Federation U.S.S. Ranger class Light Cruiser (Star Trek):

From: Starfleet Prototype

This design is meant for the times between the movies Star Trek Two: Wrath of Khan and Star Trek Six: The Undiscovered Country. This could easily also be used in Next generation times as ships pulled from Mothball/Reserve fleets to cover the huge losses incurred while fighting against the Borg and Dominion.

The light cruiser has an interesting role in the Federation. It is expected to do act a long range scout for a battle group like a destroyer but is expected to also carry more firepower and shields. This is so the Light Cruiser is able to operate more independently than Destroyers. The ship design is also suppose to be less expensive than the larger heavy cruisers. Because of these factors, good designs for light are hard to come up with.

The Federation has tried many years to come up with a successful light cruiser design and while they had a partial success with the Belknap class strike cruiser, the Belknap was far larger than what was desired for a light cruiser and was almost the size of an Enterprise class cruiser. It also was quite expensive and rivaled the enterprise class for cost. Combined with the fact that the Belknap class was normally used on border patrolling, a new design of light cruiser was desired. In some cases, the Federation's Avenger class can fill this role but they are often tied up in border roles as well

The Ranger class is the Federation's more successful attempts at a light cruiser. Instead of using a special lighter power plant, the Ranger uses a standard intermix system. This allow for higher warp speeds than previous light cruiser designs. The warp nacelles that are mounted on support struts that are virtually parallel with the primary hull and the Ranger class is much less tall than the Enterprise class. Weapons are also improved although the Photon Torpedo launchers are placed on a spare to clear the hull from the drive effects of ordnance launches. The Ranger class also carries six banks of phasers which gives the ship significant firepower at energy weapon ranges. Shields are also powerful for the ships size and the system is adapted from the system carried on the Enterprise class heavy cruiser but uses less mounting.

The ship carries a small fighter and shuttle compliment although in many cases, the fighters will not be assigned. The ships can act as flagships in case of emergency but have only partial flag facilities. While they entertainment and exercise equipment is more limited than it is on most heavy cruisers, it is well designed at is

This design is written to be able to interact with modified phase world rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details. There is a lack of hard detail on this ship. Some materials have suggested accelerations that are simply beyond scope. I have taken a moderate level in writing up this starship for Phase World because otherwise the ship would either be far too powerful or far too weak for Phase World. Warp speeds are far slower than the FTL speeds for Phase World but they are very close to those from the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Also, a note on the mass of starships. The original sources indicated much smaller masses for starships than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual does and where possible, both masses are listed for the gamers to choose which one seems most appropriate.

Model Type: NCC-2701
Vehicle Type: Light Cruiser
Crew: 470 (70 Officers and 400 Enlisted)
Troops: 50 Marines and 30 Fighter Pilots
Passengers: 20

Vehicles:
Fighter Compliment:

	6	Tycho class light interceptors.
	3	Arco class attack sleds
	3	Argus Class warp fighters

Shuttles:

Standard Shuttles

M.D.C. By Location:

	Siege Phaser Cannons (6 banks of 2 each):	800 each bank
	Siege Phaser Cannon (1, Individual mount):	400 each
	Photon Torpedo Tubes (2):	800 each
	Main Deflector Array:	6,000
	Warp Nacelles (2, Secondary Hull):	15,000 each
	Secondary Hull Hangar Door:	3,000
	Impulse Engine:	6,000
	[1] Primary Bridge:	12,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge (Also used as Flag Bridge):	12,000
	[2] Primary Hull (Main Body):	30,000
	[2] Secondary Hull (Main Body):	25,000
	Connection between Hulls:	10,000
	[3] Variable Deflector Shields:	5,000 per side (30,000 total)

Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. This ship does have an auxiliary bridge. Even if both bridges are destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but the ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridges that do not penetrate the ship’s integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridges.
[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the primary or secondary hull will put the cruiser out of commission. If the secondary hull is destroyed, the primary hull will remain capable of sublight travel and weapons may still be fired. If the primary hull is destroyed, all internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[3] Shield's positions can be varied and all can be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1,500 M.D.C. total) per melee round.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Atmosphere: Cannot travel within an atmosphere efficiently.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent the speed of light. The starship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.7 percent of light per melee.
As an alternative, the starship can reach .99 of the speed of light but is normally restricted to slower speeds so that the starship is not affected severely by the time attenuation that occurs at the higher sublight speeds.
Stardrive: Uses a warp engine that allows the ship to travel at Warp Factor 8.4 on cruise (0.068 light years per hour), Warp Factor 10.7 Flank (.140 light years per hour), and Warp Factor 14.9 Emergency (0.378 light years per hour). Warp speed is raised to the third power to figure out how many times the speed of light the ship travels. These speeds are very slow when compared to Phase World ship, so if used in that universe, they could be increased enough to operate within Three Galaxy speeds but should not exceed them.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. The ship carries about 5 years worth of supplies on board and a small hydroponics section.

Statistical Data:
Length: 1,051.84 feet (320.6 meters)
Height: 174.87 feet (53.3 meters)
Width: 464.89 feet (141.7 meters)
Mass: 168,000 metric tons (Starfleet Prototype)
Power System: Primary power system is a Matter/Anti-Matter Reactor with a 20 year lifespan. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 27,500 tons (25,000 tones) of cargo in addition to the standard compliment of supplies and ammunition.
Market Cost: 4.2 billion credits to construct. As far as it is known, the Federation does not sell their starship designs to other interested parties.

Weapon Systems:

Six (6) banks of 2 Siege Phaser Cannons & 1 Single Mount: Primary energy weapon system with three banks on top and three banks on the bottom of the primary hull, and one single mount behind the impulse engines. The weapons damage is about equal to the laser cannons used by the CAF but the Phasers have a greater rate of fire. The Phasers are also slightly shorter ranged but only slightly. Both Phaser Cannons in each bank can be linked or can be fired separately. They cannot be used when traveling faster than the speed of light. Weapons system has half the normal penalties to hit fighters and small targets.
Maximum Effective Range: 12,437 miles (20,000 km) in space and 12.4 miles (20 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega-Damage: 2D4x100 M.D.C. each or 4D4x100 for both in a bank.
Rate of Fire: Maximum of Three (3) times per melee for each cannon.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Photon Torpedo Launching Systems: Both launchers are mounted on the secondary hull in a forward facing spar above the main deflector array. While the launchers are older than those used on the U.S.S. Defiant and other next generation ships, they can use new torpedoes and quantum torpedoes if used in later Next Generation times. Newer photon torpedo warheads carry more anti-matter.
Effectively very similar to Phase World cruise missile launchers but instead of having groups of multiple launchers, Starfleet has concentrated on launchers that can launch more than one torpedo at a time. Once a spread of torpedoes has been launched, the launchers must reload and rearm before launching another spread of torpedoes. In the early service of this ship, it carried photon torpedoes which are matter/anti-matter warheads but they can carry quantum torpedoes when they are available. Torpedoes have a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). When the warhead's drive system goes dead, the torpedo will travel in a straight line unless preset to self destruct or receives a destruct code but has a very low odd of hitting a starship (great for hitting bases and planets because the targets don't move, and Torpedoes when dead are -25% to detect). See modified starship rules for more details - torpedoes have penalties to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. Launchers can launch on multiple targets each.
Maximum Effective Range: Powered torpedo range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere, and 4 million miles (6,437, 376 km/21.5 light seconds) in space.
Mega-Damage & Properties: Photon Torpedoes (Matter/Anti-Matter Warheads): Old Series inflict 2D6x100 each, Star Trek Movies One through Six inflict 3D6x100, and Next Generation inflicts 4D6x100 each. Quantum Torpedoes: 8D6x100 each.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2 per launcher, per melee round, for a maximum of 4 torpedoes per melee. Launchers are reloaded on the same melee and can fire again on the next.
Payload: 100 torpedoes (50 per launcher, launchers are mounted in pairs and can use the other launcher's magazine if that launcher is damaged.

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Technical information sourced partially from Starfleet Prototype.

I would like to recognize Henning Rogge as giving assistance with the revision of the Star Trek starships.

Image drawn and copyrighted by Mischa (E-Mail Mischa). Click on line drawing for a better view.

Mischa has no art home page at present but many other items on my site.

Writeup by Harold Nichols (sha_radun@yahoo.com) and by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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