True. And the engines on the Refit were tapered, but then Excelsior wasn't... it just feels like it sticks out to me. It still works, especially from the side. I do like that profile.
I can play around with it - it is chamfered, so it is "rounded" and it does taper. Maybe not the best of angles to see all that.
But it does have the best side view.
That was part of the plan
It needs to fit with the ship.
I'd split the impulse engine exhausts to where those two small phaser strips are and having nothing on the centerline (like the Galaxy-class). That way shuttles don't get so cooked when they are arriving/departing that saucer shuttlebay
So basically John Eaves it? Sorry that was a bit contrite. If you look at the
Galaxy Class and where her shuttle bays are compared to where the main impulse drive is, then you have the same issue. This is also why I am beginning to favour the original as seen on the studio model idea, it's out of the way.
Can this ship’s saucer routinely detach and operate independently? Or is it an emergency feature?
If it can operate separately, then the stardrive section needs to operate separately. And even if it is an “emergency only” feature, wouldn’t it make some sense that if the saucer can speed away in one direction, you might want to send the stardrive section in the other direction?
I’m just saying… it might be true this ship comes before the D, but that hardly means there could not be “proto” versions of some of the D’s details on her. They just might serve a slightly different purpose.
I’d at least try shrinking that drive by 20% then splitting it in half and spreading the two engines apart a little. Then put your original engine back on the neck.
Saucer sep on the
Ambassador is an emergency one off feature only. All of the ideas for impulse engines have put them
above the separation line on the neck. I would have to create a new third impulse engine to sit below the separation line. Hummm. Are we talking about having
three impulse engines in constant operation on this ship? I have issues with that, because it seems overkill to me.
Technology moves forward, and even taking that basic idea into consideration when you look at the size of impulse engines ratio to the rest of a ship, like nacelles they get smaller over time. (Until John Eaves came to be lead designer and then things get massive again). Having an impulse engine on the neck is
not a bad thing for the
Ambassador Class, it's a massive ship that needs to move, having the drive on the neck puts it more on the ships centre line and works for moving the ship well. Ratio wise, it is consistent with other Fed ships. I did build some rather large thrusters into the eng-hull, so it's not stuck if the impulse engines are offline, or if the saucer is gone. The secondary hull will still be able to move.
So that brings me to the question of what to do.
I do
not want to rebuild large areas of the saucer to put a
Galaxy style impulse system on the hull. Sorry my friends but that would be too much of a ball-ache to take the saucer back to an older state in order to do that. I'll play around with this some more.
Thank you all... More later.
