WHat would you send their way

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I am looking for some episode suggestions. here are the two questions...

1) What kind of missions would you give your crew if they were on a Defiant Class ship

2) What type of adventures would you give them if they were on a Noval Class science vessel. What non-science missions and what science missions.

[Kronok]

I would like to preface this by stating that Star Trek Roleplaying is pretty versatile in that most ships can do “double duty” and complete most types of missions. Also, some information as to what types of character your players have chosen would make the decision easier. However, you asked, so…

Originally posted by Lt Cmdr Matt

I am looking for some episode suggestions. here are the two questions...
1) What kind of missions would you give your crew if they were on a Defiant Class ship.

Remember that the Defiant is considered a Heavy Escort (?). She is loaded with weaponry. Anything that would require firepower would be fine, but predictable. Escorting “Dangerous Diplomat” duty would be interesting. I think the Defiant is fast too, so perhaps intelligence gathering (Upgrade the sensors probably). Sneaking into areas that require stealth and speed. Didn’t Sisko and crew do that early on into and through the wormhole?

2) What type of adventures would you give them if they were on a Noval Class science vessel. What non-science missions and what science missions.

The Nova is a small, science vessel right? I like the intimacy of a small ship. Science vessels are the most versatile as to the types of missions they can do, science being the obvious. I would do a deep space mission where the crew will be venturing to a far off realm where it is really still in the frontier stages of observation. Few ships have been there and they need to be self-reliant on both resources and decision-making.

Thoughts?

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Hmm, well the Defiant could go on lots of little espionage-type missions, border patrol (distant frontiers stuff)

A Nova could go on lots of planetary survey missions, science missions, first contact, etc. Not that the Defiant couldn't do that as well, it's just the Nova is better equipped for it


If you can spare the cash, I'd recommend checking out eBay. They have lots of the old FASA Trek adventures, and those are a really good starting point, IMHO.

[First of Two]

My crew is on a Defiant-Class ship, but they're also a bunch of timelost people (they belong in post ST:VI-Era, not Dominion War-Era, but here they are) These are some of the things I'm doing/have done/am gonna do with it.

So my ideas may not be appropriate, but...

1. Ferrying an ambassador to / conducting negotiations with a neutral power during wartime, when the enemy may attack at any moment.

2. Retreiving a Bajoran Orb from a resistance cel on Cardassia

3. Rescuing data from a ship that got too close to a binary neutron star that SI is investigating to study its gravitic effects with an eye towards making it a weapon (this was an old FASA module I'm adapting)

4. Resisting a Borg Invasion

5. Going "Slidertrek" to new, often hostile dimensions.

Basically, I find a Defiant class most useful in that it has a small crew complement, which makes the need to create NPC's less. When the Captain wants to beam the away team down with 20 security officers (thereby ruining your small ambush), you can say "don't have 'em."

[Dan Stack]

Defiant is a good ship. The suggestions everyone has given are good but I'd also test the player's ingenuity by giving them some scientific and surveying missions. "Captain, cargo bay 4 is full of dinosaur eggs, where shall we put the remaining specimens?:

[Tarbas]

I would go with the Noval Class Starship. I mean, that is what Star Trek is all about -> Science and Exploration. My players also are serving on some kind of Science Vessel and it is great fun.

Some adventure ideas:

- an overwhelming threat is always a great challenge because your players have to be creative in avoiding or defeating the threat. With a Noval Class Vessel it is easy to find an worthy opponent.

- a mysterious alienrace, which vanished many eons ago, is alos a very interesting adventure . In my series the players even found a drelict vessel and repaired it again. One question remains: why did the alienrace vanish??

- an espionage episode, where the players have to infiltrate an alien race (or more tricky: an romulan Warbird), monitored by the excellent scanners of the Noval class vessel.

- last but not least: an unworthy opponent episode. The players ship is involved in a big space battle with plenty of ships. The Federation is loosing the battle and the Noval class vessel is ignored by the enemy because it is no threat to them. Your players will show you what kind of threat they can be Resistance is not futile

[Darth Sarcastic]

Ok, first off. I would never again send a Defiant against the Borg...can you say glorified door-stop? I knew you could. This is only vs. the Borg mind you...I think the Defiant makes an excellent Escort or even a light destroyer...maybe even an armed courier (think Yankee-Doodle Pigeon with a machine gun). I don't know where they (Starfleet) got the idea that "smaller and less armed is better" vs. the Borg. I think they started to go in the right direction with the Enterprise-E...bigger with a lot more stuff to throw at the Borg.

As for the Nova...it makes a great replacement for the aging Oberth and even the Miranda classes. A science vessel with teeth.

[First of Two]

I don't intend for my players to go 'against' the Borg so much as I do for them to spend a great deal of time running AWAY from the Borg, and towards something else.

*cue Borg intro music*

In a universe where the Borg have already assimilated the Alpha Quadrant, where is there to run?

"Planet on the Edge of Forever"... coming soon.

[Capt.Hunter]

Smaller, yes. Less heavily armed, not in a million years.

The Defiant has more torpedo firepower than ships three times her size. She has the valuable Q-torps as standard and her pulse phasers are actually more powerful than the arrays on the Enterprise. True, if you get in behind her she's only got the torpedoes, but then she is extremely maneuverable.

The size reduction was so Starfleet could eventually churn 'em out in droves, unlike the Sovereign or Galaxy-Classes which have limited runs of a dozen or so. It also means the ship can have that lovely ablative armour (and against the Borg, having a defence left for when they inevitably knock your shields out is handy, to say the least).

I would've liked to have seen more anti-Borg features on the Defiant-Class than just big freakin' guns and ablative armour, however. Some sort of system for preventing tractor beams locking on, built-in transport inhibitors so you don't get boarded by drones if the shields go down, etcetera.

A good ship, since you can easily detail the whole crew. The limited supplies put her at a disadvantage without a home base, though. Still, there's no reason it can't be assigned to a starbase but put on detached duty...

[CaptainMatt]

My series is set on a Defiant class starship. The players are mainly on missions of war. That is because were set around stardate 50143.2 and on, though the Klingon War in just starting the Dominion war. Missions include destroying Jem'Hadar outposts, saving suvivors of battles, defending federation starbases and outposts. One main thing you need to remeber about a defiant series is that a defiant, as in the one in the NG, is a short range vessel. Meaning it must stay close to a federation base. You can build your ship bigger and make it longer range though.

[Antonsb214]

Hunter! Who told YOU about the built-in transport inhibitors, that is still classified!

If you have to blow something up or keep something from getting blown up, the Defiant-class is pretty useful. I always envisioned them working in small groups. Four of them could escort a small convoy pretty well.

The Nova-class is a nice little science ship but it is short range compared to an explorer.

Both ships would have to operate out of a starbase.

[JALU3]

For a small ship campaign I tend to go for the Saber Class. She isn't as heavily armed and shielded as the Defiant and doesn't have all the cool bells and wistle sensors the Nova has, and furthermore has a minor design flaw of the exposed nacelles. However, she is also a very good balance between the too since it seems that you are looking to do a small ship campaign but have yet to deside what vessel they should get and thus the mission types you should run.

For instance . . . one idea that is barely feasable but feasable is for defensive, short ranged, missions, gut the two Cargo Bays that the Saber class has, place tractor beams on fore and aft side of the large doors and you have instant parking for two Peregrine Fighters. Or atleast that is what my players did. However, recovery of the fighters had to be done while the Saber was at a near stand still stop and due to the size of the Peregrines one had to be careful about parking them, otherwise they wouldn't fit just right.

Or how about you give them a NOVA, and then all of a sudden . . . War. Great to see how your players would adapt to a war environment in a science vessel.