Dreadnoughts

[ThrorII]

Yeah, I like the idea that the Dreadnaut is "under construction" - which could mean it is still on the drawing board, even though it was given a naval construction contract number. At some point there may be ONE (Finarvyn's "THE Drednaut"), and it is possible that its existence might create issues within the Federation or with the Klingons and Romulans.

[aramis]

I like all the Tech Manual ships.

In play, tho', I don't care for a fleet of only 12 cruisers. I love the overall map of the SFU...

I use, for post-5-year pre Motionless Picture era...

DN Federation Class -
CC Kongo Class - Borrowed from SFB
CA Constitution Class -
CL Andor Class - Pre-refit of the Kearsarge Class; USS reliant is second in class.
DD Saladin Class -
SC Hermes Class -
FF Burke Class - Borrowed from SFB

Fleets & Flagships (And assignment insignia):
SFHQ & Academy No Flagship. Admiralty flower
Home DN (The delta seen on the sides of the secondary hull)
Exploration CC (Ent. Arrowead)
Klingon DN (Rounded Triangle)
Kzinti CC (Rounded lozenge)
Gorn CC (Bar, perforated 5 times, as seen on USS Exeter captain)
Romulan DN (Two loops, as seen on USS Constelation)
Tholian CC (outline of top view of Tholian Cutter)
Transport CC (The squishy heart shape seen on the Antares crew)
Colonization CC (A world with ring edge on)


I use USS Starship as the prototype for the CA... it was a tech demo converted from an older design, with a 13xx series hull number...
I also assume each fleet has a commodore; the ones with a DN also have one or two fleet captains in CCs.

[Jack Photon]

The one time I used the Dreadnought was a transition era. Federation was just coming to completion as Enterprise jumped off the drawing board.  With Excelsior being sketched out, Federation was almost instantly obsolete. The one was made, others in progress were cancelled and stripped for parts.

Meanwhile after a shakedown and very short service, Federation was refit as a generation/sleeper ship.  While the ship maintained its bulwarks, weapons were downgraded for the peaceful nature of its new mission; system-control-to-Ambassador-ship.  More shuttle space and reconfigured interior to transport/stores/agro/replicators, etc.

An all-volunteer crew chose a one-way mission to the Sm. Magellanic.   Their sole mission, to espouse Federation values while filing regular reports of their explorations.  Sleep chambers were modernized versions of those studied from botany bay.  Using the Kelvins as a case study, Starfleet gave orders allowing Fed descendants autonomy from Starfleet. Only the original volunteer crew were bound by their SF oaths, though the original crew would be waking up fresh in the new galaxy, unlike the Kelvins who were indoctrinated for centuries over generations.

Back in ~1985, this campaign played out in the 24th century and instead of trying to get back home (like some ships), this crew was deliberately going further than any before or since.  Got a few games out of it with the crew waking up and a couple planet stops, but player drift killed this one.  This campaign would have allowed a non-starfleet crew, imbued with Fed values, their own destiny in another galaxy with the most powerful starship of its time.  Essentially Moonbase Alpha with warp drive and no Eagles.  Could also have gamed out a few generations of characters, like James Clavell with all his novels.  Not that I'm a James Clavell, of course. 

To do this campaign again; without players to create the first stories for later generations to recall and be descended from, even if they are all different players, I'd have to write all that history out and plug players in wherever it seemed a good moment.  When did key characters die off?  What kind of factions over time?  Runaways, stowaways and consequences...  Ugh.  I don't wanna be like James Clavell that much!

It's the kind of campaign that could have been passed around from GM to GM over decades to build upon.  Now, where did I park my time machine? ...

[Falconer]

Great story, and a really cool idea! Another point for versatility of the “just one Dreadnought” concept.