Starbases?

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

What do you people think is the smallest possible starfleet starbase.

Also what would be the smallest starbase possible?

[qerlin]

Heck, with the technology, probably something about the size of a Chevy Nova. Supplies are in the trunk, guys!

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

What about size in terms of CODA?

[pesterfield]

I'm not sure about size in CODA, but once my crew set up a Galaxy class ship's saucer section as a starbase.

It has everything you need: power, shuttle bays/transporter, quarters, command center, etc.

[Evan van Eyk]

There is this TNG episode, where Geordi investigates a murder on that starbase and in the end it is revealed it was the dg, who was actually an alien....
There is a very small relay station. And if I am not wrong there is even a deckplan somewhere in the computer core.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I think I will invent my own Starbase that is only about size 6. Does 6 sound too small?

[Owen E Oulton]

Evan, that wasn't a starbase, just a communications relay. A starbase is really a naval station, so the smallest would likely be a Regula/Orbital Office style station, with ancillary facilities. It's going to need at minimum a resupply depot and administrative staff. Many starbases will have dirtside facilities, as well, as with Starbase 11 in TOS.

[Imagus]

In my campaign, Starbase 12 occupies a considerable chunk of real estate on the planet, with two separate orbital docking facilities (one civilian, one Starfleet), both capable of docking dozens of vessels at once. There are also several separate drydocks and defence stations.

Of course, this is the forward base for the Federation's defence forces along a third of the Klingon border.

Matt - I'd suspect a starbase could be as big as you want it to be. A starbase isn't a single entity, it's whatever Starfleet happens to declare a starbase. In some areas you're probably looking at small single stations with staffs of less than a hundred - others will be collections of separate stations linked together, each of which is its own entity for game purposes.

Base it on what you need for the campaign. Remember size 6 is the size of a Connie - this means not a lot of room for staff and stores - but that's fine for small local starbase!

Plus it's likely to grow over time...

[Michael Saumure]

Well if you have access to the LUG DS9 Supplement that can give a pretty good idea of what size most current stations are. For instance a Size 6 station encompasses 4,000,001-8,000,000 cubic meters. But how that works with CODA is unknow to this humble narrator.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I don't have access to anything but CODA material.

[Antonsb214]

Will this be a real starbase or an outpost? Is it on a frontier or in the core worlds? Starfleet Battles had bases in three categories. There was the space station, like K-7 in the Trouble with Tribbles (I think that's was the name of it, but it was a lot bigger than the Enterprise). Then there is the battle station (just a space station with more weapons and stronger shields). Then there was the starbase, great big thing armed to the teeth, and could hold 12 starships inside. So a small one may only be 500-1000 meters across. While a starbase would be at least 1000 meters across in the TOS era and huge in TNG era. Spacedock had a door big enough for the Ent-D to fly through. DS9 had enough room in the arms for a Galaxy or Nebula Class, and I would say it's an average size station.

[Imagus]

The idea of starbases containing ships in SFB actually stems from the TOS Technical Manuals plans of Starfleet HQ. This was not really intended as a normal starbase and we've seen nothing like it since then, except for the Earth spacedock, and a couple of major starbases built along the same lines (the one seen in "11001001" for example). I think the majority would dock large ships externally.

Bear in mind, the "outpost" in "Encounter at Farpoint" was intended as a starbase. It was on the ground and definitely couldn't hold any ships.

However, YMMV