The ideal "barnacle" design would be to make the exposed surface of the pod just as heavily armored as the rest of the outer hull (the pods extend pretty far into the ship after all, so space isn't an issue). This would give you advantages in defense...aspect to incoming enemy fire...and planetary atmospheric reentry. Obviously, you'd need an ablative system for the rest of the hull, but that's to be expected. Personally, I like your blow-out panel system better, because the pods would then be uniformly armored to their scale. I'm using a similar system for saucer warp engine field grills. Been following this since the beginning, Vektor. I give it four thumbs way, way up. ~Belisarius --------------------------- "All life is struggle, from first breath to last." - Anonymous
To me we are talking about flimsy covers because we want to hide the actual pods due to our artistic need to do so, not for some defense purposes. Hiding the pods behind a blast door just seems to complex to function correctly when needed to work. Hell, half the time the enemies first shot takes out warp power and main power with it. Id Imagen the power to explode the blast door would be buried somewhere in redundant systems but how often does the self-destruct fail? a general artistic outline of the pod on the surface with an armored escape pod may work rather well as noted above. What about duplicating that grill design behind deck 3 and use that as the pod cover. add some glowing lights under the grill and each grill could open individually from the other pod grills.
Could have much smaller 'hatches', with each one actually being attached to the pod under it. Keeps the surface flush (or close to it) without needing a separate door to open for them to get out. Then have a door (or another pod with the same shell on top) that closes behind it to fill in the armor gap left from the departed pod.
I think that reaching the point where you must resort to using escape pods implies that residual armor is the least of your concerns. ~Belisarius --------------------------- "All life is struggle, from first breath to last." - Anonymous
It just looks cooler this way, which honestly is the most important thing to begin with when it comes to 24th century ship design.
wow I love this design! If my Enterprise-F series was ever made I'd want this ship design to be the design of my Enterprise-F.
Loving it. Im putting my vote behind the current escape pod set up. You just attach the panels with exploding bolts. It is an already proven design and besides it looks better.
Just curious, Vektor, and please forgive my ignorance...how do these models handle when used in animation? I assume you could manipulate these to create some pretty stunning footage, unless they're too massive. I find that hard to believe...but I have no real experience when it comes to modeling or 3D animation (beyond After Effects work like rotoscoping and digital extrapolation...most of which is concerned with 2D and limited 3D). Wondering if--given the fantastic detail and ultra-realistic textures of your designs--they could be used to create short sequences of film composited on starfield backgrounds or other stellar environments. I love seeing 'em in snapshots from different angles. I suppose I was just curious about whether or not it would be possible to see them in action, or what it would take to make the transition. I do happen to know quite a bit about cinematography, editing, and filmmaking in general. I guess that's why this question intrigues me. ~Belisarius --------------------------- "All life is struggle, from first breath to last." - Anonymous
By special request, here's a brief glimpse at the Commander's personal runabout: It comes fully equipped with a 6.2L V-8 M/AM injection warp core, high-performance inertial dampers, and a genuine Arcturian leather interior. Phasers and fore and aft micro-torpedo launchers optional. And you all thought that hangar was for some auxiliary craft named the Blackfoot. Pffft... Full disclosure: I didn't build the Camaro model, I found it online. There was no attribution to its maker, though I suspect it may have begun life as a real-time model in some auto racing game or other. Textures and graphics were added by myself and the Commander.