Thing is we still have a lot of prototypes left for Science stuff and this is not supposed to be the new standard bearer of the Federation. I doubt the Brass is going to appreciate us running up a ship that might cost more than an Ambassador that can't sufficiently fulfill its intended purpose after we turned away from the design, we voted on in favor of another design we let someone else have.
Starship Design Bureau
- Thread starter Sayle
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- Sci-Fi
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NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
Worth noting that the newer phasers shouldn't have any impact on the ship's ability to do science, positive or negative; we've no indication that they take up any extra space, etc. It might impact ease of maintenance or production, but science is independent of those.
So random thought for the future: anyone else think a version of the protostar without the protowarp drive would make for an amazing Uhanan successor? Because even with most of its power taken by the protostar containment unit that thing is scrappy and would likley kick all kinds of ass if that power could be freed up for sheilds and impluse.
But every prototype we run up can exponentially make Ease of production/Maintenace lower. if they go below D, we're probably getting the design just auto failed. Given we don't know how many science prototypes there are we're wanting to leave wriggle room, especially since Type-X phasers did a lot of work in canon to no real complaint.
Jensaarai
Sing Victory Everlasting
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- They/Them
Like I said, we were asked to focus on Tacticals as well as Science, so I don't think sticking some new fancy phasers is going to mean we "turned away" from this project's objective.
It just means we'll need to really think about when another cool prototype tech comes up for the Internals, and how many rolls we want to be making on this.
Canonical the Intrepid class is the most technologically advanced class in the fleet until the Sovereign came along. So I don't think it will be too out of place if this thing is prototyped to the gills.
[X] Type-XII Phaser Arrays (Prototype)
Fuck it, we're doing SCIENCE here
Fuck it, we're doing SCIENCE here
Issue is the person I was replying too wanted to not create a Science ship, but the new mainline multi-role cruiser. Which isn't good design at all given they are intended for different things and to get both would run up prototype rolls which could straight up kill the design entirely.
It also, Canonically had less prototypes. Type-X phasers, Variable geometry Nacelles, and such. We keep loading it up with even more prototypes we run the risk of creating a useless ship class for 5 years while it gets debugged like the Defiant. Or just straight up killing the class. Thinking we can throw prototypes of everything on it without consequence is hubristic in extremis.
Picking X over the XII doesn't actually matter for the raw science score, or impact what science dodads we can strap to the ship. If anything an XII phase array allows for more aggressive science
LunaMoth
Wings of Kynareth is my comfort song...
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- He/They
I was under the impression that the more prototypes we picked up, the more ease of maintenance would drop, which like Jensaarai said could kill the design. I just don't want to turn this ship into a warship, which is what I feel like some people are aiming for. Man the SDB is war hungry, we need to chill.
Hubris is a cowards word
chaotic-logic
possible impossibility
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- unknown
i would like to think that in a long distance science ship we would like the maintenance of the ship to be easy for the crew so that they can easily fix any problems that they might have
Nope. The thing about prototypes if they might not perform to standard, or can perform vastly beyond what was expected. Ease of maintenance is a holistic figure about how all the components play together, and is highly informed by the flavor text.
The XII flavor text is bland as bland can be, and is effectively an entirely in-place upgrade without meaningful changes in overall functionality or requirements for it to function.
Enthusiast#117
This is not the Profile you are looking for
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- United States
If the prototype phasers are that catastrophically bad then at worst we'll rip them out and use the Type X anyway.
The quantum Torpedoes got sent back in just that way.
The tactical systems are not structural the way the warp core, impulse engines, nacelles, or deflector dish is.
2369: Project Intrepid (Internals)
[X] Type-X Phaser Arrays
It's a hard decision to make: while the Type-12 phasers are new and promise substantial energy throughput increases, the Type-10s are still satisfactory even on ships intended to face combat. Caution eventually wins the day and a number of phaser strips are installed along the hull. The Intrepid will be weakest in her rear quarter, but the long strips along the primary hull can shoot surprisingly far to aft thanks to the gentle slope and elongated form of the saucer section.
With the tactical systems decided you move on to internal matters. The primary issue is the computing system. While the main core will be using tried-and-tested isolinear technology, the control interfaces and analysis nodes have another option. Bio-neural gelpacks are capable of fuzzy logic and outright faster than isolinear chips at parallel computations, which would allow increased responsiveness and greater data throughput. They are also only tested in a laboratory setting.
But the computing subnodes aside, as far as you can see there are three more areas that could be enhanced with auxiliary and internal systems.
In the first area in the forward hull you could fit a number of science labs or install a deployable aeroshuttle designed for analysis and carrying survey teams onto planetary surfaces. The labs are likely to be more useful, but the shuttle provides a diverse utility.
In the second at the ventral saucer you could fit either a large cargo bay and extra-large industrial replicator or a set of science labs. Long-range capabilities and storage would help the mission during extended forays into deep space, while the science labs are more universally applicable.
In the third area in the engineering section you think you can squeeze in a secondary computer core to enhance the Intrepid's analytical abilities or another set of antimatter pods to increase operational range.
[ ] 0: Isolinear Chips
[ ] 0: Bio-Neural Gelpacks (Prototype)
[ ] 1: Science Labs
[ ] 1: Aeroshuttle
[ ] 2: Cargo Bay
[ ] 2: Science Labs
[ ] 3: Secondary Computer Core
[ ] 3: Antimatter Pods
Two Hour Moratorium, Please
It's a hard decision to make: while the Type-12 phasers are new and promise substantial energy throughput increases, the Type-10s are still satisfactory even on ships intended to face combat. Caution eventually wins the day and a number of phaser strips are installed along the hull. The Intrepid will be weakest in her rear quarter, but the long strips along the primary hull can shoot surprisingly far to aft thanks to the gentle slope and elongated form of the saucer section.
With the tactical systems decided you move on to internal matters. The primary issue is the computing system. While the main core will be using tried-and-tested isolinear technology, the control interfaces and analysis nodes have another option. Bio-neural gelpacks are capable of fuzzy logic and outright faster than isolinear chips at parallel computations, which would allow increased responsiveness and greater data throughput. They are also only tested in a laboratory setting.
But the computing subnodes aside, as far as you can see there are three more areas that could be enhanced with auxiliary and internal systems.
In the first area in the forward hull you could fit a number of science labs or install a deployable aeroshuttle designed for analysis and carrying survey teams onto planetary surfaces. The labs are likely to be more useful, but the shuttle provides a diverse utility.
In the second at the ventral saucer you could fit either a large cargo bay and extra-large industrial replicator or a set of science labs. Long-range capabilities and storage would help the mission during extended forays into deep space, while the science labs are more universally applicable.
In the third area in the engineering section you think you can squeeze in a secondary computer core to enhance the Intrepid's analytical abilities or another set of antimatter pods to increase operational range.
[ ] 0: Isolinear Chips
[ ] 0: Bio-Neural Gelpacks (Prototype)
[ ] 1: Science Labs
[ ] 1: Aeroshuttle
[ ] 2: Cargo Bay
[ ] 2: Science Labs
[ ] 3: Secondary Computer Core
[ ] 3: Antimatter Pods
Two Hour Moratorium, Please
So the prototpye cpu stuff is an obvious yoink.
The rest is a need to balance between endurance and SCIENCE!
Personally I'd want
Packs
Labs
Labs
AM
The rest is a need to balance between endurance and SCIENCE!
Personally I'd want
Packs
Labs
Labs
AM
What is a "Science Ship"? Because I hear that and I think Oberth/Nova. The Constitution/Enterprise class was a premier science mission platform, the Excelsior was conducting a scientific mission when the Praxis incident occurred. Federation cruisers have a long history of being the Frontline in the pursuit of science.
I understand the concern of having too many prototypes, but also feel like we're on the cusp of something truly exceptional and Type XIIs would future proof the design.
I'm thinking Gel, labs, cargo and I'm split on the core vs fuel tanks.
Extra-large industrial replicator! (with cargobay?)
The Bio-Neural Gelpacks canonically have an issue with some types of cheese, but
This is hot-fixable, so go forth the cheese puns.
The aeroshuttle is frankly useless.
Moar science:
[ ] 0: Bio-Neural Gelpacks (Prototype)
[ ] 1: Science Labs
[ ] 2: Cargo Bay
[ ] 3: Secondary Computer Core
Extra antimatter would be nice but additional compute is nicer.
The Bio-Neural Gelpacks canonically have an issue with some types of cheese, but
This is hot-fixable, so go forth the cheese puns.
The aeroshuttle is frankly useless.
Moar science:
[ ] 0: Bio-Neural Gelpacks (Prototype)
[ ] 1: Science Labs
[ ] 2: Cargo Bay
[ ] 3: Secondary Computer Core
Extra antimatter would be nice but additional compute is nicer.
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As long as we don't run into any Muenster, we'll be all Gouda. No need to be so Bleu.Extra-large industrial replicator! (aka cargobay?)
The Bio-Neural Gelpacks canonically have an issue with some types of cheese, but
I agree with your choices. I would say the extra fuel tanks would be more useful just to be able to go a little bit farther. A second core would definitely increase the science score, but being able to go to more scientific anomalies without refueling would be more practical.
I think computer core is best. More CPU power = more power to throw at weird shit. Though that's a bit of Voyager meta-thinking I admit.
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even better! It's a cargo bay with extra steps!