Posted by Sam Haynes in Policy Discussion - Standarized Ship Submission Policy Changes - Part 2 - 07-05-2023

Posted by Vice Admiral Robert Archer (Engineering Director) in Policy Discussion - Standarized Ship Submission Policy Changes - Part 2 - 07-05-2023
Good morning everyone, the second part of the SSSF policy rework to take further feedback on only the following sections is now open until 7-5-23 until noon US Eastern time. As before while I have a solid idea of what I plan to see changed from feedback over the years at times, I want to give everyone new and old a chance to discuss such in their own ways as well. Again let’s keep things civil and provide constructive feedback or ideas. Any questions please let me know.

Edit!: An update everyone given I have forgotten to post a front page news item for this thread the new end date is now pushed forth from 7-1-23 until 7-5-23.

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SCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
This section details any scientific and sensory equipment the ship carries, above and beyond “standard” sensors present on every ship. The ship’s computer system, if applicable, should also be described here.

References to external Tech Submissions are permitted if applicable, in which case a URL must be provided. Unless stated otherwise, the computer system is assumed to be an isolinear computer core using the standard Starfleet LCARS OS and interface (same as Galaxy-class). This data is primarily characterization and literary embellishment, but not always. Any non-standard computer systems are expected to be compatible with canonical descriptions as cited in the Designers Guide, most notably the relationship between isolinear and bioneural circuitry.

If the ship carries any holo-crew, they are included and discussed here. Unless explicitly stated, a design is assumed to not carry any holographic crew of any kind.

This section also includes a discussion of the sensor systems on the ship. This section will likely be relatively short, as the main question of sensors is their range, which is listed in the Tech Spec section below.

If the ship possesses any digital weaponry (vis, electronic warfare systems), those would be included in this section.

WARP PROPULSION SYSTEM
This section includes a discussion of the warp system. Information that must be included here includes the number of nacelles, location of nacelles and warp core, maximum 12-hour warp speed, maximum sustainable warp speed, standard cruising speed (recommended to be no higher than warp 6, remember this is the ship’s “strolling along the sidewalk” speed), and optionally the warp core’s cochrane rating. The cochrane rating must be in sync with the warp speed rating, based on the chart in the TNG TM. Also to be discussed is whether the ship is capable of warp flight while in separated mode, if applicable, and which sections are capable of same.

This section should also state whether the ship uses traditional (“fixed-wing”) or variable-geometry (“swing-wing”) nacelles. Unless otherwise stated, a ship is assumed to have traditional fixed nacelles. As it is apparently possible, through unexplained means, to have both traditional and variable-geometry configurations be non-damaging to subspace, all designs are assumed to be subspace-safe unless otherwise specified. (A designer can specify that the ship is not subspace-safe, if for some bizarre reason they really want to.)

It is recommended that designs do not exceed warp 9.9 as their maximum warp factor. After warp 9.6 or so the warp scale increases exponentially, so every 0.1 increase is an extra several thousand light-years per hour.

IMPULSE PROPULSION SYSTEM
A discussion of the impulse system should also be included here, including the location of impulse engines, literary embellishments, and maximum impulse as a multiple of c. The maximum impulse of all ships must be less than 0.35c and 0.30c is recommended for most larger vessels. Smaller craft may have a speed up to and including 0.35c. (This sublight speed limit is intended to avoid relativistic considerations, and is based on a cruising impulse speed of 0.25c for the Galaxy-class. A deal signed with the GM department over a bottle of Romulan ale restricts threat vessels to this same speed limit.)

TACTICAL SYSTEMS
This section must include, in the following order, defensive shields, phaser systems, torpedo systems, and other weaponry. If any item is omitted the ship is assumed to be lacking that featured. (Vis, if the design doesn’t mention torpedoes, then the ship explicitly does not carry torpedoes of any kind.) It is highly recommended that a design use subsections to separate each component.

Defensive shielding is generated in sections by shield generator layers on the exterior of the hull (the main navigational deflector is not responsible for defensive shielding against hostiles, only interstellar hydrogen while the ship is in motion). This section may include the shield strength, using the following system: Maximum Graviton Load (Continuous) in megawatts (MW) and Maximum Primary Energy Dissipation Rate in kilowatts (kW). Shields should NOT be listed relative to any other design. For comparison, the Galaxy’s numbers are listed below in Tech Spec.

The discussion of phasers systems must include type, location, strength, and number, and optionally range. Phasers come in two varieties; strips of linked phaser emitters and pulse phaser cannons (formerly known as “Defiant-style”). Phaser strips are the type used by the Galaxy and Intrepid classes, and may be aimed at any target within an appropriate degree range from the location of the strip, by channelling all phaser energy from the emitters down the strip to a single point where it is directed at the target. For reference, the Galaxy-class has 200 emitters per strip on the saucer section. Pulse Phaser Cannons contain a single emitter with is mono-directional. It is aimed by moving the ship, or a turret to which the Cannon is affixed.

Phaser power is rated by its type. The Galaxy-class sports Type X emitters. Type X+ phasers, also known as XI and strongest currently in use, are restricted to ground-based installations and large space stations, and cannot be placed on starships due to their strength. Deep Space 9 is armed with a mixture of Type IX, Type X, and Type X+ phasers. Designers should limit themselves to phasers in the VII to X range for capital ships.

Type X phaser emitters have a maximum output of 5.1 MegaWatts. Hand phasers are limited to 0.01 MW. We can safely assume a strength of Type VII-IX phasers in the 3.5 MW to 5.0 MW range.

The maximum effective range of the Galaxy-class phasers is 300,000 kilometers. Designers are encouraged to not exceed this number by all that much, if at all.

According to the DS9 Technical Manual, photon torpedoes, quantum torpedoes, and probes all use the same launching tube. Therefore a design should not differentiate between them. The primary data to list for torpedo tubes is number and location. The Galaxy-class has two torpedo tubes, on in the forward dorsal (“neck”) section and one tail launcher. Torpedo systems generally have fire-and-forget programming allowing for 360-degree coverage from just two tubes. Designers should take care to not overpower their designs by bearing in mind that the Galaxy needed only two tubes total. Most vessels are stocked with a complement of photon torpedoes rather than quantum torpedoes, due to the high cost and limited availability of the materials necessary for quantum torpedo construction (DS9 TM). As a rule of thumb, a design should not in most cases specify which is used, but rarely if ever will a non-warship be equipped with quantum torpedoes.

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Robert Archer EDir

Okay so first question - Why are we still using Galaxy-class as “the gold standard” when the design is now quite dated, and it seems that we have a proven testbed for tech such as gel packs, holo crew and more.

Sam H.

At the time the SSSF was written - and still today - the Galaxy-class is the most documented official Star Trek ship design. It is the only ship for which we have most of these specifications, by virtue of the TNG Tech Manual. We can’t, for example, compare against the Inquiry-class “biggest baddest” in Starfleet, the Neo-Constitution-class, or even the Intrepid- and Sovereign-classes; we simply don’t know their capabilities and specifications to the same extent we know the good old Galaxy.

Newer tech, like bio-neural gel packs and holocrew, were considered “new” and “experimental” at the time - Voyager was one of the first (in-universe) to have them. We clearly see the expansion of EMH to other classes when we see one on the Sovereign-class Ent-E. That’s why Robert is updating the format - there’s newer stuff we can clearly tell has been more widely adopted, and the document needs modernizing.

I think retaining the mentions of the Galaxy-class for these purposes still works - this is not an “in-universe” document, this is a “real-world” document used to create in-universe documents, and that’s the very best reference point we have. It might be worth crafting a new “reference spec” to base standards on, 30-40 years on, instead. That’s the hard part, though, because we’re blindly guessing at new capabilities; and even 115 years after Wrath of Khan, Picard season 3 shows us that nebulae still interfere with sensors.

Nathan