The Oberth-class in ENT, TOS, and VAN

[BillJ]

But wouldn't the simple act of leaving orbit put a "significant" amount of stress on a spaceframe?

 

[Santaman]

I assume that the materials used on star ships are nigh indestructible compared with the stuff we can make nowadays, also they've got a structural integrity field which helps to keep things together when you accelerate with a few thousands G's, this also prevents the crew being turned into a red meaty paste when doing so...

 

[captcalhoun]

that's the IDF, the inertial dampening field, which stops the crew from being turned into a smear of jam across the walls. the SIF holds the ship together.

failure of the IDF was depicted in IfM.

 

[BillJ]

We see the Constitution class torn completely down and rebuilt at roughly 25 years into its' lifetime. I'm of the opinion that so little remained that it was essentially a new class of starship.

Is it still truly the 'Oberth' class if it has went through multiple radical refits over two centuries?

 

[Santaman]

^^ Depends on it it ever was needed, like I said before, it could be the Star Fleet equivalent of the Antonov AN-2 odd bird bit still in production with hardly any modifications since 1947.

 

[Tiberius]

Yeah,. LaForge told Scotty that impulse engines haven't changed much. Neither have the trnsporters.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Has anything? Other than degree of power involved (see "In a Mirror, Darkly" or STXI where future ships whup past ships), the Trekverse has been technologically stagnant for over 200 years.

 

[Tiberius]

Well, one could say the same about computers. Sure, we can make microchips smaller and faster, but they are still microchips. Same with hard drives. And keyboards haven't changed much either, and I'm not just talking about the layout.

And what about cars? How have internal combustion engines changed? Sure there have been some advances, but the basic operation hasn't cahnged for the better part of a hundred years.

Same with starships.

 

[Idran]

I could agree with most of those, Tiberius, but:

Same with hard drives.

SSDs.

And what about cars?

Hybrids, electric cars.

 

[Tiberius]

true, but those advances have been very recent ones. I'd say they are the first majopr changes in their respective fields for quite a while.