How would you improve Star Fleet?

[consequences]

Don't take people like Counselor Troi out of Starfleet, just transfer them to the "Starfleet Brothel Brigade", where they will materially contribute to the morale of Starfleet, and won't be able to talk because their mouths will be full.

[Vympel]

Don't take people like Counselor Troi out of Starfleet, just transfer them to the "Starfleet Brothel Brigade", where they will materially contribute to the morale of Starfleet, and won't be able to talk because their mouths will be full.

Ok now that's just naughty.

[Boba Fett]

Don't take people like Counselor Troi out of Starfleet, just transfer them to the "Starfleet Brothel Brigade", where they will materially contribute to the morale of Starfleet, and won't be able to talk because their mouths will be full.

Ok now that's just naughty.

Noooo....it just places ST into a new film category....

...into the sci-fi-porno!!!

That case Trekkies would rather talk about vibrator frequencies than shield frequencies.

Imagine this dialogue between two fan:

-Have you seen the last episode of ST yesterday?

-Yes, it was amazing! Do you remember when Pickard was approaching from the back of Troi while the Klingon delegate "attacked" from the front?
That's what I call diplomacy!!!

[BenRG]

Firstly, I have to protest at the anti-Troi comments. She isn't such a bad girl. Okay, so the only time she had the helm she crashed the Enterprise-D into a planet, but there were extenuating circumstances to that incident.

A deep-space long-haul ship would need a fully-equipped Medical/Support division and, yes, that would include someone trained in psychotheraputic techniques. My protest about Troi has always been: What is the ship's shrink doing on the main bridge? A starship captain should be capable of dealing with spur-of-the moment negotiations without the real-time advice of a psychiatrist as back up (if only by the command: "Fire all phasers and torpedoes!" ). I think this was an example of Gene Roddenberry's new-age mysticism gone too far.

Given that the Enterprise was never more than a few weeks away from the nearest starbase, however, the reason for having a fully-trained councillor aboard disappears. A serious psychological trauma case can be kept restrained and sedated until the ship can return to the nearest base facility and drop the casualty off at a full hospital for treatment.

Onto redesigning Starfleet (and I bet you thought that I'd never get to the point ).

Firstly, I agree with dividing Starfleet up into various sub-commands, each with limited responsibilities and remits.

Fleet Commands
Exploration Command will specialise in deep-space survey, long-term research and supporting such. Most of its' strength is made up of unmanned AI probes (using the results of Data's research on AI that led to the construction of his 'daughter', Lal). Most of the rest of its' strength will be in the form of small dedicated sensor/research ships like the Oberth-class. These ships have a small Starfleet-trained command crew, but the rest of the compliment will be civillian scientists and support staff. Like many contemporary military-assisted research programmes, the scientists' institutions/employers are expected to foot a proportion of the mission costs.

A very small number of Exploration Command's ships are gigantic (2km+ length) ultra-long-haul survey/explorers. While not as heavily armed as battlecruisers, they will have the combat capability to survive a pitched battle against most reasonable threats from newly-discovered species they may encounter. The ships (suggested name, the Endurance-class) will have a minimum mission length of 5 years, where between 75% to 80% of that time is spent in transit to its' survey location.

Strike Command represents the bulk of the starfleet. This command specialises in defensive and offensive millitary operations. Its' operational subdivisions include the Starfleet Marine Corps (SMC) and Starfighter Command. It will have a wide range of ships, from multi-function dreadnaughts (conceptually similar to Star Destroyers - go anywhere, do anything warships), through specialised assault and fighter carriers, fleet defence cruisers, destroyers, patrol frigates and starfighters. It will also manage the operation of specialised marine operations vessels: Troop ships, Landing Support Transports and assault ships.

We will see the specialisation of classes to certain missions that we sometimes see in contemporary naval war fleets. Battlecrusers, dreadnaughts and heavy cruisers will be large starships that compromise speed and manoeuvrability for firepower and survivability. Light cruisers will go the opposite way, sacrificing firepower and armour for speed, range and endurance. Destroyers will be small, fast, manoeuvrable but will lack range. Frigates will sacrifice the armour protection and heavier weapons of their destroyer-class cousins for patrol endurance.

Starfighter Command, a subdivision of Strike Command, deploys 1- or 2-man fighters for the fleet CAP, point interception, strike and interdiction roles. These will be fast, fairly short-ranged (no more than 48 hours from their command vessel), highly manoeuvrable and will carry disporortionate levels of firepower.

The Starfleet Marine Corps will be the ground-pounder wing of Starfleet. They are trained purely in ground operations and equipped with starship-insertion-capable armoured vehicles, battlefield support sub-orbital aircraft and powerful infantry support weapons.

Strike Command battlegroups represent the enforcement arm of the Federation government. They are responsible for the protection of Federation citizens throughout the galaxy and carrying out the government's policy decisions throughout its' territory (and beyond). If a Federation colony calls for help, the first starfleet units to respond will be nerest Battlegroup. Because of this, larger Strike Command ships are also equipped to handle various diplomatic, biomedical and planetary security issues.

Security Command deals with all internal patrol and customs duties. Its ships are primarily cutter-class ships, designed for speed and with weapons designed to deal with pirate or smuggler ships rather than enemy warships. It will also command long-haul patrol vessels designed mostly for surveilance of shipping lanes and with a limited anti-ship capability in the form of long-range missile weapons. Security Command has NO on-board-ship security role. This is handled by the Marine Corps and by the ship's own security detachments (mostly identical to contemporary Military Police in both training and deployment).

Planetary Command is another overtly military command. Planetary Command is responsible for the garrisoning and defence of Federation and allied worlds (to wit: client states). As well as commanding the planetary armies, it also commands planet- and space station-based fighter and strike forces as well as planetary defence satellites and surface installations.

Support and Logistical Command are responsible for the support of fleet operations (most notably Strike Commands enormous and supply-hungry battlegroups). It also deals with medical and other humanitarian relief operations such as food aid and contagion containment and elimination operations.

As well as specialised kilometre-long hospital ships and fast destroyer-like ambulance cutters, SuLo Command also flies various very big military resupply ships. These include ARC-class (weapons/ammo), FRC-class (antimatter bottle delivery), PRC-class (perishable foodstuffs and other supplies), DSD-class mobile drydocks and DSR-class mobile repair ships.

Technical and policy updates - Give priority to the development and deployment of the following technologies: Better armour protection for hulls, the phase cloak, Transwarp drive (or an equivalent) and Tachyon Cannon (from 'Insurrection', I assume that focussed Tachyon bolts do for Star Trek ships what ion cannon do for Star Wars ships). Also look at ways to alter shielding technology to make them immune to 'frequency window' vulnerabilities such as those that the Borg exploit.

Also reduce the amount of luxuries enjoyed by crews on most military-oriented ships (although relaxation and recreational facilities on Exploration Command ships remain important to maintain acceptable levels of crew morale on long-haul flights). Encorage dining on real food in communual mess locations rather than in your quarters on replicated rations (team building). Indeed, limit replicator usage to important matters such as emergency supplies and perishable goods where there is no time to wait for a PRC to arrive from the nearest starbase.

Reduce the level of influence that the Medical/Support department has on the Captain's diplomatic and tactical policy decisions. Automatically move the executive officer to the auxilliary bridge during Red Alerts so he can take charge of the ship immediately if the main bridge and/or the captain are disabled.

[DocHorror]

How to improve the Star Fleet?

1. Scrap the prime directive - we need officers who aren't mired in hypocrasy and are willing to do almost anything to further the goals of the Federation.

2. Its been said before, but, split the fleet into Battle, exporatory and home guard.

3. Train your crew to do that one thing that may save lives - RUN - everything I see a warp core breech or something the crew just jog along like lemmings... Another example, when Voyager tried to nick that transwarp coil and they had like 2 minutes to do it, did they run? no they walked briskly then bitched that they needed to do it faster...

4. Take no shit...all to often we see Star Fleet get walked all over by these piss ant races who think they should have a say...

Il probably think of some more in a bit...

[FX]

On the subject of the draft; it isn't what you are looking for. Draftees are useful when you want cannon fodder troops. Guys that march in and hold territory by standing there. What SF needs are dedicated professional soldiers. To get them you would need to make people interested in defending their way of life from outside forces. Vilify any outside force that threatens the Federation to do this. Also play up the "go to new planets, and meet interesting new species" to get the adventure oriented crowd interested. Over the hundreds of planets you should get a multi-million troop force from those people alone.

Another area to change is that any modification done on the spur of the moment needs to be fully documented, and sent to HQ to be analyzed. If the system holds merit like Barclay's warp core super shield every ship gets upgraded. If not, they are downloaded to every ship saying what they do, and why they aren't to be generally instituted. This gives every head engineer a wealth of quick fixes that are known not to blow up the ship.

[Artanis]

First, I'd get some damned passive emergency systems. Having a WC ejection system that can shut itself off at a whim is stupidity. I'd also have dual Warp Cores, one a regular-sized one that would be ejected at the first hint of a breach, and another one that is isolated from breach-causing events in every possible way, is just barely powerful enough to get the hell out of there, and is physically impossible to turn on unless the original has been ejected.

And get rid of the exploding bridge consoles!

Pretty much everything else that I've thought up has been mentioned already

[BabelHuber]

I would decentralise the designs of new ships - I wouldn´t want to hear 'weapons are offline!' or 'we cannot re-route the power' anymore. Everything must be designed to be workable, not to look shiny. I also would alter the design of the ships to decrease the size/mass quotient.

And I´d spend more research making fighters smaller and/or more powerful.
Perhaps at first the Peregrine could be heavier armed or better shielded if one would strip the warp core. This could make a good short-range fighter to defend planets or being carried by heavier vessels.

Everything else was already mentioned, I guess.

[BabelHuber]

I´ve forgotten Pulse Phaser turrets for battleships. The Defiant´s Phasers seem to be more powerfull than the normal ones.

[Sea Skimmer]

Keep in mind that you, in this scenario, actually want starfleet to improve like your life depends on it so no smart ass comments please.

I was hoping to avoid the sort of commentary like Sea Skimmer made heh :\

I'm serious. A bunch of 50's nuclear bombs strapped to 80's missile bodies upgraded with vectored thrust could ward of the enemies of the Federation. The current Federation fleet is hopeless.

[FaxModem1]

Take all of the shuttles from the shuttlebays of their ships, scrap them for raw material and parts, and use them to make Delta Flyers instead as fighters.

Everything else has been mentioned and posted.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Ships: all current designs upgraded by the following....

- Mike's idea for permanent magnets that auto-eject the warp core in catastrophic failure.

- rip-out the holodeck and ALL non-essential science tech/overly large crew rooms, etc

- replace emptied room w/ lots of fusion reactors to power extra shields around the warp nacelles and to power the warp drive in an emergency

- replace all phasers w/ heavy phaser/phaser pulse cannon turrets

Mid-term designs....

1.4 km battleship w/ transwarp nacelles retractable into brim trenches, equipped w/ heavy phasers/pulse phasers in heavy turret batteries, clustered burst-firing tubes of advanced nuclear weapons in high-velocity exhaust-seeking torpedoes. Equipped w/ long-range missiles w/ multi-hundred megaton warheads w/ warp capability for following fleeing ships or bombarding a area before entering the area. Transwarp Core powered by non-explosive black hole; ejectable.

1.2 km battlecruiser w/ retractable transwarp nacelles; lighter-armor and more ion/impulse drives; maximum load of missiles.

1.5 km fleet carrier w/ embedded transwarp nacelles; 1000 + fighers, 100s of ground-assault vehicles w/ atmospheric air support attack craft; 10s of thousands of troops (imagine the Trade Federation Battleship w/ no gaps, just one big disk w/ Defiant-style nacelles embedded in the trenches).

900 m heavy cruiser; heavy missiles and phaser batteries

800 m science vessel for special purposes

650 km destroyer; quad-retractable nacelles, extra quick, equipped w/ more long-range AI nukes and hyper-sensitive IR and other sensor package for sighting cloaked ships, 30 fighters or so.

500 meter frigate; has anti-fighter purpose as well, equipped w/ mini nuke missiles and small phaser strips for easy acquisition of targets

200 meter corvette/monitor; embedded nacelles- along Defiant design except w/ phaser turrets and mostly heavy forward nuke tubes

Long-term designs:

Get Borg transwarp or something else w/ good FTL and no nacelles.

Get some better power-sources; transition away from reaction-dependent phasers and antimatter stuff; more brute-force weaponry

Use some cloaks.

[paladin]

I still think Alyeska has the best idea. Put more military minded officers in charge of Starfleet and let them take actions to improve Starfleet's defensive posture.

[Rubberanvil]

The only huge ships would be troop carriers

Awffully big juicy target unless you're basing it on the USN LSH(sp) troops transport ships.

[Sokar]

1. Econmic overhaul, Feddie style socio-communisim goes, back to good old fashioned capitalisim return with a vengance.
2. Governmental overhaul, all current members of Federation Council tried for crimes aginst galactic civilization. Replaced by a galactic represative democracy, copied from early 20th Century Earth.
3. Revive the concept of sane and ethical engineering within the Federation industrial base, Engineers responsible for unstable Warpcore designs and the creation of the insane EPS plasma power transfer system will be prsecuted and their credentials revoked.
4. Division of Starfleet into three branches, Explorer Corps, Battlefleet and the Federation Home Guard. The Merchant Marine would revert to private corporations.
Explorer Corps - Would be the research and exploration arm of the Fleet , would operate the speedy and efficient 'pyloned' warp-drives as they are faster and more efficient than inboard warp drives. Ships would be optimized for science and research as well as survivability as they may travel far beyond the borders of the current Federation where help may be weeks or months away.
Battlefleet - Combat arm of Starfleet. Would consist of a Space Operations and Planetside Operations Commands. Space Operations would employ optimized warship designs(Redundant dual Warpcores,heavy armor and shield banks combined with heavy phaser batteries and fixed mount phaser cannons as prime weapons, supported by M/AM[gigaton range warheads] warp capable capital ship missiles as the new shipkillers of the Alpha Quadrant in favor of the paltry photon torpedo ) crew amenities would be few though deployment times away from Battlefleet Starbases would be of far shorter duration than thoes of the current Starfleet where the mixed mission profile compromises both scientific and military capabilities. Ground Operations would consist of the Federation Army[Organized much like a modern Army with Armor, Artillery and all the amenities of a proper military force], and the Fleet Marines which would serve aboard Battlefleet Warships. Weaponry for both arms would discard phasers slow firing in favor of hypervelocity projectile weapons (think M10 Pulse rifles out of Aliens) in both sidearm, rifle and crew served support weapons.[I would love to see a Klingons face when his entre squad is shredded to bloody meat around him by explosive 10mm bullets.....]
Home Guard - The Coast Guard and Customs Service of the new Federation. Would be raised by the member worlds of the Federation with Federal assistance as a type of local defense fleet for each member world. Ships would likely be small fast Warship style vessels capable of dealing with local privateers and emergencies experienced by mercant and private vessels.

[Kurgan]

Get rid of the Jeffries tubes (or at least re-structure the ships so that more vital systems are easier to get at).

Re-introduce "pistol" style phaser designs and retrain personel in their use.

R&D personal shield technology for use by ground troops.

Issue comfortable helmets to security teams on ships and to Fed marines. Heck, institute future-soldier type body armor that's lightweight but provides some protection (anything is better than what they've got now).

Keep more radiation/space suits available in storage lockers around each ship, to get at in case of emergencies.

Also, institute quarantine regulations (not the stupid decon chamber from Enterprise either mind you) for away teams that come back from new or strange planets/ships.

Institute security systems onboard ships that include things like motion detectors, infared, etc. and emergency lighting options.

Install jamming devices, and transporter inhibitors onboard all combat vessels.

Get safer bridge consoles, as someone mentioned above. ; )

[Kurgan]

Oh yeah, and keep a stash of slug-thrower type firearms in a special compartment for use by the senior officers in case of some emergency where energy weapons are ineffective or compromised. I like that idea.
; )


And get rid of those sloppy phaser rifles that break when you club somebody over the head with them.

R&D tank-like mobile artillery too.

[Typhonis 1]

Slugthrowers would also be useful in situations where you have energy draining fields on a planet .look into transporter stasis to keep violent patients who need help safe and secure.Scotty used it with no ill effects that were seen.Put safties that really WORK on the Holodecks as a training and teaching tool they are unparralled in there usefulness also they can be used to simulate ship to ship combat better than real ships ala Peak Performance.Holodecks would also help on long duration exploratin missions as well to alleviate some types of boredom

[Zoink]

How to improve Starfleet: Mothball

In any conflict with SW, the Mizarian's strategy of surrender is the best option. During this time they can get SW tech and eventually join the rebellion.

[TheDarkling]

You are placed in charge of startfleet and given unlimited funds.

How would you improve Starfleet? You're limited by Starfleet technology at the period(so improving starfleet to the point where it can match the Empire is out of the question). You can however, using avaiable starfleet tech, design ergonomically correct phaser rifles, new starships, etc.

Keep in mind that you, in this scenario, actually want starfleet to improve like your life depends on it so no smart ass comments please.

The empire isn't an issue here as the thread starter says so theres no need to involve it.

[Zoink]

The empire isn't an issue here as the thread starter says so theres no need to involve it.

Well this is the SW vs ST forum....

But in that case, I'd build 1 billion soveriegns with automated controls (or whatever number you think is feasable). With unlimited funding, quantity will be the most easily obtainable advantage.

[Lord Pounder]

Basically i'd re-right federation policy. I.E. we will stand strong with our allies at all times.
Then i'd go have a look at the history archives and show my DI's in SFA any vietnam movie for how to drill cadets, none of the soft shit we see in TNG era SFA.
I'd get the captains of all major ships and re-train them, During this the Klingons are gonna help us out by patroling our borders. (hey if the UK can hire german u-boats my federation can rent a BoP)
My next step would be to have a work with SF R&D and ask them to develop a more war like class of ship. SF R&D are pretty good, look how quick they came up with the akira, steamrunner, and defiant class when needed. Also i would order them to develop proto-mater torpedoes.
As mentioned by several people spliting the fleet seems like the way to go. After all to quote my dad "The jack of all trades is the master of none"

[Patrick Degan]

1) Dismiss from service most of the present corps of admirals and half the captains. Replace the command ranks with more military oriented officers.

2) Institute a new training programme emphasising shiphandling, engineering, science and maths, and military theory. History would remain part of the curriculum but the rest of the liberal arts programme would have to go. Training would include the assignment of a small number of midshipmen cadets to active duty starships for hands-on field training. Establishment of boot camps for the training of enlisted personnel on each Federation member world to be administered by appointed officers and noncoms.

3) Discipline in the ranks to be scrupiously enforced. Elimination of the lax environment which gave rise to rogue admirals such as Layton and Dougherty.

4) A starship design and construction programme emphasising production along practical, standardised lines —taking the patterns from the Defiant and Steamrunner classes currently in service; ships with narrow target profiles and engines wholly or partially incorporated into the ship's structure. Deflector shield protection to be augmented by armour, and the adoption of basic and practical weapons not dependent upon complex field effect reactions or intricate mechanisms. Elimination of holodecks; retention of at least one holochamber in ships large enough to accomodate them as part of the general science/intelligence suite. The starship programme would also be oriented towards the assembly-production of large numbers of cruiser and frigate type vessels to distribute fleet firepower among the largest number of platforms.

5) Starship engineering design to be streamlined and simplified for practical operation requiring the least maintenance, and employing rugged technology. The centralised warp core to be replaced by networked M/AM and auxilliary fusion reactors designed to operate without excess reactivity and easy shutdown in the event of malfunction or damage. Control systems to run off the general electrical grid instead of plasma feeds, with adequate bypass and circuit breaker protections installed.

6) Starship deployment to be based upon central hub-points in each sector; ships on their patrol and exploration routes would remain within range of fast reinforcement if needed, with a full battlegroup on standby at each starbase. Battlegroup deployment in sectors bordering hostile spaces. Long-range scouting/exploration missions would still be conducted by single scout-class vessels, followed up upon by better armed and equipped cruisers if deemed necessary.

[Patrick Degan]

The entire conception of the lone cruiser-class starship on deep patrol and exploration was a holdover from TOS. In that series, the metaphor for space travel and exploration was based upon the Age of Sail, in which the ships would be long out of contact with base and would have to operate independently for long periods and have sufficent capability on their own to be able to perform full-service missions. TOS was more or less consistent with that vision.

But while TNG tried to retain that concept, they plugged it into a Federation which had immediate communciation with base and more extensive settlement. The Age of Sail model no longer works for TNG-era ST and even the writers knew this, which was why more than half the time, they had Picard ferrying colonists here, ambassadors there, and tax forms to Omicron each year or whatever. A bureaucrat patrolling the outmarches of a bloated empire.

They made the ST universe much more like our own world, and it seems that in the resulting environment, it is easier to simply send a small ship with sufficent sensor and probe capacity to perform an initial scouting while remaining in realtime contact with base. It's gotten to where the exploration mission would be a waste of a fleet asset such as a GCS.

In my conception for improving Starfleet, capships like the GCS would be a waste of shipbuilding and manpower resources, and eliminated in favour of fast cruisers and frigates, augmented by scouts, to form a large and very mobile fleet which can distribute manpower and firepower far more effectively.

[SpyderGS]

Split fleet roles, absolutely.
Increases in the number and capabilities of shipyards, necessary.
Growth of R&D, goes without saying.


Institute a Psi-Corp. Somewhat like Bab5, but without the level of authority demonstrated. A properly used psi like Troi (even though she was pretty much limited to empathic insights) would be invaluable in numerous situations. A more developed psi would be a devestating tool in the hands of a competant and ruthless commander. Just because Troi was misused (and not even misused properly! ) doesn't mean she was useless. Any insight into the tactics or even intents of an enemy is an advantage against him.