PIC S3 Ships & Tech

[Enterprise1701]

What are the thoughts here on how Star Trek: Picard approached making a 25th century update to the Excelsior class versus how Star Trek Online approached it?

For my part, I admire the black exterior panelling which several STO ship employ, though I understand not everyone likes that visual style. Perhaps the STO Repulse looks too much like a downscaled Odyssey with the ovoid saucer, but the canonical Excelsior II just doesn't feel to me like it advances the previous design in any direction.

What also gets me about STO being superseded by PIC is that the Constitution-III class looks incredibly out-of-place for 2401 compared to the Excalibur class, which to me is the perfectly-downsized Sovereign.

 

[Deks]

That would depend on if Starfleet still believes it needs a number of starships with MVAM in the fleet after the end of the Dominion War. I would think they would have other priorities. Though they still have a number of Defiant-class ships even in 2401. I would think those would be a mix of war built ships and local rapid defense forces to shore up various sectors or starbases.

MVAM for the Prometheus can still be useful given it was originally designed for deep space tactical missions - it suggests a design which came about NOT because of the Dominion War, but maybe it was specifically designed to combat the Borg and other threats that could be encountered in deep space.

Aka, it would be sent into unknown regions of space that could be considered more dangerous... it also has regenerative shields, ablative hull armor, etc... sounds like an anti-Borg ship to me that could also take a pounding in case it ran into anomalies or other trouble.

 

[Macintosh]

What also gets me about STO being superseded by PIC is that the Constitution-III class looks incredibly out-of-place for 2401 compared to the Excalibur class, which to me is the perfectly-downsized Sovereign.

I prefer the Exeter-class myself... cleaner lines.

 

[publiusr]

Yes…I might trim it a bit.

 

[DEWLine]

I won't mind seeing that Exeter-class included in the "official" record somewhen or other...

 

[Macintosh]

There’s also this reinterpretation of the Exeter-class by our very own @Hunter-G, which is simply stunning:

 

[137th Gebirg]

Hunter's stuff looks so amazing.

 

[Enterprise1701]

I prefer the Exeter-class myself... cleaner lines.

Truly a 25th century light cruiser. So many good options from STO for canon to harvest if need be.

 

[Janewaysson]

Is there a thread like this for Discovery? Cool new ship in the new Season 5 clip released.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Is there a thread like this for Discovery? Cool new ship in the new Season 5 clip released.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/discovery-starship-discussion-spoilers.290116/page-35
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/st-...eason-three-spoiler-discussion.305735/page-22
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/st-...hnology-season-four-discussion.309554/page-12

It seems one for the upcoming season does not yet exist. I will leave you or @Mark_Nguyen to start one now that we have a teaser clip to work with.

 

[Markonian]

Friend told me to imagine Voyager with Titan-A nacelles.
Then it hit me:

 

[137th Gebirg]

Damn, dude - never noticed that!

 

[Tim Walker]

We did? I only remember seeing five or six of them at any one time in the fleet shots. We saw way more Excelsiors, Mirandas, Akiras, Steamrunners and Sabers.

Don't recall which web site, but somebody said components were procured for a dozen Galaxy class ships. Half of the components were placed in storage, and an initial batch of six Galaxies were constructed. The idea being, if the Galaxy class proved to be a disappointment, the stored components could be used to build Nebulas.

Construction in this order:

1. New Orleans prototype. As proof of concept. This design worked well.

2. Galaxy components scaled up. U.S.S. Nebula built as a test bed.

3. U.S.S. Galaxy-prototype-constructed.

Since the components were already manufactured, it was possible to throw together a bare bones Galaxy. For use as a command vessel.

Other possible command vessels: Nebula; Ambassador. There seemed to be only a couple Sovereigns in existence.

 

[Macintosh]

Don't recall which web site, but somebody said components were procured for a dozen Galaxy class ships. Half of the components were placed in storage, and an initial batch of six Galaxies were constructed.

The TNG Technical Manual states that there are "five Galaxy-class ships currently in active service" following the destruction of the USS Yamato in 2365 (the TNG TM is written from an in-universe perspective of 2367). It also states: "The initial procurement order issued by Starfieet Command was for six Galaxy-class ships. A projected total of twelve vessels is held as an option to be activated by Starfieet and the Federation, should conditions warrant. Once the initial spaceframe design was finalized, it was decided to proceed with the completion of six vessels and to take the other six to the end of the framework stage only. These six spaceframes have been broken down into manageable segments and dispersed by cargo carriers to remote sites within the Federation as a security measure."

We know of seven named Galaxy-class starships (Galaxy, Yamato, Enterprise, Odyssey, Challenger, Syracuse, Venture), three of which were lost by 2372, and we see possibly as many as ten in one Dominion War fleet, so the second batch was clearly produced at some point, along with a potential new third patch. One imagines that Wolf 359 would have been "warranting conditions" to get at least some of these ships built. My headcanon is that the USS Venture was one of this second batch, explaining why it's got some obvious differences from the original stock Galaxy-class.

The idea being, if the Galaxy class proved to be a disappointment, the stored components could be used to build Nebulas.

The TNGTM doesn't state this – in fact it contains no "in-universe" mentions of the Nebula-class at all, only in production notes – but it seems reasonable to assume Starfleet had a backup plan. Then again, Starfleet do seem remarkably happy to spend years and untold resources building ships they aren't particularly confident in...