Spoilers ST Lower Decks - Starships & Technology Season 4 Discussion

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, I never liked how they moved the turbolifts so far away from each other in TUC. There's no way in hell they would still fit inside the outer shell of the bridge dome. They would be hanging out on either side in space like a big pair of Dumbo ears! It wasn't quite as bad when they built the new bridge in TFF. They were a little farther apart than the lifts shown in the refit bridge, but could still work with the original filming miniature. It got way out of hand for the last one.

TMP Floorplan:

Fits nicely into the TMP filming miniature dome. Note the positioning of the smaller turbolift "roof" domes - ostensibly to blow the top off and maybe eject the turbolifts as lifeboats in an emergency, or possibly a loading hatch to drop the new lifts down the shaft while being built in drydock:

Then we have the small changes in TWOK/TSFS/TVH, which still work:

Then came the TFF floorplan. Challenging, but still might fit:

Then TUC. Someone tried to make an attempt, but there's really no way you can have this kind of layout without some external adjustment to support it:

And if we were still using the Phase II bridge dome, it REALLY would have wreaked havoc if they had changed the interior to anything other than the original TMP refit configuration:

For anyone who dismisses the Phase II bridge as non-canon and an invalid argument by any measure, you should know that the dome was repurposed for use on the Soyuz-class USS Bozeman in TNG's "Cause And Effect". Or, at least, something that looks a lot like the P2 dome:

 

[Markonian]

I just got hold of the Star Trek Adventures: Lower Decks Campaign Guide because I didn't know until now it contained ship stuff.
1. Season 4 gave the Sh'vhal the prefix VCF. In STO, this Vulcan design was previously identified as the Sh'vhal class. In the LDCG, the VSAS Sh'vhal is identified as the second T'Kalat class vessel. (I wonder if the registry prefix is a reference to the YouTuber V-Sauce?)
2. The season finale showed us Kumari-class ships docked at Starbase 25 (again). The variant with the aft fin is identified as the Andorian-Tellarite Ganashia class design. (I really like the Mogai-class with fin "Melponar class" from Season 3, so I'd love to get the finned "Kumari" in STO to play as well).

 

[Radu Molasar]

Those hatches on the front for probe launchers?

I know it is for a docking port---but I hate the sawed off aft of the bridge module.

Refit dreadnoughts have a triangular feature with two docking ports to either side---to mimic the B/C teardrop....a big escape pod in place of a docking port? Something besides that sawed off look...a ramp down for stairs...something.

 

[Macintosh]

Note the positioning of the smaller turbolift "roof" domes - ostensibly to blow the top off and maybe eject the turbolifts as lifeboats in an emergency, or possibly a loading hatch to drop the new lifts down the shaft while being built in drydock:

From what I recall Andrew Probert intended these "bridge module turbolift hatches" to be able to connect to external umbilicals so that turbolifts could freely pass between the ship and a station it was docked with. He put similar hatches on the Enterprise-D.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Cool - makes sense. A lot of thought were put into those designs.

 

[drt]

Yeah, I never liked how they moved the turbolifts so far away from each other in TUC. There's no way in hell they would still fit inside the outer shell of the bridge dome. They would be hanging out on either side in space like a big pair of Dumbo ears! It wasn't quite as bad when they built the new bridge in TFF. They were a little farther apart than the lifts shown in the refit bridge, but could still work with the original filming miniature. It got way out of hand for the last one.

TMP Floorplan:

Fits nicely into the TMP filming miniature dome. Note the positioning of the smaller turbolift "roof" domes - ostensibly to blow the top off and maybe eject the turbolifts as lifeboats in an emergency, or possibly a loading hatch to drop the new lifts down the shaft while being built in drydock:

Then we have the small changes in TWOK/TSFS/TVH, which still work:

Then came the TFF floorplan. Challenging, but still might fit:

Then TUC. Someone tried to make an attempt, but there's really no way you can have this kind of layout without some external adjustment to support it:

And if we were still using the Phase II bridge dome, it REALLY would have wreaked havoc if they had changed the interior to anything other than the original TMP refit configuration:

For anyone who dismisses the Phase II bridge as non-canon and an invalid argument by any measure, you should know that the dome was repurposed for use on the Soyuz-class USS Bozeman in TNG's "Cause And Effect". Or, at least, something that looks a lot like the P2 dome:

It never occurred FJ me before but do all three bridge variants have the same diameter? If TUC is smaller than maybe it still fits, but if it or TFF are bigger (which wouldn’t surprise me) then we’re even worse off.

Huh, even though I have the Eaglemoss model. I don’t think I ever noticed that Bozeman had the Phase II-ish dome.

 

[David cgc]

It never occurred FJ me before but do all three bridge variants have the same diameter? If TUC is smaller than maybe it still fits, but if it or TFF are bigger (which wouldn’t surprise me) then we’re even worse off.

You know you're posting about Trek Tech too much when autocorrect replaces "to" with "FJ."

I'm pretty sure I linked to it earlier (or tried to), but I have seen an aftermarket model kit piece that expanded the square part of the refit bridge forward and moved the "nubs" to account for the TUC turbolifts. I do like to imagine there were exterior differences between the refit and the -A (well, there were, but more of them). Well, at least in theory. I've seen models of the -A that add windows on the front of the saucer to match the TFF observation room, and I don't care for that at all. Maybe it's because they're too square and don't fit inside the stripes so they don't match the other windows.

 

[drt]

You know you're posting about Trek Tech too much when autocorrect replaces "to" with "FJ."

lol, crap, I didn't even notice that.

 

[Janewaysson]

Well, I'll take 180 degrees over 36 degrees anyday. BAM!

But it's hardly the first bridge module that doesn't match the inside with the out. Well over half of them don't, I'm pretty sure.

Mark

It's the windows. What are those windows? And the scaling does not work at all

 

[Janewaysson]

Why is that?

Looks dumb as heck.

https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...B&biw=1480&bih=742&dpr=2#imgrc=pj3nbSONAg5h0M

 

[KamenRiderBlade]

You know what, after seeing the mass of Horizontal M/A-M Warp Cores that look like NX-era Warp Cores for the floating Ring World.

I got to thinking, on ships, Vertical Warp Cores makes alot more sense in terms of space efficiency for deck layout, safety in terms of simple ejection of the Warp Core in a worst case scenario.

But on Planets with alot of land / real estate to use, Horizontal Warp Cores would probably be more efficient, not having to build vertical multi story facilities simplifies things for land / facility use.

I can see why Horizontal Warp Cores would be more popular on Planet Side development.

Maintainence would be easier on Planet Side if you don't have to climb multiple stories to access certain parts of the reactor.

If just sliding or moving along horizontally to service things, that would make things alot easier.

 

[Macintosh]

I doubt you'd want to have warp cores or antimatter generally on a planet or artificial habitat unless it was absolutely necessary. If you get a containment breach aboard a starship you lose the starship; if you get a containment breach on a planet you lose a large amount of the planet's surface. 1kg of antimatter losing containment would be equivalent to a 43-megaton explosion; a Galaxy-class warp core contains 450 tons of antimatter when fully fuelled, which could generate an explosion of over 19 million megatons, which is around a fifth the energy released by the Chicxulub impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. It would be nothing short of an extinction level event. Far safer to have a large distributed network of more conventional redundant fusion reactors.

 

[KamenRiderBlade]

I doubt you'd want to have warp cores or antimatter generally on a planet or artificial habitat unless it was absolutely necessary. If you get a containment breach aboard a starship you lose the starship; if you get a containment breach on a planet you lose a large amount of the planet's surface. 1kg of antimatter losing containment would be equivalent to a 43-megaton explosion; a Galaxy-class warp core contains 450 tons of antimatter when fully fuelled, which could generate an explosion of over 19 million megatons, which is around a fifth the energy released by the Chicxulub impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. It would be nothing short of an extinction level event. Far safer to have a large distributed network of more conventional redundant fusion reactors.

True on the safety factor for Planet-side.

But the Ring-World had a boat load of those in a small area, but it was also a "Ring World", so it's technically a "Orbital Platform".

 

[Macintosh]

There's no indication that those devices were antimatter-powered reactors, even if they happened to coincidentally resemble an NX-class warp core – and given that from a real-world perspective the NX warp core was deliberately designed to look like an old steam boiler we can assume that the physical appearance doesn't mean anything specific as to the technology involved.

They are referred to in the episode as "power relays" or "terminals", and the building they're in is referred to a "station". The unstable pods that get swapped out are referred to as "power cylinders" that contain "ion generators". T'Lyn says that the instability could destroy "the building", not the ring. The station also contains a "turbine", which is what explodes when Boimler tries to shut it down.

Given that Corazonia has an approximate surface area of around 4000km² it could comfortably support a population of well over a million. I wouldn't want antimatter anywhere near it, and given that it surrounds a small artificial star it makes much more sense that it would draw power directly from that instead of using old antimatter reactors in a building open to the elements.

 

[Radu Molasar]

Vertical sinkholes are less vulnerable.

While we think of matter/antimatter annihilation—there may also be…unmatter

https://www.researchgate.net/public...tter_Composed_of_Particles_and_Anti-Particles
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=math_fsp

This is not a fictional substance…but in-universe, it might explain how the Doomsday Machine “deactivated” Constellation’s fuel.

 

[KamenRiderBlade]

I wonder, what kind of power source & emitter must you be running to have the Trynar Shields cover the volume of a Star System.

Spoiler: Astronomical Structures of a Star System.

To get even coverage, I would assume you need a Shield Projector based near the center of the Star System, probably powered by the local stars.

Assuming the Stars are Binary or multiple Stars Circling each other in a steady orbit, you can place a large Shield Emitting Space Station of some sort, maybe run it by siphoning off bits of power from the local Star.

But the surface area of a Star Systems Termination Shock would be huge.

And we saw Mariner traveling around the Detrion System from one end to another.

For Earth's Termination Shock, it's estimated to have a radius of 117 AU.
Using the Sol Star System as Reference, a Trinar Shield around it would have a Surface Area of roughly 172,021.047 AU.
That's ridiculously MASSIVE.

1 AU = 149,597,870,700 meters or 149,597,870.7 km

EDIT 1:

Never Mind, I checked Memory Alpha, the Detrion System is a Star System with a single Star in the center.

Then there would probably be multiple Geo Stationary Trynar Shield Stations orbiting the Star, slowly feeding off the energy and projecting the shield as a network.
That's the most likely solution with a control station further out that could give centralized commands to the Satellite Network of Shield Emitting stations.