Quantum Class Terrain Chariot

[Solarbaby]

This is a sene from the next episode of Starship Swiftwind. The Swiftwind has landed on the mysterious Dr'Imolgyn homeworld to wait out an ion storm. The alien city has a dampening field preventing scans so the crew take the terrain chariot to explore close up. I hated the buggy they used in Nemesis. It looked more Mad Max than Starfleet. So I created my own wheel based vehicle. I did try and keep some consistency by having the vehicle exposed with a skeletal frame around the carriage area. Unfortunately the chariot isn't meant for combat.....

 

[BorgMan]

I would highly suggest you make it higher. Right now even the smallest obstacle will bring the chariot to a halt because it can't get over it. Truth to be told... it looks more like something at home in the controlled environment of, say, a starbase's launchpad than it is suited for "boldly going". I like the little fella, a lot, but it doesn't seem adequately suited for the task you have in mind for it...

 

[Solarbaby]

I would highly suggest you make it higher. Right now even the smallest obstacle will bring the chariot to a halt because it can't get over it. Truth to be told... it looks more like something at home in the controlled environment of, say, a starbase's launchpad than it is suited for "boldly going". I like the little fella, a lot, but it doesn't seem adequately suited for the task you have in mind for it...

Thanks for the input. I was going to give it tank wheels on a runner belt originally. But my sketchup skills are not very good. Do you mean the wheels should be a lot larger and the bottom of the craft higher up from the ground? I took inspiration from the armoured car they use in aliens to reach the colony. That had tough wheels and a very low profile yet a very rocky terrain.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, that looks more like a forklift meant for very smooth surfaces. A good speed bump is going to be an obstacle.

 

[Solarbaby]

Yeah, that looks more like a forklift meant for very smooth surfaces. A good speed bump is going to be an obstacle.

It's not meant to be a speeding gunship like the ago buggy. It's literally a sensor platform on wheels. The planet surface is quite flat so it doesn't need to go up big rocks.

 

[sojourner]

It won't go far unless it's on a paved surface.

 

[BorgMan]

Take a good look at the APC: it isn't so low as you think it is. With a clearance of 25 centimeters, it can take at least some obstacles and being able to rise to half a meter above ground helps even more. That's what I meant with the suggestion to make it higher. I can understand that you don't want it to have the look of the Argo, but there's a reason why all-terrain vehicles look the way they do. Their profile means they have better grip, and the length between the front and aft wheels decide how balanced it is when scaling over obstacles. You mention that "the surface is quite flat", but even in your image i can see some rocks that already would pose a problem. And I'd think that Starfleet would want a vehicle that can be used on a lot of terrains, not just this "quite flat" planet, right? ;-)

As I said, I like the concept behind it, but from a functional standpoint it doesn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps a stupid question, but do you have any Lego lying around? If so, try and make a model of the chariot. You'll probably find that the positioning of the wheels is not ideal right now. Also a thing to note: small wheels and high structures don't really do the stability of a craft any good. You can fool around with finding the ideal wheel base, while still keeping the overall shape :-)