Starship Design Bureau
- Thread starter Sayle
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
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[X] 6 Type-9 Phaser Arrays (Prototype)
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
[X] 10 Type-8 Phaser Banks
Too many trouble spots. The saucer redesign is one thing, but these type 9's may be a little maintenance hungry due to the vastly increased number of actual emitters, and the need for integrated power across the whole strip. All that for what is touted as 'not much' more firepower? Maybe for a capital ship or serious warfighter every watt counts, but this is a scouting and long patrol craft. For the same reason standard torpedoes are fine, the standard phasers are fine.
Too many trouble spots. The saucer redesign is one thing, but these type 9's may be a little maintenance hungry due to the vastly increased number of actual emitters, and the need for integrated power across the whole strip. All that for what is touted as 'not much' more firepower? Maybe for a capital ship or serious warfighter every watt counts, but this is a scouting and long patrol craft. For the same reason standard torpedoes are fine, the standard phasers are fine.
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
[X] 10 Type-8 Phaser Banks
-[X] Perform a study to see what would be required to perform a later retrofit to the alternate array, and if it wouldn't be too onerous or require too many compromises see if it's possible to lay some groundswork for it already in the current design.
Go with reliable technogy here, seeing as it's not suppose to be a dedicated combat class, but also see if we can work some future proofing into the design. Nothing major, but if a small design choice here could increase the ease of future updates (once they've been rolled out in other ships and troubleshot there) then we probably want to do that.
-[X] Perform a study to see what would be required to perform a later retrofit to the alternate array, and if it wouldn't be too onerous or require too many compromises see if it's possible to lay some groundswork for it already in the current design.
Go with reliable technogy here, seeing as it's not suppose to be a dedicated combat class, but also see if we can work some future proofing into the design. Nothing major, but if a small design choice here could increase the ease of future updates (once they've been rolled out in other ships and troubleshot there) then we probably want to do that.
[X] 10 Type-8 Phaser Banks
[X] 6 Type-9 Phaser Arrays (Prototype)
I would bet pretty heavily on there being some undiscovered flaw in this system which will require experience of operation in the field and a refit to fully solve. But ultimately, I'd rather that happens here than with our flagship explorer, or with our next workhorse frigate which might potentially be built at higher volumes and is less amenable to lengthy refits and delays. That being said, the argument that we went for an Excelsior saucer so we could have something "off the shelf", in which case completely reworking the tactical systems goes against that, does also have merit. I wouldn't be disappointed if the phaser banks win either.
Either way, if we do go for this, then I think we should stay conservative on the rest of the design. Maybe give those new isolinear chips a try out, but let's avoid cramming too much more new tech into it.
I would bet pretty heavily on there being some undiscovered flaw in this system which will require experience of operation in the field and a refit to fully solve. But ultimately, I'd rather that happens here than with our flagship explorer, or with our next workhorse frigate which might potentially be built at higher volumes and is less amenable to lengthy refits and delays. That being said, the argument that we went for an Excelsior saucer so we could have something "off the shelf", in which case completely reworking the tactical systems goes against that, does also have merit. I wouldn't be disappointed if the phaser banks win either.
Either way, if we do go for this, then I think we should stay conservative on the rest of the design. Maybe give those new isolinear chips a try out, but let's avoid cramming too much more new tech into it.
[X] 10 Type-8 Phaser Banks
Reusing the Excelsior's saucer section had the advantage of being able to easily meet project goals for impulse/firepower with 'off-the-shelf' aspects at the cost of needing to do a bit more work finding places for scientific gear outside the saucer section - let's not use up our time and effort ironing out kinks in slightly better guns when we haven't yet gotten to the sticking point of the design with the science gear.
Reusing the Excelsior's saucer section had the advantage of being able to easily meet project goals for impulse/firepower with 'off-the-shelf' aspects at the cost of needing to do a bit more work finding places for scientific gear outside the saucer section - let's not use up our time and effort ironing out kinks in slightly better guns when we haven't yet gotten to the sticking point of the design with the science gear.
[X] 6 Type-9 Phaser Arrays (Prototype)
- Location
- USA
If we go for the type 8 then i want to do a new escort next because we dont want to experiment with type 9s on our next cap ship since those are the showcase of the fleet (basically every class that an Enterprise has been)
2336: Project Centaur (Scientific)
Order -> Spaceframe -> Warp Core/Nacelles -> Tactical -> Scientific -> Internals -> Prototyping -> Certification -> Final Review
[X] 10 Type-8 Phaser Banks
Sticking with what is tried and true rather than reinventing the wheel may well be the sensible choice here, but there are a lot of glum faces over in Starfleet Tactical. But given the ship will already be testing a new propulsion system it can hardly be said that the whole design is conservative. What's more, you already know the Type-8 phaser banks are more than capable of packing the kind of punch any Captain would be pleased to have at their disposal, and the Excelsior saucer section has decades of happy running with the power conduits that those particular weapons need.
Just about the only element of the tactical systems you aren't happy with is having to put the forward torpedo launcher so low in the secondary hull, rendering it potentially vulnerable to hits from the ventral axis as well as forward. But that's the price you pay for cutting out the traditional 'neck' structure that joins the primary and secondary hulls on most Federation starships. The Constellation didn't even have that excuse! They mounted the Miranda torpedo assembly up on the nacelle strut. So you sign off on the tactical systems and move on to the scientific instruments.
As a general rule, scientific facilities on starships can be divided into two categories: gathering and analysis. To meet your design goals the Centaur will have to either gather a great deal of novel data by scanner or be equipped with a decent set of onboard laboratories to deal with the physical sciences. Fortunately there is still some room in the secondary hull which will make room for a science lab.
But that alone won't be enough. Here is where the suggestion of transitioning to isolinear computing comes in. The proposal suggests that given the massive increase in computing speed provided by a main computer based on isolinear chips that the Centaur will be able to both process scan data in larger quantities and conduct substantially more tests on time-sensitive samples.
On the other hand, relying on unproven technology might not be the way forward. The saucer section has plenty of room that could be used for a proper array of multidisciplinary science labs. That does mean less space for cargo or other amenities later down the line, of course, but with limited space and unlimited options you have to make tradeoffs at some point.
[ ] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
[ ] Set aside space in the saucer section for science labs.
Project Centaur
Goal: Produce a medium-range cruiser with robust tactical systems and high warp sprint factor. Design must be capable of basic collection and analysis of scientific samples.
Minimum Tactical Score: B
Minimum Scientific Score: C
[X] 10 Type-8 Phaser Banks
Sticking with what is tried and true rather than reinventing the wheel may well be the sensible choice here, but there are a lot of glum faces over in Starfleet Tactical. But given the ship will already be testing a new propulsion system it can hardly be said that the whole design is conservative. What's more, you already know the Type-8 phaser banks are more than capable of packing the kind of punch any Captain would be pleased to have at their disposal, and the Excelsior saucer section has decades of happy running with the power conduits that those particular weapons need.
Just about the only element of the tactical systems you aren't happy with is having to put the forward torpedo launcher so low in the secondary hull, rendering it potentially vulnerable to hits from the ventral axis as well as forward. But that's the price you pay for cutting out the traditional 'neck' structure that joins the primary and secondary hulls on most Federation starships. The Constellation didn't even have that excuse! They mounted the Miranda torpedo assembly up on the nacelle strut. So you sign off on the tactical systems and move on to the scientific instruments.
As a general rule, scientific facilities on starships can be divided into two categories: gathering and analysis. To meet your design goals the Centaur will have to either gather a great deal of novel data by scanner or be equipped with a decent set of onboard laboratories to deal with the physical sciences. Fortunately there is still some room in the secondary hull which will make room for a science lab.
But that alone won't be enough. Here is where the suggestion of transitioning to isolinear computing comes in. The proposal suggests that given the massive increase in computing speed provided by a main computer based on isolinear chips that the Centaur will be able to both process scan data in larger quantities and conduct substantially more tests on time-sensitive samples.
On the other hand, relying on unproven technology might not be the way forward. The saucer section has plenty of room that could be used for a proper array of multidisciplinary science labs. That does mean less space for cargo or other amenities later down the line, of course, but with limited space and unlimited options you have to make tradeoffs at some point.
[ ] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
[ ] Set aside space in the saucer section for science labs.
Project Centaur
Goal: Produce a medium-range cruiser with robust tactical systems and high warp sprint factor. Design must be capable of basic collection and analysis of scientific samples.
Minimum Tactical Score: B
Minimum Scientific Score: C
Constellation-class Light Cruiser [2282]
Ease of Maintenance: C
Ease of Manufacture: A
Tactical Score: B
Scientific Score: D
Comfort Score: D
Final Score: 44/100 [Marginal]
[One Production Run of Twelve Ships - San Francisco Fleet Yards, 2282-2287]
Excelsior-class Heavy Cruiser [2285]
Ease of Maintenance: A
Ease of Manufacture: B
Tactical Score: S
Scientific Score: A
Comfort Score: B
Final Score: 76/100 [Excellent]
[Nine Production Runs - All Fleet Yards, 2290-2335+]
Ease of Maintenance: C
Ease of Manufacture: A
Tactical Score: B
Scientific Score: D
Comfort Score: D
Final Score: 44/100 [Marginal]
[One Production Run of Twelve Ships - San Francisco Fleet Yards, 2282-2287]
Excelsior-class Heavy Cruiser [2285]
Ease of Maintenance: A
Ease of Manufacture: B
Tactical Score: S
Scientific Score: A
Comfort Score: B
Final Score: 76/100 [Excellent]
[Nine Production Runs - All Fleet Yards, 2290-2335+]
[X] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
- Location
- USA
[X] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
Trying this out seems like a good idea as better computers will be useful in future designs
Trying this out seems like a good idea as better computers will be useful in future designs
- Location
- England
Hrm. I suppose my question here is what the prototype's failure state looks like. If it's just our science not being too hot, well, that's fine. We have pretty lax Scientific Score standards here. But I see a world where the failure state is a very finnicky and hard to produce/maintain computer architecture, or worse, one that messes with the entire ship, considering Starfleet kinda uses computers for everything. Because it's a spaceship. Comes with the territory.
But on the other hand, maybe we do take that chance here precisely because it's so foundational. We know Isolinear chips are the future of computing in the Federation, OOC and likely IC, so getting to work on them now both extends the Centaur's lifespan without the need for the major refit that's replacing the entire computer system and ensures we have a solid basis for deploying modern architecture on all our vessels going forward.
[X] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
But this and the nacelle configuration are both very tech-heavy prototypes. I think we skip any future prototype tech on this ship, it's already testbedding a lot.
But on the other hand, maybe we do take that chance here precisely because it's so foundational. We know Isolinear chips are the future of computing in the Federation, OOC and likely IC, so getting to work on them now both extends the Centaur's lifespan without the need for the major refit that's replacing the entire computer system and ensures we have a solid basis for deploying modern architecture on all our vessels going forward.
[X] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
But this and the nacelle configuration are both very tech-heavy prototypes. I think we skip any future prototype tech on this ship, it's already testbedding a lot.
- Location
- USA
Only have internals after this which means not much left we could prototype. But yeah isolinear if we can figure out how to deploy it is going to be a boon so lets prototype it now before we make the Ambassador (I also want to do an escort next to prototype arrays to figure out how best to use them and what things need improving)
[X] Install an Isolinear Chip Computer Core (Prototype)
This seems reasonable to me, especially given that we stayed conservative on the phasers. (Perhaps correctly given how integral they were to the design of the Exelsior class saucer, honestly.) It's probable there will be teething issues, but it feels like issues with a computer core are something that can be addressed by refitting or replacing the computer core. That's potentially harder with something like the phasers or warp nacelles which sort of feed into every other design aspect and the whole power distribution system of the ship.
After this we've just got "Internals" section to go and then we're off to the testing and prototyping phase, so we could play it safe there.
This seems reasonable to me, especially given that we stayed conservative on the phasers. (Perhaps correctly given how integral they were to the design of the Exelsior class saucer, honestly.) It's probable there will be teething issues, but it feels like issues with a computer core are something that can be addressed by refitting or replacing the computer core. That's potentially harder with something like the phasers or warp nacelles which sort of feed into every other design aspect and the whole power distribution system of the ship.
After this we've just got "Internals" section to go and then we're off to the testing and prototyping phase, so we could play it safe there.