Excelsior Class Discussion

[Reliant121]

I like the rugged bulky look. It looks more functional than almost anything else the feds have thrown out. That said, I like the Ambassadors too. I think the Nacelles look a little big, and but its in proportion with the rest of the ship.

[Mikey]

Deep is right - we've seen the incredible of acheivements of a Connie, because it was the hero ship of the franchise. The service life of the Excelsior was far superior, as was its upgrade-ability (is that a word?) In order to refit the Connie to TMP-spec, it needed to be completely rebuilt from the keel up. The Lakota refit of the Excelsior used an extant spaceframe.

[Mark]

Actually we don't KNOW for sure what the hell the lifespan of an Excelsior really is. If they contructed new ships constantly, they COULD have been replacing them as they wore out, thus the batches we see in TNG the 2nd or even 3rd and last generation of those ships. And before we start about the Excelsior mention Chakotay made, we already know that Starfleet recycles names.

Now, don't get me wrong. Just the name "Excelsior" can give me shivers thinking about that ship. She "looks" friggin huge AND powerful. And seriously shortening the neck and tucking in the nacelle struts were tactically great ideas.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth

[Lazar]

So what came of the transwarp project? From TSFS you sort of got the impression that it had already been tested, and that it would have worked if Scotty hadn't sabotaged it.

[Mark]

Nobody really knows. GK has a rather good theory on the main site, but I don't think we ever found out for sure.

[Captain Seafort]

My personnal theory is that the "transwarp" mentioned in ST III is actually the TNG-era warp drive. We know they recalibrated the scale and that, at least nominally, everything got a lot faster - what better reason to do so than a new technological application of warp theory?

[Lazar]

That actually makes a tremendous amount of sense.

[Tsukiyumi]

Maybe "transwarp" is just a term they give to certain other tech that is different from, and travels faster than "warp"?

Otherwise, why would they bother differentiating Borg "transwarp"?

[Deepcrush]

I like seafort's idea. Yeah, I just sad that so get the fuck over it.

It means that my most loved class of all didn't fail but was just delayed. Now the Excelsior can take even more credit as the greatest class ever!

[Sionnach Glic]

Aye, it makes no sense that Starfleet would pull the plug after one failure of a system that must have been tested and shown to work numerous times before. That it became the TNG era drive (at which point, the designation "transwarp" was given to the next hurdle) is the most sensible explaination, IMO.

[katefan]

I like seafort's idea. Yeah, I just sad that so get the f**k over it.

It means that my most loved class of all didn't fail but was just delayed. Now the Excelsior can take even more credit as the greatest class ever!

Oh, how sad that the Excelsior gets the credit because of excessive recycling of the model (sighs dramatically).

But by that argument then the Oberth class is the greatest exploration vessel of all time and the Klingon Bird of Prey the most perfect ship design ever, since there are at least three different scales for it.

[Deepcrush]

Oh, how sad that the Excelsior gets the credit because of excessive recycling of the model (sighs dramatically).

Not really. Its because it is, after nearly a hundred years, still able to act as a front line starship. It was the test bed for the current warp drive tech that has lasted for eighty years. It has the ability to be upgraded to equal the UFP's first purpose built warship. This along with a trusted hull design that was produced in massive numbers that have survived. Along with avoiding many of the problems that the GCS ( a much later design) came with. So there we have a system that was superior in many ways to designs that came decades later.

But by that argument then the Oberth class is the greatest exploration vessel of all time

Dispite your reaching with the whole comment. This wouldn't be a bad stance. A ship that is one of three classes that have lasted for half the life time of the UFP. Seeing how its still in use and still able to make the grade for current commanders is a good sign. Small, cheap and able. Always a good sign.

and the Klingon Bird of Prey the most perfect ship design ever, since there are at least three different scales for it.

I think we covered this before but we came out with a similar thought, though not as extreme as you place it. The BoP is a cheap, long lasting, long range, hard hitting (for its size) ship with a small crew requirment and simple upkeep. Where its not perfect, it is still a very good design that has paid for itself many times over.

There's more to a ship then just when and how often its used. Where we have the OOU call of its a nice looking model that they just kept on using. IU there is often a reason(s) we can draw from as I pointed out above.

[katefan]

The main thrust of my point-and apologies if I was not clear-is the only reason these three designs are so long lasting comes down to simple economics and not due to fan popularity or producer preference. They were laying around and available. Same reason the Romulans suddenly started using the Klingon warships in TOS, because the original Romulan model was no longer available.

[Aaron]

The main thrust of my point-and apologies if I was not clear-is the only reason these three designs are so long lasting comes down to simple economics and not due to fan popularity or producer preference. They were laying around and available. Same reason the Romulans suddenly started using the Klingon warships in TOS, because the original Romulan model was no longer available.

Yes but that is an OOU example, do you want to argue that or IU concerns?

Anyways, I figure the Warbird fits the needs of the Romulan fleet as they define them. Think about it, they have two major competators; the UFP and the Klingons, who seem in no hurry to curbstomp them. That pretty much leaves the Romulans free to do whatever the hell they want elsewhere, the Warbird may be a perfectly viable warship on every front they have. We know they aren't expanding towards the KE and the UFP and we know next to nothing about whats on the other side of them, they may be very well steamrolling their way in the opposite direction.

[katefan]

Yes but that is an OOU example, do you want to argue that or IU concerns?

I suppose, though, if we had to employ all IU concerns, though, then the D7 is the ultimate warship, since it lasted from Enterprise to DS9. :/ But I see your point.