Solas Tempus uses specific guidelines to refit and conditions old space craft designs for effective use. The following is a standard list of upgrades for all older ships...
General Upgrades
- Reinforce Hull
- Shield Grid Upgrade / Installation
- Weapons Upgrades
- Thruster Tuning
- Computer Upgrades
- Network Overhaul
- Power System Overhaul
- Warp Drive Tuning / Overhaul
- Launch/Shuttle Bay Expansion
Upgrades generally increase the amount of work and maintenance required for peek efficiency but older designs are usually not discontinued because they are incapable of further upgrade but because new designs are available. Green Team has found innovative ways to use modern technology to augment and extend the design capabilities of nearly any space craft designs.
NX Class Upgrades
The NX Class represented the best in ship design in the 22nd century. The two most critical parts of the ship requiring upgrade are the defensive systems and the power system. It is important to note that being the first human vessel to leave the confines of the solar system on dedicated exploratory missions, and later to neutralize the Xindi threat, the ship is built better than average making it ideal for upgrades.
Defensive and Offensive System Upgrades
The NX Class did not have a shield grid, but rather polarized hull plating. Installation of a network of shield emitters is essential, since the ship is very small in size and modern shield emitters can be used this upgrade is minor in terms of design impact. The phase-cannons can be simply changed out with modern high powered phaser cannons in place. Photonic torpedoes were nearly the same size as the modern Mark IV photon torpedo casing, minor launcher upgrades for deployment and the installation of a specialized targeting and tracking computer allow for Mark IV torpedoes to be used.
This class vessel can also be upgraded to use cloaking technology, though power is limited and emissions must be carefully managed while diverting all warp power to the cloak, the ship should be able to remainundetectedunder minimal impulse power (limited to 0.2c) or using thrusters only in most situations.
Power System Upgrades
The main warp reactor in this design is a first generation Warp 5 reactor. The very first inter-stellar warp reactor constructed by Starfleet. The fusion generators present no problem for power production with minor fuel control and storage upgrades. The Warp 5 engine presents a bigger problem, the weapons and shield upgrades require a great deal more power to operate. When the NX Class was built phase cannons did not require a direct plasma tap from the main warp reactor, where as in modern day this tap is the backbone of phaser power. The reactor requires a complete overhaul to fit within the design requirements of the spaceavailable.
Once rebuilt, the new reactor resembles a Warp 7 engine but with a slightly higher power output and an increased heat output of the reactor. The new warp reactor, designated an NX Mark II Reactor, can now supply full power to the shield grid, ship board systems, and weapons but at the cost of warp power output. The reactor does not have enough power output to apply full drive power while supplying power to both weapons and shields though resulting in decreased speed at warp power during combat.
The power distribution system is highly adaptable and requires only minor distribution control tweaks throughout the ship to adjust to the higher temperature warp plasma and greater demand ofinternalsystems.
Propulsion Upgrades
As noted previously the new warp core is able to produce higher energy warp plasma, this plasma runs hot in comparison to conventional warp plasma which limits the systems range whentravelingat maximum output before the drive must be shut down and the warp coils allowed to cool before damage is done. Most of the speed limits in theconventionaldesign were due to instabilities in the warp field. These are easily solved with modernstabilizertechnology given to a better understanding of warp field theory. Thespace-framerequires additionalstructuralintegrityfield emitters to account for the extra speed stress but is otherwise sound.
The new speed rating is a Maximum Speed of Warp 7.259 for 6 hours, Emergency Speed of Warp 7.5 for 71.5 seconds. Cruising speed of Warp 4.2. Reduced speed ratings during full power weapons & shields use at Maximum Speed of Warp 4.09 for 6 hours, Emergency Speed of Warp 5.29 for 49.1 seconds, and Cruising Speed of 3.1.
Due to majoradvancementsin impulse drive and thrusterefficiencycoupled with the ships smaller size the NX Class when completely refit can reach a sub-light velocity of 0.58c, using modern sub-light field generators to account for time dilation effects at that velocity, the ship rates as maneuverable at high sub-light speed as a modern Defiant or Venture class ship making it deadly at sub-light combat.
For Blue Team ships the NX Class Mark II is capable of supporting the Dimensional Fold Drive and thus time travel but only when shields and weapons areoff-lineand ship systems are put into low power mode before a stable field with which to fold can be formed and maintained.
Maximum Speed of Fold 7.1 for 5 hours, Emergency Speed of Fold 7.34 for 10 seconds, Cruising Speed of Fold 4.05.
Launch Bay Updates
Missions often require more from an auxiliary space craft than is generally offered by the 22nd Century Shuttle Pod design. All NX-Class vessels when refit had the launch bay and its support systems increased in size by roughly 150% for a total size of 82' long by 45' wide. Extending out from the bottom and rear of the ship's original design.
This facilitates using a single Flyer Class shuttle or a pair of Type 8 Shuttles from the launch bay.
Daedalus Class Upgrades
Unlike the NX Class the Daedalus Class Starship design isn't nearly as favorable to upgrade as other class ships. Built after the Earth-Romulan War in a post-Federation setting the ship was never designed far outside the role of exploration. As such the upgrade possibilities are drastically limited. This class ship is not suited for Blue Team operations as the space frame cannot support the stresses of Dimensional Fold technology.
Structure
Extensive refit of the ships structural integrity field are possible, however, and the ship has a very large shuttle bay for its size. The warp drive system itself is versatile and well developed, the Warp 7 reactor can be used with minor efficiency tweaks to the control, injector, and EPS systems to make it ideal for engineering and science. Because of its large shuttle bay with comparison to other ships of its size the ship is capable of supporting a large number of engineering and maintenance tasks.
The shuttle bay itself is expanded by around 75% from its original size, it can now accommodate larger more advanced craft such as the Danube Class or Venture Class runabouts as well as the more modern Type 8 Shuttles.
Engineering
This class ship is thus outfit with high powered tractor beams, transporter systems, and the infrastructure for support vessels is vastly upgraded. It carries several engineering work-pods and auxiliary space craft used for transporting engineering personnel and equipment to/from sites and supporting extensive refits of much larger ships from a single vessel.
Defenses
The shield systems of this class are also upgraded to allow their range to be extended well beyond the normal power output of the ship as to protect work sites and support craft from danger. The weapons systems have also been upgraded but power requirements for more than low power phasers tuned for engineering purposes exceed any safety margin for the capability of the Warp 7 engine. The space-frame is also inadequate for high speed sub-light or warp maneuvering.
This ship is not recommended for combat but possesses strong defensive shields to allow evacuation before retreating from a combat zone.
Oberth Class Upgrades
Being of a far more modern design the Oberth Class Starship ship is well suited for upgrade. The ships warp core is already well developed for its size and power output can be greatly increased with simple modernization of parts and efficiency tweaks throughout the power systems.
Structure
The main overall upgrade of the ship is with the shuttle and cargo bays. The original ship design has a very limited design for auxiliary craft. Decks 2 and 3 are modified cutting down the room for crew quarters on Deck 2 where the two forward most crew rooms are sized down to make room for the expanded bay. On Deck 3 Cargo Bay 4 at the front of the ship is merged with the main shuttle bay leaving nearly the entire front section of Deck 3 available as the main shuttle bay. The port and aft bays are also upgraded in size, though not as drastically.
Shuttle Bay
The new main shuttle bay can support up to a Flyer Class vessel or two Type 8 Shuttles. The two side bays are mainly used as cargo space, each can support up to a Type 8 shuttle.
Gold Team Upgrades
The research arm of Solas Tempus uses Oberth Class ships for scientific missions. These require little or not upgrade from the ships basic design other than efficiency tweaks and minor control system and computer refits. Able to go for long periods of time without refuel or resupply it can support a small crew on virtually any scientific mission needed.
Blue Team Upgrades
The action arm of Solas Tempus requires more, however, than the research arm. This ship is capable of supporting a Dimensional Fold Drive relatively easily. Because of the ships small size but well developed and compact Matter/Antimatter reactor the ship is fully capable of being powered while using the Dimensional Fold Drive except for an inability to have weapons or shields on-line.
Offenses
Weapons systems and shields are also upgraded extensively, when the reactor is power running even at warp speeds after being refit the ships shields and weapons allow for a bomber-support role in combat. The ship is less maneuverable than the Refit NX Class, but can take more punishment in combat. The ship only possesses a rear torpedo launcher which it uses to launch low-speed high yield warheads at targets as the ship passes at warp velocities.
Covert Operation
This ship can also be upgraded to make use of cloaking technologies, because it is smaller and more compact than the NX Class the cloak is able to do a better job at hiding the ship, it can use its impulse engines to 0.3c and still remain undetected, though the power requirements remain similar - the Matter/Antimatter reactor must divert all of its power to the cloaking system to conceal the ship.