Defiant-class

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:24 pm

I had a quick question about the classification of the Defiant-class in FO.  Its role has certainly been expanded in from the one it held in both Armada and Armada II vanilla.  I was curious as to why it was designated as a battleship as opposed to cruiser or destroyer even.  When compared to the Sovereign, which is clearly a battleship, the Defiant is inferior in both size, crew, and armament so why call it a battleship?

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:29 pm

Because it is a Battleship. It was identified as one on an LCARS display on-screen.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:29 pm

Erm .. well it's inferior to a Sovereign, yes, but it's superior to just about anything else the Feds have.

 It's a battleship because the Defiants in Star Trek are treated much more like extremely dangerous and capable vessels (built for one purpose only: "TO fight and defeat the Borg" - Sisko

 It's smaller, yes, but so what?  Size doesn't always dictate strength in these situations.


Ninja'ed by Tyler  :shuriken:

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:41 pm

I only included size in the argument because traditionally larger vessels have the space to house more/better weapons and power supplies for them.  I'd gues I'd be curious to see the exact comparison between power generated by the Defiant's weapons and say the Akira's or Intrepid's.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:49 pm

I only included size in the argument because traditionally larger vessels have the space to house more/better weapons and power supplies for them.  I'd gues I'd be curious to see the exact comparison between power generated by the Defiant's weapons and say the Akira's or Intrepid's.

Power output is also not necessarily an indication of how powerful a ships armament is. By design the defiant could have more space dedicated for Photons and Quantums than even much larger vessels that are designed more for exploration or science; not combat. Also the number of launchers should be taken into consideration as this affects the firepower of each volley. Moreover the power requirements for Pulse Phaser Weapons is not the same as the constant stream of a phaser from an Akira or an Intrepid.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:51 pm

The way I see it is today in modern navies the Battleship has been replaced by the Cruiser as the main combat warship.They are smaller than old Battleships and less resource intensive.Put a guided missile cruiser up against even a refitted Iowa and you've got a seriously one-sided battle on your hands.Size doesn't dictate power.Remember that the meanest Federation ships have quantum torpedoes which are much more powerfull than standard photons.

Think of it this way,a Sabre is near the size of a Defiant roughly.The Sabre is equiped with your standard Federation loadout.Phaser arrays,micro-photon torps,shuttlebays etc.Compare that to the Defiant.The Defiant has a beast of an arsenal at her disposal for her size,speed and manoeuverability.Besides the Feds aren't in the habit of building warships so she is technically one of Starfleets only 'Battle Ships'.

[Tyler]

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:52 pm

Last edited by Tyler on January 15th, 2010, 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's strength also comes partly from fast firing weapons rather than just powerful ones.

Where did ther Sabre's Micro-Photons come from?

They are not in the habit of building ships designed only for war, but have defensive battlehips like the Galaxy and Sovereign anyway.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 8:55 pm

All good points.  I guess that answers my question then.  Thanks.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:00 pm

The Micro Photons are smaller so that a small ship can carry almost the double amount of torpedocasings as it could if they were of standard size. Also, Micro photon's are weaker.
The Saber (if reading SOME of the available descriptions) is armed with a specialised launching "turret" that could fire small volleys of micros in more directions a normal launcher could. But I doubt that information a little, since I didn't really ask the inventors of the design for the movie or series (Saber appeared in DS9, too)

[Tyler]

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:03 pm

Last edited by Tyler on January 15th, 2010, 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I know about them, I meant where was it said that the Sabre has them? Memory Alpha only says Photon, not Micro-Photon...

In fact, the only ship that apparently uses them are the Danube Class. Which is only in the DS9 Tech manual, which is (although non-canon and often not reliable) only a background source that isn't permitted in the main articles of MA.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:04 pm

The Micro Photons are smaller so that a small ship can carry almost the double amount of torpedocasings as it could if they were of standard size. Also, Micro photon's are weaker.
The Saber (if reading SOME of the available descriptions) is armed with a specialised launching "turret" that could fire small volleys of micros in more directions a normal launcher could. But I doubt that information a little, since I didn't really ask the inventors of the design for the movie or series (Saber appeared in DS9, too)

Hmm... I would be interested to see where this info comes from. Because even Runabouts can be equipped with micro-torpedo launcher attachment on the top. So it's not inconceivable that a Saber could also be outfitted similarly. But the ship is not THAT small. You would think that it would be equipped with regular photons... maybe not many but still.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:06 pm

I know about them, I meant where was it said that the Sabre has them? Memory Alpha only says Photon, not Micro-Photon...
In fact, the only ship that apparently uses them are the Danube Class.

Lolz, one time I modded in a Daunbe into FO just for the hell of  it, and I actually put on micro photons, not knowing they actually launched them

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:08 pm

Lolz, one time I modded in a Daunbe into FO just for the hell of  it, and I actually put on micro photons, not knowing they actually launched them

Well it isn't standard equipment... but some Runabouts have a hard-point on the top to mount auxiliary sensors or in this case an auxiliary micro-torp launcher.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:09 pm

Well if my memory serves me correctly,the SCE series of books mentions that the Sabre had Micro-Photon launchers.That and I've seen a number of mods for different Star Trek games where a weaker,faster firing torpedo was used on the Sabre.

That and using her small size as an advantage,a large number of small anti-matter impacts on an enemies hull at close range could prove more effective than an equally powerfull volley of larger torpedoes.

posted on January 15th, 2010, 9:09 pm

Where did ther Sabre's Micro-Photons come from?

  First Contact Sabers fire torpedoes.

Ninja'ed by everybody.