Constellation-Class Starship

The Constellation-Class is a ship that is built for science and exploration, and not for combat.  This is a ship to bring if you want to to boldly go, as it's science value is unmatched, and its ability to launch probes, inspire your crew, and support away teams is equal to or better than the Galaxy-Class capital ship.  It's even inexpensive, being an older hull, giving you 3 Core Points back to pay for flex point upgrades.

Captain's Chair:

Address: Test (difficulty 3) Command + Diplomacy to inspire this unit.

Call Alert: Adjust alert by 1, or up to 2 if a priority action. 

Warp: Social / Technical / 1 Energy to engage warp. This ship has Warp factor 9 (18").

The Constellation-class lacks the ability to inspire other units, but inspiring itself is sufficient as the Constellation is a perfectly good ship for producing teams and getting them onto objectives.

Helm:

Impulse: Technical / 1 Energy to engage impulse.

Close Study: Technical to add 1 advantage to this ship if there are 1 or more features at 2".

This can be an energy intensive ship as impulse costs at least 1 energy.  Close study is likely not a great use for an officer, but can be a fine way to use an extra standby action to gain some advantage.

Instruments:

Sensors: 4" in 360*, 4" + Sensor Value in 90* to the front.

Comms: 6" in 360*, 6"+ Sensor Value in 90* to the front.

Probe: Social / Technical to launch a Class 1 Probe

Sensor Lock: Security / 1 Energy to lock a unit at sensor range

The sensor value, comms value, ability to launch probes make this ship an excellent option to interact with objectives and anomalies.  If you want a ship that can earn victory points from your exploration objective, this is a ship that can make that happen.

Engineering:

Ready: Gain Energy equal to Energy Value plus the highest Technical here.

Green / Yellow Alert: Transport personnel within Sensors range.

While this ship has a reserve energy maximum of 7, it is potentially an energy intensive ship.  You'll want an engineer for this ship to make it hum.

Tactical:

Fire Weapons:

Phaser Emitters (x3) - 90* to the port fore (x1), 90* to the starboard fore (x1), 90* to the aft (x1) - 1-3 Weapon Energy, 6" range, 1 blue die per energy spent.

Torpedo Tubes (x2) - Fore x1  - 30* turning, Aft x1 - 30* turning, 1 weapon energy, Photon Torpedoes

This is the first ship we see that has an actual dead zone, of anything in the rear of the ship but not in the rear 90* arc.  Even when in range of weapons, they are almost an afterthought for the ship.

Medbay:

Medical Care: Test (2 difficulty) Science + Biology to heal personnel here once.

Research Archive: Security / Technical to add 2 advantage to a team at Comms range.

The Research Archive is an interesting way to give advantage to a team prior to a difficult test, or to prevent a build up of peril.

With a science of 4 at baseline, and a 3 after 1 crew loss, this ship is very capable of healing any injured officers or teams.


Cargo:

Ready: 1 Energy to ready an officer here.

Ready or Priority Action: Form a team.

Deploy: Security / Technical to launch a Type 6 Shuttle

The Type 6 shuttle is a great addition for a ship that wants to be producing teams.  Otherwise a very normal Cargo bay.

Alert Level:

A slow progression for the alert dial, but a steady one from maneuvering, to sensor power, to energy value, to weapons and shields.  The ship slows down quickly and doesn't have weapon energy really until Yellow Alert **, but if you are using the ship for probe launches it can sit away from combat at Yellow Alert *.

Defenses:

Hull:

The ship has 7 total hull with damage steps at 5 and 2.
Other damage thresholds of note are a crew injury immediately at 6,  damage card at 5, then nothing until another damage card at 2.  The ship will take damage early, but then will be surprisingly robust.

The ship has a resilience of just 2 for preventing additional damage cards.

Damage Cards:

Fore: 1, Fore/Aft: 2, Aft: 2

Warp Core Breach is bad, but Exploding Panels might be the more dangerous of the cards as a specifically Fore card, given the ship only having a Command value of 3 at full health, and progressing to 2 and then 1 once crew damage accumulates.  Most damage cards are repaired from the MedBay, so if you are positioning an officer there for checking the archive, they'll be in place to work on repairs as well.

Shields:

Shields are surprisingly light and early energy recharge is low, with only a maximum of 3/3 for your shield value.  There is a slight favoring to taking the damage on the fore, as it sometimes has better shields, but only by a single point.

Crew:

At a full crew compliment, the Constellation-class has 4 steps down to disabled, but it can inspire itself with Address, and has a robust science stat for healing crew mid-fight.  It is a great ship for forming crew so as not to waste your Galaxy Class for the job.

Officers:

Of all the ships, this one is emphatically not built for fighting in space, but supporting away teams and exploring for extra victory points.  You may actually want a dedicated MedBay crewman such as Julian Bashir, who's Augmented skill also combines well with a captain that has Inspiring.  Alternatively a Daring First Officer could be in position to use research archive and still potentially repair damage at that location.


Upgrades:

The USS Hathaway title is just enough to to be paid for as a refund for taking the ship, and allows you a way to escape danger from torpedoes, provided you have energy left over.

The Denube-Class Runabout is a modest improvement over the Type 6 shuttle in terms of sensor range (and thus transporter range), impulse value, and warp value.  Again for just 3 points it may be worth taking as a more reliable way of getting your teams onto their targets, and is paid for just by taking this ship

Escape Pods could be an option, as this ship isn't built for combat, but involves you planning for failure.