Starfleet News Net (03/03/01)

[SIR SIG]

200 Oberths?

Nice move with Deneb/Farpoint!

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

[AslanC]

Originally posted by SIR SIG:
200 Oberths?

Well there are supposed to be nearly thousands of these little guys running around. I figure with the NOVAs replacing them, they would sell off or scrap the survivors

Nice move with Deneb/Farpoint!

That is a modification of the Return to Farpoint adventure of Dave Biggins, available on Trek-RPG Should be fun to play out as the next session...




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Aslan Collas
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[pesterfield]

The game I'm in is basically following the TNG timeline on the Enterprise. After our 'Encounter at Farpoint' we strongly suggested to Starfleet Command the Bandi application be denied due to misrepresenation, fraud, and possible kidnapping and slavery depending on the creatures intelligence.

[AslanC]

Starfleet News Net
Issued Stardate 53280.19

USS STARCHILD HI-JACKED

Starfleet News Net has learned that the USS Starchild, a Nova class starship has been taken over by a crew loyal to Section 31. As a result Starfleet Command orders any ship that comes into contact with Captain Jefferson Hanson, Lieutenant Commander Ilisla Fehya or the Starchild herself are to immediately contact Starfleet Security and report all details of the contact. Under no circumstances are any ships to engage the Starchild as she has been upgraded with nonstandard weapons, shields, warp drive and possibly a cloaking device. She was last seen fleeing Vulcan on a heading towards the Bajoran Sector, and SI suspects she may head for the Gamma Quadrant. More…

FLAG ADMIRAL REYNOLDS TAKES ILL

Less than one month after being promoted to Commander In Chief of Starfleet, Flag Admiral Harrison Reynolds has taken ill and been forced to vacate the chair. In his place Flag Admiral Alynna Nechayev will assume the duties therein. While the nature of the virus is unknown, a pathological team is being headed up by Dr. Calvin Ventnor Lansing III along with top officers from Starfleet Medical. Dr. Lansing comes from a long line of doctors and is a specialist in xeno-viruses, his most noted work…

BAJOR TO BUY SURPLUS VESSELS

After months of negotiation, the Bajoran government and Starfleet have reached a deal on the purchase of old Miranda’s and Excelsior’s. The deal, which allows Starfleet to maintain a presence at Deep Space 9 for another 10 years Bajoran, sees 10 Miranda’s and 5 Excelsior’s being transferred to the new Bajoran Star Patrol. These vessels, which had been slated to be decommissioned and then scrapped, will have most of their major weaponry and sensor systems removed, but Starfleet Engineering is already helped the Bajorans develop their own replacement systems. Also in a side note over 200 Oberth’s have been slated to be sold into the private sector, with the Bajorans purchasing about 20 of them for exploration of the Gamma Quadrant…

2 STARSHIPS MISSING IN ACTION

After failing to report in for 48 hours, the USS Tzinski was listed as MIA by Starbase 809 Commander Patricia McDugal. The Tzinski, an Oberth Class starship, was performing a routine mapping and sensor scan of a dark matter nebula and was scheduled to report back to Starbase 809 for re-supply on Stardate 54014.9 but failed to make that check in. On Stardate 54015.6 the USS Redemption, a Steamrunner class starship was dispatched to find the Tzinski. On Stardate 54016.4 the Redemption reported she had reached the dark matter nebula. No further communications were received. Starfleet command has approved the MIA listing for both ships and plans to mount a renewed search of the area…

UPRISINGS CONTINUE AT FARPOINT

After nearly a decade of probationary membership it seems Deneb IV may not join the Federation too soon. Having made news since the Infamous Encounter at Farpoint incident on Stardate 41153.7, Deneb IV has been working hard to come into the fold of the Federation. Most recently though terrorist actions have begun in the new Farpoint City and at the Farpoint Spaceport. Almost all of it has been anti-Federation and against Bandi merchants and politicians known to be pro-federation. With the last bombing killing 5 Federation terraforming colonists, Flag Admiral Alynna Nechayev has dispatched the USS Endeavor under her new commander Captain Murreal Lindsay to investigate the situation. Neither officer was available for comment at the time of this printing. Deneb IV also made news during the Dominion War when…


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Aslan Collas
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Visit Earth Alpha Online;
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[SIR SIG]

Aslan: Mind telling me were these 1000 odd Oberths come from? Or are you one of those 20000+ ships SF guys?

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

[AslanC]

Originally posted by SIR SIG:
Aslan: Mind telling me were these 1000 odd Oberths come from? Or are you one of those 20000+ ships SF guys?

Given that the ship has been in production since about 2270, I take into account that it has had a run of about 1000 or so. That said I assume that about 200 were left in active duty by the time of my game. Do I think Starfleet maintains an active fleet of 20,000? No. But certain classes have had a lot of ships kicking around. Excelssior, Oberth and Miranda come to mind.

[Re'k]

Originally posted by AslanC:
Given that the ship has been in production since about 2270, I take into account that it has had a run of about 1000 or so. That said I assume that about 200 were left in active duty by the time of my game. Do I think Starfleet maintains an active fleet of 20,000? No. But certain classes have had a lot of ships kicking around. Excelssior, Oberth and Miranda come to mind.

Starfleet Dynamics -- admittedly non-canon, but until something better comes along, it's my movie era sourcebook -- has a fleet composition list that shows 3137 Starfleet ships, almost half of this being cargo ships, tugs, hospital ships, etc. In the remaining "visibly useful" fleet, there are 500 Oberths. I could easily imagine a total production run of 750 finishing in the mid-23rd century. And in the late 23rd, I'd be wanting to get rid of some of the oldest surviving Oberths. As fun as it would be to double the size of that space junkard we saw in TNG...

Bajor would be well advised to turn a few of those Oberths into corvettes and diplomatic couriers. The corvette in particular... replace the sensor nacelle with the weapons pod from the Miranda's rollbar. Now you have a mini proto-Defiant. Perfect for system patrols, "coast guard" functions, and escorting those Mirandas...

So when do they start giving outdated ships to my backwater world? We suffered the Danteri's presence for four times longer than the Cardassian occupation...

--Re'k of Xenex

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Re'k:
Starfleet Dynamics -- admittedly non-canon, but until something better comes along, it's my movie era sourcebook -- has a fleet composition list that shows 3137 Starfleet ships, almost half of this being cargo ships, tugs, hospital ships, etc. In the remaining "visibly useful" fleet, there are 500 Oberths. I could easily imagine a total production run of 750 finishing in the mid-23rd century. And in the late 23rd, I'd be wanting to get rid of some of the oldest surviving Oberths. As fun as it would be to double the size of that space junkard we saw in TNG...

Okay that works for me. Let's say 800 total production and just over 200 remaind in 2376. 10 or so went to Starfleet Training. At least one goes to the Memory Alpha complex and that leaves 200 to be sold off to private interest. Bajor buys abot 20 or so and the rest are sold to the Daystrom Institue, the Vulcan Science Academy, various Colonial operations, etc...

Bajor would be well advised to turn a few of those Oberths into corvettes and diplomatic couriers. The corvette in particular... replace the sensor nacelle with the weapons pod from the Miranda's rollbar. Now you have a mini proto-Defiant. Perfect for system patrols, "coast guard" functions, and escorting those Mirandas...

Agreed, they may do that with one or two, maybe 5, but the rest are going to be used to find new planets for the Bajora to colonize. It seems the Vedek's Council has encouraged their people to expand into the stars by way of the Celestial Temple.

So when do they start giving outdated ships to my backwater world? We suffered the Danteri's presence for four times longer than the Cardassian occupation...

I got the idea form the Shatner Novel/Graphic Novel where the Enterprise A is stripped down and sold off as a Planetary Defense Vessel. I figure since the Excellsiors, Mirandas and Oberths are all pushing 100 years if not more in service it is time for them to go. All weapons are taken out and the sensor pallets are removed. The remaining vessels are then transferred to the government purchasing them. They then can buy lesser sensor pallets and weapons sets from either the UFP or anyone else. Certainly the Klingons would make big money selling disruptors and klingon torpedoes to these governments.

Who are the Danteri?


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Aslan Collas
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Visit Earth Alpha Online;
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[Re'k]

My character is from Xenex, from Peter David's "New Frontier" series of novels. The Danteri occupied Xenex for 300 years or so, then were kicked off in a rebellion lead by one of the novel series' characters a decade or so before the story starts.

(A correction to my previous post: I figured the production of Oberth-class ships would continue into the mid-2300's, which is the 24th century. Haven't made that mistake in a while...)

--Re'k

[SIR SIG]

Maybe I'm just one of those small fleet fellows.

But I wouldn't put the Excelsior over its entire production line, much more then 100, 150 tops. And that of course being the most prolific class built.

Oberths, sure! 50+ but I'd say less then 100.

Heck even the Miranda's might top the 100 mark.

But in the end its your game and your views on StarFleet, so have fun!

Mind you those 3 classes probably finished production way before the 2350's.

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

[AslanC]

Originally posted by SIR SIG:
Maybe I'm just one of those small fleet fellows.

Mind you those 3 classes probably finished production way before the 2350's.

Indeed to each their own

That said there are some NCC conflicts that put Excellsiors, Mirandas and Oberths as being produced well into the 2360s I believe. Chek Ex Astris Scientia, they do a much better job of it than I would here

[SIR SIG]

Yes i've seen them, but realisticly would you still be building a class 80+ years old when it has clearly been superceeded many decades before!

Or maybe they can pump out 50 Excelsiors a year. lol

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

[AslanC]

Originally posted by SIR SIG:
Yes i've seen them, but realisticly would you still be building a class 80+ years old when it has clearly been superceeded many decades before!

Or maybe they can pump out 50 Excelsiors a year. lol

Hey man, in one of the Voyager episodes they showed Excellsiors in drydock at Utopia Plantia. Go figure.

For me I figure that with the high rate of loss on the Oberth and it's relative simple construction style they could mass produce these things at an easy rate of 50 a year if not more. But again, as you pointed out, that's my in campaign. In real Starfleet, I doubt Miranada's would still be in service, but Constitutions would not be. Again, go figure

[Owen E Oulton]

So what's wrong with Excelsiors in drydock. Drydock is for more than just being built. Refits, repairs and scheduled maintenance all account for drydock time.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Owen E Oulton:
So what's wrong with Excelsiors in drydock. Drydock is for more than just being built. Refits, repairs and scheduled maintenance all account for drydock time.

As far as I have always been concerned Utopia is a construction yard, not a refit yard. It seems Spacedock and a bunch of other stations are where ships get upgraded.

Maybe just me.



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Aslan Collas
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Visit Earth Alpha Online;
http://members.xoom.com/Aslan_Collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.