Allied and Rival State Ship Procurement Policy

Allied and Rival State Ship Procurement Policy by Pope Torak

The Klingon Empire

The Klingon Empire and its interstellar arm, the Klingon Defense Force, utilize a unique procurement model that takes advantage of the Empire's quasi-feudal structure. Where the Federation Starfleet orders hulls from various shipyards then fits them with mission payload, the Klingon Defense Force acquires starships as contributions from the noble houses of the Klingon Empire. The annual personnel, ship, and resource levies provided by the Great Houses are the most prominent measure of their influence within Klingon society. Reserve procurement consists of House militias, each operating starships reflecting the priorities and capabilities of the house in question.

Well aware of the Great House tendency to overbuild or scale up hull designs, the Klingon Science Institute at Ty'gkor will typically start a hull configuration at roughly three or four times the length of the final design. Once a given hull design and warp geometry is confirmed to work at larger dimensions, the KSI then produces a baseline vessel scaled down to the specs requested by KDF High Command. Baseline prototypes are evaluated and if approved the schematics of the ship class is distributed to the noble houses. Certain sensitive systems component designs are retained by the Science Institute and KDF. These typically include warp reactor design and details on nacelle coil elements. While the largest Great Houses usually have in-house engine design capability, their level of technology is anywhere from five to ten years behind that of the KDF.

Fleet strength goals are set by the Chancellor every third year subject to the approval of the High Council. Once baseline numbers are established the noble Houses are asked to contribute a certain number of hulls per size class. Each House maintains substantial autonomy in how individual ships are configured, ranging from basic dimensions to weapons load out. So long as a vessel meets performance trials in its particular classification, the ship is then accepted into KDF service with a name chosen by the House ghIntaq.

Despite this feudal levy structure, a small number of ships are built entirely by the KDF to maximize quality, commonality and performance. The Chancellor-class is an example of this process, combining the best House refinements of the basic Vor'cha spaceframe with the latest Science Institute testbed systems. The resulting battlecruiser is among the best balanced starship designs in known space. A Chancellor compares favorably with ships of other advanced stellar powers such as the Romulan Mogai and the most recent revision of the Federation Akira class.

Klingon ship designs favor modular monocoque construction. Distinct hull modules are built using high density duranium-tritanium crystalline composite alloys sandwiched with ceramic nanopolymers. Cast rodinium hull plating makes up the outermost layer of the hull and serves as both a pressure hull and armor layer. SIF-integrated trussed frames are used primarily as reinforcement to the basic structure, meaning Klingon ship designs tend to be more densely constructed and less efficient on a cubic meter volume base than comparable Starfleet designs. Due to the use of distinct modules in the frame, Klingon ships easily modified. A single ship might be configured as anything from a torpedo heavy assault ship, to a disruptor based escort, or heavy amphibious troop transport over the course of its career. The latitude given to the Great Houses manifests as substantially different internal configurations. Externally identical ships might feature completely different weapon configurations, deflector shields, cloaking devices, and transporter technology.

The KDF currently uses a battle role based classification system which stresses the importance of a ship's combat mission over its overall payload or size. Because of the wide variation in physical dimensions of ships in what are ostensibly the same design class, the classifications emphasize measurable performance metrics ranging from total primary weapons yield to shield capacity. Ships that are lacking in a given metric might be classified as an inferior support combatant.

For example, certain K'Vort-class ships built by the House of Gannik in the 2350s had a design flaw which compromised their shield geometry and effectiveness. Despite exceeding baseline specs for battlecruisers in every other metric, these ships were bought into service as B'Rel-class raiders and given appropriate identification hardware. Their greater size required more manpower and resources to maintain as raiding vessels than the KDF could afford, and these vessels were sold to private concerns. These ships were later used by Ferengi privateers in an attempted hijacking of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) in 2370. Due to their transponder hardware the Enterprise computer systems registered them as B'Rel-class birds of prey despite the fact the ships had been upgunned well beyond even the K'Vort-class standard.

When a Great House finds a configuration that fits its needs, it will continue producing upgraded variants of existing ship designs despite the availability of more modern hull configurations. Smaller Houses in particular maintain production of older hull frames due to their reluctance (or inability) to discard large investments in industrial fabricators and drydocks. As a result KDF fleet composition eventually tends to coalesce around a small number of highly successful multigenerational ship designs. Examples of this phenomenon include the various Bird of Prey models, the D7/K'tinga family of cruisers, the Vor'cha and Qang type cruisers, and the Negh'var family of battleships.

KDF Ship Classifications

Battleship - Heavy line combatant with main weapons battery and deflector shield system of class XII output or higher. Minimum troop complement of 3,000. e.g. Negh'var, Sword of Kahless

Battlecruiser - Heavy line combatant with main weapons battery of class XII output or higher and deflecter shield output of class X or higher. Minimum troop complement of 1,500. e.g. Chancellor-class.

Attack Cruiser - Line combatant with main weapons battery and deflector shield system of class X output or higher. Minimum troop complement of 1,000. e.g. Vor'cha-class.

Strike Cruiser - Support combatant with main weapons battery and deflector shield system of class VII output or higher. Minimum troop complement of 250. e.g. K'Tinga (2370 configuration), Karas-class.

Bird of Prey - Light combatant with class V weapons and deflector shield capabilities. e.g. B'Rel-class.

Romulan Star Empire

Emerging from half a decade of internal strife the Romulan Star Empire and its Imperial Fleet remains the third largest interstellar state in known space. The Romulan fleet posses roughly 18% of the known total warship tonnage, dwarfed only by the Federation Starfleet (27%) and Klingon Defense Force (22%). As the largest fleet in the Typhon Pact, the Romulan Imperial Fleet remains the benchmark for Starfleet and KDF threat simulations.

The Romulan Star Empire operates a command economy featuring a hub and spoke system of sector governments. Advanced industrial capacity is focused on or around hub worlds, while spoke worlds operate as resource or agricultural centers. As a result of this specialization between star systems and worlds, most hub worlds lack self-sufficiency, depending on surrounding worlds or even sectors for key materials. Major hubs of manufacturing or agriculture in Romulan space are Romulus, Artraleirh, Abraxas V, and Archernar Prime. Examples of spoke worlds include Nequencia, Virinat, and Terix II.

The Romulan Senate is responsible for approving budget allocations to the Imperial Fleet, although in practice this has become a formality after the year's production and fleet strength goals are set by the Continuing Committee in consultation with the War Plans Council. Romulan fleet strength requirements are based on intelligence provided by the Tal'Shiar and Military Intelligence. The results can often lead to byzantine maneuvers within the Romulan Senate, as both sides have substantial reason to mislead the Continuing Committee on budget priorities. In general, however, the Romulan Imperial Fleet receives about twenty starships for every one ship allocated for Tal'Shiar use.

Romulan military service is restricted by caste. While commoners and client species can serve as members of the ground forces and auxiliary roles, frontline combat roles within the Imperial Fleet are limited to the landed Romulan elite. Praetor Narviat's reforms opening military service to all adult Romulans in the Empire was quickly abandoned after his assassination. As a consequence, the Imperial Fleet has a smaller pool of manpower available for its crew needs than Starfleet or KDF. This relative shortage of manpower has been the primary motivation for the Romulan emphasis on stealth tactics, remote combat drones, and superiority in individual ship designs.

Romulan starship designs tend to be comparatively larger than their counterparts from other powers. Hull configurations emphasize weapon lines of sight and warp maneuverability over sublight agility and overall warp geometry. The extensive use of exotic quantum singular based warp drive systems require wider nacelle placement and greater volume spent on internal shielding. However, the energy distribution systems using quantum singularity cores are substantially more efficient even within large internal volumes. This allows Romulan starships to have much larger internal volumes than comparable matter/anti-matter reactor core designs.

Warbird construction uses large load-bearing external hulls that are sub-divided by thick internal bulkheads and armored compartments. The heavy compartmentalization and internal wall structures allow greater insulation of power systems, keeping power signatures hidden even without an active cloaking device. Outer hulls are made of a tritanium nano-crystalline ceramic composites, while inner hulls use higher density duranium-trititanium alloy organized as inner pressure hulls. The combination provides high amounts of stealth on outer hull segments and survivability of internal sections.

While Romulan ships are no better armored than comparable Klingon designs, the likelihood of catastrophic power core failure is substantially lower. Paradoxically, Starfleet Intelligence believes part of the purpose of this higher survivability is to provide Romulan ship captains with sufficient time to activate auto-destruct systems, rather than to increase the survival chances of the crew. Information gathered during Dominion War joint operations suggests the widespread use of self destruct charges by crippled Romulan ships. Post war analysis estimates that nearly a quarter of Romulan hull losses during the war were the result of deliberate scuttling rather than catastrophic damage.

Romulan Ship Classifications

Warbird - The primary classification for all front-line ships of the line. Current Romulan fleet doctrine restricts this classification to line combatants equipped with a minimum of Class VII output offensive and defensive systems. Sub-classifications exist for Warbirds based on fleet role such as command, assault, and guardian.

Bird of Prey - Support combatant used in reconnaissance and escort roles. Sub-classifications exist based on fleet role.

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