Help me select a ship

[The Castellan]

I'm putting togather all my notes and informations about the Trek comic I wanna do when I get my new computers, and I need to find an appropriate ship fo the crew.

It's going to be about the crew going on an exploration mission, occasionally coming back to Federation space now and again, and I need to have the ship to meet the following requirements:

Able to handle deep space exploration

Roomy enough so the crew won't feel 'boxed in'

An older ship (the captain's on her first command, and I doubt Starfleet would give a brand new captain the latest model....I mean you would not give your kids a brand new car upon getting their drivers license, right?), something that has long gotten rid of any bugs it might have.

Not to be armed like a battle ship, but enough weaponry to be able to handle itself in a fight, should it occur.

Something that one can spot out of a group of ships and go, "ok, there's the Starfleet ship".

Thanks for any help.

 

[admiralelm11]

Just off the top of my head, Castellan, have you considered a Constellation class starship?

 

[NrobbieC]

An Excelsior could fit the bill.

 

[The Castellan]

Just off the top of my head, Castellan, have you considered a Constellation class starship?

It is, in fact, on the candidate list.

 

[Uncle Sol]

An Ambassador Class could work also. The Excelsior Class Lakota was upgraded enough to give the Defiant a run for her money. A similarly upgraded Ambassador Class ship would be able to handle itself well in a battle. It is an older ship that should be big enough, and deep space exploration fits her mission profile.

 

[admiralelm11]

An Ambassador Class could work also. The Excelsior Class Lakota was upgraded enough to give the Defiant a run for her money. A similarly upgraded Ambassador Class ship would be able to handle itself well in a battle. It is an older ship that should be big enough, and deep space exploration fits her mission profile.

I definitely agree with this suggestion. You could always use the reboot of the Ambassador class that Andrew Probert created.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Excelsior- or Ambassador-Class would be my first suggestions, though there are plenty of semi-canon ships out there as well (classes mentioned but never actually seen).

For example:
Bradbury-Class (it was new in 2266/67, so it'd have a few light-years on it bu the mid-late 2370s)
http://www.trekships.org/bradbury.htm

Cheyenne-Class
http://wiki.bravofleet.com/index.php?title=Cheyenne_class

Korolev-Class
http://www.trekships.org/korolev.htm

Renaissance-Class
http://www.trekships.org/renaissance.htm

Just some other ideas for you.

 

[Admiral2]

An Ambassador Class could work also. The Excelsior Class Lakota was upgraded enough to give the Defiant a run for her money. A similarly upgraded Ambassador Class ship would be able to handle itself well in a battle. It is an older ship that should be big enough, and deep space exploration fits her mission profile.

I definitely agree with this suggestion. You could always use the reboot of the Ambassador class that Andrew Probert created.

Ambassador's you're best bet.

 

[REDrake]

How about an Oberth-class? They are older, small (and thus suited for a new captain) and their primary mission is exploration.

 

[Tribble puncher]

I'd go with the Constellation and the Oberth. Maybe a New Orleans Class.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Oberth's are really research/survey ships, they're also not the toughest ships out there and are vulnerable to hostiles, so they wouldn't be ideal for a deep space exploratory mission, IMO. Going out to study something previously discovered by another ship, yes, but not really doing it themselves.

Also by the looks of things they are very old and are getting replaced with the Nova-Class.

 

[MasterArminas]

My advice?

Renaissance-class Light Cruiser
Length: 330m
Beam: 199m
Decks: 19
Crew: 240 officers and crew

USS Aries (NCC-45167) (the ship that Will Riker was offered) was a Renaissance-class. Hokkaido (registry unknown), Hornet (NCC-45231), and Maryland (NCC-45109) were also ships of this class.

One of my sources (Ex Astris Scientia) has the last ship of this class commissioned in 2337.

She has 8 phaser array strips (5 on the saucer dorsal, 3 on the saucer ventral) and either one or two torpedo tubes between the saucer and dish (one installation, but I personally would go with two tubes). Since she dates back to the age of the Ambassadors and Korolevs, probably Type VIII (Excelsior) or Type IX (Ambassador) class phasers, and single shot torpedoes (photon, not quantum capable).

We have no information on how fast the Renaissance-class ships were, but I would recommend that they be either the same speed or slightly faster than an Ambassador (i.e., somewhere around Warp 6 Standard Cruise, Warp 8 Sustained Cruise, Warp 9 Flank, Warp 9.5 Maximum; all warp speeds being the TNG scale, not the TOS scale, with Flank and Maximum speeds being pretty heavily time-constrained; probably around 12 hours at Warp 9 and one or two at Max).

She fits the bill for an older ship, but isn't exactly a pushover either. She's bigger and has more internal volume than a Constitution-class, but requires just over half as many crew. Plenty of elbow room, and she probably has at least 60 staterooms for passengers, diplomats, etc.

Bry Sinclair posted a link to a schematic of these ships, as well. They look good, do the job, and aren't over-the-top wanked out.

You could do a lot a worse. Of course, this is just my opinion, but these are nice ships to play around with in a story.

MA

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

My advice?

Renaissance-class Light Cruiser
Length: 330m
Beam: 199m
Decks: 19
Crew: 240 officers and crew

I have thought about using the class before, which was why I suggested it. It has the smallness that I like, with design elements of the Ambassador-Class, which is my favourite ship.

We have no information on how fast the Renaissance-class ships were, but I would recommend that they be either the same speed or slightly faster than an Ambassador (i.e., somewhere around Warp 6 Standard Cruise, Warp 8 Sustained Cruise, Warp 9 Flank, Warp 9.5 Maximum; all warp speeds being the TNG scale, not the TOS scale, with Flank and Maximum speeds being pretty heavily time-constrained; probably around 12 hours at Warp 9 and one or two at Max).

In "Encounter at Farpoint", when they had the 'dramatic' going to maximum warp scene, when they hit 9.2 they were said to have exceeded any other ship, so I'd peg the original maximum speed of the Renaissance-Class at no more than 9.2. But then again, refits and upgrades could have boosted that in recent years.

 

[Andymator]

I have thought about using the class before, which was why I suggested it. It has the smallness that I like, with design elements of the Ambassador-Class, which is my favourite ship.

Interestingly though, I don't remember the Hornet resembling the Ambassador class at all... Where does that come from?

The Ambassador class is damn cool though.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Interestingly though, I don't remember the Hornet resembling the Ambassador class at all... Where does that come from?

The Ambassador class is damn cool though.

I've never seen the U.S.S. Hornet so I can't really comment on that.

But going by the fan schematics here:

http://www.trekships.org/renaissance.htm

The saucer and engineering hull are similar to the Ambassador-Class, though on a smaller scale. There is some familial resemblance between the two classes, not surprising given they were developed at the same time.

 

[Andymator]

Ahhh okay, I didn't know about the fan schematics version, I just remembered the version from the DC comics being all wierd and vague heheheh. That totally gave me an idea for another thread in the art forum though!

Interestingly though, I don't remember the Hornet resembling the Ambassador class at all... Where does that come from?

The Ambassador class is damn cool though.

I've never seen the U.S.S. Hornet so I can't really comment on that.

But going by the fan schematics here:

http://www.trekships.org/renaissance.htm

The saucer and engineering hull are similar to the Ambassador-Class, though on a smaller scale. There is some familial resemblance between the two classes, not surprising given they were developed at the same time.

 

[The Castellan]

We'll see how it goes, still working out the loose ends of the comic, plus working on a custom ship for another set of characters, though I got no 3D model making experience, maybe I could butter up Madman or someone to take a shot at it, especially if they enjoy a challange.

 

[Wingsley]

It isn't clear to me which era your story would be taking place in. TOS? TMP? Post-TMP? Pre-TNG? TNG? DS9/VOY? Post-VOY?

It's easiest in most of these eras to suggestion a Constellation-class vessel, which would seem to be a new design in roughly the TMP era. If your story were set in TOS/TAS or TMP, you might want to look at a Miranda variant (one without the torpedo "roll bar").

It was never clear to me what era the Centaur-class vessels came from, maybe post-TMP. Depending on the era of your story, one of these might be ideal.

 

[The Castellan]

It isn't clear to me which era your story would be taking place in. TOS? TMP? Post-TMP? Pre-TNG? TNG? DS9/VOY? Post-VOY?

It's easiest in most of these eras to suggestion a Constellation-class vessel, which would seem to be a new design in roughly the TMP era. If your story were set in TOS/TAS or TMP, you might want to look at a Miranda variant (one without the torpedo "roll bar").

It was never clear to me what era the Centaur-class vessels came from, maybe post-TMP. Depending on the era of your story, one of these might be ideal.

The stories begin 10 years after Nemesis.

 

[Wingsley]

Why not use an Intrepid-class (Voyager) vessel, or a post-VOY derivative?

Fast, armed, obviously capable of exploration, modest-sized crew, kind of a post-TNG analogue to the TOS Enterprise, but definitely not a battleship.