The Empire's Best Use for ST ships?

[Isolder74]

My brother has thought of something to do with them. Turn them into giant clay pigions. Just the dish sections that is.

Pull!

[Master of Ossus]

My brother has thought of something to do with them. Turn them into giant clay pigions. Just the dish sections that is.

Pull!

They're not even good for that. They're too big to use for target practice, since they are easily destroyed in only a few hits, and they are not maneuverable enough, or well shielded enough, to provide any challenge for Imperial forces.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Got something you want to use as a Probe ship.

Or turn an Excelsior or two (Minus Warp) into s nice little Diplomatic retreat. or sicne the Gender tatio on Imperial Ships is so messed up, Kill off 49% of the crew, remove the Warp core, and weapons and use the ship as a "Liberty Station"

[Darth Garden Gnome]

There simply is no point in turning these ships into anything but junk. The outdated power source would need to be replaced, and a new hyperdrive put in. This alone would be a wasteful endevor. There armor/sheilds is outdated, pirates trying to catch this craft would find their lasers blowing holes in the hull. If you plated it with durasteel, and replaced the sheilds wiht modern SW ones, it would still be a time wasting project. The system would be so old it simply could not be worked with unless the whole of the computer systems was torn out and they left the frame (which is another pointless endevor).

Look at it this way, its like somebody trying to ride through the streets of a place like Nigeria, in a Model-T, it aint gonna happen. Nobody would feel safe riding like that, and would probably get robbed and shot.

Trying to outfit it would be like trying to jerry-rig a Model-T to become a main battle tank and replace the M1-A1. Putting on new armor, new guns and a new engine would be difficult if not impossible.

Again the only purpose of these vessels in an SW era is to be scrapped, and even then I doubt the usefulness of the material, to be used in maybe nothing more than a backwater shoddy civilian speeder bike(s).

[EmperorSolo51]

I accidently voted for the first option by accident, I meant to vote for the 3rd choice.

[Master of Ossus]

I accidently voted for the first option by accident, I meant to vote for the 3rd choice.

Oh, so you would be the second DarkStar. That's okay. In any case, I don't see any point in doing anything but scrapping them. They would be too expensive to refit, and too slow and dangerous for just about anything else. Maybe they could be used to move freight and garbage around? All that junk from Coruscant has to go somewhere.

[Isolder74]

My brother has thought of something to do with them. Turn them into giant clay pigions. Just the dish sections that is.

Pull!

They're not even good for that. They're too big to use for target practice, since they are easily destroyed in only a few hits, and they are not maneuverable enough, or well shielded enough, to provide any challenge for Imperial forces.

Thats the Idea. It only takes one hit to take out a clay pigeon. put a star destroyer where it can't see where the disk is coming from and randomly shoot the dishes out there and then test out manual gunnery skills.

[RayCav of ASVS]

Then again, Mike Wong had the right idea with Galaxy saucer sections. Since they don't need warp cores, and since they wouldn't be in any danger, they would make nice floating hotels. Other ships could simply be left in orbit and modified to this capacity. I imagine museums would take the remaining ships. They could even use Federation shuttles to further add to the effect

They wouldn't even be good as hotels. They have terrible power sources, and they are dangerously unstable and underprotected. Besides, would you like to live on the Stargazer?

The power sources won't be much of a problem; just jury-rig portable generators if necessary. As for being unprotected, it's orbiting a damn planet! I'm assuming these are core worlds, and only a stupid pirate would attack a core world. Even the Stargazer has lush quarters, and ships like the Stargazer can become the equivilent of Budget Hotels, or be converted to museum ships.

SPOILER

In Doomriser's fic, The Prise, Cardassian ships made rather nice museum pieces, even after being blown to bits[/code]

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

And you can force Data into sogning autographs, and put him in a transperisteel cage on a museum ship, where little kids can laugh at the Federation uniforms!

[Master of Ossus]

Why are they needed as hotels, though? It's not like the amount of traffic to a particular world is going to increase tremendously for no reason. I don't see why they would be needed, as the hotels in SW appear to be more than adequate to handle the travel needs of the Galaxy's denizens. And it is MUCH more convenient to live planetside than it is to live in space, and personnel would actually have ot move up to the ship--something many would be unwilling to do. I don't think that spaceborne hotels would be very cost-effective, or attractive to potential tourists, compared with planetside ones.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Why are they needed as hotels, though? It's not like the amount of traffic to a particular world is going to increase tremendously for no reason. I don't see why they would be needed, as the hotels in SW appear to be more than adequate to handle the travel needs of the Galaxy's denizens. And it is MUCH more convenient to live planetside than it is to live in space, and personnel would actually have ot move up to the ship--something many would be unwilling to do. I don't think that spaceborne hotels would be very cost-effective, or attractive to potential tourists, compared with planetside ones.

I didn't say Hotel I said "Liberty Station" just eliminate the male 49% of the crew, kill the warp drive and you have a morale enhancer for your stromtroopers.

[spongyblue]

The Imps could sell the saucer section to miners to use as make shift habitats on planet or asteroid surfaces. Kinda like sleeping in a tent till you get your cabin built. Either that or they make the remote controlled and put really big hammers on them and have a battle bot arena somewhere over by Jupiter or something.

[Master of Ossus]

Why are they needed as Liberty Stations? Why should the Empire be forced to maintain SF female personnel, when most planets have an abundant supply of them who are perfectly willing to work for the glory of the Empire?

[RayCav of ASVS]

Why are they needed as Liberty Stations? Why should the Empire be forced to maintain SF female personnel, when most planets have an abundant supply of them who are perfectly willing to work for the glory of the Empire?

Or for that matter just load them up into standard Imp transports, they'd be safer anyway.

I like the idea of using the saucer sections as orbiting shelters for mining operations. When you run out of Galaxy saucers, just chop 'em off other classes. Plus they would make nice museum ships, but that alone should only account for hundreds of the thousands of Alpha Quadrant ships.

In addition to the museum role:

Starfleet ship saucer sections can be made into orbiting shelters as I have mentioned. The rest of the ships could be scrapped.

Klingon ships are probably only good for museum ships. They will have to be scrapped. The Neg'vars can be turned into Milky Way Galaxy Space Stations though.

Romulan ships are huge, almost as big as an Imperator. They can be turned into space stations too, just remove the warp cores and install portable generators.

Dominion ships are also large and can serve the same capacity. The smaller ships are only good for scrap.

Cardassian ships are just scrap.

Borg ships are nice and large but look like an engineer's ultimate uber nightmare. Since the Borg aren't known for capitulation anyway, disposing of them shouldn't be a problem

Perhaps what the Empire can do is just sell off captured ST ships to civvies, minus the warp cores and any military technology. Then the civvies are free to do what they want - sell them off for scrap, use them as stations or storage, or even refit them for travel if they want. Much like how many militiaries sell off surplus equipment today (including planes, and in rare cases, ships)

Shuttles could make nice personal craft, or space sheds:) Or even convert them to landspeeders. Once again, just sell them off to civies like the larger ships.

Space stations might as well stay put and be used by the Empire. Since they lack warp cores and many other problems inherent in ships they shouldn't be as big of a problem.

Even worthless personal weapons could be sold off, though they best be scrapped less they end up in the hands of cheapo pirates

[Master of Ossus]

You would need to replace more than the warp cores and power systems of the ships, though. Their hulls and/or shields would have to be reinforced by a bunch, and almost all of their other systems would have to be scrapped. They're not even good as space stations! And even if they would make good stations, remember that they have very few docking attachments, so others would have to be built on. After a while, it becomes more expensive to use them than it would be just to scrap them. And their hulls would need to be reinforced greatly (perhaps even completely replaced) to protect them against minor collisions.

And why would civilians buy slow, underpowered, dangerous ships that required very large crews for no appreciable gain in any systems, and very small cargo/passenger capacity? They are no good, even on the commercial market, and refitting them for civilian use would take too long and be too expensive for most private organizations.

I like the Liberty Station idea, but I still see no reason for it. The only other one I see here is as museum pieces, but only a very few of the ships can go to museums (they aren't even from the same Galaxy and have little historical appeal). Even then, most museums would be happy with just a shuttle craft or similar, because they have a lack of space.

ST ships are good for almost nothing, in the Empire.

[RayCav of ASVS]

You would need to replace more than the warp cores and power systems of the ships, though. Their hulls and/or shields would have to be reinforced by a bunch, and almost all of their other systems would have to be scrapped. They're not even good as space stations! And even if they would make good stations, remember that they have very few docking attachments, so others would have to be built on. After a while, it becomes more expensive to use them than it would be just to scrap them. And their hulls would need to be reinforced greatly (perhaps even completely replaced) to protect them against minor collisions.

Not necessarily. If it's just over a planet, then their navigational deflectors alone would be more then adequate. I may be over simplyfying, but I believe the only systems necessary would be life support and bare essentials. Other systems can be scrapped for more room. As for docking points, that's what the shuttlebays are for. IIRC, the Enterprise-D's shuttle bays are large enough for a few Lambdas. If nothing else, retain the ST shuttles, they seem to be adequate for planet-to-ship operations. And the hulls don't need to be reinforced, like I said current navigational deflectors should be adequete for space debris.

And why would civilians buy slow, underpowered, dangerous ships that required very large crews for no appreciable gain in any systems, and very small cargo/passenger capacity? They are no good, even on the commercial market, and refitting them for civilian use would take too long and be too expensive for most private organizations.

I did not say let civilians use them. I merely said let civilians buy them, then use them for whatever they want. If they want to refit them for full use as starships, then that's their perogative. If they want to refit them for space stations (even just as storage for stuff), then that's their perogative too. Hell, if they just want to scrap them, then that's their perogative too. It's a nice way to dispose of useless surplus hulls, and it gives the government another source of income as well.

I like the Liberty Station idea, but I still see no reason for it. The only other one I see here is as museum pieces, but only a very few of the ships can go to museums (they aren't even from the same Galaxy and have little historical appeal). Even then, most museums would be happy with just a shuttle craft or similar, because they have a lack of space.

ST ships are good for almost nothing, in the Empire.

The Liberty Station idea is best done with just a SW ship full of whores

The ships themselves can be turned into museums, much like modern naval vessels. You can even plant them planet side. Hell, in Endgame, Voyager was turned into a planetside musem!

I imagine older ships, like Excelsiors, Mirandas, etc., and less common ships, like Galaxies, Prometheus, etc., would make popular museum ships. Really, I think at least one example of each class can be turned into museum ships, but classes that have "redunant representation" can be sold off to civilians and private concerns for quick and cheap conversion to space stations, or for scrap.

[Master of Ossus]

You still haven't answered the question. WHY would a private investor buy a ST piece of junk? It offers no advantages over systems already available in SW, and it has very little internal space. Sure, a private investor here, or a collector there would buy them, but it would be a TERRIBLE investment, overall, and they would not be commercially successful.

And the Navigational deflectors only cover a small portion of the ship (straight ahead). They then push small bits of debris and asteroids out of the way of the ship so that that debris doesn't collide with the ship on the way through. Their shields are inadequate, by SW standards, and small piloting errors that lead to collisions with stations would needlessly damage the ship and possibly force serious repairs and delays.

Four shuttle bays is not enough for a space station. It is not even close. And some ST ships don't even have that many ports. They would have no use as stations or ships, and hardly any use as Liberty Stations or museums.

[Pablo Sanchez]

The Empire's best use for ST ships is as laundry tenders.

[RayCav of ASVS]

You still haven't answered the question. WHY would a private investor buy a ST piece of junk? It offers no advantages over systems already available in SW, and it has very little internal space. Sure, a private investor here, or a collector there would buy them, but it would be a TERRIBLE investment, overall, and they would not be commercially successful.

Did I say private investor? I was trying to imply anyone, not necessarily anyone with brains

Lots of stupid people buy lots of surplus military stuff, including planes. Those that are not rich enough to fly them, ususally have them sit on their lawn.

Furthermore, they would probably be popular just for curiousity's sake.

And finally, I was thinking of using them as space stations on the milky way side of things, maybe over backwater worlds where only a meager presence needs to be established. Starbases from other parts of the galaxy can be moved, or new Imperial bases set up for other planets.

And the Navigational deflectors only cover a small portion of the ship (straight ahead). They then push small bits of debris and asteroids out of the way of the ship so that that debris doesn't collide with the ship on the way through. Their shields are inadequate, by SW standards, and small piloting errors that lead to collisions with stations would needlessly damage the ship and possibly force serious repairs and delays.

Proof of navigational deflector operation? And futhermore, unless someone is unnecessarily speeding, any collision shouldn't be serious enough to warrant major repair. Dents and dings can be left unrepaired.

Four shuttle bays is not enough for a space station. It is not even close. And some ST ships don't even have that many ports. They would have no use as stations or ships, and hardly any use as Liberty Stations or museums.

I wasn't thinking of using these as major hubs like DS 9. I was thinking more in terms of just using these as storage or depot stations. Since they wouldn't need to service a lot of people, the shuttlebays should be adequate.

Would you stop bringing up that stupid damned Liberty Ship idea? It isn't even mine, I'm the one who says just use SW ships full of whores! Hell, even the name "Liberty Ship" is stupid and a degregation of the WWII merchant fleet! (there, I said it!)

And why would they make bad museums? People are probably curious of the ST side of the universe!

[RayCav of ASVS]

The Empire's best use for ST ships is as laundry tenders.

Wrong, Pablo. Do I need to bring up the Laundry Wars?

[Isolder74]

I still say target practise

[Master of Ossus]

Dents and dings would not have to be repaired, but ST ships fall apart without force fields to maintain them! A medium-velocity collision with a bulk freighter would easily be enough to do considerable damage to the hulls, and possibly even destroy it.

Your statements about sending these ships into civilian hands are still ridiculous. To quote from the Lorax, "There is no one on Earth who would buy that fool thneed." ST ships are weak, labor- and maintenance-intensive, and they are slow. There is no one who would buy them for any price, especially since replacement parts (which they go through a lot of) would be rare and expensive. No one would buy a totally worthless starship that required hundreds of crewmen for minimal gain. Curiosity would not be enough to move that many starships. Oh, it would sell a few--probably between 300 and 500, but it would not make the project commercially successful.

And what the HELL are you going to use them as space stations for? They are TOTALLY worthless as space stations. They have limited cargo space, and are extremely maintenance-intensive for cargo stations. And the shuttle bays would be even worse for moving Bulk cargoes than they are for moving passengers. You simply cannot fit a large amount (by SW standards) of cargo through those tiny bays. A single Bulk Freighter has more than enough cargo on it to occupy those bays for days before completely loading or unloading itself--and that is assuming that the cargo itself is small enough to fit. Things like construction droids and AT-AT walkers would be too large to fit through the bay, unless disassembled. This adds still more time to the process!

Navigational shields are described in the ST encyclopedia, the TM, and their operation is implied to be as I described it in "By Inferno's Light." Even if they do somehow stretch around the entirety of the ship, even passing weapons fire and small but quickly moving asteroids would overwhelm them (the E-D repeatedly has to re-route around asteroids, many of them very small and sluggish).

Why would people be curious about the ST universe? They are not curious about any of the worlds that there are within the SW universe, Han even had to use the Gun of Command to get Leia to go to the planet he had won. And people don't seem to give a damn about the history of the Galaxy, why would they care about someone else's galaxy?

[RayCav of ASVS]

Your statements about sending these ships into civilian hands are still ridiculous. To quote from the Lorax, "There is no one on Earth who would buy that fool thneed." ST ships are weak, labor- and maintenance-intensive, and they are slow. There is no one who would buy them for any price, especially since replacement parts (which they go through a lot of) would be rare and expensive. No one would buy a totally worthless starship that required hundreds of crewmen for minimal gain. Curiosity would not be enough to move that many starships. Oh, it would sell a few--probably between 300 and 500, but it would not make the project commercially successful.

You still don't get it, don't you? I said that they can refit them as starships IF THEY WANTED TO, but also said they can buy them for scrap as well.

And what the HELL are you going to use them as space stations for? They are TOTALLY worthless as space stations. They have limited cargo space, and are extremely maintenance-intensive for cargo stations. And the shuttle bays would be even worse for moving Bulk cargoes than they are for moving passengers. You simply cannot fit a large amount (by SW standards) of cargo through those tiny bays. A single Bulk Freighter has more than enough cargo on it to occupy those bays for days before completely loading or unloading itself--and that is assuming that the cargo itself is small enough to fit. Things like construction droids and AT-AT walkers would be too large to fit through the bay, unless disassembled. This adds still more time to the process!

It's still useful for storing boxes of various stuff. Maybe I should use the term "storage shed in space" or "space attic" then "space station"

That's how I see it, anyway

Navigational shields are described in the ST encyclopedia, the TM, and their operation is implied to be as I described it in "By Inferno's Light." Even if they do somehow stretch around the entirety of the ship, even passing weapons fire and small but quickly moving asteroids would overwhelm them (the E-D repeatedly has to re-route around asteroids, many of them very small and sluggish).

then use the damn defensive sheilds! Furthermore, I don't see much of a pirate or asteriod threat orbiting a planet!

Why would people be curious about the ST universe? They are not curious about any of the worlds that there are within the SW universe, Han even had to use the Gun of Command to get Leia to go to the planet he had won. And people don't seem to give a damn about the history of the Galaxy, why would they care about someone else's galaxy?

That's a self-imposed generalization. I suppose a lot as to do with hyperspace travel, in that they can visit it whenever they want. However, that still is no excuse to not be interested in one's own galaxy, and I got the impression that they were interested in their own history. And I don't see any proof contradiciting this.

Furthermore, this is a brand new galaxy, you don't think people would be interested?

[Cpt_Frank]

Why not simply take the ships and sell them to collectors? That way, the empire'd make at least some money with them.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Wrong, Pablo. Do I need to bring up the Laundry Wars?

You go to Hell!