Narkova Centaurus-Class Heavy Cruiser

I actually finished this one a couple months ago, but I never got around to actually posting it. I spent quite a lot of hours trying to get the hull shape right. This ship is built like the Euclidian-Class, with the upper and lower hulls connected to a stack of SNOT bricks in the middle.

Anyhoo, the Centaurus-Class!

Pic 1, main view:

The Centaurus-Class Heavy Cruiser is an all-purpose exploration vessel equipped with a large sick bay, numerous science labs, an advanced sensor array, and a cargo hold big enough to carry pretty much anything the crew complement of 928 could need. The vessel also sports the N-SL 182 Plasma Drive sublight propulsion system paired with a Mk-V hyperdrive generator.

These ships can also double as battle cruisers if the need arises. While some of the many weapons systems on board are available at all times, the more powerful systems are only activated when the ship is "converted." This conversion, activated by the captain, powers down science labs and other non-essential systems so as to have more power available for battle. It also activates the dormant weapons systems and boosts power to the primary sensor array and sublight engines. After the skirmish ends, the process is reversed from the bridge and the ship returns to "exploration mode." Basically, it's Red Alert on steroids.

More pics:

Pic 2, top view:

Pic 3, rear view:

Pic 4, side view:

Pic 5, underside view:

Holy cow, that ship's a beauty! The shaping on the hulls make it look so elegant, especially with the sloped bricks! How long did it take you to build (besides the hours to get the hull shape right)?

I have to say, the red alert on steroids sounds interesting, but do the ship's combat systems really take that much power? It seems like the four nacelles could power everything without compromising the non-essential systems (I'm just guessing here, based on the nacelle-to-body ratio and what I've observed from watching Star Trek and playing STO)... Is it something to do with the hyperdrive, since those typically aren't found in the Star Trek and PCG Universe?

Again, awesome ship! I wouldn't have the time or the patience to attempt something that large!

Soccergirl: Thank you! I don't know exactly how long it took me, but it was a couple days.

The engine pods are not warp nacelles or power generators, they are the sublight engines. Narkovian ships rely on Stargate-and-Star-Wars-style propulsion systems for sublight and FTL travel. I do this for three primary reasons:

1. Compared to moving through hyperspace, warp travel is very slow. An Azgardian hyperdrive can move a ship form the Milky Way to the Pegasus galaxy in three weeks, while it would have taken U.S.S. Voyager 75 years to go from the Delta to Alpha Quadrant and warp 9.

2. I really have no idea how warp drives or impulse engines work.

3. I've always been more of a Star Wars fan than a Trekkie.

I'm not really sure why those systems have to powered down. I kind of just thought of the conversion process without thinking it through. Oh, well; it's something I'll address with the next refit.

That is a MASTERPIECE!

Talmid: Thanks! I rather like it, too!

By the way, I think this is how Warp drive works. It literally warps space in front of and behind the ship, kind of "shrinking" the space in front of the ship, and "expanding" the space behind the ship. In the meantime, the warp core generates a warp "bubble" surrounding the ship, so that the space immediately around the ship is normal. If parts of the ship were not protected by the warp bubble, they would be torn apart by the warping in space.

Technically this could actually be possible, even in real life. O_O Science fiction might not be so fiction after all.

As for impulse drive, I assume they work like normal thrusters. No special space-warping stuff.

I must concur with the above posters: this is a beautiful masterpiece of a ship!!! I really love how graceful, smooth, sleek, elegant, and reasonably powered your ships are Spud... that is just gorgeous! And I personally like the red alert on steroids, it works for an exploration vessel in extreme emergencies/wartime. Although I personally wouldn't do it because I wouldn't put the time into a ship that awesome and then delegate it to anything other than front line combat. But you're more patient than I it seems.... Once again, GREAT work!!!


Soccergirl: that's not what nacelles are for. Nacelles house the warp coils, (which generate the warp bubble around the ship) and hold gaseous collectors... but they're not power plants, that would be the warp core, and the auxiliary batteries.

Dino: Thank you very much! I think it's pretty much my favorite ship that I've built.