Technology doesnt stand still.
Yeah, the Klingons got spanked by the Excalibur. And while the armchair generals will go on about how Duras 'betrayed them' and lost them the war no one is going to argue that the Eighteen Swords weren't a glorious and deadly enemy.
Or a "Federation Wing' of these girls once we get them out.
With that in mind... if you were making a ship to counter the Excalibur or other similar ships, how would you do it?
More "how expensive we go with this." Bigness isn't our limiting factor.
It does seem rather perverse that a similar outlay of resources with standard shielding gets us a tougher ship than investing in heavy shielding.
Good question. Twofold approach I think.
| Design Concept Comparison | Hull | Shields | Engines | Phasers | Torpedoes | Total |
| 360kt w/Heavy Shields | Duratanium | Heavy Covariant | 2 Type-3 Thrusters | 8 Type-2 Banks | 2 RFL + 2 Standard | |
| Price | 10.8(?) | 60.12 | 10 | 36 | 28.5 | 145.42 |
| Effectiveness | 77.4(?) Hull Points | 90 Shield Points | Medium Maneuverability | 23.4(?) Sustained | 108 Burst Fore + 36 Burst Aft | |
| 400kt w/ Standard Shields | Duratanium | Standard Covariant | 3 Type-3 Thrusters | 8 Type-2 Banks | 2 RFL + 2 Standard | |
| Price | 12(?) | 45.6 | 15 | 36 | 28.5 | 137.1 |
| Effectiveness | 86(?) Hull Points | 80 Shield Points | Medium or Medium-High(?) Maneuverability | 27 Sustained | 108 Burst Fore + 36 Burst Aft |
Fortunately, orbital shipyards are relatively easier to expand than groundbound ones.
The Vulcans operate 7x 500 kiloton explorers.
We should do, our members are capable of producing 500,000 tonne starships and even if their form is somewhat different from Starfleet ones (Vulcan ships kinda being pencils with rings) the basic spacedock design first seen in TMP and then everywhere else should be fairly capable of tending to most forms. Even if we presently lack the exact size (probably width) ones it shouldn't be too hard to enlarge what's basically a hollow frame.
So, now the question is: how do we build the Federation to counter those? Sensors we can't do much about and wide-coverage we already have in the design spec to counter the cloak, but aside from sticking all the engines on it is there a good way to let the Federation-class counter a heavy cruiser?
Additional context for these numbers:
2x forward RFL? Even if the 108 burst isn't too too much greater than the 90 the Excalibur has two rapid firing launches instead of 1+2 slower ones means more flexibility in engagement.
I'd say we do, if we want her to last for a long time. As the Kea shows strong shields are a good insurance for the future, especially for a ship that's meant to sit and take her licks when it comes to group combat (and outside of that has to probably survive getting hunted like NATO carriers would have by complex Soviet naval and air formations when transiting during/immediately after the outbreak of war).
The Kea has Medium Standard. The Kea's strong shielding comes from her bulk, not her beefed up shield generators.
Sure.
Mostly what we are already doing.
The counter to FWC is light fast phaser spreads along good attack vectors. Shoot till you hit something, then light it up and track it. So basically what we have, but emphasize it strategically. Especially in fleet actions - that means good fleet-coordination communications systems to do that area denial covering fire. Keeping in mind that the Gorn aren't the only ones who understand electronic warfare. This means a dedicated fleet command and EW suite. Be able to use lasers if you have to. Hmm, just like the Gorn...
Honestly the Excalibur is a perfectly good counter to a heavy cruiser in pairs. A double salvo of torpedoes kills anything plausible to fight in the first place. The goal for Starfleet should be to have enough of them to pair up.
