Note: addship defiant_variant or addship defiant_hidden (loads a fully fitted ship with pulse phasers and photo torpedoes, but has the hard point graphics hidden, like in star trek the weapons are built in.)
Hi everyone, this is my first venture into releasing a "mod".
I have taken the libery of adding the cool ship from Deep Space Nine, the USS Defiant.
The Defiant was a prototype starship designed and built with one purpose, to fight and defeat the Borg. It is a small heavily armored warship with no science labs, no crew comforts and packed with firepower. Early testing revealed the Defiant was overgunned and overpowered for a ship its size and when the ship was tested at full capacity it almost tore itself apart. For this reason it was mothballed. However, some Starfleet engineers have since sought to correct those issues and commission the Defiant to help Starfleet face ever growing threats such as the Dominion.
Change Log:Spoiler
didn't want to make it annoying to use so changed some things with supplies etc...
-Supply/Month changed to 15 ( was 30)
-CR to deploy now 15
-CR recovery/day: 4 (was 2)
-Fuel = 80 (was 100)
-Fuel/ LY = 4 (was 10)
-Cargo = 50 (was 20)
-Pulse phasers firing rate/delay increased to 0.25 ( was 0.22)
-Photon torpedo speed increased to 1000 (was 800)
-Pulse phasers range increased to 700 (was 600)
-Photon torpedo does explosive damage (200% to armor) was kinetic before and that was an error, was never meant to be an anti-shield weapon.
-Increased acceleration to 80 from 60.
-decreased the volume of pulse phasers
I've tested with a level 15 character. There's been no major fighting buffs apart from a slight increase to pulse phaser range, and acceleration and the correct torpedo damage type applied. The logisticsl side of the ship's fuel/cargo has been modified to be less strigent.
Spoiler
Weapons:-
1) Pulse Phasers: the ship is equipped with 4 pulse phasers which draw directly from the warp core (flux capacitor) and pack a wallop (4x medium energy slot)
Forward facing, 5 degree arc of fire.
2) Two Photon Torpedo launchers. Fast moving non-tracking projectiles. The Defiant carries 20 torpedoes total. 10 loaded into each tube. (2x medium missile)
3) One 360 phaser array.
Speed:
The Defiant has a top speed of 150 and is highly maneuverable, complimenting her forward facing weapons
Ablative Armor:
Heavy ablative armor is built into the hull which is degraded as it receives weapons fire (heavy armor and reinforced bulkheads built in mods)
(first federation ship to have ablative armor in lore)
Shields:
The Defiant has weak shields, and isn't meant to hang around in a fire fight. (upkeep, and shield/damge 1.0)
Tactics:
The Defiant's weapons are all forward facing and have no ability to lock targets beyond a 5 degree cone of fire. With the Defiant's high speed and maneuverability, it is designed around devastating hit and run (strafing tactics) on larger targets of opportunity, it does outclass other ships in its class. A quick strafing run with shields up, offloading pulse phaser fire into the target and finishing it off or damaging it with photon torpedoes is its preferred method. However, with limited torpedoes, the Defiant firepower is severely reduced once its compliment expires. Dropping shields at the right moment, to transfer more power to weapons is effective, as the Defiant can take fire on its armor, while trying to finish a target.
Maintenance issues:
Because of its numerous engineering issues, the defiant requires high monthly maintenance. Additionally, the Defiant requires significant maintenance after a fight (recovers CR @ 2% a day).
The longer the Defiant is engaged in combat, the more apparent these malfunctions become (combat readiness prone to drop fast in combat)
Range:
The Defiant was not built as a long range exploration ship as is traditional with starfleet. Therefore the Defiant must rely on constant deuterium resupply (LY range: 10) Fuel: 100 capacity.
Max warp speed = 18.
Cargo:
The Defiant has no cargo bay and supplies are stashed all over crew quarters like submarines of old during war time. (Cargo capacity: 20)
:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10KkiyBT7tsqaFQXbA01HoVJUX8awjoLJ/view?usp=sharingFuture plans:Spoiler
Tweak the weapon graphics because they are borrowed from the base star sector weapon graphics, so the explosion and effects of the photon torpedo do not suit.
Refine the bounding box in case it isn't so good. (no issues so far)
Take feedback.
Spoiler
using its torpedoes I found it capable of destroying cruiser and maybe battlecruiser sized ships. Without torpedoes it cannot stand up to larger ships. Therefore its hit and run tactics on targets of opportunity come in. E.g. your forces have a bs or bc almost fluxed out? Charge in with Defiant and unload torpedoes. Basically do not expend your torpedo load on one target if you have a long fight ahead. Venting is your friend when you can. Don't be afraid to take hits on armor, in other words, lower shields, to keep hammering a target, and hold fire(x) raise shields while you use your better speed to get out of range. Shields won't take much fire while you are firing. Pulse phasers are power hungry.
Defiant needs good piloting and careful tactics. Its weapons are basically dumb fire, cannot track and cannot turn and can only fire ahead, so you will miss precious shots if you do not aim well.
Defiant is very vulnerable to fighters. Best to retreat from enemy range and just shoot them down.
