Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard

[Rahul]

I'm with you on Bridge Windows, unnecessary, especially when you want to Bury the Bridge like I do =D.

But following your logic of the Bridge being protected like a giant groin guard, wouldn't MORE Super Material Groin Guards in terms of floors with the same level of armor in between add more protection on all sides?

Imagine all the Structural Trusses / Floor Plating / Walls made of similar materials, like the hull?

Just look at how much damage the Defiant took on it's hull with Ablative armor, now stack that by all the extra deck layers you can have in between the outter hull and the Bridge Room?

That's just MORE layers of protection if you design it right.

Engineering is always a trade-off. Super dense materials are good protection - but they also make your carry around a lot of heavy stuff, this make you slower and less flexible.

Basically, if you wear a groin guard, you can compete in a lot of challenges. If you wear a full-body protection, you can only compete in a very specific combat scenario.

On a spaceship, it would make sense to give only the most important parts the most protection.

 

[Rahul]

Also - I think what protects a starship is it's outer hull. Not the floors. If something penetrates the hull, it also cuts through two levels of floors like butter.

Basically, putting something inside or outside makes no difference. In fact, it's even a protection, because of you shoot at something, you target center of mass. The bridge is harder to hit precisely.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, look at that photon torpedo fired by Section 31 that sliced through the saucer section of the Enterprise in DSC and when it exploded took out a couple of decks. At first it just punched a hole in the hull and didn't even fully penetrate but when it finally detonated it tore through the bow of the ship like tissue paper.

 

[fireproof78]

So, we should put the bridge on top away from most of that hull? Sorry, this all sounds like treknobabble at its finest.

 

[Dukhat]

Real reason, Star Trek has rule guidelines for StarShip design for Federation StarShips created by Gene Roddenberry.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/design.htm
Rule #1 Warp nacelles *must* be in pairs.
Rule #2 Warp nacelles must have at least 50% line-of-sight on each other across the hull.
Rule #3 Both warp nacelles must be fully visible from the front.
Rule #4 The bridge must be located at the top center of the primary hull.

Or, as I like to refer to them, "A list of complete horseshit that Roddenberry pulled out of his ass just to discredit Franz Joseph because FJ was making money off of a piece of Star Trek merchandise and Roddenberry wasn't."

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah, look at that photon torpedo fired by Section 31 that sliced through the saucer section of the Enterprise in DSC and when it exploded took out a couple of decks. At first it just punched a hole in the hull and didn't even fully penetrate but when it finally detonated it tore through the bow of the ship like tissue paper.

Well, maybe S31 knows exactly where to hit them.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Or, as I like to refer to them, "A list of complete horseshit that Roddenberry pulled out of his ass just to discredit Franz Joseph because FJ was making money off of a piece of Star Trek merchandise and Roddenberry wasn't."

That too, Gene Roddenbbery was a Glory Hog and a douche to many of his co-workers.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Well, maybe S31 knows exactly where to hit them.

Maybe they have "Penetrating Torpedoes" like we have "Bunker Buster" bombs IRL?

 

[cooleddie74]

It would explain the strange shape and unusually large size of that torpedo. That was awfully big and alien in shape for a Federation photon torpedo.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

It would explain the strange shape and unusually large size of that torpedo. That was awfully big and alien in shape for a Federation photon torpedo.

Definitely very hard faceted and angular, almost like the F-117 simple faceted Stealth Shape.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

It would explain the strange shape and unusually large size of that torpedo. That was awfully big and alien in shape for a Federation photon torpedo.

Almost like a "Long Range Tactical Cruise Torpedo", similar to our IRL "Long Range Tactical Cruise Missiles".

=D

Maybe a range of several LY's once it goes to warp =D

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, a Section 31 invention that the regular Starfleet doesn't use and won't ever use.

 

[Timo]

I could see S31 wanting a "torpedo" that can carry a wide range of payloads: not just kaboomables, but also insertables. This could be a penetrating reconnaissance drone, capable of extended missions of many sorts - but also a vehicle for inserting and perhaps extracting live agents. As a side effect, it also becomes a vehicle capable of delivering a very large warhead when needed...

Not necessarily ideal for that, perhaps being clumsy and slow and whatnot. But in this fight, the big payload would be the only thing that mattered. This probably isn't a superior penetrator, or it would have been used early on in the fight. Rather, Control appears to have waited until the shields of the Enterprise were weakened before firing this decisive weapon.

The weapon is decidedly unfamiliar to Pike's team. Pike requests the specs of that mystery weapon; we never learn if he gets any.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gonzo]

Are you refering to the "Oval Office" within the "White House"?

Not that Oval Office, everyone has one.

Is it porcelain?

It most certainly is.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Not that Oval Office, everyone has one.

It most certainly is.

Ah, you're talking about the Toilet.

 

[Gonzo]

As is always the case its a trade off.

Its no surprise that both the Klingons and Starfleet have a preference for mid sized Battle Cruisers deployed in large numbers (will be interesting to see the Romulan military's approach), as that is the best way to mitigate any shortfalls (weapon punch) they may have when deployed alone while keeping overall speed and agility high.

I do wonder about the need to have quite so many as we saw in episode 10, it must be said that such a show of force is more likely to end a battle before it starts though.

Its also interesting to note the lack of Deflector dish on those ships, that will definitely save a lot of space and power which can then be used elsewhere and lower the overall profile of the ship, although I am sure the larger ships will still have them as they can be very useful in multi role missions.

Just look at the D'Deridex Warbird for instance, its a very big and heavy ship which means its speed and agility is going to suffer for it.

Yet its size also enables it to fit the largest weapons that the Romulans can come up with as available power is not an issue.

Think of it in boxing terms, the D'Deridex is a super heavyweight that can take a lot of punishment and hit really hard but it is slow, whereas the Battle Cruiser is pretty much the best pound for pound boxer there is, if you don't know what you are going to be up against you send in the Battle Cruisers to find out as they will have the best chance.

One of the reasons why I love the Klingons Vor'cha class ships.

Honorable mention goes to the Defiant class but its size limits its power generation which limits the punch of its weapons, with that being said it still punches well above its weight but it just doesn't have the juice alone to be able to trouble the shields of the biggest ships.

If I was Commander in Chief of Starfleet I would be looking to identify technologies that will enable my Battle Cruisers to stay in the fight longer and hit harder, that is where battles will be won or lost (not who has the biggest ships), for instance the Ablative generator that Voyager brought back with it would be a very good start as it can be deployed only when needed but it is a bit too overpowered so we may never see it again.

I do expect to see larger Explorer class ships though, maybe even an Odyssey class or equivalent.

 

[Timo]

Not sure that big means slow or cumbersome. Quite to the contrary, big engines might make the D'deridex much more agile than the Defiant, say - the same way big twin-engined jet fighters tend to be much more agile than small single-engined ones. Certainly we have seen these things turn on a dime, and they can almost outrun a Galaxy whereas the Defiant is just about the slowest warship in the 24th century.

The D'deridex certainly provides a bigger target, unless you happen to shoot through the holes. But Star Trek death rays never miss anyway, so this probably isn't much of a factor.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

Definitely very hard faceted and angular, almost like the F-117 simple faceted Stealth Shape.

Looked like the Into Darkness S31 long range torpedo to me.

 

[NCC-73515]

If the bridge is simply surrounded by the material that door is made of in that Disco episode, it'll be forever safe from torpedoes.

 

[fireproof78]

If I was Commander in Chief of Starfleet I would be looking to identify technologies that will enable my Battle Cruisers to stay in the fight longer and hit harder, that is where battles will be won or lost (not who has the biggest ships), for instance the Ablative generator that Voyager brought back with it would be a very good start as it can be deployed only when needed but it is a bit too overpowered so we may never see it again.

If I was Chief of Starfleet Operations a more versatile starship platform would be my goal. So, having ships similar to Riker's fleet at the end would be my preference-mass produced, interchangeable parts, flexible design.