Spaceframe: Federation Class

A guest spaceframe post by Mark Compton, the Federation Class.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The original Starfleet Technical Manual gave us this amazing beast of a ship. And she was a beauty, even if you have to ask “why is there a navigational deflector facing aft?”. It always made me wonder if the ship could travel at warp –in reverse–? Still, it was designed by Franz Joseph who wrote the entire technical manual as it is. (You can also look on the web for re-draw/re-design of the class to be used in Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator table-top game). It is hard to look at the Federation-class and not think that whoever was working in visual for “All Good Things…” had not seen this design. No other ship ever seen on screen had a third warp nacelle, and yet in AGT we got a refit Enterprise-D with a third nacelle. I wonder where that idea came from? So, please enjoy my spaceframe for the class, and I hope you can find a use for it in your game.

Commissioned: 2248 Federation-class starships were retired from service after 2300

OVERVIEW

The Federation-class starships were Starfleet’s first (and only known attempt) to field a dreadnought in answer to increased conflicts with the Klingon and Romulan empires. The Federation-class was the largest and most powerful ship of its time. The original concept was to take the basic design of the Constitution-class and improve upon all capabilities. However, they still proved to be less than a match for dreadnoughts of other respective stellar powers were fielding. Federation dreadnoughts were typically commanded by a flag officer. Most remained docked at a Starbase as the cost to operate them was found to be prohibitive. One of the primary flaws in the design was the tri-nacelle configuration. This design proved problematic to establish and maintain a stable warp field. Even with these failings, after the success of the Constitution-class refit, the few remaining Federation-class vessels underwent similar refits starting in the 2280s. 

CAPABILITIES

The Federation-class was designed to include more capability than the Constitution-class before her, but with only a minimal increase in overall firepower. When the warp field could be established and stabilized, the ships of this class were capable of a maximum speed of Warp 8. Mounting seven banks of phasers, and two torpedo tubes, the dreadnought was supposed to be a formidable battlewagon, and yet Starfleet found it faired battle in hostile engagements by relying on the trusted Constitution-class.

CREDITS: Star Trek Adventures Spaceframe: Mark Compton; Original Federation-class design: Franz Joseph

Entered Service: 2248

SYSTEMS

COMMS	07	ENGINES	09	STRUCTURE	08
COMPUTERS	07	SENSORS	08	WEAPONS	09

DEPARTMENTS

COMMAND	+1	SECURITY	+1	SCIENCE	—
CONN	—	ENGINEERING	+1	MEDICINE	—

Scale 4

Weaponry

• Phaser Banks
• Photon Torpedoes 
• Tractor Beam (Strength 3)

Talents

Federation-class starships have the following Talents:

• Rugged Design
• Command Ship

CREDITS: Star Trek Adventures Spaceframe: Mark Compton; Original Federation-class design: Franz Joseph