Speaking of the Ambassador class, how many will we likely start building next year as part of our 2322 shipbuilding plan? I know we already have at least five under construction in Starfleet yards.
 
Speaking of the Ambassador class, how many will we likely start building next year as part of our 2322 shipbuilding plan? I know we already have at least five under construction in Starfleet yards.

EDIT: Apparently the build plan on the spreadsheet is not the current thinking.
More Keplers!

And now that I can type something longer, a more in depth look at the Kaldar II

With a stat block of [ C7 S3+ H5 L6 P3+ D5+ ] how does it compare with our designs?

As a heavy cruiser, it shouldn't be compared with the frigates, so that leaves just two designs that we have deployed in numbers that the Kaldar was likely intended to throw down with.

Reniassance Cruiser [ C5 S3 H4 L5 P4 D5 ]
The Kaldar II has stronger shield, hull and weapons. It may have better sensors, insufficient data to compare it's diplomacy/support facilities and may be faster. The Cardassians can be confident of an advantage in a one-on-one fight with our main stay cruiser platform.

Excelsior-A Capital [ C7 S6 H4 L6 P6 D6 ]
Much closer match up in combat stats. The Kaldar has a tougher hull, but similar stremgth in shields and weapons, presumably for a cheaper cost. It likely loses out on sensors and support equipment.

So definite superiority over a Rennie, comparable for an Excelsior-A.

Add a veteran level and that analysis changes quickly though.
And for both of these platforms there is likely to be a refit package within the next decade.
Will there be a Kaldar-III in the next decade?
 
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There are upwards of a hundred and twenty iterations of the Amby, and that's based on a "stopped counting" estimate from threadmarks in the Ship Design thread; some of the most important discussion and design work gets done in this thread and has to be searched for, which requires manual filtering of the results. Most of them don't have unique names. Most of them don't have much stat variation.
 
Omake - Ambassador Launch Party - Charysa
AN: It looks like everyone skipped the actual launch of the Ambys and just went to the shakedown event. So, I decided to whip this together.

~~~~~

Ambassador Launch Party

A lone bottle arced lazily through the thin and dusty upper atmosphere of Mars, glinting briefly under the haze of filtered sunlight and nearby drydock lights, before splintering into a bloom of glass shards and liquid droplets upon impacting against gleaming metal hull. The camera zoomed outwards, away from the insignificant mass of glittering debris, compared to the massive bulk of the behemoth that was rising from its birthing cradle. A newborn starship broke free of its moorings, her more renowned sibling just a bare moment behind her.

Mad cheering had crescendoed in the main reception hall of the Utopia Planitia Fleetyard orbital complex, all eyes fixed on the two large displays showing the official launch sequence of the two Ambassador class starships. Smaller holographic windows peppered the edges of the hall here and there, displaying various particularly hologenic sensor outputs and camera shots of the departing ships, or the myriad news media streams covering the event.

A gaggle of Starfleet Academy cadets huddled near a corner of the hall, not too far from one of the buffet tables. Their attempt at awed inobstrustiveness was somewhat marred by the fact that several of them were still halfway in costume from the play they had performed in the earlier pre-launch presentation.

"I don't get it," Akesh Momon spoke up, waving his half-empty glass of Qlaothi ceremonial wine pointedly. "What's destroying alcohol have to do with launching a ship?"

"An ancient Earth tradition, Cadet," came the answer from Commander Rondeau, the chaperone of the motley Academy group. "It's a gesture for good luck that goes all the way back to to the days of naval ships."

"They didn't do that when the Voshov launched from Lor'vela," a first year Tellarite cadet couldn't resist protesting.

"It's mainly just done at the San Francisco and Utopia Planitia yards," Rondeau amended with a shrug. "Still over half the new ships for the Fleet most years."

"Why a bottle of Miruvorie for the Ambassador though?" an Amarki cadet piped up next. "I've never even heard of the brand back home, it's so obscure."

"Oh, I know this one!" Momon interrupted before their instructor could respond. "Historians believe it's a derivative of the ancient Orion drink called Miruboze, probably introduced to Amarkia from cultural contamination during the Orion Imperial era."

The Amarki cadet scowled at the explanation. "What, so because the captain is an Orion, they decided to pick an Amarki drink that came from Orion instead of just picking an Orion drink?"

"Miruvorie was also a commonly used ceremonial drink in the early days of Amarki spaceflight, before it went out of fashion about a century ago," Rondeau added mildly. "However, you'll find, cadets, that a lot of the symbolic gestures in events such as this one are more likely to be the end result of political maneuvering."

There was a brief silence as the cadets digested the lecture. Then, one of the civilians who'd accompanied the group spoke up tentatively.

"The 2301 Dom Pérignon for the Enterprise is very traditional, though," said the young man. "My parents are vintners, and I heard that Dom Pérignon reserves some bottles every year a keel is laid down or a five year mission starts."

"You're right," Rondeau confirmed. "In Enterprise's case, it's more likely that politics were involved in preventing some ideas from going through." He smirked. "As a matter of fact, we came very close to getting a bottle of Vin Du Andor or Romulan Ale from Admiral Nash's private stock."

Several eyes tore away from the vid screens to stare at the instructor in surprise.

"Isn't Romulan Ale...illegal?" Momon asked what was on everyone's mind.

Rondeau waved a hand. "If it's given to you in a formal fleet ops by the woman who's now sitting in the Emperor's chair, then it's a diplomatic gift."

~~~~~​

"Leaving already, Reng?"

Specialist Reng Yanag slowed in his walk down the corridors and turned his head to greet the familiar voice.

"Iniu, long time no see. I didn't think this was your kind of event."

His taller Gaeni friend caught up with a few quick strides of his longer legs.

"It isn't," Dr. Iniu Sad-harr agreed, smiling at his former Academy classmate. "But after one too many accusations of poisoning and instances of actual food poisoning between the Romulan and Klingon delegations and, well, here I am."

Yanag snorted. "People actually let you mess with food nowadays? Oh how things have changed." He remembered in their Academy days, everyone including the instructors had threatened the man next to him to not experiment with anything that others were going to eat.

Sad-harr rolled his eyes behind the thick layer of his smart-glasses. The same sentiment had gotten tiresome after hearing it for the umpteenth time. "Yes, yes, so I have the last laugh. How have you being doing, Reng?"

"The Isolinear project keeps me very busy with a great amount of data," Yanag replied, letting the previous subject go. "To answer your question, yes, the Lightning is going to ship out soon. We're supposed to shadow the Ambassador and the Enterprise to the outer edge of the Sol system, and then head onwards to Gaen."

"Why are you shadowing them?" Sad-harr asked curiously. "You're not carrying a media delegation if you're headed to Gaen."

Yanag shook his head. "No, we're to deliver the delegation of Gaeni technical observers back home. Officially, we're going to be taking some further readings of the Ambassador-class ships on their behalf..."

"Officially," Sad-harr echoed thoughtfully, "...so, unofficially?"

"I wouldn't have the clearance to know about any 'unofficial' orders," Yanag replied, then gave his companion a significant look. "But, half the people I've spoken to, especially among the old member races of the Federation, have all evinced the superstition that something will...'happen' on an Enterprise shakedown."

"The Fleet too, huh," Sad-harr murmured. At Yanag's frown, he elaborated on the cryptic phrase. "Lately the bets have been flying wild around the Academy on the same topic. It's almost as if people are taking it for granted that something abnormal will occur, it's just a matter of what." He smiled again. "It almost makes me want to go with you."

Yanag shot him a stern look. "Don't tell me you've gone native on me," he scolded his friend. "They said the same thing too when we installed in the isolinear computer system on the Lightning, but nothing weird has happened with it these last few months."

"Alright, I won't ask if you've joined the betting then," Sad-harr chuckled, waving his hands in surrender. "I'll just wish you a quiet mission." He slowed down his gait as the two of them drew close to the transporter room.

"Oh I'm sure it's not going to be quiet with all those Gaeni technicians running around," Yanag teased him as he stepped into the transporter room. "I'll send you a comms about that instead when I get to Gaen."

~~~~~​

The second floor alcoves along the fleet-yard reception hall were more designed for technical access than for VIP reception, hence why there were few people present even during such a crowded event. For the same reason, they made for an natural place for someone familiar with the layout to find a moment of solitude in the midst of celebration.

"Heavy thoughts, Ambassador?"

The tall Vulcan leaning in the shadow of the alcove turned toward the door without a hint of surprise on his face.

"Merely...meditating on the passage of time, Admiral," Spock replied to his friend with a slight incline of his head in greeting.

"Ah, heavy thoughts indeed," Uhura teased him with a grin, walking further into the room to join him. "I'm surprised you're not out there taking advantage of the fact that we've got the observers from the Romulans and Klingons on the same floor without bloodshed."

"I am still recovering from the last attempt," Spock admitted wryly, looking down to the reception floor again.

"Age catches up to all of us, even you," Uhura nodded mock-sagely.

Spock eyed her from the corner of his eyes. "I am curious, though, that Mr. Sulu and Mr. Chekov are not present. I was not aware that they had other engagements at this time."

Uhura huffed. "If you're fishing about where Hikaru's gone off to, I've got to admit I have no idea."

"Not vacationing on Risa then?" Spock mused with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you actually bought that pack of sweet lies he told everyone before he retired," Uhura said through outright laughter.

"I don't believe I have purchased anything--" Spock began, pedantically.

"You know what I mean," Uhura interrupted him. "As for Chekov, he's on Gaen. Supposedly. Under rather…unique orders. You understand what I mean."

There was a long silence as Spock stared at his friend, his eyebrows slowly climbing back to his hairline.

"I see," the Vulcan said at last. "I take it that the launch of this Enterprise is likely to be no less eventful than the previous."

"Did you really expect anything else?" Uhura asked him even as her custom communicator suddenly began to chime in a high urgency tone.

"I have avoided calculating precisely that," Spock told her with a deadpan voice, before silently departing the room to give her privacy for what was sure to be a highly sensitive briefing. With quick steps, he began to head back down to the floor of the reception hall. His mental calculations told him there was a near certainty that he would soon have use for his skills once the pandemonium starts.
 
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EDIT: Apparently the build plan on the spreadsheet is not the current thinking.
More Keplers!

And now that I can type something longer, a more in depth look at the Kaldar II

With a stat block of [ C7 S3+ H5 L6 P3+ D5+ ] how does it compare with our designs?

As a heavy cruiser, it shouldn't be compared with the frigates, so that leaves just two designs that we have deployed in numbers that the Kaldar was likely intended to throw down with.

Reniassance Cruiser [ C5 S3 H4 L5 P4 D5 ]
The Kaldar II has stronger shield, hull and weapons. It may have better sensors, insufficient data to compare it's diplomacy/support facilities and may be faster. The Cardassians can be confident of an advantage in a one-on-one fight with our main stay cruiser platform.

Excelsior-A Capital [ C7 S6 H4 L6 P6 D6 ]
Much closer match up in combat stats. The Kaldar has a tougher hull, but similar stremgth in shields and weapons, presumably for a cheaper cost. It likely loses out on sensors and support equipment.

So definite superiority over a Rennie, comparable for an Excelsior-A.

Add a veteran level and that analysis changes quickly though.
And for both of these platforms there is likely to be a refit package within the next decade.
Will there be a Kaldar-III in the next decade?
How does the Reniassance Cruiser compared to it's counterpart's in other navy's? And does the Reniassance class start needing a refit in the next few years?
 
How does the Reniassance Cruiser compared to it's counterpart's in other navy's? And does the Reniassance class start needing a refit in the next few years?
As I understand it, we're considering across-the-board refits for the fleet once we finish researching certain landmark technologies. We also have plans for a new class of cruiser, with the actual research project tentatively scheduled to begin around 2327 or so.
 
Basically, sometime between now and early 2330s, expect most if not all of the following:

Renaissance-A cruiser refit project
Excelsior-B capital refit project
Ambassador-A capital refit project
[unnamed] Heavy Cruiser project
Comet class frigate prototype completes and spam building to commence.

The Cruisers and Capital refits are to take advantage of Phaser Arrays and maybe Isolinear computers.
Neither of these techs give a big boost to the smaller frigates, so while frigate future refits/designs may take advantage of these techs, the projected boosts are not big enough to be worth refitting the existing designs right now.
 
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"The 2301 Dom Pérignon for the Enterprise is very traditional, though," said the young man. "My parents are vintners, and I heard that Dom Pérignon reserves some bottles every year a keel is laid down or a five year mission starts."
Enterprise:

[Gabbles excitedly and fondly in French, albeit French from the time of the Sun King]

"I have avoided calculating precisely that," Spock told her with a deadpan voice, before silently departing the room to give her the privacy of what were sure to be highly sensitive briefing. With quick steps, he began to head back down to the floor of the reception hall. His quick calculations told him there was a near certainty that he would soon have use for his skills once the pandemonium starts.
Leslie, looking around a bit wild-eyed:

"Damn right we will, nerve pinches if nothing else. I've got to get to Ops..."
 
I hope the mission control by-play was understandable. I tried to keep things balanced between being meaningful without sounding like the control room team were in constant "As you know" mode.

It was an interesting look at something that doesn't come up often in this quest. I liked the general jargon and the way they tried to stick to protocol despite the very abnormal situation.
 
I hope the mission control by-play was understandable. I tried to keep things balanced between being meaningful without sounding like the control room team were in constant "As you know" mode.
There were a few small bits of dialogue I didn't get at first but re-reading them while picturing what was going on and who would be talking to who fixed that.
 
Don't get cocky. We faced pretty much those odds when we fought Hayant and her fleet except without the negative space wedgie. The dreadnoughts were 50 years ahead of us in technology and we lost several ships destroying them. Including an Excelsior IIRC.
Not exactly. If we:

a) look at estimated statlines for even late 2320s designs and extrapolate that into the future, even taking into account possibly less revolutionary tech
b) the stat line of the Orion Ascendant and the Dromorir-A dreadnoughts, taking into account they probably had the equivalent of negative crew rating
c) the fact that at least the Orion Ascendant (the Vranrir-A superdreadnought, possibly not the two accompanying Dromorir-A dreadnoughts) is a fleet tender design that holds an internal drone factory and probably holds at least some drones within its hull

... I'd estimate that the Orion Empire was, at best, at around TNG levels of tech, or around 2350s-2360s.

Furthermore, Starfleet lost only 2 ships, with Tauni losing another, to the Eternal Empire: Kumari (Blooded Excelsior-A), Sappho (Blooded Constellation-A), Oethyeus (Patroller-A, despite having battle stats of a baseline Miranda).

The Eternal Empire, on the other hand, lost their whole fleet: 1 Vranrir-A, 2 Dromorir-A, 15 Orion Drones (although to be fair, about half of these self-destructed after the battle was lost), along with a Hishmeri Thoroughbred.

Excelsiors or Devoras Heavy Warbirds are technically more like superheavy cruisers, because they lack the crushing superiority of some combination of size, firepower, and durability implied by the terms battlecruiser or battleship compared to other cruisers like Jalduns or Kalindraxes.

On the other hand, an Ambassador does have the durability to live up to the title of battleship, and even the 2.4mt Khellian Heavy Warbird is sufficiently heavily armed compared to standard cruisers to earn the title of battlecruiser. Even a Kaldar II is arguably more like one of the heavy-cruiser-killer classes from the early '40s such as Alaska or B.65, if not quite so large and overgunned as a true battlecruiser.
Back when the Excelsior launched in 2287 or so, it could "live up to the title of battleship". Well, if we ignore the frankly bullshit stats of the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon K'tinga (I'm hoping that the ones we've seen are actually the equivalent of blooded/veteran ships).

But ignoring those, compare just the Starfleet ships of the time, from the perspective of the Romulans or Klingons:

Battleship: Excelsior, 2287, C6 S5 H4 L5 P5 D6
Heavy Cruiser: Constitution-A, 2270, C4 S3 H3 L3 P4 D5 (old Battleship)
Light Cruiser: Constellation, 2284, C3 S2 H2 L2 P2 D3
Destroyer: Miranda, 2280, C3 S1 H1 L2 P1 D2
Light Frigate: Soyuz, 2240, C2 S1 H1 L1 P1 D1 (old Destroyer)
Science Scout Ship: Oberth, 2260, C1 S5 H1 L2 P1 D1
(also, Ranger hulls recycled into auxiliary ships)

edit: wording, added dates, added Oberth


"Ah, heavy thoughts indeed," Uhura teased him with a grin, walking further into the room to join him. "I'm surprised you're not out there taking advantage of the fact that we've got the observers from the Romulans and Klingons on the same floor without bloodshed."
You know, I bet the Cardassians were also invited, considering they're setting up an embassy on Earth:
[O][CARD] 24 Rue Marbeau: With the establishment of a Cardassian Embassy in Paris, gain +2 pp.
 
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But ignoring those, compare just the Starfleet ships of the time, from the perspective of the Romulans or Klingons:

Battleship: Excelsior, 2287, C6 S5 H4 L5 P5 D6
Heavy Cruiser: Constitution-A, 2270, C4 S3 H3 L3 P4 D5 (old Battleship)
Light Cruiser: Constellation, 2284, C3 S2 H2 L2 P2 D3
Destroyer: Miranda, 2280, C3 S1 H1 L2 P1 D2
Light Frigate: Soyuz, 2240, C2 S1 H1 L1 P1 D1 (old Destroyer)
Science Ship: Oberth, 2260, C1 S5 H1 L2 P1 D1
(also, Ranger hulls recycled into auxiliary ships)
Also provides some sense of how wild and woolly the pre-Khitomer Accords times were.
 
2321.Q4 - USS Lightning
USS Lightning screeched through Sol space at the relatively reckless velocity of warp two, Earth shrinking to a dot behind them. The sensors had already picked up the two thunderclaps of the Enterprise and Ambassador engaging their warp drives, and now Lightning strained to rendezvous with them in time at Jupiter.

Inside the ship, yellow alert lights pulsed as Captain Victoria Villeneuve rushed out of a conference room, already suited up, helmet under her arm. She was followed by a shorter man, clearly not as accustomed to moving in the vacuum suits. Villeneuve tapped the new combadge affixed to her chest and the man caught up, "Villeneuve to bridge. I don't care what Starbase 1 says, push us to warp 2.1. I am not going to slow down the Old Lady."

"I cannot believe this," whined Captain Wolfe of Starfleet Intelligence, "Head over to the Lightning and debrief them on Horizon activity. Transfer over critical intelligence materials. Go home in time to pick up my kid." He shook his head as he adjusted his grip on his helmet, "Should have sent Cristina. Hopefully she's picking Orah up for me."

"I can always spare an escape pod if you're that desperate." Villeneuve replied wryly.

Wolfe grimaced as he tapped at the arm console of his vacuum suit, his gait normalizing as he adjusted its fit. "Do I have to be in this thing? I'm more than happy to just run around in my uniform." He watched as some crew loped past, "Can you even sprint in these?"

"It's my policy on this vessel that crew wear vacuum suits when combat is expected."

"So I've heard. Though it can't be easy to navigate jeffries tubes either," Wolfe looked up at her, "Maybe I can make some policy that lets me take this getup off? I'm the same rank as you, after all."

"I am the commander of this vessel, so I set the rules. My rule is to minimize risk." They came to a turbolift door, Villeneuve stopping to let Wolfe pass, "Deck one."

"And you call yourself Explorer Corps." Wolfe snorted dramatically, "Risk is our business! Enterprise must have gotten soft after I left."

Villeneuve tapped the STOP button on the turbolift, "Listen, I know it's not what you are used to. But let me be clear -- I don't need this talk on my bridge. If you want to keep this commentary track going, I have quarters ready for you. If you try to remove that suit, I will have Lieutenant Piyra--" The ship's rather intimidating, if cheerful, Yan-Ros security officer, "--Stun you for your own safety."

The outburst was unusual. Wolfe paused, his eyebrow raised to practically Vulcan standards. Then it clicked for him. Behind her serene mask, Victoria Villeneuve -- Captain at 34, veteran of two wars, and inventor of the Weave that bore her name -- was as nervous as he was. Probably even moreso.

He flashed a disarming smile. "You won't need her, Captain. With my tactical scores I'm pretty sure Mipek could subdue me. So I'll keep quiet."

"Ah. Good!" Villeneuve said, relieved. She hit the button to let the turbolift resume, "Not completely quiet, however, because I can use your abilities. I want you running Strategic Ops to assist our coordination with Rear Admiral Nash."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Wolfe said affably as the turbolift doors wooshed open and they stepped onto the bridge. Villeneuve went right to the Captain's chair, while Wolfe stepped up and behind her to the bank of consoles that dominated the back wall.

The viewscreen showed the fat globe of Jupiter, rapidly growing in size. The conn reported they had been very sternly told to drop to impulse by Starbase One, to avoid any unwanted interactions with the anomaly.

Mipek's voice chirped through Wolfe's combadge, "Notice: I have reconfigured the operations monitor for your duties, Captain."

"So you have. And just the way I like it. Very good." He pressed a button, smirked to himself, and adjusted a bar on the display, "One minor problem, just got to crank up the haptic feedback here. You know, to compensate for these thick gloves." He glanced over his shoulder at Villeneuve, who didn't even deign him with an annoyed glance. He glanced back at the console, scanning it quickly. "Command says the situation will likely involve Tactical operations."

"Red alert! That means helmet on, Mr. Wolfe," said Villeneuve, pulling hers on and snapping it into place. She turned to face Lieutenant Commander ch'Sukar, the science officer, "Time to breach?"

"Sensors report ninety seconds."

The Lightning took position behind the UES Luna, burning hard for the rift.

"Luna's hailing us," Wolfe reported, "Captain Ming is asking what took us so long."

"Mr. Wolfe, send a response that includes a proportional amount of sarcasm," Villeneuve ordered.

Wolfe tapped out a response, snickering to himself. His eyes snapped to a new alert. "Starfleet Command has issued final authorization to transit the anomaly." Wolfe didn't note that they had been flying as if that was a given. "Forwarding final rendezvous coordinates to conn."

"Lieutenant zh'Taaliq, put us on final approach." Few on the bridge could see it, but excitement danced in Villeneuve's eyes, "Let's see what we're up against."

Thanks to @Shadows for the character notes!
 
The Lightning took position behind the UES Luna, burning hard for the rift.

"Luna's hailing us," Wolfe reported, "Captain Ming is asking what took us so long."

"Mr. Wolfe, send a response that includes a proportional amount of sarcasm," Villeneuve ordered.
If only the Lightning was also refit to the Centaur-B pattern along with the prototype isolinear comp core... I'd bet she'd scream past an "old" Connie-B. (They have the same D score, and the Connie-B being a cruiser, some of that must be devoted to travel/deployment endurance rather than raw speed.)

edit: Oops, Luna is a Constellation-A, not a Constitution-B. Well, point still stands, in fact, even more so :p
 
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