www.ditl.org

yup, that's skill there.


sorry, must have doubled it when submitting the edit.

I'm curious, does anyone have the blueprints to this or to the Nova? I'm curious how things have changed, and Nova was said in a few online sources, to have been designed to replace the Oberth.

Well, they are both science vessels with little weaponry. So I can see that as reasonable.

Agreed and I've been throwing around a plot aboard a Nova for ages now.

Bryan Moore wrote:I'm curious, does anyone have the blueprints to this or to the Nova? I'm curious how things have changed, and Nova was said in a few online sources, to have been designed to replace the Oberth.

I'd be surprised if that had ever been stated in canon, and I'd be wary of anyone who claims such, but it's the logical conclusion to draw. They certainly seem to fulfil the same role of a small, short-range, mass-produced science vessel.

Captain Seafort wrote:

Bryan Moore wrote:I'm curious, does anyone have the blueprints to this or to the Nova? I'm curious how things have changed, and Nova was said in a few online sources, to have been designed to replace the Oberth.

I'd be surprised if that had ever been stated in canon, and I'd be wary of anyone who claims such, but it's the logical conclusion to draw. They certainly seem to fulfil the same role of a small, short-range, mass-produced science vessel.

It's definitely not in canon, but ex-astris and a few other sites seem to take it as such.

It's a logical theory. I'd be happy to accept it.

Seriously doubt any blueprints have been made of it, though.

Nothing official but someone has done fan blueprints of them.

There is This, if you've got $20

It's hard to make out but it looks like they have a lift in the pylons.

So, what about the why of the whole thing? WHY is the ship built this way? Why this shape? To fit into the shape of a warp field? The Romulan D'Deridex class has the same issue. In fact, it seems like a much larger issue with the Romulan Warbird because that ship is so much bigger. "Captain, please come to engineering immediately!" "Ok, be there in about an hour!"

Rick Sternbach probably drew it and thought it looked neato with no actual thought about practicality. When ST III came out, they were probably also looking for a design that would be recognizable as Federation, but different than what had been seen before... The result is this.

Presumably it has a good shape for moving at warp, I'd assume.

Swapable secondary hull for mission specific kit?

That was always my assumption. Of course I tended to think the secondary hull was probably unmanned.

I don't see why shape would matter regarding warp speed. Look at the multitude of shapes represented by warp-capable ships throughout Trek. Even if shape does matter, these ships show that there are at least numerous different solutions to such a constraint.

I like the idea of an automated mission pod. The Grissom had a science pod, presumably... which would have had extensive sensory equipment, maybe some automated lab-test equipment... who knows. It doesn't have to be completely automated either. Maybe a few unlucky ensigns get to be stuck down in the secondary hull running tests and maintenance.