Favorite B5 ship

[Nth Chevron]

Canon ship will have to be without a shadow of a doubt (N.P.I) - - - - -the Omega.

However, if we talking of including realistic fandom then this hands down

http://efni.org/nike.htm

N.C

[61Cygni]

My overall favorites are the EA Omega Destroyers. Directly inspired by the Alexi Leonov from the movie 2010, it is an example of believable real-worldish tech. In the vast sea of ships having magic artificial gravity that is so prevalent in film/TV SF, it was so refreshing to see something like that. I love the brutish no-nonsense look to the Omegas, I'm all for hard edges and angles rather than curves. The same goes for the Starfury, one of the best SF fighter designs ever made. I absolutely hate the endless parade of supposed space fighters acting and sometime looking the same as aircraft. In space a craft can move in all three axes and in any direction, and it was great to see something like that in a TV show.

The main quibble I have with the Omegas is of course the spinning section (the centrifuge as I call it) would need to be stopped when the ship was accelerating or decelerating, since under those conditions the "gravity" would be towards the front or back of the ship. Also, since only one end of the Omegas has engines, the ship would need to rotate 180 degrees to decelerate (a basic fact which is all but forgotten), which is why it really needs two sets of engines, one at each end. That kind of redundancy is also good to mitigate battle damage.

I will vote for the Whitestars as sexiest ship, I'll grant them that. The Shadow battlecrabs are the scariest.

[Gormagon]

Not really sure, I always like what Narn ships looked like, and I like the Centauri Vorchon class ship, but I would probably choose a thirdspace alien vessel, super advanced technology including force shields.

[Starscape91]

I'd have to say the Whitestars but I like the Minbari ships too.

[Starfist]

Having caught some episodes of B5 recently.
My favourite B5 ships are still the Star Furies and Thunderbolts.

[Republibot 3.0]

Indeed. My favorites are still the Sharlin cruiser and the White Stars. They just look so cool. Even though the Earth ships like the Agamemnon are cool too, even if it looks like the SG team borrowed some of the design aesthetic for the Daedalus and its ilk.

Might have, though it feels a little more Galactica to me. I do know the SGFX team did the battle sequences for "Lost tales of Babylon 5" though.

[Republibot 3.0]

My overall favorites are the EA Omega Destroyers. Directly inspired by the Alexi Leonov from the movie 2010, it is an example of believable real-worldish tech. In the vast sea of ships having magic artificial gravity that is so prevalent in film/TV SF, it was so refreshing to see something like that. I love the brutish no-nonsense look to the Omegas, I'm all for hard edges and angles rather than curves. The same goes for the Starfury, one of the best SF fighter designs ever made. I absolutely hate the endless parade of supposed space fighters acting and sometime looking the same as aircraft. In space a craft can move in all three axes and in any direction, and it was great to see something like that in a TV show.

The main quibble I have with the Omegas is of course the spinning section (the centrifuge as I call it) would need to be stopped when the ship was accelerating or decelerating, since under those conditions the "gravity" would be towards the front or back of the ship. Also, since only one end of the Omegas has engines, the ship would need to rotate 180 degrees to decelerate (a basic fact which is all but forgotten), which is why it really needs two sets of engines, one at each end. That kind of redundancy is also good to mitigate battle damage.

Actually, there's a simple way to get around having to swivel the engine, and I'm really surprised no one ever has brought it up on any site I've ever been to (Including my own, sadly): A flywheel.

A counter-rotating flywheel would negate the gyroscopic effect, and allow you to turn any which way you want any time you want. It could be smaller than the centrifuge section, with equal mass, or it could be of smaller size and lesser mass, but rotating much faster to compensate for it. Either way, there's more than enough room inside those ships to hold one.

[Sealurk]

My overall favorites are the EA Omega Destroyers. Directly inspired by the Alexi Leonov from the movie 2010, it is an example of believable real-worldish tech. In the vast sea of ships having magic artificial gravity that is so prevalent in film/TV SF, it was so refreshing to see something like that. I love the brutish no-nonsense look to the Omegas, I'm all for hard edges and angles rather than curves. The same goes for the Starfury, one of the best SF fighter designs ever made. I absolutely hate the endless parade of supposed space fighters acting and sometime looking the same as aircraft. In space a craft can move in all three axes and in any direction, and it was great to see something like that in a TV show.

The main quibble I have with the Omegas is of course the spinning section (the centrifuge as I call it) would need to be stopped when the ship was accelerating or decelerating, since under those conditions the "gravity" would be towards the front or back of the ship. Also, since only one end of the Omegas has engines, the ship would need to rotate 180 degrees to decelerate (a basic fact which is all but forgotten), which is why it really needs two sets of engines, one at each end. That kind of redundancy is also good to mitigate battle damage.

I will vote for the Whitestars as sexiest ship, I'll grant them that. The Shadow battlecrabs are the scariest.

On a related note, on Wikipedia (I know, I know) mention is made that the original design would have had the engines gimballed to accurately compensate for the constantly spinning mid-section, just showing how much more realistic they could have been!

Here's the actual quote.

Originally the engine section was a complex gimballed affair because when turning a large centrifugal mass the turning thrust axis is not intuitive. For example if the centrifuge is rotating clockwise, to turn the ship to port the thrusters should be pointing down thrusting upwards. I explained this to the guys and they looked at me like I had two heads. I think it was Ronny who said 'Look, just stick some big engines on the back and walk away'. We were under a time crunch as always and that's just what I did.

TV Tropes was right. Reality is unrealistic...

[Republibot 3.0]

On a related note, on Wikipedia (I know, I know) mention is made that the original design would have had the engines gimballed to accurately compensate for the constantly spinning mid-section, just showing how much more realistic they could have been!

Here's the actual quote.



TV Tropes was right. Reality is unrealistic...

Flywheel, dude. Flywheel. It would allow everything on the show to correspond with the way such things would work in reality.

You know, if you had mile-long ships with fusion drive, I mean. And Jumpdrives...

[USS Stargazer NCC-2893]

Always loved the Omega, always wanted to see it. I got third series Whitestars instead.
Despite being big and clunky, Omega's are awesome.

[DustyBadger]

B5 has so many great ships its hard to choose. I do like the rather fishy look of the Minbari and the regal look of the Centauri ones. But when it comes down to it I realy like the Explorer class starship. It is after all a small flying city.

[Coremae]

My Favorite will have to be any shadow vessel since it's more about terror than anything else.

Imagine you're at home after a night of drinking, and you wake up from slumber with a nasty headache, and you hear a shriek. And at first, you think it's a ringtone or is some form of media erupting from a dialed up speaker box, but no, each time you hear the scream, a shadow moves over your home. Curious, you exit your front door, and you see your neighbors has left, and you're the only one on your block that is still there; too much WKD the night before; vodka flavored soda that felt good going down, but the after effects you're just now beginning to pay for.
The shriek assaults you ten times greater than it did when you were in doors; you fall to the ground and you look up, and a pulsing black ulcer is but a few feet above you. The size of it is immense, and it not only looks evil but it smells evil, as if a big black black blooded ulcerous spider from the scariest nightmare of hell materialized above your home, and it's screaming at you, with a wail infinitely worse than anything a banshee could ever produce were it a real creature.

Then suddenly, an orifice opens, and you're summoned upwards towards it; the maw that is sucking you in smells of decay and death, and as you're soiling yourself, you scream, but alas, no one hears you over the shriek of the monstrosity above you, until, all that remains of what you were, is a mass of waste that fell to the earth, which adds an acridness to the smell of death and decay.

[mindsifter22]

I love the Whitestars, myself. The Omega Class Destroyers from the Earthforce fleet are pretty cool as well.

A quick not-unrelated question:
Weren't the Starfuries used for some NASA design?

[Triple-F]

A quick not-unrelated question:
Weren't the Starfuries used for some NASA design?

No. It's a bit of a virtual urban legend created by Chinese whispers.

[heavyneos]

the Nova class is my fav its the daddy, nothing says back off like 18 twin cannons and 70+ nukes pointed in your direction

[Phinguyver]

You can see more side by side at:
http://www.merzo.net/

This...It looks so awesome cruising by the station. Also, they are badass. And, they look lile fresh water angelfish which are my favorite aquarium fish.

[maneth]

They do look a bit "fishy", hadn't figured that before.

[Cold Fuzz]

Though they do have the flowing lines of a fish, I always thought the Minbari cruisers resembled the Minbari themselves. When I look at the central part of the cruiser, I think of a Minbari and their headbone, especially similarity in ridges.

[maneth]

That too is true. I always enjoyed the design, whatever the inspiration.

[Jershon]

While I love the traditional designs of White Star, Omega, Sharlin, Battlecrab, Warlock and Starfury I have to say that some of the more unique designs catch my eye just as much:

The Earth-Shadow hybrid from Crusade:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__...adowhybrid.jpg

I prob would have tweeked that design a bit personally but it's still cool.

Plus Technomage ships:
http://www.deviantart.com/download/1..._Arfeiniel.jpg

I couldn't find any pictures of this one though, but it was on the old mod off of Star Trek Armada 2 for B5... The Shadow Star, a White Star with all the Vorlon tech replaced by Shadow tech, including armor and weapons.... that thing was awesome.

I wish Stargate though was able to use the Warlock class, it just has this feel to it that would fit great fighting a Wraith ship... and Shadow Warlocks are prob one of my faves too.... just too hard to pick...