Question for Dominion War Space Battle Buffs

[Praetor]

^It's really easy once you know what to look for. The six footer is smooth but detailed. The four footer is a little bloated looking, especially around the deflector, and has heavy panelling. The two-footer has basically no details.

And, I don't know if anyone has suggested giving the other Defiants a different 'camo' scheme than the Defiant herself, since she did have something of a camo paint job to her hull plating.

 

[Strider]

Our hero ship would just be the one that the camera follows most closely. If we see an action shot of one Defiant class ship being blown away as another Defiant class ship ducks aside with the camera following it, would your average viewer honestly expect that it was Our Heroes who had just been blown up?

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

I like the alternate paint job idea. i thought it'd be cool if they were a flat black to blend in with the background of space, but i guess that would be hard for cameras to follow and less useful in solar systems, where most battles seem to take place.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

We needed more Constellation-class ships shown. Even though they apparently sucked, and were retired early...compared to the Mirandas and Excelsiors

 

[Jono]

I like the alternate paint job idea. i thought it'd be cool if they were a flat black to blend in with the background of space, but i guess that would be hard for cameras to follow and less useful in solar systems, where most battles seem to take place.

It would be pointless in any type of battle. The show isn't in the 1920s, they don't need to pick out targets with their eyes, they have magic sensors to do it.

 

[Praetor]

We needed more Constellation-class ships shown. Even though they apparently sucked, and were retired early...compared to the Mirandas and Excelsiors

I believe they just didn't build many Constellations to start with. IIRC, Rick Sternbach stated they were basically built to be long-range spy ships disguised as long-range science ships. They still mentioned the Magellan in an episode of DS9, I believe. Possibly the Victory as well.

I like the alternate paint job idea. i thought it'd be cool if they were a flat black to blend in with the background of space, but i guess that would be hard for cameras to follow and less useful in solar systems, where most battles seem to take place.

It would be pointless in any type of battle. The show isn't in the 1920s, they don't need to pick out targets with their eyes, they have magic sensors to do it.

Pointless or not (and I do tend to agree with a black paintjob being pointless) the Defiant still has something of a camo-style paintjob of a level of complexity that no other starships have:

If the paintjob of the background kludge 'Frankenstein' fleet is to be taken as actually being on the 'real' ships and not just a photographic conceit (in addition to those partially blacked out Galaxys glimpsed in an episode or two) perhaps Starfleet really does paint at least some of its ships with sensor-refractive 'camo' paint?

 

[Praetor]

Crap, I have to double post. I hate that.

The thought just dawned on me that perhaps the reason we didn't see any Intrepid or Sovereign class ships is that it was more economical to use the legions of Mirandas and Excelsiors that we saw in essentially the same roles (destroyer/heavy cruiser) rather than build a bunch of new ships. Numbers statistically suggest there may have been 1000 members of each class. For all we know, neither new class was a significantly tactically superior, while being potentially more expensive. That might also explain why we saw so few members of the Defiant class.

 

[Jono]

On paintjobs I wonder why the Norway, Sabre and Steamrunner all went dark grey instead of the light grey and blue that all other Starfleet starships have been.

 

[Praetor]

Well, I'm sure the 'real' reason is that Alex Jaeger designed them all and liked them that way. I'm at a loss to suggest a possible Trekverse explanation - unless Starfleet was experimenting with new hull materials or thermocoating when designing those ships... or something like that.

 

[Strider]

Might have just been the same organizational psychology that led to the adoption of the darker FC uniforms. With the rise of the Borg and Dominion threats, the darker color schemes reflect a more grim, military outlook. This works equally well as a visual cue for us the viewer and for the people who design and fly the ships.

 

[Praetor]

That could work. It could have even been somewhat subconscious on the part of the in-universe designers at Starfleet.

 

[Jono]

Yet the Akira and the two newest classes the Sovereign and Prometheus retain a more normal colour scheme.

 

[Praetor]

Indeed - althought the Prometheus is a bit dark. Of course, the Akira seems like it's a cousin of the Nebula class, and going by the numbers it may well be. The Sovereign on the other hand - maybe they realized how warship-like it was, and were trying to play it down?