| >> | 1544053349119.jpg -(73323B / 71.60KB, 1920x1080) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.  >>66446
>>The further from the center of mass you can place a thruster, the more maneuverability you have along that axis
Which at warp, if nacelles are the centers of thrust for warp displacement, vertically oriented nacelles (as opposed to saucer) would still have the same maneuverability advantages/disadvantages as the normal configuration, just along a different axis. The center of thrust at impulse is the impulse reactor, which is behind the middle of the saucer anyway, so it wouldn't matter which direction the saucer was facing again, it just limits the left to right movement, as the current configuration limits up and down movement, which in space, is just as dangerous. I don't know why this is so hard to get, but it makes the battle with khan make a lot more sense to me.
>>routinely go under manual piloting.
Naw. Even when we see people at the helm, they aren't flying by stick, the computer is doing most of the work. As Wesley tells Lore, they just have to set a heading, which is a fraction of the total work to actually to get the ship to adjust its velocity to head in that direction. That's why it's so outrageous that time Picard actually takes control with only the thrusters -- because normally the ship would have to do all the calculations to account for inertia. Even in real spaceships, its impossible to fly only by stick, which is why we have reaction control systems way back to the earliest manned spaceflight. In reality, the computer would be doing all of it, humans would be lucky to even have a say in where the ship went in a combat situation, as the computer would always be able to handle it better.
>> wide view sticking out the top of the saucer. The viewscreens
The viewscreen isn't a window in the prime timeline, except in discovery, which doesn't count. So this has nothing to do with it. You could have an vertical saucer and a horizontal viewscreen, because its just an output from cameras (or, a holographic integration of many different camera feeds in my headcanon.) The whole idea of a bridge and a viewscreen is metaphorical, I think. Really, they would be in some spherical augmented reality environment, deep in a heavily armored section, perhaps separated and communicating virtually so no one strike could take out all CNC personnel.
>>Roddenberry's original vision of the bridge as being this wide viewing platform
What? He could have had the viewscreen be a window on the original enterprise, and deliberately didn't do it. He did deliberately include actual windows in the top of both bridges, which also doesn't make sense. It's really dumb to have your command and control section have a big open section to space. I don't care how much transparent aluminum it is, it can't be as strong as actual hull.
>>You don't throw ergonomics out of the window for manned spacecraft,
There's tons of ergonomics in the bridge and rest of interior sections. That has nothing to do with how the hull is shaped. Comment too long. Click here to view the full text. |
