The celebration of the past, present and future of the ST:CCG continues with the near-past. Klingon exchange officers have secured technical readouts for the ship-that-once-was-king; the:
The U.S.S. Enterprise-D's uses:
The Classic Federation Vessel: The U.S.S. Enterprise-D is, in many ways, the classic Federation vessel. It has excellent Range (9 is excellent both on planet- and space-heavy spacelines) and Shielding strong enough to turn away all but the most powerful vessels. Its Weapons, although not as impressive as its other attributes, are still sufficient to make an effective deterrent. All in all, the Enterprise-D is one of the best mission-completion ships. Good Range gets one's crew to the proper location quickly, good Shielding ensures that they arrive, and its crewing requirements, although not insubstantial, are not excessive for mission-completion--in all likelihood, one will have at least three personnel when one wants to begin attempting missions.
All Those Wonderful Frills: The Enterprise-D, like its predecessor, has a variety of useful add-ons. As an Enterprise, the Enterprise-D benefits from Wall Of Ships. With the rules for "matching commanders" introduced by First Contact, the former Federation flagship gets Captain's Log benefits from the Premiere version of Jean-Luc Picard. In addition, the Enterprise-D has the standard Federation option package of Holodeck and Tractor Beam. The Tractor Beam, while not as useful as a cloaking device, can prove invaluable to a mission-completion deck faced with Radioactive Garbage Scows. The Holodeck is a real treat; the Federation has many useful holograms, and cards like I'm A Doctor, Not A Doorstop and Tommygun only make holodecks more useful.
Of course, a ship this good at one thing has to be bad at something else:
Friends Don't Let Friends Fight in the Enterprise-D: Although the Enterprise-D does have effective, if not stellar, Weapons, the Enterprise-D simply is not a combat ship. The Enterprise-D's Weapons are too low for it to be able to battle it out all by itself, while it requires too many personnel to be effective in an armada. In addition, the limiting Federation rules of engagement make it difficult to take advantage of the Weapons it has. Hence, the Enterprise-D's combat potential is, for all intents and purposes, relegated to the "counterattack" realm; the ship lacks the offensive punch to warrant a place in a battle-oriented deck.
Final Analysis: The Enterprise-D is the ship which perhaps best reflects the nature of the Federation. It excels in a peaceful mission-completion deck, as it carries its crew swiftly from one mission to the next, its shields protecting them from harm. However, combat is a struggle; with relatively weak Weapons when compared to the battleships sported by other affiliations, the Enterprise-D has little chance to destroy other vessels. In sum, the Enterprise-D is most certainly worth including in any Federation mission-completion deck--and is most certainly worth leaving behind if doing anything else.
Next week: The celebration of the ST:CCG continues with the most valuable (monetarily, at least) vessel in the game; the Future Enterprise.
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