Just putting this out there for general discussion. The excelsior kitbashes were never properly identified by class (Shelly, Raging Queen or Centaur types isn't really an official class name). Been wondering if anyone else thought these designs could/should have been other established classes in the Star Trek canon like the Hokule'a, Merced, or Mediterranean classes. I mean hey why not?
Indeed, her small size and mass, coupled with the newer Galaxy-style engines would actually imply the exact opposite case to be true. The Trieste should be one of the fastest ships in the fleet!
), they were probably left-overs from an unfinished Nebula prototype (like the original Melbourne) stuck in a drydock somewhere. It has smaller engines that look like they would perfectly match what's on the Trieste, scale-wise.
I'm probably weird in that I've never liked some of the conjectural designs that showed up in the Encyclopedia, at least the ones that are still primarily conjectural (such as the Merced). I guess to me there's no reason those ships couldn't potentially be part of an existing class, and just inventing some random unseen design seems lazy. But I'm probably overthinking it.
I think in part too it's a bit of cynicism over the years when it comes to Treknical stuff, because it's been my experience that a lot of fan work has proven to be far better in depth and coordination than what was possible to establish on screen. And I feel like we, as fans, sometimes have gotten the short end of the stick because it'll never be recognized appropriately. But that's a discussion for its own thread.
