Retro Armada

[ISS_Voyager]

ISS Voyager Here....


I am a huge fan of the legendary starship designs we saw in Kirk's years, and a dream-come-true would be for their ressurection as cutting-edge starfleet designs. I would be interested to see if anyone else would agree, as well as any comments/input you guys may have.

Starship designs like the Excelsior-II(Refit), Constitution-class(Refit), and Miranda-class(refit), as well as all the rest of those adorable ships from Starfleet Command II really have that certain charizma about them..... and I feel that they symbolize the "Boldy going" spirit even more so than the TNG designs. (Go ahead - call me a scrooge... it's ok.)

Of course, these now century-old designs would become meaningless in this new generation of starships.... or would they?


"Neo Starship Order"

In the TNG Star Trek universe, ships like the Excelsior, Constitution, Miranda, etc, are outdated and do not serve in the same roles as they did in their time (Kirk's time). In The Motion-Picture Generation, the Excelsior (for example) was the premier high-tech starship; in The Next Generation, however, the Excelsiors have been retired to serve as Light Cruisers and/or support vessels, and are being replaced by newer ships like the Akira. (All of this you well know)

What if we changed that? What if, by means of some cleaver acts of imagination, we caused the starship designs from the TMP era to be continually refitted to maintain their relative "power" within the fleet. The Neo-Excelsior would therefore still serve as Type: Battleship, and would fall somewhere between the Galaxy and Ambassador classes. The Neo-Constitution would be of Type: Medium Cruiser, and would fall between the Akira and Intrepid classes, and so on.


Of course, vessels of this "Retro Armada" would take on the exact form and look they always had, but would have weapons/shielding/power output equal to their TNG counterparts. At the very least, this could be a means of giving each Federation fleet a different look, as there would be more than one class that preforms the same starfleet roles. From a plot/storyline perspective, this could easily happen in a million different ways, we'd just need to utilize our imaginations: an infinitly renweable resourse among Trekkies.

[cv_coco]

Welcome to the forum ISS Voyager!
I think some canon adepts will argue that the old designs wouldn't handle the stresses of high warp etc. I'd like to see some of the old designs in game, but it's still wait and see how many will actually be playable. But you could always customize a newer model to look like an old design.

[Mjoellnir]

I would say that the time of the Constitution without refit is certainly over. However, the Miranda- and Excelsior-designs were very reliable and as we could see with the Lakota an Excelsior could be brought on par with the Defiant. But it probably cost more than building two new Defiants.:D I would still say that all those designs (even the Constitution refit) could be made good enough to be playable, BUT there should be obvious visual differences like new warp nacelles. I think it will be reflected through the customisation options. Even though I didn't like what I heard about Tier 1 and Tier 2 ships. Fast maneuverable ships should have a chance against slow heavy weapon platforms. That was the point of the Defiant.

[ISS_Voyager]

It'll be fascinating. I just came back from the polls section, and clearly the TNG demographic is most prevalent here - I just hope they don't write off the TMP starships completely. The whole starship customization thing may very well satisfy me and my fellow Enterprise-A fanatics very well, as long as the starship creator has sufficient depth.

At the same time, never underestimate the vigilance of the Hacker-Modders. When it comes to Trek games, I almost look forward to the chance to change the rules as much as the cannon game itself. I remember when Birth of the Federation was first hacked, it was like your own universe in a box.

[47Wasps]

Welcome to the forums,and the Universe of STO.

I am a huge fan of that generation of starship, particularly the original Constitution-class.
And the Excelsior-class will always hold a special place in my heart.
However,a Fleet of Neo-starships seems a bit out of placed in the Final Frontier of tommorow.
I believe the designs were the highlight of their era,and broadening them takes away from that glory.

[ivan50265]

Welcome to the forums ISS. If not the old ships themselves I would not be suprised to see ships inspired by the older designs. It will be interesting to see what ships will be available.

[wingnutf22]

welcome, I loved that era of ships as well but as previously stated for the price of the refits you could build a new ship of that class. I would possibly like to see something that looked similar but, I don't want to see the exact same ship. Would be like operating a world war I destroyer against a modern destroyer.

[indigowhale345]

Well, we already know from the latest screenshots that the Miranda is in game in one form or another. One of the latest has a screenshot of a Miranda with the NX 91001 (or whatever it is exactly) designation for the new ship class. So from that one might infer that you might be able to take your ship of class X and make it look like class Y. And that might mean that your Taco class super dreadnought could look just like a Galaxy, Constitution, or Akira while retaining Taco stats. That would work well for the idea of a retro fleet that is modernized.

[weirdguy]

Sorry, but the way the original post is written sounds more like grasping at straws than an actual ligitimate argument.

Yes, they are awesome looking ships, and I love the Enterprise-A model in particular. But even I think it's pushing it too far to come up with a psuedo-science reason we should start using them again in a post Next Generation/Nemisis era.

So, I have to vote no on this.

[Kyias]

I'm curious, was the New Orleans-Class a model after the Constitution and Ambassador? Of all the new ship designs that one reminds me most of the TOS era as if it were a transition ship.

[SenshiBat]

The Excelsior filled the Tween Role of a Battle Cruiser to match the New K-Hulls the Klingon yards were producing... in the Galactic arms race...
The major difference was the newer Generations deviation from Drone and Pseudo Fighter Defence..

The sub systems power requirements were directed to more powerful main weapons banks.. PRimary Phaser hardpoints previously found only on Star Bases were now ported to ships based.. With a existential improvement in Heavy weapons Torpedo developments..

And saw the Discarding of the Venerable Romulan Plasma Family B-H
To adopt a Improved Fire Rate Disrupter.. Akin to the Old Klingon Ranged Weapon of Crazy Ivan Sword Dancers everywhere. With improved Targeting and refresh rates.


Grind those Shields... hello Federation..nice aft...

[Kinjiru]

Anybody else find it ironic that a call to return-to/revitalize old designs is coming from a guy named ISS Voyager? lol, j'k man, welcome to the forum. :)

[DJGietzen]

I'm also a fan fo the movie era ships. And considering its a video game and star trek a few lines of techno bable is all you need to convince the detail obsessed trecker that the ships could be retrofitted to be viable once again. The biggest concern I have is that those earlier ships are much much smaller then the ones most of us are used to.

To be honest though, a new take on an old design might be more reasonable. A ship with the same basic siloette as a constitution class but being a whole new design might be more popular.