If your a member of WZ's forum or been over to SFC3files you will see that Centurus and GAFY have been working hard to bring us all an Early birthday present in the shape of 3 lovely alternate fed ships:
USS Potemkin
In an alternate universe that closely matched our own, the evolution and service life of the Constitution Class took a slightly different course.
Taking lessons learned from the Valiant refit program, as well as from the Excelsior program, Starfleet engineers designed the next upgrade/refit for the Constitution Class, beginning with the U.S.S. Potemkin.
When the Klingon moon Praxis exploded, tensions began to run high between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Starfleet, fearing the worst, began exploring the possibility of initiating an extensive refit of the Constitution Class. The Potemkin, already in space dock for standard servicing, was chosen to undergo the experimental refit, which included a second-generation experimental transwarp drive.
Although the original experimental transwarp drive on the Excelsior failed, Starfleet engineers continued their research and designed a new transwarp drive system, with the failsafe included that should this attempt fail as well, the ship could be retrofitted with a state-of-the-art third-generation warp core with very little downtime. In addition, the new experimental warp engines were designed to work with either warp core system installed.
Along with more power generation capabilities, the Potemkin refit sported stronger shields, thicker hull armor and plating, updated impulse engines and thrusters for increase sub light speeds, and newly designed phaser systems, which modestly increased the ship's phaser firepower.
The new phaser design featured slotted emitters in addition to the recessed banks originally introduced on the Valiant. Using the same power couplings as the standard ball turret phasers, these new slotted emitters would be paired up in the standard twin emitter grouping. An experimental force field system was set in place to adjust the direction of phaser fire in combat, but unfortunately this limited the angles at which the ship could fire phasers. However, the slot emitter design in conjunction with the force field direction system provided additional, and quite unexpected, protection for the phasers.
Although engineers felt the initial design flaws concerning the Valiant's additional torpedo systems could be corrected with the new technology developed for the Potemkin refit, Starfleet Command didn't want to take the chance that the same problems could creep up again. Although the ship doesn't have additional torpedo bays, she was equipped with an experimental burst fire torpedo system, developed from torpedo technology first pioneered by the Excelsior. This new system could only fire a spread of two torpedoes, per tube, but provided increased power efficiency and heat dissipation, reducing the wear on the torpedo tubes by 15%.
When minor hostilities broke out in 2295, a third of the Constitution fleet was already refitted to the Potemkin's specs, but only the Potemkin ever had the experimental transwarp drive installed, but the experiment had failed again, and the Potemkin was immediately refitted with the third-generation warp core and sent to the front lines.
These new refits proved to be formidable vessels in combat, and with the Empire's dwindling resources, the Klingon High Council surrendered and resumed peace talks again at the beginning of 2296. The Potemkin refit proved useful again later that year when the Romulan Empire attempted an invasion of Klingon space. A joint Federation/Klingon task force repelled the Romulan attack.
Half of the remaining Constitutions that had yet to be refitted were brought up to the Potemkin's specs, while the rest received minor to moderate updates.
http://starfleetcommand3.filefront.com/file/Alternate_USS_Potemkin;84938Next up is the USS Valiant
In an alternate universe that closely matched our own, the evolution and service life of the Constitution Class took a slightly different course.
After the success of the refits pioneered by the U.S.S. Enterprise, Starfleet had ordered the construction of 30 new Constitution Class starships, and plans were already well underway to design the next series of major refits for the starships, with the hopes of incorporating new and cutting edge technology in these famed starships, keeping them in active service for decades to come.
Shortly after the destruction of the original Enterprise over the Genesis planet, design flaws crept up in the Excelsior Class, which put off production of the class for at least a decade, and Starfleet ordered immediate refits and upgrades to the Constitution Class, refits which had barely been designed and had yet to be built.
An unfinished space frame was chosen to be the test bed for these new refits, to allow ships already in service to receive minor refits and continue their tours of duty with minimal downtime.
Named the U.S.S. Valiant, this prototype refit was hoped to be even more successful than the Enterprise's refit. The Valiant used second-generation warp engine designs to create and sustain a stronger warp field to allow for longer durations at faster warp speeds. The added benefits would also provide a 12% increase in power generation, necessary to power some of the new systems installed.
The Valiant was the first ship to implement a torpedo turret system, designed to widen the field of fire for photon torpedoes, giving the ship the capability of firing torpedoes at an enemy vessel without having to have a clear line of sight directly ahead. She also had a new rear firing torpedo tube installed in the lower aft section of the secondary hull, as well as recessed phaser banks, to lessen their vulnerability to sniper attacks by enemy vessels trying to disable the phaser systems. The recessed phaser bank design would later be implemented in further refits of the class.
During trial runs, design flaws were revealed in the Valiant's new torpedo systems as well as some of the new power circuits. The turret required more power than the warp engines could generate for it under battle conditions, and the reloading times were slower than expected. Problems in the new targeting systems also arose, but were readily corrected. The aft firing torpedo system suffered from power circuit overloads, causing the whole system to short out and go offline. Fortunately, these flaws did not affect the main torpedo bays located at the base of the ship's connecting neck, which showed increase efficiency under battle conditions.
Although in the next refit design these power distribution and generation flaws would be corrected, the aft firing torpedo tube and torpedo turret would not be included in the next design.
Not wanting to scrap or mothball the starship, Starfleet decided to place her in active duty, and gave the ship's captain strict orders never to use the torpedo turret or aft torpedo tube unless absolutely necessary.
http://starfleetcommand3.filefront.com/file/Alternate_USS_Valiant;84937And lastly and by no means least USS Indomitable
n an alternate universe that closely matched our own, the evolution and service life of the Constitution Class took a slightly different course.
At the dawn of the 24th Century, the Constitution Class was beginning to show its age, but had proved its worth time and time again since it was first designed, and had played vital roles throughout the Galaxy in times of war and peace.
The most notable events in recent history in which the Constitutions proved their worth were during the attempted Romulan Invasion of the Klingon Empire in 2296, and the Tomed Incident of 2311, where they served various roles ranging from frontline cruisers, to support craft under the now perfected Excelsior Class, and also as emergency escort/evacuation ships.
Regardless of these successes, Starfleet couldn't ignore the fact that these ships had now been in active service for 70 years. By 2315, over 30% of the entire Constitution fleet had been decommissioned, with plans to retire the remaining ships in 10 years, in favor of growing numbers of Excelsiors being constructed, as well as new classes of ships.
With first contact with the Cardassians in 2316, tensions began to rise between the two governments over territory disputes, and the possibility of war arose. Starfleet did not want to take the chance of not being prepared if war broke out. It was decided to keep the Constitutions in service, and orders given to begin immediate upgrades to all starships in the fleet. Fortunately for Starfleet Command, a group of ambitious and talented engineers had been designing a new refit for the Constitutions for several years, and had announced it was ready to begin actual testing on one.
In the unfortunate event that this refit design failed to meet expectations, Starfleet ordered the recently decommissioned U.S.S. Indomitable be pulled out of mothballs and undergo this refit, while the rest of the Constitution Fleet received moderate upgrades to all systems. In under 6 months, a record refit time for any starship, the engineers had nearly replaced all of the Indomitable's systems. The fact that her major systems and equipment had been removed prior to decommissioning saved time for the engineers.
New, state-of-the-art EPS power distribution conduits and ODN relays had replaced the older duotronic power distribution grid, increasing power efficiency by 18%. The new, first-generation LCARS computer operating system was introduced, which greatly increased computer-processing capabilities.
The Indomitable was fitted with the new fourth-generation Constitution Class warp core and new warp engines. The new warp core and engines allowed the ship to reach speeds of warp 8.2 and maintain this speed continuously for 60 hours, bringing the ship on par with speeds for the Excelsior Class. The new engines also increased power generation by 10% over the third-generation warp drive system introduced in the Potemkin refits.
Taking advantage of the new power distribution systems, the engineers decided to incorporate the added torpedo systems from the Valiant refit into the Indomitable, and equip the Indomitable with a second aft firing torpedo tube, located aft of the main torpedo bay at the base of the neck.
With all the newly designed systems for the Indomitable, her phaser systems were the most ambitious, and truly ahead of its time. Utilizing a new phaser control field system, the Indomitable engineers installed an experimental slotted phaser array design. Not being limited by the slot phaser housing from the Potemkins, the new control field system allowed the phasers to be directed at enemy ships in wider firing arcs. Combining the new phaser design with updated phaser power conduits, phaser firepower had also increased considerably. New shield upgrades and an experimental hull armor plating installed to protect vital areas finish up the Indomitable's major upgrades.
By 2317, hostilities had broken out between the Federation and Cardassians. The Klingon Empire, now allies of the Federation, joined forces with the Federation. The Indomitable was launched just in time and had been on a solo patrol in a disputed sector when a Cardassian cruiser ambushed her. During the battle, all of her systems performed just as expected, with the exception of her phaser systems. The slot arrays generated increased heat levels during combat, and it was discovered that the slot array design itself caused additional heat in the system to occur during combat, and the emitters wore out faster as a result. Minor adjustments were made to improve heat dissipation, but they were not effective enough. It was realized that should the ship be involved in a firefight lasting more than 2 hours, the phaser emitters would burn out completely, and could only be replaced at a starbase.
All Constitutions undergoing refits to the Indomitable specifications were equipped with standardized recessed phaser bank emitters in the traditional twin-bank combination, but utilized the same updated phaser power conduits. This allowed the ships to maintain the same phaser firepower as the Indomitable, but limited the firing arc ranges by 20%. The Indomitable was called back into spacedock to have her slotted arrays replaced with the recessed phaser banks.
The Indomitable refits provided much needed firepower throughout the war with the Cardassians. Since the Excelsior Class was still fielded in smaller numbers than the Constitutions, 25 Excelsiors in service, the Indomitables in many cases were the Federation's strongest military presence in most sectors, proving to be a formidable opponent against most Cardassian ships. Although some Constitutions were destroyed in the war, the combined Federation/Klingon forces were more than a match for the Cardassian fleet. At the battle of Chin'toka, the Cardassian forces surrendered, and the war was over after 8 months.
Aside from the problems in the experimental slot emitter arrays, this final refit of the Constitution Class was a big success. Lessons learned about the slot emitter arrays were the basis for the development of the culminated phaser array system introduced on the Ambassador Class in the 2330s, and would become the main phaser weapons system installed on Federation starships afterwards.
With Excelsior numbers now over 80 by 2335 and production of new Excelsiors continuing, and the Ambassadors now in production, the Constitutions were slowly retired from service. By 2358, all but 4 Constitution Class starships had been retired from service and placed in mothballs. The 4 remaining ships still in service, including the Indomitable herself, serve as training vessels for Starfleet Academy.
http://starfleetcommand3.filefront.com/file/Alternate_USS_Indomitable;84939I suggest you go play with these as they are so awesome and well detailed.. it's so worth it even for those connie haters like myself.
