Okay so i have had many disagreements with people over all kinds of things such as weapons and shield power and the worst of all the number of support craft a starship can handle. Now i know my Maths sucks at times but i have worked out that even a small starship can have a good number of shuttles and so i think that a Fighter carrier is a very realistic ship in Starfleet. I babble here but i need to get my point across before i show you my ship. I do not hold to the hole 'Canon' thing with Sci-Fi... Yes Canon is important but think about it, every time we make a ship that is even slightly different from what is seen on screen it become non-canon.
So with that in mind i want to show you a ship i have been working on (on and off) for about 6 months now. It is a Fighter carrier, a small ish crew of about 800 with a air arm wing of around 200 pilot's, 300 Flight crew and between 300 and 600 deck crew. Also a Company of Marines for boarding and SAR operations.
It will also be around 1200 meters long. (Maybe)
Weapons not decided yet but at least 4 Torp tubes and close in defenses such as maybe a Vulcan Mega Bolter type thing or maybe the missile system seen in the 2009 Trek film... Not sure yet though and my computer sucks so i may have to bye a new one just to finish this mesh
Posts
The structure behind the flight deck is the Air control tower. Not sure if that will remain there or not though i will have to see how i go... I see many people have looked at this thread, your opinions please just s i know what ya all think...
Matthew
Impulse Engines
Three warp engines
Close up of Warp Engine
Upper Flight Deck
Aft Shuttle Deck
Three engines (Back)
Three engines (Forward)
Large Escape Pod hatches/Tubes (20 People each pod)
Lower decks large escape pod doors/hatches/tubes - Also decided that they will only hold 15 but they will be warp able (only warp 2 and only for 12 hours but still)
underside of the ship showing the deflector dish, forward weapons and shuttle bay as well as some of the lower decks escape pods.
Thank you for the questions
Okay yes i guess it would make sense, however that ideal shape would be a cube (look at the BORG) the ship design, like other classes, look the way they do to be pleasing to the eye as well as functional..
As for the shuttlebay... no, it has at the moment 2 Shuttlebays and a fighterbay. I have decided not to do a through ship bay like the Akira due to the ships size. I feel that in battle one lucky shot, or a fighter returning badly and crashing could destroy the entire bay. Now like all shuttle bays it is armored to protect from explosions, however having a number of large bays across the ship made more sense to me then one big one.
Hope this answers your questions, updates are coming soon... promise...
The next picture shows the top of the ship with the Flight Command centre and the Flight deck. a ramp from inside the ship where the hanger is. Either side are escape modules, warp able and housing... well not sure yet but i think around 30 people. and of course the upper warp engine.
The last one is the front. I really like that deflector dish . you have a Shuttlebay with a Phaser emitter on either side, two torp tubes the main deflector and of course the warp engines...
Hope you like...
Still you're doing a great job thinking this thing through. Many people just throw things together that look good, not stopping to think of the logistics. It would be nice to see this with some shadow rendering on it, just so we can get a better feel for the curves and angles.
Although there is of course another major reason... i have no idea how to remove the mounts and stitch the hole they will leave up;) as for shadow... um... ditto . But thank you... i like this ship, it is so diff from other ships that most people dislike it on sight so it is nice to know some people have an open mind...
matthew
On the note of a cube, lol, I did chuckle at that btw. The Typhon was a believable carrier design and it was a cube, it resembled a rectangle but it still had a carrier feel to it.
I do like the general direction of the design though, except the nacelles, for some reason I'm just not feeling them and I can't put my finger on why. Other than that, the design is very interesting.
As for the shadowing, that should all be done with the correct lighting and settings. Again, something that depends on the program you're using to model.
Yeah that is in fact a very good point let me have a play to see if i can add a regress door to the one of the bays.. maybe mess around with the layout of the bays to allow for this... hum... let me think...
I am using 3D studio Max 7, i had ago at removing the engine mounts... i made the hull too curvy and i have real issues even doing that... However do you not think that if i move the mounts so their stick out horizontally from the 'stardrive' hull it will look more like the delphin class?
I have rotated the engines 40degrees out wards and moved them down a little and added downward slanted mounts...
I must stress that this is very quick and dirty, i have massing holes in the model where the new flight bays are ...
Through deck fighter bays don't work in reality, an aircraft carrier isn't a good comparison because they can easily push any aircraft on fire off the deck in any direction. on a space ship, a large cramped chamber is a potential disaster in waiting, thus Compartmentalized systems are better. you have multiple bays that can be isolated and contain any explosions or massive decompression. each bay would have it's own launch and recovery doors, allowing multiple fighters to launch or be recovered at the same time.
Just imagine what would happen if a Photon torpedo penetrated the hull right at the flight deck, with all those munitions, people and fighters sitting there, you'd essentially cripple the ship. if a Photon torpedo penetrated a compartmentalized bay system, it would confine the damage to one bay and only a handful of fighters and crew would be lost.
At the moment and with out the flight bays i just added the ship does have 4 shuttle/fighter bays...
There is no reason why there can't be internal lifts to move the fighters and shuttles around... I mean it is a BIG ship... I was also thinking that the primary maintenance bay is in the middle of the ship along with the ammo and fuel stores (not all in one place but in the middle)
The images attached are of the engines and the deflector, Which I would like your opinion on... i love the shape but there is something missing. I have had a look at what some of you guys have done and mine is very flat compared... Please give us some opinions on that please
Taken from Star Trek Atlantis and War Hammer 40K Imperial Fists starbase I have created this... a warp able starbase... not to big, able to house only 4 Galaxy Class ships or 16 Defiant class of equal mass of ships...
I am thinking around warp 7, massive power drain of course and would only be deployed after much thought... But what a sight it would be... it would have massively powerful shields and maybe long range weapons... Lots of fighters and shuttles and of course work bees...
Here are some more images... The warp engines and impulse engines are massive, easy 750 meters long. The larger 'petals' are are docking bays for starships (one Sovereign class in each) and fighter/shuttle and transport bays and Cargo bays. The central core is where everyone lives and rests. It is 2'161 meters across and is capable of warp 7 warp 8 at a push...
And some one please comment on this post no one has said anything in a while...
matthew