2 Warp Cores and AI Crew: The Ross Class Starship

[@cympimpin20]

I love the idea of a ship like this being used for colonization efforts. Load up 1,500 colonists and a few hundred construction and tech specialists and head out of a newly discovered M class planet in the far reaches. It has the space, sensors, firepower, auxiliary craft and power/replication capabilities to sustain getting a colony off the ground and could hang out in orbit for a few months fabricating parts, colony components, even more shuttles and support craft that will stay with the colony. While the colonists are getting work done building, the Ross class is blanketing the system with probes, sending out surveys, acting as the fallback position, medical center, guard post, etc for the colony while its in its early stages.

[@James-rn7dx]

In my head cannon the Sovereign class was never a replacement for the Galaxy class but the Excelsior class. The Enterprise name would have never been assigned to a Sovereign class ship had the Enterprise-D not been lost, also the Galaxy class wasn't that old when the Sovereign came into service. IMO the Ross or the Odyssey class are the true replacements for the Galaxy class.

[@hellfish2309]

The Sovereign was a kind of Excelsior successor, but as the Excelsior was initially conceived, not the workhorse they became But really the Sovereign was conceived and built for a new fleet doctrine in response to the Borg: a multiadaptive command and control cruiser to coordinate task forces and flotillas

[@krisgonynor689]

The Sovereign was a battleship, pure and simple. The Galaxy class wasn't and wasn't ever meant to be.

[@diogocatalano9557]

Totally agree.

[@entropy11]

The Galaxy was good enough to inspire two major variants that went on to replace it, the Ross and the Andromeda. The Odyssey was even bigger-concept than anything before it and was the Federation's big statement of shipbuilding dominance in this half of the galaxy.

[@joelbilly1355]

​@@hellfish2309 I agree with this assessment. It was putting all the best of the new anti borg tech into a single starship

[@classic.cameras]

I always thought the Sovereign Class starship looked more like a replacement to the Excelsior Class starship than a Galaxy Class.

[@tk5800thesecond]

My head canon is Star Fleet works on a more mutliple branch design philosophy instead of a completely single linear "one after the other" design iteration

[@DavidKnowles0]

Same here.

[@sardonicspartan9343]

This is the proper successor to the Galaxy imo.

[@3Rayfire]

Actually you're right. John Eaves has stated he directly designed the Sovereign after the Excelsior instead of the Galaxy.

[@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307]

@@tk5800thesecond I heard losers get all wet talking about purely fictional ideas about purely fictional items that dont exist!

[@markrtoffeeman]

The Galaxy Class was 'uprated' by refit just prior to and during the Dominion War to warp 9.9 for 12 hours along with additional weapons (phasers and torpedo bays). This according to the DS9 Technical Manual The Nebula class and others were also uprated ("UPRTD") This is on pages 151 and 152 of the DS9 Technical Manual (written by Herman Zimmerman, Rick Sternbach and Doug Drexler) This puts it in line with the Ross Class, which merely formalised these refit upgrades

[@OpenMawProductions]

There is absolutely no way I buy that the Galaxy Class, which was designed to last a hundred years, would just be dropped from service that soon into its life. They're huge, powerful starships with plenty of room for refits and upgrades.

[@ealan3694]

Absolutely agreed! Not even 40 years, what a waste of investment on the part of the Starfleet Command. Personnally, it would have been far more appropriate for the Ross class to have been the Andromeda class in Star Trek Picard. We already saw the Sutherland-class, and the Andromeda was meant to use the same parts, akin to the Galaxy/Nebula class. On top of that, I could buy the Galaxy-class being refitted into the Andromeda-class in an additive process. To refit to a Ross-class, you would have to disassemble vast percentages of the hull and spaceframe, to then rebuild in. Overall, Ross-class selection is a misfire decision in Picard.

[@YesNoMaybeOkSure]

Maybe not dropped, but I can see a shift from producing more Galaxies to Ross production. But you're right, the Galaxy hulls already constructed would have been viable for quite a long time afterwards.

[@garycannon4644]

I think the reasoning for it was if the galaxies took to much damage they would spring a coolant leak and the warp core would explode

[@OpenMawProductions]

My issue is there sheer size. They're massive starship with huge engines and capable of incredibly long range exploration. Even after the Dominion War they would be fully capable of doing all kinds of work. Give em a new warp core, new deflector, new phasers, quantum torpedos, and they would be competitive for decades with other ships in the fleet. On sheer scale alone, they should be able to last well into the 25th Century, even once surpassed by other ships they should still be able to carry on in other roles.It's one thing to replace fighter jets like that, it's another thing entirely to jettison your cutting edge aircraft carriers. Especially when we've seen ships like the Excelsior and Miranda classes continue well passed what would be considered an expected life span of 30-40 years.

[@gerogyzurkov2259]

​@@garycannon4644 There's a reason for refits. The Excelsior prototype new wrap drive was a failure, but the ship itself wasn't. Same goes for the Galaxy.

[@ralterdrake556]

I'm still blown away by these immense ships with terrifyingly small crews. Something that size should be able to have life support for tens of thousands.

[@docferringer]

I think life support is not the issue, it's utility. They keep the crew count low and cram every inch of the ship with labs and deep space exploration necessities. If it has two warp cores then it has 2 antimatter stores to supply the smaller warp core in the saucer section. So that makes it a second engineering section as well when it is in use. There is also all of the plumbing required for energy transfer between the two cores and also out to the rim of the saucer where the secondary warp coils are hidden. There are increased sensor arrays to handle more science, computing power to parse returns from the sensors, and because the ship can separate it can explore a wider area of space. Looking at Voyager, the biggest limit of its class was antimatter. That was always a consideration on the show; comparatively, a larger class like a Ross will naturally store more of it. The main shuttle bay was cavernous on the Enterprise D, so that takes up a whole deck right there. One thing that was not clarified was, are the crew's families counted in the civilian total? Probably not, but just adding the necessary crew berths and accommodations for over 2,500 people (crew and civilians/colonists) and you have a pretty well-populated ship (and one packed full of entertainment for all of those people.

[@keiyakins]

Also, the life support on most Starfleet vessels actually *can* handle much larger numbers than there's accommodations for. We've seen shuttle and cargo bays converted to temporarily house refugees before.

[@tristanmendoza4628]

Holding a few hundred refugees before at best, there is no basis for a galaxy class or variant life supporting "tens of thousands" - that's so absurd I am only answering because others did and didn't point that out - TENS? THOUSANDS??

[@Z1gguratVert1go]

​@@tristanmendoza4628there is a picture used as a thumbnail in a video and also available separately online that shows what a thousand people standing on top of the saucer of a galaxy class ship looks like. Once I saw that I realized that these ships are either much too large or they are much too empty inside.

[@logsupermulti3921]

@@tristanmendoza4628I mean, modern cruise ships are a fraction the size of the Galaxy class and have support for around 6000 people. The Galaxy is more the large enough to hold 10,000 people. The original plans for the D included a six story mall in the center of the saucer section, sick bay was originally an entire medical deck and TNG always used shuttle bay two or three when they needed a shuttle bay because shuttle bay one was the size of a two story parking garage.

[@ProvidenceNL]

I think its pretty awesome they are using star trek online designs!

[@WardNightstone]

When they started doing picard they suddenly realized they needed ships so they reached out two ATO and asked for ship designs. I think they gave them the model for the Sally Ride too but it wasn't used (the Ride was an Intrepid class after all)

[@michaell1473]

Would be awesome if it didn't look like the car Homer designed in the Simpsons.

[@ProvidenceNL]

@@michaell1473 What are you smoking?

[@MangetsuSAMURAI]

​@Michael L I wouldn't go THAT far, but there is a lot of design choices that don't mesh very well. The deflector dish for instance.

[@shadowofneo]

online was always intended to be completely within the constraints of canon

[@cartoonkelly7924]

The galaxy class will always hold a special place in my heart. For Star Trek Picard reasons, my heart is very happy.

[@TonksMoriarty]

The most important question I have about this ship is: does it have carpets?

[@entropy11]

based on the bridge screenshot at 4:26, Burgundy and blue.

[@tolazytothinkofanamd2351]

Carpets makes so much sense. I'm surprised more Sci Fi shows don't include them on ships. It's cheap and provides warmth and grip for bumpy moments. Even NASA has carpets for this exact reason.

[@MangetsuSAMURAI]

I miss the carpets.

[@DrLeroyGreen]

DYK that if you pull up the carpets on a starship, there are beautiful hardwood floors underneath?

[@parkpunk2]

But, imagine all the vacuuming. Forever with the vacuuming!

[@Z1gguratVert1go]

I've never heard of or seen this ship until watching this video just now, and it's instantly one of my favorites. You've sold me on her!

[@drewf41]

Same.

[@cryofpaine]

You should watch Clear Skies. It's a great show. Honestly, after Nemesis and the Kelvin movies, I was done with Star Trek. Shield of Tomorrow got me excited for Star Trek again. Shield of Tomorrow was another Star Trek RPG show on Geek and Sundry (a KZbin channel started by Felicia Day, and partnered with Wil Wheaton). When G&S went under, many of the people from that show, and a few others from G&S, went on to make Clear Skies (and the all Klingon sister series Blood of the Void). Fun trivia: If you play Star Trek: Online, you can even find references to Shield of Tomorrow. There's an Orion weapons vendor on DS9 named Zazrit, which is a character from their show. You can also find the USS Sally Ride, an Intrepid class ship, captained by Captain T'Lan, who was a character on the show, and the player does that character's voice. And if you keep a tribble in your inventory with a bottle of cream soda, it becomes a special kind of tribble with lore from the show. On Shield of Tomorrow, their set had official LCARS templates that were provided to them by CBS. And Bonnie Gordon, one of the players from both series, is the voice of the computer on Star Trek: Prodigy.

[@vanguard9067]

Me too.

[@Z1gguratVert1go]

@@cryofpaine that's a pretty big endorsement, I'll have to check it out

[@kgmindustries8121]

Watch Star Trek Picard S2 or S3. Anything that looks like a Galaxy class (other than the actual Enterprise D) onscreen is actually a Ross class. If you look carefully it's confirmed visually. The ONLY "active" and even functional Galaxy class currently as of Picard S3 is the Enterprise D. (I think that's one reason she was put in the museum, she's the last of her class, and don't want to risk losing her) Well anyways it would be cool to see the Ross class more in canon to see what she's really capable of, it looks like an awesome design.

[@Dan19870]

Circular Warp assembly for the saucer section seems like a monumental leap. As for the Galaxy class being withdrawn from service in Picard, I was hoping they'd be around for at least another hundred years like the Miranda and Excelsior classes before it.

[@DavidKnowles0]

I can't remember them saying it been withdrawn from service. In fact I think there was a galaxy class in the fleet day celebrations.

[@autophreaktrishield]

I believe Vulcan warp sets used circular design all the back to Cochran's initial war flight

[@ElijahNMitchell]

I get what you are saying about discontinuing the class, though even the Odyssey was discontinued but lives on in the Yorktown and Lexington classes

[@Beuwen_The_Dragon]

The Warp coils in the Saucer section seems like a bad idea for Starships.. Putting a Massive Ammount of Super heated Warp Plasma so close to Crew Quarters unnecessarily is a massive accident waiting to happen.. there is a reason why Warp Coils were kept in Nacelles at the ends of Pylons or in Rings; Outside of the Ships..

[@manw3bttcks]

@@Beuwen_The_Dragon The saucer warp coils are probably usually kept cold and only powered up when the saucer is split off in an emergency. In that case it's better to have the speed then the extra risk of plasma leaks

[@Emissary355]

The Galaxy Class Federation starship is the most beautiful design I've ever seen, I love the Enterprise-D!

[@Worldtinkerer]

I was really happy to see you do a video on the Ross! The Streampunks (the RPG group whose show it originated in), or rather an earlier constellation of the same GM and most of the players were a large part of why I became a Trekkie! Clear Skies was super good, but an earlier campaign called Shield of Tomorrow is one of my favorite TTRPG shows ever, and was part of the reason why I decided to begin my watch-through of the Old Trek series a few years ago, as I'd only seen parts of TNG before.

[@digiphaze]

I really wish this was the Enterprise-G, would have felt like a more natural fit as a successor. Even though the F was an anomaly. You could say the F was the successor to the Enterprise-B.

[@mastere6115]

Nah, the F was the successor to the E, which was the successor to the B. And to be fair, the Enterprises don't have to look like one another necessarily, it's the name and job that counts, being at heart the main exploration vessel of the fleet. Though, I do admit, I'd have much rather seen thr Titan be named the USS Generation, as it would have fit so perfectly as an omage to the in world crew, and also to the out world crew. Since, for in world they could explain it as the older generation being the ones to risk and give so much to save and bring back the younger generation. I feel it would have been more impactful than naming it the Enterprise, since, frankly, the Enterprise isn't their ship since it is just the most well known shop and they only just decommissioned the F which had no relation to any of them really

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@mastere6115 They clearly set it up in the scene for it to be name USS Picard. Someone at the studio overrule them. Enterprise might mean a lot to Picard but not as much as Picard would. The speech before the reveal made it sound like they were naming it after Picard. An the fact that it was just a voice over of Jack add further evidence that they originally intended it to be USS Picard.

[@xenovita]

Agreed, the titan did not deserved rechristening since it over performed and it has a legacy name as well. Without seeing this video I thought maybe some of the skins of sto should have been used

[@ElijahNMitchell]

I’m going to miss the Ody class 😭

[@Zotemann]

I almost feel the same

[@XanderKHD]

Well, it's understandable that the Galaxy class is being decommissioned for its years of service, it's wonderful to know that it's spirit is being kept alive in the Ross class. It's become one of my favorite new designs since I discovered it, and I eagerly want it on Star Trek online.

[@DavidKnowles0]

Not really, the galaxy class should be upgraded. Not decommission. The current people in charge of Star Trek have now idea how a real military would operation. Something like the Galaxy class would have a hundred years life span and probably longer.

[@That80sGuy1972]

There's the Galaxy-X variant that upgrades the Galaxy class to modern standards and exceeds them.

[@3Rayfire]

@@DavidKnowles0 Agreed, the Galaxy was designed with a life expectancy like the Excelsior, she should be in service for at least a hundred years.

[@XanderKHD]

@@DavidKnowles0 Oh, I agree completely, the Galaxy Class should have lasted for CENTURIES, but I wonder if it's "decommission" in the canon (besides marketing) is also due to a cultural reason, like how its reputation was hurt by the destruction of the USS Odyssey? Like that bartender said in Episode 1 of Picard, "Nobody wants the FAT ONES anymore." HOW DARE SHE!!!!!

[@gerble36]

I don't think all the Galaxy class ships where decommissioned. In s3, there's not enough ships there for the entire fleet to be there. Having the entire fleet in the Sol system on a publicized date is so incredibly stupid... Was probably just an arm of the main fleet present ( I don't care what was said on screen, taking that as a writers plunder for saying the fleet rather then part of the fleet). All the Galaxy class ships are still out deployed with the rest of the Starfleets fleet not at Sol. But production of further Galaxy class vessels is likely halted, and they may have decided that the Galaxy class won't get a major refit as newer designs have already been put into production. So any ship that receives major damage may end up on the scrap block instead of getting repairs so they can crew the newer ships. And that brings us to quite possibly why the Galaxy class won't live 100 years of use. Crew required to operate such a vessel is a large investment. And with rabid tech development, it might be more feasible to just build new ships rather then major refitting older ships. But you are limited to how many people you have to crew said ships. It may get to a point where to launch a Ross class ship, another needs to come out of service.

[@TrentonBennett]

I am glad they make the Ross class cannon. I too like it, it's a very elegant design. Like you I thought that the U.S.S. Ross was named after Admiral Ross. You learn something new every day. Thanks for this.

[@bradleyj.fortner2203]

In the Star Wars books there's a character that bought an old Star Destroyer, painted it red, and turned it into a mobile hotel/casino. I always thought it would be cool to do something similar with a Galaxy Class Starship.

[@MikeDragon]

Quark would approve it! Starfleet on the other hand, probably not. lol

[@ChemAndAdrenaline]

@@MikeDragon A Decom'ed Galaxy Class in like 2405, acquired by Quark, and the Quark's Bar nameplate flagship casino. This could be an entire side plot in a new Star Trek series.

[@seskalarafey9285]

well, in ww2 the Biggest Ship Yamato was also called as an Hotel Ship.

[@jeffgaboury3157]

Great video! The Ross is flat out beautiful and I love that 3D render!

[@raven4k998]

considering that the intrepid class had two warp cores not to impressed that another ship would copy that idea🤣🤣🤣

[@stevencramsie9172]

You think shoehorning a round deflector onto a Galaxy-class starship is "beautiful"?

[@bakomusha]

I had watched Shields of Tomorrow on Alpha and had no idea that the same group continued on with another Trek show till I saw the announcement of the Ross being added to STO. Still need to watch it, because Erik is an amazing DM (and person.)

[@aetherspoon]

Clear Skies is an excellent series, and they're even doing a sequel series now with one of the players as GM (and Eric as a player!). I might be a little biased though; my name is in the credits.

[@dupersuper1938]

@@aetherspoon They are? I hadn't heard. What's it called?

[@aetherspoon]

@@dupersuper1938 Clear Skies: Perseverance!

[@prjndigo]

I had a TOS era smaller "dreadnought" that had a unique way of arriving. It had two warp cores and they'd simply choke one off and the drive would stop pushing and it'd glide in to its destination still "at warp" but not actively driving and slowing quickly. Three crews always wearing pressure suits because a lot fewer things go boom if your hull is largely layered hulls, dense little sucker that couldn't keep up with fast ships. Its other mode of arriving was just to warp right in then shunt the full cores' power directly into charging an early form of megaphaser and shielding capacitance causing a huge blur on sensors. Had a lot of fun with it until computers replaced much of the tabletop gaming. Promontory Class: Gibraltar, Cape Horn, Sagres,... Things to break your ship on if you wander too close.

[@markuhler2664]

Its origin (irl) is very cool and a sweet nod from franchise execs to the fans, an appreciation that other franchises could step up to do.

[@Momo-tc7sc]

Would have loved for them to have upgraded the D to a Ross class and rechristened her as the G for the upcoming generation. I was, however, very satisfied with her fate. Well done, Picard S3!

[@raymondsims537]

not cutting edge enough

[@jamesaron1967]

How easy could the E-D been upgraded to Ross spec? Very different saucer section, different secondary hull, pylons, etc. The dual warp core and saucer warp coils alone would have been a massive change to the ship. All in all, the Ross is essentially a new ship design with mostly a superficial resemblance to the Galaxy class.

[@rubaiyat300]

@@jamesaron1967 I mean TOS to TMP Enterprise comes to mind. Or heck, the Ent-G herself nee Titan-A nee Titan-nil. Easy? No. But Starfleet doesn't limit itself to easy.

[@rubaiyat300]

@@raymondsims537 Is the Ent-G formerly Titan-A formerly Titan-nil really cutting edge? Like sure to a stock Ent-D, but with "modern" upgrades why would it be particularly limited...especially given the Galaxy-X of All Good Things is only a handful of years in the past for Picard S3.

[@Zhortac]

As cool as that would be, she deserves what she got. She saved everyone one more time, and after that and the rest of her years, she deserved to be whole and with the other ships. Much better than before

[@pillepolle3122]

Just wanted to say that i love your channel so much and i watch every video!!

[@mattsmith1859]

Got to say that is a very beautiful ship. I would love, love, an updated Star Ship building program as we could make our own.

[@amdar2106]

Wonderful breakdown of both the Canon 'in-universe' bits and the actual origin of the ship! I ran across your video today browsing for STO stuff to watch and found your gem of a channel. Subbed and followed. Thanks again for the great vid!

[@masamune..]

Really enjoy your star trek work - thanks Rick

[@fen4554]

I absolutely adore this design... The secondary hull flare reminds me of the excelsior class, and the colors work so well with the cold blue with the warm bronze.

[@DX2069]

The warp coils inside of the saucer is very interesting! I really like this ship very very cool

[@tolazytothinkofanamd2351]

Anyone else find it weird the Titan A was renamed Enterprise? Seems like an odd choice if it's the flagship of the Federation

[@RandomTrinidadian]

You are not alone. It just does not feel right.

[@Heer3945]

Yeah it's dumb. But it's NuTrek so it could be worse.

[@EnragedM0nkey]

Compared to the previous Odyssey class, going back to the Constitution seems like a major downgrade. On top of that, it is insulting to the Titan, since that vessel has its own history that’s being ignored.

[@md_aufgebenistkeineoption]

To be fair, the Titan A, now Enterprise G did go against all Starfleet and saved the galaxy. Size is not everything. Also the name and the reputation of a ship does matter.

[@347Jimmy]

The Enterprise-A was originally the Yorktown 🤷🏻‍♂️ I hope they gave it a good Febreze after they cleaned the bodies out

[@monumettle3144]

The Ross Class was unfortunately cursed in Picard S309 & 10 where any one of them were missing their warp nacelles but still had the red blue glow.

[@Andrew-zv4fm]

I thought you did a review of this ship. Maybe I brief video. You talked about that Data and LaForge talked about the drawbacks of the Galaxy class ship that led to the development of this ship. I like this class of ship. I think this ship should be called the Picard class. You see a ship like this and you think Picard.

[@ovr4tee]

I remember at the time of the announcements for "Clear Skies" Eric, (Campbell, the campaign's GM) & Thomas (Marrone, the STO ship designer), talking on a livestream about designing the ship. Basically Eric loves the Galaxy and Sovereign classes and wanted the Ross to be some kind of fusion of the two. The link between Eric and Star Trek Online goes way back, as he has played the game since at least its release, and the ship from "Shield of Tomorrow", the USS Sally Ride, can be found hanging out in the Narendra Sector in the game, where interaction with it adds it to your Admiralty roster of ships.

[@b003]

Now I want a series with this ship.

[@DarthTaterZ]

LOVE the Ross. Such a great modernization and evolution. Hope we get to see this and more STO-born designs as hero ships in the coming years

[@flweeptwo]

I really wish they used a Ross class at the end of Picard instead of renaming the titan, would have felt very symbolic having a "next generation galaxy class" carry the name of her last generation just as Picard is passing on his name to his next generation

[@WardNightstone]

I actually agree but at the time I also think the titan has earned the right to bear that name in the 3 seasons of picard its shown that (though MAN is it dimly lit inside)

[@RandomTrinidadian]

100% agree. It just doesnt work

[@jones20533]

It was a cop out renaming that ship, the titan is a worthy name for the feats it did

[@Tadou19]

episode 3x09 vox at 34:29 , look at the bottom right of the screen...looks like a ross ship ?

[@kaneedwards8225]

😅

[@valor1omega]

I remember coming up with ship that was basically a larger Connie but her saucer section was actually a fully intact Miranda, her own warp nacelles folded under the hull and covered with sliding armor panels. There was a secondary bridge as well built into the base of neck where the secondary hull met the neck. On the back of the neck were two impulse engines. When connected the secondary hull's large warp core/engine gave it a max warp speed of 8.6 with a cruising speed of 6.0. While connected the Miranda drew energy from the secondary hull for everything. In combat the Miranda could bring it's own power systems online independently of the secondary hull to help reinforce shields, boost power to the weapons or if needed separate from the secondary hull to act as two independent ships. I seen it as a beefy Connie that could still be an explorer that could defend herself. I got the idea after watching the Wrath of Khan funny enough when I was 12. Man that feels like forever ago. Back then I had no idea how ships actually worked or if it could be possible. I knew the galaxy could separate but never seen it as anything else then wasted potential when it came to the galaxy class. I always compared the galaxy to the Connie and believed it was one of the stupidest ships to ever carry the name Enterprise. That was until the E, NX, and J came about. The D started to look better and better in comparison.

[@hop208]

I would have preferred if a Ross class vessel was made to be the Enterprise G instead of rechristening the Titan. From what I understand, The ship baring the Enterprise name has always been the flagship and largest of Star Fleet and the Federation. The Titan seems too small to be the Enterprise.

[@nozislam]

Totally agree how was a new enterprise not the flagship of the federation?

[@jmwoods190]

And given that the Ross is a derivative of the Galaxy Class, so having Jack Crusher & the LaForge sisters being the bridge officers would be like the TNG veterans passing the torch onto their children, and the new gen of Starfleet!

[@mikeworkizer8528]

The defiant was lead ship throughout the dominion war, not the size of the fight friends..

[@phillios3257]

On the TTRPG Show, Clear Skies, The Ross also had a Captains Yacht, and Cetacean Ops! Thanks for the Video!

[@obsidiansands]

I've always believed that the Ross Class version is an "upgraded" class when it comes to fixing the Galaxy Class's many initial shortcomings. As great as the Enterprise D was during its time in service, it did suffer numerous refits and sometimes rebuilds during its lifespan. They swapped out the bridge roughly 3 times during the show's run - and had a 4th bridge upgrade during Generations movie (it had two extra seated stations towards the port and starboard sides of the bridge behind the con and ops stations respectively). Geordi recreated the original bridge layout as seen towards the end of season 7 of the show - removing the 2 extra seated stations. It's possible that the actual bridge of the rebuilt Enterprise D was probably a total loss when it crashed, I wouldn't be surprised if the bridge they used to rebuild her was another salvaged part from another Galaxy class ship. If I recall, just about every ship in the fleet - Galaxy Class included - are very modular by design, and this explains the many versions of the Enterprise D bridge refits/swaps. The TNG tech manual roughly stated that the entire bridge assembly can be removed and replaced "at will" inside any shipyards that had the capability to do so for any and all future upgrades during its service.

[@nekophht]

I hold that position as well for the Ross and Sutherland. They're "lessons learned" versions of Galaxy/Nebula including stuff from Borg/Dominion encounters. We see that sort of thing during WW2 when we got the Oregon City, Fargo, and Juneau classes that amounted to lesson learned versions of Baltimore, Cleveland, and Atlanta classes.

[@42ndLife]

It reminds me of the Martian Sausers from 1953's "War of the Worlds". I like it.

[@hadorstapa]

It's a really interesting design. I particularly like the practical aspects that have been thought through. Shame about the front of the secondary hull, though. It makes it look like a surprised-face emoji from the front. 😮

[@drewf41]

That's just an old Ent-B dedication. It must look different-differant.

[@enisra_bowman]

After i bought the Star Trek RPG last August, but since i doubt i can motivate some folk to play a Round: i would really like to see Rick running a short campaign but ye, even if i don't play it, the books are also entertaining to read

[@davidthomason2941]

Gosh.. watching this made me realize how bad things have gotten on earth.. wishing I could do my life's work in a fictional world like this. It makes me sad to see humanity go through, what looks like WW3. I guess that's why I'm crying through this season of Picard.. Am I alone??

[@starliner2498]

You're not alone mate, i used to feel the same. Eventually though i realized that irl is more interesting than any fiction could ever be, which is sort of why I want to become an engineer or a pilot down the road someday (yeah Scotty was a big inspiration for me)

[@volkhen0]

Hey! WW3 is Star Trek Canon, haven’t you seen First Contact? Humanity needs kick in their asses.

[@davidthomason2941]

@@volkhen0 Brother.. I've seen every episode of every series, all movies.. that's why I'm sad to see what I'm seeing.

[@NextWorldVR]

You are definitely not alone however I can say there is absolute hope on the horizon. As you can see I have been uploading But you work in driven NPCxs that have back stories and histories. NPC's that can answer any question. And could even have a specialty. Long ago I saved the Stage 9 game that was made for VR (the Enterprise D recreation?) I've literally learned unreligion inside it out so I could reverse engineer and mod that game. Which I have, so I now have the Enterprise D inside and out. Also on my channel is my TOS episode: 'Beyond Antares' for which I recreated the 1701 inside and out... In addition I have created almost all of Deep Space 9. I can now make A starkly chip filled with NP c's that have seemingly self aware personalities, I can do it in VR where you have a full body. And we can with only one minute of someone talking recreate their voices in ai and get them to say whatever we type. And so my next project: Take all these facts VR, AI driven npcs, My 3-D starships and stations, And being able to recreate their voices, And I intend to use AI To take in the entire text of a TNG, TOS, DS9 etc. Ebook or story (or episode), The AI Can then take the story of the book and turn it into AVR adventure using the characters their voices the dialog and involve the Viewer in the story, Who can either be a guest a visitor or play any one of the roles! I've worked very hard and become expert in technical character CGI over 30 years and Unreal over 7 years, So that I could eventually do this really and truly I just never actually thought it would come this quickly. Unfortunately I lost my job in the Tech industry recently and so I'm having to spend all my time looking for work, so I can afford my rent. If only I could update any level of level of funding, I would spend the 12 to 16 hours a day that I usually am working, entirely on creating real Star Trek Holodeck adventures, and though I know I couldn't sell it or even put it up there widely, I would always do it even if only from myself because it's what I want to do when I retire. I want to be able to be on the DS9 and I want to go and hear and talk to Quark! And that you want to be found the way to help me make that happen, Would be alone for the ride and getting as many updates as I could have it as the magic happened... 🎩 And of course the beauty is if someone didn't want VR or to be in to story it would be just as easy for the AI to output this on the flat screen as a traditional story driven teleplay! There's no reason not to do both actually... Have you ever seen my episode: 'Beyond Antares'? I made it 10 years ago, very early in my career, it's on my channel here... it has all the real voices of the TOS crew, but in a new story, that took a lot of work to make that happen today I could use AI. We could have Doctor McCoy singing in the Shower! ;') I actually have 17 more full lengt OS stories with all the original cruise voices I just never had the funding or the time to animate it, now I would do it in this new VR / AI paradigm. I call it Star Trek TOS Season 4, As it is in total 18 new 45 minute long stories with all the real voices in it I worked very hard to make it like the real series with banter between spark and mccoy, And I seriously increased the amount of Dialog for Uhura, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty. Check it out if you have time! If you ever wanna talk, I am my channel name at G-Mail! It is such an exciting time, with hundreds of TOS and TNG books? The ability to recreate the show ( And understand it will be permit of animation like I had to do 10 years ago this will be with Unreal Engine MetaHumans which are totally photorealistic and the film industry is using them as human replacements... Also with the new advances in Australian 5 such as real time high end cinematic 'Lumen' lighting and limitless amounts of geometric detail using: 'NANITE', This can look exactly like the real thing. I even plan to use AID planning to examine every actor's ways of moving and ways of speaking and then applying that to the generation of their characters not only recreating their voice precisely but the are mannerisms the way they walk the way Ryker sits for instance. I have been working, learning and waiting for this time, to be able to do just this for decades, I never thought it would come this quickly and I'm so happy it has cause I'm not getting Getting any younger. I'm gonna try to find a roommate to make thing is cheaper I wish I didn't have to worry about such high rent and I could work on this every waking minute that's all I want...

[@NextWorldVR]

​@David Thomason David there is hope on the horizon and the time is now please read my comment above, We don't need to be limited to what we're given anymore in terms of Quality Trek! :)

[@hogfry]

Don't forget that bothe the Galaxy and the Ross are fully capable of being a SUPER carrier. They have so much room for shuttles and their required C&C.

[@RobertWilke]

Yes it's the perfect command Ship for a fleet exercise. Definitely a ship that an Admiral would take for his flag.

[@Oldwulf1980]

I wonder if she has a sister ship called Red Dwarf with a Captain Lister and a holographic officer named Rimmer.

[@madmaxwell6]

I remember a video I watched once called “bitter homecoming” I believe, and in that video there was a sovereign/galaxy hybrid called the allegiance or allegiance class looked interesting enough.

[@ALIKN1-1]

Admiral Ross deserve a ship named after him after all he with his successful tactics won the dominion war .....

[@nighthawkvc25a]

This was my first thought when seeing this video's title. Admiral Ross was awesome!

[@Jay-ql4gp]

Thank you! And you're right, the Ross is excellent. I was never a fan of the Galaxy, I never quite liked the way it looked. But I would be happy to have the Ross.

[@lockwoodthexton]

That is a beautiful ship. I might even like that better than Galaxy class.

[@jameswoodridge7712]

A very excellent & well thought out design. Much more suitable for deep space exploration due to it's double warp core design and a warp capable saucer section too. A very logical and safer approach. I would feel much safer on a ship like this than any other.💫

[@TimRrstrm]

No really, Rick, you have certainly not been 'a prick' give yourself some credit. 😂

[@Jay-ru3mu]

This ship and Enterprise F....Are so good looking brilliant designs

[@Rubix003]

What software do you use for your captures? I want to make a michinima based on how one of my toons got into the Star Trek universe from their own.

[@jaredcolon4535]

Very very nice. Love the passion to level of detail as always for ship breakdowns.

[@ModestNeophyte]

whoa. Overall, i'm not a fan of the Ross class, as I prefer the fan-made Allegiance class to bridge the gap between Galaxy and Sovereign. However, that quick flash of the Ross bridge was AMAZING!

[@kerravon4159]

Nice looking ship.

[@Megaredronin]

just when i thought 1701 D could not get any better or sleeker!! this is exactly the kind of design i had in mind for a natural progression of that beautiful ship wow love it!! :)

[@Rubicon2305]

Really digging this ship... however the one thing I have never been a fan of is the design of the nacelles like those depicted here and on the Galaxy class.

[@alvarolozano711]

i love the ROSS CLASS is awesome and one of the best starships of the fleet beside the sovereign class and the galaxy class.

[@tambosnipes1652]

Its got an ambassador saucer, its got a souvereign neck and a galaxy class nacelles

[@hadorstapa]

I wish modern designs like this (and the Sovereign and Neo Constitution) would pay attention to the saucer-mounted impulse of the Galaxy and why they were nested the way they were. If you're going to spread your thrust points out like that, you have to consider the angle of thrust. The way they're set up here, you're going to lose a whole lot of thrust efficiency to the two engines thrusting partially against each other. (The Sovereign has an additional problem in how upwards the thrust vector naturally is. Indeed, the aft ridges of the impulse housing on the Sovereign in some models leaves a very narrow vector for aft thrust.)

[@marginbuu212]

Now they need a Rachel class.

[@benjaminseelking9483]

Finally. Ever since i had started thinking critically about the Prometheus Class, it bothered me that Starfleet moved from Galaxy Class seperation with 1 Warp capable section and 1 fat sitting Target, to Multi Vector Assault Mode in the Prometheus Class, without the logical in-between Step of seperation with BOTH Segments still being Warp capable

[@RandomTrinidadian]

I gonna say it.... the Enterprise-G should have been a Ross-class.

[@durkin9664]

I half expected the Enterprise D to be refit to a Galaxy X and given the G designation.

[@garycannon4644]

I agree, hell they could have updated the d into a toss and re christened it into the G

[@thespectre717]

Completely agree

[@RandomTrinidadian]

Look.... i like the Constitution II-class, but it just does not work as the Enterprise. It just doesnt have the presance you know?

[@roryscott2941]

"...And a circular saucer section" Thank God! You should have lead with that

[@harryc1971]

So its basically a living ship like the Andromeda Ascendant?

[@RobertWilke]

Yeah but no Nova bombs. Though it probably had transphasic torpedoes. Now if it could armor up like Voyager did in endgame. It would be a monster.

[@harryc1971]

@@RobertWilke maybe thats the direction Trek should take? Always thought Andromeda was one of those shows that had a good idea, but got lost with it. I saw Michio Kaku describe Star Trek as a Type 2 becomming a Type 3 (Star Wars is a 3.6 apparently?).

[@RobertWilke]

@@harryc1971 one difference with mobile emitters those holograms would be solid. As opposed in Andromeda they walk through holograms. Rommie is the Avatar android AI of the ship.

[@ShanerTheGrey]

This is seriously my favorite ship in Star Trek

[@nathanielheilmann7351]

You really should watch the Clear Skies Actual Play. Its very fun. My favorite was the non-binary Vulcan bartender Solun who was raised by Betazoids rather than Vulcans

[@TheAssclown213]

You would think with the vastness of space Starfleet would not be so quick to decommission so many ships that could still useful in other roles.

[@ryancox4498]

But how else are they suppose to sell us new toys constantly? Star Trek might be anti-Capitalist, but Paramount sure ain't.

[@stab74]

@@ryancox4498 Since when has the Star Trek starship toy industry even been a thing?! We aren't talking GI Joe or Transformers here. 🤣

[@ryancox4498]

@@stab74 Since always? Just because it's not the most popular of toy lines doesn't mean it doesn't exist. All they more likely for them to desperately try for quantity rather than quality. They clearly aren't designing these modern monstrosities for lore or world-building reasons.

[@stab74]

@@ryancox4498 Since never. The Star Trek toy industry is niche and tiny as fuck. The reason they keep adding new ships, is because people like new things. This is all make believe anyway. Do we really want to go 50 years IRL between new ship designs like the real Navy? Of course not. Besides, many of the new designs are GREAT! I play STO, and I love most of the ships. You want to be a stick in the mud and complain about everything, you go right ahead.

[@ryancox4498]

@@stab74 So then you agree that the Star Trek toy industry exists but really want to boost sales by pushing out a bunch of new stuff in the hopes people will like them enough to buy more toys. It's really weird how you seem to be arguing with a voice in your head that is apparently saying very different things than me, the real person you keep replying to.

[@shanegallant9018]

I've just barely watched a little of the Clear Skies first episode. (I'm working my way through Shield of Tomorrow.) But I'm super proud of the USS Ross making it's way to cannon in the Star Trek universe! And now I'm looking forward more than ever watching the Clear Skies TTRPG show!

[@nobodyyouknow1065]

You think Kirk could talk it to death as he’s done about 5 times already?

[@Spacewizard54321]

It would be illogical to come to any other conclusion bones

[@Mister_Mag00]

i LOVE the look of the deflector dish

[@peckins71mp]

Should have been the enterprise G.

[@TobyDeshane]

I could take or leave the visual design (I like what they were going for, at least), but the technical detailing is what really brings this one over the line for me.

[@itsOasus]

Yeah I agree. The deflector design imo makes the appearance of the Ross Class look really awkward. But at least it does a job and seems to do it pretty well.

[@serina3872]

Not really a fan of this design. It looks off from the side and the defector dish stands out for all thr wrong reasons

[@LtCdrRoyFokker]

Thanks for covering this class. I'm a fan of hybrid half-step classes like this and the Probert original Ambassador. I actually came across it when looking at printable 3d models of ships.

[@antoniosanjurjo8442]

This ship would have made a great Enterprise G

[@Darmok_]

In my head canon the Sovereign class was designed to replace the aging Excelsior class ships as Starfleet’s backbone ship/all rounder workhorse. While the Ross class was addressing lessons learned from the Galaxy class performance during the Dominion War.

[@Decipher13]

Going to go against the grain and say I’m glad this wasn’t the Enterprise G. It’s proportions are very unbalanced. The deflector dish is outright hideous. The Titan A also shouldn’t have become the Enterprise G as it’s already a legacy ship and the design is unbalanced as well. The join between the saucer section and the secondary hull makes it look like a hunchback and the nacelles are disproportionately huge.

[@nh5316]

This class has already reminded me of the Phalanx-class from the Ships of the Line Calendars

[@rogerbrownreacts8528]

Abominable Intelligence.

[@RA10H56]

AVE IMPERATOR

[@jimjohnson5974]

Great information, thanks for the video. And thanks for the #StarTrekAdventures mention. Much appreciated!

[@Andrew-zv4fm]

This video never gets old.

[@enterprisecreations1492]

This is a beautiful ship.

[@TheJediJoker]

"Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems?" A nice nod to Buckaroo Banzai.

[@russward2612]

My favorite part of the Galaxy Class is the cetacean habitats. I've got a set of blueprints. They're at the bottom of the saucer. I caught the Buckaroo Banzai reference there, "the Ross Class warp drive was built by YoyoDyne Propulsion". ✌️🖖

[@michaelpfister1283]

I am like you: I find this design growing on me. I love the secondary warp core and saucer-specific warp drive system. It makes a saucer separation practical for crew/passenger survival in some combat situations without leaving them stranded and helpless. But honestly, I also like the balance better. The Galaxy-class always felt nose-heavy and top-heavy to me. This one just feels better somehow. I will have to explore the linked material and learn more. 🙂

[@deanlawson6880]

A fine looking ship, the Ross Class! Thanks for this - Nicely Done!

[@ElijahNMitchell]

I like the idea that the holographic officer expanded from this ship successfully. Picard season One definitely showed how useful the tech could be

[@ViroVV]

Its always been amusing to me. These ships have massive "evacuation limits" but it seems like any starfleet ship tasked with taking on a large number of passengers you would think it would cripple the ship from the crews reaction.

[@DocWolph]

Warp coils are enormously dense and heavy pieces of equipment. The Ross Class is a veritable anchor by its own mass. The amount of force just to get it moving would be insane even compared to other ships or similar volume.

[@Gangerworld]

Great looking ship. Love the evolution from the Galaxy class but keeping the silhouette.

[@FanBoyBooks]

Great Video! I learned a great deal! This might be a stupid question.. With ships this big.. Are there any that allow for smaller ships like a Defiant class to dock on them? Almost seems like you could have 2-3 defiants docked along a big ship. Could have them lay flat on sunken docking areas. Would something like that be possible and practical?

[@cfhollister8766]

Some commentors have stated that in their head canon, that the Sovereign was not the replacement for the Galaxy class but rather the Excelsior. I agree with the Sovereign not being the Galaxy's replacement; and I know about John Eaves drawing on the Excelsior in designing it. However, for me The Excelsior wasn't really replaced until the Excelsior II and the Obena class was a prototype tried out along the way. No, for me the Sovereign was the intended replacement for the Ambassador class, and in fact they are very similar in size volumetricly. I agree with you completely how well this ships fits into the lineage and lore of Star Trek when you look deeper and think about it, something I shared your surprise with. Of all the STO ships canonized by ST Picard, this is the one I'm most happy to see joining the ranks of canon ships.

[@ketxxx1]

That is a damn beautiful ship, way more so than the Galaxy. Those small subtle changes make all the difference.

[@ChemAndAdrenaline]

I agree. It's like the Galaxy was the first go at an idea, and the Ross just sharpens up about every aspect of it.

[@segevstormlord3713]

I think an interesting plot for a series might be a Ferengi who buys a decommissioned Galaxy Class and refits it as a luxury cruise liner, high-class transport vessel, and general entertainment vessel. Travel around Ferengi and Federation space in style. Take on cargos and passengers. Maybe some questionably-legal modifications. Is a cloak illegal if you're not Federation? If you've got Sovereign-class phaser banks for self-defense, does anybody need to know about them (or who your supplier was)? Maybe even tackle one of the oft-mentioned jokes about Star Trek (particularly Voyager): Lament the expense every time a shuttle is destroyed!

[@zippygundoo5852]

An outstanding video as ever. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

This is everything the Galaxy wanted to be for the next version and filled the role perfectly for what what Starfleet was using that class for.

[@Nopejams]

Galaxy class ships and Uss Vengeance are my favorite ships of all time.

[@Transit_Biker]

The whole design of this class seems like a way to address the shortcomings and build on the strengths of the galaxy class. Streamlined, but somehow more capable - especially when unassisted far from home. Seems also this class is more capable of separating the risks of a hostile encounter from the bulk of the crew/passengers. Would be interesting to see if the saucer section has powered landing capability.. Say there's an emergency and they need to land - the secondary warp core could act as a power source for whatever till they can get going again - even over the span of years or even decades.