It would probably technically be a second wave of Refits, Enterprise-B when launched is clearly a different flight from the Excelsior of less than a year before. (The section Kirk got blasted out of comes to mind)
I wouldn't even call that a refit. Remember, the original Excelsior was a prototype; if modifications are made immediately after the commissioning and testing of the prototype, it's not so much a refit as an... amendment. Especially if older ships of the class are not "updated" to the new standard.
Navy people have a term for this: 'flights.' For example, if two Excelsiors get built without the all-important spatial whozit, then the next five are built with it, you might term the first two "Flight I Excelsiors" and the next five "Flight II." This doesn't reflect all the ships being upgraded, it refers to changes and evolutionary improvement in the design during the period they're laid down.
So flights would refer to what era of the initial construction a given ship comes from. For instance, the Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyers come in at least three distinct 'flights' of design that are all closely related but differ in some subtle details as lessons were learned and new systems were developed.
Refits are what you do much later, well after construction, to systematically enhance the performance of a craft.
Sometimes refits and modernization are done to update a Flight I ship to Flight II performance standards. Sometimes it is impossible or undesirable to do so.
@OneirosTheWriter I know you don't like peeling back the curtain too far on event probabilities and things, but there's some stuff I'd like to know in general terms.
1. Is there a benefit to "over-garrisoning" a Sector or Border Zone? If we have twice or three times the number of required ships, does there start to be a possibility that a ship will get "reinforcements'" if its first try at resolving an event is unsuccessful? Since that is Uhura's special ability, it seems like that isn't ordinarily the case.
2. Are there any advantages to garrisoning a sector with (for purposes of example) three D2 ships rather than one D6 ship? Does having more ships mean we're more likely to catch something that would otherwise be missed completely?
3. Per the creation of a Cardassian Border Zone, the purpose of border zones is to keep confrontations with foreign powers at the borders. So barring war time or covert ops (like the Amarkia event), we can be pretty sure that a ship in a home sector will not have to confront a major power foe that has its own border zone, correct? And while space is wide and you can never be sure, the probability of fighting anything worse than the Orion Syndicate in the home sectors is pretty low right now. (Incidentally, what minor faction ships stats are most commonly seen from the Syndicate or pirates. Do they have cruisers or just escorts?)
4. Overall, how does a "lots of little ships" strategy like the Klingons use work for them? Are they better at catching trouble simply because they're everywhere, even if an individual ship can't necessarily handle that trouble? Do their little ships simply travel everywhere in packs of 3 or 4? If we were playing "Klingon Empire Command Quest" and using a "Swarm Doctrine" for fleet design, how would that play out in the turn-to-turn churn of Events?
I think if we could understand these things, we'd be better positioned to judge how we want to use Escorts and Cruisers.
The problem is that we are getting neither in character nor out of character information on these sorts of things, and our character would have all sorts of information that would help make these decisions. A very small fraction of relevant things our character would know:
Is there any etiquette about leaving the closest ship deal with an issue even if a more qualified ship could potentially arrive in time?
By what criteria are planned missions assigned, does it ever happen that they are assigned to a less qualified ship to give them something to do or to repay a favor or the like?
How often do emergency hails stay unanswered because no ship is in range?
How often does stellar cartography or someone else detect an interesting phenomenon but there are no ships in range to take a closer look?
How often do they not bother because the closest ship has insufficient sensors?
Do missions that involve leaving the sector get declined if sector command thinks there would be too few ships remaining and if yes how often does that currently happen?
Are the ships spreading out to cover as much space as possible, are multiple ships waiting in the key system most of the time or how are they distributed?
Are Oberths that have been assigned to a sector available for long term science missions (at least if the sector command agrees) or do they need to be unassigned/assigned to some other organizational structure?
Just telling us a bit about the mechanics would be easier and still leave us with less info than Kahurangi, but we should get at least some info, in character or not.
@OneirosTheWriter another question. Didn't the Rigellians go above 300 Affiliate status a couple of turns back? If so, if they added even 3 RP per turn, we might be shorting ourselves one team this Research turn. When do their extra affiliate resources kick in?
@OneirosTheWriter another question. Didn't the Rigellians go above 300 Affiliate status a couple of turns back? If so, if they added even 3 RP per turn, we might be shorting ourselves one team this Research turn. When do their extra affiliate resources kick in?
I think the questions that arise in the context of sector fleet response boil down to the following:
1) How does a sector fleet "know" it has an emergency that merits attention? What do we need to do, to ensure that all emergencies are brought to the attention of sector command?
2) Is assignment of specific ships to address a sector fleet problem purely a function of speed/defense rating? To what extent is there a random element?
3) To what extent are physical numbers of hulls key to ensuring that SOME ship is in position to respond to a crisis? As noted, do six D2 ships have a better chance of responding to an emergency than two D6 ships?
4) On a related note, are the mechanics set up such that assigning more ships to a sector could decrease the probability of successfully resolving an emergency? If the sector fleet consists of, say, two Excelsiors, a ConnieBee, and a Miranda, does the Miranda serve any useful purpose other than as a ship-sel in distress for the other three vessels to rescue in an emergency?
4a) EDIT: For example, it's fairly obvious that the Soyuz-class had already reached the point of serving as "shipsel in distress" before game start, which is why as far as I can remember NO crisis has EVER been successfully resolved by a Soyuz, including crises that could theoretically be taken care of by any ship whatsoever.
5) Is there a mechanism that we could theoretically use to try and arrange for specialist ships are sent to respond to emergencies deemed likely to involve their specialties? Presumably such a mechanism wouldn't work all the time, and sometimes a ship would get caught in a sticky situation it can't figure or fight its way out of. But it'd make us a lot more confident building and using things like science vessels and escorts rather than a big slab of nothing but multirole cruisers and explorers.
I wouldn't even call that a refit. Remember, the original Excelsior was a prototype; if modifications are made immediately after the commissioning and testing of the prototype, it's not so much a refit as an... amendment. Especially if older ships of the class are not "updated" to the new standard.
Navy people have a term for this: 'flights.' For example, if two Excelsiors get built without the all-important spatial whozit, then the next five are built with it, you might term the first two "Flight I Excelsiors" and the next five "Flight II." This doesn't reflect all the ships being upgraded, it refers to changes and evolutionary improvement in the design during the period they're laid down.
So flights would refer to what era of the initial construction a given ship comes from. For instance, the Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyers come in at least three distinct 'flights' of design that are all closely related but differ in some subtle details as lessons were learned and new systems were developed.
Refits are what you do much later, well after construction, to systematically enhance the performance of a craft.
Sometimes refits and modernization are done to update a Flight I ship to Flight II performance standards. Sometimes it is impossible or undesirable to do so.
It would probably technically be a second wave of Refits, Enterprise-B when launched is clearly a differentflight from the Excelsior of less than a year before. (The section Kirk got blasted out of comes to mind)
I'm just trying to point out that this isn't the Excelsior class's first rodeo.
Though I probably wasn't clear at all because it is early, and I should have gone to bed loooooong ago, but I'm banging my head against a 4000 word Omake that just isn't coming together the way I want it to.
Okay, first thing - some of the mechanics have been getting reworked (this is part of why I don't like opening the hood, because I do prefer to be able to fix things that aren't working right. With the three different approaches I've been considering having each one take a different approach to how they help out when extra ships arrive. Lone Wolf each roll separately (but you get more chances in case someone screws up), Swam they add together their stats up to a point (but only get one shot), Combined probably lets you make little task groups to each take a shot.
1. Is there a benefit to "over-garrisoning" a Sector or Border Zone? If we have twice or three times the number of required ships, does there start to be a possibility that a ship will get "reinforcements'" if its first try at resolving an event is unsuccessful? Since that is Uhura's special ability, it seems like that isn't ordinarily the case.
At the moment I'm transitioning to a system where a home/affiliate sector unplanned events requires roll Def/Reaction to respond to it. I'm fine-tuning with the passing turns, but every ship rolls to respond. More ships, more chances. Ships that pass with similar rolls arrive at the same time and help out, ship with the highest roll takes lead.
Uhura's special ability thus transitions somewhat from allow reinforcements to make it easier for reinforcements.
2. Are there any advantages to garrisoning a sector with (for purposes of example) three D2 ships rather than one D6 ship? Does having more ships mean we're more likely to catch something that would otherwise be missed completely?
More ships mean your eggs aren't all in the one basket. The one explorer has a better chance of getting there, but it only gets one chance - if it snake-eyes, no do-over.
3. Per the creation of a Cardassian Border Zone, the purpose of border zones is to keep confrontations with foreign powers at the borders. So barring war time or covert ops (like the Amarkia event), we can be pretty sure that a ship in a home sector will not have to confront a major power foe that has its own border zone, correct? And while space is wide and you can never be sure, the probability of fighting anything worse than the Orion Syndicate in the home sectors is pretty low right now. (Incidentally, what minor faction ships stats are most commonly seen from the Syndicate or pirates. Do they have cruisers or just escorts?)
You don't have to worry about that coming from the Cardassians for the moment (if things are testy with the Romulans/Klingons, they have been known to slip through from time to time, sneaky bastards that they are).
Escorts are the most likely thing you face, a mix of Orion pirates, Yrillian groups, you may even start to see some of the Dawiar get frisky.
4. Overall, how does a "lots of little ships" strategy like the Klingons use work for them? Are they better at catching trouble simply because they're everywhere, even if an individual ship can't necessarily handle that trouble? Do their little ships simply travel everywhere in packs of 3 or 4? If we were playing "Klingon Empire Command Quest" and using a "Swarm Doctrine" for fleet design, how would that play out in the turn-to-turn churn of Events?
You'd get bonuses to small ship Def rolls to respond to events, and you would be getting a lot fewer Sci-T/Prs-T, and a lot more Com-T, because you aren't interested in space exploration so much as finding a good day to die.
Also in light of other changes I've been thinking BoP Defence/Reaction should go to 2 or 3.
We'll probably get to see them added to the sector list this quarter, before it was one quarter later but Oneiros has been busy with the research changes. Shouldn't matter so long as it gets done this year.
4) On a related note, are the mechanics set up such that assigning more ships to a sector could decrease the probability of successfully resolving an emergency? If the sector fleet consists of, say, two Excelsiors, a ConnieBee, and a Miranda, does the Miranda serve any useful purpose other than as a ship-sel in distress for the other three vessels to rescue in an emergency?
4a) EDIT: For example, it's fairly obvious that the Soyuz-class had already reached the point of serving as "shipsel in distress" before game start, which is why as far as I can remember NO crisis has EVER been successfully resolved by a Soyuz, including crises that could theoretically be taken care of by any ship whatsoever.
The T'Kumbra (Miranda) and the Vokau (Soyuz) rescued the Cheron, and the T'Kumbra rescued the Vokau last year. So Mirandas have been playing the rescuer rather than the rescuee, and even the Soyuz have record of both.
A month later, and Abigail was almost at her wit's end. The parties were non-stop, and for some reason the Captain seemed intent on her attending every one of them. She'd taken to standing in the darkest corner and keeping a white-knuckled grip on her teacup. She'd sensed Chad was mildly disappointed in her, but she didn't really care. What she wanted was to be back in Atlanta and enjoy a quiet day in the park. She doubted Chad would be able to appreciate it without setting up an impromptu shirtless volleyball match. The whole ship was suffused with the obnoxious bro-bonding of a fraternity residence replete with… emotional outburst.
For example, on her way to the morning staff meeting, Taggart had come around the corner to see the ship's slim Andorian security officer, Zles ch'Katen, talking to a human science division ensign.
"I get that, my dude, but still. I dunno," the ensign said, glumly, "We've been tooling around the Vulcan sector for years now. I feel like it's just a dead end from here," He shook his head, "I should never have gotten my degree in theoretical physics - some guy I know has a political science degree and served on the Enterprise -- the Enterprise! STEM is so… crappy these days."
The Andorian nodded sympathetically, putting his hands on the young man's upper arms, "Listen, Alex. You're still young. Don't worry about some hypothetical 'you' that would have gone further in life if you'd done this or that. You must live in the moment," the Andorian gave him a sly grin and dropped his arms. "And in this moment, you have a killer spike. Seriously, everyone's fighting over you on their team. And whatever comes after that, will come."
The Ensign - whose name was Alex, because of course he's Alex, one of the fifty Alexes, or Ashleys, or Jamies on the ship -- nodded, chuckling. "You're right, sir. Of course. And you're no slouch yourself! We make an awesome duo on the court." He held out his arm, elbow bent, and ch'Katen grabbed it, their hands locked in a fist about chest level. "UN-STOP-A-BLE!" they shouted in unison, arms shaking as they gripped tight.
"What the fuck?" Taggart muttered, before putting on a mostly-fake smile and approaching the two, "I see we're… bonding, here."
"Ah, Ab-- Commander!" ch'Katen beamed even as the corner of Taggart's mouth tugged down, "I was just telling Alex here things should always be evaluated in the moment, and reminding him that he is a killer striker."
"I heard," Taggart said. "Y'all sure do love volleyball on this ship. I can't say I understand it myself, but if it works for you…"
"Ma'am!" Alex burst out, suddenly, "With your height, you'd probably be amazing!"
"I much prefer basketball, if I'm being honest."
Alex and ch'Katen exchanged a look, "Right," the Andorian said, "Still, once this guy," he indicated Alex, "Gets transferred to the Explorer corps --"
Taggart somehow doubted that.
"-- we'll need someone who can match his spike potential."
"I'll give it some thought," Taggart said, "Now Lieutenant, if you're done recruiting for the ship's intramural sports, we have a meeting to be at." There was something wrong about ch'Katen that Taggart couldn't quite put her finger on. Maybe it was how, on a ship where half the staff was obsessed with 'gains,' their security chief looked like he could be snapped like a twig. Holena was more ripped, and she was the counselor for heaven's sake.
"So, Commander," ch'Katen said, "How are you settling in? I have noticed you seem to be hesitant to socialize. And I am entirely serious about volleyball – I know you were on the Academy Basketball tea--"
"—I'm just not interested in any of... that, Lieutenant." Was he one of those Security officers who specialized in human intelligence and thought that little factoid about her basketball record would unnerve her? "The crew is nice and all, but I think we have some… diverging interests"
They had reached the door to the conference room. ch'Katen slipped in front of her, and Taggart stopped, frowning. The Andorian turned, "I understand that our idea of fun can seem a little anarchic next to – well, Victoria Eaton runs a tight ship, no doubt. And the crew's observation of workplace protocol can be… unorthodox. But they work hard. I think you need to give them a bit more of a chance, Abigail."
Taggart just stared at him and a tense moment passed, "If you say so, Lieutenant ch'Katen." In Taggart's experience, the only person Eaton had referred to by their first name was Rosalee McAdams. Taggart was certain she and ch'Katen would never had that level of relationship, working or otherwise.
The Andorian awkwardly laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I forget we're not on a first name basis. After you, Commander Taggart." She couldn't tell if the smile the Andorian put on was fake as she pushed past him into the room.
Already in the room was Lieutenant Holena and Commander Kole. Both were, of course, flexing madly – "Bro," said Holena, "I think I got a better pump than you."
Taggart sat at one of the table ends. The Captain preferred to sit in the middle, to encourage 'collaborative command.' To Taggart, it rang of that old adage -- familiarity breeds contempt. When Eaton sat at the head of the table, the authority was clear. Chad had allowed himself to become too buddy-buddy with his senior staff and inane conversations like this is what inevitably followed.
"You're full of it, Holena," Kole fired back, "I know for a fact the quad was 'mirin these this morning - and they don't usually look at anyone but each other!"
"Tags!" Holena said, beaming at Taggart (as she suppressed a shudder at the butchering of her name), "Who's going to impress the captain more with their," she flexed her bicep, "phasers this morning?"
"I suspect the Captain will be more impressed with Commander Krabad's work on the solar flare yesterday afternoon," Taggart said, nodding at the Rigellian down at the far end of the table. Krabad adjusted the goggles over their face awkwardly at the praise. Even though Courageous had a bad run-in with other members of his species, Taggart couldn't help but like Krabad, who was much more reserved than the other members of the crew.
Holena's smile looked strained, "Right, of course. Oh! Solen! Whadda think bro, who got a better pump off the gym?" She was talking to Lieutenant Solen, the ship's tactical officer and also, its bartender. He looked between the intensely flexing Kole and Holena and raised an eyebrow, settling into his seat without taking an eye off the pair. Then, he turned to face the other end of the table. "I have to agree with Commander Taggart's assessment. I think the achievements of Commander Krabad were particularly impressive. But that is not unusual, coming from such a talented individual."
Krabad let out a squeaking noise and pulled the collar of his uniform over his face, before picking up a PADD and settling deeper into their chair. Holena groaned, "Oh, come on."
"I believe it is a fair assessment," Solen replied, nonchalantly.
Holena shrugged and reached under the table. She pulled out a sizable beverage can and cracked it. Taggart was appalled as no one reacted to the smell of beer wafted gently from the open end of the can, Holena taking a moment to savor the smell before bringing the can to her lips.
No.
Absolutely not.
"NO!" The entire table jumped with surprise as Taggart leaped out of her chair, "NO!" She took one step and then with a single swipe from a long arm she slapped the can right out of Holena's hand. The cylinder went tumbling end-over-end, a slow motion ballet of metal and flying beer, before it slammed into the glass display case along the one wall of the room, "I draw the line here, Lieutenant! This far and no further! There will be no drinking on my watch -- not on duty."
"Dude it's just a --"
"Dude?" Taggart pressed a mock hand to her chest, "It's just a what, Deeewwwwd? Does this seem like the time to say dude to you, Lieutenant? It's ma'am."
Holena sighed, "Ma'am, it's a--"
"Don't you huff at me, Lieutenant. I am the Executive Officer on this vessel and you will show me some God-damned respect." She turned to look around the table, catching the glimpse of the door shutting as Commander Krabad excused themselves. She pressed on, "Just what the hell is wrong with all of you? Don't any of you have pride in what you're doing here?"
ch'Katen rose from his chair, "Commander, I think you need to pull back the intensity a bit here. Lieutenant Holen--"
"Pull back the INTENSITY? Bless your heart, but I think I'm at a perfect level of INTENSITY for finding out our ship's COUNSELOR think's it's A-OH-FUCKING-KAY TO DRINK ON THE JOB," She snorted, "What next? Am I going to find out you're huffing Betazoid psi-rocks?"
"Commander Taggart!" ch'Katen said. He crossed his arms, "You need to -- roll it back. This is not conducive to a safe working--"
"Oh and what are you going to do about it, string bean?" Taggart growled, "Seriously, how did you get the job of security chief -- I am dying to know. Possibly literally, if you're the only damn thing between me and an irate Cardassian!" She fumed for a moment, "And what is with the obsession with volleyball on this goddamn ship? Can you tell me, Holena? Because all I know a week ago we went to Risa, and what did I get stuck doing? Adjudicating a volleyball match on a PRIVATE. FUCKING. BEACH. And you weren't even there, Lieutenant, so all I got to see for THREE DAYS was a bunch of grunting, sweaty dewwwds!" She slammed her fists on the table, "What about me? I HAVE NEEDS, DAMN IT!"
"Commander Taggart, I believe that is quite enough." A soft-spoken voice came from behind and below her. Taggart turned and realized that Captain Chad had entered from the door behind her, quite unnoticed. He walked calmly over to the discarded can and picked it up, frowning at the beer spattered on the display case.
Taggart huffed, "Sir, I am sorry, but --"
"To answer your question, Commander," Chad said, placing the can with a firm clunk on the table, "it's because Lieutenant ch'Katen was not our original - nor even permanent - security officer." He looked down his nose at Taggart, somehow, despite the fact she had a meter on him.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but how does that make any…"
"We're cross-training," Lieutenant Holena said. "I do his job for a bit, he does mine."
"Quite so," Chad said. "You see, Holena and I are a lot like you. We were posted on an Excelsior before this one. USS Kumari. Back then I was her Security Officer and Holena one of my Lieutenants." Chad strode across the room, rounding the table until he was right in front of Taggart. "Do you know how many people we lost? And I don't just mean to the biophage. Lost them to what they'd seen." A heavy silence settled on the conference room until Chad spoke, "Do you read me, Commander?"
"Yes - Yes sir."
"So Holena has been taking counselor courses so that she can be more in tune with what her people are feeling. ch'Katen has been taking on her security duties to better understand the mindset. I hear despite his… 'string bean' physique, he has turned out to be quite handy with a phaser."
Taggart took a moment to center herself. The tension in the room made the silence feel like a black hole, hungry to rip the words right out of her mouth. She preserved, and put on the sweetest tones she could muster, "As admirable as the cross-training is, sir, that doesn't excuse the drinking on the job, nor the party-house atmosphere you have - what -" Taggart stuttered as Chad held up the can she'd tossed to her face and tapped a part of the label. 0.0% alcohol content.
"Lieutenant Holena uses these as, essentially, a flavored energy and protein drink."
"I mixed it myself," she said. "Well, with some help from Krabad. I like the taste," she admitted, guiltily.
"As for the partying," Chad said, "You are the XO, Commander. Has anyone missed a duty shift? Seemed lax in their duties?"
It was beginning to dawn on Taggart that she had fucked up. "No sir." She said in a tone just above a whisper.
"We use drinks with synthohol in them for a reason. No hangover, and the effects are not as acute. And yes, Commander, that includes the Vulcan wine -- they're Vulcans, what did you expect? And you wouldn't know this because you leave early anyways, but the 'parties' are within the crew's downtime. I send them off for rest personally, a role I was hoping you'd grow into."
"Sir, I-"
"Instead, you insult my crew, soil my conference room with a spilled drink, and generally have been distant and standoffish the thirty-three days you've been on this vessel. There are some Commanders who can get away with being the bad cop to the crew, Commander, but they generally take the time to get to know them first!" Chad slammed the can down on the tabletop for emphasis. Taggart blinked rapidly as Chad breathed, heavily, for several seconds. "I realize now I did not prepare you for the culture shock. When I came on as XO, off the Kumari, the new Captain was also a veteran of the biophage. We'd seen the joy it had taken from everyone. This was our way of trying to bring some joy back. Encourage bonding. Now I'm not sure why Starfleet continues to send men here -- someone's idea of a joke, I suspect -- but just because you're not used to it does not mean it is wrong, Commander."
Taggart blinked, and then nodded. "Right. Of course."
"Now, we have clearly pushed you to your limit, and I respect that. You should return to your quarters and take the day off while I discuss with the crew how best to make your time with us more comfortable."
"Sir, that won't be necessary." Taggart said, reaching for her seat, "I see now that I was wrong, I assure you, it won't."
"No." Chad said flatly, "I am too angry with you right now, Commander, and angry with myself for not recognizing your discomfort had soured into rage. So go before I say something I regret."
Taggart nodded, a lump in her throat. It was probably for the best a Tellarite was letting her retreat with some shred of her dignity. She picked up her PADD and walked swiftly through the door, the hiss sounding like a release.
"Your next shift starts tomorrow, ten-hundred," she heard Chad say, before the door swished shut behind her.
***
The next morning, Taggart heard the alarm go off. She didn't need it -- she'd been staring at the ceiling for the past hour in silence, trying to figure out how Chad was going to handle her outburst. Best-case scenario, she figured, he would let her limp along, sans the respect of the crew, before quietly letting her transfer back into the explorer corps and going far, far away from here. Worst case, she was probably going to be flensed and turned into the ship's next volleyball net.
"Computer, lights!" Taggart barked, surprised at herself. Realistically the worst thing they could do was send her home, permanently. Chad only commanded a Constellation, true, but the word of a CO meant something, and if she wasn't cashiered right out she'd probably never go to space again.
She honestly wondered if she'd prefer to be the volleyball net instead.
Taggart pushed herself out of bed and got ready at a calm, steady rate. She'd polished her boots the night before, straightened out her uniform. If it was going to be awkward, she'd look resplendent in her shame. At 0940, she left her room and walked briskly to the turbolift. A few crewers she passed in the hall straightened to attention and pressed themselves to the wall as she passed. Mockery?
She stepped into the turbolift, "Bridge." At precisely 0945, the doors slid open to reveal the small alcove that was just off the bridge… and Captain Chad waiting for her.
"Good morning, Commander!" he said brightly, "I'm glad you didn't take the other lift, or else I would have looked remarkably silly. You'll be taking the bridge between 1000 to 1300 from now on, and then we will be overseeing it together after that until the regular shift ends," he gestured and Taggart stepped out. "I think you'll enjoy the time in command, Commander. It will develop some command skills for you, and a few others for the crew." The lift doors swished shut and Taggart blinked in confusion.
Cautiously, she exited the alcove and entered the bridge proper.
"COMMANDER ON THE BRIDGE!" Holena called out, as soon as Taggart crossed the threshold. Immediately the crew rose from their stations and stood at attention, turned to face her.
"I -- At ease." She carefully walked over to the Captain's chair and sat in it nervously. Was this when they'd descend on her with the flaying knives? Or maybe it'd just be a more classic form of mockery, like a stinkbomb. Nothing happened for a tense few seconds, and Taggart turned to Holena, who was sitting in the XO's chair. "Lieutenant, be honest with me. Is this a joke?"
"No d-- no! Ma'am. The Captain, and the senior staff, we all discussed it, and we thought it might be nice if you could have a few hours of each day where you could run things like you see fit. No volleyball, no -- bro's, nothing."
"Tea, ma'am?" an Ensign Alex had appeared out of nowhere with a pitcher of --
"Is that sweet tea?"
"Absolutely, ma'am."
Taggart reached out and silently adjusted Holena's rank device. Nervously, everyone else checked theirs. She considered, "Very well." As he poured, she turned to Holena, "I believe our orders were to continue to conduct patrols in Sector 002-B3, is that still correct?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Very good. Helm, set in a course for Area 8. Science, I want reports on the half-hour. Ah, thank you, Ensign." She took the offered glass.
"If you want, I can put some bourbon in that, ma'am," the ensign said, grinning.
"Ensign."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Don't ruin this for me."
"O-oh. Right, sorry."
"Quite alright, but don't let it happen again. Now, man ops, mister."
She looked around the bridge at the spotless uniforms, the officers and crew quietly going about their work with focus. She had an idea that this was a grand strategy on Chad's part -- not only was she mollified, but the harder work ethic meant that the crew would only party harder. Still...
I guess what it comes down to is being reasonably confident that it actually helps to dispatch anything less than a modern light cruiser like a Rennie to a new sector.
You don't have to worry about that coming from the Cardassians for the moment (if things are testy with the Romulans/Klingons, they have been known to slip through from time to time, sneaky bastards that they are).
Unsurprising- Romulans and Klingons have cloaking devices and can sneak past our detection and early warning networks. Cardassians don't, and can't, once we actually build a DEW network along the Cardassian border zone. There will be one-off exceptions when some captain manages to mask their sensor signature or whatever, but those would be exceptions, not the normal course of affairs.
Escorts are the most likely thing you face, a mix of Orion pirates, Yrillian groups, you may even start to see some of the Dawiar get frisky.
Makes sense, given that Birds of Prey seem to be fairly quick, nimble ships with small crews, unlikely to be tasked with assignments they can't drop on short notice to go respond to an emergency.
[X] Plan Ambassadors, Spies and Escorts
Eh, we're rather far from getting any improvements wherever 40 Eridani A goes on Warp Tech. This way we get to see what improvements to Escort design can be done with the 1st wave of tech complete.
Each Captain's turn, every home sector rolls against a chart that has about a 1 in 3 chance of turning up an event. Each affiliate sector rolls against a 1 in 5ish event table. Each Border Zone rolls against a 2 in 5ish table that is unique to it. Every FYM Explorer rolls a d12 for a general event category.
Each table has a different set of possible event categories and weightings.
Once the even categories come up, they roll against their specific event tables for the actual event/"episode prompt".
Some of the general categories are things like Mapping Missions, Diplomacy, Distress Calls. An individual distress call might be like the derelict that was actually a trap that I think T'Lorel's Sarek encountered. Or a diplomacy mission might be one of the trade summits.
Each event then gets a roll to determine difficulty. Then I start rolling to find out who can respond, what groups it involves, and then I start crafting my narrative from that.
Sometimes I'll just have a good narrative hook and go with it - yes, there is an even category that is basically, "just wing it" =P
Sometimes there is an overarching plot arc going on and the event tables shift to accommodate.
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When it comes to Swarm tactics, beyond the Klingons, the Caitains with their Fathership/Swarmer, and the Apiata with a Queen/Worker scenario is also instructive where sectors are covered with task groups.
Edit: "Let's strip it back" seems rather inappropriate right after @Iron Wolf posted
Each Captain's turn, every home sector rolls against a chart that has about a 1 in 3 chance of turning up an event. Each affiliate sector rolls against a 1 in 5ish event table. Each Border Zone rolls against a 2 in 5ish table that is unique to it. Every FYM Explorer rolls a d12 for a general event category.
Each table has a different set of possible event categories and weightings.
Once the even categories come up, they roll against their specific event tables for the actual event/"episode prompt".
Some of the general categories are things like Mapping Missions, Diplomacy, Distress Calls. An individual distress call might be like the derelict that was actually a trap that I think T'Lorel's Sarek encountered. Or a diplomacy mission might be one of the trade summits.
Each event then gets a roll to determine difficulty. Then I start rolling to find out who can respond, what groups it involves, and then I start crafting my narrative from that.
Sometimes I'll just have a good narrative hook and go with it - yes, there is an even category that is basically, "just wing it" =P
Sometimes there is an overarching plot arc going on and the event tables shift to accommodate.
-
When it comes to Swarm tactics, beyond the Klingons, the Caitains with their Fathership/Swarmer, and the Apiata with a Queen/Worker scenario is also instructive where sectors are covered with task groups.
Edit: "Let's strip it back" seems rather inappropriate right after @Iron Wolf posted
Gotta be honest, the more I hear the more I'm becoming worried that Lone Wolf isn't the Doctrine that's best for what the thread as a whole wants our ships to be doing.
Still, can't make a good judgement till we actually see what's beyond L1 of the tech.
Gotta be honest, the more I hear the more I'm becoming worried that Lone Wolf isn't the Doctrine that's best for what the thread as a whole wants our ships to be doing.
Still, can't make a good judgement till we actually see what's beyond L1 of the tech.
Would combined fleets be more in line? Swarm is out for me as it does not seem to be the federation style.
Also looking through research I think we need two more teams at some point, a shields/weapons team and a starbase design/starship construction team. Since we have all but weapons and starbase design I tried to figure out what would be the most natural pair for each option
Part of the problem with ship design is an utter inability to know what the ship will actually be doing. The best we can do is assign it to a particular location, but who knows what will come up in that location? We can't prevent an Oberth from being the only ship in the right location to answer a distress call from a pirate attack or a Miranda being caught in a time distortion that can only be escaped by science. So there's a strong temptation to try and just make all-rounders that are not bad at anything even if they're not good at anything.... like the Centaur-A.
We can make ships that are good at everything, mind you, and they're called Explorers, and that's why there's a constant temptation to build nothing but Explorers. So the questions I think we need to consider in ship design:
1. Where will the ship be assigned and how does that affect its probability of Events and need for Defense?
2. What do we consider "good enough" for any given stat given the above?
3. How flexible is the ship to reassignment as the needs of the Federation change?
Aledeth: Remember, to a large extent, we should pick a doctrine, then tailor our force mix to match. Any doctrine can, presumably, be viable, if we think ahead about how we want to make it work. Also, Lone Wolf just means each ship can independently decide whether or not to respond to a crisis. Couple that with a good set of standing orders and an efficient sector dispatch system (enabled by good communications technology) and this may make for the best of both worlds: high probability of ships responding to an emergency AND high probability of multiple ships being able to support one another as the emergency unfolds.
And thanks, Oneiros.
Okay, so the key takeaway is that first you decide what the situation/emergency will be (which makes sense). Then you decide which ship(s) can or will respond.
This means we may at some later time be able to devise a strategy intended to make sure the right ship responds to the right problem, which in turn makes it a lot more practical to have specialist ships (including science vessels and Defiant-like tactical ships).
But for the moment, with total ship numbers being quite low, and relatively limited communications compared to what may become available later in the century, we should probably be focusing on generalists... exactly as we are now doing.
Gotta be honest, the more I hear the more I'm becoming worried that Lone Wolf isn't the Doctrine that's best for what the thread as a whole wants our ships to be doing.
Still, can't make a good judgement till we actually see what's beyond L1 of the tech.
Combined fleets would fit with what we've spend PP on. We currently have plenty of Excelsiors for our heavies, the Centaur A as an escort and Connie Bs (and soon Rennies) as our cruisers. So we have the ship types available to build balanced task forces.
If we build alot of CentaurAs or Mirandas, then swarm tactics would be the next thing to get - but I don't see any interest on building serious numbers of these ships yet.
