What Makes A Good Design?

posted on November 2nd, 2005, 2:56 am

As you all know, some fan designs look better than others. Some compel you to immediately save to them your desktop, others compel you to immedeatly run to your bathroom and barf. But what makes a good design what it is? This does.

posted on November 2nd, 2005, 5:47 am

serches post, i know I wrote this somewhere. oh yeah here it is...

Simple formula
* Simple Shape, with the exception of the most recent soveriegn class all fed ships have a very simple shape.
* 2 Nacelles in general good designs must feature 2 nacelles or nacelle like structures
* Very Few addons (torp pods ect. nebula and miranda are about the only ones that can pull this off but it flows with their shape)
* Realistic proportions weight wise, (it doesn't need to look like if the ship was in gravity it would go like this or /
* Recognizable Deflector dish and foward and aft with Nacelle structure in aft
* a saucer neck engineering nacelle structure even seen in defiant and orbeth
* fluid, no jutty objects or useless weight to "make it look stronger"
* medium sized the feds build cruisers if you haven't picked up on this by now you don't know star trek

posted on November 2nd, 2005, 9:36 am

anything where you can see that practicality and simplicity have come BEFORE coolness...

if its COOL its CRAP, plz remember, thx.

posted on November 2nd, 2005, 10:53 am

Well according to those rules the Steamrunner and defiant wheren't allowed to be made. Also the intrepid due to it's short warp nacells

[chancedoggydog]

posted on November 2nd, 2005, 3:40 pm

Last edited by chancedoggydog on November 2nd, 2005, 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

more info on starship design of warp nacells

http://www.trekmania.net/the_fleet/utopia/unified_theory.htm

posted on November 2nd, 2005, 6:38 pm

the steamrunner and defiant do actually follow the basics of ST ship design, the necelles tips are called ramscoup (cant spell it) but there basically the same as an air intake of a car.

they draw in random particles from space to be used in fusion to create energy.

the steamrunner and defiant alough they dont have the pilons they do have two necelles running threw their hulls.

its very difficult to say weather an un-cannon ship would actually work because of the outragous physics the ST universe uses. but if you are designing a ship and stick to the 3 rules of warp field generation you cant go wrong.

Rule #1 Warp nacelles *must* be in pairs.
An odd number of fields cannot reignforce the overall field.

Rule #2 Warp necelles cannot be longer than 50% of the total length of the hull.

Rule #3 Both warp nacelles must be fully visible from the front.

other guide lines my or may not help but ultimately if you dont follow these rules your prettymuch garanteed to get a bad ship.

these rules apply to all races and designs not just federation.

[Cpt Ryan]

posted on November 3rd, 2005, 12:43 pm

Last edited by Cpt Ryan on November 3rd, 2005, 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

er i don't think i take all this into consideration when i look at a proposed ship design, & i doubt there are many people who do. i know what i like and what i dont.. i just look at the individual ship and say "yeah i like that" or *girly scream* with a "what the h ell is that" once i have composed myself again

posted on November 3rd, 2005, 5:03 pm

well it isn't so much that we take into consideration so much as when we look at a design we recognize it as being good ^_^ and the above "stuff" was probably why

[Anonymous]

posted on November 4th, 2005, 2:15 am

Last edited by Anonymous on November 4th, 2005, 2:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

This is what happens when these rules are abused:




Be afraid. Be very afraid.

----EDIT----

By the way, this ship is classified as a battleship. You're scared now, arn't you? I can see you shaking like a leaf. Go ahead, run crying to your mommy. No one will think the less of you, because we all want run crying to our mommy's, too.

posted on November 4th, 2005, 2:48 am

What the.. what... oh my... oh, how could someone ever torment me to draw that?

[Anonymous]

posted on November 4th, 2005, 2:53 am

Last edited by Anonymous on November 4th, 2005, 2:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

This... this... this monstrosity is something that even I would say doesn't have a place in Fleet Ops. At least, not until **** freezes over, anyway.

In the words of Cpt Ryan, *girly scream* What the **** is that!?!

posted on November 4th, 2005, 3:30 am

i wish this tread was on http://armada2.filefront.com/ so meny modlers dont know thes rules

posted on November 4th, 2005, 8:35 am

all the ships there look quite ok, besides. those modders make ships what they like best and not some guy who doesn't know how to mod will force him to change his design. besides all the uncannon ships are mostly kitbashes anyway or resembles alot like a sovereign or galaxy. if the kitbash is nicely done so why not. the rules are meant to be bent. it is not carved in stone.

posted on November 4th, 2005, 12:00 pm

but you have to know the rules to bind tham. meny a mod i see dont have eny basic under standing of the rules.

posted on November 4th, 2005, 2:34 pm

"The rules" as you put it are flexbile, it is science fiction after all.
you see modellers have to put a lot of effort into designing a ship and if a ship designed by me, the FO team or anyone doesn't fit these rules exactly then why should the be critizied.

The rules govening nacelles can be explained away by new warp field control technology or something.

The rules are explained away in some startrek episodes (espically about the defiant)

I mean even the FO team have broken these rules with the Remore Class. If you cannot design and model a ship yourselves you have no right to critize what we manage to achieve because it doesn't follow your rules.