The U.S.S. T’Kumbra (NCC-62100) is a Nebula Class starship with an all-Vulcan crew. Captain Solok was the commanding officer in 2374 and 2375 during the Dominion War. The T’Kumbra was on the front lines, and survived many encounters. It arrived at DS9 in 2375 for an overhaul of its warp core and upgrades to its inertial dampener systems. The Nebula-class can have different mission pods, and as it was on the front lines in the War, I went with a Tactical Operations Mission Profile and a Weapons mission pod. If employed before 2374, it could have a captain besides Solok and a different mission pod, but it’s up to you.
U.S.S. T’Kumbra (PDF, 2374 version)
I include here a version created through the official Modiphius app.
U.S.S. T’Kumbra (PDF, Generator version)
Featured Starship articles spotlight established starships that you can use as a ship for players for immediate play (such as for a demo or convention game), or as an NPC ship in your campaign. Some are a natural fit with characters from the Featured Crew articles. Only Core Rulebook rules will be used (with perhaps a few special exceptions, such as the spaceframes from the Command Division supplement).
One thing to clarify: I see in all of your Featured Starships that you always use the rulebook’s year for when each ship entered service, and progress the refits from there, up til 2371. But of course not all ships of the same class enter service in the same year, and not all will be refit at the same time or in the same way either (which is why the rules allow for different refits), depending on Starfleet’s needs at different times.
So would you comment on how you decided on the launch year, and why not make it a later year, closer to 2371? Is it just a placeholder, for GMs to adjust as needed? Is it assuming that each ship is as old as possible? Something else?
Presumably, it’s because the T’kumbra was seen in an episode set in 2375, at a point when a Nebula-class ship would have one refit under her belt or be commissioned with comparable upgrades.
No, it turns out that it’s because I didn’t read the rulebook properly. I didn’t look properly (until now) on page 237, where it clearly says that the refits are applied in 10 year intervals after the *class* enters service, not after the individual vessel enters service.
So, with the rules as written, starships can somehow benefit from refits that occured before they were even built. For example, the Excelsior class was first seen in 2285, but if you build a brand new Excelsior (let’s say the USS Hypothetical) in 2306, it’s presumed to be built with the 2295 and 2305 refits, already incorporated into its original construction.
I guess there’s some logic in that, benefitting from technological advances since the original blueprints were drawn up. It’s just not the way I originally read it, and I’m still not entirely sure that it fits with the idea that the refits are customisations for individual starships.
That’s correct, the T’Kumbra’s appearance date is later due to the DS9 appearance. Otherwise I would go with 2371 as default.
As for the service date, it makes things easier because the official app seems to go with the oldest service date to calculate refits. Simplest to go with that and let GMs adjust as needed.
The Lakota next week has two versions, one before and one after the DS9 episode it appears in.
Nice work with this. 🙂
As part of the C-17 Globemaster program, I can verify that some refits are as we call it “Cut-In” to production. Thus while producing aircraft for 20 years, the later aircraft have the benefit of the technology (and lessons learned) and they are built in thus reducing retrofit costs to the program and ensuring (as much as possible) a homogeneous fleet.
Thus, the oldest date for retrofit calculations makes sense, even if the ship isn’t that old.
OH! and P.S. Great work with this site. You create great content for all of us.