Excelsior 3000

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Bigger pics: http://crossovercomic.com/index.php?pag ... =excelsior

Re-christened version of my Enterprise F for the "Design the Next Enterprise" Contest.
Added an impulse engine and a couple more airlocks and removed a bunch of windows. Still working on retexturing. Suggestions welcome. When I'm done I'll post some fly-by animations.

Tech details:


Saucer Separation and Impulse Maneuvering

Unlike traditional stardrive coupling the primary bridge is retained, releasing only the outer ring of the saucer. This removes the need for the Captain the move to a battle bridge, saving precious seconds in an emergency. Instead a secondary bridge in the saucer is crewed by third shift personnel.

The primary purpose of separation is to give non military crew and passengers a chance to escape while the stardrive engages an opponent. A disadvantage is the loss of two impulse engines in the process.

The Excelsior offers an alternative, with two tertiary impulse engines on either side of the secondary hull. Normally dormant, they can provide short boots in speed, or be used separately for dramatically improved banking. Trajectory is traditionally controlled by maneuvering thrusters alone with impulse engines providing only forward thrust due to the limitations of structural integrity fields. Thus these engines should only be engaged while the shield booster is in effect or the saucer is separated, as otherwise minor hull damage could prove catastrophic.

Anti-Protonic Shield Booster

Based on a technique provided to the USS Voyager by the Q Continuum, Beta-tachyon emitters in the neck flood the shield projectors on the ventral side of the saucer with anti-protons. The result is an annihilation barrier, providing enough protection to pass through a supernova unharmed.

Due to necessitated system coupling with the deflector dish, the booster can only be used with the saucer attached or in range of the emitters, and an extended cooldown is necessary to prevent ignition of the shields themselves, which would follow the projector to the hull and disintegrate the majority of the saucer.

Using an annihilation barrier as a battering ram is a violation of the Second Khitomer Accords.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Thats fucking hawt Fuzzy!
Such amazing work and detail in there.
Such a distinctive look to it, Have loved this ship from the very start of you working on it

[Batman]

Well that makes one of us.

[Scottish Ninja]

I'm still sad that this apparently went nowhere with Cryptic. Now that I've been playing the game, I'd love to see it make a return as a flight-deck cruiser.

Immediately going and violating the 2nd Khitomer Accords by ramming a Borg Tactical Cube with the Anti-Protonic Shield Booster sounds like fun too.

[tezunegari]

I wonder how this design would look as a Stargazer-variant.

Engineering section below the big windows removed,
smoothed backwards like the neck part implies and no visible deflector dish
or a really different design instead - maybe protective cover like the Vengeance had, but curved.
The nacelles mirrored downwards into an X-shape, all smooth curves there.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Thanks guys

Someone else noted we're up above 75,000 in registry numbers as of DS9, and that vessel classes are named after the first in the series (and there has already been an Excelsior class.)

The USS Frontier was destroyed with all hands when attempting to activate the shield booster for the first time, when anti-protons back flowed to the beta-tachyon emitters in the saucer and ignited. This has been remedied by emitters on the neck, slaved to the main deflector for precision.

Perhaps the Excelsior's registry should be 300001?

The saucer is capable of atmospheric entry btw. Need to add landing gear to the schematic, and maybe some little Defiant style nacelles could descend from the back of the saucer?

I'm planning to make a short fan film 2015ish.

We'd be filming actors in front of blue screen, and then adding this CG set:


I'm toying with the idea of hovering chairs. We'd just paint the legs green. The CG bridge would shudder and shake, but the crew would float lazily in place.

I'd also like to ditch the TNG era interface and bring in a holographic UI. Thoughts?

Oh, and I just sent a Facebook message about the project to an actor I've worked with before, shown here in my wip film CrossOver.

Think he could play Sulu's great-grandson?

[Eternal_Freedom]

I like the bridge design, but I would move the captian's chair back some, at present he'd have to turn all the way around to look at the other stations. I'd also shorten it and love the helm/nav/ops console further back as well.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I like the bridge design, but I would move the captian's chair back some, at present he'd have to turn all the way around to look at the other stations. I'd also shorten it and love the helm/nav/ops console further back as well.

That would also give us room to fit the crew into the green screen studio all at once

[Eternal_Freedom]

Even better, it'll help it look more naturally, lots of nice wide shots showing everyone at their stations with no need for editing.

I love the idea of a holographic UI, you could perhaps have a "plot table" type of large display behind the captain's chair for use in showing the entire area.

[Simon_Jester]

Plot tables are a very appropriate and realistic thing, I think- it'd be a natural place to apply holographic interface technology. For working at a fixed console, something recognizable as a computer monitor will probably work fine, and having a cubic foot of holographic space in front of your chair could be actively difficult to manipulate comfortably from a seated position. But for people standing around a table and controlling the hologram, in ways visible from a distance, the extra physical space is valuable.

In other words, a 3-dimensional virtual 'desk' with as much volume as a filing cabinet is more valuable than a 3-dimensional virtual 'podium' with about as much volume as a breadbox, if that.

[Personally, I think that the first people who actually try something like the holographic interfaces in Iron Man will use a 'control wand' rather than just having the user wave his bare hands around]

A main display has to be a large thing, clearly visible to many people in different places- it shouldn't be this cramped little

[Enigma]

A touchscreen monitor fitted into the plot table to act as a console? All one would do is fiddle with the screen with one's fingers.

[Borgholio]

I'd ditch the idea of hoverchairs. Call me biased, but I would hope that any future Federation ships would feature improvements in survivability, safety, and reliability instead of more gimmicks. You know, like hull armor, seatbelts, blast doors instead of just forcefields, a warp core that doesn't explode if you look at it the wrong way, a core ejection system that actually fucking works...

That said, I do like the design of the bridge though. Is the starfield in the back meant to be actually open to space (forcefield / big window) or just as a backdrop to the bridge layout itself?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Yay! My actor is onboard to play Sulu Jr.

Is the starfield in the back meant to be actually open to space (forcefield / big window) or just as a backdrop to the bridge layout itself?

It's a traditional screen, just 3D, large and wrap-around.

[Enigma]

Will be get to say, "Oh, myyyyy."

[tim31]

Great now I've got to rename the Frontier-class super long distance exploration cruiser I was tooling up for a planned fic

[krakonfour]

I've got to applaud all of Fuzzy's projects.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Great now I've got to rename the Frontier-class super long distance exploration cruiser I was tooling up for a planned fic

I believe that to be a small price to pay for seeing this awesome ship.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Great now I've got to rename the Frontier-class super long distance exploration cruiser I was tooling up for a planned fic

Don't do so on my account. I'm not the first to use it, and I doubt I'll be the last. No like it's canon.

[tim31]

There are plenty more names to go around. And to be honest, I'm still tossing up over the use of too many terra/homo-centric names for stuff.

[Borgholio]

homo-centric names

USS Fabulous?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

homo-centric names

USS Fabulous?

USS Takai
NCC-OhMyyyy

[cadbrowser]

Fuzzy...

I went and checked out your forum; there is A LOT of spam posting by spam members. Might want to look into that.

As far as your work goes. Pretty fucking amazing. I like it. Kudos.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Fuzzy...

I went and checked out your forum; there is A LOT of spam posting by spam members. Might want to look into that.

As far as your work goes. Pretty fucking amazing. I like it. Kudos.

Yikes! Thanks for the heads up. Had to close the forums down, not like they were getting much use, but still quite frustrating.

[cadbrowser]

No problem. Was surprised nobody cued you in on that already. Hopefully it won't be too bad for you to clean it up and get it running again. Good luck with that.