What I would like to do is start a series of definitive reseach and data collection forum threads that could be quick references to the new developers on what we, as the fans, are expecting from STO.

As good a place to start as any, please discuss which ships from Starfleet and other races should be featured in STO. Please be realistic. Assuming that the new developer follows the previous path and sets STO in the future, there obviously would not be an NX Class flying around.

So, I'll get started by listing the classes of ships I believe would still be in service in 2404:

Sovereign
Galaxy
Prometheus
Intrepid
Defiant
Nebula
Nova
Akira
Danube
Delta Flyer
Norway
Saber
Steamrunner

Classes that could be in service, but should be limited due to age, and ready to be decommisioned:

Niagra
Freedom
New Orleans
Ambassador
Centaur

Classes that should only be in the Starfleet Museum:

NX
Constitution
Excelsior
Miranda
Oberth
Constellation
Soyuz

I know this may make me an unpopular fellow. After all, the Excelsior and Miranda classes are quite popular, and yes, they were seen in the Dominion War.

However, if the year is 2404, and we saw so many of these ships in service during the Dominion War, it would stand to reason that their numbers would have been heavily thinned, and eventually Starfleet would have put them out to pasture.

Fact is, they do not belong to the modern Trek era. They don't look right when sitting next to a Galaxy class or Soveriegn or Nova class vessel, there is no reason to believe that they would be able to accept all the technology upgrades necessary to make them modernized, and after over 100 years of service, everyone deserves to enjoy their old age!

I would say that if the devs INSIST on using the Excelsior or Miranda classes, they should have very limited duties and capabilities, such as patrol assignments in the Sol sector and diplomatic runs to places like Vulcan, Q'onos, Andoria, etc.

What I would like to do is start a series of definitive reseach and data collection forum threads that could be quick references to the new developers on what we, as the fans, are expecting from STO.

As good a place to start as any, please discuss which ships from Starfleet and other races should be featured in STO. Please be realistic. Assuming that the new developer follows the previous path and sets STO in the future, there obviously would not be an NX Class flying around.

So, I'll get started by listing the classes of ships I believe would still be in service in 2404:

Sovereign
Galaxy
Prometheus
Intrepid
Defiant
Nebula
Nova
Akira
Danube
Delta Flyer
Norway
Saber
Steamrunner

Classes that could be in service, but should be limited due to age, and ready to be decommisioned:

Niagra
Freedom
New Orleans
Ambassador
Centaur

Classes that should only be in the Starfleet Museum:

NX
Constitution
Excelsior
Miranda
Oberth
Constellation
Soyuz

I know this may make me an unpopular fellow. After all, the Excelsior and Miranda classes are quite popular, and yes, they were seen in the Dominion War.

However, if the year is 2404, and we saw so many of these ships in service during the Dominion War, it would stand to reason that their numbers would have been heavily thinned, and eventually Starfleet would have put them out to pasture.

Fact is, they do not belong to the modern Trek era. They don't look right when sitting next to a Galaxy class or Soveriegn or Nova class vessel, there is no reason to believe that they would be able to accept all the technology upgrades necessary to make them modernized, and after over 100 years of service, everyone deserves to enjoy their old age!

I would say that if the devs INSIST on using the Excelsior or Miranda classes, they should have very limited duties and capabilities, such as patrol assignments in the Sol sector and diplomatic runs to places like Vulcan, Q'onos, Andoria, etc.

Well depending on their system, the NX-Class can be used as a command trainning vessel.  Delta flyer is an exclusive to Voyager, its unknown whether it will be replicated.  Excelsior I think should still be in play with the Miranda because they are fleet work horses, they might be old, but still fairly active.  Some refits should be in the game as well, such as the one for the Excelsior, the USS Lakota, and perhaps the Galaxy X-Class Refit.  The unpopular Yeager class might be put in as well.

...Delta flyer is an exclusive to Voyager, its unknown whether it will be replicated.  Excelsior I think should still be in play with the Miranda because they are fleet work horses, they might be old, but still fairly active.  Some refits should be in the game as well, such as the one for the Excelsior, the USS Lakota, and perhaps the Galaxy X-Class Refit.  The unpopular Yeager class might be put in as well.

First of all, as well designed as the Delta Flyer was, I can't imagine Starfleet passing up on it as a short range multi-person craft, and standardizing it across the fleet for capital ships and starbases. Sure, there is no canon to support it, but of course, there is technically no canon beyond 2379 either.

As for the Excelsior and Miranda classes, those ships were launched in the 2270's and 80s, meaning that the ship design itself is approaching 125 years old. The usefulness of these ships in the fleet would most definitely be limited. Let's say the United States Navy decided to still use 125 year old designs. If that were the case, we would still have monitors and sailing ships from the US Civil War era out on the high seas.

Now, if you think about it, if a 1880's monitor were out on the seas now days against the most advanced nuclear subs, aircraft carriers, heck even against WWII battleships, how long would those ships last? Now apply that to what we saw in the Dominion War. Many of those older designs such as the Mirandas and Excelsiors became nothing more than rubble and debris in the first minutes of fighting against foes such as the Cardassians, Borg and Jem Hadar.

It's a whole new era for Trek. Don't get me wrong, I love the style of the older ships. The Excelsior was always one of my favorites. But her time has past. Would it make sense if we would have seen Constitution class vessels flying around in amongst the Galaxy classes of the Dominion War? Not really. Same goes for some of the other oldies but goodies. There are plenty of canon ships out there with plenty of service life in them. It's time to retire the frontier ships of the Kirk and Sulu era.

IMO

Quote from: Raven on 23 July 2008 09:17 PM

...Delta flyer is an exclusive to Voyager, its unknown whether it will be replicated.  Excelsior I think should still be in play with the Miranda because they are fleet work horses, they might be old, but still fairly active.  Some refits should be in the game as well, such as the one for the Excelsior, the USS Lakota, and perhaps the Galaxy X-Class Refit.  The unpopular Yeager class might be put in as well.

First of all, as well designed as the Delta Flyer was, I can't imagine Starfleet passing up on it as a short range multi-person craft, and standardizing it across the fleet for capital ships and starbases. Sure, there is no canon to support it, but of course, there is technically no canon beyond 2379 either.

As for the Excelsior and Miranda classes, those ships were launched in the 2270's and 80s, meaning that the ship design itself is approaching 125 years old. The usefulness of these ships in the fleet would most definitely be limited. Let's say the United States Navy decided to still use 125 year old designs. If that were the case, we would still have monitors and sailing ships from the US Civil War era out on the high seas.

Now, if you think about it, if a 1880's monitor were out on the seas now days against the most advanced nuclear subs, aircraft carriers, heck even against WWII battleships, how long would those ships last? Now apply that to what we saw in the Dominion War. Many of those older designs such as the Mirandas and Excelsiors became nothing more than rubble and debris in the first minutes of fighting against foes such as the Cardassians, Borg and Jem Hadar.

It's a whole new era for Trek. Don't get me wrong, I love the style of the older ships. The Excelsior was always one of my favorites. But her time has past. Would it make sense if we would have seen Constitution class vessels flying around in amongst the Galaxy classes of the Dominion War? Not really. Same goes for some of the other oldies but goodies. There are plenty of canon ships out there with plenty of service life in them. It's time to retire the frontier ships of the Kirk and Sulu era.

IMO

Yea, I can definately see your point about the Delta Flyer, but I would think they'd modifiy it a bit.  Also, just going back to the topic of the excelsior.  They were given new weapons and shields, on top of that, if new ones were still being built, then new hull alloys would be applied.  But perhaps they should feature more of a refit version, rather than the original design.

in my opinion, the galaxy should be in the "ready to be decommisioned" area