Excelsior is the best designed starship

[Dennis Toy]

In my opinion the Excelsior from ST 3 and ST 6 is the best designed starship in looks and functionality. The ship ACTUALLY looks futuristic.

The best designed ships in my opinion

Enterprise NCC-1701-D
Enterprise NCC-1701
Enterprise NCC-1701-A
Excelsior
Defiant
and the Prometheus.


P.S i see series potential for the Excelsior and Promethius.

[Alyeska]

Well your going to get flamed for the Galaxy. I see the Galaxy II design (War GCS) as a succesful design, but its still fundamentaly flawed. Jack of all Trades, Master of None.

[JME2]

My favorite of the Starfleet ships are as follows - in alphabetical-order order:

Akira-class.
Constitution-class refit.
Defiant-class
Excelsior-class
Galaxy-class
Nebula-class
Soverigen-class
Steamrunner-class

[apocolypse]

I like the look of several classes, the Sovy ranks high. The Norway class is interesting, and I like the style of it, despite a couple really bad weak points.

[Howedar]

In my opinion the Excelsior from ST 3 and ST 6 is the best designed starship in looks and functionality. The ship ACTUALLY looks futuristic.

You base this on... what?

The best designed ships in my opinion

Enterprise NCC-1701-D
Enterprise NCC-1701
Enterprise NCC-1701-A
Excelsior
Defiant
and the Prometheus.


P.S i see series potential for the Excelsior and Promethius.

And this?

[Uraniun235]

Aesthetics. Which is all that matters.

countdown to massive flames in five... four... three...

[Dennis Toy]

.S i see series potential for the Excelsior and Promethius.

i actually think that a new series could be based on the Promethius exploration of the galaxy and fighting an outside galaxy alien species


Excelsior could show a new captain if George Takei doesnt want to star in it and be about the adventures of the ship in the 22nd century fighting the klingon threat and establishing contact with other species.

You base this on... what?

What i seen in the movies.

[Sarevok]

The Excelsior remained in service for over 80 years. Even after such a long time the Excelsior was able to go head to head with a advanced powerful modern starship like the Defiant in the Lakota incident. That indicates a seriously good starship.

[Oberleutnant]

The Excelsior remained in service for over 80 years. Even after such a long time the Excelsior was able to go head to head with a advanced powerful modern starship like the Defiant in the Lakota incident. That indicates a seriously good starship.

Bear in mind that Lakota had just finished a refit and was equipped with new technology such as quantum torpedos. I don't remember if the extent of her refit was established in the episode, but I think it's fair to assume that Starfleet also improved her other systems while they upgraded her torpedo launchers. This a minor point, though.

Excelsior-cass is still apparently one of the most succesful designs Starfleet has ever had. They were built in great numbers and their long service lives would suggest that her engineers really hit the jackpot when they created her.

*remembers when he saw TSFS for the first time* They look cool, too.

[Murazor]

Well, within my limited Trek experience, I liked the Miranda the most. And I nominate the Enterprise-J I have seen some screencaps of to be "most ugly starship in sci-fi ever".

[Chris OFarrell]

The Excelsior remained in service for over 80 years. Even after such a long time the Excelsior was able to go head to head with a advanced powerful modern starship like the Defiant in the Lakota incident. That indicates a seriously good starship.

Uh not really. The Lakota which was upgraded just about as far as an Excelesor can GO was not able to match upto the Defiant. Granted both sides were holding back and trying not to totaly destroy the other ship but at the end of the day:

Defiant:
Shields almost gone.
"Major Systems Failures"
Weapons still operational
Engines still Operational.

Lakota:
"One good hit will finish them"

And bear in mind the Defiant is only what, a third-half the size of the Lakotas saucer section?

Modern purpose built warship > Retrofitted exploration ship designed 70 years back.

[Alyeska]

IMO the best designed ships in Trek would be the following.

Akira class: Heavy torpedo cruiser. Enough firepower to seriously threaten ships far larger then it.
Sovereign class: The Federation builds a much better multi mission ship with a heavy emphasis on combat.
Nebula class: Built with the same parts as the Galaxy, but in a smaller package and a multi mission pod

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I gotta give my love to the Nebula. It's my favorite Fed ship because it works. The mission-specific pod and the minimalization of the Galaxy design shows that SF can build a cost-effective ship if they try. And we can see just how effective it is when fitted for combat in the episode "The Wounded" where one Nebula took out four or five Cardasian vessels without any damage.

Of course, my favorible attitude toward the Nebula could be strongly influenced by the Nebula's similar appearance to the Miranda class--it's the Reliant of TNG! A Ship that evil has to be cool!

[RedImperator]

I think the mission profile of the GCS-I was a bigger problem than the design. The thing clearly wasn't supposed to be a warship, but they were being used for patrolling the neutral zone, enforcing blockades, showing the flag in border incidents, et cetera.

[Tsyroc]

I like the Ambassador.

Too bad we've never really seen how they stacked up in their heyday.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I like the Ambassador.

Too bad we've never really seen how they stacked up in their heyday.

Well, it's not like the federation uses the design anymore. They scrapped all their Ambassadors but they refitted their excelsiors--that says a lot.

[Tsyroc]

Well, it's not like the federation uses the design anymore. They scrapped all their Ambassadors but they refitted their excelsiors--that says a lot.

Yep, it says that when they were making TNG new models were costly and hard to come by so most of the time they stuck with the stuff they already had models for from the movies.

When they went to mostly CGI ships why waste it on the old ones when they could wank to their hearts content.


Still, given what we can see that is a valid point. I'm just going to put my head in the sand and write off the lack of Ambassador Class ships to cost, long development and mistakingly thinking they sucked because the Enterprise-C got pasted.

Captain Calhoun's Ambassador class Excalibur did pretty well...until it blew up.

Okay, I just like the look of the ship. I think it looks a hell of a lot better than the Galaxy (one ugly ship class) and that the smaller nacelles would be easier to protect with sheilds than the really long nacelles on the Excelsior and Sovereign class ships.

For some reason it reminds me of the original Enterprise 1701 and 1701-A more than the other ships, while also having some of the upgrades. Like phaser strips (small ones).

[Stormbringer]

Still, given what we can see that is a valid point. I'm just going to put my head in the sand and write off the lack of Ambassador Class ships to cost, long development and mistakingly thinking they sucked because the Enterprise-C got pasted.

Or more likely they simply weren't versitiale enough to warrant keeping on once they were superceded in their primary mission by the Galaxy-class.

Captain Calhoun's Ambassador class Excalibur did pretty well...until it blew up.

The same could be said of HMS Hood.

[Alyeska]

I am of the mind that the Ambassador class was too good for its own time. It was expensive and difficult to build, so very few were built. Also because they were trying to build something without fully being able to the ships life span suffered because of design flaws that showed later in life.

[Stormbringer]

I think the mission profile of the GCS-I was a bigger problem than the design. The thing clearly wasn't supposed to be a warship, but they were being used for patrolling the neutral zone, enforcing blockades, showing the flag in border incidents, et cetera.

That was big problem in that they weren't really warships but were used as ones. But that shouldn't mask the real problems they did have.

There were also simply a lot of problems with just plain bad design (the warp core in particular). The lack of appropriate and intelligent saftey systems, the lack of critical system reduncancies, running critical systems in such a way that minor damage (ie non-visible damage) can destroy them, the burying of important systems in the Jefferies tubes, explosive touch pads, etc, etc, etc. They were not well designed ships.

[Alyeska]

And where did you learn all of this? The only time we get to see an Ambassador in action is when we get to see the badly damanged Enterprise-C. Not a real good contendor.

[Ma Deuce]

For looks, I've always been partial to the refit Constitution Class, ever since I fist saw it in TMP.

[Thag]

Uhhh, the Ambassadors are still on the line in TNG. The Excalibur can be seen next to the Enterprise in one scene in "Redemption II", there's one in the opening battle in First Contact, and IIRC the Horatio from "Conspiracy" is identified by Worf as Ambassador-class.

[Stormbringer]

And where did you learn all of this? The only time we get to see an Ambassador in action is when we get to see the badly damanged Enterprise-C. Not a real good contendor.

The post above yours refers to the Galaxy-class, and most often the Enterprise-D specifically. It's all things mentioned in Mike's Canon Database.

[Alyeska]

And where did you learn all of this? The only time we get to see an Ambassador in action is when we get to see the badly damanged Enterprise-C. Not a real good contendor.

The post above yours refers to the Galaxy-class, and most often the Enterprise-D specifically. It's all things mentioned in Mike's Canon Database.

Ah. Well the Galaxy class is not so unstable as you would have us believe. Only the first flight Galaxy had the problems you listed, and eventualy even the remainder from the first flight got upgraded to War GCS standards.