Back in 2016, Star Trek Online celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise with the release of the “Agents of Yesterday” expansion. This involved a new faction (Starfleet in the 23rd century) but it was also connected to the Star Trek Online main plot through some time-traveling shenanigans. It might be messy to meld altogether from an RPG standpoint but we’re doing it all so here we go!
This post originally appeared on my site Mephit James’ Blog.
In this post, I’ll be talking about the specifics of ships in the 26th century, default rules for the era similar to the rules I wrote for 25th century ships. The second post will be about specific spaceframes and then the third will be about crazy time-jumping ships.
26th Century Systems and Departments
Just like all eras of play, spaceframes in the 26th century have +3 spread over their six Departments. They have larger ratings for Systems, though, and a design from the year 2500 should have a total of 72 points and a maximum System rating of 14. This leads to some fairly high Target Numbers for ship rolls so players might want to take advantage of the following rule.
Immersive Console Displays
By the year 2500, console interfaces on ships feature projected holograms and intuitive processing that allows a massive amount of data to be displayed effectively. This accounts for the many examples in Star Trek of 26th century ships crewed by one or a few people. When attempting a Task assisted by a starship, characters may choose to use the immersive functions of their console. This allows a character on the bridge to assist another character with their Minor Action. Normally (as described in the core rulebook, p. 81-82), assisting with a Task takes up a character’s entire Turn. With immersive functions, however, a character assist with only their Minor Action and use their normal Task for something else (see p. 171-174).
26th Century Weapon Options
As in the 25th century, quantum torpedoes are default armaments and starships may have more powerful weaponry with the Advanced Torpedoes Talent. Additionally, the three delivery methods for energy weapons that are provided in the core rulebook (arrays, banks, and cannons) are still in use but increases in efficiency have increased the damage output of each by +1. Additionally, the following two delivery methods are available to spaceframes designed after 2500.
- Lance: Once limited to the Devron- and Yamato-class exploration cruisers, energy lance weapons are now standardized design options and no longer require a special Talent. Lance weapons have a Range category of Medium and their damage is increased by +3. Additionally, these weapons have Piercing 2, Vicious 1, Calibration, and High Yield.
- Turret: The heavier version of cannons, turrets are most often found on large battleships and dreadnoughts. Turret weapons have a Range category of Close and the weapon’s damage is increased by +4.
New 26th Century Talents
The 26th century is a pretty different world from the time of The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. These Talents, developed from Mastery abilities in Star Trek Online, can update spaceframes to the technology of the 26th century. These Talents, as well as Advanced Torpedoes, can be added to the list of Talents that ships with the Multirole Explorer, Tactical Operations, or Crisis and Emergency Response Mission Profiles. Obviously military vessels can make use of these Talents, but anyone headed out into the frontier and all the potential enemies out there can benefit from these improvements.
Devastating Weaponry
Requirement: 2500 or later.
As a rule, Starfleet chooses military action as a last result. When it’s required, though, Starfleet’s ships need to be able to stand up against enemy fleets with powerful weapons. The ship’s energy weapons all gain the Devastating Quality (core rulebook p. 232).
Enhanced Hull Plating
Requirement: 2500 or later.
The hulls of 26th-century spaceframes are generally stronger than earlier spaceframes, but this ship’s superstructure is especially resilient. The ship’s Resistance is increased by 1 (as with Improved Hull Integrity) and against energy weapons and radiation sources its increased by a total of 2.
Rapid-Repair Nanites
Requirement: 2500 or later.
Using technology adapted from the Borg, this ship is able to assist its crew in repairing itself. This Talent includes all the benefits of the Improved Damage Control Talent (core rulebook, p. 256) and additionally there is a chance of very rapid repair of ship Breaches. When a character takes the Damage Control Task and is successful, they can immediately spend Momentum to actually remove the Breach instead of just removing the effects of it. The cost for this depends on the current damage Threshold of the System.
| Threshold | Momentum Cost |
| Damaged | 2 |
| Disabled | 4 |
| Destroyed | 6 |