Design the Next Enterprise

[lennier1]

I remember that ship! I think I even have a copy of the model on my archive drive somewhere. Now there's a guy (Atolm) who understands how to think outside the box.

I'm not too concerned about the look of the nacelles, though. I can see the similarities in the rough sketch but what I have in mind would be rather different. Atolm's nacelles are basically just vertically symmetrical, while mine are literally two nacelles in a tandem pair. Probably I will be increasing the distance between them slightly as well.

That's also the line of thought that has put me at ease.

The sketch made it look like you started out by slicing one of the Chariot's nacelles in half and filled in a center section.
But in the earliest stages the Grandeur's nacelles probably also started out as a less angled version of the Sovvy nacelles and yet the end result is completely different.

The similarity probably is because the Chariot is such a memorable design and since you liked that nacelle shape as well it was spooking around in your subconscious.

 

[backstept]

Another very interesting approach. I'm guessing that the front of the ship is to the left, correct? The first question that brings to mind is, why do you even have an engineering hull if the engines aren't connected to it? And if it's not an engineering hull, what is it and why does it need to hang back there like a fresh kill in an eagle's talons?

Food for thought: What if you keep the same configuration but reverse the orientation so the front of the ship is to the right?

good point
I see what you mean by having the engines and secondary hull separate. My thinking was to have the reverse of the galaxy separation. Instead of leaving the saucer without warp it would leave the secondary hull. Also the sec hull is mostly shuttlebay, science labs and sensors and secondary crew quarters.

of course, everything in the above paragraph is an after the fact rationalization for it :P
as I was sketching it up I was mainly thinking about making a cool design

I'm heading towards getting rid of the two necks . . . it looks cool but I'm having a tough time visualizing how it connects to the secondary hull or how it comes off of the saucer
I do want to keep the general outline of the top and front view, but I think any changes I make will affect the side view most
I also need to nail down a nacelle shape that isn't just a tube

 

[erifah]

I always assumed that whatever thrust the impulse engines produce is somehow harnessed by the artificial gravity/inertial damping system and applied as a uniform field effect to the entire ship and everyone in it, hence the ability to accelerate at thousands and thousands of gravities without crumpling the ship like a beer can or reducing the crew to a fine atomic paste on the aft bulkheads. This is supported by the fact that impulse is capable of working in reverse.

In other words, the ship doesn't have a center of gravity in terms of propulsion because the acceleration force is applied everywhere uniformly, not just at the points where the engines are mounted.

That line of reasoning would certainly solve a LOT of problems. It would also fit nicely with the concept behind the impossibly-thin & long nacelle struts - some sort of advanced technology of the 23rd century MAKES them possible. That same technology makes it unnecessary to worry about an unbalanced Enterprise cartwheeling throughout the cosmos...

 

[Warped9]

^^ It's why I've long suspected that the ship's impulse drive is really a form of antigravity drive.

 

[backstept]

^^ It's why I've long suspected that the ship's impulse drive is really a form of antigravity drive.

that's how I always figured it worked . . . reduce the ship's mass so the thrusters don't have to be so huge and also allow it to get to impulse speeds which are fractions of c

 

[Solarbaby]

I can't enter this contest :-( so I haven't done a new design. However I think I would like to possibly see this is a new Enterprise. I took the idea of the catamaran style connecting hulls of the Akira and flipped it sideways.

 

[Captain_Amasov]

^^ It's why I've long suspected that the ship's impulse drive is really a form of antigravity drive.

Didn't Rick Sternbach once mention that 24th century starship impulse engines acted more like a sub-warp drive, in that they produce little or no pure rocket thrust.

 

[Titan Designer]

Here is another Teaser Image for my entry for the Star Trek Online Design The Next Enterprise Contest.
All I am still working on is the image for the bottom, but the other views are complete. I re-did the Nacelle Pylons As well as elongated the secondary hull a little[SIZE=3

I will still finish the other configuration, I may even enter it if I can enter more than one design. Either way this has jump started my ship design frame of mind again.

Sean Tourangeau
Adobe Illustrator CS5

 

[Dac]

Yeah, even though I can't submit it, i've still been working at it.

Im onto the pointless details phase, and yes, its quick and dirty but I dont care as its just conveying the general idea of the ship.

 

[Saquist]

I've always seen Impulse as another form of Warp Drive...a field propulsion. A more inferior form.

 

[Titan Designer]

That is a big Ship Looking Great DAC.

 

[Science Officer]

Hi Folks,

Given the hack job a quick makeover by tweaking the shapes and adding a few trek conventional colours.

Cheers,
S.O.

 

[Dac]

Science Officer, I can't help but wonder what it would look like if you changed the direction of one of the sets of pylons? If you make them thinner and reverse a pair so they make an angled loop, it might spice it up a bit and break the uniformity of it.

Titan Designer, thanks. The more I see of yours the more I like it.

 

[erifah]

OK, so it's a quick & dirty shot, and the overall ship is interesting, if not exciting yet - that will come if you develop it.

BUT THOSE NACELLES! WOWIE-WOW-WOW! That Coke-bottle shape is giving me wood. You need to develop them, maybe even as stand-alone items.

 

[Saquist]

Yeah I'm not thrilled about the saucer but the rest is incredible.

 

[Dac]

Seeing as the saucer seems to be a thorn in everyone's sides, what do you all think of the following?

Classic Circle?

Wide Galaxy-esque?

Thin Sovereignish?

Voyagerish?

Dauntlessish?

Star Trek:Final Frontier Ent-H? (WTF were they thinking?)

ZE BALL!

Ace of Spades?

Queen of Hearts?

Jack of Clubs?

King of Diamonds?

 

[bullethead]

Seeing as the saucer seems to be a thorn in everyone's sides, what do you all think of the following?

I really never had a problem with the saucer aside from that dimple thing in the first version you showed, but the tons of windows on the sides of the engineering hull need to be cut back a little. If there was a bit more space between the rows, they would look better.

 

[Kaiser]

Seeing as the saucer seems to be a thorn in everyone's sides, what do you all think of the following?

Classic Circle?

Wide Galaxy-esque?

Thin Sovereignish?

Voyagerish?

Dauntlessish?

Star Trek:Final Frontier Ent-H? (WTF were they thinking?)

ZE BALL!

Ace of Spades?

Queen of Hearts?

Jack of Clubs?

King of Diamonds?

Id go with Dauntlessish

 

[lennier1]

Seeing as the saucer seems to be a thorn in everyone's sides, ...

It has more to do with Doug Drexler's pizza cutter (Ent-J) being a rather polarizing design.

 

[erifah]

Jack of Clubs?

I like THIS one. Sort of a mobile spacedock kinda thing going on there.