Starfleet Design Bureau

[Sayle]

[x] Small Cargo Ship (-9 Industry)

Having decided on a smaller vessel is the right choice despite a larger model potentially being able to carry more cargo, the team sets to work on making that vision a reality. First is the habitation section, a 42-meter sphere designed to maximise the available internal space for the minimum of material. Inside quickly gains equipment, however, as you integrate the forward deflector, computer core, and main navigational array. But as a gesture of sympathy to the crew who will be enduring months at warp during cargo runs a cafeteria with a small recreational corner is installed with a series of transparent aluminium windows looking out ahead of the ship.

But as the main crew section finishes an argument breaks out over the main cargo space. The intention is to have it separated from the spherical crew section by a short neck equipped with an airlock, so that the bay can be loaded without inconveniencing the crew and life support systems can be conserved by remaining largely deactivated in those areas. But part of the team sees an opportunity to increase performance. Rather than extending out the barrel-shaped cargo section directly behind the forward section a slight vertical offset so that part of it protrudes "beneath" the sphere could allow mounting a second deflector.

But why stop there? Pulling the nacelle struts forward could synergize with the second deflector by increasing their length. There's a good reason this isn't standard practice, as it reduces plasma temperature by diffusion and therefore maximum warp speeds. But it would produce a small gain in the efficient cruise velocity. All told the deflector and longer nacelles might give the Zheng He point three of a warp factor extra cruise, pushing it up to around fifteen times the speed of light instead of ten. But the weapons haven't even been fitted yet - is it worth driving up the cost even before that (potentially expensive) part of the process?

[ ] Adjust the design for a second deflector and longer nacelles. (Industry 9 -> Industry 11)
[ ] Keep the design as is rather than driving up production costs.

Industry: 32

 

[Sayle]

[X] Adjust the design for a second deflector and longer nacelles. (Industry 9 -> Industry 11)

The Zheng He gains a deck and some height, as well as some extra bulk from the longer nacelles. Rather than design a new geometry from scratch you simply duplicate the nacelles from the higher-mass Stingray, which you already have the manufacturing process for all figured out. As the result the Zheng He will be able to cruise at warp 2.5 but reach her maximum at 2.7. You don't think running away from aggressive ships was ever on the cards, but you might eat your words if they get refitted with the Warp 5 engine and they're suddenly struggling to hit Warp 4.5.

In any case, the warp drive is well and truly decided and done by this point. That leaves the impulse engines and primary armament. Given how the two are likely to be intertwined, you consider the options. The new impulse engines are not only more compact but also more powerful than the reaction thrusters that they are replacing, but the manufacturing overhead is double that of their predecessors. Mounting two to the aft of the cargo section would make a surprisingly manoeuvrable ship, which would let you risk focusing its armament forward into a single powerful firing arc. Relatively speaking, and assuming the thrusters perform as promised.

Alternatively a single reaction thruster would give her basic sublight power, but given the minimal likelihood of being able shake an aggressive ship on her tail it would necessitate an aft phase cannon be installed. Despite being cheaper it would come at a tactical loss, since she could only have one cannon on target at any time. But these are the kind of decisions you have to make, figuring out which you think would benefit the Zheng He more in the long run. Powerful if it can stay on target, or a reliably available deterrence?

[ ] Two Impulse Thrusters (Prototype), Two Forward Phase Cannons (11 Industry -> 19 Industry)
[ ] One Reaction Thruster, One Forward Cannon, One Aft (11 Industry -> 16 Industry)

Industry: 32




Two Hour Moratorium, Please.

 

[Sayle]

[X] One Reaction Thruster, One Forward Cannon, One Aft (11 Industry -> 16 Industry)

While the temptation is there to make the ship more agile and better able to defend itself, the reality is that such a capability is probably better saved for a more heavily armed ship. The Zheng He will have to do with an aft phase cannon, which will hopefully suffice in persuading pirates to seek easier prey. You doubt it will always be successful given the dearth of targets for the marauders in deep space, but even one deterred attack would be a victory.

With that said and done the ship is now largely complete. Now she needs a name and United Earth Starfleet needs a recommended production schedule.

[ ] UES Zheng He, a Merchant-class starship line named after famous mercantile people.
[ ] UES Iowa, for the state where many of its new components were manufactured.

The name aside, the upcoming finalisation of the Warp 5 project is setting tongues wagging. With the final engine dimensions and specifications expected to be available in 2149, you can then start building a ship to take advantage of it. While the Warp 5 complex has its own separate funding to build the first ship of the class for a launch in 2151, anything afterwards will be drawing on your own resources. You should keep that in mind when suggesting an order for the Zheng He, and as a result you have elected to make a four-year order rather than the standard five-year. With the Stingray order ending in 2151 that should give you plenty to play with for the NX class.

[ ] Four Ships over Four Years (-16 Industry)
[ ] Six Ships over Four Years (-24 Industry)
[ ] Eight Ships over Four Years (-32 Industry)

Industry: 35



Two Hour Moratorium, Please

 

[Sayle]

 

[Sayle]

[X] Six Ships over Four Years (-24 Industry)

The Zheng He leaves spacedock to much applause. It's a simple starship, but you've never seen a Vulcan cargo ship before - their warp engines are good enough to carry material in those giant cruisers of theirs. But the high cruise speed is twice as fast as the standard cargo haulers in service, and their weaponry means that they won't be such easy prey for pirates. If the Stingray secures the homeworld, the Merchant-class is the first ship designed to make regular contact with alien trade partners. More links with other stars can only be a good thing, and in the next four years half a dozen of these defended cargo ships will leave dock.

Time passes. The waiting game for the go-ahead from the Warp 5 Complex is far from restful as the team pitches hull geometries and internal layouts, but it lacks the focused stress that characterised the pressure to excel for the last three years. You spend most of the time looking over the new technologies that will be available for the NX, a ship that will be purposefully built for exploration. The new warp coils from Yoyodyne promise higher efficiencies at warp, and of course the new impulse thrusters promise to do away with bulky propellant tanks. But the future has a seductive call all of its own, angels whispering in your ears.

On one shoulder is the more military arm of Starfleet development, which has been embarrassed by the lacking performance of the spatial torpedoes. While perfectly adequate against unshielded targets anything with shields proves practically impervious to the explosives that were supposed to penetrate the hull and cause internal damage. With that in mind they are pushing for a new munition that uses the same tubes but carries atomic warheads, which will hopefully prove effective against shields as well as bare hulls. It's a somewhat controversial proposal, but if you throw your weight on their side you might be able to expedite the approval process.

On the other shoulder are the manufacturing facilities at Luna. Using either the low-gravity environment of the moon or the zero-G advantages of lunar orbit has been a godsend to the effective production of precision parts, many of which go to Starfleet. Tycho City has been expanding over the last decade and is eager to create new and high-quality jobs for its citizens and potential immigrants, and have floated the idea of a new foundry complex at the edge of the crater. Complete with associated expansion of the city itself, of course, but there's an undeniable benefit here if you can send some funding and expertise their way.

[ ] Atomic Torpedoes (Prototype)
[ ] Tycho City Expansion (+8 Industry)


Free Industry: 14.4
NX-class Prototype: Subsidised
Stingray-class Production: 20 Industry (Ends 2152)
Merchant-class Production: 24 Industry (Ends 2152)

 

[Sayle]

[X] Atomic Torpedoes (Prototype)

The prototype atomic torpedoes have substantially higher yields than the spatial torpedoes, utilizing a very compact warhead that nonetheless delivers quite a pop of radiation when it detonates, evaporating armor and hull plating alike. But when you get the notification that the Warp 5 Engine is finished, it's time to go. From what you hear it isn't quite "warp five" and the hope is that later optimisations to injectors and warp coils will get it the rest of the way, and it is entirely possible that a year or two of prolonged use and tweaks will get the rest of the promised velocity out of the design. Unfortunately there is sometimes just no substitute for practical experience.

The Warp 5 Complex in orbit is gearing up for the production of the testbed NX-class vessel, and you have all the resources of United Earth Starfleet at your disposal to make it happen. Your first task is designing the primary hull, where a couple schools of thought quickly emerge. The first is to use a large saucer, completing the partial disk of the Stingray class. This would provide you plenty of internal space along a short vertical axis. While the sublight engines would need to be positioned elsewhere, it would give you plenty of options down the road for auxiliary systems.

Option number two is to keep the Stingray-style half-saucer at a larger scale, utilizing the bisected areas to mount the impulse drive. The disadvantage to this is that you will be left with less utility to play with in the interior by quite a significant margin thanks to the smaller volume and space set aside for the engines.

In either case that's only the primary hull, with the structure of the nacelles and potential hull expansions still undecided. You may be able to offset the disadvantages of either choice later down the line, although there's no denying that the full saucer is the path towards the objectively largest design you could build with its extra mass over the competition. On the other hand, there's nothing saying you can only install engines on the half-saucer, either.

[ ] Full Saucer Primary Hull (More Internal Space) (Industry: 13)
[ ] Half-Saucer Primary Hull (Less Internal Space) (Industry: 11)


Free Industry: 14.4 (Next Year: 17.2)
NX-class Prototype: Subsidised
Stingray-class Production: 20 (Ends 2152)
Merchant-class Production: 24 (Ends 2152)

 

[Sayle]

Tech has three levels: [Prototype] (+25% Cost), [Standard], and [Mature] (-25% Cost). That gives you incentive to pick mature tech because it's cheaper.

[Prototype] techs become available when the previous tech becomes mature.

Technology ages over time, transitioning from prototype to standard to mature.

Installing prototype technology accelerates the transition to a standard tech in X years. Very successful ships accelerate it substantially because of all the experience crews and technicians get. Less successful ships, less so. Testbeds are nice, but nothing compared to prolonged operation.

Prototype tech has a roll attached for its effectiveness. If it fails the 50% chance(?) effectiveness roll for rushing the tech, the improvement is reduced by 25% for that class until the technology standardises. But you still get the progression towards the change to standard tech, so that malus will disappear when the tech is fully standardised.

My feeling is that strikes a balance between incentive (better stats, faster tech progression) with risk (higher cost, lower performance increases). My sketched-out table looks something like this:

Component	Implementation	Cost	Real Cost	Effectiveness	Unknowns	If Taken	Implementation Schedule
Duratanium Alloy Hull	Standard	3	3	+60% Defense			Mature: 2260
Type-3 Impulse Thruster	Standard	5	5	+50% Thrust			Mature: 2260
Type-1 Photon Launcher	Mature (-25% Cost)	3	2.25	6 Average/18 Burst			Tech Matured
Type-1 Rapid Launcher	Standard	12	12	18 Average/54 Burst			Mature: 2260
Type-2 Phaser Bank	Standard	4	4	18 Damage			Mature: 2250

Hull costs remain the same, while protection increases linearly.

So from reading the table you might reasonably say something like "well this isn't a combat ship, but even a minor adoption of the more expensive hull plating will make sure it's available as standard for the next project". Or "the thruster is too expensive for a ship that doesn't need it and I'd rather lose twice the space to engines in future builds than pay more than double for the next couple of builds - or save it for a ship that needs the thrust".

EDIT: If anybody observes that better tech is more expensive than older tech value-to-effectiveness, that's deliberate. The Intrepid/Nova/Sabre-class didn't get the same grades of shield as the Defiant/Sovereign/Prometheus, despite being built in the same window.

 

[Sayle]

[X] Full Saucer Primary Hull (More Internal Space) (Industry: 13)

With this vessel expected to do so much, going with more internal space feels like an obvious choice. While a half-saucer would have provided plenty of advantages, for United Earth's first major Warp 5 starship, the one that will be going out into the depths of space and meeting new species? Every inch is precious. So with that decided you get to work drawing out the full plan of the saucer section, from the command deck to the reaction control system.

But as you work a flaw quickly becomes apparent. This is the largest ship that Earth has ever fielded, and at these scales the nacelles are necessarily going to have to be thrown back from the main saucer if you want even a prayer of hitting Warp 5. Therein lies the rub: the current technology does not offer the capability to maintain a stable warp field of that size and field strength. The deflector deals with larger obstacles, but the warp field itself passively deflects low-mass material. Or it should, if it's strong enough. Trying to go ahead anyway would lead to the forward hull being sandblasted by interstellar dust - or worse. But there are options to work around this flaw.

The first is a small-scale solution. By mounting a warp field regulator unit between the two primary nacelles, the rear of the subspace field can be shored up even as the nacelles throw the majority of their spatial warp forward to the bow of the ship to correct the deficit. This would neatly resolve the issue with minimal changes to the design, though given its critical role you will have to make sure the regulator is structurally sound with plenty of reinforcement.

Option two is a little more dramatic. By substantially expanding the ship with a secondary hull beneath the main saucer, the currently main deflector could be superseded by another, more powerful variant. With both the current deflector and this hypothetical super-deflector working in tandem, the forward warp field wouldn't have to deflect microdebris at the same level and the graviton density could be accordingly dialled down. Same nacelle power, no problems.

Either option would resolve the issue, but they have notably different expenses. More hull plating, more polarisation relays, another deflector that will have to be prototyped with nearly double the material - the costs are substantial. Not to mention the costs incurred by using the extra space it would provide.

[ ] Warp Field Regulator (Industry: 13 -> 14)
[ ] Secondary Hull (Industry: 13 -> 17)

Free Industry: 14.4 (Next Year: 17.2)
NX-class Prototype: Subsidised
Stingray-class Production: 20 (Ends 2152)
Merchant-class Production: 24 (Ends 2152)



Two Hour Moratorium, Please.

 

[Sayle]

[X] Secondary Hull (Industry: 13 -> 17)

The secondary hull is bulky and adds a substantial chunk of mass to the ship, and the extra-large deflector dish garners a few sceptical looks. Fundamentally it's just a supercharged Type-1 deflector with a larger emission profile, but you may need to smooth out some technical difficulties when it's actually put through its paces. Or you might be pleasantly surprised. Hope springs eternal.

The final major step for the spaceframe and final shape of the ship is the nacelles. While the overall shape and internal configurations are all settled, where precisely to mount them is an ongoing debate. There are two options with significant internal support, each playing to a different strength. The first is to have the nacelles in line with halfway to the edge of the saucer. They would be positioned closer to the center of mass and a little higher than standard to produce a more compact warp field for high cruise velocities.

Option number two has more in common with the Stingray, with the nacelles in a racing configuration near the edges of the saucer. The distended warp field will lend itself towards high-energy configurations that take advantage of that natural instability, pushing the maximum warp factor the engines can produce up the scale.

The only risk associated with the decision here is the possibility the ship might not reach Warp 5 right out of spacedock. While the engineers are confident that the engine is capable of Warp 5, they reiterate that some work may have to be done progressively once the ship is out and in service. The most pessimistic of the bunch, however, grumbles that it needs all the help it can get or they'll be calling it the "Warp 4.9 engine" for the first few years of operation. Strictly speaking it isn't your concern how well a single piece of equipment performs, and you have already helped push the envelope by integrating the new Type 1-B warp coils. Nobody can say you didn't contribute. If higher cruise is considered more useful, you can't be blamed for the shortcomings of another department.

[ ] Cruise Configuration (+0.2 Cruise) (Industry 17->21)
[ ] Racing Configuration (+0.2 Maximum) (Industry 17->21)


Free Industry: 14.4 (Next Year: 17.2)
NX-class Prototype: Subsidised
Stingray-class Production: 20 (Ends 2152)
Merchant-class Production: 24 (Ends 2152)

 

[Sayle]

[X] Cruise Configuration (+0.2 Cruise)

Given how long the ship is expected to be travelling, the cruise configuration seems the most sensible choice despite the attraction of breaking speed records. But for all the ship is capable of faster-than-light, she still remains bound to the dock until her impulse engines are installed. Here the addition of the secondary hull has opened up some options. The original intention was to attach the nacelles to a pair of structural elements jutting from the back of the saucer, but no longer needing them opens up space at the aft of the ship. You could place a pair of impulse thrusters there.

Or, failing that, being able to place the shuttlepod bay at the rear of the secondary hull means that you could actually attach a central engine dead in the middle. Either way the reaction thrusters won't move the kind of mass that you're dealing with effectively, so it has to be the new prototypes. The only question is how much you are willing to let the expenses climb for manoeuvrability at sublight speeds.

[ ] Center Engine (Industry 21 - > 23)
[ ] Twin Engines (Industry 21 -> 25)