If the main deflector is a less powerful shield projected thousands of kilometers ahead to sweep small objects / meteors / debris out of the path of the ship, and they are weaker than the combat-rated deflector shields, why would a ship use them to the rear? Does that make it harder for fighters, shuttles, and small ships to approach from behind, in the region with less direct firepower? Or is the rear dish perhaps a means of reinforcing the regular shields, and does not project a weaker field farther away?
Why did the FJ Dreadnought have a rear deflector?
- Thread starter Darkwing
- Start date
It's actually labeled aft main sensor. The navigational deflector is just to the port of the forward main sensor.
I think initially (under Bob Justman) the [satellite] dish suggested a future-y idea of it being used for communications or scanning – not as, what, part of the "propulsion" system?
So a second future-y sensor dish looked dope for (Frank Joseph’s) pimped-out dreadnaught mega-ship. It was time to get our scan on.
When it was decided that the "deflector dish" cleared the ship's path so that it could travel at warp without annihilating itself, the FJ design made less sense.
Why not have one facing aft to alter the course of pursuers? Maybe it's not powerful enough to push more than space dust aside. We've never seen or heard of a dish pushing or damaging larger ships directly in front of it, and ships are usually nose to nose on Trek.
If you're going to add something to help retreat, more aft shields and torpedo launchers may be far more effective.
Also, deflector dishes are multi-use and can be configured for scientific, communication, defense, and other purposes. So maybe one makes sense as a starship tool facing forward, but a whole deflector assembly facing aft is wasteful and usually unecessary, especially, again, when you could add more shields and torpedo launchers.
So a second future-y sensor dish looked dope for (Frank Joseph’s) pimped-out dreadnaught mega-ship. It was time to get our scan on.
When it was decided that the "deflector dish" cleared the ship's path so that it could travel at warp without annihilating itself, the FJ design made less sense.
Why not have one facing aft to alter the course of pursuers? Maybe it's not powerful enough to push more than space dust aside. We've never seen or heard of a dish pushing or damaging larger ships directly in front of it, and ships are usually nose to nose on Trek.
If you're going to add something to help retreat, more aft shields and torpedo launchers may be far more effective.
Also, deflector dishes are multi-use and can be configured for scientific, communication, defense, and other purposes. So maybe one makes sense as a starship tool facing forward, but a whole deflector assembly facing aft is wasteful and usually unecessary, especially, again, when you could add more shields and torpedo launchers.
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Again, the navigational deflector is present and clearly labeled.
Its a feature I still don't like on the Dreadnought (and never have). The only functional ability it might have is allow the ship to travel in reverse at full power.
The two smaller dishes, while aesthetic are also an annoyance to me, but I grew up in the FASA era, not the Star Fleet Battles era.
The two smaller dishes, while aesthetic are also an annoyance to me, but I grew up in the FASA era, not the Star Fleet Battles era.
Yes, it's the little Mickey Mouse dish on the right and the little dish on the left is labeled as the tractor beam. The main large dish that the Enterprise also has is labeled as main sensor, and I don't remember if the aft dish was labeled at all.
It was published in 1975, but did the idea of a dust deflector beam come about for TMP (1979) or somewhere else?
The label on the front main dish on the Dreadnought indicates that it applies both fore and aft ("F/A").
The Making of Star Trek (1968) establishes the dish on the Enterprise as a dual purpose "sensor-deflector" dish (p. 191). TMoST comprised much of the source material for Joseph's blueprints. The dual function for the main dish ("main sensor and navigational deflector") is indicated in Joseph's Constitution-class blueprints.
Since the navigational deflector is a separate dish on the Dreadnought, I suspect the idea is that the main forward dish on the Dreadnought is specialized, at least in terms of what it is tasked to do, if not in function. The aft dish appears to be the same type as the forward dish, and both could be the same type as the one on the Enterprise.
I shoulda looked at the TM again.
Navigational safety.
I don't really see that. Maybe if it had been a Scout or Science ship of some kind.
Which is why I started thinking, what reason was it even there? Especially since the SotSF refit dropped it, and I don't recall it really being used elsewhere.
I never really liked it either, but it's only recently I have wondered if anyone had come up with a decent rationale for it.
Yeah, I'm more of a FASA guy than SFB, too.
thanks to all for your input, hopefully someone has a good treknological reason for why FJ included it, and why SOTSF dropped it. If not, it's only curiosity. It's not like it's gonna kill me...
So it could back dat ass up.
In SFB - the Kaufman retrograde maneuver might work better..?
(Basically, flying backwards and firing everything in your forward arc into the enemy's face while they chase you.)
(Basically, flying backwards and firing everything in your forward arc into the enemy's face while they chase you.)
