- Location
- Patriarchova
If the Harfauxnens have this giant death cannon guarding their home system, I shudder to imagine what the mentat-happy Ixara will have in store.
To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)
- Thread starter OneirosTheWriter
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
-
- Tags
- star trek exploration fully automated luxury gay space communism top level canon (canon) #hashtagcontent all-encompassing space amoeba cardassian boy bands cardassian magical girls darkest bureaucracy debate makes the qm cackle like palpatine hoh is an empire quest it has to be foreign infiltrators more ships ship happens singers delenda est starfleet this is not an empire quest ur waifu is collective?
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Among the Ixira? Less firepower but more weirdness.
...
As for the megatortoise, one good way to fill bulk on a heavily armored ship is to think in terms of low-density materials that nonetheless make good armor. Big thick layers of braided carbon nanotubes that have enough tensile strength to hold the ship together even after a bunch of holes have been punched in the hull. Tanks full of liquids that absorb radiation, or compressible goop that dissipates shock waves. Do it right and you might have the only ship in the Star Trek universe that can tank a photon torpedo without having crew members shake, rattle, and roll all across the bridge.
Another possibility is huge cargo holds; the megatortoise(s) were designed by a mercantile species and may be seriously intended to be able to carry large objects around as a tool of state policy that is allied with commercial interests.
Systems may be not only redundant but modular, which takes up more space but makes maintenance more efficient and repair easier. An engine where you have to pry two layers of machine parts off the top in order to get at the part that breaks all the time is hard to fix when it does break down. An engine with clearly labeled maintenance hatches to get at everything important that needs replacing may be more reliable- but it also takes up more physical space beacuse you can't compact the parts as tightly.
...
As for the megatortoise, one good way to fill bulk on a heavily armored ship is to think in terms of low-density materials that nonetheless make good armor. Big thick layers of braided carbon nanotubes that have enough tensile strength to hold the ship together even after a bunch of holes have been punched in the hull. Tanks full of liquids that absorb radiation, or compressible goop that dissipates shock waves. Do it right and you might have the only ship in the Star Trek universe that can tank a photon torpedo without having crew members shake, rattle, and roll all across the bridge.
Another possibility is huge cargo holds; the megatortoise(s) were designed by a mercantile species and may be seriously intended to be able to carry large objects around as a tool of state policy that is allied with commercial interests.
Systems may be not only redundant but modular, which takes up more space but makes maintenance more efficient and repair easier. An engine where you have to pry two layers of machine parts off the top in order to get at the part that breaks all the time is hard to fix when it does break down. An engine with clearly labeled maintenance hatches to get at everything important that needs replacing may be more reliable- but it also takes up more physical space beacuse you can't compact the parts as tightly.
- Location
- Patriarchova
Looking at the stats, the Megatortoise has lower D and P than the smaller turtleship. This suggests to me that its a specialized warship rather than a multi-purpose explorer, and probably the only such ship that the normally peaceful and mercantile Rigelians have. I'm thinking not much cargo space.
Good point on all the shock absorbers and such; that does help fill out the bulk. Add in a small, secondary warp core to serve as an emergency backup that lets the ship limp home in the event of primary core failure or ejection, and I think we've solved most of the problems.
Any ideas on escape pod placement, though?
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
Around the top and bottom edges to get a bit of a turtle shell look?
It will be fascinating watching the methodical and by-the-book Ked Paddah attempt to assault what is likely the most unconventionally defended system in known space.
I hope that combining Thuir's and Straak's skills with theirs will result in more than the sum of its parts. In a way, cooperation now is almost like a trial for membership after the war.
- Location
- Australia
- Location
- Patriarchova
Huh, yes. That's also conveniently close to where I'm thinking the crew quarters and many of the workstations would be, so another point in favor.
Just puzzling out the core ejection system now.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
I hope at least one massive Ixira doom maneuver fails because the Ked Paddah are too methodical to fall for it.
They may get fried by the rest of what happens, but at least once I want that. I want it bad.
UbeOne
Daydreaming CPU
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Kortennon have merely a large gun on their moon. The Ixara took the concept and
That's no moon!
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Five credits says they sic a giant crystal spacemonster on the Sarek and Straak figures out how to tame it and bring it home with him after the battle.
Please no. There's no reason for that because the smaller ships supposed to dock with the D'deridex never made it to film.
Why would you do that!
Sorry, negative space in starships is a peeve of mine...
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Star Trek ship designs require line of sight between warp nacelles. This means you can't build a "big box" spaceship without hollow spaces in the interior.
UbeOne
Daydreaming CPU
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Sounds logical.
- Location
- Patriarchova
Considering where we've encountered those Cluster things, it seems like they're more likely a Kortenon or Tartesis invention. Though I suppose the Ixara could have taught it to them.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Or the Ixira could be the only ones keeping their giant rockmonsters on a leash instead of letting them free-range.
aeqnai
Nerdy Homu
- Location
- Laniakea Supercluster
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Part of the so-called "Roddenberry Rules"
Technically this wasn't always followed, but the exceptions were usually smallcraft, ships that were in the distant background and not meant to be noticed, or from groups with very different design philosophies than the Federation.Rule #2: Warp nacelles must have at least 50% line-of-sight on each other across the hull.
As for why one wouldn't want to have inhabited space between the nacelles?
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
Have you read David Brin's Uplift War? The Thennanin from that book remind me of the Ked Paddah, and there is a plot involving one of them that is reminiscent of that intent.
The Federation, Klingons, & Dominion prove you don't need a gigantic hole in the bloody ship to have LOS between Warp Nacelles.
In Universe, how did the Romulans go from this beauty
To this ugly bastard?
Night
Widow Null
- Location
- Hoff
Anywhere there's crew. You'd probably have some near any major concentrations of the crew; some near quarters, some near the command section, some near engineering, etc. You can't guarantee in an evacuation scenario that damage won't prevent the crew from reaching ones further away, or that they will have time to do so.
Godwinson
"Well, I've got nothing."
Sure, but Star Trek hates common sense. The Ked Paddah "hat" means they're doomed to irrelevancy.
- Location
- Patriarchova
The Federation, Klingons, & Dominion prove you don't need a gigantic hole in the bloody ship to have LOS between Warp Nacelles.
In Universe, how did the Romulans go from this beauty
To this ugly bastard?
/me actually loves the D'deridex.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
You do if you want your ship to be anything other than a big flat saucer with wings or fins or pylons sticking out to mount the nacelles on. For whatever reason you might need or desire that.
Trek ships as 'classically' designed are certainly pretty (e.g. Federation ships). But they have drawbacks. Ranting angrily about how you think other design paradigms are ugly is just raising your blood pressure through excessive salt.
I refuse to accept this premise. I think the Ked Paddah have an opportunity to show diversity and combinations. Thuir is a legend and has been since 2301, precisely because he broke out the common sense in a situation where a stereotypical Star Trek captain would have done the Zapp Brannigan thing and beamed down redshirts, gotten them eaten, and then somehow gotten his ship infected and devoured.
- Location
- Infraspace
Hmm. Rigellian design philosophy (i.e. high hull) probably precludes lots of windows as on Starfleet vessels, but the only other things that would be exposed are engines, nacelles and weapons. Maybe keep it bare but patterned (tortoiseshell?). Alternatively, Klingon designs are similarly armoured, so maybe look at their exteriors.
Honestly, I quite like the minimal greeble that Federation vessels tend to have.
- Location
- Australia
Maybe lots of displays through the ship corridors that are view screens to the outside, or maybe even show images of different worlds that the crews are from?