Battleship
The largest class of conventional warship in the Federation and most other navies.
As their name and legacy would suggest, battleships have limited non-military utility. Thus, ships of this class are rooted in a single purpose: overwhelming and destroying enemy capital ships in direct combat. They carry extremely powerful weapons (often built around a spinal mounted system), dense armor, and the immense power generation needed for rapidly-regenerating, multi-layered shields. Properly employed, a battleship will simply overpower a smaller ship built on equivalent-tech at both long and short ranges. They are also capable of withstanding ruinous amounts of punishment which would be, for any other class of ship, a mission kill - stories abound of Federal, Kri'tak, and Union heavy warships literally being sheared in half, and one or both parts continuing to maneuver and fight.
The Federation strongly favored the class, as their few battleships were the only things able to take on Triumphator warships on anything resembling even footing. However, the newer battlecruisers proved more efficient as flagships and long-range artillery platforms, and the Interlink-Federation Civil War demonstrated the potential of superheavy warships, deprioritizing the development and construction of new battleships.
Battleships remain somewhat relevant, particularly in FTL Combat where massive point-blank firepower and protection are still a priority, but are no longer the supreme naval predator, their obsolescence a matter of when, not if.
As their name and legacy would suggest, battleships have limited non-military utility. Thus, ships of this class are rooted in a single purpose: overwhelming and destroying enemy capital ships in direct combat. They carry extremely powerful weapons (often built around a spinal mounted system), dense armor, and the immense power generation needed for rapidly-regenerating, multi-layered shields. Properly employed, a battleship will simply overpower a smaller ship built on equivalent-tech at both long and short ranges. They are also capable of withstanding ruinous amounts of punishment which would be, for any other class of ship, a mission kill - stories abound of Federal, Kri'tak, and Union heavy warships literally being sheared in half, and one or both parts continuing to maneuver and fight.
The Federation strongly favored the class, as their few battleships were the only things able to take on Triumphator warships on anything resembling even footing. However, the newer battlecruisers proved more efficient as flagships and long-range artillery platforms, and the Interlink-Federation Civil War demonstrated the potential of superheavy warships, deprioritizing the development and construction of new battleships.
Battleships remain somewhat relevant, particularly in FTL Combat where massive point-blank firepower and protection are still a priority, but are no longer the supreme naval predator, their obsolescence a matter of when, not if.
