How would you re-imagine the NX-01 Enterprise?

[Wingsley]

Just as a long-belated moldy follow-up to what we had been discussing in this thread:

My newer thread about the Starship Herman contains a somewhat "Yesteryear"-like possibility for a starship design that could have long historical roots, straight back to the Phoenix and NX-Alpha. I'd also like to tip my hat to Icy_Penguigo/Adam Turner for inspiring me with his recent Starfleet Universe thread, especially his Texas-class.

And Icy/Adam's Star Tiger thread from way-back-when has added even more inspiration. The distorted "saucer" section of the Star Tiger (and his much earlier Stingray cruiser variant) gives me ideas for the Herman's nose.

 

[HRHTheKING]

I would have made it look like a rudimentary version of a Daedalus class vessel.

A spherical primary hull.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Eyeing the Conestoga design, I like it, definitley. It's cooler looking and appropriatley more primitive.

I've started illustrating my take on things, with a few modifications to the design:

The Herkimer NX-01 will definitley have a different tech base than the "Name Everything Different"-prise.

I never had any issue with the Akira being ripped off, but I did have issue with the arrogant notion that basically every Federation design element came from Earth. As though the other races didn't contribute to the designs of their Federation Starfleet. I would have liked to have seen different founding races have different design elements in their ships that would basically equate to a Federation ship if combined together and what-not. In fact, I think I'll sketch a few.

 

[Unicron]

FASA's RPG had a couple of classes that were said to have significant Andorian influences (the Loknar frigate, the Thufir destroyer, and the Andor missile cruiser) but they didn't really elaborate on which details those were. They did reference a "Blue Fleet" which was composed of these classes and primarily Andorian crews though.

I dislike the tendency of Trek to be human centric myself. There are so many races with untapped potential that will likely never be developed, at least not in a canon fashion. Using the Andorians so well was one of the things ENT did right.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I was thinking that the idea of just using a TOS-ish saucer with a ovalized tubular structure (flattened and widened with oval cross section basically) connecting and blending the aft of the saucer to where the engine pylons form which have no sweep and are of similar set-up to the Constitution-Class, although I would prefer if the nacelles had a wider chord (longer from front to back). While the nacelles would have to be 100% visible from the front, I would not want them to be as high-up as the NX-01 design on the TV-show... they should be angled up less (the nacelles should be about as much above the primary hull as the TOS Enterprise's nacelles are).

The ship's warp-nacelles I would use would be more like the USS Daedalus with the frames/ribs on the design (as it was a contemporary design feature), though I would want a TOS style grille inboard as these engines are very powerful and of an era where the ability to "keep everything important on the inside" has not entirely been mastered yet, though has started. Basic nacelle shape I would prefer a slightly tear-drop shape (the front being of a larger diameter than the rear, much like the First-Pilot USS Enterprise which was more primitive than the later models) with spires on the front-caps. The ship's impulse engines would be mounted on the back of the ship

Nav-Deflector would be mounted on the front of the saucer much like the NX-Class design though I don't know if there would be any point for an antenna-like dish. The glowing blue area behind it seems good enough.

The Sensor Dome would be more or less the same shape as that used in the TV series and the early TMP model. I would not have it glow, and instead have lights placed on the sides of the top of the dome to provide self-illumination. I don't see why all ships would have this feature. Modern day Airliners have it...

Shuttle-Bay Set-Up in the manner used on Star Trek Enterprise seems perfectly acceptable.


Technology wise, the NX-Enterprise as shown in Enterprise strikes me as having too many capabilities compared to other vessels of the era. For one, transporters -- they didn't exist in that timeframe. The phase-cannons are obviously hinting at phasers... which quite simply even the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) at time of it's commissioning didn't have. So, no phasers and would instead feature laser cannons (I don't know if it would have some kind of anti-ship missile or something or some kind of Photon Torpedo predecessor if they didn't exist yet) for guns -- and no transporters; the shuttles would do the job instead.

The ship, if I was to have re-imagined it, I would made the ship a fast as hell engineering marvel, but a temperamental wild-stallion of a vessel.

1.) Her engines for all the speed they provide would have been considered by the standards of later space/starships to be quite temperamental, exceedingly complicated and difficult to maintain and often requiring rather high amounts of maintenance; They would often edge uncomfortably close to imbalance during aggressive turns at intermediate warp and moderate turns at high warp.

2.) Navigational deflectors in order to produce the large powerful field to brush small objects in the ship's path out of the way often would run pretty close to the red-line at maximum-warp. They would as a result require more frequent maintenance than most other ships, and would be considered more complicated than previous designs.

3.) The ship design was for it's size, it would be a little bit lighter than most contemporary designs and was a little bit on the flimsy side although it had respectable force-fields and deflector-screens.

4.) For it's size, it's crew complement is quite low and doesn't have as much additional capacity that other spaceships of the era have...

5.) It would have an subspace radio which would be brand spanking new; unfortunately they would be prone to frequent breakdowns requiring transmissions to often be carried out with ordinary radio. The radio would be the predecessor to the one that the Daedalus-Class would use; they too would be quite unreliable, but not as bad oddly enough.

Star Fleet or it's predecessor would still have had great promise for these vessels as would the crews that manned them (which would be the absolute hand-picked best) feeling the problems with the design would be a necessary evil to be able to be able to perform truely practical space-exploration.



CuttingEdge100

 

[CuttingEdge100]

To reconcile the Daedalus-Class' lower performance, I would have had the NX-series have an incredibly expensive price-tag which was due to the resources required to build it, the advanced techniques required to design it not to mention the elite crews required to man it. It also would have had a high accident rate due to it's temperamental performance characteristics and the design being a little bit flimsy and unable to absorb damage as well as other contemporary ship-classes.

The Daedalus-Class would instead of being designed as a speedster, would be built more like a tank. Sturdy, rugged, dependable, and easy to maintain, and of course cheaper with the ability to build more of them. The warp-engines would be at least equal if not bit more powerful than that of contemporary ships of the 2160's, but in addition to that, designed with resistance to damage, and easy maintenance in mind. Warp 3.5 cruise, Warp 4.2 maximum.

 

[Captain Robert April]

In the latest Shatnerverse novel, the apparent regression in technology, from ENT to "The Cage", the explanation is that the Romulan War forced Starfleet to put the fancy-shmancy stuff back on the shelf for a while and mass produce cheaper nukes and laser weapons, and redevelopment of the tech we saw in ENT doesn't resume until just before Kirk's time on the Enterprise.

 

[starburst]

So the Shatnerverse weighed in on the Laser vs Phaser debate.

Personally I would have kept the NX-01 using the torpedoes and the plasma weapons they had at the start (you know the ones used in the pilot but then dissapeared)

That would have made much more sence visually looking less advanced...they should have done the same with the personal weapons none of this "Phase Pistol" stuff but I guess it was an early hint that the then people in charge had run out of steam.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

So the Shatnerverse weighed in on the Laser vs Phaser debate.

Personally I would have kept the NX-01 using the torpedoes and the plasma weapons they had at the start (you know the ones used in the pilot but then dissapeared)

That would have made much more sence visually looking less advanced...they should have done the same with the personal weapons none of this "Phase Pistol" stuff but I guess it was an early hint that the then people in charge had run out of steam.

The really annoying part of all that is that there isn't anything... STORYTELLING-WISE... that would have been harmed by doing what you suggest. "Plasma pistols" and "Plasma Batteries" and "torpedos" (without any "photon" or "photonic" or whatever associated with them) did the job just fine, and seriously... how often did they good guys need to STUN anyone? Sometimes, if you don't wanna kill the other guy, you end up making a choice... do it anyway, surrender, or try "mano-a-mano."

 

[Wingsley]

I agree with both of you.

Goldstein & Goldstein's 1980 "Spaceflight Chronology" had Romulan War / pre-Romulan War era using "fusion torpedos" and "lasers" and "particle beam cannons", if memory serves. Since Archer's ship never used deflector shields anyways, it made no sense for them to do battle with aliens using weapons they could not defend themselves against. (Guess Berman & Braga never thought of that angle.)

As far as hand weapons go, Archer & co. could've used a bulkier plasma weapon, kinda like a crude version of the zatnicotel/ "zat gun" used in STARGATE SG-1.

None of this would have changed the story. In fact, it would've been more credible from a continuity standpoint.

Having said all of this, the biggest sore spots for me were (1: the NX-01 being capable of Warp 5, and with a shattering of the Warp 7 barrier in the wings, much too soon; and (2: the TNG-ized look of the NX-01's exterior and the TNG-ized plots for so many ENT eps.

Having said all of that, "First Flight" did quite a bit to show what the series could have been. That should've either been the series' debut or among the first batch of eps. That would've set the tone.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Wingsley,

Having said all of this, the biggest sore spots for me were (1: the NX-01 being capable of Warp 5, and with a shattering of the Warp 7 barrier in the wings, much too soon

Agreed

2: the TNG-ized look of the NX-01's exterior and the TNG-ized plots for so many ENT eps.

You mean the Akira resemblance?


CuttingEdge100

 

[Wingsley]

For me, it wasn't just the Akira resemblance. It was the excessive glowing of the nacelles, the navi-deflector arrangement, and the excessive details on the surface of the hull overall that gave the NX-01 a way-too-TNG-ish look. Everything surrounding the NX-01, including the "go to warp" FX, were TNG-ish. I thought it was very heavy-handed on the part of Berman & co.; their way of saying, once again, "TOS is yesterday's news... we are the real STAR TREK now!"

To be fair, ENT did not totally contradict what Spock said about "primitive space vessels" in "Balance of Terror". But Berman & co. did stretch things too far. The swoopy, Akira-like catamaran design is a sore spot, but the ship being armed with "phase cannons", "phase pistols", etc. was definitely a bigger offense.

If the NX-class had been more conservatively designed and equipped to fit better into TOS continuity, she would have these characteristics:

A simpler, less busy design

An engine room that did not look like a steampunked TNG engine room.

Transporters, IF so equipped, would be a much bigger deal to operate, requiring coordination from the Bridge and/or Engine Room and also more than one person to operate (as in "The Cage"); the de/mat process would also take longer.

Externally, I don't see the catamaran-shape fitting into TOS continuity. I could see an ancestor of my Herman, or something at least vaguely resembling the TAS Bonaventure. The nacelles would not glow nearly as much, if at all. Portholes would be a relative rarity.

I was surprised by the size of the NX-01's crew. (83???) I was expecting 100-200, but I can live with the crew's size.

Because of Spock's "Balance of Terror" history lesson, I don't think shields were around for the NX-01. For weapons, I would expect crude lasers and fusion torpedos (a "Spaceflight Chronology" reference) to fit in well as "primitive atomic weapons".

My NX-01 would likely have a maximum speed of only Warp 4.0, with a typical cruise of Warp 3.0-3.5.

 

[Wingsley]

Oh, and I almost forgot: if ENT were to be set in the years leading up to the founding of the Federation, there would be no "Star Fleet". Maybe a "Solar Fleet".

And no technologically-advanced Klingons, either. Archer's NX-01 tangling with well-armed and shielded Klingon ships only muddied the waters.

 

[Praetor]

The idea of the ship being 'Warp Five' rated didn't bother me at first when they weren't achieving it without shaking the ship to pieces... it was when they started routinely traveling that fast and above that bothered me. I kept expecting them to say they were going to have to recalibrate the warp scale. (An unseen recalibration might help retcon some of that away, really.)

And just as I cringed when I saw the Klingon in the corn field, I cringed when I heard utterance of 'Starfleet.' I really felt that Starfleet was something that should have been omitted. Use UESPA instead... mentioning it later helped, but there should have been no Starfleet. It makes everything that comes later with the Federation look like an Earth-only endeavor. In my own pre-'Enterprise' prequel concepts, Earth had a combined air and space force (as well as a land and sea military that doubled as 'space marines') and they were assigned missions of research by the United Nations' UESPA which slowly gave way to the idea that the military should be peacekeepers and explorers of the later Starfleet. In fact, my commander, Russell Morrison, was a Colonel (slight nod to BSG). In case anyone cares, the crew also included first officer Lt. Col. James Rand (ancestor of TOS's Janice and progenitor of a Starfleet legacy that lasted into the 24th century, as noted in the short bible I wrote).

'Enterprise' shouldn't have had a transporter at all, if you ask me. Maybe one episode about it being developed, maybe the Vulcans have it, but not Earth. Shuttles!!! I had written a note for my own series that there would be a scene in the premiere where our Vulcan exchange officer is found observing a planetside demonstration of a human Transporter... consisting of two closed chambers hardwired together a la 'The Fly.'

You know, I still haven't sketched out my own version of the Conestoga/'Yesteryear' hybrid ship we were talking about a few pages up, but I should do that now because writing this has got the brain going.

Current thoughts on UES Phoenix:

• Resembles the Conestoga with a Botany Bay-inspired nose and conning tower
• Capable of planetfall in an emergency and equipped with landing struts, but not without great risk
• Carries eight shuttlepods and one heavy scout shuttle - basically the 'First Flight' prototype flier lacking warp drive and with an enlarged crew pod
• No transporter to be found
• Crew of 70 (about 50 command and ops crew regular military, 20 are doctors, scientists, linguists, cartographers) + possible Marine contingent - Marines & regular military don't get along well
• Maximum charted speed warp 4 - cruise at warp 3, designed for warp 3
• Warp power is raw matter-antimatter reaction - dilithium not yet there, perhaps lithium somehow in its place
• Armaments consist of pulse cannons and nuclear missiles ('missile' used to distinguish from later 'torpedoes') - missiles are primary offensive weapons, pulse cannons primarily defensive used to shoot down missiles.
• Possesses hull plating as sole defense but not like NX-01; no '45%' just breached or not.
• Has sensor dish evocative of pilot TOS Enterprise - seems disproportionately large
• Nacelles are clunky and ribbed similar to Daedalus - also has field probe needles on domes and domes only glow while engines are in use
• Impulse engines referred to as impulse rockets and have more nozzle type exhaust ports
• Sidearms are regular EM guns, no stun setting, but perhaps stun setting is innovated in an episode.
• Routinely returns to Earth and Earth-friendly bases for refuel/restock because of her limited range but is still on a four or five year mission - here called 'deployment'
• Mission is one of patrol and charting rather than straight out exploration (this is actually resisted by the regular military and marines crew) with occasional flag-waving military and delivery roles (this due to high warp ability) as well as ally-building missions as deemed necessary

General notes:

• Andorians have saucer-style ships evocative of Earth ships as seen on Enterprise, and Earth ships strongly resemble the Andorian ships seen on Enterprise; Vulcan ships are largely the same and faster and more advanced; Andorian and Vulcan technology on a par.
• Terra Prime is a much more important factor in the Earth political climate, and a vocal opponent of Earth's space military deployments
• Vulcans are not as hypocritical but are being subverted by Romulans from within
• Andorians essentially the same as presented on 'Enterprise;' boundary wars and mistrust of Vulcans feature heavily
• Tzenkethi will feature as noble Egyptian/Japanese amalgam foes from a once-grand Empire in decline until their empire is basically gone in the 24th century but they have become desperate then; ships are vertically oriented
• Romulans feature prominently later but are shown in armor that hides their features to our heroes and are known for kamikaze and self destruct tactics prompting the Earth military to order no surrender, destroy on site
• Tellarites fill in the greedy Ferengi-type quota; are honorable but business-savvy traders and merchants and are actually known as capable soldiers when properly motivated - think wild boars with guns
• Orion government is corrupt, all pretty much pirates

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Wingsley,

For me, it wasn't just the Akira resemblance. It was the excessive glowing of the nacelles, the navi-deflector arrangement, and the excessive details on the surface of the hull overall that gave the NX-01 a way-too-TNG-ish look.

Actually the surface detail even though it looks like later trek ironically does produce the illusion of a simpler less complicated design. After all modern things tend to have cleaner, sleeker lines. The low surface detail seen in TOS actually looks extremely high tech.

Technically though, the Daedalus-Class which was only designed 10-years after the NX-Class also had a very low degree of surface-detail, so I suppose it would not be entirely unreasonable to have a ship designed with similar surface detail characteristics.

The warp-nacelle issue I can understand. The grilles are too big and there are both inboard and outboard grilles which does look much like later trek. It is ironic to note though that the larger grilles and the inboard and outboard placement used in TMP and later ST actually looks lower-tech than the TOS set-up.

Technically, as previously mentioned with the Daedalus-class, a similar-era design as the NX-class, the Daedalus class didn't have huge engine-grilles -- technically it didn't have any visible grilles. Regardless, the NX-Class is a faster design and its higher energy output with the technology available might have required visible grilles (and it is a slightly older design than the Daedalus), although I don't think the outboard grilles would have been necessary.

Everything surrounding the NX-01, including the "go to warp" FX, were TNG-ish.

I just figured they used the same SFX used in the TNG/DS9/VOY era. I don't know how big a deal this is truthfully since older ships (Movie-Era) appearing in TNG had the same warp-effect as the other TNG-era designs.

I thought it was very heavy-handed on the part of Berman & co.; their way of saying, once again, "TOS is yesterday's news... we are the real STAR TREK now!"

Well, I can agree with that -- they just re-wrote the past.

...but the ship being armed with "phase cannons", "phase pistols", etc. was definitely a bigger offense.

Completely Agree...

If the NX-class had been more conservatively designed and equipped to fit better into TOS continuity, she would have these characteristics:

Well, first of all I wouldn't have called it the NX-class. I would have called it the Enterprise-Class. After all, the first ship of the class was called Enterprise...

A simpler, less busy design

Agreed -- it should have surface-detail level similar to that of the Daedalus-Class.

An engine room that did not look like a steampunked TNG engine room.

Well truthfully speaking the engine-room looked way better than the TNG engine design. Still I would have wanted the engineering room to look more like the TOS Enterprise set-up though none of that primary-colored stuff and the computer displays and such used in ENT.

Transporters, IF so equipped, would be a much bigger deal to operate, requiring coordination from the Bridge and/or Engine Room and also more than one person to operate (as in "The Cage"); the de/mat process would also take longer.

I would oppose the use of transporters entirely...

Externally, I don't see the catamaran-shape fitting into TOS continuity. I could see an ancestor of my Herman, or something at least vaguely resembling the TAS Bonaventure. The nacelles would not glow nearly as much, if at all. Portholes would be a relative rarity.

I agree, the twin-boom look doesn't really fit in with TOS. I've never seen the Animated Series except in drawings in books...

Well the grilles glowing is a nice effect, but it can't be taken too far...

I was surprised by the size of the NX-01's crew. (83???) I was expecting 100-200, but I can live with the crew's size.

I see your point, especially considering it was almost the size of a TOS-era D-7.

Because of Spock's "Balance of Terror" history lesson, I don't think shields were around for the NX-01.

If you can produce a navigational deflector, you can produce a forcefield...

For weapons, I would expect crude lasers and fusion torpedos (a "Spaceflight Chronology" reference) to fit in well as "primitive atomic weapons".

Agreed...

My NX-01 would likely have a maximum speed of only Warp 4.0, with a typical cruise of Warp 3.0-3.5.

Well, I would have went with the higher warp-speed but I would have had it come with a price. Complicated, maintenance intensive and temperamental compared to other ships. It could be used to explain away the reason why the Daedalus and other ships developed around 10 years later were slower.

Oh, and I almost forgot: if ENT were to be set in the years leading up to the founding of the Federation, there would be no "Star Fleet". Maybe a "Solar Fleet".

Well I don't know about Solar-Fleet. But some kind of organization or military service other than Star Fleet as it didn't form until 2161.

And no technologically-advanced Klingons, either.

Agreed, from what I remember the Klingons were roughly as advanced as the Federation in technological capability at least in TOS.

Out of curiousity: When did the Federation first even encounter the Klingons?


Praetor,

The idea of the ship being 'Warp Five' rated didn't bother me at first when they weren't achieving it without shaking the ship to pieces... it was when they started routinely traveling that fast and above that bothered me. I kept expecting them to say they were going to have to recalibrate the warp scale. (An unseen recalibration might help retcon some of that away, really.)

Nah, I don't think the Warp 4.5 cruise was a big deal, even smoothly -- The ship was obviously highly advanced for it's era. Like an SR-71 of it's day.

I would have just written into the plot that the ship was kind of temperamental and had higher maintenance requirements than other vessels which would show that the extra speed came with a price.

And just as I cringed when I saw the Klingon in the corn field

Agreed... that was just so wrong

I cringed when I heard utterance of 'Starfleet.' I really felt that Starfleet was something that should have been omitted. Use UESPA instead... mentioning it later helped, but there should have been no Starfleet.

Agreed

'Enterprise' shouldn't have had a transporter at all, if you ask me. Maybe one episode about it being developed, maybe the Vulcans have it, but not Earth. Shuttles!!!

Actually, I don't have any evidence that the Vulcans had it first...

I also don't like the plot re-done to have the Vulcans trying to restrain humans from traveling to outer-space. From what was written Pre-ENT, the Vulcans helped humans dramatically improve their Warp-drive technology

• Andorians have saucer-style ships evocative of Earth ships as seen on Enterprise, and Earth ships strongly resemble the Andorian ships seen on Enterprise; Vulcan ships are largely the same and faster and more advanced; Andorian and Vulcan technology on a par.

From what I remember, prior to Enterprise, the Vulcans' fastest ships were in the Warp 4 range. Granted there were no vessels in the Federation prior to ENT in that time frame that could do Warp 5...

• Terra Prime is a much more important factor in the Earth political climate, and a vocal opponent of Earth's space military deployments

That is actually a good idea. The Vulcans "holding Earth" back didn't strike me as a good plot device anyway.

Politicians always seem to prevent us from advancing in the areas that matter and always want to advance in the ways that have no benefit to us...

• Andorians essentially the same as presented on 'Enterprise;' boundary wars and mistrust of Vulcans feature heavily

Dunno enough about the Andorians to honestly agree or disagree there...

• Romulans feature prominently later but are shown in armor that hides their features to our heroes and are known for kamikaze and self destruct tactics prompting the Earth military to order no surrender, destroy on site

Did they (Earth vs Romulans) fight up-close and in-person (like people on the ground fighting) in ENT? I'm sorry -- I didn't watch ENT much...

Otherwise, if they were on ships why does it matter? The Romulans could have always used voice only transmissions or even data-only (text).

Regardless, in TOS and Pre-TOS (not counting ENT) were the Romulans known to use Kamikaze attacks? If so, I assume like with self-destruct it would be a desperate move if that was perceived by them to be the only option right?

• Tellarites fill in the greedy Ferengi-type quota; are honorable but business-savvy traders and merchants and are actually known as capable soldiers when properly motivated - think wild boars with guns

Wild boars with guns? I like that...

• Orion government is corrupt, all pretty much pirates

That's logical...


Regarding how I would re-imagine the NX-01 Enterprise; I think these drawings (none of these are done by me) describe my point of view best. I am not certain who created these, but to my knowledge these images appeared on Ex Astris Scientia.

The best idea I have would basically involve

1.) Using the saucer from the second image with the exception of
-The bottom part of the saucer (which is flat) to have the same basic shape as the top side of the saucer (though a bit flatter than the top area)
-The windows being moved up a bit higher as the rim only has room for one deck and having the windows that low is kind of weird.
-The bridge module would be essentially basically of the same circumference as that of the NX bridge section and placed dead center on the saucer (unlike in the drawing which has it slightly forward)

2.) Using an afterbody-shape (the area that trails behind the saucer and the nacelles connect to) similar to that used in the first and second drawings:
-From the top view, the afterbody I would make look more like the first image in terms of basic lateral width, the fact that the afterbody runs through both the top and bottom saucer, and the fact that it's shape is simpler
-From the side view, thicknesses more like that of the second-image
-My idea would feature a slightly longer afterbody with the impulse engines on the back of the afterbody similar in shape to the first-image.

3.) Warp engines I'm thinking would be best based on the second image
-I would have the bussard intake start just in front of where the nacelle begins to increase in diamater in the middle. In otherwords the bussard intake would start at the front of the widest part of the nacelle (this would shorten the nacelle a bit)
-I'd slightly increase the length of the area of the thickest part of the nacelle
-I would increase the tapering from where the nacelle goes from the widest section towards the normal diameter as it heads rearwards (basically the widest section would less abruptly narrow down towards the rear)
-Remove the coil-ring (it looks like a black groove) around the aft section of the nacelle where it tapers back to the width of the rest of the nacelle (the front area should remain)
-No grilles outboard at all
-Inboard grille set-up with two grilles (top and bottom) on the thickest section with the rear section featuring a long single grille much like that used on TOS
-Since the Daedalus-Class nacelle had these circular ribs on the nacelles, I think a set up with three ribs on the wider section of the nacelle, and four on the rear would be good.

4.) Pylon-wise, I would want to use the third drawing as a base to work with. The thickness of the pylons is pretty good, but I wouldn't want them swept at all.

5.) As for the Navigation deflector I have three ideas

5a.) Since the afterbody runs through the top and bottom of the saucer, especially when you consider that I wanted the bottom to have a convex curve to lower saucer (with the nav dome on the most extreme bottom), the underside of the saucer can have
- Two to four small nav-deflector dishes (no radar antennae style just a dent) on the front of the lower saucer
- An ovalized nav-deflector on the front of the lower saucer

5b.) The saucer rim can have an ovalized nav-deflector in the front. I'd prefer a glowing type without a pointy antenna.

5c.) The lower saucer can have 1-3 small deflectors as an auxiliary system with the main dish much like the 5b proposal.


What do you think of my idea? Do you like it?


CuttingEdge100

 

[Wingsley]

VERY interesting NX-01 concepts, Cutting Edge 100.

I'll post more details later.

 

[Praetor]

Nah, I don't think the Warp 4.5 cruise was a big deal, even smoothly -- The ship was obviously highly advanced for it's era. Like an SR-71 of it's day.

I would have just written into the plot that the ship was kind of temperamental and had higher maintenance requirements than other vessels which would show that the extra speed came with a price.

Well, once they started passing five I got annoyed. And I could have bought her as the SR-71 of her day in the manner you suggest, but they didn't really play her that way.

Actually, I don't have any evidence that the Vulcans had it first...

I don't either but I think it would make sense for them to have the transporter.

I also don't like the plot re-done to have the Vulcans trying to restrain humans from traveling to outer-space. From what was written Pre-ENT, the Vulcans helped humans dramatically improve their Warp-drive technology

Yeah, I don't think the Vulcans would really have been so domineering, even with the retcon of 'Kir'Shara' and them losing their path and all.

From what I remember, prior to Enterprise, the Vulcans' fastest ships were in the Warp 4 range. Granted there were no vessels in the Federation prior to ENT in that time frame that could do Warp 5...

Yeah, why did the Vulcans suddenly have ships supposedly capable of warp seven? If you ask me, they were exaggerating their abilities.

That is actually a good idea. The Vulcans "holding Earth" back didn't strike me as a good plot device anyway.

Politicians always seem to prevent us from advancing in the areas that matter and always want to advance in the ways that have no benefit to us...

Indeed. Terra Prime was one of those ideas that it's surprising they didn't think of at the begnning of the series. Keeping them closer to Earth as was done in season four would have had greater potential for Earth-based conflict.

Did they (Earth vs Romulans) fight up-close and in-person (like people on the ground fighting) in ENT? I'm sorry -- I didn't watch ENT much...

Otherwise, if they were on ships why does it matter? The Romulans could have always used voice only transmissions or even data-only (text).

Regardless, in TOS and Pre-TOS (not counting ENT) were the Romulans known to use Kamikaze attacks? If so, I assume like with self-destruct it would be a desperate move if that was perceived by them to be the only option right?

To my knowledge, the humans on ENT never knowingly saw a Romulan... unless T'Pol's dad really was one then they saw a half-Romulan... and a lot.

I was basically trying to figure out a way to hide any time they might see them... personally I favor nukes as a planetary battle deterrent, keeping everyone on their ships, and the kamikaze was a thought of mine too. I thought that it added a little interest to them, was in character with them blowing themselves up in 'Balance of Terror' and was a good reason for Starfleet to order no-surrender orders. And yes, definitely a last-ditch option in event of defeat.

Another interesting Romulan aspect that wasn't used would be returning to the original idea of them as honorable foes... perhaps even showing them beginning to lose their honor-based footing in this very conflict?

• Tellarites fill in the greedy Ferengi-type quota; are honorable but business-savvy traders and merchants and are actually known as capable soldiers when properly motivated - think wild boars with guns

Wild boars with guns? I like that...

Yeah, and explains what they really have to offer too.

• Orion government is corrupt, all pretty much pirates

That's logical...

And helps explain the Orion Syndicate concept, yet the legitimacy the Orions seem to possess.

The best idea I have would basically involve

1.) Using the saucer from the second image with the exception of
-The bottom part of the saucer (which is flat) to have the same basic shape as the top side of the saucer (though a bit flatter than the top area)
-The windows being moved up a bit higher as the rim only has room for one deck and having the windows that low is kind of weird.
-The bridge module would be essentially basically of the same circumference as that of the NX bridge section and placed dead center on the saucer (unlike in the drawing which has it slightly forward)

2.) Using an afterbody-shape (the area that trails behind the saucer and the nacelles connect to) similar to that used in the first and second drawings:
-From the top view, the afterbody I would make look more like the first image in terms of basic lateral width, the fact that the afterbody runs through both the top and bottom saucer, and the fact that it's shape is simpler
-From the side view, thicknesses more like that of the second-image
-My idea would feature a slightly longer afterbody with the impulse engines on the back of the afterbody similar in shape to the first-image.

3.) Warp engines I'm thinking would be best based on the second image
-I would have the bussard intake start just in front of where the nacelle begins to increase in diamater in the middle. In otherwords the bussard intake would start at the front of the widest part of the nacelle (this would shorten the nacelle a bit)
-I'd slightly increase the length of the area of the thickest part of the nacelle
-I would increase the tapering from where the nacelle goes from the widest section towards the normal diameter as it heads rearwards (basically the widest section would less abruptly narrow down towards the rear)
-Remove the coil-ring (it looks like a black groove) around the aft section of the nacelle where it tapers back to the width of the rest of the nacelle (the front area should remain)
-No grilles outboard at all
-Inboard grille set-up with two grilles (top and bottom) on the thickest section with the rear section featuring a long single grille much like that used on TOS
-Since the Daedalus-Class nacelle had these circular ribs on the nacelles, I think a set up with three ribs on the wider section of the nacelle, and four on the rear would be good.

4.) Pylon-wise, I would want to use the third drawing as a base to work with. The thickness of the pylons is pretty good, but I wouldn't want them swept at all.

5.) As for the Navigation deflector I have three ideas

5a.) Since the afterbody runs through the top and bottom of the saucer, especially when you consider that I wanted the bottom to have a convex curve to lower saucer (with the nav dome on the most extreme bottom), the underside of the saucer can have
- Two to four small nav-deflector dishes (no radar antennae style just a dent) on the front of the lower saucer
- An ovalized nav-deflector on the front of the lower saucer

5b.) The saucer rim can have an ovalized nav-deflector in the front. I'd prefer a glowing type without a pointy antenna.

5c.) The lower saucer can have 1-3 small deflectors as an auxiliary system with the main dish much like the 5b proposal.


What do you think of my idea? Do you like it?


CuttingEdge100

Nice ideas, all. Primarily with the removal of the upper platform on which the bridge sits and catamarans and redetailing the basic design as used for NX-01 along your specs would have worked.

Alternately, downplaying the front of the catamarans and blending the more into the back of the saucer (or devising a similar, non-catamaran structure), eliminating the platform, then replacing the 'symmetric field governer' do-hicky, or as I prefer to call it, the placeholder for the Akira's torpedo pod, with a small unmanned pod with a circular deflector and the front and eliminating the 'notch' would have worked nicely as well, again with different details.

The devil IS in the details after all.

 

[Captain X]

Here is the main gist of it. I'm hoping to work on these designs after finals week.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Here is the main gist of it. I'm hoping to work on these designs after finals week.

It looks a lot like the NX-01 with the twin booms connected and a cargo door.


CuttingEdge100

 

[Captain X]

It pretty much is. Hopefully over break I'll be able to work on it so it looks less like the original NX-01,