Nova class

[McAvoy]

Something I was wondering for awhile. The Nova class has been described as short ranged. In the real word that describes lack of fuel. While the Equinox needed fuel this got me thinking. I am sure deuterium should be found anywhere within UFP borders, why make the ship short ranged in the first place?
Is a cost issue?

Is it a lack of space in a cramped design?

Is it something having to do with the propulsion system itself?

While it has been said before that the UFP is a money less society or at least Earth is, it stands to reason that Starfleet has to barter with something to get what it needs or wants from let's say the Ferengi. But what would a short ranged ship save?

Perhaps the class uses well established propulsion technology or an easily mass producable system. Something that is not an high end or top of the line system that would fit within the design perimeters.

Usually when let's say the Air Forces or Navies of the world produce a short ranged design it is usually designed for specific purpose or philosophy of that goverment. Example German battleships in WW1 had low range due to being confined to the High Seas but in WW2 German battleships were designed with long range with commerce raiding in mind.

Just thinking

[Tyyr]

Well the limit on fuel isn't deuterium, it's anti-matter.

That said the ship was probably intended to operate within the Fed's boarders. It could just swing into the nearest starbase or meet up with a tanker and top off easily. Aside from that a lack of spares would be limiting on range, as would a lack of crew facilities. While you can subject crews to some really rough conditions for a few months that's about the limit before their effectiveness takes a steep steep dive.

[SomosFuga]

There is also the speed, the Nova Class is stated to have a top speed of warp 8, so a long range mission would take a long time for this ship. And of course it doesn't has fancy crew facilities.

I don't like the Nova Class, physically i like it but not the concept.
This ship is comparatively slow so it is short ranged and forget about scouting missions. No fancy crew facilities, not even a holodeck, again short ranged. It's probably weak so woldn't be a good destroyer or escort. It's small so forget about cargo or troop transport missions. Also being so small, where do they fit all those labs a science ship would need?

[McAvoy]

One of the ideas I thought up on why the Nova is short ranged is that it could be a cheap and easy to build ship that could replace the Oberth class or similar class. Or to fullfill a role that Starfleet was lacking.

Obviously the class is not meant to go beyond it's own borders and probably not that far from it's motherbase.

The big thing would be power generation since supplies can be replicated for the most part. Also since the antimatter is a fuel it also could be that as well.

[Captain Seafort]

This ship is comparatively slow so it is short ranged and forget about scouting missions. No fancy crew facilities, not even a holodeck, again short ranged. It's probably weak so woldn't be a good destroyer or scort. It's small so forget about cargo or troop transport missions. Also being so small, where do they fit all those labs a science ship would need?

Why would they need lots of labs? It's not going out to conduct every possible scientific mission - its the sort of single-purpose ship Starfleet is in desperate need of, built in bulk so that every oddball anomaly a big long-range explorer like a GCS or an Ambassador runs into can be given a once-over and then given a Nova to look at it in detail. The ship's mission would be entirely focussed on that one location, most of which would probably be in the form of data collection, which could then be analysed in slow time by scientific institutions back on a planet somewhere within the Federation.

[Reliant121]

To that effect, do you think the science labs could be modular? Having different science fits for the location in question.

[Captain Seafort]

To that effect, do you think the science labs could be modular? Having different science fits for the location in question.

Not quite modular, but I could easily see one Nova set up to look at stars, another to look at planets, another to look a nebulae, etc.

[Reliant121]

That would make sense.

[McAvoy]

The big question is how many Novas are there. Starfleet would need hundreds if not thousands to cover Federation space and possibly replace the Oberth class. If they have that many then I can see single purpose Novas studying one thig and other studying something else. But if they're a handful then I would say no.

What I do not get is why is it short ranged. I am not talking about the physical charateristics of it but the design process and thought that made the class short ranged.

[Tyyr]

Not quite modular, but I could easily see one Nova set up to look at stars, another to look at planets, another to look a nebulae, etc.

Which would also give a good reason to keep them small and simple to build, you'd want a lot of them.

[Aaron]

The big question is how many Novas are there. Starfleet would need hundreds if not thousands to cover Federation space and possibly replace the Oberth class. If they have that many then I can see single purpose Novas studying one thig and other studying something else. But if they're a handful then I would say no.

What I do not get is why is it short ranged. I am not talking about the physical charateristics of it but the design process and thought that made the class short ranged.

You don't really need a long range ship if your going to base them at Starbases and planets and send them out when needed to survey anomalies that get picked up by the Hero ships.

[McAvoy]

Obviously basing them at a Starbase because they're short ranged is the end result. But what made Starfleet want the ships to be short ranged. Which is where is comes down to is it cost, mission, or what?

[Sonic Glitch]

Obviously basing them at a Starbase because they're short ranged is the end result. But what made Starfleet want the ships to be short ranged. Which is where is comes down to is it cost, mission, or what?

I'd say a good deal of common sense and it's mission. Starfleet realised it can't keep tying up long-range exploration ships to examine every last detail of the cosmic phenomenon they come accross so they decided to create a small, short ranged platform that could go in, scan the hell out of something, and come back. Nothing more, nothing less. A no-frills, there-and-back type ship.

[McAvoy]

Makes sense.

[SomosFuga]

This ship is comparatively slow so it is short ranged and forget about scouting missions. No fancy crew facilities, not even a holodeck, again short ranged. It's probably weak so woldn't be a good destroyer or scort. It's small so forget about cargo or troop transport missions. Also being so small, where do they fit all those labs a science ship would need?

Why would they need lots of labs? It's not going out to conduct every possible scientific mission - its the sort of single-purpose ship Starfleet is in desperate need of, built in bulk so that every oddball anomaly a big long-range explorer like a GCS or an Ambassador runs into can be given a once-over and then given a Nova to look at it in detail. The ship's mission would be entirely focussed on that one location, most of which would probably be in the form of data collection, which could then be analysed in slow time by scientific institutions back on a planet somewhere within the Federation.

Just guessing. If it's like you say, mostly data collection, yes it makes sense.