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Starfleet Design Bureau

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LawsOfRobotics said:
As much as I would like to use an Orb to ponder the universe I really want the internal space that a Full Saucer provides so that it can have lots of science labs and a big medical bay.
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Well, now I want to make it an orb, just so we can name it Palantír, and continue the tradition of confusing the Vulcans.

Edit; Seriously? The Orb is actually winning? With deep dish on second place?

Come on, now. Half Saucer was clearly the right compromise here.

Oh well, I'd rather not just throw our science geeks into the meatgrinder, they don't exactly grow on trees.

[X] Full Saucer (Industry: 4)
[X] Half-Saucer (Industry: 3)
 
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Mulisa said:
Well, now I want to make it an orb, just so we can name it Palantír, and continue the tradition of confusing the Vulcans.
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"Why have the humans named a ship after a surveillance software company, when they claim to prize freedom and self-determination?"
"It is illogical that you have not yet been driven to drink."
 
MJ12 Commando said:
I think that anything more capable than a sphere is going to risk the seductive call of capability bloat. "We've already made the surveyor more maneuverable, and we're spending this effort on making it survivable against threats, it would be a waste if we left it nearly entirely unarmed" -> "we've already made our maneuverable, well-armed surveyor expensive due to all the guns and engines we've stuck on it, if we gave it the bare minimum defenses it would waste all the time and effort we've put into the design already" -> suddenly your surveyor craft costs a ton and can barely survey but on the other hand it has the guns and defenses of a light cruiser.

Given the, shall we say, unpredictable design discipline of this bureau, I think people should generally avoid the temptation.
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While I completely understand this, I'd like to bring back up my idea that the Half-Saucer could end up with less weapons than the Sphere. Because with the Sphere's comparative lack of maneuverability and any weapons array on the primary hull being locked forward, I could absolutely imagine a situation with the thread talking itself into "let's just put one more phaser pointing aft, a single phaser wouldn't cost that much Industry or capability and it would practically double the amount of arc it can defend itself from in nessecary." While with the Half-Saucer's better arcs on any default primary hull weapons, improved maneuverability to swing those arcs around, and the stated opinions of a bunch of voters to not put lots of weapons on it I would not be surprised if it feel into the same zone as the Skate or the Saber before it and got the "Aft firepower? Who needs that?" treatment.
 
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Looks like this is a Sphere vs. Saucer vote.
Adhoc vote count started by Derpmind on Nov 26, 2023 at 11:48 PM, finished with 247 posts and 90 votes.
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So, if we make a spherical starship, how long before they get nicknamed 'Starfleet's Balls'?
Can our scientific instruments measure that short a length of time?

But seriously, I'm a bit concerned that a spherical design would require revamping shipyards so they can make them at all, a further expense that would negate the cost reductions until that's sorted out.
 
[X] Sphere (Industry: 2)
Just because someone mentioned naming it Palantír.
Ternasta said:
But seriously, I'm a bit concerned that a spherical design would require revamping shipyards so they can make them at all, a further expense that would negate the cost reductions until that's sorted out.
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I'm pretty sure that's a non-issue. If it were necessary, it'd be called out in the post.
 
MS-21H 'Hawke' said:
...o_O

No, I mean, I don't think we're at the point where we can make small Survey Craft that can't really defend themselves.
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Not trusting the other voters enough to not just start progressively making it a total warship is where most of the lets go full in on science stuff people are coming from I think, at least that's my stance; I want a science ship in my star trek.
 
LunaMoth said:
Not trusting the other voters enough to not just start progressively making it a total warship is where most of the lets go full in on science stuff people are coming from I think, at least that's my stance; I want a science ship in my star trek.
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I would LOVE to make a full science vessel, and I want to help you guys make one.

But going cheap and making one that can't defend itself isn't the way to go.

Besides, we're designing the Survey ship with that role in mind. We're not going to go 'Oops, Heavy Cruiser'. We're making something that can sciences stuff.
 
Alectai said:
Again, Half-Saucers do not have less space than the Orb, they have the same amount. The difference is that their base cost is 50% higher.

The upside is that ORB is a sitting duck against anything that breathes on it wrong, in exchange for being insanely cheap, while the Half-Saucer at least has excellent maneuverability
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Yeah, this is true, and really really dumb. The obvious choice is "big sphere", to match the saucer's internal space on the half-saucer's mass and price at the expense of defenses. With only "explicitly-too-small sphere" as an option, full saucer is really the only practical option for a science ship.

A corrected table would be:

Hull TypeMassSecondary Hull OptionsAdvantagesDisadvantagesCost
Full Saucer200,000 TonsInline/VentralInternal SpaceCost4 Industry
Half-Saucer150,000 TonsVentralManeuverabilityInternal Space3 Industry
Sphere120,000 TonsInlineCostInternal Space
Defenses		2 Industry

which accurately depicts the sphere option's doubled-up disadvantage and consequent utter worthlessness by simply being penciled in at "dinky". An additional row looking like:

Hull TypeMassSecondary Hull OptionsAdvantagesDisadvantagesCost
Big Sphere ORB160,000? TonsInlineInternal SpaceDefenses3 Industry

would be my preferred option, but is inexplicably nonexistent. In the meantime,

[x] Full Saucer (Industry: 4)
 
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