Pegasus Fleet Forums

What about ship's which are currently CO'ed? If there's only one of them in the fleet and the class of ship in question is alright with it, then perhaps we could also change one or two other classes of starship to explorer as well. Personally, I've always seen the Akira, Cheyenne, Centaur and Steamrunner classes as fitting more into the explorer role than as battleships/cruisers.

tarinzix wrote:What about ship's which are currently CO'ed? If there's only one of them in the fleet and the class of ship in question is alright with it, then perhaps we could also change one or two other classes of starship to explorer as well. Personally, I've always seen the Akira, Cheyenne, Centaur and Steamrunner classes as fitting more into the explorer role than as battleships/cruisers.

Those three classes aren't really designed for exploration though; they are more short-range and combat oriented from a canon point of view, at least from what I've read, except maybe the Cheyenne, which did seem as more or less a true explorer (although a really dated vessel?) The Cheyenne was designated as a heavy cruiser, but I could see it being an explorer. The Centaur is a destroyer; seems like a combat ship to me, even the way it looks.

My understanding of the Akira was that it was designed specifically with combat in mind. Maybe it could have been re purposed later, but I know initially it was designed as an attack ship?

Steamrunners were also patrol/combat vessels, I've always liked them that way as well. I see them as being warhorse type ships that Marines and special forces use.

The thing about the Ronin is that the ship is modular, which means it can fit several different purposes. I've always liked that about it and other ships like it, like the Nebula class.

I agree about the older ship classes. While the Cheyenne could possibly be reclassified, that's not really our goal. It's not just a matter of reorganizing so that we have more ships in the explorer category. Our purpose here is to find out what we really want to see in a new explorer. The Ronin is new enough that making some changes and reclassifying would still work. The older ships are clearly older ships. We want something new to replace those aging classes.

Right. I think from a development standpoint taking an older, more dated class out of mothball status and re purposing it seems kind of backwards. The ship was designed to do something, it did it when it was still new, and we've since moved on. It'd be like pulling a constitution class out (of which the Cheyenne class was simply a kitbash of, making it a peer of the Constitution class) and upgrading as best you could to fill a new roll as a combat ship; it doesn't make very much sense to do that since the ship itself is so old you could only upgrade it so far, and it'd be pathetic in a combat situation in 2390.

Like I said, the Ronin is very modular, I think it'd be an excellent explorer. If I were going to command a sim again, it'd be my ship of choice.

EDIT: The other thing about the Ronin is that I could see it being a stock workhorse style ship as well for the fleet; we do it today, and I have a hard time imagining they wouldn't do it in the future, but mass producing a single, streamlined design seems not only logical, but cost effective (or at least material effective). A more streamlined design makes parts easier and cheaper to manufacture, and also means the ships are easier to repair and refit.

Sorry it's taken me so long to come back in on this. I actually agree on the Ronin. It has the vibe of a spiritual successor to the Miranda class. Let's face it, we've seen the Miranda used as every kind of ship throughout Starfleet canon. Be it an explorer, a battleship or even a science vessel. Having the Ronin be capable of that would give potential COs a vast array of options when they're applying for ships- even if it's just the one class which is available.

It also helps that we currently don't have any Ronin-classes commanded so the changes could be made without anything being 'grandfathered' in.

Here's a crazy thought, and feel free to shoot it down, but what if we really build on the modular idea and create different load outs for the Ronin? Would that be too confusing? The base ship would be the same, but with some modifications for each configuration.

You mean in the same way the Nebula has? I think it's definitely a good idea but I wouldn't go for it on a permanent basis. That is to say, I wouldn't think COs would choose a ship loadout when they take Command and have to stick with it. I reckon that some modules of the ship could be easily interchanged at any starbase, allowing them to take on different missions in a different way.

That's not to say that someone who really wants a science vessel couldn't have a permanently fixed science module but it would give people plenty of scope.

The only thing I can think of with that is that it then moves away from being an 'explorer' in the truest sense. It would be less of an all-rounder and would rely on Starbases (something which there are relatively few of in our neck of the woods) to adapt for missions. That's not to say that the possibility of a 'general' module couldn't be attached.

I think the best ship for the modularity has to be the Insignia - the ship that just does away with modules above the hull and just changes entire sections of its saucer like pizza slices

I wasn't aware of that actually. Is there anything which shows it pictorially? You know how I hate using my imagination!

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Insignia- ... -188603586

http://markkingsnorth.deviantart.com/ar ... -151315703