Certainly, but it will probably require the design to be less free form then. For instance the painful ship loss here is the Newton, which also brought engineering to the table, and the brief mentioned that while science could be dropped if need be, it didn't really mention engineering. So presumably 'useful' in this case would mean being at least twice as good at doing Newton things then the Newton, as that would be the only way you could make up some of these differences.There's still some hope, at least for a moderately big ship. The main issue is people overly focusing on the negative words in the first paragraph of the part 2 post and forgetting that whilst mass does help with defences (both hull and shields) it'll also help other tactical considerations (phaser power) and also in terms of what can be done with the ship module wise.
This is TOS, per Sayle we're not going to get decently beefy secondary hulls until the latter TMP/TNG eras.I just think it'd look neat. Also, I want a fat secondary hull trailing the disc, which reduces the demand on the disc for module space.
No, Starfleet doesn't care about science on this one either:Pretty sure the bit you're refering to about science capability was specifically for the Miranda?
If anything I'd think they'd quite appreciate (if the option comes up) strategic materials prospecting capabilities (which tend to come under science) on this one. They'd potentially help it pay for itself, if nothing else. Remember, great as the attenboroughs are in their role, only a very small number were built, and they tnd to spend a lot of time sitting around on planets, not really available to go and do random things, nor are they specced for non-planetary science, particularly.
That doesn't mean that we can't go for science, but Starfleet has specifically told us that they don't care if we don't.Project Federation is likely to be equal if not exceeding in mass any design you've built to date, and having an explicit mandate that you may elect to exclude scientific facilities beyond the basics means you can have some fun with the mission profile.
The Attenboroughs do bioscience, the Atwater do geophysics, and the Excaliburs have a stellar dynamics suite. We're reasonably well covered on science for the time being.The Attenborough fulfills a completely different niche compared to the Kea, which possesses:
[ ] 0: Small Arboretum (+2 Science)
[ ] 1: Secondary Computer Core (+2 Science, Advanced Computing)
[ ] 2: Dilithium Analysis (+1 Science, Dilithium Prospecting)
[ ] 3: Science Labs (+4 Science)
[ ] 4: Astrometrics (+2 Science)
[ ] 5: Biosciences (+1 Science, Biosciences)
[ ] 6: Geology Lab (+2 Science)
And I doubt the Miranda will have more than the basic scientific facilities mandated by the brief. With the Kea being somewhat obsolescent scientifically (thanks to the generalist labs, iirc, plus lacking the dilithium prospecting ability now) there are a few niches that are entirely unoccupied, and which will likely remain unoccupied for a while.
Of course, if you want to discount science modules it should be remembered that more advanced engineering/utility ones are typically 'fuck huge' and the command configuration saucer kneecaps it at basically 3 decks at best in the saucer.
Not having science means we can focus on engineering and medical capabilities.No, Starfleet doesn't care about science on this one either:
That doesn't mean that we can't go for science, but Starfleet has specifically told us that they don't care if we don't.
The Attenboroughs do bioscience, the Atwater do geophysics, and the Excaliburs have a stellar dynamics suite. We're reasonably well covered on science for the time being.
And we still have the Archers for huge engineering, so that's not much of a concern either. The Miranda's will cover general utility. There's not really any peacetime role that we need this ship to fulfill, so if we want a bunch of them built it can't be too big and it probably has to be a more capable utility cruiser, since those are by far the most heavily ordered ships.
Doesn't medical tend to rate as part of science?Not having science means we can focus on engineering and medical capabilities.
But it's a subset with specific modules for it
although this is a trap you should be careful not to fall into -