Excelsior Replacement

[AslanC]

Once the workhorse of the Starfleet, post Dominion War the Excelsior is certainly jsut not up to the modern demands.

A new "milk-run/workhorse" is need for the fleet.

Which older design get's the nod?

I favour the Niagara, even if I hate the third warp nacelle.

[steelvow]

i would prefer good old nebula for this role...

-for ingames reasons: there was a generation of difference with the then-brandnew galaxy and the good old reliable excelsior. Now, after the dominion war, we've got a new generation of ships (sovereign, akira, saber, defiant...) and i think the nebula is going to take the place of the excelsior and the galaxy is going to take the place of the ambassador. and if you think the galaxy is still too young, i'll remind you of the fact that there's always more technological discoveries during a war than in peace-time (like the beginning of TNG-well a relative peace-time but not an all-out war...)

-for outgame reason: ships like the niagara haven't been seen much... the nebula is a familiar face for most viewer (if there was to be a new serie of course) like the excelsior was a known ship since ST3...)

of course, it's just my opinion...

A+
Steelvow, prophet of the Bouing.

[Michael Barratt]

I refuse to give up the LUGTrek pictoral of the Niagara for the awful one in the Magazine. Dear God, I'm ignoring Canon! *gasp*! I hated the magazine Ambassador-with-Galaxy-nacelles version. Ew. Though in general I can't stand the 3-nacelle thing at all...

So I'd use the design from "The Price of Freedom" as my own Niagara (which doesn't mention the 3 nacelles, so I can ignore it!), and I think it would be one of the workhorses, yeah. Even using the SRM Niagara is better than the odd looking mongrel they printed in the magazine.

But I'm with SteelVow - not only are there a lot of Nebula ships kicking around, their versatility through the use of modules makes them more useful as a workhorse ship. They can do nearly anything, and they're not too much to sniff at!

Also, there's the Ambassador class, as you mentioned. I think it would slip into a similar slot as the Excelsior ships were at the start of TNG - one generation more removed from "new."

One of the details I try to put into my series is the actual decomissioning of ships. The Oberth are on their way out, so in our "press release" updates, I usually mention a ship or two being decommissioned for each ship that launches - many of them Oberth and Miranda class...

The Doc

[NobAkimoto]

In terms of size and displacement(overall) the Sovereign seems more fitting as an Excelsior replacement.(Note despite the SD specs, the Sovereign only has half the internal volume of the Galaxy class)

In terms of internal volume the closest available class would probably be the New Orleans or Steamrunner classes.(If not in terms of versatility)

Due to my bias towards the BoBW fleet(New Orleans and Cheyenne) I'd say one of those would get the nod.

The Nebula class is simply too big to be going around ferrying Admirals, it's got twice the internal volume of anyship in Starfleet outside the Galaxy.

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[Admiral Wolf]

I too would say the Ambassador Class of star ship would fill the role of "new work horse" of the fleet.

Indeed, based on how many times an Ambassador class ship is seen and mentioned in TNG and DS9 I would say it already is slipping in to the role of the Excelsior's.

[Lockhart]

If you are talking about say ST movies, i.e. how should Paramount change Starfleet for ST: Nemesis, then I would have to say I like both the New Orleans and the Ambassador for this role. They are ships that occassionally get seen in the TNG series. They can also be uprated rather easily since they are from around the same time as the Galaxy. I also don't see the need for one ubiquitous work horse. There are a lot of stable designs in Starfleet with major numbers that would serve. I think Ambassadors or New Orleans class ships might outnumber these other ships, but I doubt Starfleet is going to ditch all their non-escort ships plus one design in the next 30 to 90 years after the Dominion War.

Still, I kind of dodged the issue in my first campaign. For that Post-DW game, Starfleet decided that it was only building new ships in the four most up to date classes after the Dominion War, not that it was building a lot of ships, but still policy is policy. Sovereigns became the primary explore and defend ships with Defiants backing them up in defense terms, and Intrepids handling a wider area and wider roles, but also backing up the Sovereigns which were usually given their head within a given area. Novas were replacing Oberths for long term science missions.

It seems to me that a ship that might also be a possible mention for the workhorse role is the Bradbury. It's not new, but it's about the size of an Intrepid if I remember correctly, and it's new enough to both have a decent range and pack a punch. Since I had Novas replacing Oberths, all these Bradburys could be pressed into service performing other duties alongside the other venerable designs. If your campaign doesn't have a proliferation of Bradburys that survived the war, you can always make it one of many workhorse classes.

Lockhart

[SIR SIG]

Nebula would be my choice.

All that customization you can do with the pods lends itself very well to a workhorse style ship.

Plus they are a proven design with no major ship losses until the DW.

[AslanC]

I think the Nebula still has a long life ahead of it as a first line ship, heck it was designed with at least a 50year life cycle.

When I say workhorse, I mean the way we always saw Excelsiors delivering admirals, being used as test beds, etc.

Ambassador may be a agood one as well though

For myself I think Starfleet upgrading the Niagara's to chop off that ugly third nacelle and use them as general purpose ships, I am all about that

[Timothy]

I always saw the "Workhorse" type ship being the one that does the stuff within the federation borders that is, for all intents and purposes, too important for the other classes. If I am correct in this presumption then theses would eb the ships transporting dignitaries, basic patrols, continuing studies of phenomenom.

I would have to say that the ships I would be using for this would be the Ambassador, Steamrunner, and Norway classes....Also the Excelcior class....I think that although they have stopped production of these ships they are so low on usable vessels due to the War that they would continue using them....they are efficient even if they are old....they are not yet at the point of the Oberth Class.

[SIR SIG]

Aslan C: A workhorse doesn't have to be an old ship that are a 'dime a dozen'. Just a proven design that can be mass produced.

Ambassadors were never made in the numbers that Excelsiors ever were.

As explorer type vessels go only the Nebula is really left

Since many Excelsiors were still on exploration duties.

[SIR SIG]

Oh and Aslan and a few others, whats with this cross posting across threads

Got the copy & paste virus?

[AslanC]

Sig: I see the workhorse as the everyday ship, not going out into the unknown anymore.

Oh and I agree the Ambassador is a rare ship of which not a lot where made, much like the Connie, the ent-B and the Galaxy class. And thus far the Sovie as well Hmmm...all ships named Enterprise too...

Also, I think the Nebula is far from being regulated to that kind of duty.

Timothy: Steamrunner, Norway (and Sabre for that matter) are all too recent designs. Why have your cutting edge ships doing "the rounds"? If just to show tech, send a big ship to impress the heck out of everyone.

Now for my money, the main problem is that they failed to show us ships from between Star Trek III and TNG, except for the Ambassador. So as a result we are left to our imagination.

Now I for one think the New Orleans class is far to specifically a warship to be used in this manner. What you need is an older crusier that was mass produced and is a poven design, like the Excelsior and Miranda were.

Now Rigel, Andromeda, Korlev, Niagara, Cheyenne, etc...these classes of ship that we have not seen really in action (or at all in some cases) are just names.

So rather than take some ship that already has shown itself, I am leaning towards taking one of these. Now the question for me is which one?

[SIR SIG]

At work so know SRM

Rigels are just transports aren't they?

And Andromedas are specialized explorers?

Niagara is just plain dodgy lookin

I agree about NewOrleans being to militaristic for WH duties. As well the Steamrunner et al being to new also.

So Korolev and Cheynne, isn't want a troop transport? or am I thinking about another ship.

Again I don't have a SRM to hand, so I may be spouting hogwash

[Cmmdr JT Wayland]

Guys,

Personally, I think the Nebula class WAS designed as the long term replacement for the Excellsior class, just as the Intrepid was designed as the replacement for the Constellation class.

However, Post Dominion War, Star Fleet will take at least five to ten years to return to it's pre-war strengths and role, so for at least five years the Excellsior's will remain in service, at they are fully replaced by either the Nebula class or a new design.