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	Archive through July 25, 2025	25		07/26 12:56pm

Hmm.

Well, it might be possible to replace the drone rack with a third plasma-F, one set to the AP launch arc.

Or, perhaps a more extensive adjustment could "swap" APR and drone box locations: as in, to replace the drone rack with a lone APR, and then to replace the paired APRs with a pair of AP plasma-Fs?

Either way, the resulting CLL would be able to "broad-side" its plasma-Fs to either port or to starboard, which might help in terms of manoeuvring options.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Friday, July 25, 2025 - 08:33 pm: Edit

I have been reading about this and thinking about this

First as a Fed CA armed with 2 Plas-F instead of two photons. (2photons 2Plas-F) How effective would this be in a duel? How would it work out in a squadron are fleet battle? The Klingons would love that. Close into overload range with Disr and run from the plasma and drones. Easy to outrun a plasma-F. 2 photons not a deterrent for a close attack. All you need is range 8 with UIM. Most direct fire ships can do things like that.

Versus the Romulans. Sorry 2 Plas-F and 2 photons. The Rom can outrun the Fs. They also have more of them.

Of course, you could use them as carronades. A good chance of doing 8 damage each on the first shot. Then 4 every turn. A direct fire weapon that always Hits. (kill some drones with it) I do not think it is something to rave about. Now if your whole squadron had 2 each. Ah Gorns do have that.

A CAL and DDL. 4 Plas-F 4 photons and a regular ship CA are DD.


As for in Starfleet. (As game in depth History and all that)

You have a limited number of Plas-Fs fleet wide. You would want to keep the Plasma armed ships in one group for ease of logistics. The same reason Phaser-G were all in the carrier groups. (I know a FED CA with 4 photons 4 drone racks and 2 Phaser-G instead of drones Plas-Fs) Logistics.

I cannot see the Fleet using such a ship. Even as a test bed. They did that with the DDL. A DDG is a much better ship.

If Starfleet had decided that Plasma would be better, then Drones fleet wide. Well then logistics would be no problem. We all know that that the G-rack is more versatile than a Plas-F even with a carronade function.

Just my thoughts

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 01:47 am: Edit

It's getting to the point were every Fed ship has a plasma variant. Even the Corvette ship description lists one.

As an experiment on the underpowered DD it was cute surprise you could play on someone. A few FF variants seemed harmless. Then the floodgates opened.

You have people coming into this game watching Trek already asking why there are no Klingons with cloaks and Romulans without disruptors now they are going to ask why the Enterprise has plasma torpedoes.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 10:31 am: Edit

To be honest, Pl-F on the FF and DW isn't very good, either. The FFL and DWL are extremely short ranged. Meanwhile the FF and DW can reach out and touch someone at 30 hexes! Even just keeping a max range of 12, this is still better than a Pl-F for range.

Feds using a Pl-F as an alternative for *drones* is cool. Using it for a quick change-up is great. But swapping out photons for Pl-F is a losing game. Fundamentally, the Pl-F is a secondary weapon; the photon is a primary weapon. Except for very special cases, swapping a secondary weapon for a primary weapon is a losing game.

Also, as an aside, the theoretical CLL would not be able to replace the drone with a Pl-F. Even Anarchist conversions don't get to convert refit drones to Pl-F. The theoretical CLL wouldn't be able to either. The CLL would have an armament of two Pl-F, one refit drone, and six phasers. That is awful for a cruiser. Especially for a cruiser that is already badly outgunned with its standard armament. No one is making that ship.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 12:56 pm: Edit

>> Meanwhile the FF and DW can reach out and touch someone at 30 hexes!

Concur. The small Klingon ships, by comparison, might have maximum disruptor ranges of only 15 hexes.

So for these small Fed ships, swapping out photons for PL-F moves the range advantage away from the Feds and hands it to the Klingons.

--Mike

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 02:46 pm: Edit

I'm going to put in a good word for plasma-F on FFs and DWs. And that word is "carronade". While the plasma versions are clearly inferior to the photon versions in single-ship duels, that's not really the proper wartime role for these ships anyway. They are elements of battle fleets and their weapons should be evaluated as to how they contribute to overall fleet capabilities.

Consider a Federation fleet operating on the Romulan front, with a total of, say, 30 photon torpedoes. If a couple of frigates are swapped out for FFLs, reducing the number of photon torpedoes from 30 to 26, that is a relatively small reduction in the fleet's long range firepower. But the 4 carronades provide a significant improvement in the fleet's ability to... annoy... Romulans who try to cloak.

The FFL should not be considered a general purpose warship. It is better understood as a special purpose warship that is very cost effective in certain specific missions.

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 03:09 pm: Edit

One fact the has not come up is the value of the ECP the F-torp gives the ships, especially at Weapon status 3.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 05:30 pm: Edit

I play Romulans a lot. Old Romulans eagle class Ships.

I have never had a ship killed are really hurt by carronades. The Fed gets close tries to flash cube my ships. Or in one case drop a huge load of T-bombs and set them off with drones next to my cloaked ships.

As for an ECP. Feds have a lot of G-racks. you can buy more than 1 ECM drone. A ECP and an ECM drone cannot be active on a ship at the same time. As well as the ECM drone being able to change speed with the ship. A ECP cannot do that until sabot arrives.

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Saturday, July 26, 2025 - 06:53 pm: Edit

When considering ECM drones remember that before speed 32 you had speed 20 which restricted the speeds ships could fly at if they wanted its benefits. Also ECPs cannot be distracted