I like the Idea of a Fleet Ship, or Battleship

What about a CnC ship (Command and Control). I've been thinking of ways to encourage teaming, for as much as love playing casually by myself, I really love playing with my team. A CnC ship could provide buffs/heals by sheer presence. Or an innate bonus to the two. This is not a combat oriented ship, but instead significantly enhances nearby ships. Stray too far and the bonuses drop off, also stray too far and the CnC loses its defense from the other ships. As an example, think of the Science ability Dampening Field (turned to 11, of course).

This could be a carrier, so that shuttles/fighters could provide a defense. But, I admit to not having flown a carrier so I have no clue how that might work in game effect. Especially since my intention is for this to be offensively weaker.

-end of random thought

I dont know about the federation but I would like to see the Cardassian Battleship/Carrier from the video game Star Trek: Dominion Wars, that was a pretty cool design, maybe when they do a Cardassian feature Episode....

I always thought that this is a role that should be assumed by some vessels that are already in the game. I'm sure that there was a reason for why the Excelsior-class was favored by a lot of Admirals in TNG, for example. Not to mention the Negh'var flagship.

How about instead of adding a specific class you'd suggest some sort of "CnC" module as a console? Instead of giving a big boost to your ship it could give a small (non-stackable) boost to each allied vessel in range...

How dare you make sense, these are forums!

But seriously, that's not a bad idea either. I think my thought was simply with a dedicated ship it could push the bonus a little higher than a console would (since it would be fairly obvious which ship is the CnC ship). The idea is primarily to encourage grouping, so either approach is good. I've seen the rumors about ship consoles that alter ships appearance, so perhaps that is how a CnC console can get in game.

What I would like about a dedicated CnC-ship is that this would make PvP a little bit more tactical, since a command vessel would increase a battlegroup's efficiency, whilst at the same time obviously being a prime target for opponents, so it must be protected. Obviously, for this to work, the ship would have to differ in appearance, as it should be identifiable by everyone (allies and enemies).

On the other hand, it is a role that is most commonly associated by ships already in the game (Excelsior, Galaxy, Sovereign, Negh'var, ... ), and a new class pushing them out of this kind of association just doesn't feel as if it'd "honor" the background of such vessels. If the appearance-altering consoles are really true, I can see it work this way, too. Maybe it could add some sort of "CnC communications pod" on the ship, that also flashes with a red light so it can be identified from afar.

As for the bonus itself, this is where things will get tricky. If you push the bonus too high, combat and especially PvP can get somewhat unbalanced. Of course the enemy can focus fire on a CnC ship, but with all those nifty abilities (extend shields, repair team, science team) being focused on a single vessel, it'll become a little fortress in space. And even if the bonus doesn't stack, if you have two CnC-ships in the same group, the bonus will still be there when the first vessel gets destroyed. So if you push the bonus too high, an opponent that, for some reason, does not have a CnC ship in his group, will get ***** badly.

I assume this will take some serious testing. But I can see this opening up a whole new range of possibilities. I for one wouldn't mind exchanging one or two consoles on my Excelsior with such a module to help the group. I would even exchange a weapon slot for it.

I'm sorry, I'm still learning.

I'm with you, I want a battleship, big, giant, scary looking battleship. I'm all about the boom.

This would be a great player design contest too. Give away a free lifetime subscription, a pile of c-store credits or a mountain of EC to the winner of the contest. Let the players vote on the winning design and then put that design in the game.

I have wanted those things for ages... carriers and battleships are cool. NPC feds get battleships... and Fed carriers exist.. and Feds can buy fighters in the Auction... so why not?

Well lets get more KDF ships finished and into the game first shall we?