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Wednesday, August 25, 2004 USS Steamrunner  The Steamrunner Class began production at the same time the Akira Class did. And, as the Akira Class was to be the next full production Heavy Cruiser, the Steamrunner was to be the next Heavy Frigate. Its design was revolutionary at the time, and, still is a break from the traditional Starfleet design philosophy. Heavy shielded bulkheads are required to protect the crew from the intense radiation associated with the bussard collectors, which are built right into the hull. This method of bussard design was later incorporated into a similarly radical vessel, the Bradbury Class Heavy Cruiser. The Steamrunner's four rapid-fire torpedo tubes replace the need for multiple weapons-pods her predecessor, the New Orleans Class, depended on. Big, powerful, and downright ugly, the Steamrunner Class has been in the midst of every major military action over the past three decades. Eighty were lost to the Dominion during the course of the War. To date, 177 Steamrunner Class frigates are deployed across the Federation, and six additional hulls are laid out each year, two at Utopia Planitia, two at Antares, and the remainder at several undisclosed yards. During the late 2340's Starfleet became increasingly worried about the average age of the ships in the fleet. Although vessels such as the Miranda and Excelsior class were performing adequately as mid sized cruisers and destroyers, these designs dated back between 50 and 100 years and were lagging behind the latest technology despite frequent refits. Rapid expansion of the Federation was also putting a great strain on both the exploratory and defence capacities of Starfleet, and although the Nebula class was under development Starfleet was predicting that it would be unable to meet all of its commitments by 2365. The Steamrunner design was fielded in the early 40s along with the Saber as part of a major fleet wide program of modernization. Essentially the Steamrunner's serve a similar function to the modern day Intrepid class - a smaller, faster counterpart to the cruiser class ships which would be deployed in large numbers to augment the more capable designs. The first of the class was launched in 2342, and series production began after a six month flight test program. The Steamrunner introduced several innovations into Starfleet; she was the first to be equipped with an isolinear computer system rather than the duotronic system then in use. Her hull form was also rather unusual in appearance; the angular profile of the primary hull was claimed to be an inherently stronger shape than the traditional circular/elliptical shape, allowing a reduction in the thickness of the structural beams which decreased the overall vessel mass by some 12%. This made for greater acceleration at both impulse and warp. However, some flaws have surfaced in the design; Steamrunner class ships which engaged in extended periods of high warp speed found some cracking in the structural members of the primary hull. Several fixes were tried to correct this problem; Starfleet finally found that a combination of a modified Structural Integrity Field system and slight changes to the Warp drive itself eliminated the harmonic vibrations which were causing the problem. Those vessels already damaged had to have some of their main hull support structure replaced, a task which set construction of the class back some time. Although the Steamrunner is relatively limited in its capabilities to perform scientific and exploratory functions compared to a larger ship, its real difficulties lie in the diplomatic area. The Steamrunner is capable of holding only limited diplomatic venues. Despite this the Steamrunner's have proved their worth in diplomacy, helping to settle many matters in sparsely populated areas where Starfleet's "big guns" rarely make an appearance. Today the Steamrunner is beginning to take a more back seat as the Intrepid class becomes more common. Thirty six of the class were recently been rebuilt as border patrol craft. This involves a reduction in Shuttle craft Facilities by approximately 50% in favor of a larger load of photon torpedoes and a refit to the shield generators. Serving with the Typhon Sector Fleet, these ships were heavily involved with the Borg attack of 2373 where they suffered severe casualties. Steamrunner class ships served as scouts during the war with the Dominion. CREDITS All Models/Textures: Created by Deemon ODF additions : Added by Major A Payne 8/25/2004 10:56:36 AM USS Akira  With 25 new vessels being turned out a year since 2365, the pride of the Fleet is the Akira Class Heavy Cruiser. Fast, maneuverable, and sturdy, sixteen ships alone were lost to the Dominion War. The Akira's heavy armament, defensive armor, and sheer mass mark it as the preferred ship of the line of the Federation Starfleet. Presently, one hundred and five are serving throughout Federation Space, and no end is presently scheduled in the production life of the Akira Class. With the first Cardassian war beginning, Starfleet ordered new weapons designs to be tested and new ships to be built. The Akira Class was one of the first ships to be fitted with the new systems being tested. These included the rapid -fire photon torpedo launchers, the Type X phaser banks, and the starship separation system. The prototype photon torpedo launchers were located only in the aft weapons module in case of a malfunction in the rapid injection system, protecting key systems such as the computer core, and more importantly, the warp core from danger of an internal explosion. If a malfunction occurs, the torpedo will detonate inside the ship. Compared with the Active production vessels, the Separation sequence was very different, seen by the designers as more of a escape option rather than two separate functional starships. This is shown in the design that the main bridge is located on the saucer, with no bridge in the Stardrive section. The drive section could be controlled from main engineering if necessary. The tests of the new systems proved successful, especially in the rapid-fire photon launchers and a forth launcher was added into the saucer section as currently seem. The Akira-class starship is classified as an Heavy Cruiser starship. It is designed for deep-space exploration and defensive missions. Its advanced armament also make it a formidable warship. The Akira utilizes a new, more efficient warp design that allows it to safely travel at warp speeds without damaging subspace. It also features the bio-circuitry and gel packs developed and refined in the Intrepid-class starships. In 2373, the Borg began an invasion of the Federation and a Borg cube set a direct course for Sector 001, Earth. Four Akira-class starships, including the USS Akira and the USS Thunderchild NCC-63549, were part of Admiral Hayes' fleet. Along with the new Sovereign-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E, they were instrumental in stopping the Borg vessel from assimilating Earth. They also played a major part in the Dominion war in 2374. CREDITS Nine of 9 8/25/2004 10:49:10 AM USS Viper  The Viper clas is the latest fighter design from Starfleet. Armed with two Class E phaser banks, the Vipers provide a quick response tactical fighter for the defense of the Federation. A single Viper is not much to speak about, but when a swarm of these advanced designs descend upon a target, even the bravest captain is given pause. Very maneouverable, this class is hard to target with standard phasers or photon torpedoes, and only the advnaced tracking systems of the newer pulse phasers have a decent chance of striking this craft. CREDIT Neon 8/25/2004 12:47:41 AM Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Updates Several updates have been completed. First up are some changes to the Federation's outpost, mining station, and pulse turrets.    CREDITS Outpost and Mining Station - Ben Maxwell Pulse Turret model design : activision mostly textures : captn fingers-with small sections taken from textures by reddraggon lightmap : captn fingers mesh : captn fingers and activision Ship and station explosions are more dramatic now with the inclusion of newbie of all newbs' Fun Fun Explosion Pack. I had to tone it down a bit though, caused too much damage the way it was, but the sound of a ship biting the dust is just awesome. The weapon textures have been redone by using Rake's weapon textures. Much more canon that what Activision supplied. 8/24/2004 04:01:24 PM Tuesday, August 17, 2004 USS Hudson  The Hudson class first entered Starfleet service in the 2290's. Designed around the proven Excelsior class components ensured an advanced and durable class of long-range dilithium freighters. The Hudson's expanded the scope of Starfleet's mining capability further than any other class of freighters. A common sight across the Federation for decades, the Hudson class are projected to remain in service for many decades more. Armed with a single Class G phaser array, the Hudson class needs protection when operating in dangerous areas. CREDITS Modeling and Texturing by *Deemon* Converstion to SOD by *Deemon* all buttons and wirframes by Thunderst 8/17/2004 12:48:34 PM USS Curry  The Curry was originally designed in the 2280's as a transwarp-capable construction carrier which would replace virtually every large construction vessel then in service. The ship was developed in parallel with the Excelsior class, and was essentially a heavily modified version of that vessel. The saucer section gutted of all science and diplomatic facilities, most of the crew quarters and the weapons systems. The space freed up was used to install the new transwarp power core and supporting machinery, with a pair of nacelles attached directly to the saucer outboard to port and starboard. The neck section was also retained, but the engineering hull was removed entirely from the basic design to be replaced by any one of several types of modular cargo carriers which were designed. The Curry would be by far the fastest construction craft ever fielded, giving Starfleet great power and flexibility in its ability to deploy large cargos within and beyond its own borders. Unfortunately, the transwarp drive which was the heart of the Excelsior/Curry project proved to be a costly failure which never succeeded in making a successful flight. With the Excelsior, the designers designed standard warp coils to fit the existing nacelles in order to allow the ship to travel at normal warp speeds. Although these ships would never reach the heights of flight performance which had originally been hoped for, as with their Excelsior cousins the Curry still had an excellent space frame and basic systems, and proved to be a great success in service. The ships rapidly became a common sight and have continued in service ever since, as the fleet's premiere construction vessels for decades. The Curry is armed with two Class A phaser banks, providing a minimal defense capability. CREDITS Model : 9 OF NINE Textures : 9 OF NINE Buildbutton : Porty Wireframe : Porty Ad'Log Pic : Porty Odf : Porty 8/17/2004 12:27:08 AM Sunday, August 01, 2004 Mod Beginning  It begins today, the genesis or Armada : Alpha Dawn, my personal vision of what Star Trek Armada should be. Just some general info about the mod, ships will be more resistant to damage, resulting in longer build times. Since the fighter in the original game are just about worthless, I'll be changing the weapons so that fighters are a more difficult target. This means a large flotilla of fighters will actually be amenace instead of a nuisance. Each race will be more diverse, and almost all features of the races will be diferent, such as build time, repair time, boarding party strength, and over 50 other attributes that will vary between the races. The Borg are out, being replaced by the Cardassians. The Federation will be fairly balanced, being above average in a few areas, average in the rest. The Klingons will be oriented towards weapons and shields, but will be weak in life support. The Romulans will be masters of stealth and sensor technology, while the Cardassians excel in engine technology, with some of the fastest ships in the game, along with above-average weaponry. Phasers will come in seven classes, phtotn torpedoes will be one class, and pulse phasers have become anti-fighter weapons that do minor damage but are much more effective against fighters. Each race will have three types of bases, an outpost, strabase, and a starport. The standard weapons turrets will be divided into heavy defense and anti-fighter versions. Special weapons will be more common, instead of being concentrated in one class of ship. The super weapons will be less effecive, since in my opinion they're too easy to abuse. Finally, the AI wil be improved so that the single player instant action is more challenging. Now onto the actual work! 8/1/2004 10:44:38 AM 
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