Runabouts (Fighters) for the Fed Outpost!

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:03 am

So I liked the new fighter feature in 3.1 SO much that I wanted to see similar things ... without making it silly of course.


So I'd like to propose that the Fed Starbase get either as their final offensive upgrade or as a seperate upgrade (like the Tavara's cloak) the ability to have a few Runabouts spawn like Fighters and circle the station.  Because fighters really have quite a wide roaming radius they would be able to protect things from random harassment as well!

  I say this because the fighters have proven themselves to be a VERY exciting gameplay addition and this idea might be a good way to add the sassy little Runabouts back into the game without just making them a lame scout.

  Perhaps having them be a little stronger than normal Peregrine Fighters, yet only spawning maybe 3 or 4 at a time they would stay well within balance.  I personally like the idea of them being a seperate upgrade as the Feds have (maybe besides the Rommies) the worst beginning Station weapons.


  Maybe having stats that are 1.5 times the Peregrine and firing phasers with Micro-torpedoes?

  Could be fun! 

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:13 am

I'm not sure about how much power the runabouts should have, but I think you might be overpowering them. However, I do like the Idea; it would boost the power of outposts nicely, mostly prevent ships sitting out of range and destorying it.

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:41 am

Haha well the numbers can always change.

  I said a little bigger than the Fighters because I really had in mind the DS9 episode where the Odyssey and a few Runabouts go through the wormhole and fight a couple Jem'hAdar fighters.  The Runabouts were used like fighters while the Odyssey got pwned.  That's where the idea came from.

  And I don't think starbases ever really die to ships firing from outside their range, but it might be a fun way to have some slight cover on your mining ships and stations (not like the Feds really need more base cover) ...

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:00 am

I'd love it if the Fed's used Runabouts as station defenses. I love the whole fighter system so much... a pity they are not that widespread in Trek.

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:20 am

I have suggested that idea numerous times for like mining station defenses, and starbase defenses and such, to give the stations without weapons a little kick, it was shot down every single time..........

however, i am still in support of this idea, though it would be cool if like a fed mining station could some fighters that could be lauched in an emergency, like a special weapon, and would go around in a radius, preferably big enough to cover 1-2 moons and protect mining and such, maybye they could use point defense phasers and sacrifice themselves to prevent damge to mining and mining station, and have a total  offense power of 20, and could be destroyed, or if not destroyed would go away in 30-60 seconds and have a cool down time, (range could be implemented by how weapon range is now) i think this could be a good addition for other stations too, or at least a point defense phaser,

in fact i would think almost all fed ships seeing as the feddies value peoples lives, would have point defense, by all ships i mean the contructor the mining freightors, and maybye repair, possibly support, idk

also a danube had been designed by zeich heres the link

[url=http://www.nathanzeichner.com/blog/?p=39 ]Quit Running About | Tarken Network of Stars[/url]

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:37 am

Well, while I think you've got some good idea's Ray ...

 
  I'd like this to be limited at the moment to JUST what I'm suggesting.  Maybe if not a special upgrade for the Starbase then perhaps having a single runabout from the Nebula or Galaxy in place of a different special?

  Just something to give a little character .

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:44 am

yeah i understand that boggz, just had to put in my two cents, so are you suggestion that a nebula or galaxy deploy a runabout? and if so what role would it have?

what you could do if you wanted to implement it on ships is to have it be the captains yacht, that is a little bigger then a runabout i think, and better armed, or maybye a delta flyer, as that seems more combat oriented,

i do like the idea for a starbase, however is it confined to an area, or how far can they go, and then my question is, does a starbase really need that, i mean it already packs a pretty powerful punch, especially with the current upgrades, maybye if there were alot of fighters it could be worthwhile, but in my opinion it all depends on the number, or, you could just go with weapons upgrades, and maybye the model might change,

the reason why i like fighters for stations without weapon systems, is just that, they have no weapons

hopefully you can clarify exactely what your idea is

posted on January 21st, 2010, 3:28 pm

Hate to break it to you Ray, but this has also been suggested in one of the first posts in this forum - by PD. It was also shot down the first time. And the second time he mentioned it. And the third time... and so on. 

That being said, I like the idea that for the Feds that could be the second tier of defenses - a unique defense. If that were included however, I'd want it for NO other factions as I'd prefer further diversity for the homebase defenses.

[RedEyedRaven]

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:37 pm

Last edited by RedEyedRaven on January 21st, 2010, 4:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Another possible reason against topics like that could be that runabouts are already planned (the models are already done), but their exact purpose ingame is yet to be figured out and not yet decided by the devs, at least as far as I know.
And if every topic like this has been ignored or "killed" so far, I don't think they want to make fighters out of "starfleets smallest starships". Which wouldn't suit them anyway.

But if the idea is more about fighters than about runabouts I'd like to ask if someone here has ever played the PSX-game "Star Trek: Invasion".

In this game, the federation has a very interesting (and double-purpose) carrier-prototype alongside a fighterclass that is also quite beautiful (the mobile outpost U.S.S. Typhon, class probably also called "Typhon" and the Valkyrie-Class fighters namely). On A2-files you could have a look on them:

http://armada2.filefront.com/file/Typhon_and_Valkyrie;85983

The Typhon class can either launch fighters and wait until they've done their work, or she changes to blue alert, closes the hangar to power up some pulsephaser-turrets in the "Fortress mode" (was awsome in the game).

Edit: Included a link.

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:43 pm

My only prob is you'll have to do it to all others (maybe not Borg though).

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:47 pm

No you wouldn't, that would be making FO like stock.

posted on January 21st, 2010, 4:59 pm

Whats the obsession with fighters? It has never been a major part of Federation strategy, for that matter any race that I can think of. Except maybe the Maquis but that's probably only because they could never get their hands on say a Sovereign. And fighters suit their tactics.

Fighters are a part of our contemporary understanding of what combat elements should be included in an arsenal. Has anyone ever seen a federation tank?... didn't think so...

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:04 pm

I fail to see why you would have to do that as well. The Peregrine fighters look to large to be regular fighters perhaps they could become fighter bombers while a smaller ship like the valkyrie could become a regular fighter

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:07 pm

Fighters are a part of our contemporary understanding of what combat elements should be included in an arsenal. Has anyone ever seen a federation tank?... didn't think so...

Bad example; we have only seen land forces in detail once, and that was during AR-558 (that's the right number, right?). Undersupplied, downtrodden and almost broken platoons are not a good example at all for things like Tanks, ect.

Whats the obsession with fighters? It has never been a major part of Federation strategy, for that matter any race that I can think of. Except maybe the Maquis but that's probably only because they could never get their hands on say a Sovereign. And fighters suit their tactics.

People apparently like them, I guess. They do use them and I'm not sure why the Avalon isn't sufficient. They should just tweak that rather than add another carrier.

posted on January 21st, 2010, 5:17 pm

Who said anything about adding another carrier?