Right so, i love STO and i have watched the ships being designed here and i also enjoy making things... So i started a new ship project... kinda got away from me and after checking a few days ago i noticed that it looks alot like the 25th C ship in this topic
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?76992-25th-cen-starship
While i had seen this before i did try and copy it, for a start my ship is 2385 and not 25th but i must say that looking back it was clear the idea for the 'hole' must have come from that ship *shruggs* can't think whee else i got the idea from...
Anyway SHe is designed as a large deep space long range explorer, 5 year mission kinda thing... Below are a few of the specs i have so far...
Length: 1070.3 Meters
Width: 520 Meters
Height: 201.338 Meters (but only 37 Decks)
Crew: 1500
Families: 500
Marines: 120 (1 company only and assigned to the Sec department as a joint force)
Speed:
- Standard: WF 7
- Max Cruise: WF 9
- Emergency max: 9.999
Weapons/Defenses:
Offensive: Type XII Phaser arrays, 3 Pulse Torpedo Tubes (500 rounds)
Defensive: Point Defense Phaser turrets (anti-fighter/torpedo), High Power shields and back up shields (about twice that of a Sovvie class, Hull Armour.
I am looking for help with the details such as what sensors look like and where the impulse engines should look like and where the two small back up shuttle bays should be.
Edit: Changed the thumbnail picture to the newest version of the ship
Posts
What should the sensors look like? I prefer to see slick-sided ships in Trek, because I believe that everything should be accessible from the interior, not requiring an EVA to maintain. But if you really want to add sensor pallets, take a look at images of Voyager's saucer (Google Image search: "USS Voyager sensors" or poke through threads like the Wolf class explorer on here, look at what other people are doing.
Think about where things are inside the ship, and why you have secondary shuttle bays. Are they connected to the cargo spaces? Then you'll need a place that's big enough for both. Play with the volumes, listen to the story your ship tells you, and it will all come together.
(I do about an hour's worth of research for every hour I spend modeling. Google image search is your friend, as are any treknological publications you can lay your hands on).
The picture is of one idea for the Impulse Engine, i am thinking 3 in total, two of these and a larger main engine.
The main shuttle bay is going to be on the inside edge of the doughnut, (At the front of the hull). I am also having large bay windows and the corridor for a good sized promenade. For this ship i wanted to get away from the military turn that many people have taken...
She is a rule of cool ship and i agree with the smooth edged ships... not only coz it looks better but my skills are still rather limited. Took me a while to work out how to do the hexagonal grid on the impulse engine... and i am still not that happy with it...
I like the idea you've got there on the impulse engine as a tube. Think about beveling the outside edge back, so that you've got a slope. That calls back to previous versions of the impulse engine, on ships like the Galaxy class or Intrepid class.
And thank you for the support...
Anyway, this is what i got so far... the lighting is a little... hum... crap i think and i am still not happy with the hexagons...
never got the doughnut ships myself, but those that are doing something with them are doing great jobs! With urs it seams ur going with almost a saucer only design with a barely there eng section. interesting idea, kinda like the flying wing design..
keep it up!
Nice work. Reminds me a bit to FahreS' Monygham class.
Amongst others that is, with the latest one from John Eaves. I like those ships. MKF's design is going the same way, though he keeps a spearhead shape. Still cool. Looking forward on that.
Thats a nice ship, not seen that one before...
Remember how i said i couldn't find the other engine i did cos it didn't save... well i managed to save it over the ship file i am bloody lucky i had an older version still saved so the over all design is a little bit diff...
Thank you for all the comments...
Yeah, Jen speaks the truth. Plus, its easy to forget that people dont see the finished product picture you have in your head, so sometimes it takes a good few pages of update screenies for folks to really understand whats in your head and where you're going.
I know i feel incredibly frustrated by that at times, because i can *see* in my mind the bridge of my ship and how it'll eventually look, and until its all modelled and textured, -no one- will really see the final picture and style ive gone for.
Hand in there, Rob. Keep chipping away at it and you'll get the feedback we all need at some stage during these designs
Here are a few pictures with basic lighting of the ship and an update of the impulse engines (still in a diff file from the main ship).
Does anyone remember that bit in the 3rd Star wars film when O B One (i can't spell his name) and Anikin try and 'land' that starship... the engines at the back that drove the ship could also be used to slow it down by putting baffles down into place and changing the direction of the thrust?! yes... no... well gonna try something like that for this ship... (never understood how a trek ship slowed down from impulse with out something like this, or forward impulse engines...
Also there are two versions of the upper module, one with mesh smooth and one with out... don't know which one i like most... Help please
No Trek ship we've ever seen has thrust baffles. If you put them on, it will actually be lowering the tech level. If you intend your ship to be pre-TOS, that's fine, but if it's post-Voyager, you're moving the tech backwards, making them lose whatever braking technology they previously had.
In short, I would do without them, unless you want to lower the tech level, as for a pre-TOS ship.
This is an update... a possible deflector location...
Forgive my poor attempt at doing the Phaser beams... hope the idea comes across though....
I personally like the 2nd deflector best, my first impression when seeing the third one was "overhead floodlights". But maybe thats because there was no detail yet to the deflector itself.
I like the center-high deflector as well, and think your phaser bubbles are an interesting idea. Go forth, young man, and render!
Take a look at the deflectors on voyager, and USS Equinox for ideas on what to do with it.