as usual, he had quite a few commentaries. He asked to do a revision, and I granted him permission. A couple of weeks later, this amazing drawing was presented to me:
Design Phase 2
This is coming along quite nicely. Jonah's working on a revision, an ACAD schematic, and an MSD (!). Jason's also doing another revision. Come back here for updates. I'm going to do a write-up for this, too.
------------------ "Of course I'm paranoid! Everyone's trying to kill me." - Weyoun, "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 8.32 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with seven eps posted) *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001 *** Card-Carrying Member of the FlareAPAO *** "I think this reason why girls don't do well on multiple choice tests goes all the way back to the Bible, all the way back to Genesis, Adam and Eve. God said, 'All right, Eve, multiple choice or multiple orgasms, what's it going to be?' We all know what was chosen" - Rush Limbaugh, Feb. 23, 1994.
posted
The pylons are definatly being altered. The nacelles will probably receive a makeover, too. DP2 is actually pretty close to DP1, in that the outline is pretty much the same. As such, DP2 suffers from my inability to draw a complete ship at the same angle...
------------------ "Of course I'm paranoid! Everyone's trying to kill me." - Weyoun, "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
Now, all you need is some hotshot Romulan pilot to fly his shuttlecraft into it and blow himself up, and you've got the makings of a grand interstellar incident!
------------------ The government that seems the most unwise, oft goodness to the people best supplies. That which is meddling, touching everything, will work but ill, and disappointment bring. - The Tao Te Ching
This reminds me of an idea I had a while back about producing a class that had some of the design characteristics of both the Akira and Intrepid. I eventually gave up in favor of known classes, but I still think about it .
------------------ "One's ethics are determined by what we do when no one is looking" Nugget Star Trek: Gamma Quadrant Star Trek: Legacy Read them, rate them, got money, film them
"...and I remain on the far side of crazy, I remain the mortal enemy of man, no hundred dollar cure will save me..." WoV
During the peak of the Dominion War, Starfleet needed a vessel that could skirt close to enemy borders relatively undetected and monitor enemy communications. A design proposal was drafted, requiring the vessel to have high warp capability, extremely powerful sensors, and enough armament to be able to return to the closest starbase should it fall under attack. Many engineering firms attempted to design a prototype to fit these requirements, but all the proposals were lacking in one department or another.
Just as Starfleet was about to lose interest in a new ship, leaning instead towards modyfiying the Nova class for this purpose, a design was submitted by Colbert-Martin-Rapp Aerospace Corporation. The design was small, moderately armed, very fast, and had the latest sensors. CMRAC was contracted and construction began immediately.
CMRAC's prototype was a testbed of several new advances in intuitive computer processing, weapons, and propulsion. The prototype consisted of an arrowhead shaped saucer and two nacelles slung under the saucer via curved pylons. This compact shape allowed for a smaller sensor target. There were certain limitations immediatly apparent in the design, mainly that the required sensors would not fit in to the compact spaceframe. CMRAC was approached by Keindoffer-Klaatsen to test their newest sensor suite, the Opera Generation 4. Keindoffer-Klaatsen was well known for their Opera suites of the late 23rd century, and had remained at the edge of sensor technology since. The Opera Generation 4 was mounted in a pod that sat on the pylons aft of the saucer. Due to the nature of the vessel's mission, the pod and it's support strut were reinforced to prevent heavy damage.
The latest stealth technology was installed on the Peekaboo, including an exclusive sensor-ghosting suite, which created several ghost images on enemy sensors. The Peekaboo was extremely quick and agile, at super- and sub-luminary speed. A technology was resurrected from the Wambundu class, the slidejet impulse system. This allowed the Peekaboo to effectively slide in space, giving it extraordinary maneuvarbility in close-quarters dogfights. A small shuttlebay was placed on the underside of the Peekaboo, allowing for 3 shuttlepods and a compliement of stealth sensor drones.
The Peekaboo was completed just months before the signing of the Treaty of Bajor. It didn't get to see much use, however production was continued with the Peekaboo, now christened the Argus class.
------------------ "Of course I'm paranoid! Everyone's trying to kill me." - Weyoun, "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
posted
Actually, I probably should have mentioned that... The shuttlebay isn't very large, but the flight deck (and bay doors) is large enough to land a Federation Scout Ship or Runabout.
The odd shape of the warp engines is an artifact of mission profile necessity. The entire aft third of each nacelle is devoted to smaller stacked warp coils specifically designed to reduce transitional resistance across integral warp factors and thus provide a more stable platform for the OPERA systems. Plus the entire Bussard ramscoop system is oriented below the x-y horizon to prevent the EM field of the collectors from interfering with sensor readings...
Other system specifications will come with future updates...
--Jonah
------------------ "It's obvious I'm dealing with a moron..."
In the Peekaboo, is the structure on top intended like an antennae? ELINT or long range scan ships don't need to be fast, but they need to hold a lot of equipment. They don't need to penetrate enemy space, just hold outside of it. It's possible that Oberth classes or for overkill, a Nebula, could do that function.
It's not clear whether your design is meant to be a stealth intruder scout or an ELINT, as both have very different functional goals and design parameters. If it's a stealth intruder, a sleek ship would have greatly limited the amount of equipment you can hold.
In my fanfics, I came up with two classes that were intended for deep penetration scout and recon missions. Lightly armed, speed for escape is their main line of defense.
1.) Spearhead class---This is basically a Nova class variant. The main hull is replaced by a pointed, semi triangular/elliptoid head that could hold more crew and equipment, and most particularly, a greater sensor area. It has slightly longer warp nacelles for greater speed and slightly larger deflector dish. Has minimal armament compared to a Nova.
2.) Aegis class---This is an Intrepid variant with a deflector design and engineering hull similar to a Sovie's but scaled down. Losing the complicated adjustable warp nacelles which has dubious value, it uses more conventional swept back wing pylons instead and with oversized nacelles whose design are reminiscent to a Sovie/Nova/Promie's nacelles. The new hull enables holding more equipment. Has weaker armament than an Intrepid but possess faster sustained cruising speed. While an Intrepid variant, it does sacrifice the landing gear for holding more electronic spy equipment.
As these are based on existing proven classes using proven technology and components, modifications from hulls already under construction could produce these ships easily and economically, than it is to build a new ship from scratch.
[This message has been edited by crobato (edited May 11, 2001).]
I drew a quick sketch, and thus Design Phase 1 was created:
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