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 Post subject: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-23 09:22pm 

I just can't say no!
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise

wips to follow...

[edit] I've read through the rules maybe a dozen times now, and I'm confident that the "Assets" that may not be used elsewhere are existing Star Trek assets, like if you wanted to use a sovereign for scale. The "Submission Image" must be created originally for the this contest specifically, but the rules say nothing about posting it, or wips elsewhere afterword. Now that the submission period has closed, I can restore my wip images to this thread. I couldn't find them all, but you should still be able to see the design evolve. Thanks again for all your help

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-23 09:40pm 

The Century Class is the best design for another Enterprise. Plus, the Valiant Class has the same type of design.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-23 11:58pm 

I'll have to check those out. Nice avatar btw, I loved the "real" Deadpool.

Obviously the earliest kind of wip, to the point of being premature:


The idea is to make her really big, almost starbase sized, and to join the warp nacelles to the saucer.

[edit]
The Enterprise is by definition a vessel used primarily for exploration. This Enterprise would serve the same purpose, but also support a small fleet for long, dangerous expeditions.

[edit] It's been pointed out that I need to be working within the confines of an unfamiliar game universe. I'll do some research, but this idea^ doesn't seem to be logistically implementable, and I'm back to square 1.

The Enterprise D was so much sleeker and more futuristic than it's earlier counter-parts. Why did the design aesthetic seem to get more utilitarian and... ugly after TNG?

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 08:21am 

The thing with the Enterprise D and the Galaxy Class was that they were designed during a long period of relative peacetime, for peaceful long duration missions. They were designed to be comfortable and to carry crewmember's full families aboard, and so had to have more concessions towards comfort than a ship designed for a purely starfleet crew.

After the Galaxy class, and with the rise of the Borg and Dominion threats, the tendency shifted towards more militaristic ships that values function and quick production. There was no need (or desire) to carry a family into a warzone, so ships devoted this space to more useful things, or were simply built smaller.

Though, I've always had a soft spot for the Excelsior class starships. I quite like a more utilitarian and functional look.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 11:00am 

I'm so glad you didn't say ZOMG DEFIANT *FAPFAPFAPFAPFAPFAPFAPFAPFAP*.

That said - seeing a take on the E-J would be pretty neat. I saw something online that suggested it was ~2miles long (!) like to see that fly into the noob zone.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 11:40am 

It's an interesting contest, but until it starts I can only wonder how long it'll be until they fix the typo on that page.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 03:38pm 

This is the Enterprise J? What happened to F, G, H, and I?

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 03:39pm 

No, I'm just saying it'd be cool to see a take on it. (The E-J appeared in the ENT episode Azati Prime.)

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 03:40pm 

That's not what he said.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 04:22pm 

Ah. My mistake.

I'm thinking of moving the other direction, disconnecting the nacelles from the saucer and reverting to something closer to the original.

It's a hard place to be, because If you move away from the same basic shape, you've failed to create the Enterprise, but you want it to be distinct enough to get noticed. Right now I'm thinking circular saucer, and sleeker than the D, but I think I need to work in a more subtle direction. It should still be instantly identifiable as the Enterprise at first glance.

Staring at this picture:



While I'm pondering, I've modeled the most recognizable aspects of the enterprise, and I'll now start deciding what characteristics I want to move away from.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 04:40pm 

Hey - what class was that crazy fed ship at the end of VOY? the one with like 6 Nacelles?

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 04:59pm 

I think you're referring to the experimental USS Prometheus, with it's rather bizarre "Multi-Vector Assault Mode" where the ship splits into three. Four nacelles, with a fifth tiny one on the saucer section to keep it moving

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 05:58pm 

I believe that was the Voltron class.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 06:00pm 

that's the one. Was she the lead in her class? (That is, is it The Prometheus class?)

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 06:39pm 

U.S.S. Enterprises-F rules all competitors.

Century Class







The Valiant Class is a worthy successor to the Defiant.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 06:39pm 

I think so. Later material describes the Prometheus class ships, and I think we see one in the finale of Voyager, but I dunno if that's prometheus or not, given that Voyager encounters Prometheus uite early on (Season 4 I think)

Themightytom, what the hell is the Voltron class?

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-24 07:03pm 

Paper doodles:


I may be moving in a direction now, with the orthos on the bottom.

[edit]
I'm learning that Star fleet design philosophy has changed in specific ways since TNG.

I admit to having bailed on Trek in favor of Babylon 5. I've probably missed 75% of the material that came after TNG (movies excluded) so it's not surprising that I'm having trouble.

I was a huge trekker as a kid though. TNG was on every day after school during the only time I had to myself before my parents came home. I had toys, books, schematics,scale models and talked about all of them pretty much non-stop, to the irritation of my friends and relatives

I won't win this contest. I could visualize it with the other two, but not this one, and that's fine. I'm still jazzed. As long as I've been doing 3D modeling, I've never made an Enterprise.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 03:58pm 

Still very early/rough, and I'm very open to suggestions.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 04:58pm 

I think I need to re-imagine the nacelles completely. I want them to overlap the saucer section like they do, as I haven't seen that done before, but I think they need to be longer, extending farther back, and less like tng/tos.

I'm also torn on the current no-neck design. I'm tempted to make it nice and thick like the excelsior, but it seems that would be continued movement toward the past, rather than extrapolating the designs of the future like I ought to be.

I've been looking at this ship:

-and I think it's the closest to the direction I want, but with everything swept forward.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 05:54pm 

Another paper doodle:


I'm pretty happy with this one

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 07:06pm 

Um... I hate to say it, Fuzzy, but that...

Doesn't look right. The saucer and hull are way too short, it looks... Ungainly, the opposite of graceful.


I really love that Century-class posted by Chaotic Neutral. Where'd you get it? Is somebody entering it, was it an earlier fanwork, or is it an official design? It looks good enough to be one.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 07:18pm 

It's very low poly at the moment, but here is the 3D version of the paper sketch above:

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 07:55pm 

Just a joke referencing the tv show from the eighties. I was mocking the concept of a multi vector assault mode.

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 09:12pm 

Ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't around for the 80's so I hadn't got a clue what you meant

 Post subject: Re: OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

Posted: 2010-11-25 10:21pm 

That's a really cool design, both original and evocative of an Excelsior-upgrade. But while that is what the Ent-B was, it still makes me think Excelsior, and not Enterprise.