Well, here I go again...new parts from JAFisher, so new design coming up... Drake-class exploration cruiser
Finally a wish and dream came true!!! Vance style Excelsior class parts in B/W and a design made from them all we need now is Endurance class Sencor pod, Constellation type saucer and Excelsior / Enterprise B type impluse engines and Belknap Class secondary hull and we can recreate all the best designs from Jackill and Mastercom Data center
I like this compact design, but I would make one suggestion: from a visual balance point-of-view, the interconnecting dorsal seems too short in the fore-aft direction. I would suggest leaving the aft surface where it is but moving the forward face of it so the lower end comes all the way down the round slope of the engineering hull (as it did on the refit E) and then attaches to the saucer about halfway between where it is now and where the aft end of the lower superstructure is. That will make it look more substantial without breaking up the visual flow. With the forward slope of the structure the way it is now, the whole thing just looks a little dopey, somehow. But, I think the simple change I just described will improve it immeasurably. Other than that, I really like this one. --Alex
interesting Agrippa designs. like the bottom version the best. one tiny thing I noticed: there is a discrepancy in the height of the engine/photon pod structure in the front and side views, the front view sits higher than the side view.
Just prior to the explosion on Praxis in 2293, Starfleet had finished construction on it's latest class of shuttlecarrier, the Ark Royal. Six months and one treaty later, Starfleet had a proverbial "white elephant" on it's hands. Not allowed to keep the ships in commission due to the stipulations of the Accord, Starfleet nevertheless did not want to simply send them to the breakers or stick them in a Boneyard to slowly rot. What then, were they to do? It was finally suggested that they be converted into exploration vessels. With 70%+ of the space allocated to small craft and their support systems reconfigured into labs, crew facilities, and storage space, the ships would still have more embarked craft than any cruiser or frigate, and science facilities comparable only to those found on certain starbases. The robust hull construction inherent to shuttlecarrier designs would allow the weapons and shields to be downgraded, keeping the ship safely within the limits imposed by the Accord, and if anyone noticed that those last changes could be quickly and easily undone with minimal dockyard time (which would turn the ships into a highly effective super-heavy cruiser/battlecruiser, they didn't bother to bring the subject up. The 12 ships of the "new" class, rechristened the Khitomer class all went on to have highly distinguished careers in the Galaxy Exploration Division, and are considered by many engineers to be one of the best examples of starship re-purposing ever completed, and certainly one of the most robust designs of the early 24th century.