Starship Taxonomy: Class and Type

 "Are you willing to help us overpower the Romulan B-type Warbirds we may encounter?  Are you prepared to help us detect them through their cloaking shields?  You see my problem, Admiral."

                        - Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Romulan Admiral Alidar Jarok, 2366

Picard later refers to the "Warbird Class starship", presumably the Federation designation of the D'Deridex Class.   On this and, as I recall, another occasion on screen (but not this), spacecraft were referred to not just by class, but with an additional letter designator, suggesting subtypes.  I don't think we need a huge taxonomic heirarchy here, but the simple fact is that the Enterprise-B, for instance, would thus seem to be a B-Type Excelsior (conveniently).   The Enterprise refit and 1701-A would be a B-type (or perhaps C-type or D-type) Constitution.

There's more than just this, though . . . including some surprises.

Starships and Continuity of Style

The Star Trek Original Universe was fantastic for many reasons, but not the least of them was an effort at stylistic consistency with the ships over the fifty years of production.   A knowledgeable fan could look at a Federation starship and be able to tell you, within a handful of decades at worst, about when the ship class had been designed and first built over the two hundred year history of Starfleet . . . or pick out when something just doesn't look right.

Such stylistic consistency is not something you just accidentally happen upon.   

May 10, 2022 at 05:49PM on Reddit's STBridgeCommander

Bridge Commander and its modding community don't seem to get as much respect as they should. The sad thing for me is the fact that so many modding forums and resources seem to be gone, with the Wayback Machine only having snippets, so the "winging it" I've been doing for years seems now to be just about all there is to do. I've been working on telling those few stories over at my new sub-blog, though I could probably move them here, as well.

Do you have any mod resources you'd like to share or post?

Submitted May 10, 2022 at 05:49PM by STvSWdotNet https://ift.tt/FCBPnJj

Spatial Torpedo Technology and The Romulan War

 The original weapons loadout aboard the NX Class ship featured spatial torpedoes, but the destructive technology and yield was never specified.  We can make some guesses, however, and clear up a few myths that seem to have cropped up.

January 31, 2022 at 05:30PM on Reddit's Tenagra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8b0yuBIOps

Submitted January 31, 2022 at 05:30PM by STvSWdotNet https://ift.tt/iY2Alkpmo