Starship Prometheus

[James Wright]

In the multi-vector assault mode how much damage can each seperate component take with the new shields and armour?
Doesn't the Defiant also have the same type of armoured hull?(ablative armour)
"IF" while seperated in the multi-vector assault mode one component was destroyed can the remaining components recombine?

James

 

[sojourner]

OH Boy. The Prommie again. Can't everyone just try and forget it exists?

 

[ALF]

I'm confused about the original question. Can we measure fictional particle weapon energy in Trek? Do you want the answer rounded up to the nearest megajoule?

And I'm still confused... sojouner wants us to ignore the Prommie completely??

I'm guessing that the middle section of the Prommie when destroyed would make reintegration impossible. The middle and the dorsal, the middle and the ventral... hey, why not?

 

[Magellan]

I'd guess each section could take like a third of the damage the whole could have. Maybe. I guess.

Doesnt the multi vector assault mode seem......kinda silly anyway. I mean why not build 3 starships instead of one. I guess maybe in combined Voltron form the ship is faster or something.

 

[Shatinator]

Now that's an idea...
ahem.....

introducing-
The U.S.S. VOLTRON

The Shatinator

 

[GodThingFormerly]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neHc3BlGEM0[/yt]

SLR

 

[STR]

OH Boy. The Prommie again. Can't everyone just try and forget it exists?

Why? The USAF has spent billions of dollars on fruitcake ideas. Scientists with obviously bad ideas are a stable of Trek episodes. Sure, it's a dumb idea, but it might be interesting enough to build one ship out of it.

 

[ALF]

It is science fiction, not science fact.

I find a starship capable of separating into 3 pieces and recombining a lot more plausible than say, Harry Potter for example.

 

[nx1701g]

It is science fiction, not science fact.

I find a starship capable of separating into 3 pieces and recombining a lot more plausible than say, Harry Potter for example.

It does, in many ways, make sense from a tactical point of view. I assumed that the Prommie was intended to overwhelm the enemy with numbers instead of brute force. Those numbers just had brute force to support them...

 

[SWHouston]

Multi-Vector is a good idea.
It's always been how many you could bring to a battle, and not so much as how big a gun one brought, though I'm not discounting power !

Seemed as though the Automated Systems worked well, the Dr's just told it to attack, and it coordinated that.

But, there's got to be a faster way to get into the MV Mode, like separation of a Saucer, it takes forever. I don't think the bad guys are gong to take a lunch brake, while they use their electronic can opener.

Have a good Day !
S.W.

 

[sojourner]

From the previous thread about the Prommie:

Engineer - "Admiral, I'd like to show you our latest in Multi-Vector Assault Mode"
Admiral - "Excellent! What have you got for me?"
Engineer - "Well, we came up with a new method that reduces cost, improves tactical options, and also increases peacetime functionality"
Admiral - "Wow! That's great! How does it work?"
Engineer - "Well, we start with 4 hull elements -"
Admiral - "Not 3 like the Promy? Now you have me excited!"
Engineer - " - um, yessir. Anyway, we build them out as fully capable independent fleet units that in peace time would be able to function purely on their own, similar to ships we have today"
Admiral - "Intriguing. Go on, go on"
Engineer - "Now this is the key part - during times of need these 4 units would form what we are calling a squad and would work together in fleet actions - "
Admiral - "Wait, this sounds familiar"
Engineer - " - much as our ships do currently"
Admiral - "OK, I think I understand how this works, but tell me, how does this differ from the Promy?"
Engineer - "Oh, sorry sir. I guess I didn't make that clear. These units don't interface into a single ship. They are in essence (and reality) 4 separate starships."
Admiral - "What!?!"
Engineer - "Yessir, from a practical standpoint we could not come up with a logical reason to have 3 ships interlock into 1. It compromised too many systems on the ships, complicated construction, and gave no tactical advantage that we could find."
Admiral - "..... . ."
Engineer - "Sir, what do you think? Sir?"
Admiral - "Get out of my office!!"

 

[jaspertjie]

Oh my God Sojourner, that is so full of epic win

 

[SpyOne]

Yeah, the stupid part isn't so much the separating into three as it is the merging into one.
That doesn't have to be stupid either, but the Prometheus achieved no apparent advantage from the merger.

Aircraft Carriers, for example, are a bit Voltron-like. The aircraft are able to cover short distances quickly, while the carrier itself can cover vast distances without refueling/resupply, and provides maintenance/resupply facilities that the aircraft cannot carry with themselves. So a big warp-capable carrier, that due to its size is pretty clumsy at impulse speeds, might bring a bunch of small impulse-only craft to a battle, and that would make sense (assuming that impulse-only ships aren't toast against warp-capable ships). But all three parts of the Prometheus had warp nacelles, so that isn't it.

The best I've been able to come up with to explain the Prometheus is this: The Registry Number on the hull does not match the one on the Master System Display, and I'm not the only one to suggest that this was dis-information (Starfleet intentionally painted the wrong number to confuse spies). This makes even more sense if the Prometheus, in merged mode, resembled an existing class of starship (one that really would have a Registry around NCC-59650).
The multi-vector-assault mode makes a tad more sense if it is intended to take an enemy by surprise: "You thought you were fighting one roughly Intrepid-sized vessel, but you are actually fighting three smaller ones! Ha ha!"
I have trouble with that gag working more than once, but there it is.

 

[SWHouston]

Very cleaver script Sojourner, but....

If someone had a concept for a new Class of Starship, drawings, Mission Obj, descriptions...

Which Topic here at TrekBBS, would be appropriate, to place that in ?

Have a good Day !
S.W.

 

[sojourner]

^General rule of thumb, if you are more interested in how it looks, put it in the fan art forum. If you are more interested in what it does, put it here in the trek tech forum.

 

[SWHouston]

sojourner, thanks for the info, and it'll have to be here then, cause I can't draw a straight line either, even in Paint, which is the only "construction" program I have.
I dropped by your PBucket, cool little ship, looks tough !

 

[sojourner]

^check the subfolders on the left side of the sight for more and better stuff.

 

[Saquist]

OH Boy. The Prommie again. Can't everyone just try and forget it exists?

CONCUR!

One of the worse designs in Trek made to favor the fanboy.
Next they'll be transforming.

 

[Londo]

I think the Prometheus is a bad idea.
But I do think that the MVAM does have an obvious purpose. There are major benefits to attacking a ship from multiple angles at once. On several occasions the Enterprise is seen losing shields on one quarter but is able to turn in such a way as to cover its unshielded section. The MVAM can prevent a ship optimizing its shielding and exploit holes when they appear.
Send three ships rather than one prometheus? well the enemy sees a single ship on sensors far away, they send one or two ships, if they see three they send four. Actually the MVAM loses most of its advantage if faced with multiple opponents being one ship maximises its chances of encountering enemies in optimum conditions.
In essence its a decoy, came out prepared to fight one, found three, it gets to turn the tables on its opponent with ease.
Clearly have more than a few of them out there and opposing fleet commands start getting wise to it, but they are clearly to expensive for that, if there is a fraction of a percentage chance you are facing a prometheus not say an intrepid its too much of a waste to send three ships against any sensor blip on your screens.

Its a silly ship but its a legitimate experiment.

Edit: oh and on the original question: if it has gone into MVAM then imo it has lost the surprise of being one ship becoming three so it really has very little reason to recombine if it has lost a section.

 

[N1N]

Well to be honest i don't see what is wrong with the Prometheus design. I think there are a lot of assumptions being made about the Prometheus due to the lack of information about it. So i thought i would add, what i believe to be sounds assumptions. ==Combined== The Prometheus class has 4 individual warp cores, in three different locations. Now clearly this allows for a high level of redundancy. I have always assumed that when combined that the Prometheus's three warps (the two smaller cores have a combined output) operate at a 3rd of their total output, so one of them goes offline for whatever reason the other two will pick up the slack. This also goes towards proving that when separated that each Prometheus section doesn't lose any power. ==Separated== The much controversial "MVAM". There seems to be lots of theories as to what this system is meant to do. Here is my explanation for what is it worth. Multi Vector Assault Mode MVAM allows for the Prometheus to use each sections mobility to attack from different vectors, with the intention that they will penetrate through enemy defenses and attack into the enemy's vulnerable rear areas. Basically that's what it is designed to do, but obviously if you are a more tactically inclined captain you find new way in which to use this system to your advantage. It's 2:44 in the morning where i am now, so ill think i will head off to bed. But if anyone wishes to voice another point of view please feel free to, i would like to talk more about this ship.