The relationship between the Connie and the Miranda

[Deepcrush]

I thought it was "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition"?

[steamrunner]

The absence of a prominent deflector on the Miranda has always bothered me. But, look who's talking...when your favorite ship is a Steamrunner, EVERYONE'S deflector comes up a little short...

[Reliant121]

Mark, Tsuki....leave it.

Isn't the Miranda's deflector atop the hull underneath where the torpedo pod should be?

[Deepcrush]

I think so. Or they just like big glowly light things.

[stitch626]

Well, on every Okudagrahm, the deflector on the Miranda is internal. It is on the ventral saucer, a little below the forward phaser bank. Same for the Constellation.

[Sionnach Glic]

I like to think the Miranda design was experimenting with an internal deflector. It was found to work alright, but innefecient compared to external deflectors, hence the reason why all ships afterwards had external deflectors.

[Deepcrush]

That does make a fair bit of sense.

[Mark]

I like to think the Miranda design was experimenting with an internal deflector. It was found to work alright, but innefecient compared to external deflectors, hence the reason why all ships afterwards had external deflectors.

Or was just impractical for a ship over a certain size, mass, or configuration

[Sionnach Glic]

Aye, or that.

[Reliant121]

That makes sense, but doesn't the Constellation miss out on an external deflector?

[Captain Seafort]

It does, but there are questions over the age of the Constellation. The earliest we know they were in service was in the mid-2280s, same as the Miranda, so the two may have been part of a move towards more compact ships on Starfleet's part. For whatever reason it mustn't have worked, or been shown to be an evolutionary dead end, as most (if not all) subsequent have followed the rough layout of the Connie.

[Reliant121]

Considering the visual design of the constellation class ships, it wouldn't surprise me if they are from the same design lineage of the Miranda's.

[Mark]

I'm more apt to guess the Constellation is a failed class. After all, you just don't see THAT many of them around. Miranda's on the other hand, are just everywhere.

[Mikey]

I'd guess that four-nacelle designs in general just didn't pan out. We'd see a lot more if the benefits outweighed the extra expense.

[Mark]

Agreed. And the lack of the weapons pod indicates Constellation classes didn't have the firepower they could have.