Dreadnought

[Vulagr]

I have an idea for an alternate look for a dreadnaught. You know the Federation cruiser from Starfleet Battles? It's warp engines are straight out instead of angled up over the primary hull. What if we take the warp engine nacelle and pylon, and put it in between the other two warp engines on the secondary hull and put the shuttlecraft hanger on the underside of the secondary hull like it is on the NX 01. Like so:

From:

http://www.star-ranger.com/SFB.htm

I am actually working on a sketch of this right now and it'll take me a few days to get it done.

 

[Saquist]

No third nacelle

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think a better model to follow for a Star Trek dreadnought would be the Defiant, only a helluva lot bigger and more heavily armed and armored. In other words, no nacelles far off from the hull, everything compacted into one main section (whether that section would be saucer shaped or cigar shaped is a judgement call).

 

[7thsealord]

I think a better model to follow for a Star Trek dreadnought would be the Defiant, only a helluva lot bigger and more heavily armed and armored. In other words, no nacelles far off from the hull, everything compacted into one main section (whether that section would be saucer shaped or cigar shaped is a judgement call).

In general, that makes a lot of sense to me.

The cruiser configuration (disc-shaped primary hull, lower secondary hull, two nacelles, etc.) obviously works well enough to remain in use for .... well, a heckuva while. However, as with any design, there are certainly trade-offs made for one reason or another. For example, the dispersed configuration might make a lot of sense as regards safety and/or sensor arcs, but might pose difficulties as regards armour and/or shields

A ship design of similar size or bigger, built primarily in terms of combat, might look completely different.