I thought I'd try and show some images that come from an rpg me and a few others create on a virtual world. Mostly it's interactive storytelling set a couple of decades after first contact when humanity is really first getting into the stars. For this post I'll try not to show characters and focus on ships I was personally and primarily involved with creating. The XCV-102, UES Hypatia, approaching high Mars orbit. This ship was initially intended as a test bed to lead to the first long range haul ship intended for transporting human diplomats to Vulcan and back without depending on Vulcan transport. The Vulcans bequeathed a compact warp core rated at Warp 2 and the basics of annular drive. Political factions within the newly reformed United Earth instead "borrowed" the warp core and ended up using 102 as their fastest craft in two short but fierce conflicts with migratory Kzin raiders. Demanding that they give up the warp core, Vulcans reclaimed their physical property but not the intellectual, as Earth was able to reverse engineer the core, albeit unshielded and much larger. The rebuilt XCV-102 was capable of long voyages and completed one of the first successful interstellar missions. In its refit form, it contained crew quarters, a galley, two SAAB Pegasus fighters and three SSTO Capsules. First Earth ship to be fueled with Dilithium. These early ships were prone to numerous mechanical difficulties, trouble maneuvering and constant failure of inertial dampening leading from mild nausea to "spaghettification." Hypatia was the first and initially only combined service ship of the UESN and UESPA. The UES Agammenon, a good example of the Gilgamesh Class, and one of the rare survivors of the first Kzin War. When the Kzin begin hitting early Earth colonies and stations, the matter was unclear. Promises from Vulcan to handle the issue were not met with decisive action, forcing Earth to have the UESN develop a fleet in relative secret near Io. In many ways the early Kzin conflicts help galvanize and unify the human race in a way that simple first contact with Vulcan had not. The Gilgamesh ships, or Gillies, were simple affairs, even by standards of their time. A modified Cochrane-Sloane drive combined with fusion rockets for sub-warp propulsion built around a double chamber fuel tank and deflector system. They were essentially flying bombs with spatial torpedos and railguns. Crew losses aboard the Gillies were horrific, and treatment of post-war cancer conditions remained a serious problem for the few but honored who served on these desperate machines. Agni Cruiser "Abaddon" The 2nd Kzinti Conflict was abetted and largely fueled by a Post-War Apocalyptic Cult run by the prophet Agni, who was himself either controlled or duped by Kzin who had remained behind from the previous conflict. Agni's cruisers were a mix of stolen U.E. technology and the Kzin fondness for saucers. Ironically, the Kzin, while technologically regressive, had shown good sense in their predilection for saucers due to various efficiencies of warp field design, which would influence Earth and later Starfleet for centuries to come. The cruisers behaved poorly at distance and suffered from ill-trained crews. None are left in existence. UES Origin, XCV-200 was intended to be the second combined service ship for United Earth. Built during a difficult period politically and financially, its development was plagued by being a design too far ahead of its time. Tensions with Vulcan over the use of the annular drive technology borrowed from them with treaty stipulations required new investments in Cochrane's own technology pushing him back into relevancy as a designer. A young intern, Henry Archer, also worked on the development. By the time Origin flew, it had been superceded by technology that its own development spawned, and remains sadly an overlooked note in history. Kzin Mothership With Earth Ship in Pursuit, above unnamed Oort Cloud Object. Knowledge of the Kzinti capital ship was obtained by fortuitous barter of information from a Demerian trader in what could only be called a successful first contact. The Kzin ship's primary fault was in a single point of failure system wherein the powerful bombardment plasma cannons were coupled with the drive system itself, allowing only one of them to operate at a time. Anyway if there's interest I might post smaller ships of the time.
thank you both. So on to smaller ships. The Pegasus and Kzinti Hunter aiframes are based on two developed and given by a friend specifically to use with our rpg then heavily modified. The ODF (Orbital Defence Fighter) was based on a late-war SAAB Pegasus high altitude superiority fighter, and designed as an easy way to train pilots for short warp jumps in the matter of the earlier Phoenix flight, while providing search and rescue functions for what would be a rash of new, and not always successful, colonization attempts. The small engines provided a range only of about 500,000km and precision navigation was not possible with onboard systems. The ODF's, while capable of engaging forces such as pirates, never had to engage in such duties, and were ill suited to anything but training. Kzinti Hunter spotted over Neptune. These craft, propelled form larger craft of the first Kzinti migration, proved far more deadly adversaries than their larger motherships. The divergence in style and overall quality led some experts to question whether the Kzin had designed these domestically or not. Pegasus Scout Craft A.K.A. "Stubby Peggy" developed to be carried by, and used by larger ships in development. In this role the Pegasus with much shorter wings and fuselage proved invaluable as both an exploration tool, and in defensive roles. Standard SSTO Capsules, in this case three arranged around a common airlock module. The capsules could perform both ascent and descent thanks to efficient fusion rocket engines, and would take the role of escape pod as well on some larger vessels. Warp Soyuz surveying Mercury. Called the Model-T of the early warp era, Warp-Soyuz was an odd compromise of spare parts, practicality and a desire to start getting out in the solar system. With the old pressure hulls of Soyuz craft understood, new methods of production combined with a quickly produced warp drive enabled the early UESPA to field dozens of these hardy craft. While they could only transport three crew maximum, the quick turn around led to a large influx of workers and settlers in both orbital space, as well as the Moon, Mars, and moons of Jupiter. The Valiant was believed to have carried one in her cargo as a scout ship, but records are incomplete. Stellar Gunboat Titov on solar survey The mighty and tragic Conestoga program led to many blind alleys in the wake of her flight and one of these were what came to be known as Stellar Gunboats. Belief that the burgeoning colonies would require policing from piracy, as well as fear and rumor that the Khanate had left behind far flung colonies of its own out in the trans-Neptunian region was used as justification for the program, and indeed the entire early reason for the United Earth Space Navy. In reality it was a make-work project without a true mission and without adequate direction. When the 1st Kzin conflict occurred, the few operational gunboats proved completely unfit for the task of defending Earth's colonies and were reduced to training and fuel transport. Warp 1.01 maximum with crew of 5. Some of the lessons learned from Conestoga and Stellar Gunboat would show up in Discovery Class, later, but that is out of the scope of this discussion. Detractors of this class were quick to point out that the Stellar Gunboat was neither a boat, nor could it fly to any star but our own, and while it did contain missiles it also lacked guns.
I've liked these designs since you showed me them in your album. I have to admit I've fallen in love with the warp Soyuz idea. It's such an interesting contrast of ideas mashed together into one craft.
Space boat, gun boat, it had a boat load of missiles so.. Always thought the Sydney class looked like a double hull seagoing ship from some angles..
Thanks. Warp-Soyuz is kind of my favorite too. I was just playing around with a Soyuz model and stuck TOS nacelles on the service module, and it just kind of "worked" for me. I messed around with it a bit more after that. It's not as detailed as I'd like, but I'm more into rough and ready 3d props than the high detail work you and others are able to create. In our rpg we kind of looked at Trek's premise that people really got off earth in a hurry, and wondered why. Didn't seem to make sense to build something like Conestoga or the DY freighters when you've still got post atomic horrors going on, and the answer we came up with, was essentially that in the early years the post-war U.E. was not all that powerful nor did it have that much territory. Taking the high ground, establishing mining, manufacturing, and getting a good deal of intelligentsia off Earth was a good bet hedge, and a way to establish U.E. hegemony over the entire solar system. It had a side effect of making certain that the Vulcans only had one point of contact for diplomacy and trade. After that, reigning in the warlord states and other problem areas was fait accompli.
I'd like to see someone incorporate this concept into Trek somehow--alternate timeline http://www.astronautix.com/b/bonosaucer.html
UES Sunward. A test ship attempting to employ a singularity drive. Tests showed the quantum state of the singularity to be impossible to govern and the idea was dropped. Romulans apprently had more success. Esper effects on the crew using this drive would sadly be forgotten. Orbital UESPA worker oversees welds on Sunward. Built at a time of extreme shortages, construction on Sunward was sped up by using Earth-based scrap steel, much of it former military scrap from recently pacified warlord zones. This swords-to-plowshares method of construction would prove inadequate for subsequent craft.
I like the fact that the "ring ship" concept is being actualized in theoretical space travels... https://www.theverge.com/2014/6/13/5806104/nasas-warp-drive-spaceship-concept-enterprise