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Starship Design Bureau

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if we went with the Ushaan then the streamlined hull would make sense,
but since we when endevour then we should go compact for the battleship theme
 
[X] Compact Hull (Internal Space)
We can compensate for speed with new nacelles! Surely Yoyodyne can't fuck it up five times in a row!
 
Kartr_Kana said:
We're not being asked to build an Explorer though... We're being asked to build something that size that can fight the Borg and other threats. Since the term Battleship is verboten, a "combat ship the size of an Explorer" is the creative terminology to ask for something to fill the Battleship role.

If we'd gone Canon it would be an Agile fast battleship, but since we gave up the speed and agility we're going to need to compensate by sheer size and redundancy.
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Bedpotato said:
But this is a warship not a explorer? The federation is just not willing to outright ask us to design a Battleship/Battlecruiser(Remember Peace at any cost crowd still has significant influence and would scream bloody murder if the design docket read as such) so they coach it in terms of Explorer sized tactical vessel.
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In reality, the Sovereign class is going to be asked to do exploration missions for most of its service life. Making it better at that job is directly useful, and making the fastest possible ship makes it the best demonstrator of the Federation's technological prowess, able to project power further afield. It can be the big stick that we wave in front of prospective allies and enemies of the Federation.

However, if we want to focus on only the military aspects, then being faster also makes it an objectively better warship. A faster battleship can get to emergencies quicker, outrun enemy forces, and chase down foes. There is a reason that HMS Dreadnought redefined naval combat because it both outgunned and could outrun any battleship in service. It means your enemy has nowhere to run.

Adding extra internal space on top of the additional internal space we already have from the Endeavour-type saucer is great if we want to pack in more science labs and Cetacean Ops, but does literally nothing for the Sovereign as a warship. Giving up speed is actively counter to every naval thinker since Themistocles, who have grasped the basic truism that a faster warship is a vastly more dangerous warship.
 
KlavoHunter said:
[X] Compact Hull (Internal Space)


The Sovereign mainly explores new ways to kick incredible amounts of ass...
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And if we're building a dreadnought, then it is objectively better to have it be faster, rather than have a larger swimming pool on deck seven. This is why naval design in real history consistently made battleships faster, because it lets them chase down and kill other warships, or refuse to give battle to a superior enemy and leave them eating its wake. It is a basic principle of naval fighting that you want to be able to go anywhere you want with the biggest stick you can, before your enemy can stop you.
 
Skippy said:
In reality, the Sovereign class is going to be asked to do exploration missions for most of its service life. Making it better at that job is directly useful, and making the fastest possible ship makes it the best demonstrator of the Federation's technological prowess, able to project power further afield. It can be the big stick that we wave in front of prospective allies and enemies of the Federation.

However, if we want to focus on only the military aspects, then being faster also makes it an objectively better warship. A faster battleship can get to emergencies quicker, outrun enemy forces, and chase down foes. There is a reason that HMS Dreadnought redefined naval combat because it both outgunned and could outrun any battleship in service. It means your enemy has nowhere to run.

Adding extra internal space on top of the additional internal space we already have from the Endeavour-type saucer is great if we want to pack in more science labs and Cetacean Ops, but does literally nothing for the Sovereign as a warship. Giving up speed is actively counter to every naval thinker since Themistocles, who have grasped the basic truism that a faster warship is a vastly more dangerous warship.
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More internal space means more space for prototypes and normal stuff related to the tactical rating, not just more recreational space. Also exploration ships don't have to be fast, just efficient. The compact option also increases the size of the engineering bay, which should increase some scores across the board I think.
 
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LunaMoth said:
More internal space means more space for prototypes and normal stuff related to the tactical rating, not just more recreational space. Also exploration ships don't have to be fast, just efficient. The compact option also increases the size of the engineering bay, which should increase some scores across the board I think.
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We are going to take the Tactical prototypes or not whichever of these options we pick, let's be real. We have also already taken an option that boosts our internal space. We are certainly going to be able to hit our requirements for this build without taking an additional internal space option.

Explorers do indeed have to be efficient, which is a good argument for taking the option which boosts warp efficiency, I think? However in this case what "warp efficiency" means is a higher sustained cruiser speed, which is the same thing as being "fast" over long distances and timescales. Which is indeed what you want from an explorer.

A high cruise speed is also what you want in a fast super-battleship which can outrun enemy task groups and chase down any ship in the opposing fleet. Superior speed allows the faster ship to raid with total impunity before returning to warp, leaving its foes both helpless and terrified.
 
Skippy said:
Gonna dissent from the bandwagon a biy here.

Explorers have to be the fastest ships around. Their entire reason for being is to explore vast areas of space, and be able to respond to emergencies quickly with the best damned ship Starfleet possesses.

Greater warp cruise speed directly aids this goal. On top of which, we already just took an option giving extra internal space. Doubling down is less valuable than bring the fastest cruiser we can be.

[X] Streamlined Hull (Warp Efficiency)
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And even if the ship is meant to be more of a flagship (that is, to "show the flag" at hotspots and to diplomats a la the Ambassador and Galaxy) than a dedicated explorer, more speed is still the right choice. The Federation is vast, and big ships are expensive. We'll want to make sure they can be where they're needed in a reasonable time frame.

Plus it means we might be able to rely on Endeavor-proven nacelle/warp core technology for the operational (as opposed to tactical) zoomzooms rather than betting on another Yoyodyne prototype.

[X] Streamlined Hull (Warp Efficiency)
 
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Iridium Flare said:
We can compensate for speed with new nacelles! Surely Yoyodyne can't fuck it up five times in a row!
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Technically I think this is attempt number four after the Renaissance, Ambassador, and Endeavour. We didn't take experimental nacelles on the Reliant or the Ushaan.

[X] Streamlined Hull (Warp Efficiency)

Not today, Yoyodyne, not today. And without them we probably something to give this ship the zoomies.
 
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