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Description
Ported to OBJ from the model included with the video game Star Trek Legacy (STL). Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. NO MODEL DOWNLOAD.

Proxima is unique to STL as I write this (June 2023), and is essentially its analog to the Ares/Mars class battleship from ye old Star Fleet Battles (SFB) tabletop sci-fi war game. It's got a retrograded Lexington command cruiser (KA) primary hull mated to twin lengthened Federation dreadnought (SFTM) secondary hulls and four Napoleon super shuttlecarrier (SFB) TOS era warp engines, and all of which is held together by what I'm going to call a unique H-frame arrangement. Some contend that it's supposed to be the predecessor to KA's mighty TMP era Yamato class battleships, although I think the term precursor is more appropriate given that it's not quite the same design. This may have been deliberate given what information I can find on it, so without further adieu let's learn more about Proxima.

According to what data I can find, Proxima came in the middle (!) of the TOS era, or the start of its back half if you're being picky. Its creation was one of the direct results of the Four Years War (FASA) with the Klingons, or the Axanar Incident/Crisis to all you Okuda timeline groupies and such (and as such it predates SFB's Ares/Mars by almost two decades, but I digress). It was the Federation Starfleet's first-ever attempt to build anything like a space battleship class. It was considered something of a failure in its day due to having too much mass for its four warp engines to push effectively -- which made it slow and sluggish and not very maneuverable. It was also underarmed for its size as launched, although its weaponry was upgraded as soon as it came time for its first major refit (which added even more mass and slowed it down more) and would be upgraded again in later TOS/TAS era refits and rebuilds. Apparently six were originally authorized but only a small handful of those got built given the relative failure of lead ship Proxima to live up to its many expectations during her initial space trials (see TRIVIA). The exact number built depends on which threads of the Trek multiverse include this. That said, Proxima's mere appearance on the Federation side of the border in the years after the war (or conflict/incident) apparently scared the crap out of the Klingons (as it was meant to), as they had never imagined the Federation capable or willing to build something like it, and in those threads Proxima's debut is what initiates the Klingon Empire's own long and often troubled space battleship building program. That was perhaps the only credit (?) to Proxima's construction. Starfleet never admitted that Proxima was perhaps its biggest goose egg designwise of the entire TOS/TAS era and did everything they could over its service lifetime to make the most of it. It would up more or less being a "show the flag" class for the next few decades until it was eclipsed in its own time near the end of the TOS/TAS era by better and newer classes, and what happened after that depends on which threads of the Trek multiverse you go with.

In STL Proxima eventually got a TMP era overhaul and rebuilding in order to allow it to at least hold its own against the new Klingon space battleships known to be in existence by that time. Overall mass was considerably reduced by new alloys and a number of weight-saving construction techniques that had become available, and this allowed Starfleet designers to finally do something substantial with their TOS era goose egg. It got considerably upgunned, with an upgraded phaser battery over twice as big as what it originally had and no less that four photon torpedo systems in the expected TMP era twin-mount primary hull dorsal pods (NOTE - some threads give it more by adding more tubes either in a forward notch mount or in an add-on pod either on a Miranda style primary hull roll bar or slung between the warp engines, or some or all of the above, and/or making the pod mountings SoSF style "double-enders"). It never got megaphasers mostly to speed the rebuilding process (remember the situation with the Klingons at the time) but also due to available power issues, although some then and now argue that it would have made Proxima even more powerful and the power issues could have been dealt with. Proxima also got top-of-the-line Leeding LN-64L extended-length linear warp engines as well, which increased its power, speed, and maneuverability significantly. Proxima remained relatively slow and sluggish compared to its TMP era Starfleet counterparts and even its TMP era descendants, but at least it was able to do more in its upgraded form than show the flag and act as a larger than normal systems or base defensive monitor. The upgraded Proxima actually proved of some use during the back half of the TMP era as tensions with the Klingons began to ramp up again, often being dispatched in those situations that called for the presence of a battleship class but on which Starfleet did not want to risk its newer and better space battleships (Missouri, Yamato). It actually got to tangle with Klingon warships on several occasions near the end of the TMP era and did very well in spite of her age, which for many justified all the time and money that had been spent on her TMP era upgrade. Proxima wound up being a sacrificial victim to the disarmament provisions of the Khitomer Accords following the end of the TMP era and of hostilities with the Klingons, and every one of them was subsequently scrapped so Starfleet could keep its newest battleship class (Yamato) as part of that agreement. It remains a controversial class to this day, with some still arguing that it never should have been built and Starfleet would have done very well without it, while others contend that it did make a difference and help further development of Federation space battleships despite its initial failings. You decide.

Proxima is semi-canon, as it was created for a Franchise licensed videogame (STL). What you do with her in your own threads of the Trek multiverse is up to you.

ASIDE 1 - Its best to think of Proxmia in relation to the later Missouri and Yamato (and the like) as the "Standard" of her day -- as the old prewar American "Standard" battleships in relation to its later wartime fast battleship classes. Perhaps a better comparison would be with the Italian rebuilt Andrea Doria and Giulio Ceasare classes given Proxima's uneven service history, but I digress (smile). She's slow and sluggish even in her TMP era rebuilt form, but like any battleship either naval or space she can give and take abuse in massive doses. Not so much in her original TOS era form due to being undergunned and underpowered (the latter due to her mass), which you can fix somewhat during subsequent TOS era refits, but considerably more so in her upgunned and more powerful TMP era form -- just as the later rebuilt American Standards (and their Italian counterparts) proved to be during World War II.

ASIDE 2 - It's also possible to have Proxima co-exist with SFB's Ares/Mars class given the relative dating of both and how you further develop/revise their respective backstories, just as I do in this write-up.

TRIVIA - One of Proxima's biggest operational issues during the TOS era were her warp engines. It proved quite difficult to keep both all four of her oversized circumferential warp engines and her dual warp cores in sync and running harmoniously, given the technology limits of the middle and later TOS/TAS era. The various issues resulting from this arrangement kept her engineering division quite busy whenever she was running at the higher warp factors. It was also found during her space trials that the H-frame arrangement did not provide as optimal a warp envelope as early simulations had shown, with her engine and core synching issues complicating matters still further. That's why the Proxima design was abandoned completely and Starfleet essentially started over once it began to revisit designing and building four warp engined space battleships late in the TOS era and then throughout the TMP era -- first by simplifying things as much as possible by using standard Class I components and going with only one warp core (SFB's Ares/Mars), and then later coming up with the superior horseshoe frame engine mounting of both the mid-TMP era but TOS era warp engine based Yamamoto prototype (The Stress Puppy) and subsequent late TMP era Yamato production class (KA/SFC). That way they could bring back the dual warp cores and have everything running in sync thanks to superior TMP era technology (wink). See separate entries on each for further details. FYI this has a real world analog in the propeller vibration issues of all three of the U.S. Navy's World War II era fast battleship classes but with North Carolina in particular (go look this up), which is why they eventually went with a deliberately mismatched blade number arrangement to reduce this as much as possible.

Description
Ported to OBJ from the model included with the video game Star Trek Legacy (STL). Preview picture posed in XNALara XPS. NO MODEL DOWNLOAD.

Proxima is unique to STL as I write this (June 2023), and is essentially its analog to the Ares/Mars class battleship from ye old Star Fleet Battles (SFB) tabletop sci-fi war game. It's got a retrograded Lexington command cruiser (KA) primary hull mated to twin lengthened Federation dreadnought (SFTM) secondary hulls and four Napoleon super shuttlecarrier (SFB) TOS era warp engines, and all of which is held together by what I'm going to call a unique H-frame arrangement. Some contend that it's supposed to be the predecessor to KA's mighty TMP era Yamato class battleships, although I think the term precursor is more appropriate given that it's not quite the same design. This may have been deliberate given what information I can find on it, so without further adieu let's learn more about Proxima.

According to what data I can find, Proxima came in the middle (!) of the TOS era, or the start of its back half if you're being picky. Its creation was one of the direct results of the Four Years War (FASA) with the Klingons, or the Axanar Incident/Crisis to all you Okuda timeline groupies and such (and as such it predates SFB's Ares/Mars by almost two decades, but I digress). It was the Federation Starfleet's first-ever attempt to build anything like a space battleship class. It was considered something of a failure in its day due to having too much mass for its four warp engines to push effectively -- which made it slow and sluggish and not very maneuverable. It was also underarmed for its size as launched, although its weaponry was upgraded as soon as it came time for its first major refit (which added even more mass and slowed it down more) and would be upgraded again in later TOS/TAS era refits and rebuilds. Apparently six were originally authorized but only a small handful of those got built given the relative failure of lead ship Proxima to live up to its many expectations during her initial space trials (see TRIVIA). The exact number built depends on which threads of the Trek multiverse include this. That said, Proxima's mere appearance on the Federation side of the border in the years after the war (or conflict/incident) apparently scared the crap out of the Klingons (as it was meant to), as they had never imagined the Federation capable or willing to build something like it, and in those threads Proxima's debut is what initiates the Klingon Empire's own long and often troubled space battleship building program. That was perhaps the only credit (?) to Proxima's construction. Starfleet never admitted that Proxima was perhaps its biggest goose egg designwise of the entire TOS/TAS era and did everything they could over its service lifetime to make the most of it. It would up more or less being a "show the flag" class for the next few decades until it was eclipsed in its own time near the end of the TOS/TAS era by better and newer classes, and what happened after that depends on which threads of the Trek multiverse you go with.

In STL Proxima eventually got a TMP era overhaul and rebuilding in order to allow it to at least hold its own against the new Klingon space battleships known to be in existence by that time. Overall mass was considerably reduced by new alloys and a number of weight-saving construction techniques that had become available, and this allowed Starfleet designers to finally do something substantial with their TOS era goose egg. It got considerably upgunned, with an upgraded phaser battery over twice as big as what it originally had and no less that four photon torpedo systems in the expected TMP era twin-mount primary hull dorsal pods (NOTE - some threads give it more by adding more tubes either in a forward notch mount or in an add-on pod either on a Miranda style primary hull roll bar or slung between the warp engines, or some or all of the above, and/or making the pod mountings SoSF style "double-enders"). It never got megaphasers mostly to speed the rebuilding process (remember the situation with the Klingons at the time) but also due to available power issues, although some then and now argue that it would have made Proxima even more powerful and the power issues could have been dealt with. Proxima also got top-of-the-line Leeding LN-64L extended-length linear warp engines as well, which increased its power, speed, and maneuverability significantly. Proxima remained relatively slow and sluggish compared to its TMP era Starfleet counterparts and even its TMP era descendants, but at least it was able to do more in its upgraded form than show the flag and act as a larger than normal systems or base defensive monitor. The upgraded Proxima actually proved of some use during the back half of the TMP era as tensions with the Klingons began to ramp up again, often being dispatched in those situations that called for the presence of a battleship class but on which Starfleet did not want to risk its newer and better space battleships (Missouri, Yamato). It actually got to tangle with Klingon warships on several occasions near the end of the TMP era and did very well in spite of her age, which for many justified all the time and money that had been spent on her TMP era upgrade. Proxima wound up being a sacrificial victim to the disarmament provisions of the Khitomer Accords following the end of the TMP era and of hostilities with the Klingons, and every one of them was subsequently scrapped so Starfleet could keep its newest battleship class (Yamato) as part of that agreement. It remains a controversial class to this day, with some still arguing that it never should have been built and Starfleet would have done very well without it, while others contend that it did make a difference and help further development of Federation space battleships despite its initial failings. You decide.

Proxima is semi-canon, as it was created for a Franchise licensed videogame (STL). What you do with her in your own threads of the Trek multiverse is up to you.

ASIDE 1 - Its best to think of Proxmia in relation to the later Missouri and Yamato (and the like) as the "Standard" of her day -- as the old prewar American "Standard" battleships in relation to its later wartime fast battleship classes. Perhaps a better comparison would be with the Italian rebuilt Andrea Doria and Giulio Ceasare classes given Proxima's uneven service history, but I digress (smile). She's slow and sluggish even in her TMP era rebuilt form, but like any battleship either naval or space she can give and take abuse in massive doses. Not so much in her original TOS era form due to being undergunned and underpowered (the latter due to her mass), which you can fix somewhat during subsequent TOS era refits, but considerably more so in her upgunned and more powerful TMP era form -- just as the later rebuilt American Standards (and their Italian counterparts) proved to be during World War II.

ASIDE 2 - It's also possible to have Proxima co-exist with SFB's Ares/Mars class given the relative dating of both and how you further develop/revise their respective backstories, just as I do in this write-up.

TRIVIA - One of Proxima's biggest operational issues during the TOS era were her warp engines. It proved quite difficult to keep both all four of her oversized circumferential warp engines and her dual warp cores in sync and running harmoniously, given the technology limits of the middle and later TOS/TAS era. The various issues resulting from this arrangement kept her engineering division quite busy whenever she was running at the higher warp factors. It was also found during her space trials that the H-frame arrangement did not provide as optimal a warp envelope as early simulations had shown, with her engine and core synching issues complicating matters still further. That's why the Proxima design was abandoned completely and Starfleet essentially started over once it began to revisit designing and building four warp engined space battleships late in the TOS era and then throughout the TMP era -- first by simplifying things as much as possible by using standard Class I components and going with only one warp core (SFB's Ares/Mars), and then later coming up with the superior horseshoe frame engine mounting of both the mid-TMP era but TOS era warp engine based Yamamoto prototype (The Stress Puppy) and subsequent late TMP era Yamato production class (KA/SFC). That way they could bring back the dual warp cores and have everything running in sync thanks to superior TMP era technology (wink). See separate entries on each for further details. FYI this has a real world analog in the propeller vibration issues of all three of the U.S. Navy's World War II era fast battleship classes but with North Carolina in particular (go look this up), which is why they eventually went with a deliberately mismatched blade number arrangement to reduce this as much as possible.