Impulse Driven System Defense ships (Icon, Coda, Spacedock)

[Captain Otto]

Its probably not a real cost problem, higly advanced worlds will probably have no problem procuring warpships.
But antimatter is another problem entirely if i recall the conversion (as Stated in TNG TM) correctly you need 10 units deuterium to convert into 1 unit antimatter.
Not very cost effective and antimatter can become a very critical commodity if the system in question has no station to convert antimatter in the first place.

Most probalby i still have the traveller System defense tactcs in my head as pointed out in "Imperial Squadrons" and "Pocket Empires".

[tonyg]

Its probably not a real cost problem, higly advanced worlds will probably have no problem procuring warpships.
But antimatter is another problem entirely if i recall the conversion (as Stated in TNG TM) correctly you need 10 units deuterium to convert into 1 unit antimatter.
Not very cost effective and antimatter can become a very critical commodity if the system in question has no station to convert antimatter in the first place.

Most probalby i still have the traveller System defense tactcs in my head as pointed out in "Imperial Squadrons" and "Pocket Empires".

Yeah, the Traveller influence is certainly noticable.

Antimatter is actually pretty easy to get. While admitted a system can go scopping it up like a starship can, the fact that anti-matter is converted from Hydrogen and that most ststems have a gas giant or two means fule isn't that hard to get. Doesn't that remind you of Traveller?

If the system doesn't have an anti-matter conversion facity of some kind, they are going to have other problems in the Star Trek setting. Essentiallym the reason for antimatter powered ships is to produce the power required. Without antimatter, a system would probably not be able to go toe to toe with a major threat.

No antimatter means to photon torpedoes, and probably limited shhields and weapons for the ships. Bases would probably be better off though, as they could just have some very big MHD reactors. It just that a M/A reactior is about 40 times more ffecient than a MHD reactor. THat makes the 10 times conversion cost more practical.

[Captain Otto]

After reading all posts again I think it boils down to this:

1. System defence Ships should include low powered Warpdrives to cancel out the tactical advantage an attacking warpcapable ship has.

2. A M/A engine is advisable but using Fusion Reactors as sole power source for System Defence Ships don’t hurt either.

3. Ships only able to do Impulse Speeds stand a chance against Warp ships if they can cancel out their tactical advantage. (I.e. doing Battle near a planet or important Installation or near or inside a asteroid Field).

After this the Mars defence Perimeter seems to be a pretty dumb idea. It is to far away from Earth or even Mars to be of any assistance once the enemy has blasted his way through it.
And at least the DWS version is completely immobile. So there is no chance to relocate them even at impulse speeds.
Given the Surface such a perimeter has to cover you need virtually hundreds of these would be necessary. These Stations would have to cover 3,13192E+12 Km2.
A phaser array has a medium Range of about 100.000 Km so you will need at least 8846 Stations to create a solid perimeter (that is if my math has not deserted me along the way)
This sounds like a Herculean task to me. And probably the perimeter was never that thick at all.

[Phoenix]

Here's the design I came up with a few years ago, I never stat'ed it out but most of what the design has can be seen.

[Captain Otto]

Great Design.
as it is moving around it is more a monitor, like the one you suggested earlier, than a space station. It also appears to be manned.
The Sphere Design has the authentic look though.
It has a warp core. Is it able to go to warp?

[Phoenix]

That's because it is the one I suggested earlier. I originally titled it as a Mobile Station, and that could still be a variant, but yes it is a low warp monitor (the red rings represent where the nacelles are).

I'm glad you like the look.

[Captain Otto]

I like the design so much I want to give it some spacedock stats, your picture is literally screaming for some...
I'll be on vacation for the next 3 weeks so I probably find the time to flesh it out.

[JALU3]

So they use them as long as they can market them. Would you buy something the producer will not use?

Reminds me of the F-20.
Although easier to mantain then the F-16 . . . and just as capable . . . if you listen to the marketing . . . as the F-16C . . . no one wanted to purchase them after the F-16 was allowed to be marketted to international allies.

[Phoenix]

Knock thyself out. Just remember, the ship is designed to remain in system so luxuries wouldn't be too high on the priorities. Designed with 8 short (40 emitters) phaser strips, 6 high-yield torps, Crew of around 30. Oh the big green thing on the bottom is a yacht (it seemed like a good idea at the time).

One of the other, original, uses for this design was to be a border defender type ship also. Hence the image title Mobile Station - it can be set up in place until more permanent arraignments can be made (that would be the variant I was talking about).

If you have any question don't be afraid to ask.

[Captain Otto]

I have looked through the ships I designed and found one that already has some similaritys so I use it as a basis. But I won't be able to post it until I return in three weeks (no computer on Camping tours at the request of my wife )

[Captain Otto]

Reminds me of the F-20.
Although easier to mantain then the F-16 . . . and just as capable . . . if you listen to the marketing . . . as the F-16C . . . no one wanted to purchase them after the F-16 was allowed to be marketted to international allies.

I was more thinking about the F-104 Starfighter, West Germany bought these enthusistically in the late 1960ties even when it became clear that those planes would be obsolete within half another decade. ... And the US were slowly starting to phase them out...

[JALU3]

The question is, is the Mars Perimeter an actual physical perimeter that is manned with stationary weapon systems and the like . . . or is it the location of varies sensor arrays with major defensive capabilities that gives the system an enhanced detection capability.

For instance . . . look at NORAD . . . there NORAD perimeter is rather large, with installations at the tips of Alaska and on the western coast of Greenland. However, the actual fighting capability of it lies with systems that are launched from bases that are well inward of those facilities.

As stated before, the best defensive positions are areas where the enemy cannot avoid . . . since we're dealing with three dimension space . . . that area are has to be within the area of the main objective. To attempt to provide coverage to all access routes would be costly.

Not that it wouldn't be impossible.

[JALU3]

I have looked through the ships I designed and found one that already has some similaritys so I use it as a basis. But I won't be able to post it until I return in three weeks (no computer on Camping tours at the request of my wife )

three week vacations . . . wow! I wonder what the Leave policy is in Starfleet . . . but that's another thread.

[tonyg]

Reminds me of the F-20.
Although easier to mantain then the F-16 . . . and just as capable . . . if you listen to the marketing . . . as the F-16C . . . no one wanted to purchase them after the F-16 was allowed to be marketted to international allies.

Ah, the Tigershark. I love that little plane. Fastest scamplbe time of any jet fighter. It was always good as a surprise when I played Air Superiorty

[tonyg]

The question is, is the Mars Perimeter an actual physical perimeter that is manned with stationary weapon systems and the like . . . or is it the location of varies sensor arrays with major defensive capabilities that gives the system an enhanced detection capability.

I believe the Mars Perimeter from the DWS is the replacement permiter-since the orginal "Best of Both Worlds" version wasn't very effective. THe new one consists of defeense platforms (augmented with ships).