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Cargo hauling is something that Starfleet is supposed to do, considering how many episodes are just Kirk and his crew taking supplies from one planet or station to another when they aren't doing diplomacy or investigating anomalies.
Maybe drop deployment straight down out of the plane of the saucer... Workabees are pretty small. You could have bay doors that open up and allow the workabee to drop straight down into space.Unfortunately I think the crew quarter setup combined with the impulse engine placement and photon torpedo launcher placement might dash such plans; if we'd had a taller saucer it might have been doable.
Yeah, if we want emergency response we'll probably end up with shuttles, a smaller cargo bay, some kind of medical capability, a basic science lab, etc.The thing is that the Federation is intended as an anchor for Starfleets border actions regardless
In the sense of crisis management the Shuttle Bays are better because of any ship it fights along with, it's the most likely to come out of it intact. Like, as the Federation stands now, it, it could throw down against...maybe half a dozen D7s if it had freedom in terms of setting the terms of engagement? With a single Excalibur for backup itd be even worse, especially given it's multi Target Damage and Coverage against Birds of Prey.
It'd take an outrageous amount of investment to take one out compared to Starfleets peers.
That kind of survivability means it can basically go into pirate-infested territories in the border regions, and swat them aside like they were nothing. Meaning that cargo transports via the Federation would be all but untouchable.
On the other hand, shuttlecraft being expanded means that it's much better suited acting as a first responder. Be that for planetside emergencies, or in providing emergency repairs to otherwise severely damaged ships
They're both good options depending on what you want to prioritize. The economic route obviously favors the storage stuff in this new golden age of piracy. Faster and more secure buildup of Federations border regions and thus faster growth of the Federation and Starfleet in particular
The militarized approachs favors the Shuttlecraft. Not that it doesn't lend itself well to emergency response in a peacetime context. Just that it'll make for a much better patrolship and emergency responder than anything else
A fleet anchor that can help with damage control for the rest of it's fleet seems to be quite a synergistic mix of capabilities.
I mean, if I'm being honest the only difference between a worker bee and a cargo bee is going to be the power available to it (for tools, for the former). In the shows/movies they're basically the same, minus some differences in colour.Maybe drop deployment straight down out of the plane of the saucer... Workabees are pretty small. You could have bay doors that open up and allow the workabee to drop straight down into space.
Yeah, if you're thinking of it as a pure first responder ship.Yeah, if we want emergency response we'll probably end up with shuttles, a smaller cargo bay, some kind of medical capability, a basic science lab, etc.
I think the problem is that an optimal emergency response ship will probably have to be a bit of a jack of all trades, which will sharply limit what it can do in peacetime, which will, again, probably limit our order size. Which means it won't be especially good at first response.
We cannot afford to specialize this ship into a warship. It needs to have significant peacetime capability, or else we're just going to be Radiant 2.0.Yeah, if you're thinking of it as a pure first responder ship.
But a Fleet Anchor with First Responder capabilities is incredible, because that means the first responder becomes akin to a proper Mothership in a battlegroup.
Repair capabilities and a bit of everything in the craft most likely to survive combat in condition to support it's support ships is an incredible bit of functionality. There literally isn't a more secure place to keep those Workerbees. It's the same kind of logic as using it for bulk transport
Basically, the shuttle bay expansion feeds back into the original prompt
The shuttle bay option explicitly states it makes it a better first responder. It also allows it to take over a fleet tender role letting It do repairs.
Yes, but I worry about over commiting to the first half of the prompt, for a fleet anchor, at the expense of the second half, for a ship with deep capability in a peacetime need.Yeah, if you're thinking of it as a pure first responder ship.
But a Fleet Anchor with First Responder capabilities is incredible, because that means the first responder becomes akin to a proper Mothership in a battlegroup.
Repair capabilities and a bit of everything in the craft most likely to survive combat in condition to support it's support ships is an incredible bit of functionality. There literally isn't a more secure place to keep those Workerbees. It's the same kind of logic as using it for bulk transport
Basically, the shuttle bay expansion feeds back into the original prompt
Maybe drop deployment straight down out of the plane of the saucer... Workabees are pretty small. You could have bay doors that open up and allow the workabee to drop straight down into space.
Or, now that we have cargo in the engineering hull we go forward and install a workabee shuttlebay on the forward edge of the saucer where we didn't put an inline deflector. I know it isn't standard, but Starfleet could install a physical hatch on the hull that opens when the bay opens to allow it to be armored and to not throw off the aesthetics when the ship is just flying around.
Cargo synergizes with different stuff, not less stuff. We could turn this ship into mobile deep space installation construction in hostile space ship and cargo would absolutely be ideal for that.I'd be surprised if we got a third "more hanger" option.
I think Cargo gives better longevity, but Shuttles synergizes with more.
This is true. Longer in the tooth Federations running escorts for Archer successors does sound appealing for future proofingIt'd leave the Federation without a niche, an expanded cargo bay (3-4 decks high) is something that is much less likely to get outmoded by simply advancement (at least until we hit Ambassador sized ships)
Also if every ship carries a few shuttles then the fleet itself will have a lot of them flying around. I am not sure doubling the Federation's shuttle complement will make that much of a difference when it's going from 12 to 14 shuttles among the task group.Something else to consider with the shuttlebay, even if the Miranda's isn't comparable to what we are offered with ours (and nothing suggests this thus far), ships are continuing to get bigger and the craft carried with them more and more capable (we're not too far off TMP and the shuttles it offers), I don't think it'd be too long before this expanded shuttlebay capacity (and the repair ability associated with it) becomes standard amongst newer ships.
It'd leave the Federation without a niche, an expanded cargo bay (3-4 decks high) is something that is much less likely to get outmoded by simply advancement (at least until we hit Ambassador sized ships)
That's true, though I do have to wonder, given we know the Miranda went for an expanded shuttlebay(s), @Sayle does the Miranda provide a similar capability with the choices SanFran has made as we would have if we went for the
shuttlebay?