In the embers of the dominion war

[kostmayer]

In what form is the Starbase moved to its location and built? Raw materials, with mobile Industrial replicators, or in modules?

If in modules, how big. Does the Federation have the equivalent of an Antonov or would regular Starships suffice?

[Deepcrush]

If the sections are small enough then any ship could do the job.

A couple of Mirandas and Excelsiors could tug a few sections and leave it to be assembled. By the time they returned with the next couple of sections, the construction crews would be ready.

[kostmayer]

Shame, I kind of liked the idea of a gutted Galaxy class used for hauling.

What sort of construction time are we looking at?

I hope we get to see something like this in one of the new series of films.

[Deepcrush]

What sort of construction time are we looking at?

No way to know. As far as I've seen there isn't anything canon about Starbase construction time.

I hope we get to see something like this in one of the new series of films.

That would be awesome wouldn't it!

[kostmayer]

That would be awesome wouldn't it!

As dull as it sounds, I reckon so. My favourite part of the new film is still the sight of the Enterprise under construction in the dockyards. Well, that and Sulu with a sword.

I reckon a few shots of a new station being built along the border of the Neutral zone might be nifty. Infact while their out there, maybe one of the cargo ships could stray into the neutral zone and hit a gravitic mine - lets see how the cocky little beggar handles the situation for real.

[Deepcrush]

Its Kirk... who's well... Kirk... he'd have the fleet in there blasting away at anyone stupid enough to get in his way.

[Coalition]

I don't believe those books are canon. In any event, as Deep said Empok Nor is a pittance compared to the size of a starbase. In addition, there is a widely accepted assumption that Cardie industrial capability was wanting compared to the UFP. It is eminently possible that the Cardies couldn't construct something like that in situ, and as an alternative were willing to accept the risks to tow it.

If Cardassian industrial capacity was wanting compared to the Federation, then why did the Federation agree to give away territory, and in "The Wounded", Admiral Halden told Picard that the Federation couldn't afford another long, drawn out war? This was before the Dominion War, so Cardassian industry would have been near its (pre-Dominion) peak.

As dull as it sounds, I reckon so. My favourite part of the new film is still the sight of the Enterprise under construction in the dockyards. Well, that and Sulu with a sword.

Now what would have been better is if Kirk had gone 1:1 with one Romulan, but Sulu had to engage 3 of them. A quick draw kills one of them, and he then proceeds to fight both of them. They ight over the platform's surface, nearly getting barbecued by the fire blasts from the vents, before Sulu kills one of them. The second has a gun to his head, and tells him to drop the sword. Sulu points down and smiles.

The Romulan holding the gun suddenly realizes he was lured on top of the fire vent, a few seconds before it goes off. One barbecued Romulanlater, Sulu then casually walks over, casually kills the guy threatening Kirk, and helps Kirk up. Sulu just smiles and says, "Fencing".

I reckon a few shots of a new station being built along the border of the Neutral zone might be nifty. In fact while their out there, maybe one of the cargo ships could stray into the neutral zone and hit a gravitic mine - lets see how the cocky little beggar handles the situation for real.

Space is big. I mean it is really freaking huge. If there are enough mines around that a freighter can accidentally hit one in space, then building a new station will be a trivial effort.

Seriously, calculate the volume within Earth's orbit, figure out a frontal cross section of a freighter, then figure out how many mines you would need to have a 1% chance of hitting the freighter. You could even go with area within Earth's orbit, to assume the freighter would cross through.

Now start calculating for the asteroid belt diameter, then Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Kuiper belt objects, etc. This isn't even getting into interstellar space, or trying to wall off a border.

[McAvoy]

I agree with mine part. Though I suspect that the mines can move on their own with some sort of AI. So one or two mines can cover let's say a kilometer in diameter. Still need millions of mines to even mine off a planet.

I always assumed that Starbases like the Spacedock are built in sections then towed to the site and assembled. It's the equivilant of building a carrier or even the Airbus.

[Deepcrush]

You want to defend a planet... Simple.

Take a dozen DS9 styled stations and park them around the planet. Easy come, easy death.

[McAvoy]

Or Starfleet could design their own version of the Cardassian orbital defense platform. Though it fire Defiant style pulse phaser instead. You just have to fix the weakness. Perhaps station the power supply or whatever on a handful of well armed stations. One station goes down you still have a backup or two. If those go down too, well then the enemy deserves the planet.

[kostmayer]

Not to interupt a good debate, but the mine comment was a reference to TWOK and the Kobyashi Maru simulation.

As far as planetary defense goes, I like the idea of a few hundred DS9 type stations dotted about. That place kicked ass after O'Brien upgraded it.

[McAvoy]

In a perfect world yes that would be good. Especially for a place for a fleet to dock. But stations like that require manpower. Smaller than a similar strength fleet though but those stations are not mobile. So whatever that planet is would hav to be strategic for that.

[Deepcrush]

The thing is that for a single divison's worth of man power you could put a dozen of them around each planet. That would save cost in the long run. In man power and time and resources. Unlike a starship. The crew wouldn't have to be highly trained. They only need to know how to target their weapons and reload their PTLs. Keep a couple O'Brian types on each and fill the rest with enlisted.

[McAvoy]

While I agree it's the best answer for a strategic planet during a war but what about peacetime? A dozen or so of those stations wouldn't be doing alot unless we are talking about one of the core worlds like Earth or Vulcan.

[Sionnach Glic]

For planetary defence, the ideal composition would be a half dozen short-range and lightly armed patrol ships, a dozen or so gunships stationed on the planet itself, and 6 orbital weapon platforms.

Remember: A PDF force need only delay the enemy until allied fleet units arrive. Designing PDF units so that each planet could hold off a mass attack is a nice thought, but completely wasteful. Such facilities would cost shitloads to run. And in peacetime what are they going to be doing? Absolutely nothing. Yes, you could stick a dozen DS9 style stations in orbit of every planet. Yes, it could hold off virtualy anything bar a massive enemy attack. But it's also going to bankrupt you pretty damn quickly as you'll be getting no returns from them during peacetime. Save the heavy defences for important planets like Earth and Bajor.

For my own PDF fleet the patrol vessels would basically wander the fringes of the system, acting more like a coast guard than anything else. Their main objective would be to go after pirates, smugglers, contraband, etc. They'd be fitted with long-range sensors, which should allow them to spot any enemy fleet moving towards them with ample time to prepare the defences. Upon sighting the enemy they will retreat to the system's main planet to assist in the defence to the best of their abilities.
The gunships would have fuck all speed and no FTL drives, but they'd pack quite a bit of weaponry on them. Upon recieving a warning that an enemy fleet is inbound from one of the patrol ships, the gunships would quickly get into position in orbit of the planet. They'd place themselves directly between the fleet and the planet, and basically just sit there and unload all their ordinance on the enemy fleet as soon as it comes into range.
The defence platforms would be little more than floating weapon batteries, packing phasers and a photorp launcher. With 6 of them they can be arranged in such a position that an attacking fleet would be within the firing lines of at least three. Their objective would be to simply spam torpedoes at the enemy and hope they take something down. It's possible that they wouldn't need to be manned.

While such a force would be unable to hold off a determined invasion, they'd be more than ample to hold off pirates and deter minor fleet attacks. Of course, should a serious war break out then Starfleet forces would undoubtedly be standing by to assist to any invasion reports, meaning that their only objective in such a scenario would be to hold off the invaders long enough for help to arrive.