What do people think of StarTrek small craft? (plus general

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-10-26 04:13pm

...discussion (ran out of room for the thread title

)

Anyway, from TOS to DS 9 the shuttle designs were good. From TOS to TNG shuttles were little more than boxes with small impulse drives, cheap government/communist-issue couriers. They were as ultilitarian as they could get, really, and simple. Plus they had very good interiors for their design. Nothing fancy, just a small console, two simple seats and a whole lotta free room. Sure they only had those damn pushbuttons everyone hates, but this is just a ship designed to go from A to B so pushbuttons were perfect. The Runabout was a good design too, a nice long-range courier with nice accomodations for long-range missions. I equate the Runabout to be a person/priority courier while the shuttle as mostly just a cargo courier.

Then in typical B&B fashion Voyager screwed it all up and made these wanker designs. Namely the Type 2, which I just equate to a trekkie fanboy wankfest design. Of course the worst offender are the shuttles in Insurrection, I don't even want to go there.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2002-10-26 04:20pm

Of the shuttles I rather like the Type-3 (that is DITLs name for it) from ST:5. Its a fairly large design and seemed quite capable to move in a fair number of people from ship to planet. The room also made for a decent cargo capacity.

The Type-6 and Type-7 were also both relatively well done. They again had reasonable room, ample cargo space. Now these ones could also go to warp and had emergency transporters.

The Runabout seems quite well designed. It has a forward cockpit that can hold 4 people plus a two man transporter. It has a rear common room that can act as conference room, meal area, and extra personal storage. It also has 4 interior compartments between the front and back and they seem to be variable use. Two-man bunks, bathroom/shower, storage, etc...

The Type-10 from the Defiant is reasonably well made. Its one of the smaller true shuttles. Has a 2 man cockpit with room in the back for half a dozen standing. The Type-11 (DITL designation) from Insurrection is quite large, somewhat sleek, but seems to have lots of room. It also has a forward seperated cockpit.

The Delta Flyer has two compartments. A large forward cockpit with 4 command consoles, a rear transporter area and cargo storage point.

Tac-Fighter, 1-2 fighter with lots of weaponry.

Venture Scout, 1 person cockpit with room for 2 more, rear comparment for equipment and personel, lower level storage/compartment as well.

Then you got the shuttle pods, and Voyager shuttles... I don't much like those.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2002-10-26 04:26pm

I quite like the way the Delta Flyer looks. It's no TIE fighter or X-Wing but it's still pretty nifty looking.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2002-10-26 04:45pm

Crazy_Vasey wrote:I quite like the way the Delta Flyer looks. It's no TIE fighter or X-Wing but it's still pretty nifty looking.

And "CAPTAIN PROTON" controls!

Post by **Kuja** » 2002-10-26 04:48pm

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:
Crazy_Vasey wrote:I quite like the way the Delta Flyer looks. It's no TIE fighter or X-Wing but it's still pretty nifty looking.
And "CAPTAIN PROTON" controls!

No kidding there.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2002-10-26 04:50pm

Post by **Kuja** » 2002-10-26 05:21pm

keypads rather than a stick.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2002-10-26 05:24pm

Crazy_Vasey wrote:Eh?

The Delta Flyer has controls modelled after Paris' favourite sci-fi show "Captain Proton."

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2002-10-26 05:25pm

Ahhh right.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2002-10-27 02:34pm

When is this "Captain Proton" mentioned? Does it mean that Star Trek got TVs?

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2002-10-27 02:35pm

Slartibartfast wrote:When is this "Captain Proton" mentioned? Does it mean that Star Trek got TVs?

Captain Proton is sorta a spoof on the likes of Flash Gordon. It was an old Earth movie that Paris liked watching, and because of his fondness for it when they designed the Delta Flyer he put in a joystick style control rather then touch button.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2002-10-29 07:01pm

Alyeska wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:When is this "Captain Proton" mentioned? Does it mean that Star Trek got TVs?
Captain Proton is sorta a spoof on the likes of Flash Gordon. It was an old Earth movie that Paris liked watching, and because of his fondness for it when they designed the Delta Flyer he put in a joystick style control rather then touch button.

that's the lamest excuse for the better designed control panel I've ever heard. Come on, they could have just said that a touch pad wasn't responsive enough for the things the Delta would be doing.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2002-10-29 07:03pm

any since when is a joystick a primitive meathod to control an aircraft.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2002-10-29 07:03pm

Technically, I believe Captain Proton was a serial, not a film.

And, yes, that's a really dumb reason.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman · Post by **Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman** » 2002-10-30 06:59am

Isolder74 wrote:any since when is a joystick a primitive meathod to control an aircraft.

Indeed. Joystick might be as not as precise as Trek-style keyboard commands, but it provide **quick** response, not to mention ergonomy.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2002-10-30 08:11am

Isolder74 wrote:any since when is a joystick a primitive meathod to control an aircraft.

Since every engineer in the galaxy was given a lobotomy. Keypad vs joystick controls is far down the list of all time star trek engineering fuck ups. Any one that designed anything half as poorly as trek enngineers do would be rotting in prison for criminal negligence.