What makes this different is we build it for long distance cruise over sprint, and dial down the maneuver a little in favor of module space. Drop the science capacity for medical and engineering and shuttles and cargo. This is a big, powerful, long range knight to the Excalibur's medium, powerful, mid range bladedancer. And it doesn't do science, it gets other work done.I do have a question:
If this thing is only going to be a bit bigger than the Excalibur, what's the point?
I mean, unless we pull insane shit, how does this thing justify itself? Other than the fact that the Federation is oddly allergic to continued production of the Excalibur for some reason(one that I may have missed).
I mean, we can't really putt THAT much more OOMPH onto a frame not even 50Kt bigger than the Excalibur, so what's the point in doing anything other than what we did with the 'Callies' and make 'em VERY FAST? At that point, it's just an Excalibur. Have the Federation build more of THEM.
Yeah but we can put more weapons on it! At the cost of Module Space, and that's going to cause drama and likely cost us a few Torpedo Launchers and Phasers,. Then there's the issue of us maybe skimping on modules, that leads into the issue of this thing loosing out on lifespan and capability, and again: risks this thing just us spinning our wheels on designing a Second Excalibur.
And yes, maybe we can stuff more guns and shields on this thing than the Excalibur had, on a similar Speed Profile. It's not really going to be enough to justify itself against the Excalibur: Who's design is RIGHT THERE, who has a Successful War Record, and who's CHEAPER.
Maybe we can justify it with a different mission profile and loadout? Maybe? *Shrugs* I just worry that this thing won't have the hutzpah to be a real Fleet Anchor if we don't give it a bit more mass.
I didn't take it as 'you screwed up' so much as saying all the people arguing that a serious combatant must be MAXIMUM SIZE for that reason and no other are wrong.The thing about this section that bugs me is that while I believe its intention is to tell us to be aware of costs, the feel of it is telling us that we chose wrong. Like the prose is scolding us the players for going too big. The rest of the update comparing the different options almost doesn't matter after what feels like being directly told by the QM that we screwed up.
Except we won't. Because every single Q-damned time anything even vaguely resembling a combat ship is being discussed, the Gotta Go Fast crowd comes screaming out of the woodwork demanding a sprint configuration.What makes this different is we build it for long distance cruise over sprint, and dial down the maneuver a little in favor of module space. Drop the science capacity for medical and engineering and shuttles and cargo. This is a big, powerful, long range knight to the Excalibur's medium, powerful, mid range bladedancer. And it doesn't do science, it gets other work done.
Even with the Archer class we didn't. We went with "balanced" for a ship that'd spend 99.99% of its time at efficient cruise, and had options for balanced and cruise, when our enemy was deploying next gen warp drives.[X] Inverse Slope Configuration (Mass: 170kt) [Cost: 33.5]
[X] Rising Slope Configuration (Mass: 190kt) [Cost: 37.5]
Except we won't. Because every single Q-damned time anything even vaguely resembling a combat ship is being discussed, the Gotta Go Fast crowd comes screaming out of the woodwork demanding a sprint configuration.
Bloody hell I can't recall when, if ever, we've done a long-distance cruise config. Maybe that one and only orb cargo ship?
So as much as I would like the command option, I'm voting for the bigger ones now because Hawke made a good point.
The enemy won't want to catch it!Let's make this a big ugly fat fucker that might nit be able to sprint good but who can run until the competition die of exhaustion!
The only thing I can think of is just that the Callie isn't good enough at anything other than fighting to justify continued production significantly past a war. Its science and engineering scores are C and C-.Other than the fact that the Federation is oddly allergic to continued production of the Excalibur for some reason(one that I may have missed).
This one is specifically a fleet anchor. Maneuver matters, but not as much as weapons coverage and shields. Sprint matters, but not as much as cruise. And essentially protest voting against what you assume is a foregone conclusion isn't going to get what makes you happy.[X] Inverse Slope Configuration (Mass: 170kt) [Cost: 33.5]
[X] Rising Slope Configuration (Mass: 190kt) [Cost: 37.5]
Except we won't. Because every single Q-damned time anything even vaguely resembling a combat ship is being discussed, the Gotta Go Fast crowd comes screaming out of the woodwork demanding a sprint configuration.
Bloody hell I can't recall when, if ever, we've done a long-distance cruise config. Maybe that one and only orb cargo ship?
So as much as I would like the command option, I'm voting for the bigger ones now because Hawke made a good point.
The literal pages of posts of variations on "Gotta have more mass guys, else there's no point to this design" worked wonders it seems. Will admit to being a little disappointed in Reverse Slope winning out if it prevails though, was wanting different saucer aesthetics. *shrug*
I would have voted for it on that basis too, were it not for the rather (ironically) massive downsides.In my case, I chose the command configuration for the slimmer target profile and the nicer phaser mounts