The bottom, bow and stern views have never seen the light of day before now... And the bow view still doesn't get enough of it. Is there a torpedo tube or a deflector dish at the bow of the Maquis hull? Is that a dedicated ovoid dish greeblie we're seeing, or some sort of an image artifact? Generally, I'm in the camp that says this ship looks cool. It sort of compares to Intrepid like Miranda compares to Constitution - more angular secondary hull integrated more tightly with the saucer/spoon, bigger impulse engines, drooping nacelles, split shuttlebays (which is what I like to call the aft grilles of the Maquis hull now that they ain't warp engines any more)... I'd have lost the wingtip cannon before gluing on the nacelles, though. And perhaps the shoulder "claw" assemblies, too. Timo Saloniemi
As far as the TNG-era DS9 kitbashes, this was not that bad... it is ugly, but at least they didn't just slap a third nacelle on the top of it, and say here you go.
I've always thought that if TPTB took off all the many distracting greebly bits... it would definitely look a LOT better. All that detail makes it just a distracting eyesore. Cheers, -CM-
Agreed. Clean it up a bit and it'd look great. I've always sort of liked this class, but even I've long ago ceded the fact that it's over detailed. That's along the lines of my thinking as well: A feddie take on the BOP ideal. Something akin to a cutter or a fast patrol ship meant to zip in, take care of business, and zip back out; something mostly seen patrol systems and outposts.
It's awfully big. 800,000 tons or so, probably. I would think it has a broad mission profile. Boy, I hate that it exists, but if some artist draws a good version of it that looks cool and doesn't involve scaled Maquis components, that would sure put a smile on my face.
Why no scaled Maquis components? Obviously, some Federation manufacturer built the Maquis ship (or at least the interiors are characteristically Federation in "Caretaker"), and apparently, the same manufacturer built a smaller ship of basically the same shape for Lieutenant Ro to use in "Preemptive Strike". Why should we assume that this manufacturer has gone out of business and is no longer building starship components? The combination works fine for me: in the Yeager, the characteristic side fins are gone from the aft quarters, quite significantly altering the shape, and gone too are the dorsal hump and the ventral sensor array thingamabob that makes the Maquis ship look as if she had balls. It's a hull from the same manufacturer, perhaps, but it's not the same hull. (It's a fairly generic shape anyway, just a flat box, so its use should not indicate any deeper relationship to other flat boxes out there.) Timo Saloniemi
^ "Basically the same shape" would, to me, be a very different thing than having the visually identical components (if painted to a rougher finish) that I'd have to accept at a much larger size--especially when it comes to technical greeblies that would have no reason to either look the same or be engineered to do so. So really, that'd be exactly what I'm hoping for, "Starfleet clean"-ed up a little. I wish I were a bit more of an artist so's I could take a pass at her my damn self.
Yes. Merge both ships and crews. Would have presented some interesting storytelling opportunities. ERROR 1473: HALLWAY CARPET MISMATCH UNABLE TO OPEN BLAST DOORS ENTER OVERRIDE CODE
Scale up the raider enough and that works for me. I could envision a scenario where the raider's cockpit is destroyed (perhaps targeted by the Kazon) and Voyager's engine section is destroyed, the 'saucer' barely escaping. Say, that is an interesting idea. Just imagine them having rebuild a ship. From one ship's saucer and one ship's engine section. Difficult but doable I'd say.
"Our life support works but are engines are dead." "Our engines work, but our life support is busted." "Hey, if your engines work-" "-And your life support works-" "Stop it! You're just going in circles!"