Tell me what you think

[AirborneRob]

How would you folks view a Heavy Carrier Class starship in a Star Trek conversion to HERO and what would you want to see with a ship like that i.e. defenses, size, should it be able to carry something larger than the standard starfleet fighter craft or a combination. Should it be a part of a task force or could you see it as a stand alone vessel. I have a basic write up that a friend of mine wanted to see done and i'll post it when im able. The time frame for this class of ship is 2376, about 6 months post Dominion war

[CptPatriot]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Hmmm, it seems to me that a carrier class vessel would not really be needed after the war is over but I would be curious to see your take on certain technologies in a Star Trek universe. A carrier could be used in either a task force or solo role, depending on how large you are making it. If it is as large as a Galaxy or Sovereign class, then it may very well have the firepower to fend off threats, if on a patrol solo.

[Starcloud]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Oh, so they officially introduced "fighter craft"/combat shuttles in DS 9? I missed that... It strikes me that a Star trek Carrier or Heavy Carrier would have a decent amount of firepower itself, on top of the fighter craft it carries.

[Old Man]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

The designation "heavy" carrier to me suggests a pretty self-sufficient vessel. It might not have direct firepower quite on the order of a Galaxy but it'd be close. Of greater significance would be defenses. I envision the mission of such a carrier would be to hold and control a system or area of space with its fighters and other craft, relying on them for most of their offense, while being tough enough to withstand a great deal of punishment so those craft have someplace to return to. Perhaps its weapons would be skewed toward those of a more defensive nature as well--more phasers, fewer torpedoes.

 

Something like a "light" or "escort" carrier would be more likely to be a slow, defenseless shuttle truck.

 

Of course if we are to continue the wet navy parallels, then even heavy carriers would rarely operate without an escort, if only because they're too expensive to risk.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Based on a conversation regarding a conversion of Star Trek into HERO, a friend of mine wanted to actually see a Carrier Class Starship. It is still a work in progress for me but i think it has the big stuff covered.

 

Class/Type: Andromeda/Experimental Heavy Carrier

Shipyard: Utopia Planetia

Commissioning Date: 2376

Size: 890.03 x 500.65 x 220.15 meters; 7,600,150 metric tons; 58 decks

Crew: 2000

Propulsion: Epsilon Mk-1 Warp Drive (Cruise@7.5, Sustained@9.85, Emergency@9.992 for 16 hours)

Sensor Systems: Long-Range@19 LY, Lateral@3 LY

 

Weapon Systems:

Pulse Phaser Banks: 6 (3 Port, 3 Starboard), 12d6 RKA, Autofire (5 shots Max), Penetrating, Megascale (1m=200km) 360,000 km max range, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END)

Type XII Phaser Array: 10d6 RKA, Autofire (5 shots Max), Penetrating, Megascale (1m=200km) 300,000km max range, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END)

Torpedo Launchers: (2 Forward, 1 Aft), 15d6 RKA, Autofire (5 shots max), Penetrating x2, Megascale (1m=2000km) 4,500,000km max range, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END)

 

Deflector Shield:

36 Resistant PD/ED (Hardened, Impenetrable)

Hull, 25% Resistant Physical/Energy DR

 

Craft Supported:

2 Defiant Class Heavy Escorts docked in the secondary hull

24 Starfleet fighter craft (4 squadrons of 6) docked in the secondary hull

10 Runabouts

 

When we were tossing the idea around, i settled on the concept of the Heavy Carrier being a more frontier vessel. This is really the first attempt at doing a basic write up of a Starship and the core idea behind the conversion into HERO is so at some point, i will run a heroic lvl game. I wanted to introduce something different yet plausible for a Starship concept and we settled on the idea of a Heavy Carrier. By all means, if you folks have any thoughts, i would love to hear them. I didn't try to build this using points for 2 reasons: First, the core books for 6E didn't really give me the impression that it covered something of this scale; Second, because the characters will be built on heroic points and Starfleet owns its ships, didn't see a need.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Oh' date=' so they officially introduced "fighter craft"/combat shuttles in DS 9? I missed that... It strikes me that a Star trek Carrier or Heavy Carrier would have a decent amount of firepower itself, on top of the fighter craft it carries.[/quote']

 

Yea, they were only shown in DS9 and in only a few episodes. Sacrifice of Angels is one i can remember off the top of my head.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Talk to Eodin about this,hes done a whole crapload of Star Trek Hero stuff, both original and next gen, he had it posted at Starhero fandom, but theres something wrong with that site now

I've never done any work on Star Trek ships, too much voodoo science for my tastes.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Talk to Eodin about this,hes done a whole crapload of Star Trek Hero stuff, both original and next gen, he had it posted at Starhero fandom, but theres something wrong with that site now

I've never done any work on Star Trek ships, too much voodoo science for my tastes.

 

LOL, voodoo science huh Hey just because 80% of a ships systems can be repaired with a Phased Flux Inhibiter or Self Sealing Stembolt, doesn't mean its a problem

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

how are you defining a "Heavy Carrier"? lets talk current modern design philosophy for a second, you have designs like the Nimitz and Degaulle classes, which have minimal defensive armarment and lots of small craft, but require a lot of escorts to defend them,

or something closer to the soviet Kuznetsov which trades off carried craft for a heavy offensive and defensive armarment. I prefer the soviet philosophy myself.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

I would go with heavier defenses, and some kind of point defense capability, one idea would be to add a couple of 360 pulse phasers, does she also carry admin shuttles?

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

its one thing I have hated with a passion about Star Hero, VPP based sensor arrays, I prefer the old school of fixed function arrays. and fixed weapons systems too... but thats just me

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

how are you defining a "Heavy Carrier"? lets talk current modern design philosophy for a second, you have designs like the Nimitz and Degaulle classes, which have minimal defensive armarment and lots of small craft, but require a lot of escorts to defend them,

or something closer to the soviet Kuznetsov which trades off carried craft for a heavy offensive and defensive armarment. I prefer the soviet philosophy myself.

 

This Heavy Carrier is defined as a Frontier starship for force protection and projection. With the ability to deploy 2 heavy escorts and 4 squadrons of fighters, it allows for staying power in the face of a threat race. The ship itself is also designed with self-defense in mind. Trying to use current naval carrier doctrine as a model is not accurate though i understand why you asked it. At that level of technology and the fact that Starfleet is a bit on edge post Dominion War, a ship that allows for the types of missions this one can undertake is very plausible. I look at the after effects such as post Dominion War, Starfleet no longer has the ships available to range its own borders. A Starship like this was intended to accomplish ranging mission, exploration, force protection/projection.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

I would go with heavier defenses' date=' and some kind of point defense capability, one idea would be to add a couple of 360 pulse phasers, does she also carry admin shuttles?[/quote']

 

Thank, lol, i did forget the shuttles didnt i. Thats one question i do have, i assumed certain weapon systems from Star Trek into HERO default to 360 degree firing arcs, is that something that you have to specify for HERO?

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

its one thing I have hated with a passion about Star Hero' date=' VPP based sensor arrays, I prefer the old school of fixed function arrays. and fixed weapons systems too... but thats just me[/quote']

 

Im not sure i fully understand. Buying different sensor systems outside of a VPP is a better way?

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Im not sure i fully understand. Buying different sensor systems outside of a VPP is a better way?

 

To me, the whole idea smacked of laziness. "We're not putting any sensor designs in this book -- but here's a VPP so you can design your own. Good luck with that."

 

Yes, they could have done better. The only purpose the Sensor-VPP serves is as a placeholder for real power constructions which should have been included.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

To me, the whole idea smacked of laziness. "We're not putting any sensor designs in this book -- but here's a VPP so you can design your own. Good luck with that."

 

Yes, they could have done better. The only purpose the Sensor-VPP serves is as a placeholder for realpower constructions which should have been included.

 

Lol, dont hold back, tell me how you really feel No, in all seriousness, designing true to genre sensors for a Starship doesn't feel like a VPP is necessary. Thats why i cant wait for the Starhero book to come out, never seen any version of one and would like to see what they consider proper.

[shadowcat1313]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Traveller Hero used fixed sensor arrrays in a multipower, and I still think thats the way to go for it, if its a space/text issue, just have one list of sensor arrays and differentiate somehow

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

To me' date=' the whole idea smacked of laziness. "We're not putting any sensor designs in this book -- but here's a VPP so you can design your own. Good luck with that."[/quote']

 

VPP sensor arrays do handle the Trek convention of, "Reconfigure the sensors to analyze the Negative Space Wedgie." pretty well.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

VPP sensor arrays do handle the Trek convention of' date=' "Reconfigure the sensors to analyze the Negative Space Wedgie." pretty well.[/quote']

 

You brought up a good point and have been Repped for the Negative Space Wedgie, must be where all the tribbles came from

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

VPP sensor arrays do handle the Trek convention of' date=' "Reconfigure the sensors to analyze the Negative Space Wedgie." pretty well.[/quote']

 

Well yes... the VPP does absolutely nothing to pin down any details of what type of sensors a ship has, how they work, what they're capable of, or what their limitations are.

 

And of course, neither did Trek, so that works just fine. How did SF ever get stuck with such low benchmarks?

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Well, i guess the real question is if you folks think the VPP would be more viable because of all the funky stuff they have had to do with sensors in the shows?

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Well' date=' i guess the real question is if you folks think the VPP would be more viable because of all the funky stuff they have had to do with sensors in the shows?[/quote']

 

Only if you want to encourage that sort of thing in your campaign.

 

As often as not, what happens on SF-tv shows is that one hack writer pulls a 'plot device' involving the ship's sensors out of their rectal cavity, then a few weeks later a completely different hack writer does the same, but makes no effort to maintain any consistency with the previous hack. Repeat this process every time our intrepid crew gets written into a corner for six or seven seasons' worth of episodes, then make a list of everything they've done with their sensors -- the result will make no sense whatsoever.

 

Bleah. I'd hope that most GM's/players can do better than that. (Or would at least want to try.)

[AirborneRob]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

Only if you want to encourage that sort of thing in your campaign.

 

As often as not, what happens on SF-tv shows is that one hack writer pulls a 'plot device' involving the ship's sensors out of their rectal cavity, then a few weeks later a completely different hack writer does the same, but makes no effort to maintain any consistency with the previous hack. Repeat this process every time our intrepid crew gets written into a corner for six or seven seasons' worth of episodes, then make a list of everything they've done with their sensors -- the result will make no sense whatsoever.

 

Bleah. I'd hope that most GM's/players can do better than that. (Or would at least want to try.)

 

Yea, i think i can write up a few sensor attributes that will cover what is needed without falling into that trap. I definately dont want to get into making up nonsense to validate a sensor VPP, thx Xavier.

[dmjalund]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

The sensors VPP would require a Technobabble roll to change slots

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Tell me what you think

 

There's even an official TVtrope for the Everything Sensor!

 

It turns out Trek isn't the only offender; maybe not even the worst.