Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter pst
- Start date
G
Gonzo
Guest
Depends on how many of the remaining Excelsior's survived the Dominion war, they may have been refit or upgraded but I doubt any new ships have been built in quite a while when there are so many more advanced designs to choose from.
There comes a point when a class of ship stops being viable due to wear and tear, structural damage and lack of parts, if any ship class could still be in use in 2399 it would definitely be the Excelsior though, not the Miranda.
I think they’re the same ships from the first trailer where a fleet of them are seen flying towards Mars. I’m assuming they’re Romulan.
Other than the Galaxy (CGI model already built for the dream sequence), I doubt we’ll see any of those ships. They would have to build all new CGI models for them, and why would they build models of old designs when it’s 2399 and most of those classes would be out of date? Any Starfleet vessels we’re going to see in PIC will most likely be new designs.
(The California class could be an exception, but I’d need to see it first to see if it’s just a cartoony type of design.)
Last edited:
From DS9, we know that all the old usual suspects survived the war in some quantity - they were there right till the very end, which wasn't fiery.
This doesn't mean any of them would have survived the peace. Massive numbers of ships were scrapped right after WWII, including ones launched in the final weeks of that war; even more would have been scrapped even sooner, if not for bottlenecks in the scrapping process.
However, the situation here is somewhat different. Starfleet is never at peace: it's short on ships in every single adventure, and thus probably incapable of having more even if it gave an arm and a leg. We also see virtually no UFP shipbuilding activity during the Dominion War, and no new ships are in evidence. So there might be no surplus at the end of the war, and no high gear production going on that would create surplus after the war.
Then again, building of ships isn't impossible. It merely takes time. For all we know, the war simply ended too soon, and fifty thousand ships were launched right after the peace ceremonies, covering just twenty thousand losses and leaving Starfleet struggling with an excess of assets. Which set of ships would it scrap or mothball there? The proven but tired old-timers? Or the hastily cobbled-together war cruisers with pristine but perhaps substandard spaceframes? In-universe logic allows the writers and the VFX people to do as they please here!
Timo Saloniemi
This doesn't mean any of them would have survived the peace. Massive numbers of ships were scrapped right after WWII, including ones launched in the final weeks of that war; even more would have been scrapped even sooner, if not for bottlenecks in the scrapping process.
However, the situation here is somewhat different. Starfleet is never at peace: it's short on ships in every single adventure, and thus probably incapable of having more even if it gave an arm and a leg. We also see virtually no UFP shipbuilding activity during the Dominion War, and no new ships are in evidence. So there might be no surplus at the end of the war, and no high gear production going on that would create surplus after the war.
Then again, building of ships isn't impossible. It merely takes time. For all we know, the war simply ended too soon, and fifty thousand ships were launched right after the peace ceremonies, covering just twenty thousand losses and leaving Starfleet struggling with an excess of assets. Which set of ships would it scrap or mothball there? The proven but tired old-timers? Or the hastily cobbled-together war cruisers with pristine but perhaps substandard spaceframes? In-universe logic allows the writers and the VFX people to do as they please here!
Timo Saloniemi
"Advanced Designs"? Do you think a 100 year old ship design has 100 year old tech?
The Excelsiors we saw on TNG were probably not much older than the Enterprise-D, and the ones in the Dominion War may have been newer than that.
G
Gonzo
Guest
Some of the Excelsior class ships could have been brought out of mothballs for the war and wouldn't have been used under normal circumstances, others could have been in service for a long time already.
I have no doubt that existing ships would be upgraded as much as possible to get the most out of them, this goes double for a tried and trusted platform like the Excelsior class.
However I very much doubt Starfleet would be building new ships based on designs from a century ago, there would inevitably be weaknesses in those designs that refits and redesigns simply cant resolve.
If Starfleet needs a mid sized ship for a certain task, it is bound to use the latest and most suitable design available rather than one that is a century old, why build an Excelsior class when you can build an Akira or Steamrunner class, or even an Ambassador class, if a larger ship is needed then it could be a Galaxy or Nebula class which would be far more flexible.
Don't get me wrong I love the Excelsior class and can understand why it has stayed in service as long as it has but there are limits to the flexibility of its design both in terms of volume and structural integrity, especially if there are more advanced designs available that are quicker and easier to build with the latest technologies already built in.
Redesigns to incorporate the latest technologies in older designs can take a long time and hit brick walls when it comes to power distribution/availability and the lack of a suitable area in the hull, sooner or later there comes a point when it becomes obvious that the design has reached its limits.
The Excelsior has had its day, currently the only class of ship that could in time rival its longevity would be the Galaxy class.
But the "design" is a saucer, secondary hull and nacelles. Some design might be physically stronger than others, maybe hold up better under the stresses of warp speed, getting hit by weapons, etc.
Some of the registry numbers we saw on Excelsior class ships in TNG would indicate they weren't that old. Not sure we ever saw a registry number on DS9 once they went to CGI.
You could build an Excelsior class with the same exact sytems as a Sovereign class if you wanted to. You could install the same warp core, phasers, shield emitters.
I mean, I like all the different designs, but you have to wonder if the Klingons have it right. Build the same looking ships, just with newer tech.
Overall, I just don't see a reason we can't see an Excelsior in PIC, aside from just not seeing many SF ships at all. And if they are "obsolete", we're more likely to see one in the private sector.
It's a bit odd that we're seven episodes into a Star Trek series, and we haven't seen any starships! (well, except the Mars tugs, but they didn't do anything).
And they were in news footage from and a flashback to 2385. Come on, make with the post-Dominion War starships.
So, its been 21 years since voyager got home..
I know we haven't seen any Starfleet ships.. but do they have the "upgrades" from Endgame voyager? Like the Deployable armour, Transphasic torpedos, even some of the DQ Tech like Slipstream drive ( Which is a BIG thing in the Novelverse.. which Kristen Beyer knows about.. since she wrote the voyager reboot)
I know we haven't seen any Starfleet ships.. but do they have the "upgrades" from Endgame voyager? Like the Deployable armour, Transphasic torpedos, even some of the DQ Tech like Slipstream drive ( Which is a BIG thing in the Novelverse.. which Kristen Beyer knows about.. since she wrote the voyager reboot)
What are the odds of meeting a starship, really? All our Starfleet heroes flew alone most of the time, and didn't pay attention to random civilian traffic if there was any. Clearly, the bad guys aren't tracking Picard via over-the-counter Starfleet assets, and there isn't a warrant on him or anything that would make the good guys chase him in starships.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
I believe the new starships will arrive on Tuesday...
This isn't your daddy's Star Trek.
There were DSC era shuttles being used as school buses and taxis.
They appear to be the winged ships you see approaching mars in some of the earliest released trailers.
I have but one like to give
I've noticed. I expect to see more recent ship designs in civil service, too.
Yeah, it's weird but Starfleet isn't a major player in this series thus far. What ships exist are just to get our characters from point A to point B.
