Intrepid variations & possible upgrades

posted on February 15th, 2011, 8:16 pm

I was wondering about the Intrepid and the possibilities for its development.

Fleet Operations is situated 20 years after the Dominion war and i find it difficult to grasp that a versatile design such as the Intrepid would not be upgraded in some way.

If there were upgrades, what would be the most likely in your opinion?

For me I'd say that some of the voyager upgrades are likely to be implemented. Before anyone shouts "endgame ablative armor upgrade" and "transphasic torpedoes" i know that the former is considered as a mixed tech unit and the latter would be hard to balance.

The astrometrics lab however with an increased sensor range and possible close range cloak detection could be interesting as a researchable upgrade.

It is also possible that the Intrepid class at least has Ablative armor to protect some critical areas.
Weapons upgrades could include Phaser Pulse Canons (Intrepid is a highly maneuverable vessel) and Quantum Torpedoes.

The shield system could be upgraded to be an Auto modulated shield system to better cope with Borg and Dominion weapons.

Think of this topic as a brainstorm session so let loose those ideas.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:01 pm

well making it pulse armed would be wrong i think. the monsoon is the small ship hunter, with speed and the proximity torp. intrep is a big ship/station killer.

having a ship take reduced damage from a particular race or races is iffy.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:03 pm

Just put in the Warship Voyager and I'll be happy.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:10 pm

It is also possible that the Intrepid class at least has Ablative armor to protect some critical areas.

Wouldn't static armor slower the ship down or at least limit its agility? Makes no sense for an Intrepid to become a real tank.

The astrometrics lab however with an increased sensor range and possible close range cloak detection could be interesting as a researchable upgrade

1. (FO-view) we already have the Venture and the Canaveral -especially on veteran-rank- to fulfill such tasks.
2. (general view) Except for the Defiant (may be!), I don't think any Starfleet-ship doesn't have astrometic laboratories. Considering how small this lab was on the Enterprise during TNG (while it was laaaaarge in Generations) I think even a Venture could have such a thing...

Just put in the Warship Voyager and I'll be happy.

I'd be happy about that one, too.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:19 pm

Just put in the Warship Voyager and I'll be happy.

Perhaps the third federation avatar will have the warship voyager as a high end vessel  and if that doesn't happen we can always root for it being added as a capturable map object 

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:21 pm

Capturable map unit? Imagine if the Borg found it first...

I doubt Starfleet would put proper ablaitive armor on the Intrepid, though; while it's not weak exactly, it also isn't a warship. They're more patrol/long-range survey ships.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:24 pm

Wouldn't static armor slower the ship down or at least limit its agility? Makes no sense for an Intrepid to become a real tank.


1. (FO-view) we already have the Venture and the Canaveral -especially on veteran-rank- to fulfill such tasks.
2. (general view) Except for the Defiant (may be!), I don't think any Starfleet-ship doesn't have astrometic laboratories. Considering how small this lab was on the Enterprise during TNG (while it was laaaaarge in Generations) I think even a Venture could have such a thing...

I'd be happy about that one, too.

Increased weight, not necessarily. The Prometeus had Ablative armor and it was pretty maneuverable.

The astrometrics lab would only detect on short ranges much like the em-field of the scout cube and if the upgrade was added in the same manner as the newton upgrade it would be a good addition IMO.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:25 pm

i thought the intrep was a torp spammer?

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:30 pm

I doubt Starfleet would put proper ablaitive armor on the Intrepid, though; while it's not weak exactly, it also isn't a warship. They're more patrol/long-range survey ships.

Not to mention that the ablative armor wasn't even intended to be on Defiant-class vessels (which was implied by Benteen in the episode "Paradise lost"). Not even the Admiral knew, however it still could count to the Defiant's unofficial stuff.

Increased weight, not necessarily. The Prometeus had Ablative armor and it was pretty maneuverable.

The astrometrics lab would only detect on short ranges much like the em-field of the scout cube and if the upgrade was added in the same manner as the newton upgrade it would be a good addition IMO.

1. The Prometheus had a different propulsion layout and was a very much different shiptype, presumably with way more power in the core.

2. The astrometics lab is existant on almost every Starfleet-vessel. So why single out the Intrepid then? And as I said; ingame two fed-vessels already do the increased-sensor-range-and-cloak-detect-stuff.
Why adding even more research into that direction? To confuse players?

[Andre27]

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:31 pm

Last edited by Andre27 on February 15th, 2011, 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Capturable map unit? Imagine if the Borg found it first...

I doubt Starfleet would put proper ablaitive armor on the Intrepid, though; while it's not weak exactly, it also isn't a warship. They're more patrol/long-range survey ships.

It also safe to assume that with the lessons learned from the Dominion war even smaller vessels would receive an armor boost. It doesn't mean the whole ship is covered, but only critical areas such as the bridge, warp nacelles and engineering.

There is a mentioning that ships such as the Akira and Galaxy were fitted with Ablative armor. It makes sense that it like that would be added during a mid-life upgrade.

Edit: about the astrometrics lab: not intended to be confusing. As i mentioned, this is a brainstorm session to come up with ideas.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:37 pm

One thing I have to ask: have you guys even seen the current veteran Intrepid?  It's a freaking BEAST.

25 offense, +44% rate of fire all weapons, +100% phaser damage to shields. (phasers are 1/3 intrepid damage, although they might receive a higher percentage upon rankup)

That makes their offensive value 48 vs shields.  It's safe to say they're strong enough already.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:45 pm

One thing I have to ask: have you guys even seen the current veteran Intrepid?  It's a freaking BEAST.

25 offense, +44% rate of fire all weapons, +100% phaser damage to shields. (phasers are 1/3 intrepid damage, although they might receive a higher percentage upon rankup)

That makes their offensive value 48 vs shields.  It's safe to say they're strong enough already.

There are few ships which aren't beasts at veteran level. This is to discuss possible variations on the standard Intrepid, possibly ideas on how the veteran/elite could evolve. There is after all a federation redo in the works.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 9:48 pm

Edit: about the astrometrics lab: not intended to be confusing. As i mentioned, this is a brainstorm session to come up with ideas.

Sorry, but you didn't suggest anything new.  :sweatdrop:

Knowing the game, suggesting astrometics lab as a research to give Intrepids sensor boosts and partial cloak detection however is really something the Venture already has; so this would add nothing but a copy of an existing special with a different name on a different vessel. And on Veteran-rank, Canaverals can do cloak-detect as well.


What Intrepids could need is some fancy stuff which underline its layout as a fast and agile cruiser. Complicated manouvers with a cool looking firing pattern or the use of some more unconventional weapons for example, like Tuvoks difficult antimatter-manouver.

posted on February 15th, 2011, 10:03 pm

The one displayed here:
Fighter Hangar Bay

Attachments

posted on February 15th, 2011, 10:08 pm

Unconventional methods are going to be incorperated into the Federation later, though there's no mention of whether or not the canon ones'll be the ones used.