New party ship concept. Been struggling with creativity lately. I hate the heat. https://skfb.ly/6ByVy The spines on the bottom would go all the way to the back but didn't feel like modeling them.
Your party ship is really cool! I like the idea of the ring-drives being used for civilian vessels, with the more manoeuvrable (if you agree with the Litverse take) nacelles used for Starfleet and/or military ships.
Back at it again. Tried an idea I just got : moving the nacelles up a bit some they are not completely behind the saucer. Not sure if I'm gonna keep it yet, and I will have to rework the saucer connections if I do. Also merged some bits in the saucer and recessed the bridge dome a bit, since there is a lot of ceiling height in the bridge. Also removed the blip that housed the deflector (which I think I'm gonna put back on the saucer rim, but I haven't decided yet) and lower sensor dome (which is now recentered on the saucer). Still messing with the impulse unit as well.
Hadn't made any progress because I was too annoyed with how things were shaping up. Then I looked at this picture of my Warden Class concept and realized it was similar in style to the Toch. So I decided to borrow some ideas from it. So scrapped the old nacelles for new ones, moved the bussards to a little structural piece underneath the forward section of the nacelles (the shape and size will be adjusted later; it is attached to the section of nacelle that stays with the ship when the nacelles are ejected), adjusted the position of the AWAC module (which now has a connection that I like), and re positioned the impulse engines (to be altered later.) Also came up with an idea for the Type B (Guard starship classes come in Type Alpha and Type Bravo variants), which loses the AWAC module but gains a secondary module (which will be intelligence related).
This is accurate. Even in Starfleet, the captain of ships smaller than light cruisers (e.g., destroyers) would probably be the rank of O-5 Commander. Indeed, an O-4 Lieutenant Commander might be the captain of a very small ship (e.g., frigate).
Frigates and destroyers in the modern sense aren't really that different size wise (it's more a versatility in missions thing) and mostly are both commanded by O-5s. O-4 would be more like the kind of patrol boats* and auxiliary vessels than the US Navy doesn't have to the same extent as other navies because they hived off most of those functions to the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command rather than handling them in the main fleet. * My example for this would be the RAN, where Armidale-class OPVs (20-30 crew, defensive weapons) and Huon-class Minehunters (40-50 crew) are typically commanded by a O-4, destroyers and frigates are commanded by O-5s, and landing ships and historically carriers were commanded by O-6s.
Took a break from the nacelle to work on blocking out the updated hull design. Found a solution to the neck that always annoyed me about my original Sampson design.