The Best Federation Starships
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2024
- What defines a Best Starship? Well for me, it is when Starfleet decides to tack all their most advanced technology and put it into one multi-role vessel. The Uinted Federation of Planets has produced many such craft, from specialty scouts, science surveys to combat ready skirmishers like the Defiant, but this video is my take on the definitive top 10 Federation ships in canon. I'm looking at them in the context of their time and launch, otherwise it would simply the latest ships in the timeline. And I promise it's not just a list of Enterprise ships.
Chapters
00:00 Criteria
00:57 Number 10
02:30 Number 9
03:56 Number 8
05:25 Number 7
07:16 Number 6
08:42 Number 5
09:52 Number 4
11:16 Number 3
12:57 Number 2
15:02 Mentions
15:59 Number 1
18:20 Conclusion
STAR TREK® Online developed by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World.
STAR TREK® and its trademarks (including Picard/Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks/Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery and The Next Generation) are all owned by © Paramount Golbal Pictures/CBS Studios Inc. and distributed by CBS and Paramount Plus.
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.
Outro Animation made by @icarogabriel17 
Игры
2:21 Every 20 years, Starfleet points Utopia Planita at the tech tree and says "I want all that, in here" and Fleet Yard says "bet"
The Galaxy class always gave me that "What if a starbase could fly around?" feeling
Someone on a different channel said that deciding to name it the "Galaxy class" could possibly hint at the scope of the designers' ambition. As in "this ship will let us explore and dominate the *entire* Milky Way Galaxy."
@vic1505 The designers of the Universe-class were thinking the same thing. ;D
@UGNAvalon they cranked up the level of ambition to 11.
The Universe Class represents this comment 100% 😁
I Command this class of Starship in STO a lot. Can't go wrong with a mobile Starbase/Colony that can do pretty much everything! 🤣
Lol, DS9 did in one episode ;)
Bitterly disappointed that the oberth wasn't at no#1
"Splatterblast" "Yodaslovtoy"
You're pretty great at coming up with usernames.
At least Odyssey carrying bit of oberth design on it where Saucer and Hull not connected directly like most of Starfleet ship
If the lost was "Top 10 most fragile Federation ships," it would be.
@TheZacula to be fair, the Oberth is what it is, a light science vessel.
I'm not sure the Oberth would actually qualify as a starship in the TOS/TMP era
The Galaxy Class was the pure embodiment of the federation as envisioned by its creator. Its place at the top of any list is not a repudiation of what came later, but an acknowledgment that what came later wouldn’t have been possible without it, both in canon and in reality.
A very fair list honestly. The Sovereign makes sense where it's at. "speak softly and carry a big stick" is the kind of diplomacy that starfleet was using when building that ship.
More survivable than ships that outgunned it, More armed than the ships that outrunned it, and also carried a full variety of multirole equipments
One of the best things about the Picard series was the amazing STO artists getting their ships canonised.
I agree and disagree with your Sovereign take.
On one hand, it IS just kind of a generational upgrade. It's like the Galaxy and Intrepid had a baby. It was fast and powerful and capable, but not a generational leap like the Excelsior was vs the Constitution.
But let's not forget, it folded up that Borg Cube in First Contact like it was a lawn chair. The Akira, Defiant, and Steamrunner you saw on screen collectively orgasimed when the Enterprise showed up to save their asses, and they all fell in line.
Sovereign is the peak TNG/DS9/VOY era ship.
Oh for sure. I just think that it was released at a time when other ships were already comparable in different fields where as others on this list simply outclassed in all. Let's not forget, it's still easily in the top 10 of all ships (that we have enough context on).
@CertifiablyIngame yep I just love the conversation on this stuff! I wouldn't put it in top 5 just because it wasn't really a breakthrough as opposed to a refinement.
But I will argue that tactically in its time, unmatched.
It also punched way above its weight class against the Scimitar. And it is just so gosh darn beautiful.
All you would need is Voyager against the Borg at the Battle of sector 001
Plot armour
@@RunDGC Technically Constitution was quite faulty design. It was just one of first proper warships Federation has in 23'th century (claims that it was not is propaganda). But there is a reason why they were completely replaced by Excelsior and Miranda. During confrontation with Khan, serious flaws of design become impossible to solve.
Fantastic list & I generally agree.
You certainly made good arguments for their placement.
I would love to see this style of list for other factions, Klingon, Romulans etc.
The close-ups of the Intrepid class made it look like it had USB and Aux ports.
I'm just happy that my bae got included, even at Number nine. I have the Eaglemoss XL on my dresser, and I even built one in Minecraft with a full functional interior and a Tellarite captain-I fully intend to make it "operational" once the _Valkyrien Skies_ mod updates.
Thanks for the awesome video, Ric! So good, I'm happy to watch it twice!
That is a level of dedication few ever achieve.
I am not a fan of Discovery or the ships in it, but the Shen Zhou is the one design that I do like. It fits in better, IMO, with traditional Federation starship design, as well as being classy in it own right.
Kinda surprised the Prometheus didn't get an honorable mention.
Since archer saw it at Battle of Procyon V it was at least as long lived as the excelsior class. at least in that timeline.
Because it's rigged.
The Prometheus strikes me as much like the Excelsior: a big experiment, throwing all their best tech at the wall to see what sticks. The kind of thing that would probably have a troubled development cycle. Delayed, over budget, but incredibly cool once it works. (In fact, I think the crew have actually mentioned that they chose a low registry number for the Prometheus to imply it had been stuck in development hell for a long time.)
And the Excelsior... was almost a huge embarrassment! The first time it shows up on screen its fancy-schmancy new engine fails and the renegades fly off laughing about how they made it too overcomplicated.
Of course, later history would exonerate the Excelsior and it would become established as an extremely sound spaceframe. But that was very close to not happening. If it had a couple more embarrassments they probably would have shelved the class as a failed experiment.
So the Prometheus in the prime timeline could easily have fallen on the other side of that coinflip. A potential gamechanger-to-be which ultimately didn't stick the landing and ended up relegated to a few expensive experiments. That's what I've always envisaged.
My one annoying issue with the Sagan is still that it canonically has no torpedo/probe launchers. I want to love this ship so much but it's a crazy oversight.
I loved the fact that you have the Connie and Excelsior class ships, they carried the Federation and Starfleet to the frontier
I still think that 3 nacelled, laser cannoned Enterprise D was something that Riker specifically would come up with if the ship were given to him.
The Connie wasn't just built for defence because the Federation was at war with the Klingons when she was built, so she is legitimately a battlecruiser. But like all vessels at the time, retasked at cessation of open hostilities and the beginning of the cold war era that TOS is set in. The Khitomer Accords being the complete and open end of things until DS9 beyond The Enterprise getting dragged into shit, generally involving House Duras. lol
The TOS Connie was a heavy cruiser, but the TMP refit turned it into a true battle cruiser
Personally, I'm thrilled the Galaxy class took the top spot; for me it's the best preeminent symbol of what the Federation hopes to be (had circumstances not overtaken it, as you said). Lots of big, friendly-looking curves on a battleship frame that held the line in some of the Federation's darkest hours, and all with comfortable chairs, warm lighting, and the thing that everyone would miss most of all in future designs - the carpet.
The ship was too mean, so Starfleet started putting families onboard. When the shit started hitting the fan, the Galaxy class went "Hold my tea, Earl Grey, hot - it's time to go cut a bitch."
That's how I've liked to think of it for all this time. When I was younger, I was as bemused as Picard as to why families were on board, but as I got older, and thought about it more and heard others talk about it, I came to realise that the Galaxy class was made during one of THE most prosperous and peaceful times of the Federation. Klingons were almost allies, if not cool neighbours, the Romulans were almost unheard of, and even when they did become more active, they didn't push for major conflict.
It was only when the Borg and Dominion came on the scene, virtually simultaneously, did the reality set in. That the Federation had either new, or more active enemies become a far greater, even existential threat, which demanded less luxurious designs, and the removal of families from the ships.
I don't know if this was all planned by the creators, or if Roddenberry just wanted the delusional idea of families on ships to be seen as normal in and of itself, but how it has worked out makes a lot of compelling sense.
@@Novarcharesk Roddenberry wasn't "delusional" per say, but his idea was that the Federation had evolved beyond war which while it may be true, doesn't speak for any other civilization. That said, I don't see families on a starship of that caliber being any crazier than military families actually staying on base. And when the exploration missions begin to exceed five year missions, then having your family with you means you can serve in Starfleet and not miss your kids growing up. Star Trek has had entire planets blown, up eaten by a giant space amoeba, and infected by flying fried eggs since TOS. There's no safe place, so you might as well have your family with you unless it's just an active war.
With all that said, my only real complaint on this issue regarding the Galaxy class is that the Saucer section doesn't have a warp drive. The Saucer Section should be able to make it home if the Stardrive loses in a battle.
I like to think that the Enterprise's amazing success led to Utopia Planitia to routinely come back to the Constitution profile for every new ship intended to have an "Enterprise" Flagship, as they just felt that any ship meant to bear the name should look the part.
12:16 I believe the Andromeda didn't yet exist for it to be canon, I feel like the Enterprise-D saving the day on Frontier Day 2401 inspired its creation and upon its launch would be the most advanced class of ship commissioned to date.
Thanks for giving the Ambassador Class a shoutout ❤❤❤
I'm surprised the Prometheus did not get a mention.
Great video yet again 😁
Thanks for clicking the fresh one, lol
I still do not understand why, with all the tech floating in the Federation and StarFleet, the Ent-F was not just stripped to the keel and rebuilt, instead of scrapping the ship because "it suffered too much damage". They do basically that during some refits. In fact it should be really hard to Scrap or decommission a ship for damages that do not outright destroy the ship.
On the production side, why even give a nod to the Ship, if Paramount/CBS was afraid of having to pay royalties to the creator of the Odyssey Class who was also awarded the Ent-F christening/commission.
Yup, real ocean liners and, I'll bet, other ships have been saved from more intensive damage to continue to operate. Like chopping off the entire bow or stern section after getting caught on the rocks to tow the remainder back to the construction yard to be completed with a whole new bow.
The only reason I can think of for CBS-Paramount to want to scrap _Enterprise-F_ was to replace her with one of their own designs. By choosing _Titan-A_ , not only did they choose a lesser vessel, but they also spat on the legacies of both Enterprises and Titans, in my opinion. It's also the only reason to advance the Odysey's rollout to the point they would be decommissioning one while Picard was still alive. The _F_ should have been commissioned in 2409, and her first captain should have been Vakel Shon, the previous commanding officer of the Defiant-class _USS Belfast_ .
But that's far from my only criticism of _Picard_ season 3. It was so full of plotholes, Diana Troi could have piloted the _D_ through them without so much as brushing against the side. Terry Matalas did try, and it shows, however by then the franchise had already been rendered unsalvageable. Unlike the _F_ .
And of course, another great ship and captain are nowhere in sight: Captain Nog and his _USS Chimera_ . Although this would have required a recasting, it is a ship and crew with stories worth telling.
No, it's because Terry Matalas and the current production team are Retro-Style OBSESSED. This era of Star Trek started with a TOS era prequel instead of a 25th century show.
cant argue with #1. my favourite ship of all time. the classiest of all the ships. such a beautifully designed ship in all honesty
While not groundbreaking and clearly an offshoot of the refitted Constitution class, the Miranda class deserves an honorable mention for its workhorse design that saw it serve as a backbone vessel for the Federation for over eight decades. The class also demonstrated huge adaptability and was a clear design concept influence for later vessels like the Nebula class.
Everybody loves the big one. :)
Sovereign was the most iconic, beautiful, peak of Starship design - by far. Everything we've seen since looks like lego.
I can understand saying most beautiful and peak because that’s subjective, but it’s definitely not the most iconic. That’s either the Constitution or the Galaxy.
The Sovereign was overdone when it was already done over (pun)
The Galaxy class was a baritone, Shakespearean actor with a glass jaw. Just like it's captain 😉
The Odyssey class was designed and built by the people for the people. That's why it's the best. Thank you for including it.
While it might not be the best, the ambassador class is my favorite Federation starship class.
agree refited she is also a power on her own, you could argue that she could have done better at narrendra if she had better systems, but be honest the warbirds were too much even though they were the older ones. The Ambassador class is in my opinion exactly what the name says: An ambassador to get new worlds into starfleet. She has to look great and symbolise Starfleet in relativly peacefull times.
Sovereign at 8 and Galaxy at 1?! Naaaah!
Excellent video, well thought out.
I would have liked to have seen some of the futuristic ships from the last episode of Voyager.
Good list, have a great day
The sovereign and defiant (though not in this list) are most beautiful of that era, but the galaxy was the beast to their beauty, well deserved number one. Huge fan of the sagan too, she is absolutely beautiful for a new-era ship.
I never thought that the Defiant was attractive.
Very fast and very powerful? Yes.
Attractive? No.
@@pike100 The Defiant was a brute. Smaller and packed to the gills with weapons and armor. There's beauty in that. It's all subjective. For sure my favorite Federation ship.
Fair enough as a personal list. And made clear why some ships weren't included.
Honestly surprised the Crossfield class didn't even get an honorable mention.
I always love a top 10 and I love a starship, so I love this video! Slightly surprised that you didn’t put the Excelsior class at number 1 though 😂😂
Sovereign, the Excelsior and the defiant are my favorite classes of ships. To be honest, I didn’t like the galaxy class when I first saw it, but it definitely grew on me. I also like the Odyssey class but in particular the USS Yorktown. Thanks for the video. Live long and prosper.🖖🏾
Are you deliberately trying to start WWIII?
LMAO
😂 😂😂
The Miranda was such a cool design back in the 80's. I'm so glad they went with a design different from the Constitution layout. I had the Miranda Micro Machines mini and it was one of my favorites to play with as a kid.
Also great that it allowed for later designs, like the Nebula class, to be made along similar lines. It bothers me that we don't see equivalent designs, with under-slung engines, in the Excelsior and Ambssador class eras.
There's another error in this version of the video that might require another reupload: You throw shade at the Ambassador Class.
Third time lucky, eh?
Definitely with you for the number 1 pick 👍
Really glad the Odyssey made the list, even though most of its lore is from beta canon.
Also surprised but glad the Sagan class made it, it’s a great looking ship and I hope we see more of it.
I think the Sovereign is in a good spot. It’s an amazing ship, but a bit niche and pretty outclassed by the 25th century.
Not sure how I feel about the Sutherland being above the Excelsior though, I feel the Excelsior was so much more influential…
Totally agree with #2 and #1 though! I would have bet money those two ships would win before even watching the video haha.
Well at least Sisko's pimp hand got an honorable mention. I'll give you that.
Ambassador is my favorite. It just looks so well proportioned.
Awesome list and overall good picks.
Here's my list...and honestly this was seriously hard to chose. With this Trekkie I have come to love a lot of the ships that have appeared on our screens. To having to nail down a top 10 definitely was hard for me.
1: Constitution Class Refit
I may have scowled at more than a few of your really weird choices, but any list that has the Galaxy class as its #1 is alright by me. You get a Like.
I agree we’d expect the original Connie to be high on the list. Not only a premiere explorer, but militarily outclassing most foes it would encounter, with few exceptions. Which is why it seems odd that Strange New Worlds retcons it into a ship that is outclassed by every enemy and has to run from every hostile encounter without even bothering to fight back. It might as well be the Oberth. But at least it has a really cool bar.
I really like the Ambassador class. A beautiful ship has the best of the Constitution Refit, Excelsior Class, and eventual Galaxy Class.
This video is amazing good 👍😎😊😁
I really felt the Runabout should have made the top ten. Its versatility and overall over performance in the Dominion War really makes it stand out. IMO.
Personally intrepid is my favorite. I feel that the class had a excellent balance between speed, crew complement, defense, and mission statement
I could argue a few others but overall I agree.
Awesome list! I fully agree that I wish we had more canon on the Odyssey, it's such a beautiful design. Hopefully we'll get a show or some novels or something that gives us something with the Enterprise F to really see what the class is capable of. And on that note, and I know I'm opening myself up to some hate here, but I wish we knew more about the Kelvin Constitution. I genuinely really like the Kelvin design aesthetics, and think that version of the Enterprise is really cool, but those movies told us so little about what the Konnie can do and what Starfleet's design philosophies behind it were, so it will never really stand a chance in this kind of list. But then I'm the kind of person who wants full design info for every ship, because I thrive on the crunchy details when it comes to ships.
Nebula Class, Steamrunner Class, Odyssey Class, Miranda Class, Akira Class. I like starship designs that not anyone would think of and are clearly functional and fun and useful. Your choice of Sutherland Class covers the Nebula, and the Akira sort of.
The Galaxy class is my favorite but I would love to see a series with the Enterprise J.
The Defiant is now and will likely always be my favorite Star Trek ship. I can understand why you wouldn't include it on a list like this as it was very specialist but I personally just love the idea of such a small ship being so powerful. Because of its size, one would presume they are also not terribly difficult to produce as the mirror universe made their own at a space station instead of a huge space dock.
I imagine if the Crossfield line had panned out in the 23rd century, it could have absolutely placed rather high on this list, if it didn't bear a successor that did so. As a black-ops testbed, they had both the scientific and tactical capability to contend with situations and threats many similar craft had no business dealing with
I have a weird deja vu.
I did ask, whether there is more story in STO and someone replied that it is available on PC already - so looking forward to adventures of [insert rank] Hale.
I see that you corrected (I think) the weird black screens in Constitution part. IDK if it required nuking the video, but I'm glad that you did fix it.
The Akira was such an underused ship. A carrier with massive torpedo firepower, and they used it as cannon fodder.
Now, technically a shuttle is a ship. That means there are quite a few candidates that could bump off some of the mentioned ships quite easily by show of service and time spend on service and for that matter options. They were used for a lot of different jobs and they should at minimum be named at least once for this alone. A worker bee for example was present for nearly a century, even if it doesn't have warp capabilities or anything fancy, it did it's work even while being assigned to the big boys of the fleet. From orbital usage, to starbase and star ship. It was a very capable tiny ship that should be mentioned for it's role. Problem is that it's a auxiliary craft created for repairing, building and not much else.
Now even a bigger contender would be the Runabout for example, it had a warp 5 speed (in some versions even upgraded to warp 6 or 7). With a crew of 2-4 and 4 phaser arrays and 1 torpedo launcher it was actually quite a decent little ship. Capable of doing all kinds of missions with the added capability of actually landing the ship on a planet or any space rock. Also it was actually a command pod, warp sled and cargo module into 1 and yes this could be easily changed into the configuration that would be needed for a specific mission or task. It was even used as carrier shuttle on the Akira-class for example. It could be very easily used for other tasks like cargo runs within a solar system between planets if you would add a bigger cargo pod for example or change the warp sled for something bigger and you might have more range and warp speed. This ship might be the most versatile ship of all, including the big ones.
I always wanted to squeeze several enterprise D systems into existing Ambassador class hulls. Modify the drives for minimal subspace impact. Now, I'd likely pull a few and stick in a system similar to the intrepid class.
Love that the Odyssey class is at number 10.
I liked the Walker class right away on Discovery.
I am surprised that my favorite is at number 8 lol
And my second favorite at number 7
I strongly dislike the Ambassador class. It's so generic and uninteresting. I prefer the Probert concept
I just can't get by the fact that the Galaxy class was a glass cannon. It's power systems were unstable and compromised the core A LOT lol
What if the Excelsior _"Transwarp"_ was simply *the new warp scale* speeds, which were a big jump from the TOS era, and not TNG warp 10+ cross the galaxy warp drive?
Basically what Khan developed in the Kelvin timeline - the Dreadnought being a combat optimised Excelsior concept with the drive tech that the Prime timeline would develop in a few more decades.
And the chase scene from _Into Darkness_ does seem like what the Excelsior captain expected to do in _The Search for Spock._
Easily catch up to a Constitution Class in warp, and be able to attack it in warp.
So that once Starfleet undid Scotty's sabotage and refined the engines, it did indeed work.
After all, a Excelsior could still keep up with the fleet a century later.
Should do one for each of the major factions in start trek .
The Akira class is my favourite!
california class shoud have been an honorable mention cause is like the old Volkswagen Beetle, despite being falling apart it doesn't let you down
The Defiant will always be the best ship Starfleet ever produced. It proved they only make huge 600,000 meter long ships because they get paid by the meter.
Not a ship you would want to serve on for a 5 year mission, nor do diplomacy or science in
@@martinjrgensen8234 Sure she doesn't have insta-repair or infinite shuttles like the Intrepid class, but if you're being attacked she's the ship you want. Also the NX-01 wasn't a luxury cruiser but it was a great diplomatic ship while being not that much bigger than the Defiant (mostly because of its nacelles).
@@julius-stark if I could be on any ship going into battles during the dominion war I'd want to be on a galaxy class. Aside from the odyssey (which held it's own again 3 jem hader fighters despite its shields being useless) we didn't see any of them being destroyed on screen during a battle and they were deployed in far greater numbers than the defiant class and unlike the deviant plot amour didn't need it to save them.
I feel that longevity has to also be taken into account, while less important than how much of a top of the line ship it was when it came out, it is also important that it stayed relevant, this would probably push the excelsior up a ship or two and same with the sovereign.
man i cant wait to see the lamarr class in action it look awesome i am guessing it from star trek online or something the picture i havent found anything on it outside the clip that was shown a few month ago
I'm avoiding the entire French language for fear of spoilers, lol
2nd time's the charm?
There was an error in the original where some footage was missing. Thankfully commenters caught it and I got to it early.
Id like a video for each faction if possible.
Ships that need to be added: (Honorable mention F Class shuttle), Texas Class, and Saladin (I was so bummed when Gene said no way to the design).
I would definitely add the Wells and Universe classes. But that's just me
There is no competition - For battle, Enterprise J - For Star trekking - NX-01
I really wish we'd gotten more time with the Sagan class or any time at all with the Luna Class. Maybe in some future Legacy.
Nothing says "The Federation is here!" like the Big D pulling into orbit.
Opulent and imperial, regal and powerful. A statement of its own.
Peak Golden Age Of Exploration Federation that was not afraid to show and flaunt its superiority to friend of a foe.
If I had to select a new Hero Ship from the STO roster I would go with the Guardian class.
Everything the Galaxy class is, but built for hostile environments and encounters. A ship I would choose to explore the Delta Quadrant with.
I would add to that list of Galaxy class descriptors 'dignified'. We could lord it over you if we wanted to but we're too classy to do that, indeed, we could whip your arse but we'd rather invite you over for some fine dining and pleasant conversation.
Dude put a Luxury Yawt at Number 1 but put The Sovereign in The Back that is a dedicated Fed Battle Ship and does everything The Galaxy Class dose but better lol.
It's fine im not Salty hehe it's your list and a fantastic one too and i love The Galaxy Class as well i grew up with that and Voyager for me i would of put Voyager at Number 1.
Respect and keep up the epic work.
I agree with the picks just not the order of ranks but I'll acknowledge it's all about how they look to me hehe I'm a sucker for the ships that just look tough like the walker and sovereign lol
i agree with the list, i am a bit biased towards the Galaxy class as that is still my favorite ship, despite the plethora of starships in STO, plus they have multiple variants in the mmo so im a happy man.
I like the Ambassador Class. It looks good to me, I don't like non circular saucers and and flattened out star drive sections. I might be bias because of the impact of the Enterprise C. Sort lived but (I think) made the biggest impacted of any Enterprise for the length of time it was in service. I also heard that the Ambassador in the Dominion War was out doing the newest of the Cardassian fleet despite being around 50 years older. This could be more of a crew thing then a ship thing, though. If a crew has worked with a ship for long enough it can make the ship do just about anything... in theory.
In Star Trek online though I don't like it's turn rate so I use the light curser (Reliant Class) instead. (fast maneuverable and can pack a big punch with the right equipment and bridge crew)
The none error version, or refit upload?
9:00 I think any ship designed to just be “an Enterprise” with no other ideas behind its creation than just designing an Enterprise (i.e a refit, a massive explorer carrying families, a sleeker design, etc) is inevitably gonna end up a little generic.
That being said, I’m a sucker for the traditional Starfleet silhouette so i do like the Ambassador
Can’t argue with that.
Overall I agree with your list. I would quibble that the Defiant was very impressive after O’Brien worked out most of its kinks but again, the environment passed it by.
This factor is way more important than most commenters seem to think. Just as species evolve to fit their environment (not quite correct but so what) so do they go extinct when environmental changes make them unfit to survive. Same for starships so there can’t really be an *all time* number one.
Your number one choice Galaxy class, one of my personal all time favorites, comes pretty close except that as you said it became too costly to produce and keep up.
Same applies to the Odyssey class though. It’s big, it’s broadly and hugely capable, but also costly.
Personally I would like to see a Star Trek future in which the concept of Bigger Is Better is abandoned in favor of lots of smaller, faster, nimbler ships with the best weapons and shields available that can be mass-produced to use swarm tactics against larger opponents from D’Deridex class warbirds to Borg cubes. I’m thinking a love child of the Intrepid and Defiant classes, sort of super Destroyer class vessels (in current naval terminology) that aren’t intended to be part of a fleet that includes larger vessels. There would still be a need for larger ships in long-range exploration, bulk cargo, fleet tender and evacuation roles but their numbers would be limited.
Yes, that would mean a more combat-oriented mindset in Starfleet but its history of avoiding that is one of my pet peeves about all of Star Trek. When the cosmic shtf the Federation is never prepared. A fleet of super Destroyers could still handle diplomatic missions, routine patrols, answer distress calls, explore Federation boundary space etc. in ones and twos, with at least the same if not better pop-up threat handling capability of much larger vessels.
A man can dream.
Speaking of that, what would *your* one -size-fits-all ship design look like?
Hey the Nebula didn’t even garner an honorable mention?
I find it difficult to not be biased of just how GOOD the model of the Constitution MkII was, with both the Ent-D and Voyager having also excellent models.
Is it just my "old man" coming out that I think they look so much better? They just feel like real objects to me, while say, the Ent-E feels good enough for me to get involved in a story, but whenever I take a step back it just doesn't look like a real thing that exists. I wonder how younger fans feel.
I don’t agree with a lot of this, but it is a fair list.
The Miranda class the truly forgotten red shirt ship. So sad.
the galaxy class is the perfect starship. it combines everything about starfleet and the federation into a single class.
it's great for exploration.
it has an impressive weapons system.
it carries families.
it has plenty of science capability.
and it's just so damn gorgeous...
One thing I really disliked about TNG was how the firepower of the galaxy class was never consistent. Bad writing how they could nerf her down to suit the episode
How did the Walker class make this list? So many more deserving ships.
I personally dislike the Discovery/Picard ships, since I do not care for how Bad Reboot has handled their shows. That is of course personal preference. I believe that the Ares class from 'Prelude to Axanar' deserves an honorable mention at the very least. The studio came up with a very believable precursor design to the TOS Constitution class, one with a serious 'come-at-me-bro' vibe that any Klingon would have recognized immediately. It has been suppressed by CBS, which is further proof of how good it actually is. D-6's beware!
A few nitpicks: I don't think the Lakota was one of the most capable ships in the fleet... I think it was up against a tiny escort (the Defiant) and basically punched down. We would expect a ship of similar size like the Sovereign to wipe the floor with the Defiant. The Intrepid was MUCH larger in volume than the Constitution class, which routinely did 5 year missions, and looks quite cozy in SNW... heck, it doesn't really seem that different from a Sovereign class internally. Lastly, so awesome to see the Galaxy Class at the top of this list-- but one of the most underapreciated features of the ship was its massive hangar. Lastly, we see Galaxy Class ships being produced well into the late 2370s-- and we can presume that many were converted over to the Ross class or Andromeda class refit. Children may have been a bad idea on some missions, but civilian diplomats, scientists, anaylisits etc make perfect sense on a starship that is routinely operating far from Federation core worlds.
Why did you put the USS Discovery on the thumbnail and never mentioned it in the video?
I would have to say the best ship overall would be the Intrepid class, Voyager. Granted this is a tough list and you will never get a lot of people agreeing on this type list. Good overall for sure!
Not sure I would have put the Galaxy Class at #1. It seemed to do poorly in battles.
The Galaxy class is still my favorite.
I haven't finished the video yet but I'm dying to find out what you have in first position so I'll know what people are going to be arguing about when I do read the comments. This video is good enough it will earn more than one comment from me.
I am comfortable with your number one, but I am surprised that you don't have more TNG-era ships in this list given all the videos you've made OF those ships.
TNG enterprise is the best! I like the defiant too
Galaxy definitely number 1. Although I prefer the conni refit but the galaxy is just awesome. The first step towards a universe class.
While you did the Sutherland I think with out the modularity and multi capabilities of the Nebula a lot of design concepts would not have occurred. For my money the Nebula outshines the Galaxy in multi mission capability while offering just as much comfort and power in a less resource intensive package.
TBH I would have swapped the Excelsior and the Galaxy.
Doing my research, mind, but here's my thoughts:
The Galaxy is extremely resource intensive and relies a lot on brute force to heft its bulk. The civilian crews are... a moral dilemma, considering how much danger they are put into without proper training. Per Beta content (Star Trek Adventures), a lot of Galaxy class ships were commissioned during the Dominion war by stripping out a lot of the fluff systems which left some of them nearly hollow.
Honestly, I'm surprised - Memory Alpha shows somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 Galaxies recorded on screen. So perhaps a little less difficult to build than I thought (or just economy of scale plus post-scarcity). Also, 2 of them show up in alternate futures (the D refit and the Challenger), so the class clearly has some legs.
The Excelsior bridges from the end of TOS era to the end of DS9. Aside from the B'Rel and the Miranda, few if any ships served longer, and the Miranda couldn't serve in the front line like the Excelsior did during the Dominion war. In-universe, the Excelsior was clearly still a preferred posting just based on the number of admirals who continued to put their flag on the Excelsior even in the presence of newer ships. Arguably, the only reason the Excelsior was retired is because of moral issues (subspace damage) instead of technological progress, and the Excelsior-II tells me that starfleet engineers felt that way too.
The lifespan of the Galaxies was likely a bit longer than you've got here. We know there were a bunch of them in the Dominion War, and post-war there just wouldn't have been a lot of things to thin out their herd. While they probably weren't produced for long (as the Sovereign was in production), after the war, the ones in-service likely kept trucking well into the 2400s.