OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

[Agent Sorchus]

Yeah. It works. It seems your site is down.

[Phantasee]

Okay, so is there going to be more modelling on the nacelles or are you just going to put a texture on them? Because they are incredibly boring from that shot from aft over them. For how prominent they are, they are pretty dull.

[Prannon]

The design is really holding up well to the changes you're making. I really like the elongated and thicker neck, since it's something of a weak point in the whole saucer/secondary hull schtick to begin with. The more integrated those elements are, the more practical the design in my book.

In this case, a nice thick, solid neck is a good move. It does make the lines look a little more forward and aggressive, perhaps weighted to the bow of the ship and not balanced between the aft and bow like before. I'm tempted to suggest keeping the neck thickness the same and moving the secondary hull forward a bit to restore the balance, but I'm kinda wondering if the forward aggressiveness might make this ship out to be a full-on offensive warship as its primary function.

Regarding the nacelles, I was always curious why the blue section doesn't extend further along the length. That much empty grey space does look ponderously void of activity for such an important part of the ship's drive.

My two cents on the changes, anyway.

[CSJM]

Yeah, quite the "big and beefy" design you've made there, Fuzzy.

I've stopped detailing my primary model for now, because I've ran out of ideas and decided to start another one from scratch.



A little bigger, drops the dual secondary hull but adds a split saucer, with the odd deflector positioning right in the middle. Not sure whether or not the design's workable.

From the front, looks a little like a cross between a blimp, an A-10 Warthog, and a cargo train. Which isn't all bad, I guess.

Edit: Rapid prototyping meets deformation tools:

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I sorta like it.
Except the angry eye collectors. At least there're no teeth on the deflector...

[Eternal_Freedom]

That split bow makes it look like it should have the mother of all spinal mounted guns on it. I'm not sure the deflector would work buried in the hull like that. A Phaser Cannon on the other hand, or some form of gatling-gun torpedo launcher arrangement

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Deflector placement looks fine to me. It's low enough.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I geuss. But if it's below the split bow thing, why bother with the slip bow at all? I know it looks nice and aiddferent and all, but that's a significant amount of internal volume wasted

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I think the idea has merit. I wouldn't say you've hit it on the nail yet CSJM, but I don't dislike the concept, and it's potential visual appeal.

I do think that there ought to be a greater sense of purpose. I ran into the same problem with the double hull idea. I just kept coming back to the perspective of the guy who would have to design the power relays and turbolift system, and worked out the design THAT guy might be happiest with. Centralized. Connected.

[edit]
Having the shuttle bay there would definitely present a solid reason for this design characteristic.

[CSJM]

Well, uniqueness is certainly one reason. Others could include a shuttle bay, a downward view from the bridge, and yeah, maybe a ridiculously large weapon pylon. Or a ridiculously large shuttle as a "detachable" ship.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

A huge spinal mount cannon would make sense to, especially as the emitter ought to be closer to the anti-mater chamber, it has no firing arc, and the saucer would protect the emitter from much of the enemy's incoming fire.

[CSJM]

The twin hulls certainly have purpose. No single hit into the side will be able to destroy the whole engineering section, shuttles coming from/into the main bay get cover, plus there aren't really many troubles with getting around in there.

The split saucer section could have purpose too, but it's not very obvious. Same shuttle protection is one thing, mounting a powerful weapon is another. The drawbacks, however, include a slim chance of catching a torpedo into the midst of the ship, which may or may not be an order of magnitude worse than an impact anywhere else. So, it'll need dedicated shield generators around that central piece.

Btw, I added cargo bays and an aft shuttle bay:

(and assorted bodypaint. The mess of reflections on the underside is due to confused smoothing groups)

[Agent Sorchus]

Just practicing really. First two were what I had in my head with the saucer attached directly to the top of the engineering hull. The middle has the saucer attached forward in a traditional way, while the 4th makes the saucer taller. Fifth speaks for itself. This is my first time trying smooth models so it was very instructional. All phantom lines are a result of GIMP.






EDIT: It definitely needs color.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Looking good Agent Sorchus. I like the concept.

[edit]
I'm considering re-designing my nacelles to look more like those of this ship:


http://www.startrekonline.com/dynconten ... venger.png

[edit]
These are handy blueprints:
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/ga ... ruiser.php
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/so ... 1701-e.php

[Chardok]

Those Nacelles are siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick one thing though - if you incorporate something like that - be super sure that it will follow the invisible line of the saucer otherwise it's going to look like poop.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

one thing though - if you incorporate something like that - be super sure that it will follow the invisible line of the saucer otherwise it's going to look like poop.

Not sure I follow. Do you mean the line where the back side of the saucer would be if it were rounded equitably with the front?

[Knife]

one thing though - if you incorporate something like that - be super sure that it will follow the invisible line of the saucer otherwise it's going to look like poop.

Not sure I follow. Do you mean the line where the back side of the saucer would be if it were rounded equitably with the front?

I think he's saying that the curve of the nacelle is about even with the curve on the side of the saucer.

[Chardok]

one thing though - if you incorporate something like that - be super sure that it will follow the invisible line of the saucer otherwise it's going to look like poop.

Not sure I follow. Do you mean the line where the back side of the saucer would be if it were rounded equitably with the front?

I think he's saying that the curve of the nacelle is about even with the curve on the side of the saucer.

That's it. Sorry - I only have time for tiny posts...hard to communicate it...like if you trace the edge of the saucer, and keep going backwards from the apex of the angle (following the same sort of curve) you should be able to trace right along the outside edge of the nacelles.

does that....make sense?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

does that....make sense?

It does, but I'll have to fudge it a bit, as my saucer does not have a consistent curve. I do think I will match it to the front half of the saucer, essentially completing an oval shape.

[Chardok]

does that....make sense?

It does, but I'll have to fudge it a bit, as my saucer does not have a consistent curve. I do think I will match it to the front half of the saucer, essentially completing an oval shape.

That's what I was trying to say. sorry about that...

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I ended up just reworking the bussard collectors. These new ones are a bit vanilla.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Is it just me, or did it used to say "Coming December 9th" where it now says "Coming soon"?

http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise

It still says "December 9th" on the bottom however.

_________________________________

I shrunk the hump between the pylons and moved the shuttle bay down to the aft of engineering. It's the dark grey strip.



[edit]
Another design site worth looking at:
http://www.treknology.org/future1.htm

[CSJM]

I think they forgot the rest of the text existed. They still plan on using a "spceial" tool. Their spellchecker is probably just as spceial.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Yay! Might site is back up! I can stop hosting files on Facebook!

So, after sleeping on it, I hate the most recent nacelles. Suggestions?

_____________________

Also, still "Coming Soon"
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Must the "Warp Engine Field Grille" and the "Particle Aperture" be separate pieces?
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans ... acelle.jpg

Or can I do something like this:


Perhaps the "Warp Engine Field Grille" and "Particle Aperture" could both be behind a third layer of translucent material?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Apparently they are still haggling with CBS (Viacom)

dstahl
Star Trek Online Team

The promotion is being run by some very big partners of ours (I believe Intel is one of them) and they are awaiting some final CBS approvals as this is going to get plastered all over the web including other Star Trek sites.

So as others have pointed out... we are anxiously awaiting word ourselves and will start linking and announcing as soon as we hear anything.

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showth ... ost3213859

[edit] Interesting. On the Vesper, the nacelles are blue all the way around: