star trek ship power rankings

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Most Powerful Star Trek Ships, Ranked

What is the most feared ship in the entire galaxy?

How do you quantify starship power in the Star Trek universe ?

Is it the armament? The speed? The shields? The sheer size of a vessel? Or perhaps it’s the captain and crew at the helm?

We believe it’s all of those things and more, so we took 46 of the most noteworthy Star Trek starships and placed them in a head-to-head battle.

Which iconic ship came out on top? Find out below.

Warp ahead for our rankings of the most powerful Star Trek ships ever.

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From TOS to Picard: 40 most powerful Star Trek spacecraft, ranked

It's Enterprise vs. Borg cube time. From the Captain Kirk days to Deep Space Nine, Enterprise to Picard, we've ranked all the greatest ships. Resistance is futile!

This is what we call Enterprise reporting ...

Belt up: We've ranked 40 iconic Star Trek ships, probes and shuttles from the (relatively) least powerful to the (overwhelmingly) most powerful. 

Our rankings are based on specs culled from StarTrek.com and Memory Alpha. The crafts have been assessed for their speed, size and ability to assert their will via either weaponry or overall world-destroying power. Craft from both the prime and Kelvin timelines were eligible for consideration, provided they belong to the Star Trek canon, which extends from the original Star Trek TV series to CBS All Access' Star Trek: Picard .

Warp speed ahead for the rankings! 

(Disclosure: CBS is CNET's parent company.)   

40. SS Botany Bay

Viewed on the screen of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) from the prime timeline of Star Trek  the original series, the fun-sized Botany Bay is a pre-warp, 20th-century DY-100 class vessel from Earth. It's most famous for its de-facto captain, the genetically modified strongman Khan Noonien Singh, better known in Captain Kirk-speak as " KHAAAAN! "  

39. Phoenix

The Phoenix may be a primitive ship, but it's über - important. Per the Star Trek canon, and as seen in Star Trek: First Contact , Zefram Cochrane's and Lily Sloane's refashioned nuclear missile is the first Earthling craft to use warp drive -- and achieve  first contact  with an E.T. species, the Vulcans.    

38. Friendship 1

As we learn in a Star Trek: Voyager  episode, this deep-space probe is launched in 2067 -- or, four years after the Phoenix's game-changing flight. It represents Earth's early desires to seek out new worlds and new civilizations. 

37. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-J)

This 26th-century, Universe-class Federation starship, called a "distant relative" of the Enterprise (NX-01), is glimpsed in the Star Trek: Enterprise  episode, "Azati Prime." 

Owing to its presumed advanced tech, it should vie for a top spot on this list. But it's at the back of the pack because, one, it is only briefly glimpsed, and, two, a time-traveling Captain Jonathan Archer is told the Enterprise-J exists in a possible future timeline.   

36. Galileo (NCC-1701-7)

What this Class F shuttlecraft of the prime-timeline's Enterprise lacks in photon torpedoes, it makes up in significance: It is the focal point of the beloved Star Trek original-series episode, " The Galileo Seven ," the original prop from which was on display at the official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center. 

35. USS Raven (NAR-32450)

The remains of this Federation starship are seen in the Star Trek: Voyager  episode, "The Raven." In better days, the exploration vessel was the home -- and workplace -- of the Borg-studying scientists Magnus and Erin Hansen. Per StarTrek.com, the couple and their young daughter, Annika, the future Seven of Nine , are considered "perhaps the first [humans] to be assimilated" by the Borg.

34. Deep Space Nine

On one hand, Deep Space Nine, the setting for the same-titled TV series, is just an old Cardassian mining station. On the other hand, it's an old Cardassian mining station that, by Season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , is retrofitted with 5,000 photon torpedoes. Klingons beware.

33. USS Defiant (NX-74205)

Don't let its waffle-iron looks fool you. This Federation ship is tricked out with a Romulan cloaking device, and is built for Borg battles. The Defiant is adept at taking out Jem'Hadar warships, and, from a storyline perspective, opening up Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . It also adds spunk to Star Trek: First Contact .   

32. La Sirena

This is the lone entry from Star Trek: Picard . According to Memory Alpha, this newcomer, captained on the show by Cristóbal Rios, is a Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter, a class of civilian ships equipped with shields, phasers -- and a whole lot of hologram capabilities. 

31. USS Franklin (NX-326)

Like other Freedom-class starships, the Franklin is small, but tough. The 22nd-century craft is equipped with cannons, torpedoes, stealth technology, and, in the Kelvin timeline of  Star Trek: Beyond , seat belts. In the flick, Captain Kirk and crew salvage the rusted-up, long-lost Franklin, and use its warp 4 power to get from the planet Altamid to the Starbase Yorktown.   

30. Enterprise (NX-01)

In much of the Star Trek universe, warp 5 power and a cargo-only transporter bay won't get you far. But in the 22nd century setting of Star Trek: Enterprise , this Starfleet ship, capable of carrying a crew of nearly 100, is a triumph of Zefram Cochrane's theories of space travel.

29. Sh'Raan

The Vulcans may be better known for logic than combat ships, but the pre-Federation years are a salty time, and Spock's forerunners are ready to throw down in this Star Trek: Enterprise -era craft with warp 7 power.

28. USS Shenzhou (NCC-1227)

Introduced in Star Trek: Discovery , the Philippa Georgiou-captained Shenzhou is a Walker-class Federation starship of the 23rd century. It's possessed of cannons, phasers, torpedoes -- and bad luck. Following a mutiny, it's destroyed in 2256's Battle of the Binary Stars. 

27. Sarcophagus

The Sarcophagus is a 23rd-century Klingon ship. It's larger than the Shenzhou, which it encounters in the Star Trek: Discovery  pilot. Its most impressive feature is its most unique feature: Its armor is a patchwork of caskets containing the remains of Kilngon warriors. 

26. Jem'Hadar warship

You can't tell the story of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  without the Dominion, and you can't tell the story of the Dominion without its military branch, the Jem'Hadar, whose battleships can defy tractor beams and compromise an opponent's shields.

25. USS Prometheus (NCC-71201)

As seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , this Nebula-class Federation ship is a floating science experiment. Its lofty goal: to reignite a dead sun. It gets the job done.

24. USS Excelsior (NX-2000)

The vessel that ably serves Captain Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  is the first Federation craft to feature transwarp drive. It would rank higher here, save for the apparent ease with which Scotty disables its bells and whistles in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

23. D7-class battle cruiser

At 748 feet long (228 meters), and with the capacity for a crew of 430, this Klingon ship is the largest of its era. Per StarTrek.com, it is also the "pinnacle of combat warships in the 23rd century." It'd rank higher here, except, well, even cooler stuff came along in the 24th century. 

22. Scimitar

This Reman-made ship from Star Trek: Nemesis   is stocked with enough disruptor banks (52) and photon-torpedo bays (27) to impress, but its real power lies in its ability to convert itself into a thalaron weapon , similar to a nuclear weapon but far more devastating.

21. Vor'Cha-class attack cruiser

A mainstay of the Star Trek universe, this powerful, heavily armed Klingon craft is nearly as long as a Galaxy-class Federation starship, a la the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) of Star Trek: The Next Generation .  

20. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)

This Constitution-class starship is essentially a replica of the original, iconic Enterprise. 

First seen blasting off in the prime timeline of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , the Enterprise-A also appears in the Kelvin timeline of the J.J. Abrams-era Star Trek films. There is no known distinction between the Enterprise-As of the two timelines.  

19. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B)

This 23rd-century, Excelsior-class Federation starship is a sleeker version of the Constitution-class Enterprise of the prime timeline. In Star Trek: Generations , Captain Kirk is aboard the Enterprise-B when it's damaged by the Nexus ribbon -- and Kirk is swept away (and presumed dead). 

18. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), prime timeline

So, sure, the Enterprise of the original Star Trek series (of the original Star Trek timeline, natch) would lose a drag race with, say, the USS Voyager (NCC-74656), but speed isn't everything. The Constitution-class vessel is part warship, part science lab -- and all kinds of iconic. 

17. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Kelvin timeline

According to Gizmodo, the Kelvin timeline's Enterprise is more than twice the size of the prime timeline's Enterprise. Storyline-wise, however, the craft is still the product of the 23rd century, so it can't really kick it at more than warp 8.

16. Romulan warbird

In Star Trek: The Next Generation , Captain Jean-Luc Picard and crew, no strangers to swank and size, are in awe of this baby -- and for good reason. Per StarTrek.com, the Romulan warbird is "the largest and most powerful of Romulan spacecraft." 

15. Negh'Var warship

In the 24th century, this Klingon craft is the flagship of its fleet. It runs more than 2,250 massive feet long.

14. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

This 24th-century, Galaxy-class Federation starship is the star of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Captain Jean-Luc Picard's ride is bigger and faster than the Constitution-class Enterprise of the prime timeline. With 250 photon-torpedo bays, it's also better equipped to battle the Borg than its 23rd-century counterpart. 

13. USS Voyager (NCC-74656)

Captain Kathryn Janeway's relatively puny ship from Star Trek: Voyager  gets the edge over the Enterprise iterations we've covered so far, because it's smarter and faster. Powered in part by Borg technology, Voyager can cruise at warp 9.975.

12. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)

This Sovereign-class craft, captained by Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: First Contact , Star Trek: Insurrection  and  Star Trek: Nemesis , was voted the best-engineered Federation ship (prime timeline) in a StarTrek.com fan poll. With quantum torpedoes and the ability to quickly dispatch a Borg cube, it's easy to see why.

11. USS Vengeance

This is a scary-powerful vessel from Star Trek's Kelvin timeline. As related in  " Star Trek: Into Darkness ," the Vengeance was developed off the Federation grid -- and with the help of Khan. The Vengeance is the one-and-only member of the Federation's Dreadnought battleship class.

10. The whale probe

There is no defeating this massive, cylindrical, power-sucking, starship-disabling, ocean-vaporizing threat from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . There is only placating it with what it wants to hear: whales.

9. USS Discovery (NCC-1031)

There is nothing else quite like the namesake ship of Star Trek: Discovery . The Federation Crossfield-class starship is distinguished by a propulsion drive that allows it to jump (or, spore jump, if you prefer the technical term) from realm to realm. When last seen in the Season 2 finale, the ship had time-jumped nearly 1,000 years into the future . 

8. Xindi probe

This Xindi-dispatched probe from Star Trek: Enterprise  is a pure beam of destructive force. In a 22nd century attack on Earth, it wipes out more than 7 million people from Florida to Venezuela.

After this 20th century Earth probe melds with the E.T. probe, Tan Ru, it turns into a judgmental little bugger that wipes out at least 4 billion people across four planets. Captain Kirk and company encounter it in the Star Trek  original-series episode, The Changeling . 

6. "The Doomsday Machine"

In " The Doomsday Machine ," the Star Trek  original-series episode from which this nameless alien ship/lifeform sprang, we learn that "that thing" literally eats planets and everything else it finds, fueling itself with the resulting rubble.

5. Krenim temporal weapon ship

The promise -- or, rather, threat -- of this Star Trek: Voyager  craft is awesome: Possessed of timeline-changing power, the ship, we're told in the episode, "Year of Hell," can "erase [an] entire species from time." 

4. Species 8472 bioship

This craft is organic -- heavily armed and fortified organic. In Star Trek: Voyager , a Federation-Borg team-up is the only thing that can stop hundreds of these vessels from destroying pretty much everything they encounter. .

3. The Narada

This time-traveling Romulan mining ship is arguably the most significant ship in the Star Trek universe. 

In the 2009 Star Trek  film, the Narada launches an attack on the USS Kelvin, and prompts Captain Kirk's father, First Officer George Kirk, to take his dying ship on a suicide mission. The resulting collision with the Narada is so massive it creates a whole new timeline -- the Kelvin timeline.

In the new timeline, the devastating Narada destroys the planet Vulcan. 

2. The Borg cube

Such is the dark legend of this inscrutable spacecraft that fans routinely debate which is more powerful: Star Wars' vaunted Death Star ... or Star Trek's Borg cube . 

Before your next debate, consider this: The Death Star just wants to blow you up. The Borg cube, like the Borg itself, can blow you up, but it may just slice you up in bits instead -- the better to steal your technological soul.

1. V'Ger

As seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture , V'Ger is a force-field cloud of destruction driven by an old Earth probe, Voyager 6.

That it wipes out Klingon Bird-of-Prey ships and a Federation space station without any apparent effort is one impressive thing. That it spans 7.6 billion miles (or 82 astronomical units) in diameter is another. Craft like this are not defeated; they can merely be managed. Hopefully.

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Star Trek: The 20 Most Powerful Ships In The Galaxy, Ranked

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There are many reasons that fans keep coming back to Star Trek . For some people, it’s the great characters; compelling figures like Kirk and Picard show us what the best of humanity can be and serve as truly inspirational figures. For other fans, it’s all about the complex stories. Star Trek has spent decades using sci-fi as a kind of lens to help us exam big topics such as racism and nationalism. The fun never ends when an episode ends because fans have a ton of things to discuss and debate among themselves. However, there are some fans that are all about the starships that populate the franchise. The original Enterprise , for instance, is a thing of beauty: we could hardly fault fans that tuned in every week simply to see this sleek ship boldly go where no man had gone before.

In fact, fans love these ships so much that debates sometimes get pretty intense. What’s the subject of debate? Simple: fans try to determine what the most powerful ships in the franchise are, and with a show that regularly involves time travelers, dimensional visitors, and ancient alien races, it can be tough to figure this out. How can this debate be settled? Well, it’s tough to get hardcore fans to agree to much of anything. But we’re throwing our hats in the ring with our definitive guide to powerful ships in Trek . Ready to end the nerd debates once and for all? Keep reading to discover which ships in the Star Trek Universe are the most powerful.

Arguably, the most powerful threat Kirk ever faced (aside from a thing that may or may not have been God) was V’Ger. Once upon a time, this was the humble Voyager space probe. However, a planet full of machines (which some fans speculate may have been a Borg planet) made V’Ger into something mighty.

In fact, we never see the outer limits of this thing’s power. We know it can vaporize ships at will, and it’s also capable of creating perfect copies of Kirk’s crew. And it seems highly likely that if Kirk and Spock hadn’t managed to help it evolve, this thing could have wiped out all life on Earth!

19 BORG CUBE

Over the years, we’ve seen many different variants of Borg vessels. However, the most iconic and powerful of these vessels remains the Borg Cube. What makes this ship so dangerous? It’s the perfect combination of power and adaptability that makes them feared throughout the galaxy.

The Borg Cube’s power is undeniable -- a single ship wiped out 39 Starfleet vessels at Wolf 359 without breaking a sweat. And their ability to adapt to any form of attack means that even when someone does create an innovative solution, it won’t work for long. Is it too much to hope we might see these foes again in a future movie or TV show?

18 ENTERPRISE-J

For some of the ships on this list, we don’t have much information. Nonetheless, we can determine that the ship is packing a lot of power, and that’s the case with this big hitter from the far future: the Enterprise-J .

This is a ship far into the future of the Trek timeline. Captain Archer is transported to this ship briefly by a Temporal Agent. Since we know how advanced ships like the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E are, we can only assume that this iteration of the famous vessel is packing a lot of power. Here’s hoping we see more of it in action some day!

17 WHALE PROBE

On a list of “most powerful” ships, there is an obvious question to ask: how do you define powerful? It’s not always a matter of a strong hull or scary phasers. Sometimes, what makes a ship powerful is that, as nearly as anyone can tell, is that it cannot truly be stopped!

That’s the case with the alien probe ship in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (also known as “the one with the whales”). This ship was not malicious, but its sheer proximity to Earth threatened all life on the planet. And seemingly the only way to stop it was to go back in time and bring back the one thing it wanted: whales!

Part of what makes Star Trek: The Next Generation so cool is that it helped to redefine what we considered life. For instance, one episode introduced us to Tin Man (more properly known as Gomtuu). And this creature blurred the line between “ship” and “life form.”

At first, this ship just seems big and mysterious. However, when it wants to, it’s capable of destroying powerful Romulan warbirds with a single thought. While we never see the upper range of this strange ship’s powers, it seems like it could be a major threat to the galaxy if it so chose to be.

15 THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE

We don’t see too many ships on this list from Captain Kirk’s era. That makes sense, after all: the ships only got bigger and stronger after The Original Series was over. However, one ship definitely makes the list: the so-called “Doomsday Machine.”

This ship kept things nice and simple. It destroys planets and uses them as fuel for its journey through space. And for any ships that get in the way? They become just another cosmic snack! It took the self detonation of a starship’s warp engines to finally stop this menace; otherwise, it may have devoured the galaxy!

14 VOTH CITY SHIP

Is it a ship? Is it a planet? Well... why not both? The next ship on our list is the Voth City Ship. As the name implies, though, this is far more than just another vessel. Instead, this is a ship large and powerful enough to house an entire civilization!

We don’t see this ship do anything crazy with phasers or photon torpedoes. However, it is powerful and advanced enough to instantly cut off Voyager’s communications and even cut its main power. Plus, the sheer size of this ship is amazing: Voyager looks like an ant compared to this giant vessel.

In some ways, time-traveling ships have the “cheat codes” for inclusion on this list. After all, your most modest modern automobile would seem like a powerhouse to someone living a hundred years ago. And that’s why ships like The Aeon, hailing from the 29th century, seem so powerful!

This ship’s conventional weapons are not necessarily that impressive. However, the sheer fact that it is a time vessel makes it dangerously powerful. Going back to the right place at the right time (so to speak) would allow the pilot to completely alter all of reality in order to benefit their own future selves.

In many ways, The Defiant was Star Trek ’s version of the Millennium Falcon. In fact, the Falcon’s description fits this other ship nicely: “she may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.” And many of this ship’s best assets are hidden away.

For instance, it has special ablative armor to help it last longer in combat. And its phaser cannons, combined with speed and maneuverability, help it to take on both big ships and smaller fighters. And it is the only Starfleet vessel allowed to rock a cloaking device, making it a supreme “hit and run” threat to the Dominion and other enemies.

11 FUTURE ENTERPRISE-D

Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation were likely looking for the Enterprise-D on this list. Well, it’s here, but not quite as you expected it: we’re giving the nod to the future ship as seen in the episode "All Good Things". And while we only have hints as to its power, they are very strong hints.

The ship has a third nacelle, possible indicating how powerful the engines are (remember, this baby can somehow go past warp 10). And we see the ship cut right through a powerful Klingon vessel with a single phaser beam -- it seems like Admiral Riker spent his twilight years turning this thing into a powerhouse.

In the Star Trek reboot movies, everything is bigger and tougher than in The Original Series . The Enterprise itself is huge (its size rivals the Enterprise-D ), so the threats had to get even scarier. The first big threat our rebooted heroes face is the Narada, also known as “Nero’s really big ship.”

From various scenes (including deleted scenes), we see that this ship is strong enough to take on fleets of Starfleet ships as well as a fleet of Klingon ships, and the quasi-canonical Star Trek comics established that this giant vessel had some scary future tech, including Borg weaponry! In the hands of someone like Nero, this was a huge threat to galactic peace.

For better or for worse, Star Trek: Nemesis did its best to channel Wrath of Khan . That meant having a cool ship for the Enterprise-E to go to- to-toe with. The ship we got was quite impressive: the Scimitar, a Reman ship design used by everyone’s favorite evil Picard clone Shinzon.

This ship was absolutely massive. Its raw firepower and sturdy hull was made to fight off Federation and Romulan ships alike, and that’s exactly what it did. Furthermore, the ship had a special biogenic pulse weapon that was capable of destroying entire planets’ populations in a quick and efficient fashion.

8 BREEN WARSHIPS

Some of the ships on this list are more like one-trick ponies. However, that doesn’t matter much when the trick is really good! And that’s exactly what the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans discovered when they faced the Breen warships in combat for the first time.

The main claim to fame for the Breen is that their ships have special energy dissipators. This means that with a single shot, they can disable a ship’s shields, weapons, and engines. Only Klingon ships were unaffected, and this eventually let the Federation figure out a workaround. Until then, though, the Breen were basically unstoppable!

7 SPECIES 8472

In some cases, we mostly understand how powerful a ship is when we see it go head to head with other powerful ships. That’s the case with the ships of Species 8472 -- they may look unimpressive at first glance. However, they were able to present one of the only real threats to the Borg!

These ships are fully organic and were able to fight off both Borg assimilation and the Borg’s ability to adapt. The result? These ships can destroy a Borg cube in under a minute. Considering that cubes completely completely wreck entire fleets, this accomplishment speaks for itself.

6 KRENIM TEMPORAL WEAPON

Many of the ships on this list weren’t necessarily designed for battle or to be used as weapons. Nonetheless, they have enough power (along with technical bells and whistles) to pose a major threat. This next ship, though, is pure weapon: in fact, it’s the Krenim Temporal Weapon!

This ship has enough conventional weapons to fight off small fleets of attackers. However, its primary purpose is to make adjustments to the timeline. This was used to deadly effect, and the ship helped to wipe several civilizations from the galaxy completely! If Captain Janeway wasn’t able to destroy this ship, it may have eventually destroyed the Federation.

When you’re thinking about powerful Federation ships, Voyager is probably not the first ship you imagine. After all, it’s not the biggest, nor the fastest. And it doesn’t have the most power. Nonetheless, we simply cannot ignore its track record.

This ship and her crew survived for seven years in the Delta Quadrant without any kind of real assistance from Starfleet. They survived encounters with primitive races like the Kazon as well as heavy hitters like the Borg and Species 8472. In fact, Voyager’s triumphs over the Borg mean that this ship on its own was able to do more than a fleet of Starfleet ships could against this powerful enemy.

4 RELATIVITY

The Relativity is a close cousin to another ship on this list: The Aeon. Both ships hail from the 29th century, which is basically half a millennium into the future from the time of Captain Janeway and like the smaller Aeon, The Relativity is a timeship.

This ship is presumably packing some serious conventional weaponry. However, its main weapon is its ability to beam people to and from basically any moment in temporal history. In the right hands, this is a powerful tool for scientific discovery. In the wrong hands, though, it’s a completely ominous weapon that could alter galactic history.

3 PROMETHEUS

For the most part, Starfleet isn’t known for its combat ships. Sure, they have powerful vessels that can throw down, but most of them are designed to explore first and shoot later. That isn’t the case for the next ship on our list, though: the Prometheus.

This top-secret ship is stronger and faster than most Starfleet ships. However, its real strength comes from two factors: its ability to separate into three parts (the “multi-vector assault mode”) and its high degree of automation. This means that a relatively small crew can take on just about any threat to the Federation, all without breaking a sweat.

2 VENGEANCE

There are many ships that are on this list for subtle reasons: they have special abilities and tricks up their sleeves to help them stand out from the pack. That’s not the case with the USS Vengeance, though -- this ship is simply pure power!

It was built in secret by Admiral Marcus, who himself was involved in Section 31. This secret division had the right to sanction any enemies of the Federation, and the Vengeance has enough firepower and shielding to make good on that threat. Fortunately, the Enterprise crew was able to defeat the giant ship through some creative strategies. And bombs. Lots of bombs.

1 SWARM SHIPS

Is bigger always better? Not really: it depends on how you use it! Get your mind out of the gutter, cadet, as we are still talking about ships in Star Trek . And as the swarm of enemy ships in Star Trek Beyond shows us, even a tiny vessel is capable of posing an enormous threat.

It was this same swarm of ships that destroyed the Enterprise ; Kirk’s mighty vessel never stood a chance. And these tiny ships very nearly destroyed the massive starbase Yorktown as well. It’s good for the galaxy that Captain Kirk found their one weakness: The Beastie Boys.

Ranking All the STAR TREK Hero Ships from Best to Worst

Over the past five decades, the Star Trek franchise has showcased some of the coolest starships in all of sci-fi TV and film history. But which one is the best? We’ve ranked the greatest “Hero Ships” from the series, from the classic ‘sixties ’60s show to more modern Treks like Picard , Discovery , and Strange New Worlds. And for clarity’s sake, we define “Hero Ship” as any starship where the main action takes place in a particular show or movie. Or that a principal character commanded in a pivotal way.

1. The Enterprise NCC-1701 (Refit) and the Enterprise NCC-1701-A, Constitution -class, seen in Star Trek films I-VI (1979-1991)

When Star Trek made the jump from the small screen to the big screen , the starship Enterprise got an upgrade to go with it. Undergoing a two-year refit, the remodeled Enterprise made its debut in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . They took the basic design concept from the sixties show, and upgraded it with more detail and sleeker warp nacelles. They destroyed that Enterprise in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , but in the next film we got a new Enterprise of the exact same type— Constitution -class refit. And since they’re the exact same model, we’re counting them as one. Still the ship we think of when someone says “ Star Trek. “

2. The Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Galaxy -class, seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Generations (1987-1994)

In a recent episode of Picard ‘s third season, a random person referred to the Enterprise -D as “the fat one.” Well, the saucer section was indeed very large , as a way of accommodating over 1,000 crew members and their families. But this design is the most organic looking of all the Starfleet vessels, and there was just something graceful and sleek about its design. Sure, it had pastel carpets on the floor and walls, and even wood paneling. Truly, a choice. But overall, the Enterprise -D just felt like a true home in space. And one we wouldn’t mind living in. We miss her still.

3. Voyager NCC-74656, Intrepid -class, seen in Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

The U.S.S. Voyager was a brand new ship when we were introduced to it, under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway in the first episode of Star Trek: Voyager . The Intrepid -class ship was one of the late 24th-century successors of the Galaxy -class ships like the Enterprise -D. Yet it was much smaller, and could actually land on a planet. Her design kind of looked like a serving spoon with two nacelles sticking out, but there was something undeniably cool about this one. And it definitely had the coolest class of shuttlecraft on board.

4. Enterprise NCC-1701-E, Sovereign -class, seen in Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis (1996-2002)

After they crashed the Enterprise -D onto a planet in Generations , a year later Starfleet introduced the next Federation flagship, the Enterprise -E. It was a Sovereign -class ship, longer than the Enterprise -D, but not wider. Its saucer section was more elongated, and the warp nacelles were larger. Something about this ship, designed with fighting Borg and Dominion in mind, made it look meaner and more militant than the Enterprise- D. Which was perfect, as she saw many battles in First Contact and in subsequent films.

5. The H.M.S. Bounty /Klingon Bird of Prey, seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1984-1986)

This entry is kind of cheating, we admit. However, the H.M.S. Bounty , a commandeered Klingon Bird of Prey, was under the command of Captain Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . He and the displaced Enterprise crew saved the whales, and the entire future, with this ship. So we say it counts. It was jokingly renamed after the same 18th-century British vessel famous for its mutineers. Besides, it was the first Klingon Bird of Prey we ever saw, introduced in The Search for Spock . And that ship was one of the coolest in all of sci-fi history. It was so cool in fact, they used the model in TNG, DS9 , and several more films for years.

6. The Enterprise NCC-1701, Constitution -class, seen in Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969), Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1975), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-Present)

The original starship, commanded first by Christopher Pike and later by James T. Kirk. It was designed by Matt Jefferies in 1964 for the pilot episode of Star Trek. The basic design is as pure Trek as it gets, and remains iconic throughout the world . The only reason it ranks at this mid-tier level is that the feature films took this same design and greatly improved on it. We still see a version of the classic NCC-1701 Enterprise on Strange New Worlds , although with added details for a 4K HD world. But it’s still the same basic design, and you just can’t go wrong with it.

7. The Excelsior NCC-2000, prototype, seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Introduced in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock as “the great experiment,” we count the Excelsior as a “hero ship” because her Captain was none other than Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . And she saw plenty of action in that film. She kind of looks like a version of the refit Enterprise , only one that hit the gym and got very swole. The Excelsior led to a whole class of ships named for her, of which the Enterprise -B was one. The Excelsior -class was in service for nearly 75 years.

8. The Defiant NX-74205, prototype class, seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , (1994-1999) , Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

It’s tiny compared to the other ships on this list, and kind of looks like a waffle skillet with a vacuum cleaner nozzle. A prototype vessel designed to fight the Borg , the Defiant was an overpowered ship that packed a lot of heat. She was the main starship assigned to Deep Space Nine, appearing in DS9 seasons 3-7. Her first appearance remains a visual indicator of when the show got really good. Riker called her “a tough little ship” in the movie First Contact, and we think that’s a fair description. She was the angry chihuahua of the Star Trek franchise. And for that, we love her.

9. The Enterprise NCC-1701 Constitution -class (Kelvin Timeline), seen in Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016)

We generally like the alt-timeline Enterprise , introduced in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 2009 reboot film . But, it had some weird design choices. The saucer section was aces, but the warp nacelles were too big, a bit too muscle-car-looking. The placement of the deflector dish section jetting out in a weird way made the ship look unharmonious in design. We don’t dislike it, but the new Enterprise didn’t have to go so deeply Fast and the Furious for this redesign. Maybe if we ever see the Kelvin-verse crew again, they’ll be in a newer and cooler-looking ship.

10. The Titan NCC-80102-A, Neo-Constitution -class, seen in Star Trek: Picard season 3 (2023)

The main hero ship of Star Trek: Picard , the Titan is a new Neo- Constitution -class, meant to evoke the original Constitution -class ships like Kirk’s Enterprise . Only with a lot more detail. The Titan feels like a true update of both the classic and the 24th-century Starfleet vessels seen throughout TNG, DS9, and Voyager . Although commanded by Captain Liam Shaw, Will Riker took command when Shaw was injured. The previous Titan , a Luna -class ship , was under the command of Riker years before. We saw him in command of that Titan on Lower Decks . The current Titan has components of the old Luna -class ship. So it qualifies as both a refit and also as a new ship, hence keeping the registry number.

11. The Discovery NCC-1031 and NCC-1031-A, Crossfield -class, seen in Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024)

The 23rd Century U.S.S. Discovery had a lot of cool design features, especially once it got a 32nd-century upgrade in Discovery’s third season . It was actually based on old illustrations by Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie for a never-produced Trek movie. But Discovery was too weirdly flat looking, and with boxy warp nacelles, for us to ever really feel like something from Starfleet. It sort of looks like a pizza cutter, which is why they eventually made a Discovery pizza cutter . We just never really fell in love with the design for Discovery the way we wanted to.

12. The Protostar , NX-76884, prototype class, seen in Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-Present)

A relatively new ship to Star Trek canon, the Protostar is the hero ship of Star Trek: Prodigy. The experimental prototype ship harnessed the power of a young star. This energy helped it travel at incredible speeds, much faster than the average Federation starship. It had similar design elements to both Voyager and the Enterprise -E. And that makes sense, as it would have been built around the same time as those iconic ships.

13. The Cerritos NCC-75567, California -class, seen in Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-Present)

The U.S.S. Cerritos , a California -class 24th-century ship (named for a real California city near Los Angeles), is the main ship on Star Trek: Lower Decks . The animated comedy series is about a crew stationed aboard the least important ship in Starfleet . Since it is a show filled with awkward main characters, the Cerrito s is appropriately awkward looking. It sort of looked like a frisbee with handlebars. We kind of like it, but majestic she ain’t.

14. The Enterprise NX-01, prototype class, seen in Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

To be fair, the 22nd-century NX-01 Enterprise was a prototype ship designed by Starfleet before there was ever even a Federation. It was the first Earth vessel to hit the Warp 5 mark, allowing them to explore far more of the galaxy. They meant it to look very “first draft,” if you get our meaning. But it all just looked a little too much like a first attempt. It’s not hideous, it’s just that the NX-01 looks very unassuming and slightly underwhelming. Kind of like the Enterprise series itself in the end.

15. The S.S . La Sirena , NAR-93131, Freighter-class, seen in Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023)

Introduced as Captain Cristobal Rios’ private vessel in the first season of Picard , the S.S. La Sirena has changed hands many times. Rios gave it to Seven of Nine in season two, who later turned it over to Raffi in season three. This red-hued speed freighter looked like a random ship from Star Wars , more than anything worthy of a main series Star Trek ship. It’s not that it’s awful, it just feels the most un- Trek of every ship on this list. And let’s face it, it looks like a space crab. Hopefully, by the end of Picard season three, someone will put this hand-me-down ship out of its misery.

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Star Trek: 8 Most Powerful Federation Starships, Ranked

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Star Trek: Best Movie Villains, Ranked

Star trek: most iconic klingons, ranked, star trek: 10 starfleet admirals who went rogue.

The Star Trek franchise is an extremely long-running one, with so many shows and movies that it can be hard for fans to keep track of everything that has happened. This becomes even truer when trying to discuss the most powerful ships that have been seen in the franchise.

The Star Trek movies have quite a few great villains, but which one is the best?

Between different timelines, leaps into the past and future, and mysterious vessels like the Borg cube, the Star Trek franchise has portrayed some incredible space-faring vessels. But the Federation starships are almost always the ones that triumph in the end. These ships have gotten pretty powerful over time, showing that no matter how much things change , they stay the same.

Updated on March 9, 2024, by Chris Harkin: The Star Trek franchise is ever-growing, despite there being a cinematic lull, several shows continue onwards as the franchise continues exploring many new eras and re-treading ground on some old ones. As such, the Federation is likely to continue releasing new ship brands, continuing to boldly go where no man has gone before. As the franchise continues to update, particularly with more futuristic capabilities attached to new classes of Starship, this article will continue updating and growing to signify the changes in the long-running franchise.

8 Inquiry Class

Active from the 2390s onward.

• Appeared In Star Trek: Picard (6 Episodes)

Heavy cruiser ships that were introduced only recently in Star Trek: Picard, the Inquiry Class are one of the newer brands of Federation Starship. Considered the new cream of the crop, these ships were the fastest available to Starfleet at the conclusion of the 24th Century.

Coming with a generally similar design to many previous classes of Starfleet class ships, the Inquiry Class contained the USS Zheng He and other ships that opposed a Borg Cube in 2401 and were shown at other points throughout Picard , proving them to be the main body of Starfleet's major active ships at that time.

7 Prometheus Class

Active from 2370s to 2380s.

• Appeared In Star Trek: Voyager (2 Episodes)

One of the strangest designs seen in a Starfleet vessel, the Prometheus Class ship, was seen in Voyager as a highly classified experimental ship that only four people in all of Starfleet knew how to command and control. Not only was this ship brutally fast, but it could also split into pieces.

The Prometheus Class, though it doesn't seem to have become common, was capable of splitting into three pieces, each capable of attacking enemies independently. Capable of surpassing speeds of warp 9.9 and featuring regenerative shielding, this class was highly unusual but also incredibly useful.

6 Akira Class

Active from 2370s to 2400s.

• Appeared In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (9 Episodes)
• Appeared In Star Trek: First Contact

The Akira Class of Federation Starships is a mighty one, and unlike most starships under Federation control, it was made with the thought of war in mind. During production, the hostilities with the Cardassian Union prompted the creation of a speedy battleship. However, during the creation of the Akira Class, the Federation became more aware of a potential Borg invasion and sped things up.

Brought into service in 2368, the Akira Class has been seen in Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: First Contact . Examples of this ship type include the USS Akira, USS Geronimo, and even the USS James T. Kirk. Major differences from other Federation ships include a high number of torpedo bays and a large shuttle bay, which enabled the Akira Class ships to be fighter carriers.

5 Defiant Class

• Appeared In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (68 Episodes)

The Defiant Class and the USS Defiant also had an intriguing build history. Initially, these ships began construction during the Borg threat, but when this was lessened, they were put away until the Dominion threat became a fresh problem for Starfleet. Despite initial design flaws, DS9 ’s Miles O’Brien was able to fix the USS Defiant enough to make it ready on a high level.

This caused the Federation to start building more ships to follow the USS Defiant, and thus the Defiant Class was born. These ships are small, highly powered, and heavily armed. They remain warships, the first ones ever created by Starfleet, and were introduced in the year 2371.

4 Galaxy Class

Active from 2360s to 2400s.

• Appeared In Star Trek: The Next Generation (All Episodes)
• Appeared In Star Trek Generations

As if the Galaxy Class needed any more praise, the USS Enterprise-D ship flown by Captain Picard and his amazing crew throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation was a member of this class. The many achievements of Picard and his crew boil down to their tenacity, but the strength of the Galaxy Class Federation starships is not to be ignored.

A well-used ship by the Federation during the heavy losses of the Dominion War , the Galaxy Class is a heavy capital ship class that came into being in the mid-2360s. Unlike some of the Federation’s other most impressive and powerful ships, the Galaxy Class managed to be an all-in-one, with the capability to wage war, but a crew tasked with preventing it. Discovery and war, speed and majesty, the Galaxy Class has it all.

3 Sovereign Class

• Appeared In Star Trek: Picard (5 Episodes)
• Appeared In Star Trek: Insurrection & Star Trek: Nemesis

The Sovereign Class was a follow-up to the Galaxy Class in many ways. This includes the fact that Picard’s follow-up ship, the USS Enterprise-E, was a member of the Sovereign Class. Judging solely from the ability of the Enterprise-E to take down the Borg Cube it destroyed in Star Trek: First Contact , it is safe to say the Sovereign Class was a worthy update to the Galaxy Class.

Star Trek introduced fans to some fascinating alien species, but the Klingons are one of the most popular with viewers

Smaller in design and released in the early 2370s, the Sovereign Class was a major upgrade from previous classes in terms of warfare, including photon and quantum torpedoes as well as a large volume of phaser banks.

2 Curiosity Class

Active from the 2390s onwards.

• Appeared In Star Trek: Picard (4 Episodes)

This ship has only recently made its entrance into the Star Trek universe. The Curiosity Class was introduced in Star Trek: Picard as the new wave of Federation starships. Released initially in 2389, ships such as the USS Curiosity and the USS ibn Majid are included in this class, which was primarily meant to replace the aging Galaxy Class vessels.

A mix between a heavy cruiser and an explorer ship, the Curiosity Class will be able to do everything that the previous main Enterprise ships were. Ready for diplomatic missions, discovery missions, and if all else fails, combat missions as well, the Curiosity Class is the next generation of Starfleet technology, which pushes beyond anything seen in Star Trek outside the new seasons of Discovery .

1 USS Vengeance (Dreadnought Class)

Active 2259 (alternate timeline only).

• Appeared In Star Trek: Into Darkness

The USS Vengeance, seen in Star Trek: Into Darkness , is a very special case. Despite the technology being old in comparison to many ships in The Next Generation and other shows , this was one of the few Federation ships ever made purely for war. With the unholy pact that Khan made, helping to design this ship, and his heightened intellect, Starfleet was able to secretly create one of the largest and the single most destructive forces in Starfleet's history .

Whether this is actually more powerful than the starships created over a hundred years later is hard to say for certain, but Starfleet has yet to put any ship together that is so brutally focused on combat. The capability of this ship to be armed and operated by a single man is also a terrifying notion. It enables one person to go rogue and operate one of the more deadly forces in the universe alone. If not for the quick thinking that enabled the crew of the rebooted Enterprise to destroy it from within with a huge payload of torpedoes teleported to the inside, this ship might never have been beaten .

The higher-ups of Starfleet command often pose a challenge to Star Trek's main characters. Not all the series' admirals play by the rules.

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Star trek: what is the most powerful starfleet ship.

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Star Trek's Upcoming Prequel Movie Is Pulling The Same Trick For The 4th Time

Star trek reveals the enterprise's new design as a full-fledged warship, star trek officially brands a surprising deep space nine hero as a war criminal.

Determining the most powerful starships in Star Trek depends on the different eras (and timelines) of the franchise although the 23rd and 24th century of the Prime Universe offers a great deal of data about Starfleet's vessels. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 and 4's 32nd century has presented much less information about the Federation's starships so far, but it's still possible to make an educated guess about which ship is top of the line.

Technology never stops being upgraded in Star Trek as new innovations from the brightest minds of the United Federation of Planets and adjacent alien races and factions continually evolve starship design and capability. Star Trek is mainly broken up into the following eras: the 22nd century of Star Trek: Enterprise where Captain Jonathan Archer's  NX-01 Enterprise was Earth's first Warp 5-capable starship. The 23rd-century era mainly centers on Captain James T. Kirk's (William Shatner) Constitution -class USS Enterprise , although the USS Excelsior was more powerful .  The 24th century highlights the two versions of the Enterprise commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Captain Benjamin Sisko's (Avery Brooks) USS Defiant , which was built to fight the Borg, and Captain Kathyrn Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) USS Voyager. The USS Discovery-A , now led by Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), is exploring the 32nd century. However, there is also the Mirror Universe and the alternate Kelvin Timeline of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies to consider as well.

Related: Star Trek: Every Captain's First Ship (& How The Earned Command)

Star Trek: Picard season 1 was set in 2399 and introduced USS Zheng He , under the command of Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Riker called the Zheng He "the toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet ever put into service." Taking the Captain at his word, the Inquiry -class  Zheng He has exceeded the two starships commanded by Captain Picard, the Enterprise-D and E . In Star Trek: The Next Generation , the Galaxy -class Enterprise-D was the pinnacle of Starfleet. The flagship of the Federation could travel at warp 9.6. The Sovereign -class Enterprise-E was even faster and more powerful, with a top warp speed of 9.995. While its specs and full capabilities haven't been revealed, Starfleet fully invested in the Inquiry class in Star Trek: Picard 's era because Captain Riker commanded an entire squadron of starships identical to the Zheng He .

It's harder to determine what the most powerful Starfleet ship of the 32nd century is since most of them were only fleetingly seen in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. The Crossfield -class USS Discovery was almost 1,000 years old and outdated when it arrived in 3188 but Starfleet retrofitted the vessel with 32nd-century upgrades and rechristened it the USS Discovery-A . The tech included detached warp nacelles and programmable matter. However, Discovery also has an ace-in-the-hole: its one-of-a-kind spore displacement hub drive that allows the starship to instantaneously jump to any location. The spore drive is an advantage that makes Discovery more powerful than any Starfleet ship regardless of warp speed capabilities or the number of photon torpedoes and phaser banks it's armed with.

In J.J. Abrams's Star Trek movies, the Constitution -class USS Enterprise was the newest and most powerful ship in Starfleet when it launched and came under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine). However, by Star Trek Into Darkness , the Dreadnought -class USS Vengeance was far larger and more powerful as the pinnacle of Admiral Alexander Marcus' (Peter Weller) vision of a militarized Starfleet. In the Mirror Universe of the 23rd century, the ISS Charon was the throne-ship of Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and it was the symbol of the Terran Empire's might, although it was destroyed by the USS Discovery.  In the 24th-century Mirror Universe, the Defiant was a game-changer in the Terrans' fight to defeat the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

Ultimately, despite the major conflicts the Federation has waged, Starfleet is dedicated to the pursuit of scientific exploration, not war. Other races like the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Borg may develop deadlier ships and weapons but when the Federation is threatened, Starfleet always rises to the occasion, and Star Trek outdoes itself with more powerful starships to meet the challenge as necessary.

Next: Star Trek: All 9 Times The Enterprise Was Destroyed

• SR Originals
• Star Trek: Discovery

Federation starship classes

The following is a list of starship classes operated by the Federation .

Background information

Because of the strong connotations with the real world United States Navy, Star Trek: The Original Series Producers Gene Roddenberry and Robert H. Justman (a World War II navy veteran himself) had imbued Starfleet with ( The Making of Star Trek , p. 112, et al. ; These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One , 1st ed, pp. 28-29; see also in this respect: Aircraft carrier ), it came hardly as a surprise that the US Navy ship class naming convention was also followed for the vessels of Starfleet. This convention has it that a class is named after the first, or lead, vessel authorized by US Congress, which is not necessarily the one first laid down, launched, completed or commissioned (formally taken into service), and after which the British Royal Navy for example name their ship classes. While not canon , it can serve as a potential real-world rationale why there are Constitution -class vessels with lower registry numbers than the lead vessel USS Constitution . Nonetheless, in his influential " The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship " article, then fan and future Star Trek alumnus, Greg Jein , had postulated an alternative theory for the discrepancy, albeit equally non-canon.

Additionally, while it is highly unlikely that all alien races follow the same naming convention as Starfleet does – even on present-day real-world Earth, the US Navy convention is far from being universal – there is a real-world counterpart for this as well. The defense organization NATO uses a variant of the US/British class naming convention for ship types of their adversaries, particularly those of the former Soviet Union, who themselves classified their vessels according to project number, such as – where a Star Trek related example is concerned – their Project 705 / Alfa -class submarines .

• Earth starship classes
• Unnamed Federation starships

External links

• Star Trek Ships: Expanded - UFP: Starfleet and Prehistory at The STArchive
• Ship class at Wikipedia
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

Complete List of Ships in Star Trek Online: Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Ship Customization and Weapons

Most people who have played Star Trek Online would agree that the game’s major draw is the large selection of ships. From lowly Miranda-class Light Cruisers to the mighty Sovereign-Class Assault Cruiser, you can captain practically any of the most memorable ships in the Star Trek universe.

Our guides cover all aspects of ship selection, with detailed stats and analysis of each tier of ships. We also have comprehensive information on ship weapons and STO’s in-depth ship customization system.

Check out our full listing of ship-related guides for Star Trek Online.

Guide to Ships in Star Trek Online Tier 1-5

In the beginning, most Star Trek Online captains will find themselves in charge of a Light Cruiser. This lightly-armed vessel is a jack of all trades, allowing you to equip all Mark I and II weapons. Players can use the time spent piloting their Miranda, ShiKhar, or Centaur class vessel to get a better handle on what type of ship they are going to want at Tier II.

• Guide to the Tier 1 Light Cruiser

Tier II is where each class of ship really comes into its own. Players can choose from the heavily-armed Escort, the versatile Science Vessel, or the behemoth Cruiser.

• Guide to Tier 2 Ships in Star Trek Online

Upon reaching the rank of Commander, Star Trek Online players gain access to the mighty tier 3 ships, including the Heavy Cruiser, Research Science Vessel, and Heavy Escort. Find details in our complete guide:

• Guide to Tier 3 Ships in Star Trek Online

The rank of Captain is where the truly recognizable (and desirable) ship designs come into play. Finally, players can boldly go in their own personal version of the Next Generation Enterprise D, The U.S.S Voyager, or the U.S.S. Defiant of Deep Space 9 fame. Find full stats and info on each in our guide.

• Guide to Tier 4 Ships in Star Trek Online

The pinnacle of any Starfleet officer’s career is the rank of Rear Admiral. This prestigious level of achievement gives you access to the most powerful ships in Starfleet. There are six different ships to choose from at level 40+, including the Assault Cruiser, Star Cruiser, Advanced Escort, Fleet Escort, Deep Space Science Vessel, and Reconnaissance Science Vessel.

• Guide to Tier 5 Ships in Star Trek Online

Ship Customization in Star Trek Online

Nobody wants a ship that looks just like hundreds of others buzzing around the Alpha Quadrant, and Cryptic’s ship customization system is in-depth enough that with some skill, you can create a truly unique-looking vessel.

Our guide to customizing the Light Cruiser will get you started.

• Star Trek Online Ship Customization: The Light Cruiser

This basic guide will give you a good grasp of customization in the game. These prinicples can be applied to any ship.

Star Trek Online Ship Weaponry

Of course, a good-looking ship is pretty worthless if it can’t defend itself. Our guide to STO ship weaponry will help you ensure you’re packing the right kind of armament when the time comes to take on those pesky Klingons or the Borg.

• Guide to Star Trek Online Ship Weapons

Hopefully, with a little help from our guide, you won’t find yourself overwhelmed while exploring the unknown reaches of deep space.

Our complete guide to Ships in STO is only getting started. These great articles and guides are just the beginning of our coverage of the game. Be sure to check back often for updates, as new guides should be added regularly.

This post is part of the series: Star Trek Online Guide to Ships

Whether you’re looking for information on tier 2, 3, 4, or 5 ships in Star Trek Online, our complete guide has got you covered. Check out full ship stats, and see which ships are available at Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain, and Admiral Ranks.

• Ultimate Guide to Ships in Star Trek Online
• Guide to Ships in Star Trek Online: The Tier 1 Light Cruiser
• Guide to Ships in Star Trek Online: Tier 2 Vessels
• Guide to Ships in Star Trek Online: Tier 3 Vessels
• Guide to Ships in Star Trek Online: Tier 4 Vessels
• Complete Guide to Tier 5 Vessels in Star Trek: Online
• Star Trek Online Ship Customization Guide: Light Cruiser

Starship tier chart

• VisualEditor

This page lists graphical tier charts for all playable starships in Star Trek Online . Detailed and sortable lists can be found at Federation playable starship and Klingon playable starship .

• 1 Federation Graphical Ship Tier Chart
• 2 Shuttlecraft & Special Ship Chart
• 3 Klingon Defense Force Graphical Ship Tier Chart
• 4.1 Feedback / Comments / Suggestions
• 4.2 Version info / Revision / Changelog
• 5.1 KDF Size chart

Federation Graphical Ship Tier Chart [ | ]

This ranked / tiered ship chart was created to give players a quick graphical reference to every playable Federation ship (and their stats) in the game. The player rank per column indicates what level a player has to be to obtain the ship. All ships are purchasable at Earth Spacedock via rank promotion token or by in-game energy credits, and Zen Store ships (purchased with Zen ).

Graphical FED Ship Tier Chart - by SpiderMitch v8.1.X (F5 to refresh, click to enlarge)

Shuttlecraft & Special Ship Chart [ | ]

This Shuttlecraft / Special Ship chart was created to give players a quick graphical reference to every playable Shuttlecraft /Fighter (and their stats) in the game. It also servers as a place where special ships (like the 2 Year Anniversary Event giveaway Odyssey and Bortas , which are no longer obtainable.

Graphical Shuttle & Special Ship Chart - by SpiderMitch v1.0.8 (F5 to refresh, click to enlarge)

Klingon Defense Force Graphical Ship Tier Chart [ | ]

This ranked / tiered ship chart was created to give players a quick graphical reference to every playable KDF ship (and their stats) in the game. The player rank per column indicates what level a player has to be to obtain the ship. All ships are purchasable at First City via rank promotion token or by in-game energy credits.

Graphical KDF Ship Tier Chart - by SpiderMitch v6.1.X (F5 to refresh, click to enlarge)

Links & Feedback [ | ]

Feedback / comments / suggestions [ | ].

• Original Thread on Star Trek Online's official forum
• Kudos & Feedback section of STOwiki's Starship Tier Chart talk page

Version info / Revision / Changelog [ | ]

• Starship Tier Chart talk page .

Klingon Ship Table [ | ]

Kdf size chart [ | ].

A comparison view of the KDF Klingon ships.

• Grey ships are not in the game but have been mentioned in future release notes, therefore the sizes are a guess and placeholders.
• The ingame Negh'Var and Vor'cha classes are so different from the canon versions, in size and shape, I am working on the assumption they are different classes. A similar with the ingame Somraw, D-6, and QulDun classes.
• 2 Typhoon Class Battleship
• 3 Playable starship

Theory by Flatfingers

Design commentaries on computer games... mostly.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Comparative rankings of starships in star trek.

Primary sources: Memory Alpha Ex Astris Scientia (general info) Ex Astris Scientia (ship lengths) Star Trek vs Star Wars.net: Volumetrics

Other sources: Daystrom Institute Technical Library Star Trek: A Call To Duty Trekmania: The Fleet

Federation : "Individual lives have value." Ships are balanced offensively/defensively and have large power plants and redundant systems. Klingon : "Glorious battle assures immortality." Ships are strong offensively and are highly maneuverable, but at the expense of defenses and support systems. Romulan : "Subterfuge cloaked in mystery sheathed in deception." Ships are well-powered with good support systems, but speed and firepower suffer, requiring ships to be larger (more massive) to carry more weapons. Borg : "Identical cogs in a perfect machine." Ships are fast, strong and survivable (through regeneration), but become too big to be maneuverable. They are also dependent on centralized command and control. Cardassian : "Winning is everything." Ships mount a lot of offense, but require a lot of bulky power systems to do the job, reducing maneuverability and space for other systems. Ferengi : "There's no profit in dying." Ships are fast, maneuverable, and have good active defenses. They're somewhat underpowered offensively when alone, but they can be dangerous in numbers. Jem'Hadar : "My life for the Founders." Balanced offense and defense like Federation ships, but virtually no support systems. Species 8472 : "Enough pure energy can solve any problem." Species 8472 ships are essentially maulers: single-weapon ships where all systems exist to support the weapon. Breen : "#%$& $*&#@ #@^&." Not much is known of Breen design philosophy, but it seems to emphasize energy/power systems. So Breen ships tend to have good support systems to power their energy weapons. Gorn : "I'm tougher than you are." Their ships would have basic offense and support systems, and they'd be painfully slow, but they'd be so massively armored that taking one down would be a real challenge. (Note: There are no Gorn ships in canon Star Trek... but there should be. ) )

This is fantastic. I'm thrilled you took the time to rank these out. I've wondered how well the Defiant could--theoretically--replace the firepower of a Galaxy Class starship in the face of the Dominion threat, and you've provided an invaluable and plausible foundation for continued analysis. Well done!

Star Trek Online Starship Comparison

By @dabelgrave.

You can easily compare ships. Filter by Tier and Faction, and select which group of stats you wish to see. By default, all tiers for all factions are shown. You can also filter by category, and compare up to four of categories at a time.

These results are queried directly from this Google spreadsheet (which contains additional info and formatting): http://bit.ly/STOShips .

Have you found missing or incorrect stats? Tell me about it on the STO Forums .

Join 'The Phoenix Division' today. Contact @daBelgrave in Star Trek Online.

Every Star Trek series and film ranked by IMDb rating

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation

2. Star Trek

3. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

4. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

5. Star Trek: Voyager

6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

7. Star Trek: First Contact

8. Star Trek: Enterprise

9. Star Trek: Picard

10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

11. Star Trek: The Animated Series

12. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

13. Star Trek: Discovery

14. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

15. Star Trek: Generations

16. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

17. Star Trek: Insurrection

18. Star Trek: Nemesis

19. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

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• Board index Fiction Science Fiction Pure Star Trek

Ship Power Rankings

Moderator: Vympel

Post by Catman » Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:34 pm

Post by Catman » Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:48 pm

Post by Batman » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:01 pm

Catman wrote: And Batman, what scaling are you talking about? Do you think that I made up the size of the BOPs? They looked around that size when I watched the episode.

Post by Catman » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:15 pm

Post by ShadowSonic » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:36 pm

Post by Catman » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:44 pm

Post by ShadowSonic » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:51 pm

Post by Catman » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:00 pm

Post by Sidious » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:49 pm

Post by montypython » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:17 am

Sidious wrote: In VOY: Message in a Bottle, an Akira and two Defiants take on three Romulan Warbirds. They end up winning with the help of the uber wanked Prometheus, but I dont think they knew they would get that help when they started the fight. So does this mean an Akira and two Defiants have a reasonable chance of winning against THREE warbirds? Or were they just stupid?

Post by Darth Wong » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:31 am

Post by Stark » Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:43 am

Elfdart wrote: my first manager and I spent the better part of an hour in his office asking an insanely hot female employee to go through the "B" authors in the Lit section. Why? Because that would make her climb up on the ladder right where the security camera was and gave us a perfect view of her perfect gazongas

Post by Catman » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:03 am

Post by montypython » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:55 am

Stark wrote: Are K'vorts ever seen outside of Yesterday's Enterprise alt-future? They seem larger than a B'rel, but do fixed-wing, scaled-up BoPs exist in the 'regular' timeline? Using Bridge Commander as some kind of index is fucking retarded. Not only is it a worthless game, but it's so massively inaccurate as to be an absurd reference.

Post by mr friendly guy » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:39 am

Post by Stark » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:43 am

montypython wrote: As it stands Bridge Commander is the only 3d Trek simulator for TNG ships, as Legacy is basically crap. Any SW game would be in a similar position relative to print sources, but the point is that regardless of how weak or strong something is presented in the series or in a game, an astute gamer or such can find a way to achieve victory.

Post by brianeyci » Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:43 pm

Post by montypython » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:10 pm

Stark wrote: montypython wrote: As it stands Bridge Commander is the only 3d Trek simulator for TNG ships, as Legacy is basically crap. Any SW game would be in a similar position relative to print sources, but the point is that regardless of how weak or strong something is presented in the series or in a game, an astute gamer or such can find a way to achieve victory.

Post by Sidious » Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:42 pm

montypython wrote: With regards to simulating TNG ship command

As for the show's power levels, physics and such, one could just reprogram BC or another starship simulator for that matter to emulate those, but that's just besides the point.

Stark wrote: Are K'vorts ever seen outside of Yesterday's Enterprise alt-future? They seem larger than a B'rel, but do fixed-wing, scaled-up BoPs exist in the 'regular' timeline?

Post by Darth Wong » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:16 pm

brianeyci wrote: Star Trek combat is all about hitting the right spot at the right time. Even the mighty Sovereign could be brought down by a Defiant: remember ST:FC and the explosive deflector dish. Star Trek ships don't look structurally sound either, with the exception of the Defiant and Runabouts. Hit the pylons to the nacelles and you've got a mission kill.

Post by Darth Servo » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:48 pm

brianeyci wrote: Star Trek combat is all about hitting the right spot at the right time. Even the mighty Sovereign could be brought down by a Defiant: remember ST:FC and the explosive deflector dish.

Post by montypython » Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:40 am

Darth Wong wrote: brianeyci wrote: Star Trek combat is all about hitting the right spot at the right time. Even the mighty Sovereign could be brought down by a Defiant: remember ST:FC and the explosive deflector dish. Star Trek ships don't look structurally sound either, with the exception of the Defiant and Runabouts. Hit the pylons to the nacelles and you've got a mission kill.

Post by Lost Soal » Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:28 am

Darth Wong wrote: Indeed, I've always wondered why they bring down an enemy ship's shields and say "target the weapons array" rather than "target the pylons". The pylons look like a rather obvious target. Even if you don't snap the engine clean off, you'll cause enough breaks in fluid transmission to make the whole system unusable.

Post by CaptJodan » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:13 pm

Lost Soal wrote: Consider the Jem'Hadar Warships. In one battle the Defiant is struggling to hold its own against two or three, the next its knocking them out of the sky like clay pigeons.

Post by Uraniun235 » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:33 pm

montypython wrote: I've always felt that its more a Fed ship thing than most, as the Borg, Cardies and Ferengi for example don't do that type of design. The pylon format is moronic in too many ways, yet the persistence of this design idea could be caused by the aesthetic origins of the original design and concept inertia in the later derivatives for the 'hero' units and such.

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• Star Trek Adventures: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition Core Rulebook Review

I have received review copies in the past from Modiphius for other 2d20 products, but I have not received any review material for the Star Trek Adventures: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition Core Rulebook, and I purchased this for review on my own. I have not had an opportunity to play through or run the material in this book, but I have run the first edition of the game for multiple campaigns, as well as other 2d20 RPGs.

  Star Trek Adventures: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition Core Rulebook 2d20 System Designer Nathan Dowdell Project Manager Jim Johnson Writers Mike “O’dah ziibing” Ashkewe, Tilly Bridges & Susan Bridges, Rachael Cruz, Alison Cybe, Michael Dismuke, Nathan Dowdell, Keith Garrett, Patrick Goodman, Jim Johnson, Fred Love, Erin Macdonald, PhD, Aaron M Pollyea, J.D. Kennedy, Chris McCarver, Troy Mepyans, Al Spader Editors Jim Johnson, Marieke Cross, Scott Pearson Proofreaders Jim Johnson, Marieke Cross Art Director Ariel Orea Graphic Designers Michal E. Cross, Mark Whittington, Stephanie Toro Cover Artist Paolo Puggioni Interior Artwork Artists Eren Arik, Cristi Balenescu, Marc Bell, Carlos Cabrera, Joshua Calloway, Alexey Chernik, Aurea Freniere, Michele Frigo, Chaim Garcia, Nick Greenwood, Aaron Harvey, Eva Lara, Jens Lindfors, Toma Feizo Gas, Matheus Graef, Vincent Laik, Thomas Marrone, Wayne Miller, Ariel Orea, Dat Phan, Paolo Puggioni, Tobias Richter, Vadim Sadovski, Martin Sobr, Steve Stark, Vitali Timkin, Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo, Salvador Trakal, Justin Usher, Rhys Yorke, Eaglemoss Ltd., CBS Studios, Inc. For Paramount Global Marian Cordry, Stephen Zelin, Brian Bromberg, Aaron Hubberman, Brian Lady, Danwei Lando, James Salerno, Russell Spina With Thanks To Gene Roddenberry, Marian Cordry, BC Holmes, and the many fans who support this game

Computer, Display Schematics

For this review, I have had the opportunity to look at both the PDF and the hardcover version of the game. The hardcover is a solid chunk of a book that is very similar to both the original Star Trek Adventures book and the Klingon variation of the core rules. It uses similar font, but the colors deviate from the darker colors of the spines for the original books. The original version of the game had pages that emulated the L-CARS appearance of Next Generation consoles, including the black background for the pages. The second edition ditches those black backgrounds for a white one, which I can understand. It’s always a little disheartening when you end up with a permanent fingerprint on your solid black pages.

The official page count of the book is 384 pages, and includes the following:

• Front Endpapers with a map of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant (2 pages, PDF, endpapers in hardcover)
• Back Endpapers with a timeline of Star Trek properties, the Prime Timeline, and the
• Terran Universe Timeline (2 pages, PDF, endpapers in hardcover)
• Credits Page (1 page)
• Table of Contents (1 page)
• Character Sheet (2 pages, front and back)
• Personal Log (1 page)
• Index and Acknowledgements (4 pages)
• Front and Back Cover (2 pages, PDF, front and back cover, hardcover)

Most of the book is in a two-column layout. Some pages have a smaller column with sidebar commentary, as well as offset text boxes exploring topics brought up on the page. There are full color pieces of art introducing each chapter, and there are many half page pieces of art portraying various scenes that would be common for a Star Trek narrative, which includes staring at majestic ships in drydock, Starfleet medical personnel treating inhabitants of a planet, enjoying a meal in the lounge, and the more action oriented combat scenes. There are images from across the timelines detailed, and most are in the same style, except for a few “ Lower Decks ” styled images inserted in various locations.

While there are images from across the timelines, the book also uses a set of iconic characters, first introduced in the quick start. These characters are all from the Strange New Worlds era of Star Trek , with the same uniform and gear from that show. This includes a Betazoid security officer, a human science officer, a Vulcan chief medical officer, a Tellarite chief engineer, an Andorian first officer, and a Trill captain. These are the characters that make some opening comments about the topics introduced in the various chapters.

In addition to those iconic characters and their chapter introductions, there are quotes from a wide range of characters. Some of the characters that contribute quotes or commentary include Picard, Archer, Worf, Tendi, Boimler, Pike, Janeway, Gwyndala, Zero, McCoy, Booker, Data, Georgiou, Kirk, Mariner, Nog, Decker, Sisko, Freeman, Kira, Quark, Ransom, La Forge, and M’Benga.

The book itself is broken up into the following sections:

• A Star Trek Primer
• The Final Frontier
• Reporting for Duty
• Your Home Among the Stars
• Technology and Weapons
• Gamemastering
• Introductory Adventure
• Allies and Adversaries

The new format makes one nice improvement. There aren’t the random strings of numbers on various pages that were meant to represent cluttered data on a viewscreen. I often run the PDF text to speech function while reading, and it could get very tedious when those numbers were read as text instead of a background image.

For The Seasoned Officers

Before I dive into the details of the book, I wanted to hit a quick summary of the differences between the 1e and 2e edition of Star Trek Adventures . This is just a fast rundown, so feel free to check out the details further in the review.

• Say goodbye to the challenge dice–damage and progress are tracked without them now
• Stress is now determined only with your Fitness attribute, unless you have a trait that uses a different attribute
• Some challenges may use stress as one of the consequences of accomplishing goals
• In combat, you take an injury unless you spend stress equal to the weapons rating to resist the injury
• You can recover different amounts of stress by taking a breather (10 minutes or so), taking a break (a half hour to a couple of hours), or sleeping (several hours)
• NPCs don’t have a stress track, but Notable and Major NPCs can spend threat to resist injury
• In ship combat, shields work more like a progress track you are working to complete, rather than the stress for the ship
• There are guidelines for when to use a challenge versus when to use an extended task
• Your progress on extended tasks is based on your rating in a relevant department, rather than the results of the challenge dice
• Many species talents of been rewritten
• You get an additional focus at the end of character creation to reflect a personal interest (for example, Riker might use this extra focus for Jazz)
• There are more guidelines to what species traits are meant to summarize
• Character progression now defaults to the “personal log” method first introduced in the Klingon core rulebook
• Much like in certain political discussions of climate change, the scientific method has been abandoned
• The book is a “greatest hits” of some of the previous releases, incorporating some player character rules for species, traits, technobabble, reprimand and acclaim, and commendations, to name a few

Life in the Federation

I wanted to talk about the Star Trek primer section of the book first, because I think the summary of how the Federation operates may be one of the most concise and inclusive attempts that I’ve seen in any Star Trek product. The primary purpose of this section is to set the tone for what a Star Trek Adventures campaign should look and feel like, but it does more than that. The baseline assumption is that Star Trek Adventures is meant to portray a hopeful future, where humanity can live up to it’s potential, and learn and grow by interacting with other advanced species, while also pointing out where conflict happens.

There is a section that touches on the major cultures of the setting, including:

• The Klingon Empire
• The Romulan Empire
• The Cardassian Union
• The Ferengi Alliance
• The Orion Syndicate
• The Borg Collective
• The Dominion

These aren’t exhaustive treatments, but they often touch on those societies in multiple eras. The Klingons and Romulans both get multiple pages, the Cardassians and the Dominion both get a page, and the others each have a half-page of information. The information is current up through the third season of Picard , but that also means we get some season four information from Discovery .

There is a page on “other civilizations,” which includes a few paragraphs on the Tholian Assembly, the Q Continuum, and the Pakleds (including Lower Decks updates), as well as a paragraph that talks about Delta Quadrant societies like the Hirogen, Kazon, Vidians, and Talaxians. A notable omission is the Gorn Hegemony, which I imagine may have been avoided since Strange New Worlds is still in the midst of an ongoing narrative with that culture.

The information about life in the Federation is where this section shines. Have you ever wondered exactly what Star Trek means when various characters say they don’t have money in the Federation, especially in light of situations where Federation members seem to be working for profit or trading with cultures that definitely do still use money? What about human religion in the Federation? Have you ever wondered why sometimes something from the holodeck can leave the holodeck? Why can’t you use cargo transporters to transport large numbers of people from one place to another? These all receive answers that should make you feel better equipped to answer those questions when they come up.

Life in an Alternate Federation?

The previous version of Star Trek Adventures included a section on planet classification, space-phenomenon, and the basics of warp travel and subspace. This time around, there are a few more sections that touch on additional topics like alternate universes and time travel.

There is a brief section on the Terran Universe (or the Mirror Universe), and Quantum Multiverses (lots of different realities where things may be changed in smaller, significant ways). This also touches on time travel, and the different ways it can be accomplished in Star Trek (there are at least five different ways that this can happen outlined in the book).

Life in Starfleet

While this iteration of Star Trek Adventures isn’t quite as tied to portraying only Starfleet Personnel, it is still considered the default mode of playing the game. As such, we get a section on how Starfleet works, and how it has changed over the eras.

There are some sidebars on organizations adjacent to Starfleet, like Division 14, the section of Starfleet introduced in Lower Decks , which deals with Starfleet personnel that have been affected by strange phenomena. There is also a sidebar with a few paragraphs on Section 31, which frames the organization the way I prefer it to exist, as an organization that isn’t known outside of a few members of Starfleet that are allied with it, which does not have any official standing with the Federation or Starfleet.

The book touches on the Temporal Prime Directive and assumptions about what Starfleet personnel should do in a time travel situation. The original Prime Directive is also addressed. I enjoy that the examples they give make the Prime Directive feel more like something you can discuss and use in game, rather than an absolute hammer to drop on players that make the wrong decision. True to many of the episodes, you may need to justify your interpretation, but unless you completely throw it out the window, it should provide you with more roleplaying opportunities rather than an excuse to punish players for making hard decisions.

The section on Starfleet then discusses Starfleet Academy, duty assignments, and mission types. I appreciate that among the mission types, we get Second Contact missions integrated into standard Starfleet procedures, giving us a solid tie into the contribution made by Lower Decks.

There is a half-page dedicated to Non-Starfleet campaigns, which are better supported than in the original Star Trek Adventures book, but not as supported as, for example, in the Klingon core rulebook, which make sense. The biggest support from this section would be Federation civilians working in concert with Starfleet personnel, representing characters like ambassadors and civilian academics working with Starfleet science personnel.

(Quantum) Game Mechanics

The heart of the 2d20 system is pretty simple. Whenever you make a check, you roll two twenty-sided dice. You compare this to a number derived from an attribute and a department (in the case of Star Trek Adventures ). Your attribute will top out at 12, and your department will top out at 5. If you roll under those two numbers added together, you get a success. If you have a Focus that applies to the task you are attempting (like Martial Arts if you are making a hand-to-hand combat attack), you gain an additional success if you roll below your Department score. That means if you have a focus that is relevant, on 2d20, you could get from 0 to 4 successes.

You can spend some game currencies to buy extra dice, and some talents may add an additional die. You can never roll more than five on a check., meaning you would max out, in a spectacular series of rolls, at 10 successes. In some situations, someone else can aid you, but they will only be rolling 1d20, and you can only add their successes to your own if you have at least one success. That means, if you are facing a Difficulty 3 check to calm down an enraged government official, and someone is aiding you, and they roll two successes on their attempt to help you, if you roll 0 successes, it doesn’t help you at all. But if you roll one success, you can add their successes to your own and meet the Difficulty of three.

There are several currencies in the game. Momentum tops out at six. If you get more successes than you need on a check, you can generate momentum to add to your pool. You can use Momentum for several things, like buying extra dice, asking additional questions, or adding damage to a weapon’s rating. Threat is a similar currency that the GM can use. Whenever a PC rolls a complication (usually a 20), the GM can create a trait in the scene or add two additional Threat to their pool. Among other things, the GM can use this to create scene traits, or to modify NPC rolls in a manner similar to what PCs can use Momentum for. Players can choose to add threat whenever they don’t have Momentum to spend.

The final currency is Determination. You can only have three Determination at any one time. You can only spend Determination if you have a Value relevant to the task you are attempting, or if your task is related to the mission directives you have been given. Determination buys you an extra die, but the die is considered to have rolled a 1. That die does count against your five dice maximum. Your Values determine what your character believes, and if you challenge one of your values, you can add a Determination, cross it out, and rewrite it after the mission is over.

Talents work the way you may expect, being much like feats, talents, perks, or other game rules across RPGs. They are exceptions to how the regular rules work, granting you things like rerolling dice under certain circumstances. There are talents that add additional species abilities, general abilities, or abilities related to what career path you are on.

Character advancement is tracked by filling out character logs. The log doesn’t need to be a deep explanation of what happened in a game session. Instead, it’s a quick note about “X happened, this relates to my Value of Y.” After a number of log entries, a character gains an advancement, and characters can “spend” those log entries to remember a relevant situation to generate Determination in a current mission.

A good portion of play deals with traits. A scene trait may narratively deny a course of action or may make something more difficult to accomplish. Traits can have higher magnitudes, so you can have Ion Storm (3), which would make the difficulty of checks to transport through the storm, or send communications through the storm, increase by three. Traits are more open-ended, where the GM and the players can discuss what those traits mean and when they apply.

Character Creation

Character creation can be done in one of two ways. The first is a Lifepath system, where you walk through your character’s life up to the current day, adding attributes, department ratings, talents, and values at various steps of the process. The lifepath follows the following steps:

• Environment (where you were raised)
• Upbringing (how you were raised)
• Career Path (what you learned)
• Experience (how long have you been doing this)
• Career Events (significant events)
• Finishing Touches

If you don’t want to go through this process, there is the Creation in Play method. In this case, the character has a number of values, focuses, and unassigned division ratings. When your character attempts to do something, they can decide they want to assign points to one of their departments, and maybe a focus, to help with the roll. Once this happens, those elements are locked in, and the character has one less of each of those to assign.

There is much more direction about what a character’s species trait means. For example, they give examples that something that requires raw strength may be slightly less difficult for Klingons or Vulcans, because they have above average strength for humanoids their size. The species abilities have been reworked, and I like the directions many of them have moved. For example, Vulcans can spend stress to avoid gaining a trait associated with an emotional state, but if they are Fatigued, any emotional state trait they have is increased in potency by 1, to represent that Vulcans aren’t emotionless, they are just tightly in control of their strong emotions.

There are additional career paths that are civilian based, instead of the standard Starfleet career paths, including Diplomatic Corps, Civilian (Physician), Civilian (Scientist), Civilian (Official), and Civilian (Trader). Service roles integrate some of the slightly different roles that appear in the Star Trek Adventure’s Player’s Guide, including civilian postings like Bodyguard, Expert, Merchant, or Political Liaison. You can also choose to have a character that has cybernetic components or that has been genetically modified.

Starship combat is a little different from the first edition of Star Trek Adventures , but not dramatically. One of the big differences is that it has been framed to look a lot more like personal combat, but with a few more formal procedures that take place with each action. I don’t mind some extra procedure in rules like these, mainly because starship combat in Star Trek is more deliberate and tactical when it occurs. But that added procedure still needs to be approachable.

Like ground combat, movement is defined by zones. Unlike 1e edition, the similarity in combat rules means that you can fly your ship behind cover if cover exists in the zone, making you harder to hit. If your helm operator takes the Evasive Action option on their turn, the difficulty of hitting your ship changes from a static number to an opposed test. Damage takes down your shields, but you may also be reducing incoming damage as well based on your size and hull. If you can’t mitigate oncoming damage, you suffer a breach. When a system is breached, you need to make temporary repairs to get it back online, but if it takes a number of breaches equal to your ship’s scale, that system has been effectively destroyed.

Certain options are available to characters in different positions on the ship. For example, the Operations console allows you to reroute power to regenerate your shields.

Should I drop supporting characters here? Your number of supporting characters is tied to the scale of your ship, so why not?

Just like in STA 1e, you can bring supporting characters into scenes. This can be done when a player’s role on the ship doesn’t make sense for the away team, for example. You can create a number of supporting characters up to your Crew Compliment, and these characters belong to the ship, not any particular player. Supporting characters have a slightly lower standard array of Attributes, a range of Department ratings, and three foci.

Lower Decks has inspired a new twist on this, which is a Supervisory character, a senior character not played by one of the players that can be adopted by players when they need an officer to help direct them. They get a slightly higher array for their attributes and departments, and an additional focus. They also start with a value and stress track. Since I had a crew of players where no one wanted to play the captain, this would have been a nice rule to have available for that campaign.

While you can still contribute your own advances to supporting characters, reintroducing a supporting character now triggers an advancement once per adventure. These include gaining a Value and a stress track, increasing Attributes or Departments, adding a focus, or adding a talent to the character. A character that has gone through all of these improvements can’t be further improved unless a player adopts them as their new player character.

Mission Status

In addition to the rules, character creation, NPC stat blocks, and ships, the core rulebook also contains a starting adventure. If you’ve been following my reviews for a while, you know I’m a fan of including adventures. Even if you aren’t going to use them, they help you to see how the designers intend the rules to be used for game sessions.

The adventure included in this book is based in the Strange New Worlds /just pre-The Original Series era. I like the structure of this adventure, because it presents a Prime Directive quandary, and enough wiggle room to argue for limited intervention, in addition to the science/medical emergency that is the primary conflict of the adventure.

The adventure includes a synopsis, a section on Spotlight Roles (the crew positions that will be doing the heavy lifting in the adventure), and the mission directives. The action is divided into three acts. The adventure has one encounter that might turn into combat, but most of the conflict comes from the moral quandaries and the science that needs to be done.

Glory to Your House  The broader options for non-Starfleet characters open up some character types that we’ve seen in multiple series. 

The way much of this book has been put together really does simplify the processes in the game. Combat makes more sense. Stress is more versatile. The species abilities are more nuanced and work together well with some of the new talents. The broader options for non-Starfleet characters open up some character types that we’ve seen in multiple series. There are better examples for when to utilize challenges and when to use extended tasks, and extended tasks are a little easier to follow. While the challenge dice were never a major impediment to me, I have to admit that when I’ve played 2d20 games that don’t utilize them, everything feels like its rolling along just a little bit smoother.

I Protest, I Am Not a Merry Man

The discussion of species traits did a wonderful job of explaining how those traits can be used in a contextual manner to cover a wide range of abilities native to the species. I wish they had extended that logic to Attribute bonuses, which are still tied to species. The organization of the book is much better than 1e edition, but I still feel like I need to hunt a bit to pull together all of the Starship rules. Some of the game rules are great and make sense for Star Trek, like the character log advancement, but may seem a little intimidating to a player that has first encounters it.

Recommended–If the product fits in your broad area of gaming interests, you are likely to be happy with this purchase.

When the original Star Trek Adventures rulebook came out, I thought it was one of the best examples of an RPG based on a property that understands its topic and is designed to support the emblematic narratives native to it. This version is no exception, doing what a solid new edition does–keeping a lot of the familiar structure that works, and streamlining the elements that weren’t as flexible or as intuitive in long-term play.

• STA 2e Cover - Images for Journalistic / Review Purposes     
• Personal Photo - Other     
• Reporting for Duty Chapter Art - Images for Journalistic / Review Purposes     
• Operations Chapter Art - Images for Journalistic / Review Purposes     
• Allies and Adversaries Chapter Art - Images for Journalistic / Review Purposes     

About The Author

Jared Rascher has been gaming since 1985, when he stole his sister’s D&D Basic Set to rescue it from disuse. In the past, he has written several articles for the Forgotten Realms fan site Candlekeep, was present for ground zero as a GM for Pathfinder Society Season Zero at Gen Con 2008, and helped provide feedback on the original documents for that organized play program. He has been a moderator for several online gaming communities, and these days, he likes to write RPG reviews to justify all of those games he can’t keep himself from buying.

Check out our newest content!

September 16, 2024

• Earning Their Trust: Keeping Your Promises

August 30, 2024

Commenting System Changes and User Cleanup

February 15, 2021

• Gnomecast 197 – Brand New Players

September 11, 2024

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