Upgraded Akira QT boat

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Good! Because I still want to see the first one-klick federation ship!

Not only would a larger vessel have heavier firepower, but it could handle longer ranged missions with less support. A large enough vessel could even be self-supporting allowing a ship to travel farther then any previous class of ships.

[Captain Seafort]

I don't know. You could do a pretty good storyline where the AQ bands together to take on the Borg in ships like that. It'd be really interesting to see how the Borg react.

We're still only seeing very young civilisations fighting it out - the Borg, Trek's greatest power, have been a major power for less then a millenia, and control only a fraction of the Galaxy. Compared to Star Wars' Galactic Republic, or the Culture, or ultimately the Time Lords, that's a pathetic scale. Each sci-fi universe has it's own niche in the genre, and if any of them try pushing into a different one the chances are it'll fall flat.

[Jordanis]

I don't know. You could do a pretty good storyline where the AQ bands together to take on the Borg in ships like that. It'd be really interesting to see how the Borg react.

We're still only seeing very young civilisations fighting it out - the Borg, Trek's greatest power, have been a major power for less then a millenia, and control only a fraction of the Galaxy. Compared to Star Wars' Galactic Republic, or the Culture, or ultimately the Time Lords, that's a pathetic scale. Each sci-fi universe has it's own niche in the genre, and if any of them try pushing into a different one the chances are it'll fall flat.

Given the observed pace of technology, I think such a match-up with such tech would be not much more than another jump in time like from TOS to TNG. All you need is a wormhole/warp highway/plot device into Borg space and you're set without really changing the scale of the series.

[Captain Seafort]

The observed technology has barely changed for centuries, per La Forge in "Relics", and the inherent scope of a Galactic war would certainly change the scale of the series. Thus far the Borg have only been encountered on a single-ship basis - if a full scale war were launched it would change Trek from it's current status of a small power exploring space to a power utterly dedicated to fighting an enemy larger, more powerful and more advanced than them. The Dominion War arc of DS9 suceeded because it was limited to merely defeating the Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrent, and because DS9 was already well-established. An all-out Borg war would consume any new series of Trek utterly, and would involve a stuggle for the fate of the entire galaxy - far beyond the scaope of previously established Trek.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

The observed technology has barely changed for centuries, per La Forge in "Relics", and the inherent scope of a Galactic war would certainly change the scale of the series. Thus far the Borg have only been encountered on a single-ship basis - if a full scale war were launched it would change Trek from it's current status of a small power exploring space to a power utterly dedicated to fighting an enemy larger, more powerful and more advanced than them. The Dominion War arc of DS9 suceeded because it was limited to merely defeating the Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrent, and because DS9 was already well-established. An all-out Borg war would consume any new series of Trek utterly, and would involve a stuggle for the fate of the entire galaxy - far beyond the scaope of previously established Trek.

Assuming the Borg survived the virus. But there's also the new uber-tech that would be deployed to every ship in the fleet, and allies if necessary. With that kind of firepower the Borg would be crushed.

[Deepcrush]

I wouldn't doubt that they survived but by now they are also in full out civil war. The drones from unimatrix zero are out and free and slowly taking over ships. To think of it, that would make a very fun story line to write from.

[sunnyside]

Back on the torps I think we get the numbers we do because I bet the writers pull their inspiration from modern day ships. For example the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer carries 90. And the total volume of the ship that they take up is small. And this is on a ship whose whole purpose is mostly those missiles.

And that may not be so unreasonable. I mean I don't know why the Burkes don't pack a lot of missiles in. But I'm sure there is a darn good reason. So maybe the writers think warships of the future should have similar limitations, and perhaps moreso for multirole ships (I.e. the Akira being a carrier).

In world, a reason could be that, like in present day, the weapons represent a notable expenditure of resources instead of simply being junk you could bang out in your personal replicator along with your tea.

I mean they've got warp sustainers. Maybe those require some non-replicable resource like dilithium. So you can either have a hundred torpedos or another warp core for a new ship.

The torps also are injected with antimater prior to launch. So maybe there is a restriction on that resource on the ships and having more casings on board would be like having more brass casings but no bullets or powder.

Of course the details don't need to be known. All you need to factor in is that torpedos require non trivial resources to create.

At that point it makes sense to have ships that can empty their stores somewhat quickly. So long as there are enough torps on board for multiple kills you'll do better launching 90 torpedos fast than 360 torpedos slowly becuase ships would be getting destroyed before they get a chance to unload.

[Jordanis]

If the writers are basing it on modern missile destroyers, it's not very smart of them, since those are one-hit-one-kill (or at the very least, one-hit-crippling-damage) weapons. Anyway, that 90 is 90 vertical launch tubes, too, since those launchers can't be reloaded at sea. That takes up a lot more space than stacking 90 missiles belowdecks.

[D. Sergez]

the Akira is primarily a Torpedo Boat, with some 15 tubes she should easily have over 1,000 torps. but your forgetting one fact. With thousands of ships , producing Torpedos would be expensive, and ntm the Akira was in mass-production during the dominion war, they probably woudn't want there QT's dissapearing for no good reason, I am sure they had a few versions of Akira refitted with the QT's,

[kostmayer]

Good! Because I still want to see the first one-klick federation ship!

Is the Galaxy Class the largest Federation ship to date? I can't think of any that are even the same size.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Good! Because I still want to see the first one-klick federation ship!

Is the Galaxy Class the largest Federation ship to date? I can't think of any that are even the same size.

The Soverigns are longer(670+ meters vs 640 meters) but the Galaxys are taller(42 decks vs 26 or 29 decks)

[kostmayer]

Never figured the Sovereigns as longer, although they are much sleeker so it makes sense I guess. Presumably the Galaxy has more mass.

[Jordanis]

Galaxy is marked as 4,960,000 metric tons, Sovereign as 3,500,000 metric tons in DITL. The Sovereign mass is a complete speculation vs backstage info for the Galaxy, though.

[D. Sergez]

the Galaxy is the largest Fed ship to date. I can somewat proove myself.
to find that out just figure the largest cube shap to see the difference... using the L*H*W = V formula. even though its not a Cube it still shows the difference is size.

Galaxy:
641x470x145

43,684,150m3 = 43,700,150 m3 just for a better figure.

so not only is the galaxy taller she is much wider.

Soverign

680x240x87

14,198,400

Devide the Soverigns Cubical mass into the Galaxies and...

0.32502406479237892919972118033658

which rounds to

32.5% the volume of the Soverign, this is a test of size, not weight.

[Captain Seafort]

The problem with using a simple length/beam/height cuboid is that the Galaxy's saucer is a lot wider than the engineering hull and is raised a fair way above it, while the Sov is a much better approximation of a solid block within its extreme dimensions. Calculations from here give the GCS a volume of approximately 5.82 million m^3, the Sov 2.43 million m^3, and the Neb 4.44 million m^3, so the Neb is approximately 3/4 the size of the Galaxy, and the Sov approximately 2/5 the size.