Flagship Ideas?

posted on March 19th, 2009, 3:32 pm

I was thinking about the concept of the vaunted flagships to possibly come in the future and such, and then began getting some ideas.  Since it popped into my head, I thought I'd share, and hope the devs like them.  Sorry Dommies, I didn't have any great ideas for you...

Borg - Optimize Avatar Flagship - Sphere Prime 007
    One of the oldest Prime Spheres in the collective, it's millenia of operation has brought about changes in it's very composition.  It's hull, after many regeneration cycles where it was forced to strip resources from it's environment, is now made of a unique blend of Neutronium and a metal that the Borg refer to as Material 2978367.  This has made it astoundingly durable, able to withstand many times the firepower that a standard Sphere Prime could endure.  (Mechanically, it's a 3 beam, 1 Prime sphere, possibly more, with a unique ability that I've called in my head 'Perfect Alloy', giving it a 50% or greater reduction to all damage against it.)

Federation - Mayson Avatar Flagship - USS Repulse NCC-2544
    One of the most successful Excelsior-class starships ever, and one of the vessels who fought in the front lines of the Dominion Wars successfully, always coming home, Admiral Mayson has called the Repulse to his service.  Applying his technical expertise to this vessel, the Repulse has received a number of upgrades increasing her ability to hold a battleline.  (Mechanically, her stats should probably be similar to an Excelsior-II, and the special perks that Mayson provided is as follows.  'Finely tuned systems - The Repulse has a 20% increase in shield, hull, and subsystem repair rates.'  'Hold the Line - This special ability allows the Repulse to reduce it's movement speed by 50%, increasing Shield Regeneration and firing rate by 100%.  This ability lasts until turned off.')

Klingon - Taq'roja Avatar Flagship - IKS Vendetta
    Taq'roja has always been fond of unorthodox vessels and tactics, so the rare D'tai-class Bird of Prey was a natural fit for her.  Few of these battleships were built, but through unknown channels, she has acquired one of the giant BoP.  Applying technological advancements of the past 20 years, she has been able to correct the majority of flaws that led to the Negh'var entering full production while the D'tai only had a limited run.  (A battleship-size BOP, with nearly the same manuverability, but vastly increased firepower and durability.  Not as durable as a Negh'var, even with her reinforcing it to compensate for things the empire's designers could not when they built her, however she is vastly more manuverable.  This grants the Vendetta the passive ability 'Nimble Warship - The Vendetta has a 30% evasion rate against torpedoes.')

Romulan - Flagship (Avatar not decided) - IRW Decius
    Originally thought to have only been a trick played on Riker, it was later revealed that the Decius is very much a real D'deridex, with a fearsome reputation throughout the Romulan Star Empire.  Held in reserve during the Dominion War in order to keep the Star Empire able to present a threat to those along her other borders while such a large number of ships were deployed, the current situation has brought the dreaded Decius to the front lines.  Crewed only by the most talented and skilled available, posting to the Decius is a matter of great honor in the Star Empire, and her crew works tirelessly to maintain her reputation.  (A D'deridex with statistical upgrades, improved movement rate, a 20% increased rate of fire, and her cloak replaced with 'Supreme Cloak'.)

posted on March 19th, 2009, 3:42 pm

I just use a Battleship prototype for the Dominion flagship. Maybe theirs could be the prototype of the prototype?

[Dircome]

posted on March 19th, 2009, 4:04 pm

Last edited by Dircome on March 19th, 2009, 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good ideas i was thinking Risner could use a Defiant called the USS Lion. I cant picture Martok in anything but a Negvar, i was thinking that it should be called Quonos 1. The breen avatar should get a Breen battleship, while the puretech should get a s-7. I was thinking the other rom avatar should get the Norxean. and the Borg assimilation avatar should get a Diamond or a Pyramid

posted on March 19th, 2009, 4:13 pm

Cube for Assimilation, Diamond for Optimization?

I can picture the Romulans using a D'deridex due to it's status.

In the show, Martok's Negh'Var was the IKS Negh'Var.

posted on March 19th, 2009, 5:27 pm

Sorry for black painting your ideas, but I don't know what should be the advantage of such a flagship?

I think it should not be an “one ship armada", but if it isn’t I see no reason to build it. In a storyline it maybe would make sense to have it, but not in such extensive battles like in FO.

In short: A lot of work (eg balancing), that the never sleeping guys who make these great mod could use more sensitive.

posted on March 19th, 2009, 5:31 pm

I don't use them for any particular reason, I mainly have it as 'my' ship. You know, go into battle, give the fleet it's orders, then select the flagship and control it like you are in the captain's chair yourself.

A ship that could enhance the abilities of nearby allies is the most common use for them.

posted on March 19th, 2009, 5:40 pm

I like the idea of a Defiant-class flagship for the feds, it's exactly what I should have thought of

I'm using the Premonition as a placeholder atm, but it's not quite working yet

posted on March 19th, 2009, 6:00 pm

The main reason I picture them the way I described is mostly thematic.  The Enterprise-E, physically isn't much better than most Sovereign-class vessels, and is likely nearly identical to the Sovereign itself (as the name-ship is often used to test technology for the rest of the line before they risk putting it on other vessels.)

As for building it, I wasn't thinking that you build it.  I was thinking that when you start, it's part of the free units you get, and can possibly save you if you just got the unfortunate luck to be placed at the start right in the path that everyone is going through to kill each other.  Generally battleship-grade, not so powerful that you could send it over to kill your opponent's base, but not so weak that early ships are likely to beat it without large numbers.

Most likely use for it would be to hold that critical first Tritanium expansion in the beginning.

[Anonymous]

posted on March 19th, 2009, 6:29 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on March 19th, 2009, 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I love the idea of flagships.

Dominion Dreadnought for sure for the Doms (both avatars). Has no impact on the cap for mixed tech dom dreads
this one should have torps AND the heavy beam. since it is 1 of a kind, it should certainly be a worthy representation of the monsters we saw on the show.


the flagships - each with their unique abilities and pumped up stats would be a great addon to the FO fleet.
There is very little tactical or strategic value here though, just the fun of having a ship that has a unique look and feel which packs a little punch.

Im for flagships 100%

posted on March 19th, 2009, 7:49 pm

Very nice ideas, i like them a lot.

I guess the first ship to reach maximum experience will become that factions flagship (of course only a certain ship class will be eligible). I´m against the free starting unit thing, too much concerns about early advantages.

And i think a Defiant would be a bad choice for a flagship, it´s simply too small. Flagships hover behind their Fleets, coordinating the battle, and a defiant is a frontline ship, and probably the first to blow up. It doesn´t make sense to expose your fleet command so carelessly.

posted on March 19th, 2009, 8:51 pm

Perhaps each avatar would be allowed to "warp in" the flagship at a specific tech level (perhaps every race gets to research "flagship") ... likewise instead of dying in battle, the flagship would warp away when less than 10% hull remains (or something like that). After a certain amount of time to allow for "repairs", the flagship could warp back in  . Other than this, the flagship may be repaired and recrewed as any other ship?

For the rest of Silent's post, I quite like the ideas 

posted on March 19th, 2009, 8:54 pm

the way i have my flagships set up they are warped in a certain point, i helps keep this from becoming unbalanced.

Dominion Dreadnought for sure for the Doms (both avatars). Has no impact on the cap for mixed tech dom dreads
this one should have torps AND the heavy beam. since it is 1 of a kind, it should certainly be a worthy representation of the monsters we saw on the show.

but this strikes me as becoming unbalanced besides what fun is it to have the exact same flagship, imo my idea reflects the differences between the 2 avatars.

In the show, Martok's Negh'Var was the IKS Negh'Var.

oops  :D

posted on March 20th, 2009, 7:14 am

I personally prefer that you start with it, and possibly even adding the alternate victory condition of 'destroy flagship', like in the stock SP missions where if you lost the flag, you lost the game.  Thus, another strategic mode and when invoked, a very good reason to not use your flag as a harrasser of any kind.

Of course, I also very much prefer that if you lose it, it's gone for good.  Completely unique vessel, which matches well with a 'destroy flagship' and steps away from the increasingly common 'well, time to rebuild the commander from my barracks'.

posted on March 20th, 2009, 7:47 am

Just one thought:

A flagship (unique, thus rather powerful) will make all early attempts to decimate the enemy improper. If you attack the enemy in its base, it will sloughter you with its flagship. If you send your own flagship with your attacking fleet, one flagship is likly to get destroyed, thus the game will be unbalanced from now until the players have normal capital ships ready to counter the flagship.

That has to be overcome, e.g. the flagship warps to your main base after a spezific time, preferably after 25min.

posted on March 20th, 2009, 11:54 am

In both FO & the original A2, I had it as a starting unit. It never caused much of a problem because it's Shields/Hull were only slightly stronger than the others of it's class while the weapons were identical.

It could never beat a Starbase.