O HAI. A few people here know me from other boards & are acquainted with my project, but for the vast majority who've no idea who I am, let me introduce & explain.
My name is Shik, & I have a project. It's a complete list of Starfleet ships, from NCC-1 to NCC-100000. When I say "complete", I mean there are no gaps in it, and no doubling as in James Dixon's list. To my knowledge, this is the first time ever this has been done; there's only one other person I've met who's tried something similar & he's been hung up for many years on tying the original Jefferies registry system into the Okudaic one. It takes names from all sources, including fandom manuals, & RPGs but very few of those classes have actually translated over either in design or name. Anyway, the data is done (all entered by end of 2008; fully edited by end of 2009 & only lightly tweaked since) & comprises 100,005 ships in 168 classes. I'm pretty proud of it.
Anyway, the plan is to eventually build a website to put it on, but data alone is so boring, & much of it requires context and explanation, so the plan is to also have related articles on the site as well. I've grouped the classes into "generations" built around the same time & influenced by related events. There are 16 generations that I'm writing about; these articles discuss the times, events, and reasons behind building the classes. They also fill in the interim years between the generations for the sake of continuity. When combined, they essentially form a history of Starfleet, thus the title of this thread. These pieces have a flavor rather like Masao's Starfleet Museum articles, on which the layout is patterned. Eventually the site will go live with the articles & then use the pieces written about the individual classes for new content to update with (most like using a layout pattern simular to the entries in Timo's guide to Starfleet), but that's a couple years off, most like 2016 or so.
There is also in attendant existence a carefully worked-out shipbuilding schedule and a detailed master class list noting the type of ship each class is, how many there are & how long they were in production, and where the design came from (if it has one; many of the founding classes do not, nor a large chunk of early 24th-century ships). I mention this only to point out that there is a background structure & that such things weren't simply produced on the spot while writing from some anal ZPE source.
In the meantime, I present the first 4 articles for your perusal:
I've also included the initial draft for Sentinel (20 pgs.), which covers 2254 to 2269...sort of. The interim history runs from about 2240 & the article in truth ends at 2265, but the last class enters service in 2269, so it's somewhat pseudopodic.
All files are in PDF format for easier viewing on tablets, and can be found here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5HtjQmKMnxcamJxaXVpYUpvaGc&usp=sharing
The history is generally of my own design, but does cadge elements from all over, including other fan histories, the old FASA game, & bits & pieces of the original run of novels, but none of it contradicts canon, which is the structural frame it's all built around. Later on, when I get to the post-Dominion War & VGR years, I will NOT be following either the novelverse seres of events (mainly because I abhor the road they've gone down) or the STO/AbramsTrek history (yes, Romulus still exists in my universe, & Data is still dead until otherwise proven).
You'll notice great differences between Sentinel & the others. Part of that is because this is/was a difficult article to write, because the events it details really don't allow the piece to proceed in a linear format like the others; there's a lot of jumping around back & forth. It's also because of the difficulty in reconciling some of what's been seen in the TOS & TMP eras with what came before & what follows. Mainly it's due to its nature as a first draft. I've learned the best way for me to write is to get it put as best as I can, then go back in review & tweak it. When that's done I move on to the next piece & do the same process, & repeat. When I have 3 or 4 somewhat interconnected pieces, then I go back & do the final heavy smoothing edits, scrawling my notes all over hard copy. It's kind of like modern shipbuilding: a few large subassemblies are made from smaller pieces, & then the subassemblies are put together to create the whole. Foundation through Deeprange form the first major subassembly; Sentinel is the first piece of the second one, which will include the follow-ons of New Wave & Farspace.
So. I've posted these here for general critique & comment, & even possible enjoyment. Questions, comments, complaints, & racial epithets can be sent my way as needed. I would ask that they be of a constructive nature, though; don't just say me you don't like something, tell me why. Be specific. I'd also appreciate being told of any grammatical & spelling errors; sometimes the eyes slide over things after so many readings. In the case of Sentinel, I know there's overuse of some words. Normally I make great use of Word's thesaurus but that article was about 85% written on a crappy mobile phone-sized Android tablet & I couldn't find a free thesaurus app with a sufficiently diverse offline dictionary. Keep that in mind: I'm effectively writing a book on a cellphone.
My name is Shik, & I have a project. It's a complete list of Starfleet ships, from NCC-1 to NCC-100000. When I say "complete", I mean there are no gaps in it, and no doubling as in James Dixon's list. To my knowledge, this is the first time ever this has been done; there's only one other person I've met who's tried something similar & he's been hung up for many years on tying the original Jefferies registry system into the Okudaic one. It takes names from all sources, including fandom manuals, & RPGs but very few of those classes have actually translated over either in design or name. Anyway, the data is done (all entered by end of 2008; fully edited by end of 2009 & only lightly tweaked since) & comprises 100,005 ships in 168 classes. I'm pretty proud of it.
Anyway, the plan is to eventually build a website to put it on, but data alone is so boring, & much of it requires context and explanation, so the plan is to also have related articles on the site as well. I've grouped the classes into "generations" built around the same time & influenced by related events. There are 16 generations that I'm writing about; these articles discuss the times, events, and reasons behind building the classes. They also fill in the interim years between the generations for the sake of continuity. When combined, they essentially form a history of Starfleet, thus the title of this thread. These pieces have a flavor rather like Masao's Starfleet Museum articles, on which the layout is patterned. Eventually the site will go live with the articles & then use the pieces written about the individual classes for new content to update with (most like using a layout pattern simular to the entries in Timo's guide to Starfleet), but that's a couple years off, most like 2016 or so.
There is also in attendant existence a carefully worked-out shipbuilding schedule and a detailed master class list noting the type of ship each class is, how many there are & how long they were in production, and where the design came from (if it has one; many of the founding classes do not, nor a large chunk of early 24th-century ships). I mention this only to point out that there is a background structure & that such things weren't simply produced on the spot while writing from some anal ZPE source.
In the meantime, I present the first 4 articles for your perusal:
- Foundation covers the founding of the Federation and Starfleet in 2161, with a minor recapping of the Romulan War. (9 pgs.)
- Unity covers 2162 through 2175. (10 pgs)
- Trailblazer details ships from 2186 to 2202, interim history from 2175. (12 pgs.)
- Deeprange runs from 2221 to 2242, with interim history from 2200. (17 pgs.)
I've also included the initial draft for Sentinel (20 pgs.), which covers 2254 to 2269...sort of. The interim history runs from about 2240 & the article in truth ends at 2265, but the last class enters service in 2269, so it's somewhat pseudopodic.
All files are in PDF format for easier viewing on tablets, and can be found here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5HtjQmKMnxcamJxaXVpYUpvaGc&usp=sharing
The history is generally of my own design, but does cadge elements from all over, including other fan histories, the old FASA game, & bits & pieces of the original run of novels, but none of it contradicts canon, which is the structural frame it's all built around. Later on, when I get to the post-Dominion War & VGR years, I will NOT be following either the novelverse seres of events (mainly because I abhor the road they've gone down) or the STO/AbramsTrek history (yes, Romulus still exists in my universe, & Data is still dead until otherwise proven).
You'll notice great differences between Sentinel & the others. Part of that is because this is/was a difficult article to write, because the events it details really don't allow the piece to proceed in a linear format like the others; there's a lot of jumping around back & forth. It's also because of the difficulty in reconciling some of what's been seen in the TOS & TMP eras with what came before & what follows. Mainly it's due to its nature as a first draft. I've learned the best way for me to write is to get it put as best as I can, then go back in review & tweak it. When that's done I move on to the next piece & do the same process, & repeat. When I have 3 or 4 somewhat interconnected pieces, then I go back & do the final heavy smoothing edits, scrawling my notes all over hard copy. It's kind of like modern shipbuilding: a few large subassemblies are made from smaller pieces, & then the subassemblies are put together to create the whole. Foundation through Deeprange form the first major subassembly; Sentinel is the first piece of the second one, which will include the follow-ons of New Wave & Farspace.
So. I've posted these here for general critique & comment, & even possible enjoyment. Questions, comments, complaints, & racial epithets can be sent my way as needed. I would ask that they be of a constructive nature, though; don't just say me you don't like something, tell me why. Be specific. I'd also appreciate being told of any grammatical & spelling errors; sometimes the eyes slide over things after so many readings. In the case of Sentinel, I know there's overuse of some words. Normally I make great use of Word's thesaurus but that article was about 85% written on a crappy mobile phone-sized Android tablet & I couldn't find a free thesaurus app with a sufficiently diverse offline dictionary. Keep that in mind: I'm effectively writing a book on a cellphone.
