One nacelle to rule them all.
Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter pst
- Start date
Yeah, it fits the era fine, or maybe just before. Never had an issue with it, and it looks the best of the TNG era ships.
Reminds me of the "Kelvinprise too damn big!" wailing. How many times did the franchise tell you that starship size does not matter? I mean unless you need to store lots of stuff obviously.
PIC explicitly establishes the Zheng He-type as "the toughest, fastest, most powerful [Starfleet ship]" of that time, in other words tougher, faster, and more powerful than the larger Odyssey, you can see them side by side.
You are also plain wrong about the actual size, volume counts, not length. Production designer Dave Blass posted some specs, while not canon as usual, the mass of 6.6 million tons seems quite plausible compared to Voyager's 700,000 tons.
https://twitter.com/DaveBlass/status/1647227842093109255/photo/1
According to this site's volume estimates, Voyager would have a mean density of about 1.118 tons per cubic metre. Applying this to a Galaxy-class vessel results in a mass of 6.51 million tons, so almost identical with the Odyssey. Of course it could have more empty internal space, its hull might be somewhat lighter, but it should be comparable which is supported by this line from Discovery:
"Your vessel's configuration and metallurgy suggest 23rd to 25th-century construction." (S03E03)
I found an image depicting both classes next to each other, not sure if the size ratio is 100 % correct, nevertheless it appears to be about right. I removed all nacelles since they considerably increase the length without adding much volume.
They share the same size category.
The size of the Odyssey is also nowhere near that of a Romulan warbird from TNG btw.
Furthermore, Lower Decks kind of mocks giant vessels. The show revealed the Orions had built a massive destroyer that had ended up being a derelict ship just sitting in space. After a rough comparison with the Cerritos, I would estimate its length at around 17 kilometres. Again, we are talking about the Orions here, not some hyper-advanced super species.
Reminds me of the "Kelvinprise too damn big!" wailing. How many times did the franchise tell you that starship size does not matter? I mean unless you need to store lots of stuff obviously.
PIC explicitly establishes the Zheng He-type as "the toughest, fastest, most powerful [Starfleet ship]" of that time, in other words tougher, faster, and more powerful than the larger Odyssey, you can see them side by side.
You are also plain wrong about the actual size, volume counts, not length. Production designer Dave Blass posted some specs, while not canon as usual, the mass of 6.6 million tons seems quite plausible compared to Voyager's 700,000 tons.
https://twitter.com/DaveBlass/status/1647227842093109255/photo/1
According to this site's volume estimates, Voyager would have a mean density of about 1.118 tons per cubic metre. Applying this to a Galaxy-class vessel results in a mass of 6.51 million tons, so almost identical with the Odyssey. Of course it could have more empty internal space, its hull might be somewhat lighter, but it should be comparable which is supported by this line from Discovery:
"Your vessel's configuration and metallurgy suggest 23rd to 25th-century construction." (S03E03)
I found an image depicting both classes next to each other, not sure if the size ratio is 100 % correct, nevertheless it appears to be about right. I removed all nacelles since they considerably increase the length without adding much volume.
They share the same size category.
The size of the Odyssey is also nowhere near that of a Romulan warbird from TNG btw.
Furthermore, Lower Decks kind of mocks giant vessels. The show revealed the Orions had built a massive destroyer that had ended up being a derelict ship just sitting in space. After a rough comparison with the Cerritos, I would estimate its length at around 17 kilometres. Again, we are talking about the Orions here, not some hyper-advanced super species.
Whatever works for you, I guess.
You know why people were wailing? Because the scale for that ship changed during the film.
It's told me more that nobody can seem to get starship scaling right.
You know what's funny about that statement? Riker was telling this to someone who was posing as the director of Starfleet security for the last ten years. Someone who would already be quite aware of the capabilities of the Inquiry class. It made Riker look like kind of an idiot, unless he was just making up some bluster for the benefit of the rest of Oh's crew.
Anyone figured out a reason as to why Quantum torpedoes were nowhere to be seen in ST: Picard series?
Even if the Quantums were originally more difficult to make, the process would have gotten easier over time... so much in fact that they would have been standard ordinance by the 25th century.
But for whatever reason, SF isn't using them.
Even if the Quantums were originally more difficult to make, the process would have gotten easier over time... so much in fact that they would have been standard ordinance by the 25th century.
But for whatever reason, SF isn't using them.
I think we saw Quantum torpedoes in Season 3, there were blue-ish white torpedoes coming from some of the Borg hijacked Starfleet ships.
Yeah, I thought I remember someone actually mentioning "quantum torpedoes" on the bridge at one point.
I think one of the bridge console LCARS mentions quantum torpedoes. Though it's not readable in the final episode, comes from BTS shots.
There's no mention of any episode of Picard on the Quantum Torpedo page on M-A, but that could just be someone not bothering to add it.
There's no mention of any episode of Picard on the Quantum Torpedo page on M-A, but that could just be someone not bothering to add it.
I could have sworn that someone on the bridge mentioned it at one point - Geordi's daughter, maybe?
I'm probably misremembering. There's been a lot of Trek on screen the past couple of years. It all starts blobbing together after a while.
I'm probably misremembering. There's been a lot of Trek on screen the past couple of years. It all starts blobbing together after a while.
I'm curious why Voyager's Batmobile armour wasn't used. Or Seven's nanoprobe resurrection trick when Shaw died.
I really wished Discovery's far future had been one where all of Trek's one-off-with-no-explanation magic tricks were used to the fullest.
Shhhhhh... They forgot. 
Not to mention VOY’s odd “Tri-cobalt torpedoes”, which actually seemed weaker than standard photons.
SEVEN: He fired two tricobalt devices. Are those weapons normally carried on Federation Starships?
CHAKOTAY: No.
SEVEN: Yet they were part of Voyager's arsenal. Why?
CHAKOTAY: I can't explain that.
SEVEN: I can. Neither phasers nor torpedoes are capable of creating a tear in subspace. A tricobalt device is.
CHAKOTAY: No.
SEVEN: Yet they were part of Voyager's arsenal. Why?
CHAKOTAY: I can't explain that.
SEVEN: I can. Neither phasers nor torpedoes are capable of creating a tear in subspace. A tricobalt device is.
Huh... Okay - forgot that bit of dialogue. Probably haven't seen that episode since it aired back in '99, if I'm honest. Guess it shows how much I was paying attention back then, too.
SO... Holy shit! In reading that, it would seem that the Federation may have engaged in some ethically questionable weapons development and deployment. In fact, this puts the whole "we have to put a speed limit on our ships because they're damaging subspace" B.S. on its ear (TNG S7-E9 "Force of Nature"). They actually put WMD-like weapons on a Starfleet "ship of (ostensibly) scientific exploration" that can actually destroy limited regions of subspace!
Also, after referring to MA, this dialogue exchange between Chakotay and Seven occurred in Season 6 "The Voyager Conspiracy", which means they had this particular weapon class on board all along and it took them 6 years to get around to explaining what they actually were after using them to destroy the Caretaker's Array in the pilot.
Wow... VOY writers really had their collective heads up their asses, didn't they? No wonder RDM ran away screaming...
SO... Holy shit! In reading that, it would seem that the Federation may have engaged in some ethically questionable weapons development and deployment. In fact, this puts the whole "we have to put a speed limit on our ships because they're damaging subspace" B.S. on its ear (TNG S7-E9 "Force of Nature"). They actually put WMD-like weapons on a Starfleet "ship of (ostensibly) scientific exploration" that can actually destroy limited regions of subspace!
Also, after referring to MA, this dialogue exchange between Chakotay and Seven occurred in Season 6 "The Voyager Conspiracy", which means they had this particular weapon class on board all along and it took them 6 years to get around to explaining what they actually were after using them to destroy the Caretaker's Array in the pilot.
Wow... VOY writers really had their collective heads up their asses, didn't they? No wonder RDM ran away screaming...
Oh you mean the future that should have portrayed UFP as a Type III civilisation on Kardashev scale (with beginnings into becoming type IV as showing them harnessing nearby Dwarf galaxies and also Andromeda? - yeah, no, that would be 'too ambitious' for Disco writers - which is why I'm hoping Disco's 32nd century is an alternate future and not a real one where things are actually left to being open).
Huh... Okay - forgot that bit of dialogue. Probably haven't seen that episode since it aired back in '99, if I'm honest. Guess it shows how much I was paying attention back then, too.
SO... Holy shit! In reading that, it would seem that the Federation may have engaged in some ethically questionable weapons development and deployment. In fact, this puts the whole "we have to put a speed limit on our ships because they're damaging subspace" B.S. on its ear (TNG S7-E9 "Force of Nature"). They actually put WMD-like weapons on a Starfleet "ship of (ostensibly) scientific exploration" that can actually destroy limited regions of subspace!
Also, after referring to MA, this dialogue exchange between Chakotay and Seven occurred in Season 6 "The Voyager Conspiracy", which means they had this particular weapon class on board all along and it took them 6 years to get around to explaining what they actually were after using them to destroy the Caretaker's Array in the pilot.
Wow... VOY writers really had their collective heads up their asses, didn't they? No wonder RDM ran away screaming...
We know from Insurrection movie that Isolythic subspace weapons were banned by the Khitomer Accords because they created tears in subpsace.
It's probably for this reason that Starfleet had not really used Tricobalt devices (since they also create tears in subspace).
Voyager's original mission (the one that launched it from DS9 at the start of the show) was to track down the Maqui. Its possible that Tricobalts were something Starfleet experimented with, gave a pair to Voy as a means to test them out on their shakedown cruise (which was incidentally their first mission in the Badlands if worst came to worst - aka, damage subspace in a limited area of space so the Maqui's Warp capabilities would be hampered in that part of space), and then the ship disappeared when the Caretaker pulled it across the Galaxy into the DQ (which is where they decided to use the torpedoes on the Caretaker's array to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Kazon).
Insurrection happened after the Dominion War, and Isolythic subspace weapons were banned in the SECOND Khitomer Accords (aka, just when the Dominion War began).
So, from a chronological perspective, the Tricobalt's existence does seem 'justified'.
SF was being highly irritated by the Maqui... so its possible they wanted to use Tricobalt's on VOY to limit their potential bases of operation.
Its not a tactic that SF would normally condone it appears, but the Maqui DID attack both the Malinche and the Defiant and demonstrated to be a viable threat - its possible there was an admiral of questionable traits behind those orders to use the Tricobals (a changeling perhaps while they were in the stage of trying to destabilize Alpha and Beta Quadrants).
But I agree that a few things on VOY that didn't necessarily appear to make sense to some viewers, they could have easily been explained in a few seconds of dialogue - torpedoes (trading for antimatter while making new torpedo casings, etc. with replicatots), damage repair (using transporters and replicators, and drones - aka automated systems), making pit stops in various systems to get various raw materials which could be used to limit the energy use of replicators and create more spare parts, etc.), repair of shuttles, etc.
In fairness, with all the tech VOY had at its disposal, it didn't technically NEED explaining, however, it would have been nice and added an extra layer of consistency to the show (though to be fair, VOY was rather consistent in its progressional story telling in the first 2 to 3 seasons - it was a lot more randomized when 7 joined the crew).
