The Tholians had always been in a desperate situation, even after the arrival of the 312th. They were always looking for any way to improve the fighting power of their ships. One idea was to turn the NCL hull into a 'new heavy cruiser.'

This would require the contruction of a very large collar section, similar in size to that of the NBB collar. The addition of this new collar would increase the movement cost of the ship to 1, add extra shield boxes (identical to those of the NCA), and add one to the excess damage track.

The NCN collar would be similar to the NBB collar but with the following changes:
-add one Phaser-1-RX,
-Replace Battery with APR,
-Replace Probe with Battery.
This gives the collar the following systems:
1 BTTY
1 Shuttle,
6 APR,
6 Central Hull
3 Phaser-1-RX.

The collar could conceivably be mounted on the NCA but doing so would block the rear web-caster firing arc.

I am thinking that the Tholians (in this galaxy) would have had difficulty in building such a large collar, and instead focused on smaller collars. Thus, the NCN would be an unbuilt ship.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 01:12 pm: Edit

Dixon,

The Tholians are my favorite race and I certainly like to see them get new stuff. Unfortunately, I don't much care for your particular proposal because I don't think it's as good as the NCM the Tholians already have. The extra shield boxes on your proposed NCN are certainly welcome. But the fatal flaw is that the ship is too slow, given the nature of the threat in its time period. The NCM has one fewer phaser-1, NCL-standard shields, but a vastly better power curve. For my money it is simply the better, more capable ship and I can't see Tholians ever deploying and NCN in preference to an NCM.

Just my .02 quatloos worth.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 02:21 pm: Edit

You can always weld a PC to the NCL.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 02:27 pm: Edit

John,

First of all, I'm not sure that you can. But second, even if you could, why on Earth Tholia would you want to?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 03:21 pm: Edit

Alan Trevor:

Well the obvious answer to that question is:

"Why not?"

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 04:23 pm: Edit

Dixon,

When I initially read your proposal, I didn't really pay enough attention to your last couple of sentences, in which you say

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Quote:

I am thinking that the Tholians (in this galaxy) would have had difficulty in building such a large collar, and instead focused on smaller collars. Thus, the NCN would be an unbuilt ship.

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By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 05:40 pm: Edit

I was a best 1/4 serious with the whole weld-a-PC thing.

By Dixon Simpkins (Dixsimpkins) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 10:50 pm: Edit

I agree that the NCM is probably the better ship (although, personally, I feel it should have a MC=3/4 rather than 2/3, but this is beside the point). The NCN also has two additional C Hull and an extra EX DAM box, too. It really is a somewhat tougher ship. The additional shuttle in the collar is also useful for use as WW or Suicide shuttle or even as an extra PH-3. The NCN is really meant more for defensive operations within the Holdfast, as with the CAN new heavy cruiser. I assume that the Tholians think first in terms of defense, and then offense (at least, in historical terms).

Comparing power:

	NCA	NCL	NCM	NCN
Battery	4	3	5	4
APR	2	2	4	8
Warp	30	26	26	26
Impulse	5	5	5	5
Total	37+4	33+3	35+5	39+4

The NCN compares favourably with the NCA by two points (as well as having less power-hungry weapons). The NCNs top speed is 27 (26 warp+1 imp) which isn't really that slow compared to other heavy cruisers (which is what I was considering).

The NCN has 4 points more power than the NCM (3 if the extra RX PH-1 is armed) but it is really the lower MC that is the difference here.

Assuming housekeeping costs, arming 2/3 of the phaser capacitor and arming all other weapons at standard or 1/2 levels, we see how much power is left for movement (which is how I estimate a "power curve").
NCN
39 Total Power (+4 BTTY)
-4 housekeeping
-9 phasers (2/3 of cap rounded up)
-8 4 disruptors(4x2)
-3 webcaster
=39-24= 15 points of power (MC=1 gives speed 15)

NCM
35 Total Power (+5 Btty)
-4 housekeeping
-8 phasers (2/3 of capacitor)
-8 4 disruptors
-3 webcaster
=35-23=12 (applying MC=2/3 gives speed 18)

By my comparison the NCM is only somewhat better in terms of power but this comes by virtue of its low move cost. (oh ya, it also has five batteries!)

I must confess, all this analysis is largely academic as I have never ever played with the Tholians. This idea popped into my head after Petrick and I were discussing "downgraded NDD and NFFs" in the Module Y4 New Product Development thread. Any input from experienced Tholians is welcome!

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 11:05 pm: Edit

I would point out that the Tholians treated the NCLs as Strike units that they were willing to risk beyond Tholian space. Note their inclusion in Operation Cavalry.

By Dixon Simpkins (Dixsimpkins) on Saturday, August 13, 2011 - 01:02 am: Edit

Good point. And it's another reason why this ship wouldn't be built. The Tholians did use the NCLs as "Strike units", which is contrary to the purely defensive philosophy assumed for the NCN.