Background
The Vesta-class was type of Starfleet starship that entered service in the late 24th century. It was classified as a multi-mission explorer and served as a test-bed for numerous Starfleet technologies. Eventually, due to the success of the class, multiple variants were developed to further increase the versatility of the multi-mission explorer line.
By the 25th century, Starfleet engineers were incorporating sympathetic fermion transceivers into Vesta-class starships as they entered space dock for repairs or were constructed new. The system created a temporary, large fermion field around the starship, which bolstered the Vesta's shields and structural integrity.
While in for a refit, the Vesta-class USS Aventine was given several upgrades and dubbed a new subclass. The Aventine variant had a sharper saucer and pylons that angled forward, giving the class a more sleek profile than the original Vesta.
A quantum field focus controller was also installed in the Aventine variant. This allowed the starship to reroute main power to its deflector dish, which then enabled the vessel to fire a quantum field focus phaser through its main deflector.
As with the Aventine variant, Rademaker-class was developed as part of a refit of the USS Rademaker. The variant was a loose hybrid between the standard Vesta and the Aventine variant. It had a more oval saucer and larger nacelles, as well as a wider shuttle bay.
The Rademaker variant was also equipped with a multidimensional graviton shield, which provided protection for the starship from the effects of gravity wells and other spacial phenomena.
Further expanding on the standard Vesta, the Brigid-subclass was developed by drawing upon the technological advancements of the early 25th century. Implemented into the Brigid variant's design was the isometric dispersal array, which allowed the starship to release a single, devastating, cylindrical blast of electrical energy. Enemies struck by the blast suffered heavy electrical damage to their ships' systems and interrupted engine power.
During the design of the Brigid-subclass, two variants of it were also in development. The Esquiline variant was built upon the tremendous success of the Rademaker-class and was among the most technologically advanced Federation starships when it was introduced. The variant included an omni-directional tachyon wave siphon, which allowed the Esquiline to drain the shields of nearby enemies while bolstering its own secondary shields.
More tactically focused that the other multi-mission explorers, the Palatine variant of the Brigid-subclass was built upon the success of the Aventine-class at combating the Borg and the multitude of other hostile forces Starfleet engaged in the early 25th century. The radiation bombardment matrix of the Palatine-class allowed the starship's deflector to periodically bombard enemy starships in its frontal arc with deadly radiation. This interrupted ship systems and caused irritation, nausea, headaches, and dizziness in most species.
Affiliation: Federation of Planets
Ship Type: Multi-mission explorer
Class: Vesta
Manufacturer: Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards
Crew: 750 plus 500 passengers
Passengers: up to 8,000 in emergencies
Notable Ships of Class:
U.S.S. Vesta - NX-82600 (former); NCC-82600 (current)
U.S.S. Aventine - NCC-82602
U.S.S. Caelian - NCC-82608
U.S.S. Capitoline - NCC-82617
U.S.S. Palatine - NCC-82613
U.S.S. Quirinal - NCC-82610
U.S.S. Viminal - NCC-82619
USS Rademaker (NCC-82603, refit became prototype of Rademaker variant)
USS Esquiline (NCC-82614)
USS Hypatia (NCC-92601)
MDC BY LOCATION:
Saucer Section - 66,000
(1B) Bridge - 6,500
(1) Engineering Section - 66,000
(2) Main Sensor/Communications Array - 12,000
Lateral Sensor Arrays (164) - 800 ea
(3) Main Hanger - 18,000
Secondary Hanger - 12,000
(4) Warp Nacelles (2) - 30,000 ea
(4) Impulse Engines (2) - 10,000 ea
Small Guidance thrusters (many) - 200 ea
Small Airlocks/Access Hatches(many) - 100 ea
Large Airlocks (4) - 300 ea
Outer Hull (per 40 ft area) - 150
Interior walls (per 20 ft area) - 50
Type X/200 Phaser Arrays (6) - 4,000 ea
Type X/50 Phaser Arrays (9) - 1,000 ea
Variable Torpedo Launchers (6) - 1,400 e
(5) Shields - 22,000 per side (132,000 total)
AR - 16
Armour - Stops up to and including Type VIII Phasers and Mk VII* Disruptors.
NOTES:
1 - Depleting the MDC of the Engineering Section will put the ship out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity.
1B - Destroying the Bridge will automatically switch control to main engineering in the engineering section. Once control is established in engineering the efficiency of the vessel will only be affected as follows: -5 to all combat rolls and attacks per melee are halved.
2 - Destroying the main sensors will deprive the ship of all forms of long range communications, radar and targeting. The range and targeting capabilities of the secondary systems are equal to that of a shuttlecraft at best. The ship can still operate, but is at -3 on initiative, -3 to strike, and number of attacks per melee of the weapon systems are reduced by half.
3 - Destroying the main hanger, the ship will not be able to deploy any craft until it is repaired. Under normal operations the carrier can launch or recover up to 3 shuttles per melee.
4 - Depleting the MDC of the the warp nacelles will force the ship to rely on its Impulse engines. Depleting the MDC of the Impulse engines will leave the ship adrift in space with very minimal movement allowed by its guidance thrusters. If in an atmosphere, the ship will crash.
5 - Shields regenerate at 800 mdc per melee. Only if a generator is damaged will the ability for shields to regenerate be hampered
SPEEDS:
Speed - Realspace: mach 7 full impulse acceleration
Quantum Slipstream Drive: Transwarp 34+. Transwarp has theoretical upper "speed" limits of 100s of Lightyears per second but due to navigational difficulties, anomalies and dangers, travel velocities are typically limited to approximately 1000 lightyears per hour when used.
Warpdrive: Cruise Warp 9.9 (0.351 Light years per hour), Maximum Cruise Warp 9.995 (1.244 Light years per hour), Maximum Warp 9.998 (1.935 Light years per hour) for 10 hours.
Maximum Range: 5 years of constant deployment
STATISTICAL DATA:
Length: 672m
Height: 88m
Width: 195m
Weight: 3,321,630 tons
WEAPON SYSTEMS:
WEAPON: Type XII/200 Phaser Arrays (6)
PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Ship
SECONDARY PURPOSE: Assault
RANGE - 330,000km maximum
DAMAGE: 7d4x100 per blast
RATE OF FIRE: single fire or use gatling gun burst rules
PAYLOAD: Unlimited
BONUSES: +4 to strike
WEAPON: Type XII/50 Phaser Arrays (9)
PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Ship
SECONDARY PURPOSE: Assault
RANGE - 330,000km maximum
DAMAGE: 1d6x100+100 per blast
RATE OF FIRE: single fire or use gatling gun burst rules
PAYLOAD: Unlimited
BONUSES: +4 to strike
WEAPON: Variable Torpedo Launchers (6, 3 forward, 3 rear)
PRIMARY PURPOSE: Anti-Ship
SECONDARY PURPOSE: Assault
RANGE - 800,000km maximum (Unless fired at warp speeds then range is much greater, being upwards of 3,800,000km maximum)
DAMAGE: 1d6x1000 per high yeild photon torpedo, 3d6x1000 per quantum torpedo
RATE OF FIRE: single fire or volley fire 10 per launcher twice per melee (up to 10 separate targets can be atacked with each volley)
PAYLOAD: 350 high yield photon torpedoes and 450 quantum torpedoes total on board
BONUSES: +5 to strike in single fire mode, +3 to strike in burst fire mode.
SYSTEMS OF NOTE:
COMMUNICATIONS: Subspace communications network has a direct range of 30 light years but can be boosted to near unlimited via subspace network booster relay stations.
LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS: Can support full complement for several years.
LONG RANGE SENSOR SYSTEMS: Calibrated for use while travelling in interstellar space. High Resolution setting has a range of 8 light years. Low to Mid Resolution has a range of 25 light years. Systems included; Wide angle active EM scanner, Narrow angle active EM scanner, 2.0m diameter gamma ray telescope, Variable frequency EM flux sensor, Lifeform analysis instrument cluster, Parametric subspace field stress sensor, Gravimetric distortion scanner, Passive neutrino imaging scanner and Thermal imaging array. Gives a +20% bonus to Sensor Skill Rolls in High Resolution mode and a +120% bonus to sensor skill rolls in low Low to Mid Resolution mode.
SHORT RANGE SENSOR SYSTEMS: Calibrated for use while in a star system. Range is several million kilometers. Systems included are the same as those used by the Long Range Sensor Systems. Gives same bonuses as the Long Range Sensor Systems.
NAVIGATIONAL SENSOR SYSTEMS: Focused through the Long or Short Range Sensor Systems depending on the ships current location and mission. Systems included; Quasar telescope, Wide angle IR source tracker, narrow angle IR/UV/Gamma Ray imager, Passive subspace multibeacon receiver, Stellar graviton detectors, High energy charged particle detectors, Galactic plasma wave cartographic processor, Federation timebase beacon receiver and Stellar pair coordinate imager. Gives a +15% bonus to sensor skill rolls.
LATERAL SENSOR ARRAYS: Have a range of several hundred thousand kilometers. Systems included ; Wide angle EM radiation imaging scanner, Quark population analysis counter, Z-range particulate spectrometry sensor, High energy proton spectrometry cluster, Gravimetric distortion mapping scanner, Steerable lifeform analysis instrument cluster, Active magnetic interferometry scanner, Low frequency EM flux sensor, Localized subspace fields stress sensor, Parametric subspace field stress sensor, Hydrogen filter subspace flux sensor, Linear calibration subspace flux sensor, Variable band optical imaging cluster, Virtual aperture graviton flux spectrometer, High resolution graviton flux spectrometer, Very low energy graviton spin polarimeter, Passive imaging gamma interferometry sensor, Low level thermal imaging sensor, Fixed angle gamma frequency counter and Virtual particle mapping camera. Gives a bonus of +20% to sensor skill rolls.
MULTI-ENVIRONMENT CREW QUARTERS: One of the features of the Luna-class was the highly adaptable life support systems in place throughout the ship, including unprecedented customization of crew quarters. This allowed the crew roster to include a far greater diversity than most Starfleet vessels, whose life support systems usually mean ships were crewed dominantly by one race only. IE if a crew member is from a predominately aquatic world, thus typically resides underwater, or if a crew member is from world with a different atmosphere, say methane, their personal quarters can be altered to accommodate that though they may still require some form of equipment likely to function normally outside of their quarters.
COMBAT BONUSES:
+3 to dodge vs other capital ships
-8 dodge attacks from starfighters etc
Craft COMPLEMENT (STANDARD):
Shuttlecraft - 12 Shuttlecraft, 4 Runabouts
Auxiliary Craft - Several Workpods and Large EVA Suits
REFERENCES USED IN THIS DESIGN
Star Trek Encyclopedia
DITL - Daystrom Institute Technical Library
Spacedock Starship Recognition Manual Volume 1 The Ships of Starfleet Star Trek The Expanded Universe
Memory Alpha
Memory Beta
Memory Gamma
Memory Omega
STO Gaming Online
Ex Astris Scientia
Advanced Starship Design Bureau
Starbase 400