Newly Edited! (Look at the eleventh reply!) Friendship Class Starship
I haven't put anything up at my regular website yet, since the Yagocities merger is still in progress (and they have all my passwords screwed up!)
[It's at my regular site now.]
It's supposed to be a ship that was designed in competition with the Constitution class. It was supposed to be even higher-performance, but proved to be temperamental and prone to malfunction during trials. I still haven't finalized all the details (except the pic. Don't worry. It's SUPPOSED to be ugly!)
Armaments: Six heavy laser cannon, 4 fwd, 2 aft. Three accelerator cannon, 2 fwd, 1 aft.
Type: Heavy Cruiser
Status: One prototype produced for comparison with the Constitution prototype, no further examples produced. The original was demilitarized and turned over to the Vulcan Science Academy in 2265.
About Ship: In 2235, Starfleet issued the most demanding specifications for a starship in its history. The "Starship class" specification would, it was hoped, result in a ship far superior to any likely to be fielded in the next 40 years. So demanding were the requirements, that the Federation Council required Starfleet to build one prototype of each of two competing designs, the winner of this competition would be the one produced.
The Friendship's design was quite a bit different from the typical Starfleet vessel of the day. Instead of two warp nacelles set away from the hulls upon long pylons, minimizing the amount of shielding required to protect the crew (as the competing vessel, Constitution, did), the Friendship had a single nacelle, mounted forward. This nacelle housed an enormous bussard collector and four warp coils. The bulky nacelle housing also held much of the shielding required to protect the crew from the strong subspace fields they emitted. This configuration provided a somewhat more stealthy warp field configuration than the Constitution's (single-lobe rather than dual). Warp field efficiency at cruise was somewhat improved, but at the expense of increased antimatter consumption.
While the Constitution could operate for 20 years without resupply, the Friendship could only manage 17 uninterrupted years of operation. Much of this capability came at the cost of crew size (the Constitution had room for 40 additional science personnel). The Friendship compensated for its smaller size by packing a far more comprehensive sensors suite than the prototype Constitution. The main sensor array (MSA) took the form of a large rotodome on the dorsal hull.
During trials, Starfleet test crews discovered that, while living up to most of it's capabilities, the Friendship turned out to be a rather temperamental beast. The quad-coil warp nacelles required a carefully-balanced flow of plasma from the matter/antimatter reactor assembly. This process was controlled by the duotronic computer system, which was barely able to respond to changes in plasma flow requirements at high warp speeds. The short mast upon which the MSA was mounted turned out to be slightly less strong than the actual requirements demanded, and tended to suffer severe damage at accelerations much more than one-quarter impulse power.
The Friendship was intended to out-perform the competing contender, the Constitution. In simulations, it did, but in the metal, the Friendship proved to be more maintenance-intensive than was practical. Ultimately, the Constitution went on to become the class vessel. Its only serious shortcoming against the Friendship was addressed by adding sensors to the main deflector array, giving the Constitution class vessels equivalent sensing ability.
As the Friendship represented a large investment in resources, Starfleet decided to utilize it as a science and research vessel. Two warp coils were removed from the nacelle, and the additional resulting space allowed enough additional internal volume for 30 additional crewmembers. Maximum warp speeds dropped from 7 and 8.5 to 5 and 7. Impulse engines were governed to one-quarter impulse, which could be overridden only in emergencies. The Friendship served as a travelling science vessel until 2265, wherupon is was demilitarized and turned over to the Vulcan Science Academy as a mobile classroom and research facility.
--Baloo
------------------ "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." --Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949 www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/
[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited June 27, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited July 07, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited August 09, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited August 19, 1999).]
posted
I actually think the design isn't ugly...though I also don't think the Defiant and Steamrunner don't look ugly either, so that may just be me.
I like the over all layout of the ship, it's interesting to see a ship with it's nacelle(s) up front rather than behind of separate pylons.
This is a...excuse the Frankism, 'nifty' design. Looks very much like it was supoposed to do combat and still allowed for a massive scanning array. Almost pre-Defiant class.
------------------ I shall smite Sternbach with my SpoonSaber!
posted
I don't care if people just cut and paste ugly starship designs, not being able to describe it. It's different with Baloo who has the gift to do horrible ships and make them nevertheless credible. I hate it!
------------------ "The past, the present and the future, they exist as one, they breathe together." (Annorax, VOY: "The Year of Hell") Ex Astris Scientia
posted
When I create my ships, I usually draw the schematic (black & white line drawing) in MS Paint, as a bitmap. When I'm satisfied it's complete except for the colors, I import the pic to Paint Shop Pro (PSP).
In PSP, I crank the colors up to 24 trillion (or whatever the maximum is ) and color in everything but the background. When the ship is completely done, but for the background, I pick a lurid pink color I KNOW I haven't used anywhere else in the picture, and use that to fill the background (I also select it as the "background color" in the pallette).
I then reduce the number of colors ("decrease color depth) in the pic to 255, using the "optimized medium cut" to the nearest color. After that, I select "Set Pallette Transparency" from the colors menu, and set the current background color (our lurid pink background) to "transparent". I then "view pallette transparency" to ensure I got everything right.
posted
There are four new images of the Friendship. Two of these images are "Artist's concept" images rendered in 3-D by Darrell Lawrence (WarriorDL). The other two represent the ship as it "actually appeared" during it's service life. These last two images were rendered in 3-D by David Bruha (Salek).
posted
The ship looked repugnant in Plan, Elevation, and End View, but the crossover into 3D has made a huge difference. It looks acceptable now, even great.
I think WarriorDL and Saleck deserve a congratulatory nod also. Refreshing. Like a particularly strong gust of wind when you're changing at the beach. Well done all round. *Stops gushing*
------------------ The unexplained phenomenon that crippled the U.S.S. Unimpeachable -- Gaseous Anomaly... What anomalises gaseously.
Still better than I could do though.
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