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[] Antimatter Storage (Range: 314ly -> 628ly)

We already have science ships. Not saying we won't be putting science in the ship, but we're going down the colony support path with the cargo bay. It increases the engineering capabilities of the ship and has the ship running about to, from, and between our most vulnerable colonies which is exactly what we want this girl doing.
 
[ ] Antimatter Storage (Range: 314ly -> 628ly)

Right now, Starfleet needs more ships to cover its territory and borders. Doubling the ship's range, combined with its impressive cruise speed, will make it ideal for that job. More range also makes it better as a response and colony support ship.

It also synergizes well with our cargo bay's ability to carry fuel to refuel other ships. With more fuel storage dedicated for the ship itself, it can more freely refuel other ships out away from refueling stations.

We just made a very science-focused ship in the Attenborough. No sense in compromising a defense and patrol warship by halving its potential range for just a bit of science.
 
The range will be immediately useful (both in terms of increasing the duration of the ship in space/the logistics capabilities that brings about and also some deep strike capability - which the cruise speed is going to be magic with), and also keep the ship useful in the long term as Federation space expands. Shame it's between this and the spectral analysis, which I believe the Kea had, because that's also useful, if not nearly as synergistic.
 
Candesce said:
Ironically enough, a border supply runner would be a great place for spectral analysis.

Without the extra antimatter, though, the Federation would be traveling between the hinterlands and the metropole rather than from one border colony to another much of the time, which reduces the value of the sensors.
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I realized that irony as I was thinking about it, but was too salty to post it. :V
 
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The distance is farther than crossing the federation, but if we imagine how big the federation will be in 20-40 years it seems more reasonable.
 
Wootius said:
Spectral analysis is anti-synergistic imo. If we're going to be doing cargo milk runs, there will be less random stuff to study and a much higher likelihood of a science ship available to study it.

Meanwhile, as much as I hate it, antimatter makes us into a great border supply runner.
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From what the description is saying the spectral analysis is more see if there is anything interesting as we are already passing through, note it and then have a dedicated ship come out and poke it. So dedicated science ships will investigate while the Feddie is finding spots for them so they dont have to cruise around. On the other hand doubling the range does future proof it and means it can likely just tour the border for a while.
 
Not to mention, as I've noted earlier - that's probably range at efficient cruise, not maximum. By making Efficient Cruise cover that much distance, we're also increasing the distance the ship can cover at its maximum cruise without needing to be refueled, potentially drastically increasing the speed at which Federation-class ships generally move because Captains can decide to kick it up to maximum and just stay there for a while. And that's in and of itself very valuable for reasons I'm sure everyone is aware of.
 
Ebiris said:
Extra antimatter is the most boring choice imaginable, it's literally just a space-filler that doesn't provide any meaningful capability. The ship has plenty range and can cruise for a long time, it doesn't need to double that range. Any time the ship is going back to fill up its cargo hold is time it can also refuel, and as long established we have tons of those big antimatter storage stations floating around.
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Nonsense, as well as what's been directly stated about it* extra antimatter storage will also allow it to still fulfil its mission profile in the far future in a much more expanded Federation, additionally (alongside the possible neutronic fuel storage pod, which is good for several ships) it'll allow it to support expeditionary task forces far beyond our borders (or within them, making great circuits around the edge) as it wouldn't need to dip into its own supply (if that's even really possible) when organising said forces - this will also lend itself to support of long term exploration missions, being able to serve as a tanker midway through missions so the explorer doesn't have to come back to a refuelling station (to say nothing of the parts/crew provisioning it can provide).

*"Given the large cargo space, this could allow the ship to take onboard a great number of parts and machinery, then spend over a year on the border rendering assistance to the more distant colonies and settlements."
 
wildwill said:
The distance is farther than crossing the federation, but if we imagine how big the federation will be in 20-40 years it seems more reasonable.
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It also allows the ship to not need to run in a straight line. It can zig zag across the federation dropping supplies at every place sentients live. That burns a lot of fuel because it adds a lot of distance even if the ship doesn't go all that far as the crow flies.

I also envision this ship working well with Mirandas on the border because it's mid space refueling will allow Mirandas to spend more time actually patrolling rather than running back for fuel at their annoyingly slow speeds. between cargo and fuel the Federation looks like it can just straight up perform a mid space pit stop for another ship.

I now want to get whatever fabrication we can manage. If we can get the ability to do even basic amounts of repair and maintenance of another ship the Federation starts to look like a little mobile logistics station.
 
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I guess this can help extend the range of miranda ships. Also means there always be a miranda close by or knows where to go to refuel.
 
[ ] Spectral Analysis (+2 Science)

Seems like the sort of thing we should be saving for the explorer class we're hoping to build in the future.

[ ] Antimatter Storage (Range: 314ly -> 628ly)

Seems almost excessive at first glance, but considering we expect this big girl to be running all over the frontier it's probably going to come in handy.
 
Also, I am sure the listed range does not include the prospect of self-refueling. There is no reason a Federation can't use the fuel it carries in it's cargo space, even if it has to stop and transfer it to the ship tanks. This means the Federation potentially has an ABSURD range in war if such a range is absolutely required. It has the sort of range that makes strikes on core systems of other polities without needing logistics to be brought forward a possibility.

It can stay on a warp 7.4 tempo for extreme durations and distances, giving the Federation a massive strategic edge.
 
Fouredged Sword said:
This means the Federation potentially has an ABSURD range in war if such a range is absolutely required. It has the sort of range that makes strikes on core systems of other polities without needing logistics to be brought forward a possibility.
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Say several ships is 4 and they're talking about Miranda's and filling them up from bone dry once, that's probably about 864ly worth of fuel (at least at warp 6) in the tank, so about ~1,492 lightyears worth of fuel between the ships own tanks and the fuel container.

Edit: actually, wait, iirc tng scale warp 8 the M:AM ratio is about 1:1 or something like that, so the faster you go the more range you should get out of it?
 
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If extra antimatter is necessary for the ship to zig-zag around and visit lots of colonies, it suggests that every ship without extra antimatter cannot do the same and so the usefulness of things like the Archer and Miranda are called into question. Either the antimatter is a flat necessity to do the job, or it actually isn't and all you're doing by taking it is running up the scoreboard.
 
Ebiris said:
If extra antimatter is necessary for the ship to zig-zag around and visit lots of colonies, it suggests that every ship without extra antimatter cannot do the same and so the usefulness of things like the Archer and Miranda are called into question. Either the antimatter is a flat necessity to do the job, or it actually isn't and all you're doing by taking it is running up the scoreboard.
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It might not be strictly 'necessary', but it gives the Federation more leeway on it's fuel, which considering the state of Starfleet after the war? It couldn't hurt.
 
Another cool module idea - A station umbilical off the top of the rear saucer. Basically allow the Federation the station side of a umbilical dock that allows the Federation to take over the power and life support of another ship. This would allow deep maintenance of these systems on connected ships even in deep space because you can shut them down without losing life support.

Ebiris said:
If extra antimatter is necessary for the ship to zig-zag around and visit lots of colonies, it suggests that every ship without extra antimatter cannot do the same and so the usefulness of things like the Archer and Miranda are called into question. Either the antimatter is a flat necessity to do the job, or it actually isn't and all you're doing by taking it is running up the scoreboard.
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The Miranda isn't stopping at every planet on it's path. It's patrolling a line and only diverting if something needs it. The Federation is potentially going to stop at literally every planet and that could easily double or triple the light years it needs to cross along any given line of travel.
 
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Fouredged Sword said:
Another cool module idea - A station umbilical off the top of the rear saucer. Basically allow the Federation the station side of a umbilical dock that allows the Federation to take over the power and life support of another ship. This would allow deep maintenance of these systems on connected ships even in deep space because you can shut them down without losing life support.
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Eh. Might get in the way of Phaser arcs.
 
Say is there a possible downside of having the extra antimatter being that this is suppose to be a combat vessel, so extra antimatter means this ship would explode when its taken down.

Although its a big hefty craft with lots of shields so its moot but still.
 
Ebiris said:
If extra antimatter is necessary for the ship to zig-zag around and visit lots of colonies, it suggests that every ship without extra antimatter cannot do the same and so the usefulness of things like the Archer and Miranda are called into question. Either the antimatter is a flat necessity to do the job, or it actually isn't and all you're doing by taking it is running up the scoreboard.
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Necessary? No.

But the utility provided by the extra fuel, allowing it to go further in both a straight line and any deviations that can be taken from it (if a starship is approaching the limits of its fuel supply and is on a mission, it's unlikely to be able or willing to go out of its way to address some secondary concern unless absolutely necessary since doing so would leave it stranded - a ship with much more of a fuel margin can afford to take many more detours) is rather useful for the Federation, both the ship and the government, given the Galaxy it's coming into.
 
landcollector said:
Eh. Might get in the way of Phaser arcs.
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I would assume any umbilical would retract into the ship when not in use. The outside surface of the ship essentially just needs a giant plug connected to internals with redundant life support and a robust power connection (and hey the reactor is right there).

Also there is no phaser directly back from the saucer. They are 5 clusters and the back two are offset from one another, meaning neither of them is blocked even if something is sticking up from the saucer in the back. The biggest problem is that it looks like you would have the umbilical run through a recreation area, but I am sure the recreation area can deal with having a 10 foot wide thick pillar up through it.
 
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