Galaxy Should be Buildable

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 8:32 pm

Ignoring the buildable thing (the devs minds are long since made up on that), it would make a good heavy support ship. Like a beefed up Remore/Canaveral, making use of the peacetime tech in battle the way Starfleet actually would.

Also, the Galaxy was never a battleship, but 'merely' an explorer; while it can handle combat, it was not built with that purpose in mind. The Enterprise-D was routinely challenged by ships much smaller than itself (two b'rels in "Rascals", if I recall) so canon complaints are doubly invalid.

Plot-specific idiocy and Riker being in charge is never a good measure of a ships abilities, what a ship can do is highly variable.

Almost all Starfleet ships are designed with warship use in mind (especially one with about as many weapons as a Defiant), it's just a secondary purpose they don't focus on. Especially the flagship of a major military.

[derentis]

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 8:38 pm

Last edited by derentis on December 22nd, 2011, 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Plot-specific idiocy and Riker being in charge is never a good measure of a ships abilities, what a ship can do is highly variable.

All you need to know about Generations.

On the Galaxy - it has been phased out by newer designs and a change in Starfleet's design philosophy. I think that it is in the correct place as it is.

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 9:00 pm

Every single engagement over the course of the franchise has been based on plot convenience, not any sort of internal consistency. They win if they're supposed to win, and lose if they're supposed to lose. I don't see how you can discount some occurrences and not others.

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 9:10 pm

Trek can be quite consistent when it comes to things that aren't plot related, it's things that must happen for the plot to move foward no matter what idiocy is needed when inconsitency appears.

Things like one of the top 5 Starfleet heavy hitters being beaten by 1 or 2 junkyard Birds of Prey, despite being on the same level as Warbirds and the Vor'cha, only happens because the plot couldn't happen otherwise.

[RedEyedRaven]

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 9:16 pm

Last edited by RedEyedRaven on December 22nd, 2011, 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Things like one of the top 5 Starfleet heavy hitters being beaten by 1 or 2 junkyard Birds of Prey, despite being on the same level as Warbirds and the Vor'cha, only happens because the plot couldn't happen otherwise.

While only three TV-seasons earlier Riker was capable of pulling off a brilliant idea (not a long-thought out plan) to recapture his captain from the Borg.

On Generations the writers simply made two big mistakes on that topic:
1. do whatever is necessary to get rid of the Enterprise D to get a shiny new Enterprise for the next movie.
2. trying to show Riker can have good ideas to overcome a problem while the problem he was facing in particular just needed a punch in the face instead of "enough time to scratch the warp core while Riker and Worf babble about plasma-coils and actually discuss how to lower shields of a D-12"

On the show, Riker wouldn't have been that dumb. Blame Berman.^^

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 10:50 pm

Galaxies are comparitavly rare. So being a WarpIn is a better fit then buildable unit. However The Design is NOT past its prime. Galaxy is the Pride of Explorer Command  but in a fleet of over 30000 starships there are less then 50 Galaxies in the whole Federation.  So any commander lucky enough to get 1 in support of his opperations is a very lucky officer. Make whatever arguments you want but a Galaxy Class ship ia a tank of the 1st order. 9 Galaxy class ships participated in the 7 hour battle to retake DS9 and none of them where destroyed.  There is no need for any store line that phases out this class as they where never intended to be anything but rare. Couple this  with the ships being spread accross more then 8000 lightyears and getting 2 in the same battle without the kind of lead time we saw for the Dominion war would be a rare thing indeed. I would like to see the hitting and shield power of the FO version more closely reflect the abillities of the MKIIa Galaxy currently inservice.

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 11:01 pm

I usually just ignore the 'removed from yard' trivia and pretend they're so expensive that few Yards throughout the entire Federation builds them, player-owned yards just not being among those that do.

The pretty long list of available shipnames supports them still being built long after the war. Plus, it is kinda accurate, considering the presence of a map unit yard that builds them...

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 11:40 pm

Here's a question: from the POV of Starfleet, why would you build a new Galaxy when the resources could be directed instead towards building an additional Sovereign, which is a newer, more capable design that is not only more advanced (systems-wise) than the Galaxy, but also has a wider (and more relevant, post-war) mission profile?

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 11:46 pm

Not enough info to answer, as it would require knowing that your claims about the Sovereign are accurate when canon has nothing about the Sovereign except 'well-armed and has a comfy bar'. It would also require that the Galaxy is incapable of being built with newer tech than the original ones.

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 11:50 pm

The Galaxy is actually the second-best regular warp-in you can get, right after the Ambassador. [...]

Uhh? The Enterprise C is stronger than the Enterprise D, which is the flagship of the federation 22 years later?  :blink:


Back to topic:
There are more or less 5 (?) generations of ships.
1. Constitution/Miranda
2. Excelsior
3. Ambassador/Constellation
4. Galaxy/Nabula
5. Intrepid/Akira/Defiant/Prometheus/Steamrunner/...

I am "neutral". If the Galaxy is buildable, the Nebula should also be buildable (then you could put out the non-canon ships).

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 11:54 pm

Not best as in stronger, best as in more useful. The Galaxy in-game has all 3 values higher than the Ambassador.

posted on December 22nd, 2011, 11:57 pm

Here's a question: from the POV of Starfleet, why would you build a new Galaxy when the resources could be directed instead towards building an additional Sovereign, which is a newer, more capable design that is not only more advanced (systems-wise) than the Galaxy, but also has a wider (and more relevant, post-war) mission profile?

That is because the Soverign is  the next generation of heavy cruiser and Galaxy is an Explorer. While Soverign is capable of most exploration missions her primary intended roll is a mixture of patrol and diplomacy with exploration is secondary and Galaxy is primaraly designed for Exploration first. Besides there is no evidance stating that the latest examples of the Galaxy don't include the same weapons and computer hardware improvments that are standard on Soverign. Starfleet's Civilan oversite would not let Starfleet significantle curtail its exploration programs and Galaxy is just a more capable platform for the mission.

5. Intrepid/Akira/Defiant/Prometheus/Steamrunner/...

Akira and Steamrunner are Tacfleet ships dating from the 2350s. Both designs have all the halmarks of Galaxy era designs. Compressed Z axis primary hulls and the more forward placed Necelles. Plus all the Registry numbers bear that out.

posted on December 23rd, 2011, 12:09 am

The Sovereign was never a heavy cruiser, and it filled the same roles as the Galaxy; why else would Starfleet commiseration one as their new flagship? You may have forgotten, but Insurrection opens with the Enterprise-E hosting a diplomatic function.

posted on December 23rd, 2011, 12:15 am

Nothing implies they share the same roles, neither is the Enterprise-E referred to as the flagship of the fleet. I never said it isn't capable of diplomacy, but that only needs a place to meet and discuss (like the bar I mentioned).

posted on December 23rd, 2011, 1:04 am

The Sovereign was never a heavy cruiser, and it filled the same roles as the Galaxy; why else would Starfleet commiseration one as their new flagship? You may have forgotten, but Insurrection opens with the Enterprise-E hosting a diplomatic function.

Soverign Class masses 3.205 million metric tons
Akira Class Heavy Cruiser masses 3.055 million metric tons
Galaxy Class Explorer MKIIa masses 5.1 million metric tons

Dispite her great length Soverign is significantly lighter and has significantly less internal volume the Galaxy. While the overall design is of the linage as Galaxy many of the primarry features of Soverign more closely ressemble  Akira. Features like multiple mid capacity burst fire torpedo lunchers and substantal hanger space. Add to that simalar tonage and crew capacity and the logical conclusion is the Soverign is intended to be a Heavy Cruiser of the same vain as Excelsior and Ambassador.