I'm sitting here eagerly awaiting more new ships to be introduced and I thought I'd compile my ideas in the hopes that Cryptic takes note and my fellow trekkies / trekkers can voice thier opinion(s).
Oberth (upcoming): I believe it'll a 800 cp Tier 1 Light Science (starter vessel) with +3 power to auxiliary, a crew of 80, an addition science console and the subsystem targeting abilities. Unfortunately this, much like the NX, will completely overshadow the TOS Constitution which I feel will warrant a boost. Possibly an addition Ensign Engineering station or +1 power to all subsystems.
Soyuz: Tier 1 Light Cruiser, Miranda, with an enlarged tail section without the rollbar, surrounded on either side by two smaller nacelle pylons connected to the warp nacelles. Above either nacelle two outboard sensor pods are mounted and where the rollbar used to be some form of turret now rests. The option to go just without a rollbar and with or without the nacelle sensor pods should you do so should also be available. Plus Original series nacelles being made available as per Hravik suggestion.
Norway and Steamrunner: Two alternate "skins" for the Tier 3 Heavy Escort.
Tellarite Cruiser from Enterprise: Tier 3 Advanced Heavy Escort with less turn rate and an Ensign Engineering station instead of the Ensign Tactical station.
Constellation: Alternate "skin" for the Tier 3 Heavy Cruiser.
Ambassador (upcoming) and New Orleans: Tier 4 Advanced Exploration Cruiser and alternate "skin".
Vulcan Combat Cruiser - D'Kyr (upcoming): Tier 4 Advanced Long Range Science Vessel with a Neutral Lieutenant station instead of the Lieutenant Science station. Possibly three Tactical Console slots and one Engineering Console slot.
Vesta (upcoming) and Typhoon: Tier 5 Vice Admiral Cruiser and alternate "skin".
Prometheus: Tier 5 Vice Admiral Science Vessel with Multi-Vector Assault Mode (functions just like the Saucer Separation, but from a Science Vessel instead of a Cruiser to an Escort and becomes three separate sections not two).
Prometheus: Tier 5 Vice Admiral Science Vessel with Multi-Vector Assault Mode (functions just like the Saucer Separation, but from a Science Vessel instead of a Cruiser to an Escort and becomes three separate sections not two).
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
The Prometheus is an escort. I want MVAM on it as an escort, not a science vessel.
I would pay real money for some tos style ships all the way up the line. Or even more movie based style even if they where kit bashes cryptic through together.
And dont say "oh its the 25th century". If they can stick the nx 01 in here. Then heck with it we can have a few tos ships to play with also.
The Prometheus is an escort. I want MVAM on it as an escort, not a science vessel.
This
If my Prometheus becomes a Science vessel (which shouldn't happen because the Prometheus's computer in Voyager said it was for "Deep space Tactical assignments") I will sentence someone in Cryptic to death by Tribbles.
P.S. Akula Class as a Tier 1 C-store vessel to go with the ToS Constitution and the NX-01
Have you ever seen a sci-fi movie where space ship are old?
I mean in Aliens 4 Ripley said that she can fly the ship (at the end) because it is older than her.
Apparently in space stuff age differently and as long as it is repair it appears to last forever.
Firefly's ship was found in a dump and was fix and good to go lol
Maybe the NX can be explain somehow like that.
Maybe we assume that old star ships are decommission for new ones and destroy but in reality we are just seeing the progression of our TV captains from Tier 1 ships to Tier 5.
And the old ships get recommission to younger officers like you or me
Therefore NX tier 1 ships although 300 years old are perfectly good for new Captains to fly.
Specially if you conceder how much they cost in resources.
(To comparer, some US battleships are 100 years old and still in service).
(To comparer, some US battleships are 100 years old and still in service).
Uh...no.
There are no battleships period that are 100 years old to start with. The oldest one still in existence to my knowledge is the USS Texas, and that is only about 94 years old, and has been out of service since 1948. Even then, its not the more 'modern' style of battleships, being one of the older generation of dreadnought style ships.
Secondly there are no active duty battleships left in the world. Period. There is only one still technically in reserve fleets, but only until a home can be found for her as a museum. That being the USS Iowa (BB-61), decommissioned for the last time in 1990.
The chances of any of the remaining battleships ever seeing service again is pretty much nil. Why? Because of the extreme cost and time required to bring any of them up to modern standards, and the age on the hull forms and propulsion systems.
Barring the USS Constitution and the USS Pueblo, I believe the oldest ship still in the Navy is actually the Enterprise (CVN-65). That one being only about 49 years old. Which is due up to be decommissioned in the next couple of years due to obsolescence. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on which ship is the oldest.
The chances of any of the remaining battleships ever seeing service again is pretty much nil. Why? Because of the extreme cost and time required to bring any of them up to modern standards, and the age on the hull forms and propulsion systems.
The biggest reason they went out was the rise of aircraft carriers and submarines.
Why build a giant battleship when an aircraft carrier can launch planes from hundreds of miles away that sink it?
The Iowa class battleships keels where laid down in the early 40s. 42 I think. They where decomissioned in the 50s. They brought new jersey back out in the 60s for vietnam then put her back. Then pulled them all out refit in the 80s missori was part of the first gulf war. Then put them back a few years later.
A ships life is not counted in actual years but in steaming time. Or the actual time she was at sea. The iowas have a life expectancy of 50 years steaming time..
When they pulled missouri out of mothballs in 83 she only had 6 years steaming time.
Besides even if we walk away from ships and look at aircraft the b52 has been in service since the 50s. Thats 60 years. The are b52 pilots out there who's grandfathers flew them.
But all of that is irrelevant. I want rp in the 23rd century. Give me the ships I want to play with especially if I have to buy them every time a new ship comes out.
The biggest reason they went out was the rise of aircraft carriers and submarines.
Why build a giant battleship when an aircraft carrier can launch planes from hundreds of miles away that sink it?
The problem is congress. They insisted on keeping at least one of the big gun battleships around because no other ships in the Navy can provide that level of shore bombardment capability, according to them.
If it were up to the Navy, they would never have been modernized even back in the 1980s, and would have been museums long ago.
So much for the best and brightest going to Washington, eh?
The problem is congress. They insisted on keeping at least one of the big gun battleships around because no other ships in the Navy can provide that level of shore bombardment capability, according to them.
If it were up to the Navy, they would never have been modernized even back in the 1980s, and would have been museums long ago.
So much for the best and brightest going to Washington, eh?
I completely agree.
There are quite a few who want to cling to the old ways but the modernization of the Navy via carriers was a huge reason many wars have been avoided (power projection works as a deterrent).
Also, the contractors who built the battleships had a huge say. Eisenhower had some choice words for the military-industrial complex causing us to make poor defense decision to fuel profit.
What about the USS Constitution whom is 213 years old and still floating and still active?
Which I mentioned, if you had read the original post
The Constitution is little more than a museum that the US Navy still happens to own. It being still in commission is purely ceremonial and nothing more.
There is also the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), built in 1944, captured by the N Koreans in 1968 and still held to this day. Still technically in commission as well, it is the only ship of the U.S. Navy currently being held captive.
Which I mentioned, if you had read the original post
The Constitution is little more than a museum that the US Navy still happens to own. It being still in commission is purely ceremonial and nothing more.
There is also the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), built in 1944, captured by the N Koreans in 1968 and still held to this day. Still technically in commission as well, it is the only ship of the U.S. Navy currently being held captive.
They still issue Mameluke swords to Marine Corps officers too.
But all of that is irrelevant. I want rp in the 23rd century. Give me the ships I want to play with especially if I have to buy them every time a new ship comes out.
How are you going to do that when everyone else is flying around in game-era ships? It just doesn't work.
Let us not forget the attempts at affixing rail guns to the main arsenals of battleships. I would then consider it a purposeful upgrade to an archaic ship design. Theoretically speaking, such a weapon may prove useful to formidable armor. It is better to have at least one and not need, as opposed to need and not have, correct?
Let us not forget the attempts at affixing rail guns to the main arsenals of battleships. I would then consider it a purposeful upgrade to an archaic ship design. Theoretically speaking, such a weapon may prove useful to formidable armor. It is better to have at least one and not need, as opposed to need and not have, correct?
I'm not sure they were ever intended specifically for the battleships.
The rail guns are still in the experimental stages right now, with the problem being the excessive heat generated wearing out the guns quickly.
I wouldn't expect to see practical rail guns for quite some time yet, between the heat problems and the large amounts of power required to fire them. They're coming for sure, but not for at least a decade I'd imagine.
You know if they gave me a costilletion class at teir 4 I could run the whole game in a tmp era
Personally I've always loved the idea of a TOS styled Miranda class. I wouldn't even care about the setting, I'd just want to hold it and pet it and hug it and call it the USS George.
I'd love to see the Norway as an alternate tier 3 escort skin. The Oslo is just sooooo ugly IMO. It I combine the strut and saucer of the Oslo with the nacelles and hull of the Akira I can get something that kind of looks like the Norway, but I'd still love to see an actual Norway skin.
With the Nebula and Excelsior being included as advanced science and cruisers respectively, I think that I'd like to see the New Orleans as an advanced escort.
The Niagara is also a design I'd like to see included, I don't really know where best to put it though. The Oberth I think should be included as a tier 1 light science vessel .
Don't forget the USS NJ. Which is docked in camden NJ. The tour of the ship was nice but I don't know how the sailors lived on that ship. The tight quarters would drive me crazy.
Ps if you visit the ship stay on the water front, don't take a tour of the city! Yes, I live in NJ and no the rest of the state is not like the city.
Look at the kdf they keep improving old designs. The klingons improve designs that work, like b'rel, ktinga so forth. And yes even the b-52 well be flying for about 100 years by the time its retired, and thats with upgrades too. So 23 centry ships can be in the game.
The Prometheus is an escort. I want MVAM on it as an escort, not a science vessel.
So you want the Multi-Vector Assault Mode (which we would be a slight redress of Saucer Separation) that changes a ship from playing like one type to another type (i.e. Cruiser to Escort or in this case Science to Escort) to do nothing except look pretty?
Personally I've always loved the idea of a TOS styled Miranda class. I wouldn't even care about the setting, I'd just want to hold it and pet it and hug it and call it the USS George.
But don't tell anyone I said so.
Sold! Original series Nacelles being edited into my original post in a minute.
Now here's my latest ideas, this time for the Klingon side.
D5 from Enterprise: 800 cp Tier 1 Battle Cruiser as an alternative to the current starter vessel. It'd have a Impulse Modifier of 0.15, a Turn Rate of 11.4, Inertia of 40, Crew of 10 (according to fluff the vessel supports a crew of twelve), Hull of 7000, 1 console for each type, 2 forward weapons, 2 aft weapons, 1 Neutral Ensign station and lastly 2 Ensign Engineering stations. Of course this would lead me to improving the Tier 2 K'Tanco Battle Cruiser with an additional forward weapon to streamline the advancement of the Battle Cruisers.
D7: Alternate "skin" for the Tier 3 K'T'Inga Battle Cruiser.
So you want the Multi-Vector Assault Mode (which we would be a slight redress of Saucer Separation) that changes a ship from playing like one type to another type (i.e. Cruiser to Escort or in this case Science to Escort) to do nothing except look pretty?
No, that's just the specific mechanic for the Galaxy refit. I want MVAM to actually do what the shows presented - extra damage, attack vectors, etc. I want to press a button and watch as my ship's component parts obliterate whatever I had targetted at the time.
Then I want to watch my ship re-integrate and wait (at least) several minutes before I can use it again.
I'd love to see the Norway as an alternate tier 3 escort skin. The Oslo is just sooooo ugly IMO. It I combine the strut and saucer of the Oslo with the nacelles and hull of the Akira I can get something that kind of looks like the Norway, but I'd still love to see an actual Norway skin.
Which, sadly, you never will. Of the ship CGIs made for First Contact, the Norway one was LOST at ILM after the movie. Various rumors circulate as to how it got lost whereas the Steamrunner and Sabre ones weren't - but that's the breaks. No backups ( or corrupted ones), either. The ONLY available reference data comes from the not-very-detailed CGI shots in First Contact itself, and some beauty shots posted in some fanzines. Cryptic did the best they could, given what they had and the fact they had to make the pieces mesh with both the Akira and the Zephyr - classes due to their concepts of "customization" - the real Norway parts would not have worked at all on anything other than the original iron-shaped hull.
That's also why the Zephyr was created instead of the Steamrunner itself - ILM still had the mesh/textures (and they can be seen on renders over at Drexler's site) - but there is no way at all the nacelles could have been changed for any of the other two ships' - they're far too integrated into both the hull AND the rear pod to be any form of "interchangeable". They didn't fit the concept, so one based off of it that DID was made - thus the Zephyr.
Now that Cryptic has learned a bit that ship "customization"? among STO fans isn't as big a deal as they thought, we're beginning to see ships that DON'T have interchangeable parts (Excelsipr, AGT Enterprise, Nebula, Gauramba) - perhaps then these other ships can be brought back in, at least closer than they are now.
With the Nebula and Excelsior being included as advanced science and cruisers respectively, I think that I'd like to see the New Orleans as an advanced escort.
Perhaps you can explain to me wy all the love for the New Orleans-class? To me it's not any better or worse than any other of the Wolf 359 kitbashes - to me at least, the Cheyenne has some things to distinguish it from the pack (four nacelles, the "conning-tower" style engineering hull clamped to the saucer, etc) - The New Orleans not so much. To me the only things distinguishing it from any other ship are the three pods (Stabilo highlighters glued onto the saucer and engineering hull, respecitively) - it just doesn't float my boat. What's the big deal over it? And ESPECIALLY why as a escort, of all things? It's better be classed as a Science ship, with the "pods" being mission-specific the way that the Nebula's pod is... At least, that's how I'd approach it if I had to, given the ship's small size.
The Niagara is also a design I'd like to see included, I don't really know where best to put it though. The Oberth I think should be included as a tier 1 light science vessel .
Oberths are coming, so the devs have said; though why is beyond me. Niagras I'd dispute, they're not a very attractive ship, and frankly what purpose would it serve? It was a experimental ship in the first place - only seen once (as a wreck in BoBW) and really can't be seen as anything other than a experiment in warp design - one that ultimately failed (as it's the only one of it's kind). The power of the ship does not depend on the number of nacelles but on the number and size of the warp cores installed - so the Niagra (using a Ambassador-class engineering hull and having a Ambassador-class warp core) would have in some ways been LESS powerful than a corresponding Ambassador-class (same amount of plasma production divided against more nacelles means less plasma to each nacelle - basic math). Prometheus gets away with six nacelles by being three ships strung together, each with it's own warp core. Perhaps that's why the Cheyenne has that big vertical engineering hull - to accomodate a really BIG warp core to feed all those nacelles....But I digress). Just not my cup of tea, personally - and even Ed Miraecki (who built it) didnt' really like it - that and the Freedom class (he referred to that as the "flying frypan").
Eh, to each their own - I just think there's better designs out there to choose from.
Tellarite Cruiser from Enterprise: Tier 3 Advanced Heavy Escort with less turn rate and an Ensign Engineering station instead of the Ensign Tactical station.
Perhaps you can explain to me wy all the love for the New Orleans-class? To me it's not any better or worse than any other of the Wolf 359 kitbashes - to me at least, the Cheyenne has some things to distinguish it from the pack (four nacelles, the "conning-tower" style engineering hull clamped to the saucer, etc) - The New Orleans not so much. To me the only things distinguishing it from any other ship are the three pods (Stabilo highlighters glued onto the saucer and engineering hull, respecitively) - it just doesn't float my boat. What's the big deal over it? And ESPECIALLY why as a escort, of all things? It's better be classed as a Science ship, with the "pods" being mission-specific the way that the Nebula's pod is... At least, that's how I'd approach it if I had to, given the ship's small size.
I'll attempt to do this.
The New Orleans, to the best of my knowledge, has never had a role defined for it. We lack any other obvious, canon, barely-era-appropriate ships to fill the role of "new escort". Why not this thing? And besides, the mission pods would look awesome as torpedo pods (not unlike the pod the Nebula was outfitted with during the Dominion War, IIRC). Its special ability has been suggested as a targetless torpedo spray in a 90 degree arc out in front; low damage, but would decloak ships it hit. Basically another anti-cloak ability.
I do agree that it does have a science-y look to it. If for some reason it ends up with a T5 version, I feel it should be Tac/Sci.
The problem is congress. They insisted on keeping at least one of the big gun battleships around because no other ships in the Navy can provide that level of shore bombardment capability, according to them.
If it were up to the Navy, they would never have been modernized even back in the 1980s, and would have been museums long ago.
So much for the best and brightest going to Washington, eh?
According to the secretary of the Navy at the time, the battleships were brought out of mothballs to get a very quick force increase. This was considered vital at the time because the previous administration had let our military decay to what was considered a dangerously low level considering there was a cold war on and all and the USSR had been in a massive buildup for several years. Anyway, it was a quick way to add firepower. They were really intended as platforms for cruise missiles and a lot were mounted on them. The guns of course were handy for shore bonbardment.
The Navy didn't want to keep them for long for a couple reasons:
1. With their huge crews, the battleships were very expensive to operate. They could get more for their money with other more modern ships which either were more effective (aircraft carriers) or required smaller crews (virtually everything else).
2. The Navy was eventually built up and was no longer considered dangerously underpowered.
The nuclear powered aircraft carrier Enterprise recently passed it's 50'th birthday and is still in service. It IS scheduled to be retired in the next couple years, but that's as much because it's the only ship of its class so is more expensive to maintain. There are new replacement aircraft carriers under construction and there's a movement afoot to get one of them named Enterprise.
Comments
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
The Prometheus is an escort. I want MVAM on it as an escort, not a science vessel.
Umm, we already have these two ships:P
And dont say "oh its the 25th century". If they can stick the nx 01 in here. Then heck with it we can have a few tos ships to play with also.
If my Prometheus becomes a Science vessel (which shouldn't happen because the Prometheus's computer in Voyager said it was for "Deep space Tactical assignments") I will sentence someone in Cryptic to death by Tribbles.
P.S. Akula Class as a Tier 1 C-store vessel to go with the ToS Constitution and the NX-01
I mean in Aliens 4 Ripley said that she can fly the ship (at the end) because it is older than her.
Apparently in space stuff age differently and as long as it is repair it appears to last forever.
Firefly's ship was found in a dump and was fix and good to go lol
Maybe the NX can be explain somehow like that.
Maybe we assume that old star ships are decommission for new ones and destroy but in reality we are just seeing the progression of our TV captains from Tier 1 ships to Tier 5.
And the old ships get recommission to younger officers like you or me
Therefore NX tier 1 ships although 300 years old are perfectly good for new Captains to fly.
Specially if you conceder how much they cost in resources.
(To comparer, some US battleships are 100 years old and still in service).
Uh...no.
There are no battleships period that are 100 years old to start with. The oldest one still in existence to my knowledge is the USS Texas, and that is only about 94 years old, and has been out of service since 1948. Even then, its not the more 'modern' style of battleships, being one of the older generation of dreadnought style ships.
Secondly there are no active duty battleships left in the world. Period. There is only one still technically in reserve fleets, but only until a home can be found for her as a museum. That being the USS Iowa (BB-61), decommissioned for the last time in 1990.
The chances of any of the remaining battleships ever seeing service again is pretty much nil. Why? Because of the extreme cost and time required to bring any of them up to modern standards, and the age on the hull forms and propulsion systems.
Barring the USS Constitution and the USS Pueblo, I believe the oldest ship still in the Navy is actually the Enterprise (CVN-65). That one being only about 49 years old. Which is due up to be decommissioned in the next couple of years due to obsolescence. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on which ship is the oldest.
Why build a giant battleship when an aircraft carrier can launch planes from hundreds of miles away that sink it?
A ships life is not counted in actual years but in steaming time. Or the actual time she was at sea. The iowas have a life expectancy of 50 years steaming time..
When they pulled missouri out of mothballs in 83 she only had 6 years steaming time.
Besides even if we walk away from ships and look at aircraft the b52 has been in service since the 50s. Thats 60 years. The are b52 pilots out there who's grandfathers flew them.
But all of that is irrelevant. I want rp in the 23rd century. Give me the ships I want to play with especially if I have to buy them every time a new ship comes out.
The problem is congress. They insisted on keeping at least one of the big gun battleships around because no other ships in the Navy can provide that level of shore bombardment capability, according to them.
If it were up to the Navy, they would never have been modernized even back in the 1980s, and would have been museums long ago.
So much for the best and brightest going to Washington, eh?
I completely agree.
There are quite a few who want to cling to the old ways but the modernization of the Navy via carriers was a huge reason many wars have been avoided (power projection works as a deterrent).
Also, the contractors who built the battleships had a huge say. Eisenhower had some choice words for the military-industrial complex causing us to make poor defense decision to fuel profit.
Which I mentioned, if you had read the original post
The Constitution is little more than a museum that the US Navy still happens to own. It being still in commission is purely ceremonial and nothing more.
There is also the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), built in 1944, captured by the N Koreans in 1968 and still held to this day. Still technically in commission as well, it is the only ship of the U.S. Navy currently being held captive.
They still issue Mameluke swords to Marine Corps officers too.
How are you going to do that when everyone else is flying around in game-era ships? It just doesn't work.
I'm not sure they were ever intended specifically for the battleships.
The rail guns are still in the experimental stages right now, with the problem being the excessive heat generated wearing out the guns quickly.
I wouldn't expect to see practical rail guns for quite some time yet, between the heat problems and the large amounts of power required to fire them. They're coming for sure, but not for at least a decade I'd imagine.
Heck with game era. If the nx 01 can be put in game so can the rest. Besides I want to pretend im in the 23rd century. Not really that hard to do.
You know if they gave me a costilletion class at teir 4 I could run the whole game in a tmp era
Personally I've always loved the idea of a TOS styled Miranda class. I wouldn't even care about the setting, I'd just want to hold it and pet it and hug it and call it the USS George.
But don't tell anyone I said so.
With the Nebula and Excelsior being included as advanced science and cruisers respectively, I think that I'd like to see the New Orleans as an advanced escort.
The Niagara is also a design I'd like to see included, I don't really know where best to put it though. The Oberth I think should be included as a tier 1 light science vessel .
Ps if you visit the ship stay on the water front, don't take a tour of the city! Yes, I live in NJ and no the rest of the state is not like the city.
I know, off topic.
:rolleyes:
So you want the Multi-Vector Assault Mode (which we would be a slight redress of Saucer Separation) that changes a ship from playing like one type to another type (i.e. Cruiser to Escort or in this case Science to Escort) to do nothing except look pretty?
Sold! Original series Nacelles being edited into my original post in a minute.
Now here's my latest ideas, this time for the Klingon side.
D5 from Enterprise: 800 cp Tier 1 Battle Cruiser as an alternative to the current starter vessel. It'd have a Impulse Modifier of 0.15, a Turn Rate of 11.4, Inertia of 40, Crew of 10 (according to fluff the vessel supports a crew of twelve), Hull of 7000, 1 console for each type, 2 forward weapons, 2 aft weapons, 1 Neutral Ensign station and lastly 2 Ensign Engineering stations. Of course this would lead me to improving the Tier 2 K'Tanco Battle Cruiser with an additional forward weapon to streamline the advancement of the Battle Cruisers.
D7: Alternate "skin" for the Tier 3 K'T'Inga Battle Cruiser.
No, that's just the specific mechanic for the Galaxy refit. I want MVAM to actually do what the shows presented - extra damage, attack vectors, etc. I want to press a button and watch as my ship's component parts obliterate whatever I had targetted at the time.
Then I want to watch my ship re-integrate and wait (at least) several minutes before I can use it again.
Which, sadly, you never will. Of the ship CGIs made for First Contact, the Norway one was LOST at ILM after the movie. Various rumors circulate as to how it got lost whereas the Steamrunner and Sabre ones weren't - but that's the breaks. No backups ( or corrupted ones), either. The ONLY available reference data comes from the not-very-detailed CGI shots in First Contact itself, and some beauty shots posted in some fanzines. Cryptic did the best they could, given what they had and the fact they had to make the pieces mesh with both the Akira and the Zephyr - classes due to their concepts of "customization" - the real Norway parts would not have worked at all on anything other than the original iron-shaped hull.
That's also why the Zephyr was created instead of the Steamrunner itself - ILM still had the mesh/textures (and they can be seen on renders over at Drexler's site) - but there is no way at all the nacelles could have been changed for any of the other two ships' - they're far too integrated into both the hull AND the rear pod to be any form of "interchangeable". They didn't fit the concept, so one based off of it that DID was made - thus the Zephyr.
Now that Cryptic has learned a bit that ship "customization"? among STO fans isn't as big a deal as they thought, we're beginning to see ships that DON'T have interchangeable parts (Excelsipr, AGT Enterprise, Nebula, Gauramba) - perhaps then these other ships can be brought back in, at least closer than they are now.
Perhaps you can explain to me wy all the love for the New Orleans-class? To me it's not any better or worse than any other of the Wolf 359 kitbashes - to me at least, the Cheyenne has some things to distinguish it from the pack (four nacelles, the "conning-tower" style engineering hull clamped to the saucer, etc) - The New Orleans not so much. To me the only things distinguishing it from any other ship are the three pods (Stabilo highlighters glued onto the saucer and engineering hull, respecitively) - it just doesn't float my boat. What's the big deal over it? And ESPECIALLY why as a escort, of all things? It's better be classed as a Science ship, with the "pods" being mission-specific the way that the Nebula's pod is... At least, that's how I'd approach it if I had to, given the ship's small size.
Oberths are coming, so the devs have said; though why is beyond me. Niagras I'd dispute, they're not a very attractive ship, and frankly what purpose would it serve? It was a experimental ship in the first place - only seen once (as a wreck in BoBW) and really can't be seen as anything other than a experiment in warp design - one that ultimately failed (as it's the only one of it's kind). The power of the ship does not depend on the number of nacelles but on the number and size of the warp cores installed - so the Niagra (using a Ambassador-class engineering hull and having a Ambassador-class warp core) would have in some ways been LESS powerful than a corresponding Ambassador-class (same amount of plasma production divided against more nacelles means less plasma to each nacelle - basic math). Prometheus gets away with six nacelles by being three ships strung together, each with it's own warp core. Perhaps that's why the Cheyenne has that big vertical engineering hull - to accomodate a really BIG warp core to feed all those nacelles....But I digress). Just not my cup of tea, personally - and even Ed Miraecki (who built it) didnt' really like it - that and the Freedom class (he referred to that as the "flying frypan").
Eh, to each their own - I just think there's better designs out there to choose from.
YES! Give us some Tellarite love!
The NX was put in game... as a T1. And it's not even the real thing, it's a replica.
If you wanted to play in the 23rd century, you picked the wrong game.
At best, you'll get a T5 Constitution Refit, which by all rights shouldn't exist, but they upgraded the B'rel, so I suppose this is inevitable.
I'll attempt to do this.
The New Orleans, to the best of my knowledge, has never had a role defined for it. We lack any other obvious, canon, barely-era-appropriate ships to fill the role of "new escort". Why not this thing? And besides, the mission pods would look awesome as torpedo pods (not unlike the pod the Nebula was outfitted with during the Dominion War, IIRC). Its special ability has been suggested as a targetless torpedo spray in a 90 degree arc out in front; low damage, but would decloak ships it hit. Basically another anti-cloak ability.
I do agree that it does have a science-y look to it. If for some reason it ends up with a T5 version, I feel it should be Tac/Sci.
According to the secretary of the Navy at the time, the battleships were brought out of mothballs to get a very quick force increase. This was considered vital at the time because the previous administration had let our military decay to what was considered a dangerously low level considering there was a cold war on and all and the USSR had been in a massive buildup for several years. Anyway, it was a quick way to add firepower. They were really intended as platforms for cruise missiles and a lot were mounted on them. The guns of course were handy for shore bonbardment.
The Navy didn't want to keep them for long for a couple reasons:
1. With their huge crews, the battleships were very expensive to operate. They could get more for their money with other more modern ships which either were more effective (aircraft carriers) or required smaller crews (virtually everything else).
2. The Navy was eventually built up and was no longer considered dangerously underpowered.
The nuclear powered aircraft carrier Enterprise recently passed it's 50'th birthday and is still in service. It IS scheduled to be retired in the next couple years, but that's as much because it's the only ship of its class so is more expensive to maintain. There are new replacement aircraft carriers under construction and there's a movement afoot to get one of them named Enterprise.