I'll leave this open a couple more hours. But jaysus, this game so far has had the most agreement I've ever seen on a boards Star Trek thread. Lol.
Miranda. I love the old Excelsior...but it has to be Miranda
Miranda
Given I nominated it ... Miranda. Best ship design after the constitution and maybe even as good depending on the day. Beautiful and sensible at the same time.
Two titans face off in the first round!
Gotta go Miranda I think, excelsior is a little ungainly in comparison despite being a more capable ship overall.
Miranda, it's a much cleaner design and, keeping with the crass tinder concept, Excelsior looks a bit chubby.
Next up!
Miranda Class
VS
Excelsior Class
The Defiant narrowly beats the sneaky Romulan Warbird!
Defiant makes it through to the next round!
I'm thinking also that it was also a safety feature. Also adding that with a large hole in the middle, there was a good chance that even a good shot might go right though and hit nothing. I kind of assumed that the design was related to the Quantum singularity warp drive that was unique to the Romulans (and forgotten by ST: Discovery...but never mind that).
Romulan designs, up until the 2009 reboot and STP anyway, seem to always have the nacelles relatively far apart for the size of their ships so I see the D'deridex as the final evolution of that and the all or nothing warship armour concept, ocean going warships obviously can't have massive holes but starships can.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_or_nothing_(armor)
Never really thought about it, and I'm sure the canon has derived some explanation, but maybe it's a safety feature; separate the engine as from the command and crew quarters as possible, the gap acting as a spacial barrier in case of emergency - without sacrificing capability.
:O How dare you!
I dunno, I kind of liked the middle gap. Made the design interesting.
Defiant, a proper, purpose built warship for Starfleet.
The warbird is a kinda silly design with the mass of empty space in the middle.
Torn also... cruising along the Defiant doesnt look like much at all compared to the warbird.
But in action swooping through blasting away it is shock and awe... so vote goes to the Defiant.
Shoot I'm not sure. This is the first properly hard decision. The Defiant is a great little battleship that looks like something built by a Federation not fúcking around. While the D’deridex arguably the closest to the Bird of Prey for something iconic in its array of alien vessels.
Gosh I don't know.
I'm going to be the contrarian here, just to stand up for a ship that got its moment on the big screen, but still snarkily maligned by Timer; Defiant for me.
It has to be D’deridex class. The Defiant class is good looking in a scuffed up tomboy sort of way but the D’deridex class belongs on a runway.
Am I taking this starship tinder thing too far?
A lot of the Romulan tech around that era looked good. I think their disruptors are the nicest looking side arms outside of the TOS film phases.
Arg....finally a hard one.
I think I have to go for the good old D’deridex. When that giant first appeared in front of the Enterprise D, it was clear that the Romulans and TNG in general were not f*cking around. She was a killer, and clearly alien.
Roll up, roll up....... Next up!
Defiant Class
D’deridex-class Romulan warbird
Lot of love for the Akira Class,
It survives to the next round!
Actually the Prometheus has 5 nacelles one is hiding and at least it had a good reason for having them all for its multi vector assault mode when it splits into three separate ships.
So technically it's really just 3 ships together two with 2 nacelles and one with 1 nacelle.
I have no problem with ships that have 4 nacelles thats much better than 1 or 3 or 5 which all just look awkward.
I think Gene Roddenberry would agree with me.
....Class
:D
I hate ships with 4 nacelles in any case, always feels like a lazy choice (even more nacelles!!), but the Akira class is simply a superior looking ship. Has a great shape to it and something of the Miranda about it too...
Akira class.
Point of order. The Klingon Bird of prey contains at least 2 classes, of vastly differing sizes. Lumping them all into one is out of order and it should be disqualified. 🤣
The Akira class for me as it is one of my all time favorite Star Trek ships and ots just looks beautiful yey powerful too as well as been fast and maneuverable.
The Prometheus is a good concept but it's just not the best looker here.
No contest, Akira. From the right angle, like the ones in the gifs, she's gorgeous. It's also weird in that the class leader is the only ship in Star Trek I know of named after a personal name as opposed to a family name. The real reason was it was named after the anime film but in universe it's odd.
The Prometheus isn't a bad looking ship the multivector thing is cool but I have to imagine if it was ever mass produced the ships would end up like my Armada II separated Galaxy classes with mismatched sections left over after a battle.
I like the Prometheus as a tactical concept but in terms of looks...
The Akira.
Next Up
Prometheus class
Akira Class
Another one sided match!
The Constellation goes like the Stargazer!
And The Bird of Prey lives to stalk another day.
Bird of Prey.
Constellation Class looks like it's trying too hard
It also felt in keeping with the Klingons, especially regards their status as Space Vikings; like longboats coming up your river, seeing that ship profile would be emotive, and that you felt was the point. While Trek's races could be culturally very simplistic, it didn't always show in their ship design; the Klingons being an exception unlike, say, the Cardassians - whose ships didn't really convey any sense of the crews' personality IMO.
