Bravo Fleet
One of the biggest priorities on the tech team is to make sure that we’re providing our members with a wide variety of ships and stations with which to tell their stories. In recent months you may have noticed a few smaller additions of individual ships, or several civilian classes released for the campaign, but this announcement details some larger additions and revisions that we’ve made to our line-up.
Adjustments to the Obena and Excelsior II
One of the big mysteries about the Obena class from the very beginning was exactly how long it was supposed to be, as you get different numbers if you try to measure from the number of decks in the saucer or if you try to make the nacelles the same length as those on a Sovereign. We initially went with my (too large) estimate of 800 meters. There was no model in Star Trek Online, and the class admittedly has never been popular because of so few graphical assets existing for it. Last week, the ship was added to Star Trek: Online, and we were finally given the most official size for the class that we’re likely to get at this point: 600.7 meters. This is a significantly smaller ship than we assumed at first, only about 3% longer than the Excelsior II. Because of this, we’ve revised both the Obena and Excelsior II to comply with this new information.
The Obena is now being characterized as an entirely new design developed after the Dominion War to serve as a replacement for the Excelsior with enhanced diplomatic capabilities. In 2385, the project was canceled when Mars was destroyed, in favor of the Excelsior II, which was a conversion program for all of the existing Excelsior-class ships to bring them up to modern tactical standards to reinforce the fleet. In-universe, production of the Obena resumed post-2399, but the only Excelsior II-class ships that exist were conversions of the original class, rather than being built from scratch.
The Curiosity Class(es)
One class that has eluded us for a long time is the Curiosity, which was seen only in an outline on a box owned by Rios in Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard. We set out to see if any Star Trek: Online vessels might match that shape, maybe with some squinting, and we found a few candidates. One of these, the Glenn, is the 25th-century version of the Crossfield, a hero ship we don’t yet have a version of. Another was the new Typhoon, which in some ways can be seen as a Star Trek: Online hero ship, given its role in the game and place among the fandom. So, we decided to write them as competing designs as part of a broader Project Curiosity. These new cruiser designs fill a medium-weight niche that we needed more content for while also connecting in our canon to the Curiosity to fill a gap that’s been lingering out there since 2020.
The Shenzhou Class
Similar to the Curiosity, there was an image in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard of the Lancelot-class USS Leodegrance, which was listed as Captain Uhura’s ship. This design used concept art from Star Trek: Online that was very similar to the Walker class, so we decided to bring in the Shenzhou, which is the 25th-century version of the Walker. As the Shenzhou herself was arguably another hero ship, this allows us to add another prominently featured design to our offerings while maintaining a thread to canon. This design is a large surveyor (a science vessel meant to study planets) that is also well-armed. It’s perfect for adventures on the frontier.
The Shran Class
Unlike the Curiosity or Shenzhou, our final new offering wasn’t a hero ship, but it is also a 25th-century iteration of a design featured on Star Trek Discovery. A revised version of the McGee, the Shran is an escort design that helps us round out our offerings of smaller vessels, without supplanting the Defiant or completely taking over that niche.
What’s Next?
So, does this mean that we’re going all-in on adding Star Trek: Online designs? No, not necessarily. These specific designs filled some niches we had, while also giving us some ways of closing some gaps in canon. (And, hopefully, helping with getting some traffic to the wiki, if our hopes about SEO are right!) When it comes to adding new ships, we think about lots of things:
- Is the design canon? (And even if it is, does it make sense as a playable ship?)
- Are there high-quality graphical resources available?
- Does it fit within another, similar ship’s niche?
- Does the design fit well within Bravo Fleet’s storytelling ethos?
So, this doesn’t mean that we’re going to add every design from STO. It doesn’t even necessarily mean that we’re planning on making any additions in the near future. However, the assets system has made us more willing to offer a broader range of ships. Ultimately, the decision on whether to add something or not has much more to do with vibes than anything else. Writing these articles takes a lot of time and energy, and so there has to be a certain amount of inspiration there on our part, but there’s also a certain je ne sais quois aspect to this: does adding this ship make for better storytelling opportunities or not?