StarDestroyer.Net BBS

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=2890

Recently came across this link. Some very nice images of the actual Nemesis CGI Enterprise. That is some impressive detail. And I can make out some of the extra torpedo launchers that were hard to spot.

The original Sovereign had 4 torpedo launchers, all of them on the very bottom of the secondary hull. Nemesis added several more. There is the twin launcher above the docking hatches. There is a single launcher above the rear shuttle bay. But now I've spotted a 2nd launcher below the shuttle bay as well. There also appears to be a launcher forward of the bridge where the bridge structure climbs from the main hull. So 5 extra launchers for Nemesis.

Were they ever shown firing? It's meaningless to count 'launchers' without any evidence of their capability, as it tells us nothing about their reloading systems (or if they can reload at all), their connection to other systems, etc.

In any case, I thought people knew the NEM Enterprise had heaps of new launchers. Pre-NEM it had shoulder rear-facing launchers anyway, from Insurrection.

Stark wrote:Were they ever shown firing? It's meaningless to count 'launchers' without any evidence of their capability, as it tells us nothing about their reloading systems (or if they can reload at all), their connection to other systems, etc.

In any case, I thought people knew the NEM Enterprise had heaps of new launchers. Pre-NEM it had shoulder rear-facing launchers anyway, from Insurrection.

Some were visible firing. Some are shown marked on a pencil drawing pending revision into the CGI model. The CGI model now has updated elements matching the pencil drawings.

Pointless to count it if its never seen firing? So if we see 12 phaser arrays but they only fired 8 of them, we can't count the other 4? I guess we don't count the never fired guns on ships from Star Wars too.

Thats a retarded argument. Its clearly visible evidence from the actual CGI model used in the movie.

There's a difference between weapons we don't know anything about, and weapons we know for a fact were simply bolted on in a refit. Unless they dug out heaps of equipment, laid in new AM bunkers, build the (apparently quite large) internal mechanism of the launcher into those areas, they aren't like regular launchers and it's wrong to assume they are. Look at those diagrams of internals; the launchers are huge, extending dozens of meters back into the hull. Bolting on a grey rectangle doesn't cut it if you're going to count it as comparable to others, which is the only reason to try to write down 'has x extra launchers'. The number of launchers is meaningless without an idea of their capability, and we know these are later addon launchers but don't know the extent of their support systems.

We know that the Sovereign underwent a significant enough refit that they physically moved the warp nacelles. That is a major undertaking. Meaning this was no small refit. Do we know what the launchers are completely capable of? No. But I will assume they are at least capable of matching launchers from 80 years earlier. We have known refire rates on the Miranda and Constitution class torpedo launchers, and that is legacy technology.

Anyway, there are already some interesting things to not. The launcher above the shuttle bay is much larger than the launcher below the shuttlebay. That already supports the idea of increased capacity. The double launcher above the docking section look absolutely huge, but we have a reason why. They had to encase a large part of the entire launcher assembly into a "bolt on" type unit because they apparently wanted to maintain the docking facility at the same time. The other three launchers are all recessed into the hull.

Is there any explanation for why this era has absolutely huge muzzles on the launchers? They're giant, far larger than the weapons themselves and they dwarf the launchers on even Galaxy. However, other ships have similar 'looking' launchers (like Sabre with it's giant rectangle holes) which are much smaller due to scale.

Stark wrote:Is there any explanation for why this era has absolutely huge muzzles on the launchers? They're giant, far larger than the weapons themselves and they dwarf the launchers on even Galaxy. However, other ships have similar 'looking' launchers (like Sabre with it's giant rectangle holes) which are much smaller due to scale.

The launchers are on the galaxy are actually quite large. The Galaxy is bigger than the Sovereign. Only two launchers really look big. Those are the seemingly bolted on launchers that have to expose their assembly. The rest of the launchers are recessed and look considerably smaller.

Awesome, I quite like the Sovereign. Even though Nemesis blew, I liked how they had the Sovereign actually use its photon torpedo launchers, not just the quantums. I hate all the weapons on starships which just go unused.

Alyeska wrote:Only two launchers really look big. Those are the seemingly bolted on launchers that have to expose their assembly.

Is it possible that they house reloads as well as the launcher itself? Given that they're directly above a docking port I can't imagine them being able to feed from below, so they might have simply stuck a multiple-round magazine in there, and reload by swapping the entire structure at a starbase.

Did Starfleet run out of paint? What is with all the patchwork?

^This. I loved the Sov in the movies, but both 3d and physical models of the ship have been dissapointing. The thing looks cartoonish, while in the movies it looked menacing. Maybe it is the lighting and camera angles.

The lighting can be very important. I've seen some shots of the Akira class that look like absolute shit.

Vympel wrote:Awesome, I quite like the Sovereign. Even though Nemesis blew, I liked how they had the Sovereign actually use its photon torpedo launchers, not just the quantums. I hate all the weapons on starships which just go unused.

Yeah, the Sov is my second favorite Starfleet ship; the Connie refit is number one.

JME2 wrote:Yeah, the Sov is my second favorite Starfleet ship; the Connie refit is number one.

I'm a big fan of the original series movie ships. The Excelsior, the Reliant, the Bird of Prey, and the Klingon Battlecruiser just kick so much ass, to say nothing of the Enterprise refit.

As far as the TNG era goes, the Sovereign is a nice enough design. I love the Defiant though out of all the ships that were introduced in that era. Most of the rest were pretty ordinary to downright terrible. (I think the Nebula and Galaxy look terrible, but mainly the internals for the Galaxy. Although I like how they kept similarities in the design between the two, so it makes it look like they're of the same 'generation' of ship designs. I'm also not a huge fan of Voyager, not just because I think the show stank worse than week-old shit, but also I didn't like the design)

I was watching first contact the other day and the escape pod hatches make up one side of the escape pods. How many people fit in those things or is there a major shortage of escape pods?