Best main ship, and why?

[BoogerPoo2002]

Here a list of all the main ships/space stations (the ships/space stations that the main characters are on) in Star Trek that I know of.

USS Enterprise (Original)
USS Enterprise (J.J. Abrams)
USS Enterprise A
USS Enterprise B
USS Enterprise C
USS Enterprise D
USS Enterprise E
USS Voyager
Deep Space Nine
USS Cerritos

Which particular main ship in the Star Trek franchise do you guys think is the best one out of all of them, based on every aspect of the ships, and why?

 

[Qonundrum]

I love the phaser arrays in 1701-D, as well as top-popping saucer section, but nothing beats the 1701 TMP refit for a stout design that looks like a battle cruiser.







And speaking of the saucer section...

 

[WarpTenLizard]

Though "Voyager" was always my favorite series, the Enterprise-D was always my favorite ship. I love the slick design, and the saucer separation feature. Plus, 10-Forward.

 

[1001001]

Wow, that’s uh…some username you got there…

 

[Orphalesion]

I'm not a technical person so I couldn't tell you about things like "phaser arrays" or anything like that.

But both as a location for the stories and when viewed as a place you'd not only have to work at but live in as well, I think the Enterprise D beats all the others. It's the only one were I could really imagine living for an extended span of time. It has arboretums, swimming pools (according to the first episode), that mall place from the manuals, if you accept that as canon/head-canon and lounges like 10-Forward.
Plus the colours of the interior design are pretty pleasant.

 

[JesterFace]

This is easy.
It looks best from the inside and outside, Enterprise-D.

 

[Qonundrum]

I'm not a technical person so I couldn't tell you about things like "phaser arrays" or anything like that.

But both as a location for the stories and when viewed as a place you'd not only have to work at but live in as well, I think the Enterprise D beats all the others. It's the only one were I could really imagine living for an extended span of time. It has arboretums, swimming pools (according to the first episode), that mall place from the manuals, if you accept that as canon/head-canon and lounges like 10-Forward.
Plus the colours of the interior design are pretty pleasant.

I recall one of the early TNG episodes saying "array" and I was instantly hooked...

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Phaser_array

In real life, multidimensional arrays never fail to pique my interest... The first thing in my mind was to fathom how the phaser turrets would be positioned, as they can also clearly fire at multiple angles... so a 2D array where the first element is assigned the individual unit and the second could indicate the degree of the Y axis... then again, as we've seen X, Y, and even Z axes, a 2D array where the first emitter on the saucer section top would be {0}. The phaser strip probably has several hundred elements... then followed by coordinate dimensions for x,y, and z via {1},{2}, and {3}... so SaucerBottomVentralPhaserArray{56}{10}{20}{30} would take the first emitter and angle it based on the X, Y, and Z axes... Hmmm, maybe Z-axis isn't needed so it's only {0}{1}{2}... just as long as lil' Wesley doesn't get drunk and set the wrong axis in such a way that the beam angles up and slices through that window on deck 14 there just above the strip since they can use a full 360 degree circle, with positive or negative values for up/down, left/right, and so on... (I'm sure there are pre-programmed restrictions in the operating system that disallow certain values depending on where each strip is... I'd hope!! ) I'd have to sit down with a paper and pencil, a week of free time, and a gallon of Red Bull... but it'd be easier than just the handful of phaser emitters on the TOS-era ships, where four groupings of two were on the saucer by the look of things... at least those could be aimed, even if we generally saw them shoot forward, which must make combat a real joy if they couldn't be angled... and never cross the beams... Peter Venkman hates that...

Of course, SaucerTopDorsalPhaserArrayStrip, LeftNacellePylonArrayStrip, SaucerOfMilkArrayStrip, and other various strips along the ship and who knows where else could be called independently are a given... especially the milk. Cats love milk for some reason, even if it's not good for them...

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/csharp/csharp_multi_dimensional_arrays.htm


https://www.purina.co.uk/articles/cats/feeding/guides/what-do-cats-drink

Also, people do call me "square"...

This is easy.
It looks best from the inside and outside, Enterprise-D.

Yeah, it's a toss-up in some ways, and when fetching that photoshopped image of the saucer, I was having second thoughts as the "D" grew on me over the course of the run.

 

[NCC-73515]

If you mean main ships as in what was shown as the main ship in the shows, the B and C were not main ships, since we only saw them once, and you forgot the NX-01, Defiant, Discovery, Discoprise (SNW), La Sirena, and Protostar

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, why isn't the Defiant on that list? It certainly belongs a lot more than the Enterprises B or C. Arguably more than the E, though I'll concede it does match the criteria of "main ship" though the Defiant certainly has many more appearances.

The Defiant is also my pick. Because it's badass.

 

[Arpy]

The D. I liked the evolution of design from TOS Enterprise (bigger saucer, smaller engines, larger scale) and think it’s the closest we’ve ever seen to a real starship in empty space for extended periods of time. It’s a little bit of Heaven among the stars. I love the organic look of it; they should have done more with that as in the earlier concept work, but it was more expensive than Sternach’s vague futuristic stuff we saw later.

Both the D and the Original I don’t think were shot very well beyond their own series. They could both look a dull battleship gray when neither were. Heck TOS Enterprise was kind of green but that color was reserved for aliens later on.

Still, the D, and TMP Enterprise I think are maybe the most “adult” ships. …this might be heresy to some, but I’d also like to see a TMP-like update of DS9. I can think of a handful of things I’d do there.

 

[NCC-73515]

The D is my favorite inside, and the E outside. But I'd like to get a better look at the B (more rooms, more ship shots, what else happened under Harriman's command...?) cause I've always liked the Excelsior's design. Ever since the interactive technical manual came out, I've wanted to walk through the D in a simulation, but technology back then only allowed stationary Quicktime VR bubbles (like today's streetview). Then the games got better and first let you explore a whole BoP and battlecruiser in 3D (Generations, KHG), and then much of Voyager (EF) and a bit of the E (EF2), before Stage 9 got as close as it gets to my old dream and actually let you walk through most of the D, and on its hull!

 

[somebuddyX]

Of the ones I've seen, they're all pretty good. I quite like the interiors of NX-01 and Defiant, along with the aesthetic of the NCC-1701-A in Star Trek VI, like the galley and the dining hall and the bunkbeds. I'm very partial to the Enterprise-D and it's deflector dish but there's a lot of dumb stuff, like the families in combat situations and lack of security around stuff like the warp core, although the families would make sense if it were only out in the middle of nowhere and we never saw Earth or a starbase. I quite like the Sovereign class on it's own but wasn't a huge fan of Enterprise-E, which could be tied up in the tone and stories it appears, although I think it would have been nice for fans to see it one more time in some legacy series. I really quite like both designs of Enterprise-C and the Probert version was the first Eaglemoss model I bought but I like the filmed design just as much and I wish we'd seen it's model much more. I loved seeing the Yamaguchi paired up with Bellerophon at the start of "Emissary" attacking the Borg ship and would love to have seen more stuff like that. I hate part of it's bridge with it's stupid unmanned forward station. Voyager I like but I wish it had been customised more, like the "Scorpion" modifications had stayed or the interiors were a bit trashed and maybe been a bit more gnarly like the Sternbach Voyager concept or the Yeager hybrid version. DS9 is great. The runabouts were great but come on we only see the rear compartment in an episode of TNG? I love Rio Grande survived the series. Defiant-A should have just remained Sao Paulo. When I think about what would be my favourite ship it would be probably be the Enterprise-A.

 

[Arpy]

Oh you know, I want to give a shoutout to the SNW Enterprise. I love the interiors more than the exterior (the oversized impulse engines wreck the saucer for me, and it’s a little too squat and dirty-looking overall) but the interiors made me excited about “living” in space in a way that I hadn't in a while. Gorgeous ship (okay the bridge is a bit oversized and busy—Uhura must really have to reach to two a button while not getting blinded by random lighting), but the crew accommodations and that fantastic Ten-Forward restaurant were really cool. I’d expect no less from an advanced future civilization of scores on unified worlds who’d mastered matter/energy replication and FTL travel.

I can’t wait to see more of it next season. Maybe the rec deck or arboretum, or the shuttlebay!

 

[Lord Garth]

1. Refit Enterprise --> I consider it to be the definitive version of the Enterprise. Period.
2. Discovery --> I like the "concept-car" design sensibility.

I like the way they look, inside and out. Not much more to it than that.

 

[Mage]

I always hate questions like this because I start out with saying that the ship isn't that important..... and then start reasoning which one is my favorite and why.

So.... I could go on a long post why so many of these ships have redeeming qualities, but I'll keep it short and say that the E-D and Refit are both at the top. They both represent a design aestethic that fits the period when they were first conceived. And, their designs still stand up.

 

[Dukhat]

Did the OP get banned for a tasteless username?

 

[Qonundrum]

I always hate questions like this because I start out with saying that the ship isn't that important..... and then start reasoning which one is my favorite and why.

So.... I could go on a long post why so many of these ships have redeeming qualities, but I'll keep it short and say that the E-D and Refit are both at the top. They both represent a design aestethic that fits the period when they were first conceived. And, their designs still stand up.

To me, TMP proved beyond a shadow of a nacelle that the ship is important and is even a tangible character. TOS always had Kirk talking of it as such, but movies I-III sold a quality with scale and tangibility that later ones lacked... save for "Generations", which not only showed how awesome "D" looked on the big screen all this time without anyone realizing it, but how it too was a character as we all still felt bad for the crash (even if it's more lackluster, more of "a scene in a movie", and less of "an event" compared to how Kirk lost his.)

 

[BillJ]

The original. Just perfection in pretty much every way.
1701-D. Always loved the curves and the technology unchained look of it.
SNW. This would probably be #2 if they had given me straight pylons.

 

[Mudd]

Overall?

SNW Enterprise.

 

[dantini]

The Enterprise E is so damn sexy...