Shouldn't the ship designs have more variaty?

Sgt_G · Post by **Sgt_G** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:29 pm

You know, using the modern day / WWII wet-navy is not really a good example of explaining space ships. A water-borne ship looks like it does because it has to slice thru water. A space ship can be whatever shape the designers want it to be.

But please do re-read my first posts in this topic. Again, Klingon war ships, from the tiny H-1 to the massive B-11, all have the gooseneck because they designed their ships around the tactics they want to use in battle. Likewise, the Feds went to saucers for their own reasons, and Gorns use bubbles because that's what made sense to them. Maybe the shape was based on battle tactics, or maybe the tactics are dictated by the shape. Either way, it was the result of endless compromises. However, by and large, none of the empires found a good reason to use differently shaped ships mixed together in the same fleet. Indeed, they all found it was best to adapt the same basic shape no matter what the size because that eliminated problems they would have run into otherwise.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:37 pm

Garth, I've read your story and it was absolutely excellent. You employed a great idea of how to explain the absence of The Big E during the leadup to the General War.

What I was hinting at would be during the Middle Years period. To be more specific, I have been working on an idea for a scenario that would reference someone who served aboard the Enterprise. No other names would be mentioned, but the fact that it was the Enterprise and a particular mission would be extremely relevant.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:40 pm

Mike wrote:What I was hinting at would be during the Middle Years period. To be more specific, I have been working on an idea for a scenario that would reference someone who served aboard the Enterprise. No other names would be mentioned, but the fact that it was the Enterprise and a particular mission would be extremely relevant.

Well, Steve has already answered the question: No.

ADB is only allowed to list "Enterprise" in the various ship lists and registries. Mentioning the "Enterprise" in a published story is too much risk and won't be done.

Dan Ibekwe · Post by **Dan Ibekwe** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:02 pm

none of the empires found a good reason to use differently shaped ships mixed together in the same fleet

Hydrans excepted, but I guess we don't count.

BTW, excellent story, Garth.

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:12 pm

Sgt_G wrote:
Mike wrote:This brings up an interesting question. Though the names/characters of Kirk, Spock, etc. from TOS are not part of ADB's license agreement, can the ship name Enterprise be used? Ever? I recall seeing Enterprise listed as one of the Federation's ships in a list in an ADB publication. Could the Enterprise be referred to in a fiction piece, for example, as "The Big E" or something like that? And without mentioning any of the names that the license forbids to mention?
Please pardon the shameless self-plug here: http://members.cox.net/garth.getgen/timelines.pdf

Nice story. Right now I'm writing a story about Kirk and the Enterpirse Crew encountering first Juggarnaut and participating in the battle that it was destroyed in.

Sgt_G · Post by **Sgt_G** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:18 pm

Dan Ibekwe wrote:
none of the empires found a good reason to use differently shaped ships mixed together in the same fleet
Hydrans excepted, but I guess we don't count.

Well, who cares about the low-down, dirty-rotten, methane-breathing, trashcan-lookin' Hydrans anyway??

Seriously, tho, even their ships are the same basic shape. So what some have the warp engines on the inside and others on the outside? The ships themselves are all wedge or chisle shaped. If anything, they're bizzar because of the HB vs Fusion + fighter mix.

Sgt_G · Post by **Sgt_G** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:23 pm

Seth wrote:Right now I'm writing a story about Kirk and the Enterpirse Crew encountering first Juggarnaut and participating in the battle that it was destroyed in.

Well, as SVC said, he wouldn't be able to publish it. Heck, his lawyer suggested he not publish my TIMELINES story because it pushed the limits too far.

On the flip side, see the thread in the General Discussions / Snap Count topic. If you should post a story with too much SFB/Fed Cmdr elements in it on a web site, say for example on FanFic.com, then SVC might send you a "friendly request" that it be removed. The reasons were explained in the other tread.

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:44 pm

Sgt_G wrote: If you should post a story with too much SFB/Fed Cmdr elements in it on a web site, say for example on FanFic.com, then SVC might send you a "friendly request" that it be removed. The reasons were explained in the other tread.

The only SFB/FC elements in the story are the Juggernaut and the battle that it was destroyed in.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:46 am

I thought the Juggernaut Alpha destruction was "well documented" and already "set in SFU literary stone."

DorianGray · Post by **DorianGray** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:31 pm

I have a question.

The Star Fleet Command games by Interplay was set completely in the Star Fleet Battles Universe. Did ADM give the license to the software company who developed these titles?

Also someone, said I want my favorite ships from TNG included. That is ridiculous, I never said anything of that sort. I said we could take inspiration on some design concepts and implement them. I also recommended some of the ship designs from Star Fleet Command which is not paramount's license.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:06 pm

Star Fleet Command had to obtain licenses from BOTH Paramount and ADB. (BTW, it is ADB, not ADM.) Those licenses have also expired by now. ADB cannot use any of the SFC designs because they never had license to them, and because they really don't have any way to get license for them.

Basically, the ship designs are what the ship designs are. It isn't going to change, and there really isn't any way for it to change.

Now, I will say that if you want to have interesting, different designs, go try the two SFB: Early Years modules (Y1 and Y2). The original Federation national fleets all have different designs, and the Terran and early ISC designs in Y2 are all completely different (including within single national fleets).

LordLobo · Post by **LordLobo** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:22 pm

Scoutdad wrote:Would a massive letter writing campaign to Paramount convince them to add Lyrans to the next ST movie do any good???

Go watch Wing Commander and think about that for a minute...

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:04 pm

Good point...

Post by **Steve Cole** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:19 pm

I cannot count the number of people who think we have the rights to the SFC ships. We don't. They reverted to Paramount and I wouldn't bet a penny against a million dollars that Paramount would give us the rights to those ships for any amount on any basis.

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:44 pm

A fair question to say "Why can't XYZ be done more like ABC, which I like better?" And I think good and fair answers have been given.

There are elements of both SFU and STU that leave me scratching my head and saying "But it would be so much better *this* way..." If all agreed on what those elements were and what the better way would be there would be a lot fewer deba- err - discussions about how things *ought* to be.

Garth, I can see why your story comes very close to the edge. I could hear the actor's voices reading most of the lines...

SFU ship designs, I like that each race has a design style. The Romulans are the best, they get 3! Granted I think that Lyran hull colours look a bit too "camp" and consider both Klingon booms and Federation engine struts to be potential design weak points. But I can except the reasons why they are the way they are.