2150's Game

[Dan Stack]

This is kinda linked to my "Back to Basics" thread http://forum.trek-rpg.net/showthread...&threadid=5477 where I posited the idea for a "simpler", less meta-plot driven campaign, one getting back to the hopeful aspects of exploration, especially as seen in early TNG or in TOS. The three main eras I considered were early/pre-TNG, post Dominion War, and pre-Federation. Given the new season of Enterprise has started, I figured I'd give consideration of that its own thread.

A few objectives:

• Avoidance of a super-plot - Not to say there won't be continuity, but the overall mission is to explore, and while we're at it, help out others cause we're nice people.
• Optimism: A desire to get away from the "grim and gritty" feel of late DS9 (which I enjoy but I've used a lot). Still plenty of conflict, but it'd be nice to avoid the overwhelming sense of oppression the Dominion War brought with it
• Suitabiliity for Troupe Play - I'm giving strong consideration to having each player have two characters, one higher ranking for shipboard and political adventures and one low ranking/ensign for what I believe will be the bulk of adventures, exploration (including rendering aid and assistance to outposts and starships)
• Opportunity for variety of characters - not all characters need run a "straight starfleet" character - aliens, deviants, etc. can be fun to play.

So, how do we look in the Enterprise-era?

The avoidance of a super-plot is fairly easy - we have a starship which is exploring unknown space. Archer has show a willingness to help out total strangers, so the possibility of rescuing other ships is certainly there. The fact that the Klingons are more like raiders than conquerers makes using them rather simple whenever we need a threat.

As far as optimism goes, the era does have a hopeful feel - we the audience (and the players) know that the Federation is in the near future.

Troupe play may work very well here - with limited transporter technology, a landing party will be cut off from the ship. This gives good reason for the entire senior staff to send a landing party.

For variety of characters, we are a little limited in which aliens we use if we want to avoid continuity problems. Andorians and Vulcans are available, as are a variety of humans - Boomers, Terrans, etc. Troupe play also means if one character is a little "deviant", that same player can also have a more "normal", saving the narrator from a lot of headaches when a normal character is needed.


So a few random ideas occur based on this...

It might be neat to have both Vulcans and Andorians aboard this ship - it gives a little bit of tension, but also a prejudice to overcome, something very Star Trek. If the Vulcan and Andorian characters learn to work together, we have the basis of the Federation.

Based on this, it would seem reasonable that the characters are exploring in a different area than Enterprise, perhaps one bordering on Andorian space. The Andorian character(s) will be aboard to help out with this (and to keep an eye on things). A Vulcan observer will likely still be onboard - they don't trust the humans or the Andorians.

An idea for a pilot episode/adventure occurs based on this - the character's starship is used to help evacuate the Vulcan monastery seen in "The Andorian Incident". Perhaps the Andorians refuse to allow a Vulcan ship to perform the evacuation and as a compromise a Terran ship is brought in.

This would make the campaign lag behind Enterprise by about 6-12 months, which seems a good idea to avoid continuity violations.

As for the starship, it might be a continuity violation to use an NX-class - we don't know if there are any others - it has been hinted that more are on the way, but that is a nebulous term. If not, than a Daedalus-class (ND-class perhaps) would possibly be appropriate - and I know a clever guy who made deckplans to for those...

[Sea Tyger]

Considering that there is canon evidence that the Daedelus-class predates the founding of the Federation (one was lost in 2160, I think), that would be a good ship to have (although I've always felt that the Daedelus was probably built either in response to or just before the outbreak of the Earth-Romulan war in 2156).

Also, IIRC, NX stands for "Naval Experiment," as opposed to the "Naval Construction Contract" (NCC). So, whatever ship you make would probably also be an "NX" type of ship.

Just to make things interesting, you could always put the crew into an older Warp 3 starship (an actual NCC), just to force them to rely more on their abilities than the technology.

Anyway, some thoughts.

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Sea Tyger
Also, IIRC, NX stands for "Naval Experiment," as opposed to the "Naval Construction Contract" (NCC). So, whatever ship you make would probably also be an "NX" type of ship.

Hmm, for once I disagree with you

In the case of the Enterprise, the NX doesn't appear to be a contract number as such. There's a lot of evidence that this is the class name of the ship - i.e. an NX-class vessel.

Given that we have a J-class running about, it's possible that the Enterprise is an N-class, and is both experimental (X) and the first (01). The next one in the class may just be N-02.

So the next class of ship could be NY- or M-class - not sure which

Whichever way you look at it, this is not the Federation Starfleet - and the NCC system is not in use.

[Sea Tyger]

Originally posted by Imagus
Whichever way you look at it, this is not the Federation Starfleet - and the NCC system is not in use.

You make a good argument (and I do remember Archer or someone mentioning the "NX-class" last season). I was going off of prior on-screen knowledge, based on the Excelsior's original designation of "NX-2000" from Star Trek III. It just seems like too much of a coincidence that the NX-01 Enterprise, an experiment in her own right, uses the same prefix as the Excelsior.

I also think that because Earth's Starfleet is so young (and probably borrowed directly from surface navy traditions at its inception), it would seem natural that they would think of themselves (at least partly) as a "naval" service, and that their vessels are built using "naval" contracts.

Of course, we may both be right in some way. It'll be interesting to see how (or if) B&B explain the similarities (sp?).

[mactavish]

Starfleet seems to me to be an outgrowth of NASA and other Earth-based space agencies. I always figured that it was the space agency under the purview of the United Earth Alliance (or whatever) and, since it was apparently an American-heavy organization, it was based on the best parts of the Air Force and NASA, though it probably encompasses the rest of the international space organizations as well.

Since it is so heavily influenced by the former United States, the organization took an Anglo-American naval feel (as it is a space <i>fleet</i>), and therefore uses that structural model.

I say that NX stands for Naval eXperiment and NCC stands for Naval Construction Contract, regardless of whether Starfleet is, at this point, a Federation organization or not.

For that reason, any ships of the <i>Enterprise</i> design are likely to be NCC vessels. Of course, your ship may not be of the same type. Perhaps your vessel is based on Vulcan, Andorian, or some other alien designs. Perhaps it is an NX vessel, and it is a testbed for new weapons systems or more powerful warp engines of even early cloaking attempts (prior to the Treaty of Algeron).

I would say that a ship of the same design specifications as the 2150 <i>Enterprise</i> would be named in a fashion along the lines of NCC, though the logic for the number sequence eludes me. Perhaps NCC-02 for the second ship, or NCC-021451 for the mm/dd/yy it was commissioned or entered service.

Just some random ideas.

I would be really keen on having some Vulcan or Andorian or even appropriated Klingon technologies integrated into a second-generation starship model. I think that the <i>U.S.S. Washington</i> (or whatever) should also be an NX class ship, and that multiple vessels of the same design not be introduced for a few years. The logic is that Starfleet is trying out a whole mess of designs to determine which best meets their needs before pouring the resources into building a fleet.

I would hazzard a guess that early Federation Starfleet vessels included a whole bunch from the member races' fleets, so the first "Starfleet" fleets were actually Vulcan, Andorian, Tellarite, and human ships rather than a whole set of newly-built ships. On top of that, I would venture that early human ships were based on the designs of other races (which is why humanity developed so quickly technologically; they swiped everyone's ideas!).

So, based on these [half-assed] theories, the <i>U.S.S. Ticonderoga</i> - NX-06 - would likely include significant improvements never imagined when <i>Enterprise</i> was on the drawing board. The addition of recently acquired tractor beam emitters, energy-based torpedo systems, far more accurate sensors, and so forth would demonstrate the human ability to create a final product that is better than the sum of its parts, something the Vulcans and the other races have never really been able to do effectively.

Maybe some of the early designs were not saucer-based ones, but were instead more along the lines of current spacecraft design strategies. Maybe some radical thinkers design outlandish concepts that actually see production but are later scrapped as too expensive, too impractical, or simply too freakin' weird!

I've given a 2150s Series a lot of thought, and I truly like the concept, but I want to add my own flair to the party, if you know what I mean.

mactavish out.

[Imagus]

Originally posted by mactavish
Starfleet seems to me to be an outgrowth of NASA and other Earth-based space agencies. I always figured that it was the space agency under the purview of the United Earth Alliance (or whatever) and, since it was apparently an American-heavy organization, it was based on the best parts of the Air Force and NASA, though it probably encompasses the rest of the international space organizations as well.

Since it is so heavily influenced by the former United States, the organization took an Anglo-American naval feel (as it is a space <i>fleet</i>), and therefore uses that structural model.

I say that NX stands for Naval eXperiment and NCC stands for Naval Construction Contract, regardless of whether Starfleet is, at this point, a Federation organization or not.

Unfortunately NASA, while using US Naval and Air Force personnel with their existing ranks, is a separate structure. The first "hull-numbered" vessels they produced were the space shuttle orbiters - numberer OV-101 thru OV-105 (OV is Orbiter Vehicle). The earlier vehicles were simply numbered by name of course (Apollo 14 etc). Other space agencies have operated similarly.

In addition, Archer's Starfleet is really a lot less military than Kirk's or even Picard's. It's reasonable to assume that that kind of emphasis came about as a result of the Romulan War. I don't think the term "naval" is appropriate as yet.

Assuming any kind of continuity in either direction is, I suspect, a little premature

[Dan Stack]

As an aside, even modern agencies do some weird things with registries - i.e. the Seawolf class sub going to registries starting with 21 when the others similar subs were much much higher.

If I were to make a 22nd century Icarus game, perhaps she could be the prototype pressed into service (much like the Challenger orbitter) - maybe make her NX-99.


But outside of semantics, anyone have any comments on such a game? Suggestions on advantages and limitations? Odd inspirations?

[NobAkimoto]

Seawolf's are a minor exception to the registry.(Since the Virginia class is restarting at SSN-774)

As for the "NX" I'd assume they were simply the classification of the ship.(Since Archer refers to the class as "NX" class. Rather than "NX-01" class which would be done in naval terminology.)

So there probably ISN'T a "NCC" number yet.(Most likely any follow-up classes would probably be NY class or something.)

For the Daedalus, perhaps it was an alternate class in development in competition with the NX?(Perhaps made to be cheaper, or longer ranged at the expense of sheer speed or some other function.)

Limitiation wise I think one aspect of this century is that you should be spending more time at each planetary system, rather than breeze through them one per week. Given the rather long travel times involved at this distance(A typical star system would take about 4 weeks to travel to) you might have to ditch the typical Trekkian formula of "One week between episode = One week in universe. This was one of the things that disappointed me about Enterprise...but let's not go there.)

I personally think it'd be interesting if a ship were to stay and spend more time in certain territories/planets with emphasis placed on actually getting to know certain species instead of a "I know you, so let's head off."

I don't know, that might be a little against your premise of episodic format though...

[Dan Stack]

Actually, it doesn't need be mind-numbingly episodic. Rather, I'm hoping to avoid season-long serials which make it impossible for new players to join (or for current players to keep track of). An episode or two around a single planet might make life easier for this overworked narrator.

Your suggestion of a few adventures per planet sounds like a good idea - this allows for some two or three part adventures allowing the planet to be reasonably well developed and then its off to the next planet.

[Lancer]

One thing about this era to take note of is the lack of widespread use of the mind-meld among Vulcans. You would have to decide if a Vulcan character in your game
- has it anyway,
- just doesn't have it, or
- doesn't have it, but gets some other benefit as compensation.
If you decide on the last option an easy solution might be to give Vulcans working with Starfleet a higher starting rank than other characters, as the Vulcan high command is (IMHO) likely to pressure Starfleet for just that.

What I would definitly include in an NX-era game is the first contact with the Tellarites.

Visiting one of the few human colonies could make for a nice episode as well. With the long travel times between star systems I imagine these colonies would be a lot different from the ones we are used to from TNG/DS9 and even TOS.

[RaconteurX]

I am currently playing in an Enterprise era campaign set in 2156, wherein the Daedalus-class has just been launched. At the moment, only Daedalus herself and the player-characters' ship, Artemis, are in service but two other ships sit in spacedock awaiting completion. Of the seven Enterprise-class ships (formerly the NX-class) commissioned, one was never completed, two were destroyed and the other four remain in service.

The Daedalus-class has been designed as the first genuine multi-role starship, incorporating a suite of science labs (life, space, physical, and planetary) and improved defensive and weapons systems (including a prototype deflector shield). Here is a write-up:

PRODUCTION DATA
Origin: San Francisco Orbital Shipyards
Class & Type: Daedalus-class cruiser
Year Launched: 2156

HULL DATA
Structure: 35
Size/Decks: 5 / 10 primary hull, 5 secondary hull
Length/Height/Beam: 157 m / 42 m / 75 m
Complement: 43 officers, 58 ratings

OPERATIONAL DATA
Atmosphere Capable: Primary hull only
Transporters: 2 rated for lifeforms, 2 for cargo
Cargo Units: 85 (2,125 cu. m)
Shuttlebay: Size 4, aft of secondary hull
Shuttlecraft: 1 lifting body shuttle, 3 shuttlepods
Tractor Beams: Grappling system, point-blank only
Separation System: Yes, emergency only
Cloaking Device: No
Sensor System: Class 2 (+2 / +1 / 0 / 0 / 0 : C)
Operations Systems: Class 2 (C)
Life Support: Class 3 (D)

PROPULSION DATA
Impulse System: Type III (max. speed 0.6 c : B)
Warp System: Type III (2 / 4 / 6 : B)

TACTICAL DATA
Beam Weapons: Type I x 6 (2 forward, 2 starboard, 2 port : B)
Penetration: 3 / 3 / 2 / 0 / 0
Missile Weapons: Type I x 4 (2 forward, 2 aft : B)
Penetration: 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5
Deflector Shield: Class I (A)
Protection/Threshold: 12 / 2

MISCELLANEOUS DATA
Maneuver Modifiers: +2 C / -1 H / +3 T
Starship Traits: Hardened System (Life Support), Enhanced Systems (Shields, Warp Drives*)

* due to effects of Chief Engineer's extraordinary "Miracle Worker" success and subsequent "Breakthrough" publication.