Not just for exploring
However, having warheads unprotected on the outside of the hull seems to be extra sketchy for a Trek ship, IMHO.
NX Refit
- Thread starter SCE2Aux
- Start date
Not just for exploring
However, having warheads unprotected on the outside of the hull seems to be extra sketchy for a Trek ship, IMHO.
"Plasma torpedoes? That's 21st Century tech!" - A SNW quote that's been in my head whilst I've been building this thing, and has given me some ideas for how this ship is evolving as I build it.Not just for exploring
However, having warheads unprotected on the outside of the hull seems to be extra sketchy for a Trek ship, IMHO.
So, a bit of backstory that I've made up for this NX variant: Because its a Romulan war era ship, I tried to imagine what an Earth Starfleet would do when faced with an enemy that outgunned it. Not having nearly enough time to invent, and then stockpile new armaments, they might resort to spamming older WW3 era systems onto the hull. A move out of desperation. Therefore, those wing mounted missiles are Plasma Torpedoes that are fuelled and armed from the pylon's plasma transfer conduits, so most of the time, there's nothing explosive in them, even though they are exposed. I've since moved them to the underside of the catamarans, behind the impulse engines, because it makes more sense for a missile from this era to be fuelled by fusion plasma, not M/AM plasma. It also cleans the ship's silhouette up, which is already a bit too busy.
Like in SNW, they're not actually very dangerous torpedoes, but Romulans would have to divert resources to deal with them, giving the ship more time to do what it needs to do. Which is to operate in enemy territory, attacking starbases to cut the extended supply lines that I speculate was a feature of the conflict.
Continuing the theme of Earth Starfleet having to bootstrap a battleship in very little time, recently decommissioned spatial (nuclear) torpedoes are back, accompanied by an old laser orbital defense emplacement, both of which you can find strapped to the top of the saucer in previous renders earlier in this thread. This is to try to account for TOS Spock saying that the Romulan War was fought with weapons more primitive than what was shown in Enterprise.
Again, these spatial torpedoes and lasers aren't great weapons. It goes towards depicting a ship that is very unoptimised and inefficient, but which considering the circumstances was necessary in order to give the ship a better chance against somewhat better Romulan weapons technology.
This NX Refit would exist alongside the 'official' refit, seen in Picard and Ships of the Line calenders. Those ships, whilst less powerful, were much better general purpose designs, making them better flagships and after the war, better explorers. In contrast, I imagine an NX ship like the one I'm building would be quickly deprecated after the war, and then retired.
So, that's the backstory I'm currently working on for this ship, which is tentatively named 'NI-09 Erebus'. The original NX means Naval eXperimental, whereas this is an NI; a Naval Interdictor.
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Yeah its always been a dilemma for me, I really like metallic hulls, but there's no getting away from the fact that they obscure some detail with all the reflectivity.
The solution to that is to scratch both itches.
I mocked up this concept for a Romulan Bird of Prey. Doesn't look very 22nd century right now, but I think there's something to the shape that should be explored further:
I've also pretty much finished the modelling phase on my NX Refit:
I've also pretty much finished the modelling phase on my NX Refit:
I may just do that, now that I'm onto the texturing side of thingsThe solution to that is to scratch both itches.
Hi Sean! Thanks, I'm glad you like the model! I'd love to see what you come up with if you make an NX type bridge!Told you on the SFM discord - this stuff is un-EFFING-believable. I saved that other bridge layout you sent me and am working my way toward doing one for this.
I don't really see you much on here, you should post that fantastic Enterprise D bridge you've been working on!
“Clay” models are so tactile. This really is some top-notch modeling.
I've put the metal shader back on, with some additional layers of texturing to add a little more subtlety to the model.
Got to finish putting the window boxes in, add spotlights, registry decals etc etc. It feels close to being finished, and yet so many little jobs left to do haha.
Got to finish putting the window boxes in, add spotlights, registry decals etc etc. It feels close to being finished, and yet so many little jobs left to do haha.
The Roddenberry Archive needs to hire you - like freakin' yesterday!
Thankyou very much, that's very nice of you to say!
I've made the small dishes on the prongs a bit larger so they read more like antennae, but I'm personally quite happy with the setup - it's a design feature I really liked from the Disco era designs, particularly how it looked on the USS Shenzhou.
Well, now you’re just showing off. 
Knocking it out of the park... AGAIN!
Just a fantastic version of this ship.
That Romulan BoP is also looking good. New design elements, but still no doubt what it is.
Just a fantastic version of this ship.
That Romulan BoP is also looking good. New design elements, but still no doubt what it is.
