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Am I making up a fantasy in my head, or was there ever an instance in show or book where several Borg cubes came together to make a mega-cube? That may have been a childhood fantasy of mine, that Borg ships are fractal to the point where a single cube can break into an exponential number of smaller cubes, or an exponential number of cubes could come together to form a massive uber-cuber.
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Jul 2, 2014 17:39
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:IASA is clearly not NASA. They have far lower standards, both in qualifications and in mental health. And even then there's a couple of references to Crichton being a Commander (I'd assume Naval).
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Jul 2, 2014 17:49
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Watching TNG episode 'Final Mission' where Wesley Crusher and The Captain are stranded on a moon that's extremely warm etc. In the meantime The Enterprise can't go search as they're moving an extremely hazardous radioactive space dumpster away from a planet. Um.. why don't they split the Enterprise, leave the saucer section to deal with moving the garbage ship and boot the other half back to search for the Captain?
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Jul 2, 2014 18:48
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James R posted:Watching TNG episode 'Final Mission' where Wesley Crusher and The Captain are stranded on a moon that's extremely warm etc. In the meantime The Enterprise can't go search as they're moving an extremely hazardous radioactive space dumpster away from a planet. All in all, I thought it was an okay episode, but it does have a number of issues: - Since when does starfleet hire a charter shuttle, anyway? In all other episodes they're using one of the shuttles from the Enterprise when they go somewhere. - There must have been a gap in the asteroids big enough for the trash barge to slide through. Use it, and let the momentum carry it to the sun. You don't need to tow it. There is no wind resistance in space. - If not, why not just propel it above the plane of the solar system, and then come back to handle it after you have rescued the captain? Plus, as you mentioned, they did not use the saucer separation trick which they loved so much early on in the show's run.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:08
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Brawnfire posted:Am I making up a fantasy in my head, or was there ever an instance in show or book where several Borg cubes came together to make a mega-cube? It definitely happened in the Shatnerverse books
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Jul 2, 2014 19:10
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LLCoolJD posted:All in all, I thought it was an okay episode, but it does have a number of issues: After thinking it through.. they'd need the main deflector to clear a path through the asteroid field, which is on the star drive. So they'd have to send the saucer section back.. which I think can only go at impulse power?
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Jul 2, 2014 19:16
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LLCoolJD posted:All in all, I thought it was an okay episode, but it does have a number of issues: They never said it on-screen, but I think the writers decided it was a legit emergency move that the ship can only really do a handful of times ever, so as to avoid overusing it.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:16
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Gaz-L posted:They never said it on-screen, but I think the writers decided it was a legit emergency move that the ship can only really do a handful of times ever, so as to avoid overusing it. Another reason, according to Memory Alpha is that they were using all the available power from the saucer section and star drive just to tow the barge, keep up the shields around them both AND move. I dunno why they didn't just start towing it, move ahead to the asteroid field and then reconnect the tractor beam and tow it through the belt then. Thus saving all of the exposure time.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:20
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Sash! posted:There was a time when you had to be a test pilot and a scientist. That's how Buzz Aldrin got turned down the first time he was interested. Armstrong was Navy before he became a civilian test pilot. He also flew the X-15 for NASA before being selected in the second astronaut group. And believe it or not, the Lunar Module Pilot position in an Apollo mission was the junior crewmember. The idea was that the commander, being senior, would fly to the moon and bring the junior guy with him because being responsible for the rendezvous and docking that the lunar crew needed to not die in space was too important to leave to some wet behind the ears astronaut. Tagging along with the commander on the moon? Total gruntwork, leave it to the kid.
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Jul 2, 2014 19:38
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Hard Clumping posted:I found out last night that the guy who played Morn is Still making youtube videos about what it was like to play Morn. In like, a mall or something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGtiSaN7_aw  Is he... all right?
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Jul 2, 2014 20:51
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Knormal posted:For the record the rest of the novels aren't in the Star Trek Online timeline, this was a one-off. STO did use the novel timeline as a starting point for their post-Nemesis events, but they forked it off and went crazy with their bizarre starship porn. I'm glad to read this. I would hate for a mediocre at best MMORPG game to crap up what's left of the original timeline. I mean, I haven't read any books involving said timeline but from the few somewhat enjoyable hours I've spent playing ST:O lately I can't imagine the books doing anything worse than what's apparently been taking place in this game world.
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Jul 2, 2014 21:00
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MikeJF posted:
STO players have loving terrible taste then because the first design looks soooo much better than the second. The second one reeks of oh lets make everything POINTY and BLACK ACCENTS its like a RACECAR in SPACE its so POWERFUL its got 20 CLASS XX PHASER BANKS 10 QUANTUM TORPEDO LAUNCHERS THE STRONGEST SHIP IN THE FLEET
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Jul 2, 2014 22:12
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They both look like they should be hauled away as garbage. The refit less so with the lack of greebles but still trash.
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Jul 2, 2014 22:15
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More greebles! Segment the hull! Sleek and fast with phaser arrays on every deck! Make them come together to form a voltron ship! Didn't ST:O have those awful ships with holes cut in the hull so the saucer looked like a steering wheel
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Jul 2, 2014 22:15
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In brighter news LeVar got the $5M for Reading Rainbow and then some, as well as smashing the record for most backers for a Kickstarter.
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Jul 2, 2014 22:37
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Brawnfire posted:Am I making up a fantasy in my head, or was there ever an instance in show or book where several Borg cubes came together to make a mega-cube? Borg fusion cube?
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Jul 2, 2014 23:02
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I wonder if a Borg Cube that assimilated a Prometheus could activate multi vector assault mode and split into a bunch of smaller cubes.
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Jul 2, 2014 23:17
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Gaz-L posted:In brighter news LeVar got the $5M for Reading Rainbow and then some, as well as smashing the record for most backers for a Kickstarter. Even more than that actually (just not on the actual kickstarter) because Seth MacFarlane pledged to match any donations made between $4 and $5 million - maybe all donations above $4 million? - probably so they could make that $5 million goal regardless of what happened. But in either case they have at least an extra $1 million free from kickstarter fees, Amazon fees, and pledge fulfillment.
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Jul 3, 2014 00:44
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Evek posted:They both look like they should be hauled away as garbage. The refit less so with the lack of greebles but still trash. STO has some of the ugliest Starfleet ship designs ever. I won't show you some of the alternate Galaxy skins, you'd gouge your eyes out. The "Assault Cruiser" variants can (and should) all be made to just look like a Sovereign-class, though even the Sovereign model doesn't look right.
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Jul 3, 2014 00:48
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FuturePastNow posted:STO has some of the ugliest Starfleet ship designs ever. I won't show you some of the alternate Galaxy skins, you'd gouge your eyes out. Go for broke. I'd personally love to see some of the ugliest Starfleet vessels in the Universe for a good chuckle. I haven't had a chance to see any atrocious designs yet, but I would argue that my personal starship is probably one of them since the ship designer really hamstrings you so you can earn all the "good stuff" later.
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Jul 3, 2014 00:53
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But doesn't STO take place in the grimdark future of ST, 30 years after Nemesis and 22 years of the destruction of Romulus, with everything going to poo poo.
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Jul 3, 2014 01:20
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AndyElusive posted:Go for broke. I'd personally love to see some of the ugliest Starfleet vessels in the Universe for a good chuckle. Behold the majesty of the Envoy-class:  Posting these is almost unfair, because the really bad models date back five years to when the game was rushed out under a nearly impossible deadline. The newer ships aren't necessarily all better looking, but they're definitely higher-quality models. Still, the old abominations remain and their parts can be mixed and matched to make ships even a Jem'Hadar wouldn't ram.
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Jul 3, 2014 01:32
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FuturePastNow posted:Behold the majesty of the Envoy-class: Target that abomination and fire!
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Jul 3, 2014 01:33
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LEGO Genetics posted:But doesn't STO take place in the grimdark future of ST, 30 years after Nemesis and 22 years of the destruction of Romulus, with everything going to poo poo. Bajor also joined the Federation, and they even outright say the Xindi did too. So hey!
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Jul 3, 2014 01:44
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Subyng posted:STO players have loving terrible taste then because the first design looks soooo much better than the second. The second one reeks of oh lets make everything POINTY and BLACK ACCENTS its like a RACECAR in SPACE its so POWERFUL its got 20 CLASS XX PHASER BANKS 10 QUANTUM TORPEDO LAUNCHERS THE STRONGEST SHIP IN THE FLEET I'm not crazy about either design but the first one wreaks more of "oh let's staple some hard jagged angles to an existing design as an 'upgrade' and all it a day" than anything. At least the second one has more tasteful black accents than the actual Enterprise E, and honestly who the gently caress knows what kind of weapons it's supposed to have. It's curves certainly make it look more starfleet clean than the abrupt looking Sovereign update. Anyway more of the designs in the game do indeed range from outright butt-fugly to just fanboyish, but it is just a dopey free video game so I'm content to rock my fatass sort of boxy looking Voyager-ish ship because you can fit like 5 cannons to the front of it for some reason.
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Jul 3, 2014 02:48
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Nessus posted:It's not super grimdark, I thought. I mean, they jiggered things to give you a bunch of different missions, but the Romulans do a bunch of things and aren't all unified. You're at war with the Klingons but they have Worf there I guess so it's not totally vicious. The Cardassians seem to have kept a civilian form of government together since the end of DS9 and it is implied that there are civil relations with the Dominion here and there. War between the Federation and the Klingons is over now in the game, actually. Alpha Quadrant made peace because of outside threats. Subyng posted:STO players have loving terrible taste then because the first design looks soooo much better than the second. The second one reeks of oh lets make everything POINTY and BLACK ACCENTS its like a RACECAR in SPACE its so POWERFUL its got 20 CLASS XX PHASER BANKS 10 QUANTUM TORPEDO LAUNCHERS THE STRONGEST SHIP IN THE FLEET So pretty much an accurate update of the Sovereign Class's look then?  I dunno, I kinda like the Regent Class skin. It's got a bit of the Starfleet goofy and at least the smooth curved look rather than just stapled-on greebles.  But that may just be a reaction to the really lovely stuff like the launch-era Galaxy posted above. Anything's an improvement on that. Subyng posted:Didn't ST:O have those awful ships with holes cut in the hull so the saucer looked like a steering wheel No, those never got past concept art. They do have a couple with holes through the neck, including the... siiiiiiigh... Enterprise-F. 
MikeJF fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 03:36
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I'm not a big fan of the 'neck' of newer designs. That and the elongated saucer sections always feel off to me.
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Jul 3, 2014 03:42
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Lowen SoDium posted:I think most everyone would agree that ST:TMP's biggest problem is that is has pacing issues. It is a slow movie and it takes a while to get underway. It's absolutely the Star Trekiest movie. Weird inscrutable alien threatens Earth, humans interact with it, Slim Goodbody drops in for a little song and dance, and everyone has fun while learning. We all come away with a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe. Wrath of Khan has almost nothing to do with Trek. It's a classic revenge story. It uses the characters and nothing more. It grapples with no heady moral or ethical dilemmas besides getting old (and TMP already took a swing at that, so WoK really just refined that good idea no less than TMP improved on "The Changeling"). You could rewrite the entire thing as a McBain/Mendoza movie and nobody would be the wiser.
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Jul 3, 2014 03:55
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AndyElusive posted:I'm glad to read this. I would hate for a mediocre at best MMORPG game to crap up what's left of the original timeline. I mean, I haven't read any books involving said timeline but from the few somewhat enjoyable hours I've spent playing ST:O lately I can't imagine the books doing anything worse than what's apparently been taking place in this game world. Brawnfire posted:Am I making up a fantasy in my head, or was there ever an instance in show or book where several Borg cubes came together to make a mega-cube?
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Jul 3, 2014 03:58
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Mr. Jive posted:It's absolutely the Star Trekiest movie. The One With the Whales. Crazy alien, time travel nonsense, bludgeoning the audience to death with THE POINT OF THE MOVIE I wish the episode of Enterprise with Uncle Phil had been able to find a way to pay Alfonso Ribeiro $5 to show up as the Nerdiest Klingon Ever Sash! fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 05:16
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Brawnfire posted:Am I making up a fantasy in my head, or was there ever an instance in show or book where several Borg cubes came together to make a mega-cube? It happened in the Shatner book where some Romulans secretly working with the Borg conspire to resurrect James T. Kirk and he's totally the most ultimate awesome badass ever LLCoolJD posted:Plus, as you mentioned, they did not use the saucer separation trick which they loved so much early on in the show's run. Saucer separation didn't get used because it was a dead-end in terms of production. You either have to re-use the stock footage shot for Encounter at Farpoint, which can become noticeable (and is also restrictive in terms of what you can do - I think Arsenal of Freedom pretty much pushed the limit on it), or you have to shoot new footage of the separated ship. This sucks both because A) that footage cannot be reused except in the unlikely event you do another saucer sep down the road, and B) you have to listen to Image G bitch about how much time it takes to shoot the big unwieldy six-footer model (and I bet it was an even bigger pain in the rear end to configure it for separated mode as well). This doesn't even touch the issue of saucer separation breaking up the flow of the story, since you have to make a big deal out of it otherwise the idiots who thought Picard and friends got wasted in DS9 Jem'Hadar are going to write in and complain about being confused as to what happened to the Enterprise and why was Picard commanding this other ship now?
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Jul 3, 2014 05:50
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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:It happened in the Shatner book where some Romulans secretly working with the Borg conspire to resurrect James T. Kirk and he's totally the most ultimate awesome badass ever I think they use nanites to control his mind and send him to kill Picard, but he resists the nanite programming because he's James T. Kirk: Galactic BAMF.
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Jul 3, 2014 05:54
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Gonz posted:I think they use nanites to control his mind and send him to kill Picard, but he resists the nanite programming because he's James T. Kirk: Galactic BAMF. I think he even beats up Worf at some point because everybody has to beat up Worf.
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Jul 3, 2014 09:28
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Dukat is playing poker in 19th-century San Francisco. I love Marc Alaimo.
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Jul 3, 2014 09:30
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Kibayasu posted:I think he even beats up Worf at some point because everybody has to beat up Worf. Yeah. On the show, every time they wanted to establish that a new bad guy was strong, the first thing they did was have him beat up Worf. After the first couple times, it didn't make the bad guy look strong. It just made Worf look like a pussy.
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Jul 3, 2014 12:56
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JediTalentAgent posted:I'm not a big fan of the 'neck' of newer designs. That and the elongated saucer sections always feel off to me. That's because a "saucer section" is a ridiculous idea to begin with. Shape doesn't matter in space, but in the 60s people though "flying saucer" was a cool spacey thing to tie into, so hey, hybrid of ungainly round thing and swoopy straight thing equals something nobody has ever seen before and looks loving alien and totally impractical but kinda cool at the same time. But now it's all "Oh we have to make it look aerodynamic for marketing reasons or whatever, oh but don't lose sight of the 'saucer' tradition because that's our brand too, I dunno, fuckit".
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Jul 3, 2014 16:34
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I have to say I'm really glad for Probert and making the Enterprise-D look not aerodynamic and swoopy, but beyond-us-alienesque whilst still looking advanced and recognisably of human stylistic origin.
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Jul 3, 2014 17:06
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Data Graham posted:That's because a "saucer section" is a ridiculous idea to begin with. Shape doesn't matter in space, but in the 60s people though "flying saucer" was a cool spacey thing to tie into, so hey, hybrid of ungainly round thing and swoopy straight thing equals something nobody has ever seen before and looks loving alien and totally impractical but kinda cool at the same time. But now it's all "Oh we have to make it look aerodynamic for marketing reasons or whatever, oh but don't lose sight of the 'saucer' tradition because that's our brand too, I dunno, fuckit". By wiggling around a lot and striving to keep your beams on a single point on the enemy, while he doesn't do the same to you, you probably eventually damage him enough to gently caress off or explode. I guess there might also be like, warp drive aerodynamics to worry about, which presumably the Borg don't give a poo poo about (they had those big stargates anyway, they can take their time.)
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Jul 3, 2014 18:13
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Data Graham posted:That's because a "saucer section" is a ridiculous idea to begin with. Shape doesn't matter in space, Shape matters a lot for dramatic visual presentation, which is important to space opera.
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Jul 3, 2014 18:17
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Also I think shape does matter in Star Trek because subspace or something? I'm probably just remembering something a writer pulled out for a single episode though.
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Jul 3, 2014 18:21
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