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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) Starfleet Ship Design Bureau, Refit ("To Boldly Go...")
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Trent01 said:
How did I not find this quest before. It is awesome! And very interesting gameplay mechanics too, very nicely reflects the differences between the Federation and the usual run of imperialist nation-games.

Saw that omakes get rewards here too. I feel up for some R&D writing, any projects in particular need a buff?
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Glad to have you onboard. The research megapost has our current research state. Of the techs I feel Data Analysis Center and Research Net 1 under Computers and Comms respectively are the most important ones we can get as they help us get more research teams which lets us pursue more topics. In addition the more teams we have active means the more teams gaining XP and increasing their skill.

And yeah having to go the diplomatic route instead of the aggression route is a very refreshing change in play style from the norm.
 
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2302.Q4 - Well, They Try
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    • Starfleet Intelligence Report

    Suspected Force on Romulan Border:
    Unknown - 3~6

    Suspected Force on Klingon Border:
    4 K'tinga
    12 Klingon Bird of Prey

    Digest of Report on USS Cheron Incident of Stardate 20757

    Torpedo believed to be brought aboard while exchanging supplies and research samples with the Arkarian III-4 Outpost, where transporters are inhibited by the magnetic field of the Arkarian III gas giant. It is believed that one of the outpost staff was an infiltrator. After the shuttle had passed within the deflector shields of the USS Cheron, the saboteur activated the shuttlecraft's own transporter, and sent the torpedo that had been sitting within the shuttle's transporter buffer, and transferred it to the buffer of Transporter Room Two on the Cheron. Specifically, they were transferred into the Primary Lead Cache of the Phase Transition Coil. This had the net result that the moment power was fed into the Energizing Coils of Transporter Room Two, the Type-IV Photon Torpedo rematerialised on pad four. It immediately shifted into Target Acquisition mode, and an 47 microseconds later initiated matter/anti-matter annihilation.

    How the saboteur was able to perform a site-to-site transfer to what should have been an inactive transport buffer is still a matter of some speculation, but security logs do indicate that one of the members of the Arkarian III-4 Outpost crew did access a terminal in shuttlebay and shortly afterwards there was a partial energisation of the Transporter. We don't know the reason given for allowing access to the terminal, as the officer who approved the request was vaporised in the subsequent explosion. Suffice to say, a ruse of some form is believed to have been performed to gain access.

    Attempts to track back the suspected saboteur have reached a dead-end. He disappeared from the outpost shortly thereafter.

    It is the opinion of Starfleet Intelligence that this does bears the hallmarks of a Romulan operation. We are still attempting to discover what may have prompted this aggressive action. One leading theory suggests that the Romulans are attempting to both destablisize the Federation by striking at the the image of a safe and secure environment, in order to degrade our ability to attract further membership, and also to send a political message to the Federation that the Battle of Cheron is long past, and that they are willing to fight again if necessary. Another theory is that the science samples that the Cheron picked up from a number of outposts may have contained something that the Romulans did not wish us to discover. The delivery of the torpedo to Transporter Room Two as opposed to One also bears this out, as the pattern buffers for Room Two are located adjacent to many of the store rooms, and indeed, the science data the Cheron carried was lost. A third theory is that this is a warning to us not to interfere if the Romulan Star Empire attacks the Klingon Empire.

    Our investigation into this matter is continuing.
     
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    • I look forward to getting a chance to stick it to the Romulans somehow in return.

    Possibly by burying them in paperwork and red tape :evil::D
     
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    Ominous... it is a good thing we are expanding our shipyard and I think we need to get some more Centaurs into production as we have more docks that can make those. And for Centaur vs Constellation-
    Constellation: 10 BR cheaper, 1 more D
    Centaur: 1 Year shorter construction, 1 fewer officer and 2 fewer enlisted for crew requirements. We can start one this coming construction cycle with the open dock then three once the oberths finish

    Edit: Also that Comms tech that improves our intelligence capability will be useful and Sensors to spot their cloaked ships
     
    OneirosTheWriter said:
    Captain's Log, USS Enterprise, Stardate 20983.1 - Captain Nash ka'Sharren

    It appears we have met fellow explorers!

    While in orbit around a jungle planet without sentient life, we were joined by a starship and hailed. They come from a neighbouring starsystem, the Vineria System on our books, but known to the locals as Risa. Peaceful explorers, looking for new experiences. As the first outsiders they have met in space, we have been invited back to their world to be feted.

    Normally I would be suspicious, but while their ship is probably on the level of the old Starfleet Ranger-class, the generation before the Constitution, their weapon systems wouldn't have looked out of place on an ancient Kumari-class, or an NX! The most pacifist member of the Federation Council would ask, "Can we interest you in a phaser...?"

    I shudder to think of what would happen if the Klingons found them first.
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    Captain Nash on Risa?! :o


    OneirosTheWriter said:
    Captain's Log, Supplemental USS Enterprise, Stardate 20985.3

    This is a paradise world, a world of setting suns that burn warmly over the tropical islands. The waves whisper across pure sands, the wind sets locks of hair to ripple. I've never known a place like this before. And the locals are so friendly!

    Very friendly, even. My crew is enjoying shore leave even more than they did in Orion. You don't have to watch your back so much. Actually, at this stage, I'm simply waiting for the other shoe to drop! Of course, perhaps in a way, the very peacefulness is the other shoe. I'm not sure what Risa can contribute to the Federation. Myself and Sena-uh, make that Lieutenant Leaniss, have been spending time talking with planetary leadership, and the Federation diplomatic service. The USS Calypso is being rushed here with a human ambassador.

    They were going to send a Vulcan ambassador before I told them what an idiotic idea that was.

    [Gain Federation Affiliate - Risa]
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    This ended rather well. I half expected another diplomatic incident, or at the very least her waking up with Leaniss with one of these near by.

     
    Trent01 said:
    Saw that omakes get rewards here too. I feel up for some R&D writing, any projects in particular need a buff?
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    Void Stalker said:
    Glad to have you onboard. The research megapost has our current research state. Of the techs I feel Data Analysis Center and Research Net 1 under Computers and Comms respectively are the most important ones we can get as they help us get more research teams which lets us pursue more topics. In addition the more teams we have active means the more teams gaining XP and increasing their skill.
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    While I totally agree that those two techs are the most important for us right now, I could also understand if they don't particularly inspire your muse. I personally – and I suspect most of the rest of us – would prefer that you write what you want to write (and thus write more), then you just try to force something for a boring but useful advance. A few other research prompts:
    • Spock spent a turn on medical technology, how did it go? (Note that focus on the infectious disease lab happened at roughly the same time multiple rare diseases showed up at Romulan border stations.)
    • Spock is currently researching Xenopsychology, and he seems to be making good progress on an improved universal translator.
    • Given Dr. McCoy's recently promotion, it's likely that he's going to have to look thru Spock's notes on Medical tech, and then continue them.
    • Something something – Sensors – something.
    • Something something – Section 31 – something. (Since they'd probably be the team to research forbidden tech[1].) :ninja: Wait, no such organization exits, never mind.
    • Something something – Doctrine – something.
    [1] @OneirosTheWriter you seem to have broken the forbidden tech slide, since it's not appearing, but is in the post.
     
    Theunderbolt said:
    Captain Nash on Risa?! :o




    This ended rather well. I half expected another diplomatic incident, or at the very least her waking up with Leaniss with one of these near by.

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    Honestly, my headcanon is Ka'Sharren waking up next to a RIsan cultural host or five and being like "Welp, I guess I have a way with ambassadors", I wouldn't write that though, I'd write about, like whoever was left in command of Enterprise trying to track down all the missing officers and crew the next morning, and they're like "OH NO NEFARIOUS PLOTS", but no, no everyone is just hung over or still indisposed.

    Also it is sort of Ironic that the ship with the highest stats is the one that gets in the least fights.
     
    I was going to point out that Risa was well known at that point and actually visited by the NX Enterprise, but Captain Nash falling face-first into a pleasure planet is pretty funny so fuck it. :V

    NO NASH NOT LITERALLY
     
    AKuz said:
    Honestly, my headcanon is Ka'Sharren waking up next to a RIsan cultural host or five and being like "Welp, I guess I have a way with ambassadors", I wouldn't write that though, I'd write about, like whoever was left in command of Enterprise trying to track down all the missing officers and crew the next morning, and they're like "OH NO NEFARIOUS PLOTS", but no, no everyone is just hung over or still indisposed.

    Also it is sort of Ironic that the ship with the highest stats is the one that gets in the least fights.
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    That's on a good roll. I can imagine a crit fail turning into a Banned From Argo situation - simultaneously hilarious and a political snafu.
     
    Void Stalker said:
    Ominous... it is a good thing we are expanding our shipyard and I think we need to get some more Centaurs into production as we have more docks that can make those. And for Centaur vs Constellation-
    Constellation: 10 BR cheaper, 1 more D
    Centaur: 1 Year shorter construction, 1 fewer officer and 2 fewer enlisted for crew requirements. We can start one this coming construction cycle with the open dock then three once the oberths finish
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    Please refer back to my 2312 fleet plan and post your own version. What should the fleet look like in 2312? How many ships of each type do you want?

    Let's not build just for the sake of building. Let's decide what we're actually building towards. The fact is, it doesn't look to me like there's a lot of positive fleet deployments that involve building more escorts. We already have nineteen escort ships. Even if we retire all four obsolete Soyuz, we'll have 15 escort ships. How many escorts do you want? Frankly, I'm not convinced that it's useful to build any more escorts right now. Whatever our final fleet composition looks like, I think we're going to want to have less than 15.
     
    Briefvoice said:
    Please refer back to my 2312 fleet plan and post your own version. What should the fleet look like in 2312? How many ships of each type do you want?

    Let's not build just for the sake of building. Let's decide what we're actually building towards. The fact is, it doesn't look to me like there's a lot of positive fleet deployments that involve building more escorts. We already have nineteen escort ships. Even if we retire all four obsolete Soyuz, we'll have 15 escort ships. How many escorts do you want? Frankly, I'm not convinced that it's useful to build any more escorts right now. Whatever our final fleet composition looks like, I think we're going to want to have less than 15.
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    The issue is that I don't want Mirandas in the end either. If you look at combat ships with low hull and low shields are a liability in even battles as they are easier to kill and then drop the fleet combat score which tends to lead to more hits, causing more lost ships. I will take a look back at your fleet plan. Though by 2312 I hope to have a replacement Cruiser out, maybe a replacement Escort as well due to tech advances.

    Edit:
    A couple of things, Excelsior require a 3m berth, the new shipyard is a 2.5m berth so it can't build them which you need for the heavy cruiser build (also accounting that in addition to the one under construction we need a second for the explorer fleet). Also in some of them you have the Constellations retired but keep the Mirandas, I feel that is a mistake as the Mirandas have both one hull point less and one defense point less. So a Constellation allows more flexibility by meeting defense requirments. In addition they are harder to kill in battle which keeps our combat power intact longer giving us a better shot at destroying our foes.

    For combined fleet I would want some of each class, Explorer, Cruiser and Escort to make up the fleet. Though we may need to take an academy expansion or two to keep up with personnel demands, and get the one Xenopsych tech that gets us more recruits.

    Really for me the Souyz and Miranda are both obsolete classes and should be first on the line to be retired, Souyz scrapped and Miranda's mothballed until our escorts get a lot better. Also for the Constitution class I would be in favor of mothballing it as opposed to scrapping as that still allows it to be activated in times of war if needed.

    Souyz 2 C 2 Health 1 D
    Miranda 3 C 3 Health 2 D
    Centaur 3 C 4 Health 2 D
    Constellation 3 C 4 Health 2 D
     
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    Briefvoice said:
    Frankly, I'm not convinced that it's useful to build any more escorts right now. Whatever our final fleet composition looks like, I think we're going to want to have less than 15.
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    Unless we opt for Swarm Doctrine, of course!

    OneirosTheWriter said:
    Swarm Doctrine
    The fleet should be based around large groups of small ships that can overwhelm the enemy. These should be anchored by only a few heavier hitters.
    Pursuing this doctrine will lead to things like: combat bonuses when you outnumber the enemy; bonuses for having at least half your force be escorts; research bonuses for Ship Design - Escort; Council counts your Escort combat value as less.
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    We'd want lots and lots of Escort's, in that case!

    See, part of the problem of trying to design our future fleet, is that we'll want to design it around our Doctrines, and whatever bonuses they'll give us. But we don't have those doctrines yet, and we only have a sketchy outline of the bonuses they'll provide!

    For example, while Swarm doctrine seems counter-intuitive in it's ability to support our scientific missions, it's actually very powerful as a defensive build! Since we'll want lots of them, and will be allowed to have lots of them, we'll inevitably build lots and lots of them. What do we do with them during the peace, though? Easy, we over build them and make them do everything! Border patrols, first-responders to catastrophe, baby-sitting research missions. They can function as a our National Guard; public service first, military second.

    Even if it isn't really feasible now, due to size and power constraints, the bonus to research (and the abuse of modular designs) means that we can work our way towards turning every escort into a multi-role frigates. All doctrines are useful, you just have to figure out how we can mercilessly exploit them!

    1722 I'm not sure this post says what it thought it was going to say. Eh, it's fine.
     
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    Sightsear said:
    Unless we opt for Swarm Doctrine, of course!



    We'd want lots and lots of Escort's, in that case!

    See, part of the problem of trying to design our future fleet, is that we'll want to design it around our Doctrines, and whatever bonuses they'll give us. But we don't have those doctrines yet, and we only have a sketchy outline of the bonuses they'll provide!

    For example, while Swarm doctrine seems counter-intuitive in it's ability to support our scientific missions, it's actually very powerful as a defensive build! Since we'll want lots of them, and will be allowed to have lots of them, we'll inevitably build lots and lots of them. What do we do with them during the peace, though? Easy, we over build them and make them do everything! Border patrols, first-responders to catastrophe, baby-sitting research missions. They can function as a our National Guard, public service first, military second.

    Even if it isn't really feasible now, due to size and power constraints, the bonus to research (and the abuse of modular designs) means that we can work our way towards turning every explorer into a multi-role frigates. All doctrines are useful, you just have to figure out how we can mercilessly exploit them!

    1722 I'm not sure this post says what it thought it was going to say. Eh, it's fine.
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    Yeah doctrine research will make a difference, for me right now I am leaning towards the Combined Fleet being the primary doctrine we research, though a level or two in Lone Wolf as that will help our ships on 5 year missions.
     
    Void Stalker said:
    The issue is that I don't want Mirandas in the end either. If you look at combat ships with low hull and low shields are a liability in even battles as they are easier to kill and then drop the fleet combat score which tends to lead to more hits, causing more lost ships. I will take a look back at your fleet plan. Though by 2312 I hope to have a replacement Cruiser out, maybe a replacement Escort as well due to tech advances.
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    Great. And remember, the plans I posted aren't necessarily what I am advocating. They are there to help present a way to figure out what we want to have at the end of the process.

    As for new ship designs, I think we might expect to be ready to start building new ships after 2312, having tested out a prototype or two. I don't think we'll be build them yet. Though really, I guess I have no idea how long a ship design project takes.

    Sightsear said:
    For example, while Swarm doctrine seems counter-intuitive in it's ability to support our scientific missions, it's actually very powerful as a defensive build! Since we'll want lots of them, and will be allowed to have lots of them, we'll inevitably build lots and lots of them. What do we do with them during the peace, though? Easy, we over build them and make them do everything! Border patrols, first-responders to catastrophe, baby-sitting research missions. They can function as a our National Guard, public service first, military second.
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    Here is the confusing thing about Escorts versus Light Cruisers. We can build escorts faster, but we aren't actually allowed to have more of them. Our fleet cap is our militarization level, which is the total of the Combat power of our ships. Since a Miranda or a Centaur has just as much combat as a Constellation, we can't have any more Escorts than we would be allowed if we just went for light cruisers. More, light cruisers have a higher Defense value, meaning it doesn't take so many to garrison a sector.

    So the confusing thing is, for a numerous and flexible fleet that is spread everywhere... you actually want a Swarm fleet of Light Cruisers not Escorts. Escorts are only worth it if we have crew constraints or if we're having a lot of ships destroyed and need to replace them fast.


    So really, for a Swarm we should be pumping out Constellations as fast as possible.
     
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    Briefvoice said:
    Great. And remember, the plans I posted aren't necessarily what I am advocating. They are there to help present a way to figure out what we want to have at the end of the process.

    As for new ship designs, I think we might expect to be ready to start building new ships after 2312, having tested out a prototype or two. I don't think we'll be build them yet. Though really, I guess I have no idea how long a ship design project takes.



    Here is the confusing thing about Escorts versus Light Cruisers. We can build escorts faster, but we aren't actually allowed to have more of them. Our fleet cap is our militarization level, which is the total of the Combat power of our ships. Since a Miranda or a Centaur has just as much combat as a Constellation, we can't have any more Escorts than we would be allowed if we just went for light cruisers. More, light cruisers have a higher Defense value, meaning it doesn't take so many to garrison a sector.

    So the confusing thing is, for a numerous and flexible fleet that is spread everywhere... you actually want a Swarm fleet of Light Cruisers not Escorts. Escorts are only worth it if we have crew constraints or if we're having a lot of ships destroyed and need to replace them fast.


    So really, for a Swarm we should be pumping out Constellations as fast as possible.
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    Except the Swarm Doctrine itself gives us bonus to fleet combat power when half the fleet is Escorts, also when we outnumber our foe and in addition it reduces the amount that Escort combat counts towards militarization. The lone wolf does the same for Explorers but I did not see anything that reduced Cruisers. As for the end I think a solid core of Explorer to act as flagships (plus they tend to have good science and presence so it is easier to justify them to the council), Cruisers for their good combat to defense ratio and ability to be built to higher hull and shield levels then escorts and finally escorts to give us some flexibility by having more hulls to move around. Also the combined fleet doctrine gives chances for Explorers to ignore hull damage when in a mixed fleet.

    We do need to figure this out as we will have a 1m slip open next turn that can take either a Centaur or Constellation.
     
    Void Stalker said:
    A couple of things, Excelsior require a 3m berth, the new shipyard is a 2.5m berth so it can't build them which you need for the heavy cruiser build (also accounting that in addition to the one under construction we need a second for the explorer fleet). Also in some of them you have the Constellations retired but keep the Mirandas, I feel that is a mistake as the Mirandas have both one hull point less and one defense point less. So a Constellation allows more flexibility by meeting defense requirments. In addition they are harder to kill in battle which keeps our combat power intact longer giving us a better shot at destroying our foes.
    D
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    Eh? We specifically went for 2.5mt berths because those could handle Excelsiors.
     
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