Whoa whoa who...lol I designed an updated klink one-wing, and I've done a couple of doodles for Da' Fatman. Both designs are so crazy that they work lol
btw: keep up the good work! Oh and tell FoaS I said Sup... I miss chatting with him
2270-2290s Gaming Minis (Including obscure designs!)
- Thread starter Norsehound
- Start date
btw: keep up the good work! Oh and tell FoaS I said Sup... I miss chatting with him
Hmm, I don't know if I saw the fatman, but I do see your TNG one-wing design up on the Starship Tactical Combat Simulator page. Between the two of them the One Wing is more likely to feature in the game as it's a generalist cruiser. Fat Man is either a troop assault ship (too belligerent in peacetime) or a Battleship (also belligerent, and expensive).
On the matter of the Klingons though, I did mock up a K23. I don't know if I got FOAS' version or not, but it's simple enough to do.
I'm not sure where to put the K23 in the expansion model I have for the game, though I do have a dump area of one-ship "packs" that players would be able to purchase and field that individual ship and maybe a few other special officers (kind of like the X-Wing model, but unlike X-Wing it's not really practical to field multiples of the same ship unless you really want them on the table). Right now the Bird of Prey is the light ship of the Klingon forces... though.... the Imperial Persona doesn't have a frigate to rely on (BoPs are Raiders).
My Take (In context of the game setting): An economical small-ship combatant from the belligerent 2260s era, a frigate stablemate to the D-7 and L-9 cruisers. They were constructed and fielded in large numbers, their greatest showing was in the aborted 2267 attack across Federation space where several of these scouts were fielded as pathfinders. Three of them were destroyed, including the one by the U.S.S. Enterprise on its way to Organia. They remain in the Klingon inventory due to sheer attrition of numbers, their simplistic design, small size, and light maintenance costs made them ubiquitous in the Empire. What they could not do, however, was serve in the mission ranges required for antagonizing the Federation. They were too limited, lacking speed and cloaking ability to evade Federation cruisers and lacking the firepower necessary to do more than convoy raiding.
On the matter of the Klingons though, I did mock up a K23. I don't know if I got FOAS' version or not, but it's simple enough to do.
I'm not sure where to put the K23 in the expansion model I have for the game, though I do have a dump area of one-ship "packs" that players would be able to purchase and field that individual ship and maybe a few other special officers (kind of like the X-Wing model, but unlike X-Wing it's not really practical to field multiples of the same ship unless you really want them on the table). Right now the Bird of Prey is the light ship of the Klingon forces... though.... the Imperial Persona doesn't have a frigate to rely on (BoPs are Raiders).
My Take (In context of the game setting): An economical small-ship combatant from the belligerent 2260s era, a frigate stablemate to the D-7 and L-9 cruisers. They were constructed and fielded in large numbers, their greatest showing was in the aborted 2267 attack across Federation space where several of these scouts were fielded as pathfinders. Three of them were destroyed, including the one by the U.S.S. Enterprise on its way to Organia. They remain in the Klingon inventory due to sheer attrition of numbers, their simplistic design, small size, and light maintenance costs made them ubiquitous in the Empire. What they could not do, however, was serve in the mission ranges required for antagonizing the Federation. They were too limited, lacking speed and cloaking ability to evade Federation cruisers and lacking the firepower necessary to do more than convoy raiding.
Got another one, easy since it's a kitbash. Klingon Academy I guess calls this the Clydensdale class freighter, but I'm from Starfleet Command where it was marked as the ubiquitous Federation freighter you always had to protect or destroy.
In gameplay terms, she's an NPC. I have a mechanic in mind that allows these NPC cargo ships to travel between different destinations on the map. Also in this expansion however, are pirates and the ability for players to run their own pirate gangs (opposing them of course are the Federation, playing cops and robbers). I don't plan on this being playable because it's... well... boring. No sensors, no armament, no shuttles even. Just raw cargo space that would rival the Ariel, but without the shuttle bonuses or ability to fight anything. This model is downscaled from my original thought, because I didnt want many game pieces rivaling the Excelsior and Ariel in terms of size on the table if I could help it.
My take: No other freighter design in the late 2200s could be considered more stock, more generalist, and more common than the Clydensdale-type freighter. As the Federation was establishing a more robust inner economy the need for freighters was great, and the largest and most visible response was the Clydensdale. The most complicated parts- the engine and shortened command pod, were quick to assemble in advanced shipyards and then delivered to other yards where the common components of cargo containers and hull truss were mated to the engines and command pod. Freighters of this type were only limited in the assembly time of the command pod, which by the 2280s was easy to assemble as it was based on technology implemented in the Enterprise refit.
Freighters of this type continued to see service far into the 2380s because of the simplicity of the design. The engines used the same parts built for the aging Miranda-class fleets, and the bridge and control components rarely needed upgrades except to comply with modern shipping standards.
In gameplay terms, she's an NPC. I have a mechanic in mind that allows these NPC cargo ships to travel between different destinations on the map. Also in this expansion however, are pirates and the ability for players to run their own pirate gangs (opposing them of course are the Federation, playing cops and robbers). I don't plan on this being playable because it's... well... boring. No sensors, no armament, no shuttles even. Just raw cargo space that would rival the Ariel, but without the shuttle bonuses or ability to fight anything. This model is downscaled from my original thought, because I didnt want many game pieces rivaling the Excelsior and Ariel in terms of size on the table if I could help it.
My take: No other freighter design in the late 2200s could be considered more stock, more generalist, and more common than the Clydensdale-type freighter. As the Federation was establishing a more robust inner economy the need for freighters was great, and the largest and most visible response was the Clydensdale. The most complicated parts- the engine and shortened command pod, were quick to assemble in advanced shipyards and then delivered to other yards where the common components of cargo containers and hull truss were mated to the engines and command pod. Freighters of this type were only limited in the assembly time of the command pod, which by the 2280s was easy to assemble as it was based on technology implemented in the Enterprise refit.
Freighters of this type continued to see service far into the 2380s because of the simplicity of the design. The engines used the same parts built for the aging Miranda-class fleets, and the bridge and control components rarely needed upgrades except to comply with modern shipping standards.
I should be using my time for other things. Some of those other things are modeling the Z-1 and L-24. Instead, I'm modeling freighters. Another FASA contribution, this one's the Laweya.
I wanted to have a small battery of freighters on hand for future testing of the automated freighter rules (and pirates?). The Laweya is a stablemate of the Class III but is much more to starfleet's specs of a cheap freighter ship. In this game I'm making both the Class III and the Laweya can carry supplies and ferry them to ships in the field without needing them to return to starbase. They can also handle cargo runs and low-intensity missions to free up other players for the important crisis stuff (like Diplomatic missions and patrol). I dunno if I'll print this one, but at least it's out there.
My take: Another creation in the wave of logistics craft build in the 2270s, the Laweya was designed during the Phase-II renovations but enacted with Enterprise-refit technology. As this was a simple swap of the warp nacelles, warp engine, and impulse drives, the Laweya class quickly became a dependable medium freighter for starfleet use. Planetary landing capabilities caught the interest of the Starfleet marine corps, but the under-armed nature of the ship combined with its atmospheric handling made it lose out to other classes. The Laweya remained a dependable planet-capable transport well into the 2360s, serving long after construction had stopped and fulfilling a role that starfleet didn't feel it needed to be replaced. The Cardassian wars would show Starfleet the folly of this decision.
I wanted to have a small battery of freighters on hand for future testing of the automated freighter rules (and pirates?). The Laweya is a stablemate of the Class III but is much more to starfleet's specs of a cheap freighter ship. In this game I'm making both the Class III and the Laweya can carry supplies and ferry them to ships in the field without needing them to return to starbase. They can also handle cargo runs and low-intensity missions to free up other players for the important crisis stuff (like Diplomatic missions and patrol). I dunno if I'll print this one, but at least it's out there.
My take: Another creation in the wave of logistics craft build in the 2270s, the Laweya was designed during the Phase-II renovations but enacted with Enterprise-refit technology. As this was a simple swap of the warp nacelles, warp engine, and impulse drives, the Laweya class quickly became a dependable medium freighter for starfleet use. Planetary landing capabilities caught the interest of the Starfleet marine corps, but the under-armed nature of the ship combined with its atmospheric handling made it lose out to other classes. The Laweya remained a dependable planet-capable transport well into the 2360s, serving long after construction had stopped and fulfilling a role that starfleet didn't feel it needed to be replaced. The Cardassian wars would show Starfleet the folly of this decision.
So. On the matter of the L-24 and Z-1... I did make some progress way back when on both of them, but both stalled out once the trek project stalled. Since I'm roaring on this modeling train (current designs printed: 24 ships not including the shuttles or the station). In many cases when I set out to model these ships I wanted them to be true to whatever sources I could find. In terms of vague or contradictory things (such as the diagrams and the like), I turned to seeking out the original minis or 3D models others have done to get a read on them. The L24 is a bit of a special case. Of course, here is the original FASA lineart. Vague as some of the areas were, of course I went looking for the minis.
What I found was a little surprising.
Pay attention to the main hull, here. The FASA drawings (and the re-draws Brad Torgersen has on the STCS site) depict a hump-backed secondary hull, but it seems the mini depicts it as a kind of flattened cylinder. Because I'm that kind of guy who likes the exception over the assumption (hence, this thread depicting obscure 2270s-2290s ships forgotten by mainstream trek!) Of course I went with the minis interpretation.
The plan is for the Klingons to get this bruiser in the last box to cap off the product run of (the 2270-90s period) Captains- The Final Reflection, opposite of the Romulan's Z-1. This is the equivalent to the Excelsior in terms of capability, able to crush cruisers and threaten outposts. Since I'm considering a Chronicle model for Captains now (Turning the game into a series of campaigns building on one another, rather than a one-and-done session), a Klingon Imperial player could find themselves upgrading to this monster near the end of the campaign and pushing for war with the Federation. The Final Reflection is planned to have scenarios which also depict the opening shots of the 2290s war, where the Federation players can work to try stemming the first assault or the Klingon players prevail. Championing the charge on an L-24 would be an awesome way to go.
My Take: The Klingons, eager to have the largest and most intimidating weapons in order to rule unchallenged, nevertheless had great difficulty producing heavy warships that served with great success. The B-10 project of the 2260s was approaching the second decade of construction time, and the stop-gap L-13 was hardly the indomitable vision of Klingon supremacy the Klingons desired. Basing their next attempt on an enlarged plan of the D-10, the L-24 had the bulk of the previous designs, but it utilized that space for larger power plants and troop storage. After the first L-24 completed its trials, there was even consideration for fighter armament. Finally satisfied with a reliable design the Klingons constructed dozens of these cruisers, which formed the bulwark against the Federation's new Excelsior and Constellation classes. They remained in service into the 2300s, though attrition against a short-lived war with the Kzinti and sabotage of the remaining service yards by the Romulans meant their numbers were dwindled the next time hostilities errupted with the Federation.
What I found was a little surprising.
Pay attention to the main hull, here. The FASA drawings (and the re-draws Brad Torgersen has on the STCS site) depict a hump-backed secondary hull, but it seems the mini depicts it as a kind of flattened cylinder. Because I'm that kind of guy who likes the exception over the assumption (hence, this thread depicting obscure 2270s-2290s ships forgotten by mainstream trek!) Of course I went with the minis interpretation.
The plan is for the Klingons to get this bruiser in the last box to cap off the product run of (the 2270-90s period) Captains- The Final Reflection, opposite of the Romulan's Z-1. This is the equivalent to the Excelsior in terms of capability, able to crush cruisers and threaten outposts. Since I'm considering a Chronicle model for Captains now (Turning the game into a series of campaigns building on one another, rather than a one-and-done session), a Klingon Imperial player could find themselves upgrading to this monster near the end of the campaign and pushing for war with the Federation. The Final Reflection is planned to have scenarios which also depict the opening shots of the 2290s war, where the Federation players can work to try stemming the first assault or the Klingon players prevail. Championing the charge on an L-24 would be an awesome way to go.
My Take: The Klingons, eager to have the largest and most intimidating weapons in order to rule unchallenged, nevertheless had great difficulty producing heavy warships that served with great success. The B-10 project of the 2260s was approaching the second decade of construction time, and the stop-gap L-13 was hardly the indomitable vision of Klingon supremacy the Klingons desired. Basing their next attempt on an enlarged plan of the D-10, the L-24 had the bulk of the previous designs, but it utilized that space for larger power plants and troop storage. After the first L-24 completed its trials, there was even consideration for fighter armament. Finally satisfied with a reliable design the Klingons constructed dozens of these cruisers, which formed the bulwark against the Federation's new Excelsior and Constellation classes. They remained in service into the 2300s, though attrition against a short-lived war with the Kzinti and sabotage of the remaining service yards by the Romulans meant their numbers were dwindled the next time hostilities errupted with the Federation.
That second miniature definitely looks like a kitbash using BOP parts. Doesn’t work for me. The first miniature and your version are definitely accurate to the spirit of the concept. We’ve had a rolling conversation about similar things in the TAS Made Real thread. Sometimes, when trying to reconcile 2-dimensional objects in a 3-dimensional space, the shapes simply don’t work, so we need to make best-fit-guesses on the assembly of some of these things. The TAS stuff and the source FASA stuff both have these kinds of errors that can cause some difficulties when attempting to accurately reproduce them in the real world. They just don’t always want to cooperate, but you’ve definitely done an excellent job on making them work.
a simple bash would be the SunShine class Liner that can also double as a Starfleet Troop Transport
Here's a TOS Version of the TMP ship that I drew up many years ago
Here's a TOS Version of the TMP ship that I drew up many years ago
Oh yeah, that much is obvious. But it's clear that the kitbash uses the L-24 hull and we can see it at a good angle. Sources for the miniatures are really scarce and a bit hard to find, this is also after trawling a facebook group with FASA minis photos a while ago.
My next challenge is to figure out how to model the Z-1 :\ Lots of curvy and complicated bits.
Looks like a predecessor to FASA's Overfield class. Some ships I'm skipping because they go too far into being over-specialized... it's why a swath of combat-specialized classes (Yamato, Ulysses, Andor, Indomidable, Knox at this point) I'm skipping. If players are some degree of troubleshooters, they wouldn't be using these specialists classes because they rarely venture outside of their mission profiles (Which are not Patrol, Diplomacy, Supply, or Science missions). Freighters are the exception, since they're NPC targets for the pirates and hostile factions.
In other news I think the small ships are practically done.
Such an ugly fat bastard, it's beautiful.
Last edited:
If I can think of a reason for this aged battleship to trundle into Federation space in peacetime, perhaps I could get it in. As a matter of fact I did model and have the intent to include the pre-refitted Federation-class dreadnought...
...on the mentality that the pre-refit Federation has essentially degraded to being a mere oversized cruiser by the 2270s (Entente herself is called out by Epsilon IX). Starfleet essentially reclassified the ship as such and released it for sector patrol duties to ward off any adventures by the Klingons, but she's obsolescent.
The L-24 and Z-1 show up in The Final Reflection (shesh, I talk about this as if I have an expansion model. Wait, I do) more or less to highlight the tensions going on in the 2290s. This border section the players are serving on is visited by Klingon heavy-hitters making grand gestures (as emphasized by the L-24), or by covert Romulan actions needing heavier field support, or ships actually capable of seriously damaging enemy cruisers (Z-1). Both antagonistic powers see an opportunity of grabbing the player sector in this time of heightened tensions, so when the war switch gets flipped these pseudo-diplomatic/operations ships can suddenly attack targets and match the Excelsior if they encounter one.
So... what would the L-13 be doing in such an environment?
It's too slow to outrun Federation cruisers, too obvious of a military vessel to allow into Federation space under diplomatic immunity, and too ridiculous and outdated to bear the flag of the Klingon Empire on diplomatic missions. The time you'd see L-13s in the context of this game is when the Klingon Empire is invading as the Empire is pulling out all the stops to swarm the Federation.
...If I get the brain space and desire to model it, maybe I will. As it is I need to think about putting some of this up on Thingiverse shouldn't I?
...on the mentality that the pre-refit Federation has essentially degraded to being a mere oversized cruiser by the 2270s (Entente herself is called out by Epsilon IX). Starfleet essentially reclassified the ship as such and released it for sector patrol duties to ward off any adventures by the Klingons, but she's obsolescent.
The L-24 and Z-1 show up in The Final Reflection (shesh, I talk about this as if I have an expansion model. Wait, I do) more or less to highlight the tensions going on in the 2290s. This border section the players are serving on is visited by Klingon heavy-hitters making grand gestures (as emphasized by the L-24), or by covert Romulan actions needing heavier field support, or ships actually capable of seriously damaging enemy cruisers (Z-1). Both antagonistic powers see an opportunity of grabbing the player sector in this time of heightened tensions, so when the war switch gets flipped these pseudo-diplomatic/operations ships can suddenly attack targets and match the Excelsior if they encounter one.
So... what would the L-13 be doing in such an environment?
It's too slow to outrun Federation cruisers, too obvious of a military vessel to allow into Federation space under diplomatic immunity, and too ridiculous and outdated to bear the flag of the Klingon Empire on diplomatic missions. The time you'd see L-13s in the context of this game is when the Klingon Empire is invading as the Empire is pulling out all the stops to swarm the Federation.
...If I get the brain space and desire to model it, maybe I will. As it is I need to think about putting some of this up on Thingiverse shouldn't I?
I would suggest a role for an L-13 would be as kind of a garrison ship. The faster Klingon ships are moving in on systems C, D, and E while the Fat Man ships are behind holding down systems A and B. Could be great for a Star Fleet mission sent in to liberate a captured system.
And yes, Thingiverse...
--Alex
And yes, Thingiverse...
--Alex
If I hadn't mentioned it earlier... the scope of the game is for players to command single ships with officer cards. The point of it is, with missions out there on planets, you go there with your ship and navigate some skill checks with your chosen officers to see if you pass or succeed at the missions and challenges you're trying to overcome. The ultimate goal is for the Federation to maintain stability in the sector.
The base game goes from 2-4 Federation players playing cooperatively. The Klingon expansion adds one (maybe two?) Klingon players... whose entire job is to mess up Federation operations in this sector. Depending on the Klingon persona (Imperial or Marauder), they do this either by accomplishing missions and assignments of their own in the same sector of space (Imperial) or simply following Fed players around, trying to mess up their assignments or hijack posted Federation missions (Marauder).
Here's an example of the board, the game is a 1 Klingon player vs 3 Federation players:
As you can see the Klingon border is more or less a safe zone for the Klingon player but not much else. L-24s at least can operate under the auspices of Diplomacy missions and "Scientific ventures"- even if it makes the Feds nervous. The orange planets you see here are star systems unaffiliated with the Federation and welcome Klingon diplomats. Until war kicks off the Federation players are forbidden from attacking Imperial Klingon players unless they venture into a Starbase or Core sector without a face-up mission targeting one of those planets.
L-24s as the new hotness can make the claim of being a flag of the empire. L-13s, as the old hotness, can't. Moreover an L-13 player in this setup, guarding the frontier, won't do much other than sit there. The Klingon play-style rewards going forward and being disruptive, not camping the frontier.
All that said, perhaps I will model the L-13 at some point. This game is still very much "under development" and it could be that more old ships can work in this kind of scenario. At the moment however, the fat man is just a bit too far.
No... it's not the Klingons who need help with ship content. As mentioned above for the Klingons I did the K-23, but I also have the D-10 and D-18 as possible additions as well (all more suited for the scope of the game than the L-13...). Really the Romulans are the ones who need more ships to fill out their potential craft, since right now their selections are:
White Wind (FASA, Romulan Box)
Bright One (FASA, Romulan Box)
Senator (Klingon Academy, Romulan Box)
Bird of Prey (TOS, All our Yesterdays box)
Z-1 (FASA, The Final Reflection)
I'm considering the Winged Defender from FASA and the Imperium class from Klingon Academy, but both of them are a little too on the nose in a few respects. Other craft, like the FASA V-6 and nearly all the SFB range, feel more like TOS designs than the 2270s-90s period that I'm targeting.
The base game goes from 2-4 Federation players playing cooperatively. The Klingon expansion adds one (maybe two?) Klingon players... whose entire job is to mess up Federation operations in this sector. Depending on the Klingon persona (Imperial or Marauder), they do this either by accomplishing missions and assignments of their own in the same sector of space (Imperial) or simply following Fed players around, trying to mess up their assignments or hijack posted Federation missions (Marauder).
Here's an example of the board, the game is a 1 Klingon player vs 3 Federation players:
As you can see the Klingon border is more or less a safe zone for the Klingon player but not much else. L-24s at least can operate under the auspices of Diplomacy missions and "Scientific ventures"- even if it makes the Feds nervous. The orange planets you see here are star systems unaffiliated with the Federation and welcome Klingon diplomats. Until war kicks off the Federation players are forbidden from attacking Imperial Klingon players unless they venture into a Starbase or Core sector without a face-up mission targeting one of those planets.
L-24s as the new hotness can make the claim of being a flag of the empire. L-13s, as the old hotness, can't. Moreover an L-13 player in this setup, guarding the frontier, won't do much other than sit there. The Klingon play-style rewards going forward and being disruptive, not camping the frontier.
All that said, perhaps I will model the L-13 at some point. This game is still very much "under development" and it could be that more old ships can work in this kind of scenario. At the moment however, the fat man is just a bit too far.
No... it's not the Klingons who need help with ship content. As mentioned above for the Klingons I did the K-23, but I also have the D-10 and D-18 as possible additions as well (all more suited for the scope of the game than the L-13...). Really the Romulans are the ones who need more ships to fill out their potential craft, since right now their selections are:
White Wind (FASA, Romulan Box)
Bright One (FASA, Romulan Box)
Senator (Klingon Academy, Romulan Box)
Bird of Prey (TOS, All our Yesterdays box)
Z-1 (FASA, The Final Reflection)
I'm considering the Winged Defender from FASA and the Imperium class from Klingon Academy, but both of them are a little too on the nose in a few respects. Other craft, like the FASA V-6 and nearly all the SFB range, feel more like TOS designs than the 2270s-90s period that I'm targeting.
Here's another quick kitbash; John E Payne's Peregrine:
My Take: An experimental retrofit of NCC-1936 Peregrine as an engineering test. While there is a slight bump in maneuverability from the wide-part wings, it wasn't much more than the Chandley-class in terms of performance, though with the reduced bulk of the secondary hull modules on that class. In the end, Peregrine's performance wasn't much better than the Stock Miranda, but she was retained in service as an engineering curiosity. She survived the 2290s before she succumbed to fleet reductions at the end of hostilities with the Klingons. She was preserved in the fleet museum, laid up in reserve in the Vulcan system.
My Take: An experimental retrofit of NCC-1936 Peregrine as an engineering test. While there is a slight bump in maneuverability from the wide-part wings, it wasn't much more than the Chandley-class in terms of performance, though with the reduced bulk of the secondary hull modules on that class. In the end, Peregrine's performance wasn't much better than the Stock Miranda, but she was retained in service as an engineering curiosity. She survived the 2290s before she succumbed to fleet reductions at the end of hostilities with the Klingons. She was preserved in the fleet museum, laid up in reserve in the Vulcan system.
Ok got another comic oddball one for you guys.
The Lafayette comes from the second half of the DC comics set in the late 2280s-2290s period while the Enterprise-A is in service. Her registry is rather high (NCC-7099), which is fitting? for the period. It's likely the artist intended for her to be another Miranda, but the wonderful thing about these oddities is trying to make sense of them.
Recently Trek Year 5 did a valentine's day issue which stretches into the 70 and 90s period with the U.S.S. Drake. She's pretty evidently supposed to be a TOS miranda (Her registry is NCC-1801), though we get a glimpse of her in a post-refitted state and she's not just a TOS miranda. Her underslung torpedo module reminded me of the Lafayette, so I decided to finish off where I started a while ago modeling the class. At a glance, I think they could be the same type, even though there's registry weirdness.
My Take: It's a popular myth in starfleet that the Miranda-class is actually a refit of an older class of starship, the usual donor candidates coming from several unrelated classes (among them; Anton, Capella, Detroyat). While untrue, there were similar classes and similar refits performed over time that gave rise to the myth that the Miranda received similar. The most successful of which would be a batch of vessels collectively called the "Roanoke" type, all originating from various classes and received rebuilds along roughly similar lines.
The so-called Roanokes all saw service in the period between the 70s and 90s as patrol ships. Frequently they were fitted with one-off equipment and limited production technology as field tests of various equipment. NCC-7022 Lafayette, for example, was fitted with LN-72 warp pylons and an experimental sensor module. The majority of them were decommissioned in the 2310s to consolidate maintenance, though two of them were retained by Starfleet Engineering as test hulks before being expended as targets.
The Lafayette comes from the second half of the DC comics set in the late 2280s-2290s period while the Enterprise-A is in service. Her registry is rather high (NCC-7099), which is fitting? for the period. It's likely the artist intended for her to be another Miranda, but the wonderful thing about these oddities is trying to make sense of them.
Recently Trek Year 5 did a valentine's day issue which stretches into the 70 and 90s period with the U.S.S. Drake. She's pretty evidently supposed to be a TOS miranda (Her registry is NCC-1801), though we get a glimpse of her in a post-refitted state and she's not just a TOS miranda. Her underslung torpedo module reminded me of the Lafayette, so I decided to finish off where I started a while ago modeling the class. At a glance, I think they could be the same type, even though there's registry weirdness.
My Take: It's a popular myth in starfleet that the Miranda-class is actually a refit of an older class of starship, the usual donor candidates coming from several unrelated classes (among them; Anton, Capella, Detroyat). While untrue, there were similar classes and similar refits performed over time that gave rise to the myth that the Miranda received similar. The most successful of which would be a batch of vessels collectively called the "Roanoke" type, all originating from various classes and received rebuilds along roughly similar lines.
The so-called Roanokes all saw service in the period between the 70s and 90s as patrol ships. Frequently they were fitted with one-off equipment and limited production technology as field tests of various equipment. NCC-7022 Lafayette, for example, was fitted with LN-72 warp pylons and an experimental sensor module. The majority of them were decommissioned in the 2310s to consolidate maintenance, though two of them were retained by Starfleet Engineering as test hulks before being expended as targets.
Those pics look like they were done by different artists. Interesting design - looks like a built-up Knox/Miranda hybrid.
Top and Right come from the same source, one of the DC comics (Lafayette). Bottom left is from the recent Year 5 (if that wasn't clear...)
There is one other image of the Lafayette, but like so much of these DC images it's contradictory. This profile shot implies the nacelles are TOS versions (though it does show the pod...)
There is one other image of the Lafayette, but like so much of these DC images it's contradictory. This profile shot implies the nacelles are TOS versions (though it does show the pod...)
Awesome work!
I always envisioned the L13 as almost a super Qship, a converted freighter, or as you stated a garrison-ship...there to either hold systems, or if a Qship, fool adversaries as to their intent of siege.
The L-13 would make more sense to me as a troop ship, and maybe that's where most of the bulk lies. It's like an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars- packed with (at the time cutting edge) weaponry and embarking a small army for planetary subjugation. Perhaps even off the back of the L-13's impracticality the Empire realized that it's better to split those roles, as that way you don't build a bruiser that won't use half its bulk when it's not conducting those kinds of attacks.
The D-10 is much better of an image of what a heavier warship than the D-7 looks like, in my opinion.
The D-10 is much better of an image of what a heavier warship than the D-7 looks like, in my opinion.
