No Steamrunner Why?

posted on December 31st, 2009, 12:26 pm

Giving it a phaser doesn't need to impare the artillery role.

The special weapon could give it a Tricobalt launcher for a set (or random) time and disable the Phaser, or a refit similar to the Klingon 'Call to Arms' could permenantly replace the phaser and weaken the shields a bit (Tricobalt launchers probably take more power than a phaser).

posted on December 31st, 2009, 4:26 pm

Giving it a phaser doesn't need to impare the artillery role.

The special weapon could give it a Tricobalt launcher for a set (or random) time and disable the Phaser, or a refit similar to the Klingon 'Call to Arms' could permenantly replace the phaser and weaken the shields a bit (Tricobalt launchers probably take more power than a phaser).

That makes the most sense to me - an Artillery on (relative) demand, where the phaser is the main weapon otherwise. I.E. perhaps keep the Tricobalt Launcher special, but have the main weapon be a long ranged phaser or something. Then again... having a non dedicated artillery vessel makes it similar to an Intrepid in FO in some regards...

posted on December 31st, 2009, 5:23 pm

Still ... kind of a cool idea that keeps within the realm of the Feds being flexible for whatever role they need to have.

posted on December 31st, 2009, 11:27 pm

I always thought the akira should have been the artillery ship instead of the steamrunner

posted on December 31st, 2009, 11:31 pm

Akira is more of a Torpedo spam-cruiser. Though if you want an artillery ship with 15 Tricobalt launchers, it's your bases funeral...

posted on December 31st, 2009, 11:32 pm

I always thought the akira should have been the artillery ship instead of the steamrunner

yeah, she looks better and with her 130million (or so) torp launchers, it would be logical....

posted on January 1st, 2010, 6:05 pm

The Akira will be elevated in status in one of the next patches to reflect that rather amusing statistic

posted on January 1st, 2010, 8:52 pm

Bleh.  I hope not.  I think she's fine as she is.  Besides, memory alpha on the same page says 2 photon torpedo launchers, which makes more sense.  Don't fix what's not broken!

If they move the Akira up to the Euradi Yard, then move the Defiant down and make it a lvl 2 ship with the stats it has now so we can use more Defiants.

posted on January 1st, 2010, 8:55 pm

I agree with mal.


however I would like to see the steamrunner correctly sized.  it should be smaller than the skira, and should be fast.  I don't like it being an artillery bucket, but you cankt always get what you want now.

[Tyler]

posted on January 1st, 2010, 9:03 pm

Last edited by Tyler on January 1st, 2010, 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Bleh.  I hope not.  I think she's fine as she is.  Besides, memory alpha on the same page says 2 photon torpedo launchers, which makes more sense.  Don't fix what's not broken!

Tech manual info, plus a manual that is blatantly wrong many times. 2 is seriously underpowered for a warship with only 3 phasers (from what I can see on the hull and counts of others of the weapons on the model) and doesn't take into account the model itself.

Hardly makes sense to design a warship with very little offensive capability unless you want a Starfleet warship that is on par with stock BC Galor Class. That makes sense for an Akira?

posted on January 1st, 2010, 9:51 pm

I like where the Akira sits in the game, now.  I just can't stand how you see so few of them in comparison to Warp-ins.  Only once the game has progressed to the point where Akira production can quickly and efficiently outpace Warp-in replacements do they start to really shine.

  Although that first Akira you get with defensive patterns really makes the difference. 

posted on January 1st, 2010, 10:29 pm

Well, the tech manual says six phasers, that doesn't seem too underpowered.   And since when has number of weapons ever been an indicator of strength for starfleet vessels.  They rarely fire more than one at a time, or they'll fire on and then another immediately after the other.  Again, offensive power is given from the strength of the phaser beam itself, not how many strips it has.  The only reason you have multiple phasers is so that you can cover every angle.  And no, I don't where those other phasers are, because I don't care too much.   But most starships usually have 2 on the saucer and a bunch in the back to cover all the angles the engineering section creates.

But where are these 15 torpedoes launchers?
I could see 2 in the front and 2 in the back of that big launcher on the rollbar, but not 7 in the front and 7 in the back and 1 who knows where.

We've seen in trek you can fire a burst of 4 or 5 at a time from one launcher.  Why do we need 15?

He further stated in his July 1999 "Designing the Akira-class" interview, appearing on page 48 of the Star Trek: The Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 3, "This was my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier. It has 15 torpedo launchers and two shuttlebays &nash; one in front, with three doors, and one in the back. I really got into it with this one, with the whole idea that the front bay would be the launching bay, and then to return they'd come into the back, because they'd be protected by the rest of the ship."

So the guy who designed it says there's 15.  But he's also like "hey, the fighters could come in the back of the starship while its shields are down so the fighters would be protected.....leaving the starship itself completely defenseless.  Remember, this is the guy who made the Akira to do everything, anytime, anywhere.  It's an incredibly small ship, but has squadrons and squadrons of fighters and 15 torpedo launchers.  You'd run out of torpedos pretty quickly if you fired volleys out of all of them.

I think I need to design a ship of my own.  It'll be called the Akira-II.  It's my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier that's a little bigger than a defiant but has all the amenities of a galaxy class starship, including amassador suites.  It has 10,000 self-replicating quantum torpedoes, just incase I run into another Shinzon.   Oh, and it has hologenerators on the outside of the ship that create multiples of my ship so you're not sure which one to target.  And it has a legion of space monkeys, ready to board your ship with lethal space monkey action!  I'll be the next Alex Jaeger!

posted on January 1st, 2010, 10:35 pm

Now Mal, that's just silly! 

[Tyler]

posted on January 1st, 2010, 10:40 pm

Last edited by Tyler on January 1st, 2010, 10:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well, the tech manual says six phasers, that doesn't seem too underpowered.   And since when has number of weapons ever been an indicator of strength for starfleet vessels.  They rarely fire more than one at a time, or they'll fire on and then another immediately after the other.  Again, offensive power is given from the strength of the phaser beam itself, not how many strips it has.  The only reason you have multiple phasers is so that you can cover every angle.  And no, I don't where those other phasers are, because I don't care too much.   But most starships usually have 2 on the saucer and a bunch in the back to cover all the angles the engineering section creates.

But where are these 15 torpedoes launchers?
I could see 2 in the front and 2 in the back of that big launcher on the rollbar, but not 7 in the front and 7 in the back and 1 who knows where.

We've seen in trek you can fire a burst of 4 or 5 at a time from one launcher.  Why do we need 15?

I've seen it only fire a burst of 3 in FC, each individual torp from a seperate launcher in the pod. 1 Phaser on the top of the saucer, 2 on the bottom with no apparent aft arc.

Visual inspection of the hull and design drawings show all fifteen: ten on the ships weapons pod, one forward torpedo launcher over the deflector dish and also four flanking torpedo launchers on the saucer.

So the guy who designed it says there's 15.  But he's also like "hey, the fighters could come in the back of the starship while its shields are down so the fighters would be protected.....leaving the starship itself completely defenseless.  Remember, this is the guy who made the Akira to do everything, anytime, anywhere.  It's an incredibly small ship, but has squadrons and squadrons of fighters and 15 torpedo launchers.  You'd run out of torpedos pretty quickly if you fired volleys out of all of them.

500 meters is small? It's over 3 quarters the size of a Galaxy (by the creator's claim). I read a theory that it uses single-shot launchers instead of burst ones. 15 single-fire launchers are a lot harder to take out of use than 2 burst-fire ones (more to hit and the loss of one won't effect your offensive as much), and fires more torps than 2 burst-shot ones (15x1 or 2x5, which it the larger number?).

I think I need to design a ship of my own.  It'll be called the Akira-II.  It's my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier that's a little bigger than a defiant but has all the amenities of a galaxy class starship, including amassador suites.  It has 10,000 self-replicating quantum torpedoes, just incase I run into another Shinzon.   Oh, and it has hologenerators on the outside of the ship that create multiples of my ship so you're not sure which one to target.  And it has a legion of space monkeys, ready to board your ship with lethal space monkey action!  I'll be the next Alex Jaeger!

When you make that, send it to me. I need a new Enterprise.

posted on January 1st, 2010, 11:20 pm

Well, isn't half of that length just spaceframe/nacelles?  And it doesn't look like there's much to the saucer.  The bridge looks large compared to the saucer as well, so while it might have a decent length, it doesn't look like it has a decent volume.  We've made fun of the designer before for trying to make it an everything ship, all of the things he says are on it would definitely fit on a galaxy class with some modifications, but not on a ship doesn't have the depth of a galaxy and lacks a proper secondary hull.

As far as phasers, we don't really know for sure how many it has screen wise, do we?  We know how many the Enterprise-D had because we saw it from all angles, but not all the little phasers fired on the show.  I would be very surprised if the Akira couldn't cover all arcs, because that seems to be a starfleet norm.  Chalk it up to the "vison" of our brilliant designer, Alex Jaeger if he forgot to add them.

As far as launchers, most starships are taken out if their shields are gone.  Or, if you're in a DS9 episode, you've forgotten to raise your shields and get 1 shot anyway.  So the theory of it being harder to take out all of the torpedoes doesn't sit right with me.  Besides, they'll just go "offline" until you're able to restore them at a critical moment and save the day.   And some of those launchers are off to the side. 

How many torpedoes does Alex Jaeger think a ship carries, anyway?  The reason you don't have 15 launchers is that torpedoes are a powerful but limited resource.  You usually stick to phasers until you have someone clearly in your sights and then you slam them with photons or quantums.  Just 10 volleys and you've fired 150 torpedoes!  That just seems ludicrous to me.

When you make that, send it to me. I need a new Enterprise.

I'll call it the Enterprise-I, my close-to-canon-as-possible version that rips off...I mean pays homage to the Constitiution, Galaxy, and Sovereign classes, with some designs that will become precursors to the Enterprise-J!