Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter pst
- Start date
Both those Shipyards are mentioned in Picard actually. They were part of Raffi's backup plan after UP was destroyed.
I'm aware of that, but the fact that Berman-era ships were built in shipyards that were not Utopia means it's a very weak excuse as to explain the homogeneity of the federation fleet in STP.
Let's be honest, most the desire to see different classes of ships comes from us being fans, not because of any feasible in-universe explanations. Riker says he's on the toughest and faster ship Starfleet has built and he has a "fleet of them behind me" which would be obvious that they knew they were going into a battle situation, so it would make sense to send 200+ of these same ships.
To put it in perspective, in "The Best of Both Worlds" and "First Contact" most the ships that were sent to fight the Borg were puny and had their asses handed to them, but it was "kewl" because we got to see a few new classes of starships along side older classes of Starships so the fans were happy, yet the Enterprise-D and E were unscathed. If Starfleet was smart, they would have sent several galaxy class ships or several Sovereign ships to fight the borg, because remember, Geordi himself said the Enterprise-E/Sovereign ship was the most advanced ship in Starfleet.
To put it in perspective, in "The Best of Both Worlds" and "First Contact" most the ships that were sent to fight the Borg were puny and had their asses handed to them, but it was "kewl" because we got to see a few new classes of starships along side older classes of Starships so the fans were happy, yet the Enterprise-D and E were unscathed. If Starfleet was smart, they would have sent several galaxy class ships or several Sovereign ships to fight the borg, because remember, Geordi himself said the Enterprise-E/Sovereign ship was the most advanced ship in Starfleet.
True.
I’d like to see what was originally designed and put forth to be in the show. Doubtless it was probably a far nicer looking model and there may have been other ship designs and well. However for whatever reason they ran out of time and simply copy an pasted a whole bunch of a half completed model.
G
Gonzo
Guest
I am curious to know why the show runners decided to have so many ships in the finale, a smaller number of ships on both sides would have done the job just as well.
Why not 10 ships a side or maybe 20.
We did get some close up shots so its not like they used so many ships to keep the detail low and use distance shots.
Was Rikers ship shown and we just cant see it easily due to all the other ships.
Is it just a case of Where's Waldo.
Perhaps it was just to allow us to see Starfleets show of force, which is unusual outside of an actual war and how they seem to be moving towards having very large groups of purpose built warships, which is understandable after the Dominion War and attack on Mars.
That way the Explorers can be allowed to do just that without having to worry about home defence.
Even the Klingons would think twice before they engage a squadron of ships that large and advanced, perhaps it is due to other threats that have emerged like the K'Zinti who also favor large groups of mid sized ships.
Why not 10 ships a side or maybe 20.
We did get some close up shots so its not like they used so many ships to keep the detail low and use distance shots.
Was Rikers ship shown and we just cant see it easily due to all the other ships.
Is it just a case of Where's Waldo.
Perhaps it was just to allow us to see Starfleets show of force, which is unusual outside of an actual war and how they seem to be moving towards having very large groups of purpose built warships, which is understandable after the Dominion War and attack on Mars.
That way the Explorers can be allowed to do just that without having to worry about home defence.
Even the Klingons would think twice before they engage a squadron of ships that large and advanced, perhaps it is due to other threats that have emerged like the K'Zinti who also favor large groups of mid sized ships.
Aside: thankfully, they don't seem to be large-large, they seem to be Intrepid sized. Which is great. I hate the 'bigger is better' approach. The Galaxy class already was on the verge of being ridiculous. Novas, Intrepids, Promethes's, Steamrunners are a comfy size.
Small, advanced tech in small, easily made hulls is my bet for the best-bang-for-buck, and Riker apparently was right on the money with that.
G
Gonzo
Guest
I know the ships in the episode are only mid sized at best as I said many times already, when I said large I was talking about in number not in size, I think you misread my post a bit, easily done.
Calling all those ships a squadron is really stretching the term even though there isn't a set limit to the size of a squadron.
Warships don't need to be any bigger due to them being built for a singular purpose as they are at the end of the day just a weapons platform, its only the multi-role long range Explorers that need to be significantly larger, especially with the addition of transwarp and quantum slipstream drives increasing their range so much.
As for Warships those we saw plus a generous sprinkling of Defiant class ships are ideal as a rapid reaction force.
IF they are warships. Just because they are toughest, most advanced, etc., doesn't mean they are purpose-built. "Curiosity" would be a strange class name for a purpose-built warship. I agree that they do not appear to be the size of the capital ships we have seen before.I know the ships in the episode are only mid sized at best as I said many times already, when I said large I was talking about in number not in size, I think you misread my post a bit, easily done.
Calling all those ships a squadron is really stretching the term even though there isn't a set limit to the size of a squadron.
Warships don't need to be any bigger due to them being built for a singular purpose as they are at the end of the day just a weapons platform, its only the multi-role long range Explorers that need to be significantly larger, especially with the addition of transwarp and quantum slipstream drives increasing their range so much.
As for Warships those we saw plus a generous sprinkling of Defiant class ships are ideal as a rapid reaction force.
On the other hand, they could be purpose-built to fight the Kzinti. After all, Curiosity killed the cat!
(Yes, I'm arguing with myself.)
That photo shows that they clearly are. "Based on" doesn't mean 100% identical. See the Planet of the Titans USS Enterprise and the Discovery.No they're not.
G
Gonzo
Guest
That is why I think we may not have seen an outside view of Rikers ship in the episode, they may be keeping that reveal for next season.
I think Rikers comments in the show were alluding to them being the state of the art that Starfleet can offer, the best balance of offense, defense, speed and agility which is the hallmark of a Battle Cruiser, in other words they are all proper bruisers who go looking for a fight, hence why I use the Warship designation, they are built to stop a fight before one even starts or end the fight if necessary.
Outfight anything you cant outrun and outrun anything you cant outfight.
Heavy Escorts like the Defiant class are all well and good but their small size does limit the amount of power they can generate and how much punch their weapons have, which is why there will always be a need for the larger platforms that can generate more power and mount larger energy weapons.
The sheer number of them shown in one place does indicate they are purpose built to be used in large groups, when I took a closer look at them some of the nacelles were different but the saucer differences were actually minimal, which makes me think they are all of the same class and sub class of ships, they may even have been mass produced together.
It would show that Starfleet learned their lessons well from the Dominion War and attack on Mars, those mass produced Jem'Hadar Attack Ships and Battle Cruisers were very effective in large numbers, its no surprise that Starfleet took note.
For all we know they could all be crewed by Holograms except for Riker's ship, even if the Commodore knew that it wouldn't make them any less deadly.
Personally I think all Explorer class ships should have 2 Defiant class escorts to increase tactical flexibility and exploration speed when far away.
How can you say that with a straight face and then expect anyone to listen to your opinions afterwards?
The intention, I believe, is for Zheng He and ibn Majid to both Curiosity class, since Curiosity ships are named for great, overlooked explorers of the past.
Why the silhouette looks different is an issue with the prop guys or the VFX department. Chabon apparently wants them to be the same class somehow.
Maybe the silhouette is just a standard Starship silhouette and doesn't reflect what the ibn Majid looked like.
My problem with is then is why would Riker make such a big deal about his ships performance if it’s atleast a ten year old design?
Boasting. Starfleet officers sometime lie to make an opponent blink. I doubt that's THE most powerful starship in the fleet, not with the Sovereign- and Galaxy-classes still in service.
G
Gonzo
Guest
Yeah it doesn't make much sense, Curiosity class could just be a placeholder name.
It could be something he doesn't want to give away just yet.
That entire fleet looked like mass produced warships with no registry or name.
Either that or the only real ship was Rikers (which we didn't actually see the outside of) and the rest were holograms.
We will have to wait and see what information is released.
If they are in service, where are they? 200-ship sized damned fleet and not a single ship older than 10 years? The whole scene was so poorly done.
G
Gonzo
Guest
It wouldn't surprise me if both of those classes have been surpassed by now, technology can advance a lot in 20 years especially with a major war to push things along.
