Where is the Shuttle hangar of the ship? And what are(/is in) these "containers" above and below of the ship?
Lobo
[ September 12, 2002, 23:16: Message edited by: Lobo ]
-------------------- "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die..."
Registered: Jul 2001
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No one knows, and no one knows. The ship may not even have a shuttlebay, though some of us think it might be located in the extreme aft, conveniently blown away on the model. The pods could be anything, but some of us think they may contain weapons. But then, they are probably modular containers which could have just about anything inside. Heck, they could be the shuttlebays.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Obviously no one can be certain what is in those pods. I'd like to think that they're torpedo launchers, given that the NO is a frigate-type ship. Given the scale, the usual neck-mounted launcher isn't feasible, so they'd have to go somewhere else.
As for the shuttlebay, if you take a close look at the mangled aft hull, you can still see the point where the curves meet, proving that there's no bay there. (Besides, the ship was made with Galaxy-class parts, so there'd be nothing there.) However, the shuttlebay on the saucer would still be big enough to hold the appropriate complement for a smaller starship.
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Registered: Nov 2000
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one thing i would recommend to aspiring starship designers is to study real naval ships.. see how, in our seagoing vessels, certain features always land in the same place, if there are extreme differences in design (one detail on a frigate that varies vastly from a cruiser, for example), then try to understand what causes it. reverse engineer the ship and then engineer it back up and it will reveal why things are there.
our study of the damaged N.O. model has revealed that the shuttlebay must be either in the missing aft section, or in the damaged back of the saucer. we can extrapolate this because we know many ships before it had bays in the aft 2ndary hull and many ships after it have bays on the rear upper saucer.
i doubt the frigate mission profile would require three skinny shuttlebays, so i eliminate this as a possibility, even though its as good a theory as any.
To iterate: a frigate is a vessel which is smaller than a cruiser and larger than a patrol/escort vessel. a frigate may not be faster than a cruiser, but is faster (add: more maneuverable) than other ships of its size, and, while not as well armed as a cruiser, still heavily armed compared to other ships of its size. in space, i can imagine these frigates using their greater speed to be fleet escorts within friendly territory and policing outer territories. a trade off for the increased speed and weapons would be mission duration, basically these ships dont stray far from home bases as federation cruisers and explorers.
So, with this said, i could theorize the extensions as torpedo bays, or even swapped out modules that could be launchers, or if the vessel were specialized, made into tractor beams (for coast guard duties); sensor platforms/communications arrays (for listening/patrol duties); or possibly some combinatin of the possibilities, frigates are often required to be versatile, moreso than other specialized ships like escorts, corvettes or scouts. basically take all of a cruisers capabilities (speed, arms, scouting) and pack them, tightly wound, into a ship that is smaller, easier to outfit, but lacks the range and duration but gains versatility.
i think the N.O. extensions are along the lines of the Miranda rollbar or the swappable Nebula platforms: mission versatility. and probably easily swapped out.
[upon this edit, i can see that Minutiae Man and Harry beat me to this post due to my own longwindedness]
Registered: Sep 2001
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I can't recall how many NO's we've seen - is it only the one?
Maybe they aren't even a standard part of the ship?
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Registered: Oct 2000
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i'd like to think they are, just to make the vessel have a little more character against the Galaxy and other Galaxy-like ships
Registered: Sep 2001
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I'd settle for them being semi-permanent, like the Miranda rollbar. There may be situations when the ship sails without them, but those situations are rare. There may also be missions where a different type of module is called for, but these missions are unlikely to be seen as long as the camera rides along a vessel with the mission profile of a typical Enterprise (Insert your own rationale here).
The blackened center of the forward face in these modules does suggest a "launcher" mission. The muzzles are a bit large in comparison with TOS era ones, but not too big IMHO. After all, some here are willing to believe that the Centaur was more than 300 meters long, and had even bigger launchers...
As for the definition of "frigate", perhaps the 23rd/24th century one goes "a ship that is about cruiser-sized, and pretends to be a cruiser by wearing modules, but is much less capable than a cruiser when naked". That would satisfy the fan idea that the Mirandas/Avengers are frigates, too! It would also make Springfield a frigate.
The Nebula would be excempted from the humiliating nomer because it doesn't pretend to be a cruiser by wearing modules - it pretends to be an explorer! We could invent a whole new designation for ships of Nebula type...
I will set the Shuttlehangar in the upper container and the lower container becomes a cargo container.
Lobo
-------------------- "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die..."
Registered: Jul 2001
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