Posted by Captain Nicholas Villarreal (Engineering Director) in Specification Review: Baker-Class Heavy Observer, Draft 2

SNIP
Time to get a review in for this design. Let’s see what’s under the hood, so to speak.

Change Log From Draft 1 to Draft 2:

Cleaned up grammar, punctuation and sentence structure throughout the spec
Expanded the history/mission overview to include older design lineage reasons for being originally made and used
Moved Deflector Dish from Sensor Systems to Tactical System Section
Enlarged main deflector dish and edited deck plan accordingly
Cleaned up the computer section sentence structure
Cleaned up the warp core section to be more clear on descriptions
Changed the bridge layout to be more historically accurate for its lineage
Cleaned up the description of the briefing room
Reworked the armory section to be appropriate for the ship class
Halved the transporter rooms and edited the deck plan accordingly
Removed runabout allowance from auxiliary craft section
Changed ship length to 300 meters
Removed two ghost nacelles in the tech spec section!
Edited class naming and registry list
Added a ship’s Bakery as an inside joke for reviewer’s request

Baker-Class
Category: Observer
Variant: Heavy (Support)
Designer: Robert Archer
Mark I
Draft 2
Date: 04/04/2020

HISTORY AND MISSION OVERVIEW

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Shipyards throughout the Federation refit these aged vessels, and by the dawning of 2365 the pilot launched Baker class heavy observer, USS Baker NCC 6666, saw the return of this venerable scientific class to service along all known borders. As well as supplementing frontier exploration efforts throughout the Federation.

This last sentence is still a sentence fragment with a misplaced modifier. Read it out loud on its own, and you’ll see what I mean. You might want to split up the previous sentence in to two sentences, and then incorporate the fragment into the new second sentence. However, that’s just one suggestion of how to fix the issue.

Mission Profiles

SNIP. This works.

STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

SNIP. This works.

SCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS

SNIP. This works.

WARP PROPULSION SYSTEMS
The Baker class heavy observer utilizes a horizontally mounted Class 6 warp core. The core produces 1,516 Cochranes, the ship has a cruising speed of warp 6, a maximum sustainable speed of warp 8, a maximum speed for 12 hours of warp 9, and an emergency speed for 4 hours of warp 9.4.

The second sentence is a comma splice. You should make that two separate sentences, i.e. have the Cochrane output as one sentence and the various warp speeds as another sentence.

SNIP

IMPULSE PROPULSION SYSTEMS

SNIP. Okay.

TACTICAL SYSTEMS
Defensive Shields

SNIP. Okay.

Phaser Systems
The Baker uses six Type-7 paired phaser banks. They are positioned as follows:
* One pair of banks ventral and dorsal on the forward sections of the primary hull with two emitters each.
* One pair of banks ventral and dorsal arranged to port and starboard on the primary hull with two emitters each.

This reads like you actually have four phaser banks in this line item. Either it’s ventral or dorsal, if you mean to limit the design to six phaser banks. I would recommend ventral, all things being equal, given the nature of the ship. Either that, or you could, akin to, say, the Excelsior class (albeit with a reduced number of emitters), have two ventral banks and two dorsal banks at a 30 degree angle from centerline, port and aft. You could also simply say, as you originally intended, that you have eight phaser banks.

• One pair of banks ventral and dorsal positioned on the central aft area of the secondary hull with two emitters each.

Each bank has a maximum energy output of 1.3 megawatts out to 75,000 kilometers.

Torpedo Systems

SNIP. Okay.

COMMAND AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Bridge
The Baker class bridge is located on Deck 1. It is arranged in a circular shape. The bridge is equipped with easy modular setup for refits, repairs and replacement as needed. The aft end of the bridge contains 4 auxiliary consoles for miscellaneous personnel needs. Centered along a railing from port to starboard are the combined tactical/security console, two science consoles and a communications console. Just forward from this straight railing in a triangle pattern are the ship’s commanding officer chair. Forward of the commanding officer’s chair is the helm station. Forward of the helm station is the ship’s main view screen, to port and starboard of the view screen are two turbolifts. Emergency access to the bridge is gained by a single Jeffries tube located centrally on the floor, in front of the helm station.

A few questions arise from this description that I missed before.
* Where, exactly, is the railing in relation to the aft of the Bridge? I have a basic idea, but it would be preferable to have something more explicitly stated.
* Do you mean to have one chair or three in the “triangle pattern”? It seems like you mean for there to be only one chair, which means you should say “triangle-shaped dais”, but you also have “are” in the sentence, implying multiple chairs.
* Given when the Baker was manufactured, and also just standard Starfleet Bridge designs, a single helm station at the fore of the Bridge is irregular. The Intrepid-class, the Nova-class, and the Defiant-class are all large-scale starships which have Bridges with a single helm station at the fore, but those are highly advanced vessels compared to how the Baker is described.
* Given that a larger vessel like the Galaxy-class has a single turbolift to its bridge, why does the Baker have multiple?

SNIP. The subsections I’ve omitted are acceptable.

Armory
The armory is connected directly to the port side of the ship’s security hall on deck 10 within the secondary hull. The armory contains enough Type-2’s for arming the ship’s standard security forces. The armory does not contain housings for Type-3 phaser rifles or any other forms of heavy weapons, armor or grenades, beyond stun variants, for the crew’s use.

I’m sort of curious why this is necessary when you already have a Security Hall. This is a research vessel; the Security Department should be able to equip its staff adequately without requiring additional weapons storage.

Science Labs
Located on decks 4 through 9 within the secondary hull are the Baker’s expansive science labs. They are divided into the following deck by deck sections:
Deck 4 contains the class’ hydroponic, botany, and agronomy labs.
Deck 5 contains the class’ zoology, genetics, anatomy and physiology labs.
Deck 6 contains the class’ chemistry, physics, and general science lab. The chief science officer’s office can also be found next to the general science lab on this deck.
Deck 7 contains the class’ astrophysics, astronomy, cosmology and the upper portions of the stellar cartography lab.
Deck 8 contains the class’ geology, hydrology, volcanology, meteorology and the lower support portions of the stellar cartography lab.
Deck 9 contains the class’ cybernetic, temporal mechanics, computer science research, and robotics labs.

Each deck contains only 1 type of each lab listed. Further, each deck’s labs are joined, both by hallway access and inter-lab access allowing easier movement of staff and experiments as needed.

This all looks good. I’m just using it to make sure that there’s a list for comparison with the deck listing later on.

Main Engineering

Good.

UTILITY SYSTEMS
Cargo Bays
The Baker houses four large cargo bays in the primary hull and two smaller cargo bays in the central sections of the secondary hull. Each large cargo bay holds a single cargo transporter each.

Why don’t you just have a shared cargo transporter? It’s not like the technology is that inaccurate.

The large primary cargo bays are situated along the outer edge of the primary hull on decks 4 and 5 two on each side. The smaller secondary bays are located at port and starboard at the central areas of deck 15 in the secondary hull. All of these bays house an exterior docking hatch for access while in dock.

Tractor Beam Systems

SNIP. Ok

Transporter Systems
The Baker has one transporter room, which is each capable of transporting six personnel at a time. The transporter room is on the port side of deck 8. Each transporter system has a range of 40,000 km.

Replace “Each” with “The” here. The Baker only has one transporter system.

One emergency 12-person transporter is located on the starboard side of deck 8 with a range of 15,000 km.

Turbolift Systems
The turbolift car systems run the length and breadth of all decks to critical hub areas. Service stations are located on the aft sections of decks 8 and 13.

CREW SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Sickbay

SNIP

Unlike more modern ship classes the Baker does not contain an EMH program nor holo-emitters within the ship’s sickbays.

The basic standard for specs is typically, “If it isn’t mentioned, it isn’t there.” Ergo, this isn’t needed.

SNIP

10 Forward Mess Hall/Bakery

10 Forward Mess Hall and Bakery are connected directly to the ship’s gym at the front of the secondary hull. They curve around in a half arc contouring to the gym area. The Mess Hall has 2 replicators and about 20 people can be housed here comfortably among the assorted tables. The ship’s Bakery is small but provides regular fresh baked goods during morning and evening shift change over for quick snacks by the ship’s crew.

That’s a fun little detail, and I’m definitely glad that you added it.

SNIP. The subsections I’ve excluded look good.

AUXILIARY SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS

SNIP. This is okay.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

SNIP. This is okay.

Offensive Systems
Torpedoes
Torpedo Tubes
* 2x Type-3 Torpedo Tubes
Standard Payload (total)
* 20x photon torpedoes
* 25x probes
* 5x empty casings for special mission needs
Phasers
* 8x Type-VII Phaser Banks

So, do you have six phaser banks or eight?

DECK LAYOUT

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Deck 7

• <strike>Astropsics</strike> Astrophysics Lab

Just a mild spelling error here.

• Astronomy Lab
• Cosmology Lab
• Upper Stellar Cartography Lab And Access
• Lower Shuttle Bay
• Shuttlebay Maintenance And Storage Room
• VIP Quarters 1-4

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SHIPS OF THE CLASS

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Conclusion

Though an older design, recent refits have brought renewed life to the aging Baker class Observers. Though few remain they continue to serve as to their original intent to seek out new life and new scientific discoveries for the Federation and her allies.

Submitted: 04/04/2020

There are still a few issues with the spec that need to be addressed, but compared to the previous draft, the issues are relatively minor. The review remains open.

Nicholas Villarreal
Engineering Director