No Steamrunner Why?

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:10 pm

I really hope this doesn't become another "MAKE WARPIN SHIPS BUILDABLE DAMMIT" topic =_=....

Anyway, after viewing a number of posts on the matter, I completely understand the reasons as to why the Galaxy, Ambassador, Excelsior and Nebula class ships aren't buildable. However, I haven't seen a reason for why the Steamrunner isn't buildable. It's design came out with the Akira, Norway, and Saber class ships, all of which are buildable. Can someone elaborate?

On a side note, would it be possible to give the Steamrunner a phaser in addition to it's Tricobalt? It is canon, as I have seen it shoot phasers more than once during the War. Wouldn't have to be a powerful phaser, or one that shares the Tricobalt's Artillery range. Just to give it a little something to better defend itself. I find it incredibly annoying to have each Steamrunner I send into battle destroyed quickly due to not-that-high Def Value and lack of another means to defend itself.

[Tyler]

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:16 pm

Last edited by Tyler on December 30th, 2009, 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Stamrunner age isn't known, but if the registries are sequential, then it (along with the Akira and probably Norway and Saber) would be older than the Galaxy. The Steamrunner is probably picked as a Warp-In because it's artillery.

I asked about the Phaser before, but people want it to have none of its canon weapons (canon-wise, a phaser is all it has) so that it cannot defend itself against ships and has to rely entirely on escorts. It goes completly against Starfleets normal common sense and design preference, but is because it is specialized for stations, not ships.

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:19 pm

I always found it funny that in stock A1 the Steamrunner only has the artillery torpedo, yet in the game's opening movie we see a Steamrunner unload phaser fire on a Borg Cube. It would make sense to give the Steamrunner a phaser imo.

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:21 pm

I asked about the Phaser before, but people want it to have none of its canon weapons (canon-wise, a phaser is all it has) so that it cannot defend itself against ships.

Not so. During First Contact, I'm pretty sure I saw a Steamrunner or two fire some Quantums at the Cube, after Picard ordered the fleet to concentrate on that one spot

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:22 pm

The explanation Optec has given is that it is a rare vessel.  Steamrunners are powerful against buildings, especially with their special.  So the Devs didn't want you to have too many of them by making them buildable.  As far as canon goes, the steamrunner has always been an artillery ship in armada, and someone has to fill the role.  The steamrunner just got nominated for it.

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:24 pm

Not so. During First Contact, I'm pretty sure I saw a Steamrunner or two fire some Quantums at the Cube, after Picard ordered the fleet to concentrate on that one spot

The only Quantums fired in FC were from the Enterprise, Steamrunners only have a Phaser. Nothing else, it also has nowhere on the hull to fire torps from.

The explanation Optec has given is that it is a rare vessel.  Steamrunners are powerful against buildings, especially with their special.  So the Devs didn't want you to have too many of them by making them buildable.  As far as canon goes, the steamrunner has always been an artillery ship in armada, and someone has to fill the role.  The steamrunner just got nominated for it.

Hardly counts for canon, just game developers for A1 and A2 not knowing about it's canon weapons.

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:26 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on December 30th, 2009, 9:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Starting with Armada the trend has been to give them artillery weapons ... and that presumably is how it will stay.

From the guide storyline wise:

Steamrunner Class
The Steamrunner class was designated as a 'long range tactical cruiser' and is one of the very few military vessels in Starfleet. During the Dominion war many of these very flexible starships have been refitted with experimental technology, including Tricobalt Torpedos. These vessels are in the emergency Warp-In list because they were only produced in very small numbers and are not yet part of a usual mass production program (only within the last three years of the Fleet Operations timeline).

That should really explain everything.

However, if they get a phaser they will just become another phaser/torpedo boat - no more artillery. Even the Newton will probably lose its phaser at some point down the road. Although FO maintains a lot of canon stuff, there have to be some things geared to gameplay otherwise all vessels would be practically the same, with just minor strength adjustements. Afterall, the Saber has torps and beams, so does the Intrepid, the Norway, the Akira, and the Galaxy in official Star Trek canon.

EDIT: minor clarification

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:31 pm

Like I said, it doesn't really need a powerful phaser. I would just like something like a short-range phaser, with enough power to make quick work of ships like scouts, but not powerful enough to be the thing that saves it from large battleships

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:32 pm

Yeah, I should have stated that better, Tyler.  I didn't mean that Armada should take precedence over the movie, but that the steamrunner has always been this way in the games, and if we need a dedicated artillary unit, we might as well stick with the ship that is familiar in this role.


Here's a few links on Optec's thinking regarding the steamrunner.

//www.fleetops.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,3/topic,4228.msg71258/#msg71258

//www.fleetops.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,3/topic,4272.msg72571/#msg72571

Like I said, it doesn't really need a powerful phaser. I would just like something like a short-range phaser, with enough power to make quick work of ships like scouts, but not powerful enough to be the thing that saves it from large battleships

Oh no.  Not the phaser argument again!

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:33 pm

Please read what I post ISS Enterprise D . The Steamrunner that is in FO is not your standard First Contact Steamrunner  B)

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:41 pm

Alright, it makes more sense now. Oddly though, I'm having a harder time accepting this reason than that of the Galaxy.  Not all things canon are written in stone when it comes to ship stats in this mod. Ah, well...

Staying on the discussion of Warpin ships, I heard talk a while ago about something to do with Optec and a New Orleans class becoming a warpin ship. Is this a fact, or some other rumor that flops around time to time?

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:43 pm

Just remember, it's a game: can't have everything solidly like it was on one show or another, otherwise... well, every five minutes the stats would change 

New Orleans will be in - but there is no information on whether it is a Warp In or not

posted on December 30th, 2009, 9:46 pm

New Orleans is a Galaxy-Era ship, chances are that it will be Warp-In.

posted on December 30th, 2009, 10:02 pm

The Stamrunner age isn't known, but if the registries are sequential, then it (along with the Akira and probably Norway and Saber) would be older than the Galaxy. The Steamrunner is probably picked as a Warp-In because it's artillery.

http://www.ditl.org/paglineage.php That's about right.

posted on December 31st, 2009, 12:18 pm

we are thinking about changing the armament of the steamrunner to become more like in the shows (well or in the film at last ), but that leaves us with a hole in the artillery sector. we are working on it, one of the next patches will feature a lot of new content and content changes, so yea, its on todo