Topic: Cardassian Union Hendor class battleship wip.....

[Raven Night]

Here is a quick peek at how the Hendor rework is shaping up. I had to remove alot of nasty polys that popped up here and there in the smoothing process, so the mesh is much cleaner now, but still needs alot of work. This ship is supposed to be on par, meaning an equal match for a Vorcha, DDeridex or Galaxy. There are three versions of this ship, ill post pics of the other versions when this one is complete. This version is the most powerful "battleship" type. I realize the shape is quite a departure from the norm for Cardassians, but that was the intent. Comments welcome.

[ModelsPlease]

Very brutish indeed. I love what you've done with it 

[Starforce2]

I can wait to shoot at them

[E_Look]

Were Cardassian ships EVER a match for Starfleet's?  In one DS9 episode involving the springing of Gul Dukat, it took what appear to be three Galor class ships to destroy one Nebula class ship.

And one on one, in the episode that Bob Gunton played the rogue captain of the U.S.S. Phoenix, that Nebula class starship outclassed every Cardassian it ran into, including a warship, though its class was not specified... even stripped of its shields!

I can't believe I'm actually talking about this.

[darkthunder]

This ship is supposed to be on par, meaning an equal match for a Vorcha, DDeridex or Galaxy.

Only problem is, the 3 ships you mentioned aren't equal strength to each other

Interesting looking Cardassian vessel. Nice to get some more Cardies besides the already known Galor, Keldon and Hideki's.

[Starforce2]

Were Cardassian ships EVER a match for Starfleet's?  In one DS9 episode involving the springing of Gul Dukat, it took what appear to be three Galor class ships to destroy one Nebula class ship.

And one on one, in the episode that Bob Gunton played the rogue captain of the U.S.S. Phoenix, that Nebula class starship outclassed every Cardassian it ran into, including a warship, though its class was not specified... even stripped of its shields!

I can't believe I'm actually talking about this.

That was more of an issue with weapons range than sheer power. However a galor did fire on theg alaxy with it's shields down and the damage was negligable. 1 volley to the tail with a defiant knocks out a keldon.

[Raven Night]

Well, the designer of the Galor indicated that it was meant as a match for a Galaxy. Go figure.

I would say that I see the Galor as more of a match for the Ambassador, the ship it was probably designed to counter, considering it is most probably a Cardassian design fielded during that war. Other than size, this ship far exceeds the firepower of the Galor...it was designed to be a match for a Soveriegn in most ways.

I see it this way...The Vorcha is probably a good match for a Galaxy. Much slower, weaker shields, stronger armor and much stronger weapons.

The DDeridex is most probably also a good match for a Galaxy, far superior in shielding and weapons, better armor (but below the Vorcha), far inferior in menuverability and speed.

The Galor is probably inferior to all of them, but does have a punch equal to the Vorcha with the spiral phaser elements. Unlike the Vorcha, it has the same bite fore and aft. Otherwise, it uses weakers phasers than the Galaxy....probably even inferior to the Ambassador, more likely equal to the Excel (modern version).

The current Cardassians being fielded are supposed to bring the fleet more in line with other threat vessels. The main problem of a poorly protected warp core has been solved, as armor has been upgraded, and weapon coverage has been improved, though probabaly in line with the Galaxy. The spiral phaser elements, however, have been greatly improved, now powered in grades (red, blue and purple respectfully) so more powerful ships actually have more powerful spiral disruptors now. In the past, all ships had the same element, just more power available for quicker firing rates. The purple spirals are specially designed to operate in chaos mode (overload), giving the ships equipped with this element a rather nasty alpha strike.

A good example of the new Cardassian mindset would be the Hudon/Hudal dreadnoughts. They have 6 forward spiral phaser elements, 4 aft, all purples. The ship is extremely lethargic, but has substantial armor and a murderous first strike.

[Raven Night]

Well, many times throughout history manufacturing traditions were changed.

At one time, Klingons operated only deep space vessels. This changed with the expansion of the Federation, causing the Klingon Empire to move toward a fleet comprised of smaller short range ships in majority, relying on overwhelming numbers. The next change came with the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis, severely reducing the strength and size of the fleet, as well as the design of more efficient designs.

Now the Klingons, after a civil war, and three separate wars with others, have decided that the new priority should be a massive fleet as before, with a balanced ratio of capital long range vessels and short range defensive craft.

Humans would take thier time, triple or quadrupal redundancy and long life the halmarks of Federation designs. Almost all mainfleet vessels of the line were deep space exporitory ships. This changed with the Cardassian war, and was finally put to bed with the Borg invasion. Starfleet decided to once again build a combat fleet, and after the Dominion war concluded shipbuilding tech from the Dominion assisted in this process. The Federation maintains two separate space fleets in operation, the standard Starfleet, peacekeeping, defense and exploration, and the expeditionary fleet (3rd Fleet) under the Starfleet Marine Corps, a purely offensive fleet.

The Romulans believed in smaller ships in greater numbers all the way up to a protracted war with the Tholians, after which it was decided that an expansion of the Empire was in order, as well as the large capital ships to support it. Now, the focus has once again shifted to smaller attack vessels after the Dominion war, while maintenance of the deep space capital fleet remains a priority.

The Cardassians limited thier fleet development to smaller capital vessels due to supply contraints, but started many designs with the Dominion alliance. After a long recovery from the war and assistance from the Federation to rebuild Cardassia, the Cardassian fleet, using Dominion shipbuilding technology, is once again a force to be reconized and respected.

Some of this is conjecture or created by myself, looking all the way back to the TOS days. Across the different movies and shows you can see concerted shifts in manufacturing tradiitions in all of the major players, for one reason or another.

By the way, here is the latest on the Hendor....still have alot of work to do, including nailing down the size of the ship so I can size the bridge properly. Once I get all of the little details taken care of, I will show all three versions of this ship.

[ModelsPlease]

BUMP

[Raven Night]

I'm still working on it, but I had to set it down for a bit...I was getting a bit frustrated with it. I decided to work on an old fed I had. I'll get back on this mesh shortly.