Let's talk starship classes!

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Corgana@startrek.website⁩ to ⁨startrek@startrek.website⁩

My friends and I recently challenged each other to list our top five starship classes and were surprised by how different our opinions were despite being generally in agreement with what we like about the various series.

Personally it was hard for me to make a definitive “top five” but here are some I rank highly in no particular order:

TOS-era constitution
Refit constitution
Discovery-era Bird of Prey (OG is good too obv but I love the HR Geiger-esque weirdness)
D’Kora class Ferengi ship
Not canon, but I love the original “Long-boi” Discovery design. It gives off some very cool art-deco retro-futurism vibes. Not very classically “trek” but I love it nonetheless!

I am curious to see what c/StarTrek thinks!

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ValueSubtracted@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
An actual top 5 list is likely to be fluid from moment to moment, but right now I’m going to give some love to the small, functional ships that don’t get a lot of attention.

Danube class runabout

Nova class

Raven-type

Intrepid class (okay this one gets plenty of love)

Yeager-type (you know you love it)
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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I like that you mentioned Raven-type, I agree they did a good job with that one.
  
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VindictiveJudge@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The Excelsior-class is one of my favorites. A bit wonky from a top-down view, but gorgeous from every other angle.

The Sovereign-class continues the general aesthetic of the Excelsior, but for the TNG-era design style and fixing the problem with high angle views.

The Valdore-type warbird from Nemesis is probably the best thing about that movie.

The Klingon D4 from Into Darkness is similarly one of the better things from that movie.

Not canon, but I love the original “Long-boi” Discovery design. It gives off some very cool art-deco retro-futurism vibes. Not very classically “trek” but I love it nonetheless!

That is the canon design for the Discovery before the far future refit it got.

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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I thought that was this one, no?
  
  Image
  
  Why did I think this version was never on-screen?
  
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  - VindictiveJudge@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Something to consider with those two images is that they’re different angles. Your first image is of the underside of the ship, while the second is the top of the ship.
    
    Also, the texturing and nacelles are different between the two, but the body and saucer seem to be structurally the same. Still a long-boi even with the slightly shorter nacelles.
    
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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  The Klingon D4 from Into Darkness is similarly one of the better things from that movie.
  
  Yes I agree! Good one
  
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wingsfortheirsmiles@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Akira, a slick updated take on the Miranda imo! In my head canon this took over from that and the Excelsior class as the workhorse of the fleet.

Species 8472 bio shop, still remember my original reaction of being blown away. Love that the profile reminds me of a missile

Prometheus, though The Doc/Voyager crew were the heroes it was cool to see an ultra militaristic Starfleet vessel. Multi vector assault mode!
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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Constitution class has only two nacelles, did you mean Stargazer?
  
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  - wingsfortheirsmiles@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Oop yup, meant Constellation class?
    
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Mwallerby@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
1 - Sovereign John Eaves just crushed it with the Ent-E

Then in no particular order, Luna, Excelsior, NX-refit, and Parliament (USS Vancouver from LD)

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Basilisk@mtgzone.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
In no particular order:

Steamrunner Miranda D’Deridex Magee Constitution

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- digger@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I love the Steamrunner class. I wish we got to see it more.
  
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valen@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Danube class runabout

Refit Constitution (NCC-1701A)

Whatever the Reliant was from ST2:WOK.

I want a runabout!
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- VindictiveJudge@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  I want a runabout!
  
  It’s like an RV, but with warp and replicators. What’s not to like?
  
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  - HubertManne@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    given the drone ships in game have crew and they have the holo emmitters I would go with one of them instead.
    
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apprehensively_human@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
SNW Constitution

Constitution Refit

Sovereign

Luna

Miranda

I’ve flip-flopped a lot over the years about which are my favourites, some runners up include Defiant, Excelsior, Danube, NX Refit and Intrepid.
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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Soverign is really good, I remember thinking how cool it looked the first time we see it in First Contact.
  
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USSBurritoTruck@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Olympic-class

Parliament-class

Centaur-class

D’Deridex-class Romulan Warbird

TOS Romulan Bird-of-Prey (the updated version seen in PIC and SNW is also great)

I also want to give an honourable mention to the Niagara-class, which is a three nacelle abomination. When I started running my Star Trek Adventures game, I choose the Niagara-class because I wanted something relatively unique which still that communicated to the players they weren’t in a top of the line, prestigious ship. It’s been just over two years since we started playing the adventures of the USS Dauntless (yes, I know, but it’s not that Dauntless), and the ship has really grown on me.
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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  On my best days I can tolerate the presence of a one nacelle ship, maybe even a four nacelle ship. But I’ll be dead in the cold cold ground before I recognize the legitimacy of a THREE nacelle ship.
  
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  - USSBurritoTruck@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m sorry, but it sounds to me as though you’re saying a one nacelle ship is more tolerable than a four nacelle ship, and I just can’t take anything seriously after that.
    
    At least with four nacelles you can understand how they’re generating the warp field between them, but one? Does it have two sets of warp coils inside the single nacelle? All Starships are beautiful in Gene’s eyes, but I believe there are some he chooses not to look upon.
    
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  - alexmorse@mastodon.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    @Corgana @USSBurritoTruck those are the bad timelines
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shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Ambassador-class (USS Enterprise C)

Galaxy-class (USS … Yamato)

Kelvin-type (USS Kelvin)

Constellation-class (USS Stargazer)

Somerville-class (USS Somerville)
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- Corgana@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Man, I don’t think I could disagree with a list more than this one 😅
  
  (Jk all ships are beautiful in Gene’s creation)
  
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  - shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Not a fan of kitbashing, huh?
    
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alexmorse@mastodon.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
@Corgana
1. refit constitution
2. excelsior
3. k'tinga
4. luna
5. constitution 3 (1701-grandpa)
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Jaccident@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
There are so many but the beauts are the beauts.

Ambassador class

Defiant class

D’Deridex class

Excelsior class

Jem Hadar Battlecruiser
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