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BC Forums => BC Modding => Topic started by: Raven Night on April 26, 2013, 10:44:24 PM

Title: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 26, 2013, 10:44:24 PM
(http://)Ok, I wanted to kick this off by showing the relative scale of each concept ship I'm working on.

The scale bar on the bottom is 200 meters per tick. The scale base I used was a D-7 at 215 to 230 meters or so. The E-6 is slightly larger than the D-7, and all ships scale up or down from there.

As you can see, the Conqueror is massive at almost 1800 meters in length.

Right now textures are finished on the E-6 and I am working on Dominion War refit and TOS variants. The TOS ship will be a bit smaller than the original D-7 and be named a D-6.

All ships in the darker green are wing moving vessels with planet landing capability.

Let me know what you think of the scale.

(http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq17/nightsoft/scale1.jpg) (http://s429.photobucket.com/user/nightsoft/media/scale1.jpg.html)

(http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq17/nightsoft/scale2.jpg) (http://s429.photobucket.com/user/nightsoft/media/scale2.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 27, 2013, 01:54:34 AM
as much as I like your designs, I'll have to disagree on that one.... it's just too big XD

look at those cannons.... those are some MASSIVE guns.
think about the amount of resources it would take to build and repair one of those guns.

the same principle applies to space as it applies to modern military: don't put a bigger gun, put more regular guns.
if one fails, the rest take over, and you keep fighting.
if your big gun fails for whatever reason, you're toast.

no big cannon means no big housing, no big housing means no big wing, and no big wing means no big hull.
....sometimes the simplest solution is both the most elegant and the most efficient.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 27, 2013, 02:36:48 AM
I concur, though I'm loving the Bortasqu' vibe I'm getting off of it.  I'm not sure why you had to make such a large jump between the C-9 and that, couldn't it have just been double?
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Locke on April 27, 2013, 02:39:30 AM
Nighthawk makes some sense, but consider: the Dominion Battlecruiser (or whatever it's actually called) is huge, and has some very large guns.  Trek doesn't pay attention to things like common sense when talking about weaponry or ship size.  So it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that the Klingon Empire would try their hardest to outperform the Dominion.  So I don't find the size or configuration out of character for the universe.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 27, 2013, 05:49:04 AM
So it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that the Klingon Empire would try their hardest to outperform the Dominion.

what for? they kicked dominion ass with 40-year-old B'rel designs XD

I wouldn't trade my fleet of agile, versatile and experienced light cruisers for two or three heavy capital ships that can be outgunned by a similar small and agile cruiser.
the negh'var was outmanouvered by the Defiant and the dominion battleship by the Valiant.
also, the Romulans use heavy battleship designs too.... sure the klingons would like to keep the upper hand against those enemies.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 27, 2013, 11:18:20 AM
The Dominion dreadnought doesn't have big guns last I checked.  The only time I remember it firing was at the Valiant, and those were more or less point defense weapons.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 27, 2013, 08:24:48 PM
Well, I'm open to changes.

I would say that the size of the ship is not uncommon in the Star Trek universe, just uncommon for Klingons. We have seen plenty of ships around that size in the genre.

As to the guns, they are starbase killers....incredibly large guns that fire extremely powerful bolts but have ridiculously long recharge times. They were designed specifically to take down the shields of larger capital ships or starbases in one shot. They are, in essence, planetary disruptor batteries installed directly into the ship. In fact the warp nacelles were designed around the weapon.

As to the ships size with respect to maneuverability and cost to manufacture...consider this the Klingon version of the Aircraft Carrier. It is not meant to be fast, maneuverable or agile. In fact it needs a entire fleet of ships to support it. What it does do, however, is provide the Klingons with a stable forward base of operations in a particular region, something that smaller vessels just could not provide as proven by the war with the Dominion.

This ship can carry a massive amount of smaller Klingon attack craft, troops, supplies...etc. It projects Klingon power wherever it is deployed.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Darkthunder on April 27, 2013, 08:31:05 PM
Looking at that side-by-side size comparison, it appears at the current scale, the Conqueror would be firing E-2 sized "projectiles" from it's wing mounted cannons.

I don't think it's fair to say "Bigger gun, means more damage". A smaller gun can be equally effective (if not moreso). Instead, i'd look into increasing it's power supply, and possibly increasing the "number of" guns. If an enemy ship manages to knock out one of your "starbase busters", what then? The Conqueror's virtually a sitting duck. The Federation learnt long ago to equip weapons in as many areas as possible, to give a fuller 360-degree coverage.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 27, 2013, 08:42:37 PM
Well, this ship is bristling with weapons, but most you dont see at this scale. If you notice, there are two smaller more reasonable cannons in the nose, about the same size as the ones on the C9. Also note that the ship has 8 forward torpedo tubes, 4 on the wings, 4 in the nose. But it does have disruptor batteries all over the ship.

This vessel is not intended to be used to fight individual ships one on one...again, think of it like an Aircraft Carrier. It's power is projected by the ships and troops it carries. The guns are there to provide a "one shot" destruction of powerful shields, a powerful attack on other dreadnoughts, or defense against the Borg. The guns exist on the surface of Klingon planets, this just made them reasonably mobile.

Besides, disruptor cannons do not fire projectiles. The cannon barrel is a waveguide and a buildup chamber. Unlike the crystals used in phasers, disruptors require chambers to build pulse power before release. This creates energy bolts of immense power, but requires bigger and bigger assemblies for more powerful weapons, and those bolts cannot be directed after release.

Phasers, on the other hand, can be increased in power simply by increasing available power and crystal size or adding elements to the array. They also can be directed after release by manipulating the crystal faces. However, phaser energy overall is lower, and must be applied to the target over time to reach the same destructive power, something that can be countered by stronger shields or energy damping systems.

This is why disruptors are more effective for providing catastrophic levels of immediate destructive power when they strike the target.

I would add that I am open to changing the design to make it less "cannon" like, but still intend to have the destructive weapons incorporated in the design. Visually it can be a bit silly.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 27, 2013, 09:21:37 PM
I would say that the size of the ship is not uncommon in the Star Trek universe, just uncommon for Klingons. We have seen plenty of ships around that size in the genre.

precisely

but if you want it to be a sort of heavy carrier, then by all means... the bigger the better.


I believe the biggest difference between the several kinds of weapons is that torpedoes are rather ballistic (meant to hit targets far away and deliver a big punch with low power drain on the ship), disruptors are rather splashy and faster to operate (meant to counter ships without shields, or to deal a good damage to an area of a ship where you figure your actual target would be), and phasers are more accurate and longer in range (meant to hit moving targets and drain shields without pushing the engines to aim)
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 27, 2013, 09:49:23 PM
Yes, phasers are more accurate, can be steered toward a target, have other uses besides simply destructive means, far wider power adjustment abilities, and are far more efficient and have longer range. They also have smaller weapon assemblies so smaller vessels or vessels with confined spaces can equip weapons where disruptors would not fit.

The drawbacks are that phasers do not apply the beam power all at once, so it can be countered more easily than other weapons, almost always require a target lock in order to strike their target, are very complex weapons that require constant maintenance and they are unusable at warp speed.

Disruptors, on the other hand, are more powerful, can be overloaded on a regular basis without measurable damage to the emitters, and are much more effective against targets when a target lock is not possible, can be fired at warp, are cheaper to manufacture and take far less maintenance to maintain.

Disruptors do not have the power variations that phasers have, they cannot be directed after fire (require the ship to aim itself or moving cannons), are far less accurate and have much lower range. They are purely offensive weapons, disrupting the bonds in matter, as opposed to phasers, which are rapid nadions designed to heat matter at varying degrees to intended effect, essentially vibrating the molecules. Disruptors also tend to be heavier weapons and require long buildup chambers (barrels) to build a bolt of energy for discharge.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 27, 2013, 10:26:58 PM
You keep saying "think of it as an aircraft carrier".

Okay.  Last I checked, aircraft carriers aren't 20 times the size of the next smallest ship. :P

EDIT:  I'm not just doing this to you, I've been a consistent naysayer when it comes to making big ships.  They have to be done just right for me to like them.  This one simply looks way oversized, like it was intended to be much smaller but then upscaled so maybe a certain ship could fit inside.  This is the reason my mobile drydock design has gone through three iterations.  I keep trying to make it more realistic.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 27, 2013, 10:33:00 PM
*aircraft* is the word you're looking for....

*aircraft* carriers are not 20 times the size of the next smaller *ship* because *ships* are not carried by the *aircraft* carrier :P
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 27, 2013, 10:46:05 PM
But this isn't a carrier, it's a starbase-grade assault platform.  Unless it's becoming a Mary Sue, in which case I can't stand those ships. :P
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 27, 2013, 11:57:20 PM
I just got hit by some eureka moment, and thought: why not make the designs obey the actual purpose of the ship, instead of the other way around?

look at this ship:
picture here (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3gnmFateYFg/TuzbrPU6JSI/AAAAAAAAKng/g_Fiu-KD0Ms/s1600/100417-N-8710W-001.jpg)

sure it's ugly,... but it wasn't built like a traditional ship, it was built to sail in shallow waters.
to do that, you need a smaller hull... with a smaller hull, you cant fit your regular amount of weapons... and if you don't carry your regular amount of weapons, you don't need your regular crew compliment...
so, scrap the surplus quarters and accomodations, and fit a bigger cargo hold and advanced computers,... and you got yourself a light attack cruiser.

now, they might not be firing rockets into land any time soon, but they surely pack a punch against anything smaller than a warship and against any coastal defences.
which is what they might be facing, since they're a coastal patrol :P

you want a carrier? fine...
which ship you want to carry and why?
what maintenance equipment you need to service that class of ship?
how much space does all that take?
how much does it weight?
what kind of power you can get out of your biggest engine?
how much space does that engine take?
....

well,... you get the idea  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 28, 2013, 12:52:43 AM
That's how I try to design my ships these days.  I got over my "My Enterprise F haz cool curvy lines that add +5 attack!" "But it just looks like you made a Sovereign class a bit bigger..." design phase a year or two back.  That's why you're seeing less original stuff of mine being output.  I've been doing a lot of refining.

If the Conqueror needs to be a carrier/command/control ship, it need not be exponentially larger than its smaller brethren for the sake of cool factor or Klingon bravado.  The reason ships like the Negh'var have volume ratios between components like they do is because generally they make sense.  Weapons need to be so-so big to generate enough firepower to damage a Galaxy class, roughly a hundred Klingon warriors are needed for sure to maintain the weapons, they'd need an area the size of a football field for living, weapons need to be powered by fusion reactors, throw in another hundred Klingons, including the warp core engineers...  The ships roughly makes sense for crew to weapon areas to engineering facilites to hull size ratios.

The Conqueror has in its current form the capacity for hundreds of thousands of individuals if you did the volume calculations (there is a way to do that in 3ds Max).  Start budgeting that out... ten thousand engineers?  Are they living in quarters in the nacelles, just above the massive weapons so if a single circuit starts getting damaged they can spacewalk into the massive barrel to fix it?  Is the structural integrity compromised by having the impulse engines centrally mounted causing the wings to shear off due to massive inertia, or will hundreds of single fusion reactors be spread along the aft edges of the wings to distribute the force...

Yeah.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 28, 2013, 04:37:03 AM
on second thought..... these are questions you probably can answer by designing ships to be balanced to a mod such as galaxy charts

too bad new frontier was terminated.... that would have made ships, designs, and playability much richer.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 28, 2013, 07:11:48 AM
Hmm.

Well, you guys are assuming quite a bit, and making a few obvious mistakes to boot.

First, the ratio is not that far from a modern ration comparing a battleship to a modern carrier. The "20 times the size" is a rather blatant exaggeration probably influenced by a desire to keep ships small. Understandable but certainly not objective.

Second, the idea that a ship this size has to be filled with 10s of thousands of personnel based on it's size is another example of non-objective observation. Plenty of MASSIVE ships have very small crews in naval groups around the world.

Now, I'm finding myself defending it's size to what seems like two people. And that's fine...you make some good points, bigger is not necessarily better and I can respect that. One could make the same argument that the Galaxy class was a ridiculous over sized exaggeration compared to the original Enterprise...and in fact that argument has been made.

In this case, however, the size will remain as it is. There are reasons for it's size and I simply disagree with both of you.

I do appreciate your input however.

I am, however, willing to adjust the barrels, perhaps make them less blatant.


PS: If you really hate the size of this ship, your going to absolutely loath the Infinity class. You must also really dislike the DVoridex. Not to mention the Hutet or the Dominion Dreadnoughts.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 28, 2013, 07:23:17 AM
But this isn't a carrier, it's a starbase-grade assault platform.  Unless it's becoming a Mary Sue, in which case I can't stand those ships. :P

It is an FOB, carrier, heavy transport and troop transport. It was designed to force project for an entire area of interest to the Empire.

It would take 20 Capital ships to fill the roles that this ship provides. Although it does have a support fleet, the overall fleet is much smaller than what would normally be required for a proper force projection FOB.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 28, 2013, 08:22:11 AM
ok, maybe we're overreacting....
but I do mean the thing about the redesign.... now that you have the technology to make carriers and advanced ships, you have the ability to make this ship actually launch BOP's or other ships, or to change between weapon configurations through MVAM.
with that in mind, if you decide to model a launching bay or different gun mountings, you'll have to test how they perform with the tech script you decide to use.... and that's hitting the limitations of that script.
and from there on, you'll have to adjust the model to satisfy both look and playability....
.... that is rather like designing an actual warship....... very vaguely.... but still, similar....


PS: If you really hate the size of this ship, your going to absolutely loath the Infinity class. You must also really dislike the DVoridex. Not to mention the Hutet or the Dominion Dreadnoughts.

maybe it is because it's not textured or armed... but I can't say I hate it.
but yes, I do hate the hutet... the dominions, I understand they're ports from lousy formats, so I get their being buggy.
but, in all, they're not bad designs.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 28, 2013, 08:52:26 AM
ok, maybe we're overreacting....
but I do mean the thing about the redesign.... now that you have the technology to make carriers and advanced ships, you have the ability to make this ship actually launch BOP's or other ships, or to change between weapon configurations through MVAM.
with that in mind, if you decide to model a launching bay or different gun mountings, you'll have to test how they perform with the tech script you decide to use.... and that's hitting the limitations of that script.
and from there on, you'll have to adjust the model to satisfy both look and playability....
.... that is rather like designing an actual warship....... very vaguely.... but still, similar....


maybe it is because it's not textured or armed... but I can't say I hate it.
but yes, I do hate the hutet... the dominions, I understand they're ports from lousy formats, so I get their being buggy.
but, in all, they're not bad designs.


And thats fair I think. Some people hate large designs, and for good reason. I concentrate on smaller designs (note the lineage below the E-7 going all the way down to the E-2) and, if a game or mod was accurate you would never see this ship as a playable ship, since perhaps one or two would exist in the universe and would rarely be seen.

The argument that Klingons force multiply by deploying many smaller but well armed ships is completely accurate. Large ships for Klingons are supposed to be rare...the mainstay of the Klingon fleet is the Battlecruiser after all.

At any rate, every single part of the ship serves a purpose. There are spots on the ship where other smaller vessels can hard dock, 4 different hangar decks and 14 launch positions for those decks around the ship, and an expansive cargo area that can be converted to house troops.

This is the Klingon counter to the Infinity class, which covers the same role for the Federation fleet. After the Dominion war, and due to the threat of the Borg almost every major race has built some sort of FOB starship.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 28, 2013, 08:11:49 PM
I disagree with the bulk of the ship according to its role.  And yes, 20 times the size is probably fairly close, considering that the ship is several times larger in all three dimensions than a Negh'var.  (The larger Argonaut in this picture (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/83575522/STH/argo1.png) is twice the size of the smaller one, even though it's only 1.25x the length.)

Here's something I sketched up, basically more along the lines of what I would do.  Brimming with guns, drydock facilities for fleet support, and enough deckage to haul an army.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/83575522/Ship%20Designs/IMG_0146.JPG)

Don't worry, you're not the only person I do these kinds of things to.  Go ask WileyCoyote and Flarespire. :P
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Darkthunder on April 28, 2013, 09:57:36 PM
That's a pretty cool concept you got there, Farshot. Would love to see it in 3D at some point. Lord knows, we could certainly use more non-Federation designs.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Kophjaeger on April 29, 2013, 04:59:27 AM
One thing that, if FOB ships are the new countermeasure, should be taken into account is that a mobile drydock is going to be pretty ugly. We have real mobile drydocks, and they are nothing to look at. I actually really really like the idea of this, and being able to withstand some degree of assault (not unsupported though), but the idea of an uber ship, even stylistically, may be going the wrong direction. This is one of the points that, aside from the space city starbases, the Trek universe always beat out the Star Wars world with was believable scaling. How many billions of people would crew a death star... (I'd hate to pay Imperial taxes)? The Klingons especially are honor and glory driven. A 12 man Bird of Prey was ideal because those dozen men share a bigger portion of the credit, but being one of 10,000 ants on the ant hill is not an assignment I'd feel honored to get.

This also doesn't need to massive, it just needs a design that can adapt to fit all sizes. If you need lighting and tooling, mount them on articulating arms. They could (although not practically in BC) retract when not needed, and not be exposed when threatened. Then you are talking a ship not much bigger than the Negh'var, and certainly not at the cost of hundreds the times in materials that it takes to build a bird of prey. Just a thought, and your sketches are quite inspiring.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: KrrKs on April 29, 2013, 05:15:04 AM
I'd love to see the new E-Line ships! (And your C9ers are still the best fannon Klingon designs out there imho!  :bow:)
I'm not sure about the Conqueror; the Neck area seems a bit feature- less, what are your plans for that part?
About the Size:
 -Trek ships (no matter the race) have always gotten bigger over time
 -As evident by the NeghVar and it's mirror counterpart (the most un-klingon design in canon Trek), even the Klingons build giant anti- starbase ships
So a FOB- Ship is not that far of a stretch from there.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: King Class Scout on April 29, 2013, 08:29:43 AM
okay, now i think I get the idea behind the big boy.  I had to look the abbreviation up. 

even I'm guilty of making one of these.  the Cetacean class is one of these, and is the only one of my ships that needs an operations officer to coordinate everything.  heck, even my starbase for mine is a mobile platform.

Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: zgok on April 29, 2013, 12:54:43 PM
Very interesting designs. They look like they will be fun to play with, or blow up with a D'deridex.  :evil:
Great job.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 29, 2013, 01:26:57 PM
shipyard neck > solid neck.

 :thumbsup:

I'm not even talking about the rest of the ship... it's just that tiny little detail of carving the neck out what makes the ship attractive.
without it, it's just an oversized regular klingon design.

make a good ship, you have the TOS connie
make it more detailed, you have the TMP connie
add size and improve the lighting, you got the Galaxy
add quantum torpedoes, you got the Sovereign

...if you find a signature feature, and find a way to deliver it whether by crafting or storytelling, you got a likeable design.
works not only for ships, but for nearly anything out there that is a piece of design.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 29, 2013, 04:05:14 PM
Hey Nighthawk, I like your concepts on ship design.  We should collaborate on some designs like I have with Saquist and WileyCoyote.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on April 29, 2013, 04:23:36 PM
well, I can hardly convince a modder of doing my designs, I can only provide a different point of view.
if I had the skills to draw a good design, or to craft a model fast enough, I'd present the material idea right away.... I just have concepts and references to facts and experiences :P
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: BFGfreak on April 29, 2013, 05:26:07 PM
Well the main problem I can see is how resource intensive an extremely large ship would be. I mean first of all it would require the materials of a starbase to simply build the craft, but then you have the issue of how do you move the bloody thing. Finally building such a large craft is extremely hard to build in secret so unless the Klingons build it in segments with nobody getting the whole blueprint, the other powers would find out about it's construction.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Vortex on April 30, 2013, 09:44:18 AM
Resources shouldn't be a problem. How many large bases do the Klingon's have? I'm sure there must be some but I don't think we've been told of any. Also, the Feds have no problem finding resources to build giant starbases and hundreds of thousands of ships.

As for how it would move... engines. It'd be rather sluggish but then as has been mentioned, this isn't an attack ship or a ship that's designed for solo missions. It's a support craft. In a way, it makes more sense for the Klingon's to have this rather than permanent starbases, given how battle orientated they are.

I think the size is fine for what is being aimed for, but there definitely needs to be something more done to it so it doesn't just look like any other Klingon ship that's been scaled up. I like the drydock/neck idea, they could operate similar to those twin drydocks we saw in Enterprise.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on April 30, 2013, 12:40:01 PM
I will speak to some of the background on this ship, though I'm not quite finished with it yet and this is subject to change.



After the war with the Dominion it was discovered that the biggest weakness that the KDF had as a full engagement fleet was the lack of FOB's. That combined with the lack of vessels that can carry substantial amounts of troops or materials to the battlefront caused the Klingon Empire to decide that construction of FOB's along it's border was paramount.

It was discovered, however, that there were very few static locations that the Empire could deploy stationary stations that would support a large operating fleet. Over the last 150 years the Klingon Empire's borders have expanded and contracted over 300 times. It was decided another solution was needed.

After some research it was discovered that the enemy, the Dominion, had the solution...a mobile FOB, or the Jem Hadar "Dominator", their super battleship. This vessel was extremely effective for the Dominion with respect to forward operations, and the extension of it's power across Cardassian territory. The vessel was not generally used for direct combat operations...instead it existed as an anchor for an entire operating fleet, transported massive amounts of material and troops safely across territories, and supported major fleet operations and assault missions providing a command platform and heavy weapons support.

Dominion shipbuilding technology, widely utilized now by the major powers in the Alpha and Beta quadrants afforded the Empire the opportunity to construct this vessel within a reasonable time period and was adopted for manufacture. Materials salvaged from the Kor Borea Dominion shipyards provided most of the materials needed.

The design is unique in the way that this ship, much like the SMS Infinity is closer to a mobile starbase than an actual starship. Many of it's internal components are taken directly from Class 4 and 5 Battlestation designs. As such it can provide similar support to a full operating fleet in deep space.

Opposition to the design and construction of the Conqueror was widespread, as most Klingons opposed this kind of design as contrary to the spirit of the KDF. The cost to manufacture just one of these vessels was difficult for many Klingons to accept. But in the end the design and it's deployment received support from the Emporer, and to this date 3 vessels have been completed and deployed in service of the fleet.


It will probably receive a few rewrites before I make it official for this vessel. I still have to add a few more details, dates, etc but you get the general idea.


BTW Farshot, fantastic work on that concept, that is very close to a combat transport concept I was messing around with. I think your concept is far superior to this one.

(http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq17/nightsoft/transportconcept.jpg)
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on April 30, 2013, 12:54:37 PM
That's frighteningly similar in both shape and render angle. :lostit:

Backstory sounds good.  Still think the ship can be scaled down a bit though.  And what's this Infinity you keep referencing?
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Kophjaeger on April 30, 2013, 02:33:59 PM
I like that write up, it takes into account alot of the pragmatic aspects of program. Did you mean that they incorporated existing bases into the structure?

An idea that meets in the middle on material consumption, and also fits with Klingon construction practices, is instead of super massive wings, which have the scaled up look, why not have a wing of normal depth, and add trussing and braces for structural reinforcement. Also, since this is geared as a mobile operations center as opposed to an assault ship, forward facing armaments are not very practical. Point defenses, and turrets are more critical than offensive weapons. Cloaking makes the see them first, turn into the attack tactic ineffective. Indeed, a defense oriented posting would be an unpleasant notion for a Klingon, but you state very well why this makes sense.

Your cargo pod sketch opens up another possibility. What if this platform allowed for modular outfitting? A space dock seems rational, but what if it could be fitted with several, in tow, or side by side. Or have cargo modules added to it?
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: tiqhud on April 30, 2013, 06:30:43 PM
I like this backstory, it makes PERFECT sense :yay:
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on May 01, 2013, 03:09:20 AM
I'm not against downsizing it a bit. I will have to adjust the size of the bridge (it is currently matched to the C9, with a fleet command bridge area below the ship control bridge).

A few things. It has to comfortably launch Maveq size ships. There is no need to contain ships like a BOP because they are already designed to be deep space vessels. The Maveq is not, however.

Second, it has to be able to carry around 20000 troops. Think of an entire invasion force. There is no need to have the dropship vessels since the ship is designed to handle massive movement of troops using transporters. It does carry a few large dropships however to carry around 1000 troops total.

This ship should carry a squadron of 15 fighters, and enough cargo capacity to replace 4 Ferengi Groumall type standard cargo carriers.

(side note: I contend the Groumall is actually a Ferengi design sold to the Klingons, Breen and Cardassians. This is my way to explain why they use the same ship with some small changes)

This vessel has 3 distinct power cores...one in each wing contained entirely in the nacelle/cannon assemblies at the end of the wings, and one in the mainframe hull of the ship, as well as 20 power and impulse cores. She carries a crew of almost 2500, including two distinct engineering crews and a hangar deck crew.

This is the anchor to an operational fleet, and requires support vessels for normal operations. An operational FOB fleet containing this vessel would normally contain 2 Battleships, 4 battlecruisers and around one dozen smaller escort and support craft, 10 of which are usually BOP. This vessel can support a full fleet as large as 300 vessels.

Now, to the weapons. This vessel will have many moving disruptor batteries across the hull. It will also have a few rotating torpedo launchers. The forward heavy weaponry is designed to engage something akin to a Capital Dreadnought, planetary target or Starbase, generally not targets that would have huge maneuverability. This weakness for the ship is important, because the devastating weapons would not be effective against smaller vessels since the entire ship has to be aimed to fire them. The ship is not really designed for that purpose.

The armor this ship has comprises about 40 percent of it's total displacement. Most Klingon vessels average around a 25 to 30 percent ratio for armor, so this ship is more akin to a Gorn ship with respect to armor, or the same as a Starbase or Battlestation. As a result, it tends to be slow and lethargic with respect to turning ability and has a maximum cruising speed of Warp 6.5. It can, however, push speed to Warp 8 for very short periods.

The other unique thing about this ship is that, much like most stations, it has the ability to manufacture materials for ship repair with the machinery needed on board. It even contains a dilitium refinement machine and can produce small quantities of core grade dilithium.

BTW, here is a few pics of the Infinity class. I'll post more pics and info on this ship later. All I will say now is this is the flagship of the Federation 3rd Fleet, the Starfleet Marine Corps. If your wondering about the scale....look at the nacelles. That should give a clue.

(http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq17/nightsoft/infinityschematic.jpg)

(http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq17/nightsoft/infinityscale.jpg)

Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: King Class Scout on May 01, 2013, 08:37:22 AM
these are truly capital ships in the vein of SW StarDestroyers and MonCal cruisers from the original trilogy canon (the only ones that I can think of off the top of my head)

the backstory for the Klingon one makes sense with the continuously variable border.  too bad I lost most of my background detail over the years, either to crashed computers or "they just didn't care" moments (my mother would slip over and clean when she was more mobile, and everything would go in the bin)
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: FarShot on May 01, 2013, 11:56:46 AM
Unlike the Conqueror, which to me just looks like an overscaled smaller ship, that Infinity hits what a large Federation ship should look like right on the head.  Redundant, smaller nacelles, a large thick body that is not compromised by forces of inertia acting on extremities...

I approve. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on May 02, 2013, 12:31:39 AM
Well, that's a pleasant surprise :)

The Infinity was designed in that shape for a few reasons, one of them being that the ship was designed with the ability to ram other ships. I had to create a shape that could slice through other ships and clear the wreckage.

The ship carries a special weapon on board called a soliton shockwave disruptor. It has two uses...the first is a hull discharge, where the solitons wash over the hull. The ship goes into a corkscrew spin and a "comet" effect is created, allowing the vessel to "drill" through a large vessel like a Borg cube. It can do this up to three times before the soliton plates have to be replaced. This determined the shape of the hull, allowing it to efficiently "drill" through other large vessels.

The second mode is a forward discharge which releases a soliton shockwave forward of the ship. This wave has huge destructive power and is a one shot weapon.

Both of these uses are written into the Star Trek Infinity fiction.

The hull of this ship is comprised of a neutronium molybdnium composite. It also has pure neutronium plates retracted in the hull that can be deployed during combat situations.

There is more information about this ship, but im actually getting off topic. Ill start a different one for the Infinity. Im still refining it's shape.
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Nighthawk on May 02, 2013, 12:41:11 AM
Unlike the Conqueror, which to me just looks like an overscaled smaller ship, that Infinity hits what a large Federation ship should look like right on the head.  Redundant, smaller nacelles, a large thick body that is not compromised by forces of inertia acting on extremities...

I thought the same... as opposed to the conqueror looking oversized against the C9, the infinity looks big of course, but just right.

Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: nxadam1701 on May 03, 2013, 12:45:52 AM
 :bow:Awesome. I love the backstory to both. Great work!!

Adam
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: starship on May 03, 2013, 10:01:13 AM
Uau Raven!
You built it all directly from your mind, or did a few sketches first?
By the way, your old page with those handdrawings has gone forever? :)
Title: Re: Klingon ship scale concepts...
Post by: Raven Night on May 03, 2013, 10:04:28 AM
I still have the sketches. The page is down for now, I create all of my vessels from hand drawn concepts first.