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Starfleet Design Bureau

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If we had more space for it then I'd be more inclined to add a cargo bay, but as things stand, we need to prioritise what adds the most value to the ship. Building a highly capable generalist battlecruiser and then using it as a cargo ferry is a waste of ship. We've built something here which can confidently venture far outside our borders in a way other ships cannot do.

The Fabrication workshops already expand this thing's endurance in terms of spare parts and so on.

[] Expanded Medical (+2 Science)
[] Science Labs (+4 Science)


Tank man said:
The TOS Enterprise didn't actually have that much in the way of lab space, at least from what I recall, it had a decent emphasis on engineering and medical/plant science but general science was relegated mostly to Mr. Spock.
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From Memory Alpha:

1729872222139.png

We see the Enterprise's labs quite frequently on the show! It has quite a few of them.

And before anyone says "But we're building to a different brief!", remember:
Sayle said:
For the people saying that this is just a warship rather than the original Constitution, the original Constitution was essentially a warship. If Enterprise was an era of exploration, the Original Series was very much the age-of-sail where ships could discover new continents and peoples, but they all had broadsides because that was the main function of the ship. Nobody is saying you can't add laboratories.
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We're building to substantially the same brief here, in terms of how the balance between "warship" and "stick in some extra labs" goes.

We've already made a damn fine warship. Now we're adding value to the design for the rest of her service life. Labs only help with that.
 
Mr. Idiot said:
I was very clearly talking about torps, I mentioned it in the first post of mine you quoted. Once you've freed up space in the normal torp storage by using torps, you can empty the cargo bay to refill em. Is my thought. How are they building their cargobays that moving stuff like that is untenable?

I can see an argument of "they already have enough torps in storage," that'd make sense. But this weird situation of "we can't use things stored in the cargo bays just seems weird and arbitrary. If you don't want cargo being used for torp storage, the first reason is the way to go imo.
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Look at the warning here - for some reason, Starfleet would rather not store antimatter in it's general cargo holds.
 
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Definitely medical, seeing as we're about to go to war. Beyond that, not sure.
 
Mr. Idiot said:
I was very clearly talking about torps
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They would keep that by the launchers. Just like the subs i think just dont quote me on that. They have to move them around and the storage is more to the back. Even if they have auto loaders that is still a lot of space taken up considering how far away it is. So I would agree with you if cargo was more up front.
 
[ ] Expanded Medical (+2 Science)

Expanded medical facilities have an equal wartime and peacetime importance, not only will they enable long duration missions be catering for the expected (and unexpected) injuries that can be accrued they will help keep personnel alive during and in the aftermath of Klingon attacks. Additionally they'll let us provide more aid to civilians and alien civilisations where needed.

[ ] Science Labs (+4 Science)

As Skippy has pointed out, the TOS Connie had a substantial suite of labs, and this brief isn't too far removed from the canon one.
 
Mr. Idiot said:
Image is broken. also, proton torps use antimatter?
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Photon torpsare usually described as having anti-matter warheads, yes. The later torpedoes were even more gonzo in their firepower: singularities, space-time ruptures, etc AFAIK.

Don't think we'll be able to match the Kea's 19 science, no matter what we choose, but it's a very short ranged ship. So think the long range science fit will probably help keep the ship useful after the war(s). So would lean towards medical and science.
 
[ ] Science Labs (+4 Science)
[ ] Expanded Medical (+2 Science)

Yeah this is the only real option considering torps are volatile nukes. Shuttle could be neat but I don't really see the value.
 
I didn't think pure science would get any traction and didn't suggest it, but if others are going for it I'm all onboard.

[] Expanded Medical (+2 Science)
[] Science Labs (+4 Science)

Edit: Double check your forum settings, the clock does not auto update.
 
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[ ] Expanded Medical (+2 Science)

This seems like a no brainer for multiple reasons as advised by others so I wont go into it here.

[ ] Main Cargo Bay (+3 Cargo)
Extra shuttle bay is superfluous as we already have one and it's explicitly stated to be a secondary one just in case.

From there the choices become harder to define.

[ ] Science Labs (+4 Science) VS [ ] Main Cargo Bay (+3 Cargo)

So the second choice comes down to labs or cargo. And frankly given the range we just built in to this design plus the ability to manufacture replacment parts along the way (to a limited extent) means the extra cargo space for long range extended patrols seems like a good idea.

The science labs would only be tacked on and we've seen trying that backfire in the past where they quickly show as being insufficient for anything but the absolute basics.

Edit: also frankly while this shares the Constitutions name the reason and design principles for building it are different from OTL so using that as a "well they had so we should as well" isnt the best guideline to follow.
 
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Having the Connie run cargo feels like a tremendous waste - during the war they're likely to all be stationed out on the frontier facing the Klingons, and afterward (hopefully) they'll be ranging out into unknown regions Boldly Going. Neither of those make them well positioned for a quick response for an emergency cargo run (they would need to get to an appropriate depot, load up, and only then launch for wherever the actual crisis point is, and keep in mind that warp is still extremely slow in this day and age, even at warp 8).
 
Sayle said:
[ ] Extra Shuttlebay (+2 Engineering)
[ ] Main Cargo Bay (+3 Cargo)
[ ] Expanded Medical (+2 Science)
[ ] Science Labs (+4 Science)
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I've got to say, with the fore of the primary hull to still consider, each of these do have some real merits to them. However, I do have my preferences.

As stated above, the extra shuttlebay seems like a big investment for some rather edge-case scenarios. As helpful as the extra shuttles might be sometimes, there are other uses that the allocated space could more usefully serve.

The main cargo bay isn't too bad of an idea either; in times of war it could carry still more torpedoes for what I'm sure are the very hungry launchers we have aboard, and when the war is over it means the vessel could carry larger cargos (though nothing on the level of the Archer) at far greater speeds.

The expanded medical is also quite important in terms of combat usage, as any walking wounded can be patched up on-site without having to depend upon station or planetary medical facilities as much. After the war, hospital ship it might not be, but it would be able to sustain its crew for quite an extended period of time.

The science labs, at first blush, seem more like a 'planning for the future' sort of thing, but they would likely have an important use in the here and now of war: information gathering and study. The most powerful weapon we could ever have is the knowledge to skillfully apply our efforts where they're needed most, and whether that's a scan of a damaged ship or station to determine common failure points or places where we can attack with electronic warfare beyond our phasers and torpedoes or the in-depth biological makeup of Klingons in conjunction with the medical facilities (useful for both medical purposes and to detect whether they would be so brazen as to carry any biological weaponry on or within them), they offer far more use now than simply 'oh, we're Starfleet, so of course we're going to stick some science labs in there'.

So, when the vote comes, I'm actually going to advocate for Expanded Medical and Science Labs. They synergize quite well in many respects, and our information-gathering capabilities should be nothing to thumb one's nose at.
 
I was kind of all for the cargo, but I am starting to be convinced by the science labs.

Still, expanded medical's locked in.
 
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