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Description
I’m a big fan of the Constitution class starship on Star Trek. Whether it is the original version from the TV series, the movie refit, the one from the re-imagined timeline, or the new Discovery version, I like ‘em all.

The only thing that I don’t like about the Constitution class is that it is outdated by the time of Captain Picard and the Next Gen crew. So I thought it might be fun to design an updated version of the Constitution class starship for the era of Next Gen. There was just one problem, . . . someone beat me to it.

The Star Trek Online game created the “Exeter Class Starship” to fill exactly the niche that I had in mind! And, in my humble opinion, they did a great job designing a ship which beautifully combines all the best features of the various versions of the Constitution class over the years. And they updated the design with some styling cues from the era of Next Gen to create a magnificent new starship, the Exeter class!

Many of the images from the game feature low poly-count models, so I thought it might be fun to create a few images which are not constrained by that particular limitation.

I pretty much like everything about the Exeter class: The enlarged saucer section with the flat underside of the saucer, the glowing areas of the nacelles, the cool deflector dish, the beautiful curved nacelle supports, the aft phaser strips, and the wide-set impulse engines (similar to the arrangement of Discovery's Enterprise.) All of those refinements do a great job of enhancing the original classic design (while at the same time nicely respecting the original design.) Whoever the design team was, I'm really impressed!

But I think the feature that really won me over was the awesome high-contrast paint scheme that distinguishes it from virtually every other Federation ship that we see on TV and in the movies. Instead of being a big solid monochromatic design, some versions of the Exeter have these cool dark gray sections. I don’t suppose this would look too good against a deep black starfield, but when set against more colorful backgrounds, I think it looks awesome. I hope you do too. Enjoy!

Description
I’m a big fan of the Constitution class starship on Star Trek. Whether it is the original version from the TV series, the movie refit, the one from the re-imagined timeline, or the new Discovery version, I like ‘em all.

The only thing that I don’t like about the Constitution class is that it is outdated by the time of Captain Picard and the Next Gen crew. So I thought it might be fun to design an updated version of the Constitution class starship for the era of Next Gen. There was just one problem, . . . someone beat me to it.

The Star Trek Online game created the “Exeter Class Starship” to fill exactly the niche that I had in mind! And, in my humble opinion, they did a great job designing a ship which beautifully combines all the best features of the various versions of the Constitution class over the years. And they updated the design with some styling cues from the era of Next Gen to create a magnificent new starship, the Exeter class!

Many of the images from the game feature low poly-count models, so I thought it might be fun to create a few images which are not constrained by that particular limitation.

I pretty much like everything about the Exeter class: The enlarged saucer section with the flat underside of the saucer, the glowing areas of the nacelles, the cool deflector dish, the beautiful curved nacelle supports, the aft phaser strips, and the wide-set impulse engines (similar to the arrangement of Discovery's Enterprise.) All of those refinements do a great job of enhancing the original classic design (while at the same time nicely respecting the original design.) Whoever the design team was, I'm really impressed!

But I think the feature that really won me over was the awesome high-contrast paint scheme that distinguishes it from virtually every other Federation ship that we see on TV and in the movies. Instead of being a big solid monochromatic design, some versions of the Exeter have these cool dark gray sections. I don’t suppose this would look too good against a deep black starfield, but when set against more colorful backgrounds, I think it looks awesome. I hope you do too. Enjoy!