IFS Starcracker MkII

IFS Starcracker MkII

As usual, DI's refit of an older ship little resembles the original, but nevertheless provides a powerful new product for consumers. The Starcracker MkII, originally a small, multipurpose vessel, has undergone a vast amount of change. The shape has been fleshed out and expanded, now featuring larger nacelles, more powerful engines, and a wider weapon set. Perhaps the largest change was the addition of a massive sensor array, which resulted in the ship's specialization and role as a communications support ship. Several Starcrackers on the same battlefield can effectively "map" the surrounding conflict, and the powerful onboard computers provide analysis and predictions for friendly units.

One other particularly noteworthy feature is that the Starcracker is equipped with both a hyperdrive and warp nacelles, allowing it multiple options for faster-than-light travel. Some speculation has been made about the possibility of using the warp drive while in hyperspace, which would theoretically provide nearly-instantaneous travel, but physicists have cautioned against tests in this area, due to potential rifts in the time-space continuum that could result.

Class: Frigate

Length: 420 meters

Maximum acceleration: 1600 g

Engine Units: Sangron Fri-7 (2x), Fri-13 (2x)

Hyperdrive Rating: 2.5, backup 7.35

Warp Capability: Indefinite Warp 9.99

Shielding: Sangron FS-225

Hull: Reinforced quadanium, 6" ablative coating

Sensors: Sangron FRIs-X, FRIs-w

Armament:
Sangron C-220R (6x)
Sangron C-235I (2x)
Sangron C-310T (8x)
Sangron C-207F (2x)
Sangron R-220T (5x)
Sangron C-305F (2x)

Complement:
12 starfighters, 2 gunships, 2 shuttlecraft

Crew: 150

Minimum Crew: 20

Passengers: 70 soldiers

Cargo Capacity: 1,000 metric tons

Consumables: 5 years

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Please let me know what you think; the LXF should be available soon here: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=531480

Comments and questions are encouraged.

UPDATE: a discrepancy has been noted; the Starcracker MkII is approximately 400 meters in length, not 210. However, due to its support role, the ship will remain classified as a Frigate.

--CEO Siriondil Daragon

Wow! That's a very great improvement over the original design. I like the new bridge tower area, and the weapons are looking awesome (besides the fact that some can't elevate xD). My only real suggestion is to either thicken the nacelle pylons, or to directly attack them to the ship. Aside from that little issue, excellent design!

Thanks, PXR! I've always sort of assumed that it's understood that even fixed weapons like the 220R's can elevate a LITTLE, they just have a very small firing arc. If I'm wrong, oh well, the Starcracker is probably maneuverable enough to deal with most situations where that could be a problem. As to the pylons, I agree-- the nacelles were originally smaller, and the body was intended to be smaller, but as both got bigger, the pylons sort of got left behind and ended up a bit wimpy. A classic engineering mistake, actually, so I'll remedy that when I redo this in a few months. Thanks for the feedback!

NOTE TO ALL: I forgot to mention that several changes were made to the nacelles post-screenshot, which can be seen in the LXF.

Very nice, I like all the SNOT work and detailing that you put into this.  However I must say, it seems like the forward hull/saucer section is a bit thick, especially the plates (That I assume are the bridge), they make it look even thicker and far less streamlined. (Though the detailing on the underside of the forward hull is REALLY cool)

It's also pretty slow....

Well, I'm finally not being bombarded by a million and ten things, so I think I can actually critique the ship now.

Firstly, the two main sections show too many studs, to the point where it looks rather unstreamlined. It could definitely use some plates to cover that up; nothing excessive, just add some blue flat lines or whatever, and replace the current plate detailing with flat plates. Also, the bridge area just seems too large in proportion to the rest of the ship; you should really shrink it, IMHO. Finally, the warp nacelles are relatively bland and colorless, having only two colors instead of the normal variety of transparent reds and blues and whatnot (also, as J-red mentioned, it's pretty slow).

That being said, the SNOT work is pretty nice, and there are some interesting use of bricks in the back there. Also, the sensors or whatever on the ventral saucer looks pretty cool, so there's always that.

Thanks guys, I'll work on smoothing the MkIII out. What do you mean by "too slow"?

Warp is an exponential measurement: warp 2 is ten times faster than warp 1, warp 3 10 times faster than 2, etc*. In the TNG era, most ships were capable of at least 9.something, and that was one or two hundred years ago, so pretty much every ship should be able to do 9+. Personally, I feel we should introduce a new warp scale or something just so every single ship's max speed isn't 9+, but whatevs.

*I think it goes by tens, anyway... could be by 100s or something, not sure.

Well, the hyperdrive is fairly good...I went with Warp 7 because I don't like that everyone's ships are capable of going as fast as they want forever (also the same speed, meaning even listing the speed is basically pointless now since you can just assume it goes Warp 9.99999999999999999999), but I'll change it. xD

Firstly, not every ship can do 9.999.... indefinitely. Usually, that's just a burst of speed, with normal speeds being a bit lower.

That all being said, that's the exact reason we should revise the warp scale.

Of course, at this point, we're just nitpicking.

That's why I like hyperspace ratings better. Like ST, we have a sort of "limit" of a hyperspace rating of 0.5, set by the Millennium Falcon, which only a handful of ships have ever beaten. However, it's way easier to balance this among ships, because a Class 1 hyperdrive is an Imperial-1 star destroyer, one of the faster ships in the universe; that way, everyone can base their ships' rating using the Imperial-1 for reference, and it isn't absurd to have a 2.5-class, like it is to have a Warp 7 drive. However, most will cluster between .5 and 2, because the scale is relative to 1 (.5 is twice as fast, 2 is half as fast).

While I like the new take on the saucer-and-nacelles design style (of which I'm not really a fan) I think the forward half is a bit small and therefore thick. If it were expanded on the x and y axes I think that "thickness" would disappear visually at least. I might also point out that the connection b/t the main saucer and the rest of the ship looks kind of flimsy and reminds me of the Nebulon-B frigate from Star Wars, ie. it's going to be a weak point that destroys the ship, rather than crippling it.

That being said I really like the details and greebling, even if they seem disproportionate to the ship itself.

Oo, very good! I like the striped nacelles. Also, I think having a ship equipped with a warp core and a hyperdrive is a great idea. Nice work!

ARC- yeah, that's what happens when I try to build something small. It's the same story as the pylons-- it was supposed to a small ship, but as it got bigger and bigger some parts became somewhat disproportionate.

ARC/Spud-- thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

I think everyone else has covered this pretty well.

It's a pretty decent design that has tremendous potential in my opinion.

The saucer is pretty thick.

The "neck" and nacelle pylons are pretty thin.

Lots of things stick out from the design, I'm not personally a fan of Starfleet inspired ships with tons of visible antennas.

Too many studs showing.

The bridge is VERY large and boxy, I suggest a MUCH smaller redesign with a great deal of rounding.


Sorry I'm not more enthusiastic, I'm tired. I like the design idea, I just feel it needs some work. That said, you've got what could become one pretty awesome ship design here.

I pretty much second Dino's suggestions.

Good SNOT work, I must say. And I do think the design has potential...just needs some editing.