Spoilers ST Prodigy - StarShips & Technology Season 1 Discussion

[Deks]

I don't like because it looks like an organic, giant, dark hole. Like a scar from a former growth.

To me it looks like it breaks the flow of the external design and yes, it does look like a massive hole that just... doesn't seem to have a purpose.

Perhaps it was a necessity for SF's first Dauntless class design? Maybe an exhaust of some kind... but I find that doubtful since SF ships as a whole don't have a huge need for exhaust ports (take Warp and Impulse for example - they don't emit any classical exhaust byproducts as such apart from some particle wakes which are associated with generation of low level/high level subspace fields - which also allows a ship to be manuevered and moved in a given direction - so both are essentially field generation and manipulation technologies).
The only piece of tech which requires exhaust in a 'classical sense' and is associated with propulsiton that I can see on SF ships would be thrusters.

Sure, plasma and other things can be vented into space, but generally it isn't because a SF ship is fully self-enclosed and recycles EVERYTHING.
Most exhaust ports on a SF ship are there in case of emergencies (aka, overloads and the plasma or other things NEED to be vented out into space if the internal mechanism which frequently uses/recycles it is damaged and there's a buildup - this is also corroborated by how SF ships work on-screen).

At any rate, I agree that the huge hole on the back of the saucer just breaks the flow of the design... but much like there being Quantum Slipstream Version 1 (which maxed out at 300 Ly's per hour) and Version 2 (10 000 Ly's per minute and has a whole bunch of other tech that made it faster).... this is probably just a Version 1 of the starfleet built Dauntless design .. perhaps it will turn out to be a 'feature' of some kind.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Maybe that hole in the back of the Dauntless is a socket for modules?

 

[137th Gebirg]

It's possible, but if such a purpose never gets demonstrated, it would be a pointless thing to have. My guess is that it is a shuttle bay. It appears to have the typical vertical hangar door louvers deep down in there, but it's just really oddly-shaped. I get they want to try new things, but it just looks bad to the eyes, IMO.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Re: the Bridge, I wonder if Arturis managed to call up a generic bridge design from Voyager's memory core. We know that lots of starships share common designs; this is mostly because of re-uses of various sets over the years, but it does establish a baseline. It's feasible that Arturis rearranged his ship's bridge to have seats and stations to resemble some relatively recent but unknown starship bridge, and then "skinned" everything to look Starfleet.

Years later when Starfleet up and creates the Dauntless class, they pore over the records and simply adapt an existing design to match. As it stands, the chairs and some console segments were re-used from other starship designs anyway (The Prometheus earlier that year had the same command chair and it would be seen again on the future USS Challenger) and the large freestanding consoles on the sides were also seen previously on alien ships. Some shapes just work universally, I guess.

Mark

 

[Deks]

It's possible, but if such a purpose never gets demonstrated, it would be a pointless thing to have. My guess is that it is a shuttle bay. It appears to have the typical vertical hangar door louvers deep down in there, but it's just really oddly-shaped. I get they want to try new things, but it just looks bad to the eyes, IMO.

In one of the Dauntless MSD's used on Prodigy, the ship's shuttlebay seems to be located in a same section as on VOY and many other SF ships - at the back end of the secondary hull.
The hole is just... a break in the design (for whatever reason, I have no idea).

Since VOY had issues with QS from the start... the v1 of the drive maxed out at 300 Ly's per hour (however a more sustainable cruising speed was around 27.8 Ly's per hour - if the claim per the fake SF message to reach Earth in 90 days is accurate) but couldn't be sustained past 1 hour due to quantum stresses (my guess is that even Arturis Dauntless couldn't maintain maximum speed for more than say 12 hrs - much longer than VOY because its a design built for Slipstream, but still a limit), its possible because the USS Dauntless is using QS V2 (which dind't have same structural integrity issues and was much faster, but had problems with phase variance) the hole serves a purpose to stabilize the phase varience that would otherwise occur?

The MSD on the other hand doesn't show anything back there apart from corridors, etc... but it IS a 2D representation, so...

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Dauntless LCARS graphics for reference:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/klON9n

 

[137th Gebirg]

Curious! So according to this:


... That deep recess in the back of the primary hull doesn't exist (and has hallways there which should be empty space - although it does interestingly have "Secure Zone" as a call-out in that region) and the shuttlebay is indeed in the fantail, as with most Starfleet designs. So looking at this exterior view:


... There seem to be some rather large incongruencies relative to interior/exterior designs. How exactly do the shuttles get in and out of there? Does the back end open up like a trunk lid?

It would appear that someone didn't get the memo when they put together that MSD. Very little of it makes sense (what's with that slanted corridor at the bottom of the primary hull?) and was probably not intended to be viewed close-up. Once again, the show-runners underestimated the fans' inclination for checking the details. Only Lower Decks seems to get it.

And for the record, I would absolutely HATE to use a keyboard that was laid out like that!

 

[shapeshifter]

It's an organic design, possibly created with using a squid model.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Well, yeah, I suppose that's entirely possible. I do however see some seams on the skin - hull panels and whatnot - but not all over the ship like we normally would, so it could be a hybrid thing of some kind, sure.

If this new ship is that vastly different in architecture, though, I suspect they'll have some small bit of exposition in the ep-1 dialogue to give us a breakdown of its capabilities. Kind of like when they talked about Voyager's "bio-neural gel packs" and Nu-Stargazer's integrated Borg tech as being that much different from all the other designs out there.

 

[shapeshifter]

That deep recess in the back of the primary hull doesn't exist (and has hallways there which should be empty space

(what's with that slanted corridor at the bottom of the primary hull?)

Yeah, little of all this makes any sense, hopefully it will be explained but doubtful.

Once again, the show-runners underestimated the fans' inclination for checking the details.

I don't think they care. I think they see the incongruity they create as something to give us something to do. lol I mean we've proven time and time again we forgive their getting things wrong, our money spigot never shuts off!

And for the record, I would absolutely HATE to use a keyboard that was laid out like that!

That is supposed to be very ergonomic. I never used one so can't say.

Well, yeah, I suppose that's entirely possible. I do however see some seams on the skin - hull panels and whatnot - but not all over the ship like we normally would, so it could be a hybrid thing of some kind, sure.

Printed hull segments? (like TOS Connie started as before the age of aztecan bastardization! lol)

Voyager's "bio-neural gel packs" and Nu-Stargazer's integrated Borg tech as being that much different from all the other designs out there.

I'd expect these techs would have evolved by now, but really, probably just more technobabble.

 

[Markonian]

With Eaglemoss out of the picture and STO not allowed to use anything Prodigy yet, the show itself and behind-the-scenes posts will remain our only sources regarding this ship for a while.

I hope the Dauntless appears in PRO merchandise, novels, comics or short stories, even if just as guest star. The class itself might appear as a nod/reference in another Trek show at some point, depending on if the producers want to keep the Dauntless as one-off prototype for now or turn it into a successful class ship.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Inspired by a squid... dauntLess DSV?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Pop Out Rectangular Slit Phaser Turrets in the Relay Station. That's new.

 

[Deks]

Well, yeah, I suppose that's entirely possible. I do however see some seams on the skin - hull panels and whatnot - but not all over the ship like we normally would, so it could be a hybrid thing of some kind, sure.

If this new ship is that vastly different in architecture, though, I suspect they'll have some small bit of exposition in the ep-1 dialogue to give us a breakdown of its capabilities. Kind of like when they talked about Voyager's "bio-neural gel packs" and Nu-Stargazer's integrated Borg tech as being that much different from all the other designs out there.

Well, Starfleet and UFP started using bio-neural circuitry with VOY.
I suppose its more than doable that more organic based technology will find its was into the Dauntless too... possibly to augment the computer further and calculate those phase variances as they occur in transit (without the need of a shuttle going ahead of the ship to map the slipstream as its forming)... that or integration of better sensors which can map the slipstream threshold better than VOY's sensors could.

 

[fireproof78]

Inspired by a squid... dauntLess DSV?

I'll take it.

 

[fireproof78]

I don't think they care. I think they see the incongruity they create as something to give us something to do. lol I mean we've proven time and time again we forgive their getting things wrong, our money spigot never shuts off!

Indeed. Once we stop spending they might start caring. I don't see that happening.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Additional thoughts:

- We see that the Protostar is able to replicate a submarine vehicle with little fanfare (Subaway? Runnasub?), which isn't mentioned again once the mission is over. It has its own number on the side, which lends credence to my idea that it represents the DESIGN number carried in the ship's memory, instead of the number of shuttles / aux craft the ship has overall. More like Thunderbirds, in other words.

- The relay station carries forward the long (?) tradition of putting limited crew on remote-ish installations, as we aw in TNG "Aquiel". THAT case suggested a crew of two was okay on a relay station (plus a dog, with no obvious facilities for the pooch), but the station was hardly a zillion light years from anywhere. Are we to assume that in general, Starfleet would be able to get to that point in space for resupply or support?

- Denobulans are particularly social creatures by Alpha Quadrant standards - they're polyamorous for starters. What consideration would be made for anyone being stationed ALONE? Would you put a Vulcan more than 3.5 years' travel from home where culturally they really shouldn't? Does this station have an unseen holodeck where our (Provisional?) Lieutenant would have a chance to Fair Haven himself a piece of home?

- We see the Protostar deploy a gangway bridge, which recalls the forcefield-enabled version seen on Discovery. However, its "floor" is also a forcefield, which was a weird thing to do not TOO long ago (DS9 "Rejoined", though that was an emergency situation). When it's retracted though, it literally pulls back into the ship instead of just blinking out of existence. Perhaps the differently-colored segments are physical components of the bridge, which need to be scooped back up into the ship?

- As with LDS this week, we have a rare example of a starbase firing weapons. Here, the turrets seem somewhere in the family of those seen on the USS Kelvin and NX class starships, versus the popup / rotating turrets of the LDS starbase and DS9.

- Zero pretty quickly states that the station has better sickbay facilities than the Protostar. Odd, since the Protostar seems to have more square footage in its sickbay, compared to the one room we saw here.

- There's another starbase or Starfleet facility example seen here, that of whatever installation saw the commissioning or launch of the Protostar. The ship seems to be out in open space, which is where I'd want to put it if I were tossing bottles of champagne at it.

Mark

 

[fireproof78]

Are we to assume that in general, Starfleet would be able to get to that point in space for resupply or support?

I mean, I feel this is a fair assumption. Even in TOS the Enterprise was shown to do routine check ins with merchant crews and remote research outposts, like Dr. Crater's. I feel this is completely within the scope of Starfleet having routine trips to assess supplies, fitness of crew, and address any concerns.

 

[Ronald Held]

Maybe crew rotation at that relay station was often, 6 month to a year?

 

[Dukhat]

Maybe crew rotation at that relay station was often, 6 month to a year?

Perhaps they give introverted and/or socially awkward officers that duty, because they ostensibly can handle being alone for longer periods of time without going nuts?