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I'm thinking the impulse systems. Leaving aside the civilian benefits of a 20% impulse boost - these engines probably won't spread out to shipping for a while yet - we've already leaned in on mobility as a core tenet of our doctrine. I think institutional knowledge is going to be better served by a baseline improvement to impulse rather than shields even in a tactical environment.
 
After all this time, I'm still me: A speedyboi who's gotta go fast.

Enemy ships? Get behind them
Incoming attacks? Dodge them
Racing to save a colony? Get there quick
Shield's not strong enough to tank the incoming hazard to said colony? Quickly tractor the planet out of the way

Impulse: If speed isn't solving all your problems, it's because you're not going fast enough.
 
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Impulse engines already cost an arm and a leg. They're only going to become even more expensive as ships get bigger. The boost to impulse is going to be massively useful.
 
As torn as i am and as tempting as the impulse improvements are, we can always physically add more impulse thrusters, KSP style. I don't recall there being many options to just improve our shields outright.

I gotta go shields on this one
 
Engines have been a massive cost in the past, either because we spent on them or because designs ended up weaker due to us not spending on them. Gotta be fast.
 
It's not entirely clear for the TOS Enterprise, but the refit has that big glowy bit that diagrams usually list as "Impulse deflection crystal", and cross sections often show some kind of tube extending from the warp core to the crystal. That looks to me like a shunt of warp plasma to impulse. On the other hand, I don't think anyone knows what the supposed crystal actually does. When a similar structure on Reliant is destroyed in Wrath of Khan, the Reliant loses warp drive but is still plenty fast at impulse. The NX-01 has a somewhat similar structure that isn't near the impulse drive, but it's for regulating the warp field or something. Enterprise-D diagrams seem inconsistent as to whether the warp core reaches up to the main impulse drive.

So, it wouldn't surprise me if impulse shunt was the canonical option, but I'm far from certain.
 
[ ] Impulse Shunt (+20% Impulse Engine Output)

10% shield strength is nice and if it were 20% I'd do it in a heartbeat. But when the ability to not get shot, put warheads on foreheads, and avoid being eaten by the latest Space Wedgie is increased by double the magnitude, it's a pretty clear choice for me.
 
I think I'm for engines as well. In addition to just more ship go vroom, it's also the more versatile bonus. As far as I can tell, shields are just shields in terms of design, without much choice. With faster engines, we can choose to trade in that speed for fewer engines and more of something else.
 
A 10% boost to overall shield integrity is nice, but what's also nice is being able to avoid getting shot to shit. For smaller craft that are going to be depending on maneuvering to evade fire, a 20% increase is invaluable. For larger craft that can tank fire more easily, the maneuverability is still the better pick, because you can either have a giant dinnerplate that's shockingly nimble or you can use the weight savings to pack in more weapons or shields.
 
The eternal debate. Dodge or tank?

Anyone know how many impulse engines are on a typical ship? I'm wondering if the impulse upgrade is a maneuverability upgrade (typically 4 or fewer impulse engines so a 20% upgrade isn't enough to remove one) or a space upgrade (5 or more impulse engines).
 
Madfish said:
Would the either of the options benefit manouvering thrusters?
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Thrusters are basically that. All movement in space is relative and so the only sublight "speed" stat is how fast you can accelerate. As turning is ALSO acceleration speed is also maneuverability.

I have two thoughts.

We just took the wide range phasers meaning for once we don't need to be overly concerned about maneuverability. We can afford to be slower especially if we have better shields.

But on the other hand thrusters are a major cost to ships, so if we go with improved thrusters we can maybe shave a thruster off a design and save a considerable amount of civilian infrastructure.
 
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Someone brought up HMS Dreadnought earlier and speed was one of the two big things that caused her to revolutionize naval warfare. I'm all in on 20% more impulse power, especially as our ships continue to get larger and mass more.
 
[X] Impulse Shunt (+20% Impulse Engine Output)

Something else to keep in mind is that all our ships from now on are going to have torpedoes. Better maneuverability means they'll more often land on target, making torpedoes much more useful.
 
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[X] Impulse Shunt (+20% Impulse Engine Output)

Less about raw speed and more about making the most of what impulse engines we can fit into our ships.

The Kea was functionally kneecapped by us installing only two impulse thrusters, which in turn meant maneuverability was too low for us to consider torpedoes to be viable, which in turn meant Starfleet Command elected to share the build queue with a competitor design because it had torpedoes even with cutbacks elsewhere. Maneuverability isn't just maneuverability, it's how it influences our design choices later.
 
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