We harken back to our vehicle arc as we discuss vehicles in the Star Trek franchise. Sean tells us all about the Final Fantasy games for the iPhone and iPad. And we run down the week in geek, including new Starship Troopers material, a possible new Turing flick, and lots, lots more. It’s almost like we have a time machine and Juan’s still with us in the studio.
My Enterprise-J Avatar fits! Woot!!
In regards to the “Theater of War” discussion I can’t speak for the other services, but the Air Force term used these days is AOR (Pronounced A-O-R or the letters spelled out) and it stands for Area Of Responsibility. The current AORs are called “The CENTCOM AOR,” “The Iraqi AOR” or “The Afghanistan AOR.” The Air Force also uses the term “In-Theater” when discussing activities in the relevant areas such as AFRICOM, EUCOM, CENTCOM, PACOM, SOUTHCOM, etc…
~Shooter Out
At this point I feel compelled to once again state that I like the Starship Trooper movie. Plus now I’m looking forward to seeing the animated movie that’s scheduled to release next summer.
~Shooter Out
I’d like to see a better official rendering of the “J.” To my knowledge the only time the “J” was on the screen was about 1/2 a second in that one “Enterprise” episode. It looks a little too thin and gangly to be a sturdy ship of war to me but like very much that they kept to the traditional Enterprise layout of a saucer section and two warp nacelles extruding from a lower main engine body.
~Shooter Out
Jus thought up within a couple of minutes
[i]Some of you cadets have Tactical Infiltration Training Specialisation, for those who do not, you will find that you have Ballistic Aerial Landing LessonS instead. You will be coming into contact with other people that also have Ballistic Aerial Landing Lesson/Specialisation. This is ok with us. Get intimate with people that have Vehicle And Ground Strike training.
Some students will be unloading their Strategic Air command Knowledge upon the Tactical Infiltration Training Students.[/i]
Enterprise modeler Doug Drexler posted a nice one on his blog.
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/enterprise-j-sketchbook/
The Nebula Class was always one of my favorites because the thing on the top was modular. IIRC, they only ever showed two different versions but I loved the idea that they designed a system to swap out components depending on need.
Something I just noticed about the main design we saw (closest to camera) is how dumb the position of the shuttle bay is. Either all the shuttles have to go out the sides of the bay or swerve right away when they get out so they don’t hit the support.
What was the other design of it we saw in the show? I remember the one I mentioned above and sort of remember one without the top bit. And yes, it’s a pretty good design for just being made out of the scraps of an Enterprise D model 
I actually have a modular design in mind for one of the ship types in my sci fi universe. I didn’t model the designs with all the different top modules since I’m not very good with the modeling tool I was using, but I did do one of them.
I’ve always really liked the idea of the runabout. It’s a fully-functional, multipurpose starship with modular sections that can be swapped out oas needed. Some of them even had the module on top like the Nebula. They can support a full crew, or you can fly it by yourself.
Voyager had the Delta Flyer, which was pretty cool, but I always wished we’d gotten a chance to see that Aerowing shuttle. What’s that, you ask?
Remember this?
That thing on the bottom is the Aerowing. It’s kind of like the captain’s yacht crossed with a runabout. Here’s what it was supposed to look like, according to the Drex Files:
Pretty cool, huh? That’s probably the ship I’d pick to tool around in. I’d give it a cooler name, though. Maybe the Platinum Falcon?
Click the link below for more images.
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/voyager-aerowing-shuttle/
Beyond Starfleet vessels, I really loved the Bajoran Lightship
The whole premise of that episode was awesome, and I loved the story of Ben and Jake “roughing it” in the deep black of space…
About halfway though now. I do like Chick-Fil-A but hate their anti-gay policies. So I tend go there, eat, and use their wi-fi to make up new homoerotic slogans for the company. “Chick-Fil-A, we want our hot delicious cock inside you”.
(what, it’s really really good chicken)
OK. See you when I get to the Star Trek vehicles part.
I’m still listening, but most intimidating ship in Trek? Borg Cube, hands down.
Yeah, you know me. I’m old school.
NCC-1701 is my first love (“no bloody, A, B, C or D”-- Scotty)…
“I have all the specs and diagrams at home” — Worf’s step-dad (I’ve got 'em too).
Favorite Trek ship has to be the Akira Class
That may also have to do with that I used to play the Next Generation table top RPG for a number of years and my character worked his way up through the rank to Captain and this was the first ship I commanded.
Nice!
~Shooter Out
I love you
Maybe I’m just getting slow in my old age, but it took a while to track down Chuck’s Predator minigun story so I thought I’d save others the trouble and post the link I found here: http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2011/10/101811-Solution.aspx
If anyone else has another or better story link could you please post it on this thread? I’d very much appreciate it.
~Shooter Out
Back to ships…I’m a big fan of the ol’ FASA Star Trek designs from the 80’s.
I was a fan of the look of the Loknar and Chandley designs and the D-10 and a few of the Romulan designs.
Too bad all the powers that be pissed each other off and the game went byebye. But there’s still Star Fleet Battles and some interesting looking designs from that system.
I still have my technical handbook of the FASA designs from the 80’s and a couple on Minatures as well.The Romulan Winged Defender was fantastic. My favorite Trek ship moment however is still the scene in Star Trek The Motion Picture when we swing through the shipyard as the refitted Constitution Class Enterprise leaves the Spacedock for it’s shakedown cruise. That was a visual feast, a real ballet.
Another source for ship designs with a Trek Flavor was Star Fleet Battles. The Lyran Catamaran designs and the immense ugly beauty of the Klingon B-10 battleships was something to behold!
As I use to dabble a little in 3D rendering back a few years ago, here are two covers I rendered for them a long time ago on an Amiga 4000 Newtek’s Lightwave 3D
Here we see a Lyran CA in battle with a Kzinti BC
And here we see a Gorn BC firing a pair of Plasma S torpedoes
If I recall the company is still in Amarillo