>It occurs to me that the IPO has a rather small fleet, and lacks the
>personnel to crew large numbers of Sovereign-class ships.

You are perceptive, young one. :)

(Hell, the IPO-SF currently lacks the personnel to crew small numbers of Sovereign-class ships. :)

Here's another indicator: Take a look at the Defiant. Notice the saucer-with-embellishments design scheme, and the specifications - 50% engines, 50% weapons, 100% nasty attitude. Those factors aren't very Trek-like, really - they clash significantly with Roddenberry's Shiny Happy Universe theory - but perhaps they remind you of a particular school of shipbuilding?

I know they do for me. The first time I saw the Defiant I thought, "Huh. When did Starfleet contract with the Corellian Engineering Corporation for their new destroyers?"

They don't fit in with UF-Starfleet's design philosophy at all, but that doesn't mean they don't fit anywhere in the universe...

>a
>Prometheus-class ship, in the hands of someone as competent as
>UF-Gryphon, would be downright terrifying.

Not to mention nauseating. Ugh! The TNG-era starship designers really didn't do the world many favors. Defiant and Sovereign, and that's about it.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/