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I dont care! i dont do all this exact length stuff. If it looks good, thats all that matters.

I messed up the length because I messed up the scale; corrected size comparison with the Connie, and I stuck a Los Angeles class submarine on there for fun.

Monroe wrote:Would a bridge on top slightly back a little bit like a modern day war ship look good you think? Perhaps a smoothed rounded deck rising above the others for the standard bridge hanging out in space. With windows not just the big screen! The concept is growing on me more you kinker with it and I liked the Akiraprise.

I'm torn on the bridge - it would tie it in with future designs a little better... but it's a dang silly place to put your command centre.

Just because the Feds where daft in the future doesn't mean theire predecessors weren't.

Okay... with a bridge module

I think I'm one of the more vocal critics of placing bridges in plain view of enemy weapons, but I think that it looks good on this NX. It seems to blend well with the rest of the hull.

This is possibly one time when you might forgive it... after all the NX was built in a time when Humanity had no real idea of how nasty it could be out there. It really was built as a ship of exploration with a very secondary military role.

Indeed. IIRC, the NX was originaly humanity's first deep-space exploration vessel, correct? So it would make sense not to be designed with military operations in mind.

Rochey wrote:Indeed. IIRC, the NX was originaly humanity's first deep-space exploration vessel, correct? So it would make sense not to be designed with military operations in mind.

Yeah. One of the few things I liked about the NX was the way they upgraded it over time - went out with plasma cannon and spatial torpedoes in the first episode. The plasma cannon seemed token weapons - that I recall they didn't even hit anything, let alone do any damage to it.

Then three phase cannon... then a way to boost output of those tenfold... then more phase cannon... then more, plus photonic torpedoes, boosted armour, MACOs...

I liked that Columbia was somewhat different to Enterprise too. Only makes sense that with a steep learning curve they wouldn't be doing cookie cutter production just yet.

Aye, reason I suggested it.
What if it was moved back 20 meters?

It also matches the Neptune ship that came out at the same time. You can see the two ships coming from the same family.

A very good idea, from the common-sense armament (for the time) to the shared design philosophy/evolution in common with the previously mentioned classes as well as the Conestoga.

And I think the nacelles should be fat - coils for a (relatively) high-warp engine are a new tech, and as such shouldn't have undergone any of the miniaturization that comes with advancement.

Moved the bridge back a bit, and it looked better to me. I have added front and rear views, obviously, and redesigned the back
end to make it a bit less bulky. Added a pair of impulse engines.

I totally 100% disagree with you about the size thing. I thought the Akiraprise and this are way to small. Humans can only travel at warp 5 which is pretty slow for space travel. This is also their first try and making a proper starship. I could easily see this reaching 500m plus.

Just because ships have gotten bigger in TNG than what we saw in TOS it doesnt mean they always got bigger.

For the NX most of the tech was new and for trek rather crude. It should be big and bulky. Also I imagin they would want a fairly large crew for all the jobs and stop fatigue on the crew which would be huge in space.

At this time earth is at peace and able to throw its considerabe industry behind what ever it wants. It could easily field several large ships.

The design is good though... just to small.

It's not just Trek... as far as I can tell there is virtually never a time in all of history when ships designed to do a specific job have gotten smaller over time. Look at warships, cargo ships, research ships, types of submarine, whatever - over the last thousand years the trend is that they get bigger and bigger.

Now with a bottom view added. I've put lifeboat hatches around the ship; There are thirty six three man lifeboats on board,
enough for the crew more than twice over. I've also put two smaller sensor dishes on, one dorsal and one ventral.

Updated specs :

Length : 158.75 metres
Beam : 62.25 metres
Height : 24.67 metres (6 decks)
Crew : 15 officers, 36 enlisted
Mass : 24,000 tons
Cruise Speed : W/F 5.0
Maximum Speed : W/F 5.2

Armament :

Four missile launch tubes : 96 missiles carried. Tactical warhead plasma charge, variable yield, maximum 400 GJ; strategic
warhead thermonuclear, variable yield, maximum 1 MTon
Six gamma ray laser cannon, 50 GW each
Thermal hull armour; hull is built in thermal superconducting sections of up to 50 square metres, with a 100 GJ thermal reservoir
attached to each

Auxiliary Craft : 4 x garages for orbit to ground shuttles

Habitation standards : Individual cabin for captain and first officer. Two twin cabins for Lieutenant Commander grades; five twin cabins for other officer grades; four barracks rooms for 9 enlisted crew each. Cabins 10 m^2 each, barracks 20 m^2.