dwm@pur-ee.UUCP (Meeks) (05/24/84)
anyone have a list of all the different kinds of trek ships there are? Dan
alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (05/24/84)
From the technical manual: Scout/Destroyer Class Transport Tug Heavy Cruiser Dreadnaught Note that the Destroyer and the Scout have the same basic design (external appearance) except that the Destroyer has more weaponry. The dreadnaught is listed as ''under construction''
smw@tilt.UUCP (Stewart Wiener) (05/24/84)
> From: alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) > > From the technical manual: Scout/Destroyer Class, Transport Tug, Heavy > Cruiser, Dreadnaught. > > Note that the Destroyer and the Scout have the same basic design (external > appearance) except that the Destroyer has more weaponry. The dreadnaught is > listed as ''under construction'' Pfui. The "Starfleet Technical Manual" contains lots of, let's say, creative material. Like the exhaustive list of hundreds of starship names, the bogosso Romulan and Klingon peace treaties, the official Federation printing font (how much sillier can you get), the flags and shields of various systems in the Federation always referring to the Terran star names (okay if we assume they were *all* colonies, not aliens)... If you like it, fine, but I never take it as an reference authority for any ST questions. I always found the dreadnought drawing, as a "next generation" ship, terribly ugly. A starship with a third warp pod is like a swan with a third wing. The Excelsior had better not look anything like it. -- just one of the wolves this computer's been thrown to... Stewart Wiener / Princeton Univ. EECS / princeton!tilt!smw
chenr@tilt.UUCP (Raymond Chen) (05/24/84)
>> From: alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) >> >> From the technical manual: Scout/Destroyer Class, Transport Tug, Heavy >> Cruiser, Dreadnaught. >> >> Note that the Destroyer and the Scout have the same basic design (external >> appearance) except that the Destroyer has more weaponry. The dreadnaught is >> listed as ''under construction'' >Pfui. The "Starfleet Technical Manual" contains lots of, let's say, creative >material... Agreed. If you want an idea of the ships in the Star Trek universe, go read the books. Most of them try to be consistent and not do anything too drastic to the universe (with the notable exceptions of the Phoenix series, Triangle and the Wounded Sky). Nevertheless, let me list what I believe to be a fairly accurate, although not conclusive list of ship types. Federation: Heavy Cruiser (Constitution and Constitution-II class) Light Cruiser (remember Reliant ?) Destroyer (mentioned in more than one book and makes sense) Scout (ditto) Survey Ships (you know, the ones that were constantly getting lost) Transport Ships/ Tug (no real evidence for this, except for the Tech Manual, but it makes sense) Hunter-Killer/ Fighter Ships (Mentioned in the Final Reflection and in various other books. In one of the books, Sulu almost transferred to an H-K group. Also, Carriers are mentioned in The Wounded Sky) Carriers (see above note) Defender-Class Dreadnoughts(?) (mentioned in The Wounded Sky, makes sense to have a *large*, not necessarily fast, planet-defender type ship) Klingon: D7 Cruiser (Klingon equivalent to the Constitution Class) D6 Cruiser (predecessor to the D7) Destroyer Scout (both mentioned in books and scouts were mentioned in Friday's Child, I believe. I may be wrong, but a non-D6/D7 ship was definitely mentioned) D8 (?) (The new Klingon ships in ST:TMP that got Star Fleet so worried and got totally trashed by Vejur. These ships have photon torpedoes -- watch out !) Romulan: Warbird (Bird of Prey ship seen in Balance of Terror -- no warp drive) War Eagle (Warbird with warp pods added, not mentioned anywhere, really except for Star Fleet Battles, which when it first came out, tried to be accurate. They're kludges which have probably been phased out by now) KF5R (Klingon ships provided by some treaty -- armed with plasma torpedoes, though, that replace some of the disruptors) Note: Many of the Federation ships were probably under construction at the time of the beginning of the series. According to the Final Reflection, warp speeds of warp 4.8+ have only been available for the past 40 years (dating from ST:TWOK). It would seem logical that Star Fleet concentrate first on building up a fleet of ships that could patrol, explore, and fight -- the Heavy Cruiser Class. Also, remember that the Enterprise is over 6.5 years old by the time ST:TMP started. (Remember, too that Pike commanded it for a while, only we don't know for how long) By ship-of-the-line standards, the Enterprise is *old*. My guess is the reason behind the Enterprise upgrade to Constitution Class II is that they were developing new technology, but needed a stop-gap class of ships. So, simply upgrade the old ships until the new ones come out. (This has been done frequently in the Wet Navy and in the Air Force. Remember the B-52? Those things are older than I am.) So, the Excelsior. Using perhaps the safe variant of the inversion drive implied in The Wounded Sky. One last thing. For those of you who enjoy reading Star Trek novels, I highly recommend the Final Reflection, The Web of the Romulans, and The Wounded Sky. The Final Reflection gives you a look at the Klingon view of the Universe, as does Web of the Romulans for the Romulans. Both are well-written (I *really* like John Ford), and very consistent. The Wounded Sky is simply amazing. It's the best Star Trek book I've ever read. Period. Plot, character development, and an incredible story combine to make this an utterly amazing book. (God, I wish they could make a movie out of it). Star Trek at its best. Also, for a look at the friendship of Captain Kirk and Spock, and to see both of them at taking on the worst (or best) enemy they'll ever encounter, read The Price of the Phoenix and The Fate of the Phoenix. They do some irrevocable things to the Star Trek universe, but they're *good*. One last thing. I tend to trust The Wounded Sky when it comes to Star Trek details. The writer, Diane Duane, is a protoge of David Gerrold, who has been heavily involved in Star Trek for a while now. (and who wrote The Trouble With Tribbles, etc., etc.) -- The preceding message was brought to you by -- Ray Chen princeton!tilt!chenr
alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (05/24/84)
Gee, I dunno, I always liked the Dreadnaught. I also always liked the technical manual. Seems a like better reference than comics books to me.
markv@dartvax.UUCP (Mark Vita) (05/25/84)
Obviously "The Star Fleet Technical Manual" isn't entirely
accurate, but it is still a pretty amazing piece of work.
Sure the ships drawn in the book aren't exactly elegant-looking,
but then again, The Enterprise wasn't very streamlined back then
either (compared to the new version). But I like the fact that
the book has it's own internal logic--i.e., all the starships
have the same basic design (primary hull, warp-engine nacelles)
and differ only in configuration and armament.
But when it comes right down to it, you have to pick
*something* to be your "reference authority" for design of
starships. (And everything else, for that matter.) What
else is there? I, personally, don't think the Star Trek novels
are a valid source for reference. Some of the stories are very
good, but a dozen different authors all with his or her own
conception of the Star Trek universe in no basis for a unified
reference. I've always considered the descriptions and actions
in these books to be outside of the "real" history of Star Trek.
What I consider the "real" history is solely what appears in
the original episodes and the three films. And the films,
at least marginally, have seemed to support some of the designs
which appear in the Technical Manual. For instance, the
Reliant looks similar to a "Transport/Tug", and the new
Excelsior-class ship looks vaguely similar to the "Dreadnought".
--
Mark Vita
Dartmouth College
{decvax,cornell,linus}!dartvax!markvron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/30/84)
It would have been nice if the writers of the blueprints and the technical manual had read the Making of Star Trek, especially when it came to the part of describing the various parts of the ship. For instance, what ever happened to Emergency Manual Monitor. It appears in many shows (though not always refered to by name, for those who don't know, it is the room with the red grille that overlooks engineering) and in the book but not in the prints. -Ron
rcook@uiucuxc.UUCP (06/01/84)
#R:dartvax:-168900:uiucuxc:19800014:000:150 uiucuxc!rcook Jun 1 13:39:00 1984 What do you feel about the novel ST:TMP which was written by Gene R. himself, I fell this is a valid reference, as he is the producer of the show.