It's more... if folks want that, then why do people go "but we can compensate for (half saucer's lack of space due to mass savings) with (secondary hull's extra space but increased mass cost)"
It's more... if folks want that, then why do people go "but we can compensate for (half saucer's lack of space due to mass savings) with (secondary hull's extra space but increased mass cost)"
The best argument for the half-saucer is increased maneuverability, which will almost certainly remain even with a secondary hull. The saucer might want a secondary hull in any case, to avoid losing a utility slot to a shuttlebay, so that's why I'm voting half-saucer, I think it'll come out cheaper even with the secondary, and more maneuverable.
It's more... if folks want that, then why do people go "but we can compensate for (half saucer's lack of space due to mass savings) with (secondary hull's extra space but increased mass cost)"
Given you have a perfectly good up-to-date saucer section just lying there you elect to reuse the Curiosity-class primary hull as a starting point for Project Khufu, so named after the impressive work of construction that is the Great Pyramid at Giza. While it isn't quite as helpful as starting from scratch when it comes to modifications, it does mean you don't need to waste time on most of the spaceframe scaffolding and hull plating, which is a surprising amount of work at the start of a project. By cutting the saucer a third of the way back from the midpoint and retaining parts of the outer rim you provide lots of aft-facing space for potential engines and cargo hatches. Up to four engines, as well - midline, twinned thrusters to starboard and port, twinned thrusters with the midline, or two dual engines either side.
The disadvantage, of course, is that you can't add an inline secondary hull without mostly negating the whole point of the half-saucer as a concept. As a result you begin drawing down a neck so you can place the engineering section below the saucer and navigational array. Since a cylinder will give you the best space-to-surface area ratio while maintaining the existing aesthetics and warp envelope, you begin building out from there. Notably this provides the perfect place to put the forward deflector, in much the same way as on the NX class. But you are then faced with a quandary: how much secondary hull do you want?
The first option is to keep it simple. It's called the engineering section, after all. Does it really need more than the main deflector and the warp core? It would provide just enough space for any spare parts or minor auxiliary functions that are usually associated with the warp engine and main engineering and nothing more, which is perfectly fine.
But there is another school of thought in the bureau that a shuttlebay is such a useful piece of the ship that there is no excuse not taking the opportunity to add one to the aft of the secondary hull. This would add an extra twenty-five meters of space for the shuttles, bay doors, control systems and so on.
Then there are the extremists, who point out that while the extra deck running beneath main engineering is certainly useful for providing plenty of closets and monitoring systems as per usual, adding an extra deck beneath would allow those functions to be concentrated nearer to the relevant areas rather than spread across the secondary hull. It would also allow the extra space to be consolidated enough to free up an area for an auxiliary section like a cargo bay. But of course it does add extra mass, so there's that to take into account.
We did have a flex of about 3 Industry, so we can afford the big one, but I'm less certain about the credits.
EDIT: A quick assessment says that we can easily afford a triple engine setup with Ventral Engineering and 6 armaments, with a remaining budget of 170 Credits and 1.6 Industry for Auxillary Slots.
Given you have a perfectly good up-to-date saucer section just lying there you elect to reuse the Curiosity-class primary hull as a starting point for Project Khufu, so named after the impressive work of construction that is the Great Pyramid at Giza. While it isn't quite as helpful as starting from scratch when it comes to modifications, it does mean you don't need to waste time on most of the spaceframe scaffolding and hull plating, which is a surprising amount of work at the start of a project. By cutting the saucer a third of the way back from the midpoint and retaining parts of the outer rim you provide lots of aft-facing space for potential engines and cargo hatches. Up to four engines, as well - midline, twinned thrusters to starboard and port, twinned thrusters with the midline, or two dual engines either side.
The disadvantage, of course, is that you can't add an inline secondary hull without mostly negating the whole point of the half-saucer as a concept. As a result you begin drawing down a neck so you can place the engineering section below the saucer and navigational array. Since a cylinder will give you the best space-to-surface area ratio while maintaining the existing aesthetics and warp envelope, you begin building out from there. Notably this provides the perfect place to put the forward deflector, in much the same way as on the NX class. But you are then faced with a quandary: how much secondary hull do you want?
The first option is to keep it simple. It's called the engineering section, after all. Does it really need more than the main deflector and the warp core? It would provide just enough space for any spare parts or minor auxiliary functions that are usually associated with the warp engine and main engineering and nothing more, which is perfectly fine.
But there is another school of thought in the bureau that a shuttlebay is such a useful piece of the ship that there is no excuse not taking the opportunity to add one to the aft of the secondary hull. This would add an extra twenty-five meters of space for the shuttles, bay doors, control systems and so on.
Then there are the extremists, who point out that while the extra deck running beneath main engineering is certainly useful for providing plenty of closets and monitoring systems as per usual, adding an extra deck beneath would allow those functions to be concentrated nearer to the relevant areas rather than spread across the secondary hull. It would also allow the extra space to be consolidated enough to free up an area for an auxiliary section like a cargo bay. But of course it does add extra mass, so there's that to take into account.
We did have a flex of about 3 Industry, so we can afford the big one, but I'm less certain about the credits.
EDIT: A quick assessment says that we can easily afford a triple engine setup with Ventral Engineering and 6 armaments, with a remaining budget of 170 Credits and 1.6 Industry for Auxillary Slots.
Yeah, we can afford the full monty here, though if we wanted to go full Elemental Speed, then going with the cheapest option would leave us enough budget for a four thruster layout.
This gets us 3 Aux slots, which should easily cover all of our utility desires.
Sharp Teeth, respectable maneuverability, and enough Aux Slots to be a fine Engineering Ship on the sideline, and we can probably do it under budget to boot.
We saved fifty thousand tons by going for a half saucer, and the biggest secondary hull only adds another forty, so we're still ahead in a sense.
This ship will need to be able to wear a lot of "hats" to perform well, not to mention cargo space, and the half-saucer will not be overflowing with space. The engineering hull makes the most sense to me.
This is a bit of a tough one, eh.... don't think the 5 meter secondary hull would be worth it's own price, frankly. It won't even have space for an aft Phaser mount - can't say I find that acceptable. So really, this is a competition between just a shuttlebay, or adding a fourth engineering deck. I'm alright with either, but personally... think I lean towards skipping out on engineering deck 4? This is a Multirole Light Cruiser, so it hurts a bit to give up an aux slot, but we have only so much industry budget to play with. More we add here, less we have for everything else. I could be convinced, however - it certainly is a tempting upgrade.
Oh certainly - this'll be far less expensive than a Thunderchild and still outclass any other ship Earth had during the war. Pound for pound, the Warspite would doubtlessly lose against the two or three CLs we'll make for her effective price. It's just amusing that the Thunderchild was so badass even a ship this much more advanced would probably still get mauled by her in a dark alley.
... I really hope the Romulans didn't decide to make their own DN sized Warbird. That would be deeply unfun. Especially if the Klingons get involved - Birds of Prey are a problem enough when they're tiny.
I mean, it took them until Picard era to build the D'Deridex, which is basically what you're talking about, and considering how they were still mostly running the T'liss class (albiet with some modernization) in the Kirk era the Romulan Empire might be in a position of just not being able to build on that kind of scale. Klingons were probably in the same boat; the D7s were the biggest thing they built until the K'vorts came along IIRC, and those are after Kirk's time.
Hmm. I... Definitely think that going big here is the wise choice, but not, I think, for the same reason most people are thinking (Aux slots).
No, it's the phaser slot I'm after, because an aft ventral phaser would cover what is likely to be an otherwise HUGE dead zone.
Would taking this option mean less maneuverability later on? or is there no major difference between the secondary hull options in terms of how they affect maneuverability?
Not really, the way the numbers work out, there's a good argument for either going full cheapo or going full engineering hull. The former gives us a budget of over 200 credits assuming a triple thruster layout, which means we've got loads of money to play with--or can splurge four a quad-thruster layout to turn this little bastard into a Skate level Zippy Boi, the latter gives us another aux slot, which will let us flesh out its role as a troubleshooter.
We've got about 3 total flex points of Industry, assuming a six armament layout. (Four Phasers/2 Torpedoes).
The full monty hopefully makes the engineering section more resistant to boarders with the important controls mostly kept together, or at least, easier to retake.
