OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

[Phantasee]

Honestly, the way the nacelles are mounted, it almost feels like the engineering hull is redundant. Maybe attach the nacelles to the engineering hull with a little wider stance?

[Norade]

I like the engineering section the way it is actually, it adds a nice top bottom balance and seems like you could pack a fair bit of power generation and equipment into it making for a much tougher ship.

[CSJM]

So many phaser arcs... that's a battleship! *looks at own design with a dozen phase cannon turrets* ...um, yeah, right.

To answer your question, the saucer section doesn't need a deflector if it only has impulse power. You can put a shuttlebay or a cargo bay there instead, but a secondary deflector array is, in and of itself, not a bad concept for a battleship. System redundancy and such.

The nacelle design is unusual, in that the "blue warp-drive things" end about halfway through the length of it. There's a lot of unused length on the nacelles, are there plans to have them do something other than provide a "looks-like-warping-while-standing-still" feel for the design?

In regards to separation again, your design doesn't look like it could separate its saucer section, there's just no indication for it. Your engineering section, however, looks perfectly redundant. It could be cut off without the ship losing its integrity. Maybe think about that concept? Phaser-bank wise, the engineering section has about as much firepower as the rest of the ship, it already has its own impulse power, all it needs to become a secondary ship in its own right is a backup warp drive in the back. It won't act as a crew evacuation ship the way a saucer section does, but it will be a full-fledged battle support unit, with almost as much capability as the ship itself.

Also, what is that thing on the back? Torpedo launcher? Shuttle bay? Spinal mount?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

You can put a shuttlebay or a cargo bay there instead, but a secondary deflector array is, in and of itself, not a bad concept for a battleship. System redundancy and such.

I think it may become a sensor strip or transporter array.

The nacelle design is unusual, in that the "blue warp-drive things" end about halfway through the length of it. There's a lot of unused length on the nacelles, are there plans to have them do something other than provide a "looks-like-warping-while-standing-still" feel for the design?

The thrusters are mounted on the tips now, but I should add little cooing doohikeys.

In regards to separation again, your design doesn't look like it could separate its saucer section, there's just no indication for it. Your engineering section, however, looks perfectly redundant. It could be cut off without the ship losing its integrity. Maybe think about that concept? Phaser-bank wise, the engineering section has about as much firepower as the rest of the ship, it already has its own impulse power, all it needs to become a secondary ship in its own right is a backup warp drive in the back. It won't act as a crew evacuation ship the way a saucer section does, but it will be a full-fledged battle support unit, with almost as much capability as the ship itself.

Still pondering saucer separation possibilities... It's not vital, but I think I'll have time.

Also, what is that thing on the back? Torpedo launcher? Shuttle bay? Spinal mount?

Shuttle/Fighter Bag. Bunk bed style. Assuming I have time I'll open the bay doors and add the interior too, with tiny human figures for scale.

[edit]
This is what the model looks like without any kind of smoothing right now.


I lost some of my reference textures recently, but hopefully you can still tell that I've done things like add a second phaser strip on the dorsal saucer.

Thruster reference is there now too, the brown squares.

[edit]
This is what I was thinking for saucer separation:


Saucer keeps 3 phaser banks (and 2 pulse phasers if and when I add them) but leaves all the torpedos.

[CSJM]

That looks like one perilous separation manuever. You'll basically need to vertically clear the whole height of the saucer section on thrusters, while maintaining relative speed. Not something easily done in an emergency. Docking would be about an order of magnitude worse, the margin for error is nonexistent. The slightest drift would more or less crush the bridge.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

That looks like one perilous separation manuever. You'll basically need to vertically clear the whole height of the saucer section on thrusters, while maintaining relative speed. Not something easily done in an emergency. Docking would be about an order of magnitude worse, the margin for error is nonexistent. The slightest drift would more or less crush the bridge.

Well if the connection point is cork/wedge shaped, which I think it is, the saucer should just drop away. The shape should also help guide the saucer in for re-attachment, providing it can rub on the sides a little bit.

/Saucer\ \Bridge/ /Saucer\

[CSJM]

Yeah, that might work. Although I still fail to see why the bridge can't remain on the separated saucer. I mean, other than for the sheer novelty value.

[Themightytom]

This is what I was thinking for saucer separation:


Saucer keeps 3 phaser banks (and 2 pulse phasers if and when I add them) but leaves all the torpedos.

Um you're straying kind of close to...

[Fuzzy_Modem]

This is what happens when I underlay the Enterprise -E's ortho below my silhouette.

Um you're straying kind of close to...
[GQ]

Kinda sorta.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That's a pretty sweet looking design. Different, but familiar enough to say "yep, that's an Enterprise"

[Fuzzy_Modem]

That's a pretty sweet looking design. Different, but familiar enough to say "yep, that's an Enterprise"

Excellent. That's exactly what I'm shooting for

I'm not happy with the front view, but I like the pylons in their current raised position from all other angles, including the aft.

I'm tempted to experiment with hanging the nacelles from under the pylons rather than having them perched on top...

[edit] How does this look? (I just tilted them a bit)

Original:


Down:


Up:

[Eternal_Freedom]

Tilted up works best on that one I think

[Prannon]

I'm kind of a fan of tilted down myself, if only it matches the contour of the saucer better. Rhyming lines, complimenting movement.

[Chardok]

shame about losing the secondary deflector - I rather liked it. Also the explanation of dropping away rather than pulling away works well. the bevelled edge on the separated saucer supports this. I approve.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Tilting downmakes the nacelle look like it's got an overhanging beer belly from the front

Now, if they where tilted down but[/] shifted up a bit so the pylon was attached in the middle of the nacelle(looking from the front), I'd go with that

[Chaotic Neutral]

Why doesn't anyone make a dual saucer design? Two symmetrical ones facing each other from the bottoms with a deflector in the middle.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That sounds interesting, but where would you put the nacelles? If you put them above the top saucer it looks liek the things got an enormous double-chin, if have four, two above two below it looks like someone's stuck two ships together. And if you have them between, it looks like the Fed version of the D'Deridex

Also, I don't think it would really fit with the other designs. It's just too different

[Chaotic Neutral]

Think of that ship up there, flip it over and combine another at the middle. Remove the nacelles and attach them to the sides of the deflector.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Like I said, it would look too un-Federationy and would look, if I'm thinking what you're thinking, like the bastard offspring of a Sovereign and a Warbird mating

[Chaotic Neutral]

No, the D'deridex has a pointy nose, and nacelles on the out side. I'm proposing a dual saucer for a nose, both inverted from each other, with a deflector in the middle, and a nacelle on the sides of the deflector.

[Eternal_Freedom]

So...sort of like a Nebula with no big pod and an extra saucer underneath?

[Chaotic Neutral]

Yeah, but I was thinking long nacelles that went to about half way to the middle of the saucers, and much farther back, as well as a Sovereign saucer instead of Nebula.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ahhhh, I get it now. Now I think about it, it sounds like a SW Hapan Battle Dragon

In this idea of yours, would the nacelle pylons be flat relative to the centrelin, or at an angle like the Sov's? And would they go out at right angles to the ship's long axis, like the Galaxy's, or would they be swept back like the Sov's?

Like I said above, it sounds a bit too different. Although now that I ponder it some more, it sounds like a Sovereign/Prometheus hybrid class, with the idea to make the "multi-vector assault mode" even more deadly by having, in normal Sovereign terms, one-and-a-half starships

[Chaotic Neutral]

Good God, NO! I despise that ship!

The idea is that the deflector in the middle would have two larger, longer, Sovie-style nacelles on the sides of the deflector.

And please, no MVAM. It's just so stupid.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Interesting. Would the deflector be part of a larger engineering hull, or are the critical components (war core etc) in the bigger saucers?

And, I agree on the MVAM, it's just what came to mind

And the "Good God, NO! I despise that ship!" bit, I'm geussing that referred to the Battle Dragon. If so, seconded