From: jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca (Joshua Bell)
Subject: Re: The Next Class of Starship...?
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 01:56:52 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta
Keywords: beyond galaxy....

In article <zlr1n#g@rpi.edu> petitc@rpi.edu writes:
>In article <1992Nov12.231705.17535@ncsu.edu>, happy@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Rusty Soots) writes:
>|>   Hi all.  Based on the creative juices of the people who read this group,
>|> yeah right :), what in your opinion should the next class of starship
>|> (after galaxy) be like?  What kinds of modifications, advances, etc.
>|> would you like tosee in the next class of starship?  I'm just curious
>|> to hear everyone's two cents...thanks!  :)
>
>  Well, IMHO, the next breakthrough in Warp technology will occur when they
>find a way to spin the warp field, creating a 'tornado' like effect, which
>will hurl the E DEEP into subspace, finally permitting velocities around
>Warp 9.995 or so, if the torque can be withstood.

Odd. I was thinking about this as I was drawing ASCII versions of
my favorite Nova prototype from the TNG Tech Manual. One design
calls for Warp nacelles that can 'slide' up and down along the
extended pylons, altering the shape of the Warp field to allow
the ship to maintain Warp 8+ for an extended duration.

What if one 'stuck' suddenly? Or 'slipped'? The warp fields would
still be balanced, so the ship would not be sheared in two, but
off-center, rather like the method by which the ship turns. I can
imagine the ship spinning very tightly (almost in a 'flat spin'
of Top Gun fame) and causing the nested subspace distortions into
a spiral, almost shell-like shape. Could be nasty. Or very very
useful, if the effect could be focussed.

But you'd get very, very dizzy. :)

>  If you want to go DEEP into the E's future, I envision a semi-fluid like
>ship which can change its shape to maximize efficiency and manuverability
>during Warp manuvers (or in this case, Hyper-Warp).

Oddly enough, this is already on the drawing boards for the one
of the possible Nova class designs, using traditional Warp.

I imagine the next breakthrough will be subspace-graviton
thingamabob Barclay used in 'Nth Degree', albiet not quite as
effectively. (As a side note, from the location (near-center of
the Galaxy, and appearance, that of a floating head, did anyone
have the idea that The God Thing in STV:TFF was an imprisoned
Cytherian?)

One thing that bugs me - the Feds don't seem to know squat about
how telepathy et.al. work. The Betazoids certainly haven't made a
hard science out of it, as far as I can tell. The Traveller
somehow manages to meld space and mind... perhaps this is a
'Black Project' by the Feds? They do have psyc-shields, we just
haven't seen them? I don't think I'd hop on a ship that uses
Static Warp Propulsion quite yet, tho, thanks. :)

>  Also, as for crew support, I believe it may be Borg-like.  Not in a de-
>humanizing fashion, but simply direct mental interfaces which would be much
>faster and more efficient (and easier to use) than the keys and even spoken
>communications.

Again, this possible, as we saw in 'Nth Degree'. I think that the
Feds are too happy being themselves to accept modifications. In
'Who Watches the Watchers?', Troi and Riker get communicators
implanted. Given the number of times the crew has these stolen,
wouldn't it be a good idea to just leave them in?

>
>  Now all I need is a good Warp Nacelle and M/A reaction engine, and I'll
>make the Hyper-Warp work! :&)

*grin*. Gotta run, this week's episode just came on.

Joshua
|         A shimmering net undulating like an infinite borealis.             |
|                                                  - Chapterhouse: Dune      |
|                                                                            |
| jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca  Academic Computing Services, University of Calgary |

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