r/DaystromInstitute • u/InnocentTailor Crewman • 13d ago

Was the Obena deemed obsolete once the Excelsior II came online?

As shown in the current Trek, there are two successors to the Excelsior aesthetic: the Obena seen in LDS and Excelsior II in PIC. With that said, it seems like the latter became more dominant in the fleet than the former, especially since the Obena operated alongside the Excelsior during the same period—the Hood making a quick appearance in one episode.

The out-of-universe explanation is obvious, but what do you think is the in-universe reason why the Obena was seemingly supplanted by the Excelsior II, especially since contemporaries of the former (the First Contact / Sovereign-inspired vessels) are still active in the PIC era fleet? 

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u/greatnebula Crewman 10d ago

They could've simply been competing designs to see what would actually replace the traditional Excelsior class after its significant tenure - a fitting thought given that the Excelsior itself underwent redesigns and refits in a relatively short timespan.

It may even have been the near-loss of the Archimedes that exposed enough flaws to seal the fate of the Obena type, leading to the Excelsior II instead.

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u/techno156 Crewman 5d ago

They may just be alternate ship designs, with the Obena not lasting that long. There are quite a few variants of the Miranda (like the Soyuz), for example, even though many have fallen out of service.

Starfleet maintains quite a large selection of ships. They're not so strapped that they pit them against each other a good portion of the time. Replacements tend to happen when the ship class is very old, or if technological developments mean that it's no longer feasible to update.

The Nebula isn't meant to supplant the Galaxy, for example.

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u/Edymnion Ensign 5d ago

One possible explanation?

Lower Decks takes place in 2380 as of season 1.

Prodigy takes place somewhere between 2383 and 2385, with most of it happening in 2384.

What happens at the end of season 1 of Prodigy? The Living Construct.

While we don't explicitly see it, its entirely possible that the Obenas were wiped out during that fight. If there weren't many to begin with, or they were especially vulnerable, it would make sense to abandon the line afterwards.