The Enterprise That Wasn't
- Thread starter Arpy
- Start date
I think of the crew here as solider-scientists. They can defend themselves and the ship well enough (obliterate anything we could conjure up against them, and apparently defeat the Romulans too) but this is an early ship with limited abilities. I think an in-system warship might have more weapons, but it wouldn’t stand a chance against this warp-ship. I haven’t given much thought to the Kzinti. But Nausicaans and the rest? Well, why haven’t they attacked already? I think space is vast and all parties benefit from that.
The death star here may either be a laser bolt turret, or an escape pod, or a drill for passing meteors. Maybe all three. I would have suggested a docking port, but there seems to be one right beside it.
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Some more observations on what this ship and crew might be like, in the context of 2120s - 2140s:
- The crew may all be single, bi, and poly, since it’s a rather small crew with limited interaction with others; all they have is each other. Girls night/guys night once a week is possibly a thing as a result. The crew must also be dependent on VR visors as a form of escapism.
- Space seems to be a premium on the ship, so most of the crew might bunk together, except maybe the commanding officer. There may or may not be separate bunk quarters for men and women.
- General uniforms might be more casual instead of being a jumpsuit, with the mission patch on their shoulders, and with their own equipment belts. EV suits might not be as advanced at those in the NX-class era.
- Vulcan ships might drop off personnel as replacements or take personnel off the ship if need be, due to their higher warp speeds. But it is more likely that the XCV-330 crew pick up passerbys in DY-class ships, or fugitives to help manage the ship if a crewmember is lost. Or clone lost crewmembers.
- Likely has a recreation room to preoccupy any children on the ship, if they have any. Although children would be trained as to how to operate the ship as well.
- The brig - if there is one - likely only holds one person at a time; I have no idea how justice would be handled here.
- There is likely no mess hall; only a galley and bar at best due to the small size of the crew. The crew may have personal protein resequencers, water purifiers, and mini refrigerators in their quarters.
- The gym, if they have one, may also be really small.
- The grappler is likely located on the aft of the ship.
- The deflector dish has a primitive design, compared to the NX-class and Crossfield-class deflectors. But it is in line with deflector design for the Daedalus-class (2160s - 2196) and Constitution-class (2240s - 2270s).
- There might not be a viewscreen from what I see; all communication is audio only.
- May or may not have anti gravity depending on certain parts of the ship (bridge and engineering room yes; elsewhere maybe/no). And likely does not have a transporter, as its relatively new technology by this time. So, they’re dependent on shuttlepods for away missions. They may have a pair of motorbikes or a buggy onboard to traverse long distances on away missions, and will have to carry a container containing a buggy under the shuttlepod.
- Possibly holds a few subspace communication buoys and a few space probes, and a couple of rovers.
Per Memory Alpha:
It looks like we have some leeway in the timeline to play with the Kzinti since the canon contradicts itself. Not that the canon means that much in this “...That Never Was” thread. (I wonder what ENT’s history with them would have been.)
It might be interesting, if we’re to keep the Kzinti here, if they’re the main baddie of this ship’s time period. Maybe this ship discovers them.
But one thing I want to give this ship (and us in the real world) is an opportunity to get into space without there immediately being an interstellar war with an alien baddie of the decade. Real space is going to be very empty, and I kind of want the earliest Trek ships to appreciate the vastness and majesty of it and its wonders. And the profound loneliness of its emptiness leading to a greater appreciation for the company of each other here. Maybe a story about that somehow? It could be one of the most memorable episodes of the series and the franchise.
After that, I see the earliest stories being about discovering worlds with maybe only plant life and the implications of that (life! A cash crop?) on our society, before one of the plants poisons or eats us.
Another episode where one of the crew loses their mind in the emptiness. (We’re going through quarantine now — how’s your mental health atm?) The story could touch on a crisis of faith (is there no God out here?) or perspective (maybe it’s like a Twilight Zone episode where they lose contact with Earth and start to doubt its existence).
Then we get to another lifeless world and find remains of a civilization around our real world level of technology that destroyed its biosphere and ultimately dwindled in numbers until a nuclear exchange finished them off. (This 50k, or 1 million, yrs ago, to remind of the long age of the universe, that not everyone makes it into space, and suggest why no one’s visited Earth already.) Maybe at the end of the episode they find a Vulcan or Kzinti cataloguing marker. And that spawns a another episode about the implications of contemporary intelligent life and the secret political shit-show that happens at the highest echelons of political and corporate power in the Sol System...maybe Weyland-Yutani sends out a ship, or the Soviets join the New UN lol.
In "The Slaver Weapon", Sulu says the last war between Kzinti and Humans "was two hundred years ago" from the standpoint of 2269. It is not known whether this is an exact figure or an approximation. In Larry Niven's original Known Space universe, from which the Kzinti were adapted into Star Trek, the first such war was fought with sublight vessels, and the Kzinti could only be defeated thanks to Earth acquiring technology that enabled faster-than-light travel. However, Star Trek: First Contact establishes that Earth's first recognized encounter with extraterrestrials occurred immediately after Zephram Cochrane's first manned warp flight in 2063, and VOY: "Friendship One" establishes that the titular probe was launched in 2067 with Humans still having "no idea" what threats lay in space, so the Kzinti would not seem to have been known to them before that point.
It looks like we have some leeway in the timeline to play with the Kzinti since the canon contradicts itself. Not that the canon means that much in this “...That Never Was” thread. (I wonder what ENT’s history with them would have been.)
It might be interesting, if we’re to keep the Kzinti here, if they’re the main baddie of this ship’s time period. Maybe this ship discovers them.
But one thing I want to give this ship (and us in the real world) is an opportunity to get into space without there immediately being an interstellar war with an alien baddie of the decade. Real space is going to be very empty, and I kind of want the earliest Trek ships to appreciate the vastness and majesty of it and its wonders. And the profound loneliness of its emptiness leading to a greater appreciation for the company of each other here. Maybe a story about that somehow? It could be one of the most memorable episodes of the series and the franchise.
After that, I see the earliest stories being about discovering worlds with maybe only plant life and the implications of that (life! A cash crop?) on our society, before one of the plants poisons or eats us.
Another episode where one of the crew loses their mind in the emptiness. (We’re going through quarantine now — how’s your mental health atm?) The story could touch on a crisis of faith (is there no God out here?) or perspective (maybe it’s like a Twilight Zone episode where they lose contact with Earth and start to doubt its existence).
Then we get to another lifeless world and find remains of a civilization around our real world level of technology that destroyed its biosphere and ultimately dwindled in numbers until a nuclear exchange finished them off. (This 50k, or 1 million, yrs ago, to remind of the long age of the universe, that not everyone makes it into space, and suggest why no one’s visited Earth already.) Maybe at the end of the episode they find a Vulcan or Kzinti cataloguing marker. And that spawns a another episode about the implications of contemporary intelligent life and the secret political shit-show that happens at the highest echelons of political and corporate power in the Sol System...maybe Weyland-Yutani sends out a ship, or the Soviets join the New UN lol.
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Maybe a surprise episode could be about alien visitors who have been visiting us. The grays or whatever they’re called. They showed up, amusingly, on Babylon 5. I wonder if they’re revealed to be us from a million years in the future or future Federation members...little green men from Alpha Centauri lol
TBF, “threats in space” is rather vague. It can range from major powers like the Klingon and Romulan empires, to being assimilated by the Borg, to the planet killer from “The Doomsday Machine”, to the Xindi superweapon, to various parasites, to Redjac, to Species 8472, to the anomalies in the Delphic Expanse, to being in the proximity of a singularity or temporal anomaly. All of that is far different from aerial bombardments that post-WW3 humans might think belongs to an opposing faction. The attack on the warp complex in 2063 is considered to be from an ECON, and not from a species from the future. And it would probably take a bit of time to place warp drive into vessels to fly into space. The Kzinti might have looked at a post-war Earth and though they were easy pickings with weak infrastructure, and any space vessel at the time, military or other wise would be as ripe target for them as would those living on the planet below.
Even with this context, the XCV-330 having weapons, in the sense of spatial torpedoes and plasma cannons does not make any sense. Colonizing planets, from Mars to Deneva (and everywhere between), seems to be the general human mindset of the early 22nd century alongside a push toward world government, and not more war. There's a even a Neo-Transcendentalist movement that pushes for a return to self reliance and nature and away from technology. Mines from the aft of their vessel and space fighters is the best I can consider, and that is only in the event of being pursued by the Kzinti. At best, early exploration and encounters with hostile beings encourages them to develop a stun setting for their handheld weapons that they carry onboard with them.
Even with this context, the XCV-330 having weapons, in the sense of spatial torpedoes and plasma cannons does not make any sense. Colonizing planets, from Mars to Deneva (and everywhere between), seems to be the general human mindset of the early 22nd century alongside a push toward world government, and not more war. There's a even a Neo-Transcendentalist movement that pushes for a return to self reliance and nature and away from technology. Mines from the aft of their vessel and space fighters is the best I can consider, and that is only in the event of being pursued by the Kzinti. At best, early exploration and encounters with hostile beings encourages them to develop a stun setting for their handheld weapons that they carry onboard with them.
I made a collage with the images/articles linked to on page 1 and a few additions.
These are more typically what I imagined Late 21st – Early 22nd Century ships to look like. We're at NASA and Space X today. Then I'm seeing rockets and spindly ships by the end of the century. Still early adjacent planet exploration and early asteroid mining. In the 22nd Century I'm seeing larger longer-range intra-system ships, maybe the first impulse ship, and small planet-hoppers going from planet to moon(s) and doing suborbital hops. Then the first warp ships -- still long spindly things that can jettison radioactive or breaching sections. Then something like the Bonaventure refining warp coils into smaller nacelles.
After this I see maybe something like the Conestoga Class from ENT or just directly into a Daedalus configuration. The Conestoga I like because it isn't a multi-hull ship like what we're used to in Trek. I think of Starfleet ships as being the result of federated technology – different species combining the different technologies they achieved independently (following their priorities and values) and combining them into a weird Trek ships we're used to. One species brings nacelles, another transporters, another gravity, another photon torpedoes, etc, and that maybe includes the multi-hull design too – maybe it's a segmented insectoid Andorian thing. So, the Conestoga with it's single hull and basic nacelles I think of as standard Human Memberworld esthetic. Harry Mudd's ship in TOS Remastered follows this too. Maybe as far as the 24th Century a pure Earth ship has that basic configuration.
After federating, we get the first truly Federation design, a Daedalus Class ship. Which morphs into Reeses, then Constitution, as they evolve further together.
(EDIT: This is what I thought for the longest time, but looking at the collage, multi-hull ships could come from Human tech as easily as any others. Maybe the sphere of the Daedalus and 2001's Discovery One is the Human element, and the saucer from one of the other founding members. I could go either way on this.)
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The ship lineages and technological progression really depends a lot on the narrative timeline. I think the culture of Star trek fandom of the later 90's and early 2000s presented a timeline somewhat like we saw in Enterprise. What Enterprise added was that human were held back. But other than that, the common idea was that humans joined an already existing interstellar community. I'm not sure if this idea originated with FASA or Trek novels, or what not. However, excluding Enterprise, and looking at exclusively what's seen on screen my Trek history timeline became very different.
What important to note is that there are no conclusive references stating that Vulcanians or any other local species had FTL travel. Related to that is the fact that Zefram Cochrane is the one recognized as inventing warp drive, even by Spock. If he was just one of many, then he probably wouldn't have been so celebrated. Another important point is the prominence of humanity in the Star Trek universe. I think this strongly implies that we got a big foothold first. With these considerations in mind, my rough ship evolution timeline is as follows:
- 21st Century -
1990s-2018 - Inner system exploration with DY-100s and other craft. We might have reached Jupiter at this point.
2018-2030s - Sleeper ships are replaced by faster propulsion, possibly nuclear rocket engines. There is a mix of big ships like the DYs and smaller exploration ships like the Ares 4. Colonization also expands to include outer solar system.
2030s-2062 - The solar system has a great deal of colonization at this point. Uranus and Neptune have been explored to some extent. Now humanity is pushing out of the solar system. Advances in fusion drives enable a colonization mission to Alpha Centauri. During this time Zefram Cochrane and various government agencies begin to researching space warp technology. World War III breaks out and earth's contribution to the solar community is severely curtailed. However, the Solar system still has a large economic reliance upon earth. WWIII comes to a close with the nuking of major cities in the 2050s, and the ensuing economic and political collapse renders earth a bit player in space affairs. This is a huge hit to colonies in the solar system, who now scramble to become more self reliant; and now resent earth for blowing themselves up. Zefram Cochrane, seeing the profit potential for a warp drive, continues his research as much as possible during the war and after ward.
2063 - The first manned warp ship is launched and successfully tested. By sheer coincidence a sublight Vulcanian research ship is passing through the Solar system on a survey mission. They detect the signs of the Phoenix's warp drive which for them was only theoretical. The Vulcanians recognized the importance of this discovery and decide to interrupt their mission and land on earth.
Late 2060s - The Vulcanians landing on earth doesn't have a huge impact, because they aren't that much more advanced than us, and people are doubtful that they're extraterrestrials. After some work, Zefram Cochrane begins gathering allies to further develop the space warp. Eventually test flights are conducted to Alpha Centauri. Zefram Cochrane moves to Alpha Centauri and sets up his primary research facility there. Basically the idea is that ships zip back and forth between earth and Alpha Centauri to test out their propulsion systems. However, the trip still takes a few months, and any communication must be done by messages downloaded into the ships computer. Otherwise it would still take radio four years to span the distance.
Also during this period, after some successful tests, an old cargo ship the S.S. Valiant is retro fitted with warp drive. It's first mission is to return some of the Vulcanian crew to their home planet. After that it continues on its mission to explore other planets. The S.S. Valiant is eventually lost.
Humanity is excited about the potentials of the space warp drive. This invention gradually redeems earth in the eyes of many solar system inhabitants and humanity begins to come together. FTL probes are sent out soliciting the friendship of any intelligent species as well as offering them information on how to construct FTL technology.
Late 21st Century - Unfortunately, not all species are friendly. The Kzinti receive the information from one of these probes and develop FTL ships. They also decide humans look particularly tasty. This leads to the Kzin wars. (Yes, I disregard TAS's dating.) Ships of this time start out mainly as existing ships modified with FTL drives. Though, in the 2070s we get out first purpose built warp drive ship the S.S. Bonaventure. The design of the Bonaventure is considered to be the result of the eccentricity of it's creator and is deemed impractical. Other ships of the time are pretty basic in design. Imagine a better designed S.S. Valiant, or something like the Starship Velocity from Pacific 201.
- 22nd Century -
Early 22nd century - There still isn't a lot of anti-matter in existence and so most ships have some form of multistage or anti-matter spiked fusion drives. Because of their superior capabilities in warping space-time, warp nacelle begin transitioning to ring shaped designs. Ships take on some of the characteristics that we later see in the XCV-330, but there is still a lot of variety in design, such as the DY lineage.
Also during this time humanity is dominating space affairs with many colonies and cultural influences on many worlds. Even the planet Vulcan and its people get their name from human visitors calling the place "hot as Vulcan". They are essentially culturally conquered by humanity's representation of them. And while not being done maliciously, other inhabited worlds such as those of the Andorians, Tellarites, etc. are sometimes reduced to caricatures of their pre-contact cultures (somewhat analogous to Native Americans, Hawaii, or Chinese food).
The Earth Federation is founded to help manage the many earth colonies and allied alien worlds. The United Earth Space Probe Agency is the primary exploration and military arm of the Earth Federation.
2150s-2160s - The S.S. Enterprise UEV-47 ringship is launched. It is a mid range exploration vessel capable of missions up to two years. It's not the best of the best as there other ships that have greater capabilities.
During this time earth makes contact with a strange alien species. They are from a star system known to earth as Romulus, named after twin exoplanets that were discovered orbiting it. These twin planets were named Romulus and Remus after twin brothers in the founding narrative of Rome. Contact with these aliens doesn't go well and war breaks out. Due to the method of combat and nuclear weapons, no visual contact is ever actually made with the Romulans.
However, due to this conflict, many alien allies exemplified how invaluable they were to the Earth Federation and are able to push for greater influence in the interstellar stage. As a result the Earth Federation is reorganized and the United Federation of Planets is founded. A new scientific/military branch is founded called Starfleet. However, even with this new Federation, humans still dominated. The UFP would still occasionally be referred to as the "Earth Federation" and Starfleet would still largely rely on UESPA for another 100 years. The S.S. Enterprise is given to the newly founded UFP and is renamed as the U.S.S. Enterprise XCV-330.
Besides the war revolutionary discoveries are made in this time, many almost on par with the discovery of the space warp. First, is the discovery of subspace. By the end of the war this parallel sub-spacial dimension is able to be utilized for FTL communication. This invention brings about the end of the "pony express" era of FTL data transmission; which was done by having data stored and carried on board ships. Planets and colonies are now able to be directly linked through subspace communication.
Second, is the discovery of gravity manipulation technology. On one of the missions of the S.S. Enterprise, its crew discovered a stasis box left behind by a long lost civilization known as "the Slavers". Inside this stasis box was a belt that was capable of manipulating gravity fields. Earth scientists were able to reverse engineer this flying belt to some extent. The resulting research enabled the creating artificial gravity fields for use on space craft. 1G acceleration burns and adhesive footwear are largely rendered obsolete by this technology.
Late 22nd Century - Advances in meta-materials, and antimatter production, improve the capability of linear warp nacelles. These types of nacelles begin to rise in prominence over the ring shaped engines. The combination of this and artificial gravity technology results in the most advanced ship to date, the Daedalus class. Starships of this era are able to perform amazing feats such as subspace radio communication over long distances, unconventional orbital patterns, and unprecedented travel times.
- 23rd Century -
Early 23nd Century - Ship designs of this era result in ships taking on a more saucer-like appearance to take advantage of the floor space enabled by the artificial gravity technology. However, travel times eventually reach a limit. Due to the unique nature of warping space time an upper limit is reached. Extremely fast speeds are found to cause time distortion between the spacecraft and the outside universe. These distortions essentially create a practical upper limit called the Time Barrier.
However, there are two notable discoveries during this era first is the transporter, which was discovered by reverse engineering a derelict alien spacecraft. This technology enables the teleportation of objects across certain distances to designated target coordinates. Early versions of this technology are slow, taking minutes to teleport the subject.
Invented in the early to mid 23nd century, the other discovery is that of improved space warp travel. This technology, is dubbed "time warp", and allows the breaking of the Time Barrier. Even greater speeds are now possible.
2240s-2260s - The result of all this technology is put together in one package, the Constitution Class, a sub-type of the Starship Class. This ship is the ultimate Swiss army knife of a ship, from exploration, to patrolling, to cargo transportation. This ship can do it all.
Yet, even with the great advancements, this time is not without conflict. Increasing tensions between member worlds in the, still largely human, United Federation of Planets result in a short lived conflict, known by some as the "Federation Civil War." This war concluded with the victory of Fleet Captain Garth at the battle of Axanar. In later years peace missions at Axanar would heal the wounds of this conflict and provide greater unity and brotherhood among the worlds of the Federation. Non-human member worlds are able to reach an unprecedented level of sovereignty and equality within the Federation.
In the Late 2260s UESPA is largely phased out and Starfleet has taken over most of its former operations.
2270s - After twenty years of operations the Constitution class is getting dated and at various times the remaining ships are called in for major refits.
The next greatest ship in Stafleet's line up is the Miranda class. It has a larger internal volume than the refitted Constitution while fitting into a more compact package. Variants of this type of starship will continue to serve Starfleet for more than 100 years.
2280s - This decade saw a huge advancement in warp drive technology. Discoveries were made that enabled subspace to be used for FTL travel. It had heretofore been only used for communication. the technology proved that a space craft could be pushed into subspace, thus enabling it to travel faster than had previously been able to in normal space. After several successful prototype runs, this new type of warp, called "transwarp", is built into the U.S.S. Excelsior NX-2000. Despite a few minor initial setbacks, the transwarp drive of the U.S.S Excelsior is a complete success. This transwarp drive is implemented into all starship designs from this time forward.
Late 23rd Century - The Excelsior style ships become a workhorse for the Federation and will continue to be used for 100 years.
- 24th Century -
Early 24th Century - This era saw improvements and refinements in previous starship technologies.
Mid 23rd Century - A lengthy era of peace results in the Galaxy and Nebula Class designs which are exploration ships, but also capable of hosting the families of the crew. Prior to this families had been rare. These large luxurious ships are revolutionary in their function as well as their technological innovations such as the holodeck. The holodeck enables extremely realistic training and simulation opportunities.
Late 23rd Century - The Dominion War pushes the Federation to the brink and causes Starfleet to completely revise its design philosophy. Starships became much more spartan and combat focused. We see innovative designs such as the Defiant; the intrepid class; and even the Prometheus class with its multi-vector assault mode.
The U.S.S. Voyager, which had been lost in the Delta Quadrant, returns and brings with it a host of revolutionary technology. Much of this technology is still being researched.
Conclusion
Oh, boy, that turned out longer than I expected. I apologize for the lengthy read. I did miss a few things like the invention of phasers and the disastrous first contact with the Klingons. Also at some point between 2150 and 2260 the energetic properties of dilithium are discovered and integrated into ships power systems. However, most of the information is there. I think this timeline explains a lot more of what we see on screen rather than the common fan narrative and the history presented by Enterprise.
What important to note is that there are no conclusive references stating that Vulcanians or any other local species had FTL travel. Related to that is the fact that Zefram Cochrane is the one recognized as inventing warp drive, even by Spock. If he was just one of many, then he probably wouldn't have been so celebrated. Another important point is the prominence of humanity in the Star Trek universe. I think this strongly implies that we got a big foothold first. With these considerations in mind, my rough ship evolution timeline is as follows:
- 21st Century -
1990s-2018 - Inner system exploration with DY-100s and other craft. We might have reached Jupiter at this point.
2018-2030s - Sleeper ships are replaced by faster propulsion, possibly nuclear rocket engines. There is a mix of big ships like the DYs and smaller exploration ships like the Ares 4. Colonization also expands to include outer solar system.
2030s-2062 - The solar system has a great deal of colonization at this point. Uranus and Neptune have been explored to some extent. Now humanity is pushing out of the solar system. Advances in fusion drives enable a colonization mission to Alpha Centauri. During this time Zefram Cochrane and various government agencies begin to researching space warp technology. World War III breaks out and earth's contribution to the solar community is severely curtailed. However, the Solar system still has a large economic reliance upon earth. WWIII comes to a close with the nuking of major cities in the 2050s, and the ensuing economic and political collapse renders earth a bit player in space affairs. This is a huge hit to colonies in the solar system, who now scramble to become more self reliant; and now resent earth for blowing themselves up. Zefram Cochrane, seeing the profit potential for a warp drive, continues his research as much as possible during the war and after ward.
2063 - The first manned warp ship is launched and successfully tested. By sheer coincidence a sublight Vulcanian research ship is passing through the Solar system on a survey mission. They detect the signs of the Phoenix's warp drive which for them was only theoretical. The Vulcanians recognized the importance of this discovery and decide to interrupt their mission and land on earth.
Late 2060s - The Vulcanians landing on earth doesn't have a huge impact, because they aren't that much more advanced than us, and people are doubtful that they're extraterrestrials. After some work, Zefram Cochrane begins gathering allies to further develop the space warp. Eventually test flights are conducted to Alpha Centauri. Zefram Cochrane moves to Alpha Centauri and sets up his primary research facility there. Basically the idea is that ships zip back and forth between earth and Alpha Centauri to test out their propulsion systems. However, the trip still takes a few months, and any communication must be done by messages downloaded into the ships computer. Otherwise it would still take radio four years to span the distance.
Also during this period, after some successful tests, an old cargo ship the S.S. Valiant is retro fitted with warp drive. It's first mission is to return some of the Vulcanian crew to their home planet. After that it continues on its mission to explore other planets. The S.S. Valiant is eventually lost.
Humanity is excited about the potentials of the space warp drive. This invention gradually redeems earth in the eyes of many solar system inhabitants and humanity begins to come together. FTL probes are sent out soliciting the friendship of any intelligent species as well as offering them information on how to construct FTL technology.
Late 21st Century - Unfortunately, not all species are friendly. The Kzinti receive the information from one of these probes and develop FTL ships. They also decide humans look particularly tasty. This leads to the Kzin wars. (Yes, I disregard TAS's dating.) Ships of this time start out mainly as existing ships modified with FTL drives. Though, in the 2070s we get out first purpose built warp drive ship the S.S. Bonaventure. The design of the Bonaventure is considered to be the result of the eccentricity of it's creator and is deemed impractical. Other ships of the time are pretty basic in design. Imagine a better designed S.S. Valiant, or something like the Starship Velocity from Pacific 201.
- 22nd Century -
Early 22nd century - There still isn't a lot of anti-matter in existence and so most ships have some form of multistage or anti-matter spiked fusion drives. Because of their superior capabilities in warping space-time, warp nacelle begin transitioning to ring shaped designs. Ships take on some of the characteristics that we later see in the XCV-330, but there is still a lot of variety in design, such as the DY lineage.
Also during this time humanity is dominating space affairs with many colonies and cultural influences on many worlds. Even the planet Vulcan and its people get their name from human visitors calling the place "hot as Vulcan". They are essentially culturally conquered by humanity's representation of them. And while not being done maliciously, other inhabited worlds such as those of the Andorians, Tellarites, etc. are sometimes reduced to caricatures of their pre-contact cultures (somewhat analogous to Native Americans, Hawaii, or Chinese food).
The Earth Federation is founded to help manage the many earth colonies and allied alien worlds. The United Earth Space Probe Agency is the primary exploration and military arm of the Earth Federation.
2150s-2160s - The S.S. Enterprise UEV-47 ringship is launched. It is a mid range exploration vessel capable of missions up to two years. It's not the best of the best as there other ships that have greater capabilities.
During this time earth makes contact with a strange alien species. They are from a star system known to earth as Romulus, named after twin exoplanets that were discovered orbiting it. These twin planets were named Romulus and Remus after twin brothers in the founding narrative of Rome. Contact with these aliens doesn't go well and war breaks out. Due to the method of combat and nuclear weapons, no visual contact is ever actually made with the Romulans.
However, due to this conflict, many alien allies exemplified how invaluable they were to the Earth Federation and are able to push for greater influence in the interstellar stage. As a result the Earth Federation is reorganized and the United Federation of Planets is founded. A new scientific/military branch is founded called Starfleet. However, even with this new Federation, humans still dominated. The UFP would still occasionally be referred to as the "Earth Federation" and Starfleet would still largely rely on UESPA for another 100 years. The S.S. Enterprise is given to the newly founded UFP and is renamed as the U.S.S. Enterprise XCV-330.
Besides the war revolutionary discoveries are made in this time, many almost on par with the discovery of the space warp. First, is the discovery of subspace. By the end of the war this parallel sub-spacial dimension is able to be utilized for FTL communication. This invention brings about the end of the "pony express" era of FTL data transmission; which was done by having data stored and carried on board ships. Planets and colonies are now able to be directly linked through subspace communication.
Second, is the discovery of gravity manipulation technology. On one of the missions of the S.S. Enterprise, its crew discovered a stasis box left behind by a long lost civilization known as "the Slavers". Inside this stasis box was a belt that was capable of manipulating gravity fields. Earth scientists were able to reverse engineer this flying belt to some extent. The resulting research enabled the creating artificial gravity fields for use on space craft. 1G acceleration burns and adhesive footwear are largely rendered obsolete by this technology.
Late 22nd Century - Advances in meta-materials, and antimatter production, improve the capability of linear warp nacelles. These types of nacelles begin to rise in prominence over the ring shaped engines. The combination of this and artificial gravity technology results in the most advanced ship to date, the Daedalus class. Starships of this era are able to perform amazing feats such as subspace radio communication over long distances, unconventional orbital patterns, and unprecedented travel times.
- 23rd Century -
Early 23nd Century - Ship designs of this era result in ships taking on a more saucer-like appearance to take advantage of the floor space enabled by the artificial gravity technology. However, travel times eventually reach a limit. Due to the unique nature of warping space time an upper limit is reached. Extremely fast speeds are found to cause time distortion between the spacecraft and the outside universe. These distortions essentially create a practical upper limit called the Time Barrier.
However, there are two notable discoveries during this era first is the transporter, which was discovered by reverse engineering a derelict alien spacecraft. This technology enables the teleportation of objects across certain distances to designated target coordinates. Early versions of this technology are slow, taking minutes to teleport the subject.
Invented in the early to mid 23nd century, the other discovery is that of improved space warp travel. This technology, is dubbed "time warp", and allows the breaking of the Time Barrier. Even greater speeds are now possible.
2240s-2260s - The result of all this technology is put together in one package, the Constitution Class, a sub-type of the Starship Class. This ship is the ultimate Swiss army knife of a ship, from exploration, to patrolling, to cargo transportation. This ship can do it all.
Yet, even with the great advancements, this time is not without conflict. Increasing tensions between member worlds in the, still largely human, United Federation of Planets result in a short lived conflict, known by some as the "Federation Civil War." This war concluded with the victory of Fleet Captain Garth at the battle of Axanar. In later years peace missions at Axanar would heal the wounds of this conflict and provide greater unity and brotherhood among the worlds of the Federation. Non-human member worlds are able to reach an unprecedented level of sovereignty and equality within the Federation.
In the Late 2260s UESPA is largely phased out and Starfleet has taken over most of its former operations.
2270s - After twenty years of operations the Constitution class is getting dated and at various times the remaining ships are called in for major refits.
The next greatest ship in Stafleet's line up is the Miranda class. It has a larger internal volume than the refitted Constitution while fitting into a more compact package. Variants of this type of starship will continue to serve Starfleet for more than 100 years.
2280s - This decade saw a huge advancement in warp drive technology. Discoveries were made that enabled subspace to be used for FTL travel. It had heretofore been only used for communication. the technology proved that a space craft could be pushed into subspace, thus enabling it to travel faster than had previously been able to in normal space. After several successful prototype runs, this new type of warp, called "transwarp", is built into the U.S.S. Excelsior NX-2000. Despite a few minor initial setbacks, the transwarp drive of the U.S.S Excelsior is a complete success. This transwarp drive is implemented into all starship designs from this time forward.
Late 23rd Century - The Excelsior style ships become a workhorse for the Federation and will continue to be used for 100 years.
- 24th Century -
Early 24th Century - This era saw improvements and refinements in previous starship technologies.
Mid 23rd Century - A lengthy era of peace results in the Galaxy and Nebula Class designs which are exploration ships, but also capable of hosting the families of the crew. Prior to this families had been rare. These large luxurious ships are revolutionary in their function as well as their technological innovations such as the holodeck. The holodeck enables extremely realistic training and simulation opportunities.
Late 23rd Century - The Dominion War pushes the Federation to the brink and causes Starfleet to completely revise its design philosophy. Starships became much more spartan and combat focused. We see innovative designs such as the Defiant; the intrepid class; and even the Prometheus class with its multi-vector assault mode.
The U.S.S. Voyager, which had been lost in the Delta Quadrant, returns and brings with it a host of revolutionary technology. Much of this technology is still being researched.
Conclusion
Oh, boy, that turned out longer than I expected. I apologize for the lengthy read. I did miss a few things like the invention of phasers and the disastrous first contact with the Klingons. Also at some point between 2150 and 2260 the energetic properties of dilithium are discovered and integrated into ships power systems. However, most of the information is there. I think this timeline explains a lot more of what we see on screen rather than the common fan narrative and the history presented by Enterprise.
Wow that really was creative; I liked it a lot.
My two main points of contention are:
1) the earliest timeline matches earlier Trek’s but not the real world. In my vision of the Trek future, I prefer to alter it to fit into ours. I prefer to keep the hope of its future fitting into ours more alive that way, and I think it’s the best way to appreciate changes in each new iteration of the franchise, not to mention account for obvious limitations of it: why does the future look like a TV show? I think that’s what networks/studios do too. Ever read the Eugenics Wars treklit? I keep meaning to...I think for me early Trek is three parallel dimensions (as it was, as it’s become, and attempts to merge the two) and I enjoy each in its own way.
2) the humans are too ahead of the curve. There’s something uncomfortably uber about us (certain demographics of us) in this telling that (whether or not was the initial interpretation) I don’t feel the need to indulge in in my idea of it.
I could go either way with how advanced the Vulcans are. I didn’t like them being quasi-baddies on ENT, but they have been in space for a couple thousand years — since the Romulans left at least, and one imagine a bit earlier. In my mind, they’re the aliens who add the most familiar technological elements to the Federation. Even if you leave warp for Cochrane. Andorians could be a younger race, Tellarites more isolationist, etc. I’m okay with humans bringing everyone together (a Babylon 5 quality) but I prefer to give the others more due.
Does anyone have an images/articles to share/link? It’s always fun to see stuff.
My two main points of contention are:
1) the earliest timeline matches earlier Trek’s but not the real world. In my vision of the Trek future, I prefer to alter it to fit into ours. I prefer to keep the hope of its future fitting into ours more alive that way, and I think it’s the best way to appreciate changes in each new iteration of the franchise, not to mention account for obvious limitations of it: why does the future look like a TV show? I think that’s what networks/studios do too. Ever read the Eugenics Wars treklit? I keep meaning to...I think for me early Trek is three parallel dimensions (as it was, as it’s become, and attempts to merge the two) and I enjoy each in its own way.
2) the humans are too ahead of the curve. There’s something uncomfortably uber about us (certain demographics of us) in this telling that (whether or not was the initial interpretation) I don’t feel the need to indulge in in my idea of it.
I could go either way with how advanced the Vulcans are. I didn’t like them being quasi-baddies on ENT, but they have been in space for a couple thousand years — since the Romulans left at least, and one imagine a bit earlier. In my mind, they’re the aliens who add the most familiar technological elements to the Federation. Even if you leave warp for Cochrane. Andorians could be a younger race, Tellarites more isolationist, etc. I’m okay with humans bringing everyone together (a Babylon 5 quality) but I prefer to give the others more due.
Does anyone have an images/articles to share/link? It’s always fun to see stuff.
Thanks. It took me way longer to type out than I expected.
I can understand this. Its a very common view. I'm actually on the opposite end of the spectrum that the integrity of the fictional narrative is best preserved by not constantly retconning it. I think the hopeful vision of the future is important, but the fact of the matter is that Trek will never be our future. So I feel that instead of changing it over and over again to fit our current world, we should just let it be its own thing, while still drawing inspiration from it. For example in 43 years are we going to say that World War III and Zefram Cochrane's warp drive were really just secret happenings that the rest of the world had no idea about and what why we didn't see them happen?
I'm not trying to change your mind about it. I can certainly see the appeal of your view on this. Star Trek has always has some element that is grounded in our reality and that connection is important.
Yes, I probably didn't best convey my idea in this brief description. I don't mean to convey that human are the Ubermensch. What I have in my mind is that we are more willing to go bumbling forward. We're like the bull in a china shop. We tend to go places an remake them in our own image.
America's colonial past represents a darker version of what I imagine. While in actual history were many evil attempts to subdue other cultures.
In my timeline there weren't people that said "Let's go conquer Vulcan." It was just sort of a byproduct of humans being able to spread so rapidly and becoming the defacto go to for interstellar travel. If humans call the planet Vulcan, then so will everyone else, becasue humans control the maps. That's also how come they never were actually conquered from militaristic standpoint.
I also attributed many of the standard Trek technologies to lost alien civilization that were found and reverse engineered. So humans also don't get credit for inventing everything. And I also didn't give detail about the invent of other technologies which could have been done by member worlds, but again because humans are so prevalent it eventually passes through us.
I think some of these things could be good for telling stories about respecting cultures that are different and self reflection on how we treat others.
Yes, in my mind the Vulcanians are more technologically advanced in a lot of areas. I imagine them having very fast relativistic ships. Probably some really good energy storage systems, etc. But humans got warp drive first and that gave them the leg up on everyone.
In 43 years (if Trek is lucky enough to still be around) I’d imagine they redub (remaster?!) FC to push the Third World War further ahead.
That, or it’s too dated in too many ways and they leave it as an artifact of its time. Ditto the rest of the Trek-verse, but then they either focus on their present and forget the problems of the past or they move it into another dimension. I think the hope of Trek as us is a potent factor in its mass appeal and is used by the studios accordingly. This maybe a cynical view lol
I dunno about the Vulcans and others. Wouldn’t all civilizations try to expand and be the ones to name things? ...legit I don’t know. Especially as we are talking about aliens. Maybe they were more concerned with developing transporters (that might have taken a while) instead of warp. Maybe they went through their religious Dark Ages (The Stasis Ages lol) after the Romulans left. Or we’re dealing with their worse post atomic horror? Alien invasion?
Or maybe they were expanding really far with their cryo ships (Alien franchise) or generation ships, but they were caught up to quickly with warp.
That, or it’s too dated in too many ways and they leave it as an artifact of its time. Ditto the rest of the Trek-verse, but then they either focus on their present and forget the problems of the past or they move it into another dimension. I think the hope of Trek as us is a potent factor in its mass appeal and is used by the studios accordingly. This maybe a cynical view lol
I dunno about the Vulcans and others. Wouldn’t all civilizations try to expand and be the ones to name things? ...legit I don’t know. Especially as we are talking about aliens. Maybe they were more concerned with developing transporters (that might have taken a while) instead of warp. Maybe they went through their religious Dark Ages (The Stasis Ages lol) after the Romulans left. Or we’re dealing with their worse post atomic horror? Alien invasion?
Or maybe they were expanding really far with their cryo ships (Alien franchise) or generation ships, but they were caught up to quickly with warp.
There are various technologies that are distinctly Trek, and I sometimes wonder who came up with what to bring together in the Federation:
Warp Drive — Zephram Cochrane
Transporters —
Phasers — UFP
Photon Torpedoes —
Replicators —
Gravity Plating —
Fusion Generators —
Impulse Drive —
Subspace Communications —
Sensors —
Stasis —
Antigravity —
Others...
And there are outmoded technologies different/multiple species used previously:
Cryogenic Ships —
Generation Ships —
Ion Drives —
Lasers — Humans
Plasma Weapons —
Fighter Warfare —
Drone Warfare —
Robot Labor —
Others...
Warp Drive — Zephram Cochrane
Transporters —
Phasers — UFP
Photon Torpedoes —
Replicators —
Gravity Plating —
Fusion Generators —
Impulse Drive —
Subspace Communications —
Sensors —
Stasis —
Antigravity —
Others...
And there are outmoded technologies different/multiple species used previously:
Cryogenic Ships —
Generation Ships —
Ion Drives —
Lasers — Humans
Plasma Weapons —
Fighter Warfare —
Drone Warfare —
Robot Labor —
Others...
I like this one.
Not a mod, and it would be a good idea to @ a particular mod. However, when positing a lot of images I just put it inside a spoiler tag with appropriate "Hey, there be images here" warning.
Like so:
One ring ship design I actually like
A more interesting design away from the ring ship for closer to the 22nd century:
A weird rocket hybrid that probably could fit:
In my opinion starships would be a little more compact, making star bases more essential and thus a bit larger:
Obligatory space plane because I love space planes:
A more interesting design away from the ring ship for closer to the 22nd century:
A weird rocket hybrid that probably could fit:
In my opinion starships would be a little more compact, making star bases more essential and thus a bit larger:
Obligatory space plane because I love space planes:
Here's some interesting early ship designs:
These first two are mine I just pulled these from my thread for the S.S. Enterprise.
This is the Enviropod. It is a multi role craft. During high radiation events its additional layer of shielding can protect the entire crew. All important ships functions can be controlled from here. Equipped with warp drive it can also function as a long range cargo shuttle. It also has reentry capabilities and can be used an a lifeboat for the entire crew.
Here's a quick sketch of a landed shuttle of the S.S. Enterprise. The concept is that it land kind of like the space shuttle. But it has large wheels for landing on rough terrain and a parachute to help slow down beofre touch down. It can also land on water. In this image you can see the docking ring deployed so the crew can exit. In my latest musings on this design I think I'm going to get rid of the docking ring and require spacewalk if the shuttle can't be berthed in a bay.
Starship Velocity
This is ECHenry's design that a mentioned earlier. It's sooooo good. It has a wonderfully primitive yet realistic look.
Here are some designs from this flickr account:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156129979@N03/
I believe these are from a Second Life project called the U.S.S Hypatia
The U.S.S Hypatia XCV-102
This ship design has some interesting elements.
Warp Soyuz
If I remember correctly in the Hypatia universe the Warp Soyuz is like the Model T of space craft. At first glance the design looks kind of silly. But the ore a thought about it the more I fell in love with this idea. You've got a crew of three crammed inside that tin can hurtling through space. Oh, I love it. If I was to design something similar I would probably make the Service module a bit more like the Phoenix with deployable nacelles or I would make split ring nacelles like my enviropod above. I might also make the orbital module a bit more like the Shenzhou. In any case, I can't get enough of the Warp Soyuz.
This is the Enviropod. It is a multi role craft. During high radiation events its additional layer of shielding can protect the entire crew. All important ships functions can be controlled from here. Equipped with warp drive it can also function as a long range cargo shuttle. It also has reentry capabilities and can be used an a lifeboat for the entire crew.
Here's a quick sketch of a landed shuttle of the S.S. Enterprise. The concept is that it land kind of like the space shuttle. But it has large wheels for landing on rough terrain and a parachute to help slow down beofre touch down. It can also land on water. In this image you can see the docking ring deployed so the crew can exit. In my latest musings on this design I think I'm going to get rid of the docking ring and require spacewalk if the shuttle can't be berthed in a bay.
Starship Velocity
This is ECHenry's design that a mentioned earlier. It's sooooo good. It has a wonderfully primitive yet realistic look.
Here are some designs from this flickr account:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156129979@N03/
I believe these are from a Second Life project called the U.S.S Hypatia
The U.S.S Hypatia XCV-102
This ship design has some interesting elements.
Warp Soyuz
If I remember correctly in the Hypatia universe the Warp Soyuz is like the Model T of space craft. At first glance the design looks kind of silly. But the ore a thought about it the more I fell in love with this idea. You've got a crew of three crammed inside that tin can hurtling through space. Oh, I love it. If I was to design something similar I would probably make the Service module a bit more like the Phoenix with deployable nacelles or I would make split ring nacelles like my enviropod above. I might also make the orbital module a bit more like the Shenzhou. In any case, I can't get enough of the Warp Soyuz.
Right I remember these from The Starfleet Museum. I think at one point I was putting them in in my personal timeline just after the spindly ships above and just before the Daedalus ships. Maybe they’re the precursors to the Conestoga?
But, yeah, if we’re simplifying shapes from Constitution, to Daedalus, to these, then these are as simple as you can get before a major change in technology. Maybe these are the zeppelin ships that took over for my toothpick ones.
But, yeah, if we’re simplifying shapes from Constitution, to Daedalus, to these, then these are as simple as you can get before a major change in technology. Maybe these are the zeppelin ships that took over for my toothpick ones.
Interesting idea, attributing much Trek technology to reverse engineering. Rather like Babylon 5.
Combining back engineered tech with the different technologies of member species would help explain why Federation technology became so advanced in only two centuries.
Combining back engineered tech with the different technologies of member species would help explain why Federation technology became so advanced in only two centuries.
Really though. It’s like they advanced a thousand years in three hundred. Look where our current space program is still at after 50.
That said, if we let AI loose on some of our goals, it may really get us pretty damn far...before Ganmadan.
I think the current state of space program is not reflective of what humanity could actually do. The more I study space travel the more I appreciate the risk adverse nature, given the perils of space travel.
And also, I feel like technology is advancing exponentially in many different fields I can see it happen if it is actually a directed focus.
And also, I feel like technology is advancing exponentially in many different fields I can see it happen if it is actually a directed focus.
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