Star Trek Classic Full Thrust v 1.1V1.1 of this document adds a list of miniatures, the Upgraded Enterprise, Tholians, an excuse for not having Orions and Gorns, and another Romulan Bird of Prey, (one that corresponds to the most available miniature).Yet another adaptation of Star Trek (ST) for Full Thrust (FT)? Yes, there have been quite a few. But all have been based on secondary or tertiary sources, most notably Task Force Games (TFG) Star Fleet Battles (SFB). I'm ancient enough to remember Gamescience/Lou Zocchi's Alien Space, the first Star Trek miniatures rules. Gamescience still produces a limited range of starships, but no rules, while the stands on the Starline 2200 series still show the 4-quarter arcs for those rules, over 20 years later. So I prefer going back to original source materiel, when adapting ST for FT. (In passing, the Starline 2200 and Starline 2300 miniatures are at a scale of 1/3788 ). Therefore, firstly we have a quick definition of the Primary Sources.The basic source for ST(Classic)FT - also known as The Old Star Trek or The Old Series (TOS) is the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual (SFTM) by Franz Joseph Designs, published by Ballantine in November, 1975. This is the same prime source used by the Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB), as mentioned in A1.3 of the Commander's Edition of SFB. In addition, the Klingon Battlecruiser and Romulan Warbird Blueprints (or at least, what I can remember of them!) have been used, as mentioned in SFB Z.2. Finally of course, the TV series. Additional "Primary" sources are the figurines available, and of course, the Full Thrust and More Thrust Rules by Ground Zero Games (GZG). One of primary aims of this conversion is that all resultant designs should be compatible with comparable existing FT ships, and conform strictly to the rules without exception. They must also be representable by existing models.Star Trek ModelsThere are several sources of 1/3788 models in production or still available as at the time of writing. These are, in approximate order:* - Polystyrene Plastic** - Whitemetal (lead)*** - Pewter**** - Vinyl PlasticGamescience (still in production)Federation Destroyer*, Scout*, Tug*, Heavy Cruiser (ie Enterprise)*, Dreadnought*Klingon Battlecruiser** (1-piece casting) Battlecruiser** (3-piece casting)Task Force Games Starline 2200 ** (out of production) all intended for Star Fleet Battles (list is not exhaustive!)The Gamescience Federation range (under licence)Federation CV, CL, NCL, FFKlingon Tug, C9 Dreadnought, Battlecruiser (3-piece casting), D5 Lt Cruiser, B-10 Battleship (SuperDreadnought),F-5 Frigate(actually smaller)Romulan TOS Bird of Prey/Warbird (System Defence Boat), Condor Dreadnought, Sparrowhawk CruiserTholian Patrol Craft, Cruiser, DestroyerGorn Destroyer, Lt Cruiser, Hvy Cruiser, DreadnoughtKzin - variousLyran -variousNeo-Tholian - variousAndromedan - variousHydran - variousMany of these are available as "Starline Limited Edition" models, in the 2300 range below, but are not believed to currently be in production. Other SFB models, sch as the Romulan Seahawk, Kzinti Tug and so on are only available in the Limited Edition range.FASA (out of production)Federation Enterprise (pre-refit), Enterprise(post-refit), Reliant, Destroyer (size of a Cruiser at least!), Tsiolkovsky, ExcelsiorKlingon B-12(?) Dreadnought/Carrier?, D7 Battlecruiser (stripped-down version, as in the films, with exterior detail), D10(?) Battlecruiser (very large cruiser or small battleship), L7(>?) Destroyer (light cruiser size, with apparent hanger door), E5(?) Frigate (Light cruiser size)Ferrengi cruiserTask Force Games Starline 2300*** (list not exhaustive, and range is growing)Federation Heavy Cruiser (different mold, warp nacelles somewhat slimmer than previous models), NCLRomulan TOS Bird of Prey (Cruiser size, larger model than the 2200 one)Klingon Battlecruiser (1-piece model, different nose to previous version)Tholian Patrol Craft (different mold)Unknown ***Enterprise-D ( with detachable saucer, and last model I saw was $129....)MicroMachines****Enterprise (pre-refit), Reliant (about 3% larger than the FASA one, but quite OK), Botany BayKlingon Battlecruiser (5% larger than the others), Vor'Cha attack CruiserOut of scale modelsThe MicroMachines also include a number of ships significantly too big/small for inclusion, except as different classes of vessel from the one they're supposed to be. This includes:1/100,000-ish Borg Ship1/20000-ish Romulan TNG Warbird1/7000-ish Excelsior1/300-ish Klingon Bird of Prey, Romulan TOS Bird of PreyAnd Starline 2200 also had1/300-ish Romulan TOS Bird of PreyNow, on to the rules. The best known, and coincidentally, best-documented class is that of the NCC-1701 USS Enterprise. Therefore, when the conversion to FT is performed, this class will be done first, and the rest of the Federation Fleet (and others) shoehorned into using the resultant conversion methods.The Starship Enterprise and her sistersParagraph 1, Article 53 of the United Federation of Planets Articles of Federation, Stardate 09651. Initial expenditure is granted under these articles of Federation for the design, procurement, and operation of fourteen (14) Heavy Cruiser type of Starships to provide the nucleus of Star Fleet's Peace-Keeping Armed Forces. These cruisers shall be capable of extended duration patrol of intra-galactic range, with weaponry appropriate to such class of starships. They shall be provided with fire-power superior to that now employed by any member of the United Federation, and appropriate to the tasks expected of them.Original Construction - Mk IX "Constitution" ClassThe following ships of the Mk-IX class were authorised by the original Articles of Federation of stardate 0965.Naval Construction Contract (NCC)1017 Constellation 1371 Republic 1700 Constitution 1701 Enterprise 1702 Farragut 1703 Lexington 1704 Yorktown 1705 Excalibur 1706 Exeter 1707 Hood 1708 Intrepid 1709 Valiant 1710 Kongo 1711 Potempkin Batch II "BonHomme Richard" ClassNaval Construction Contracts 1712-1727 for Mk IX a (BonHomme Richard or 'Bonny Dick' class) Starships were authorised by the Star Fleet Appropriation Bill of Stardate 3220.Naval Construction Contracts 1728-1731 for Mk IX a Starships to replace the losses Constellation, Farragut, Intrepid and Valiant, were authorised by the Star Fleet Appropriations of Stardate 4444.Batch III "Achernar" ClassNaval Construction Contracts 1732-1788 for Mk IX b (Achernar class) Starships were authorised by the Star Fleet Appropriations of Stardate 5930Particulars (All)Deadweight Tonnage 190,000 Standard Range 18 years at (Metric) L.Y.V Max Safe Cruise Warp Factor 6 Emergency Speed Warp Factor 8 Main Phasers 3 Banks/2 Each Photon Torpedos 2 Banks Length 288.6 m Breadth 127.1 m Height 72.6 Officers 43 Crew 387 For comparison purposes, the Mk VIII Saladin class Destroyers weighed in at 95,000 t, the Mk VII Hermes class Scouts at 94,500, the Mk VI Ptolemy class Tugs at 126,500, and the Mk X Federation class Dreadnought at 285,000 t. More on these later.Full Thrust Conversion RationaleSizeThe Enterprise is described as a Heavy Cruiser, in both SFB and the Articles of Federation. It would therefore be aesthetically pleasing to keep her as a (Heavy) Cruiser in FT. This means a size of 36 or less. All other FT interpretations of the Enterprise that I've seen are based on a very literal transciption of the SFB StarShip Designs (SSDs), and result in large, Capital ships. Similarly, ST Destroyers should be FT Destroyer sized, and the ST Dreadnought an FT Capital ship, rather than a Supership.Given a deadweight tonnage of 190,000, dividing it by 5500 gives 35.45 - call it 36. A Very Heavy Cruiser, but a Cruiser. OK so far, but how does this compare with the others?Destroyers - 95,000 t - 17.27, call it 18. A large Escort, but an Escort nonetheless.Scouts - 94,500 t - 17.18, call it 17.Tugs - 126,500 t - 23 - standard light Cruiser or MerchantDreadnoughts - 285,000 t - 51.8, call it 52; a reasonable Dreadnought sized (large Battleship/Small Battledreadnought) Capital ship.SystemsIn the TV series, we only ever see 2 phaser beams, and single torpedos being used. This is a good thing, because there's no way to fit 6 beams of any reasonable size and two torpedo systems onto a Cruiser Hull! The firing arcs of each battery, pace SFB, appear to be mutually exclusive: what one twin battery can fire at, another cannot. In addition, Captain Kirk never says "Fire the Chin Phasers", he only says "Fire Phasers". When the Phaser Banks are KO, it's an all or nothing affair - we never have the port phasers knocked out, either the phaser banks (plural) are OK, or not.So 3 banks of twin phasers firing in mutually exclusive directions can plausibly be interpreted as two beams, each with a port-fore-stbd firing arc.Similarly, the twin photon torpedos need to be interpreted as a single torpedo system in FT.OK, let's see what we have:2 A class Beams (triple arc) Mass 61 Torpedo system Mass 5Why Class A Beams? Frankly, so that the Enterprise is not under-armed in comparison with other FT cruisers. The Torpedo system gives a small advantage against the heaviest screens, compared with its equivalent mass in beams, but not that much. 2 A class and a Torpedo seems quite reasonable, even a touch on the light side.We've used up 11 of our 18 budget already. Add a level 1 screen (mass 3) and we have 4 left over. Which is rather fortunate, as we have no point defence (PDAF) or area defence (ADAF) yet. Add one PDAF and one ADAF and we've used up the whole of the budget. Alternatively, we could add a PDAF and beef up the screens to level 2. Finally, the Enterprise, if no other of her class, should have an extra Damage Control Party (DCP) if using More Thrust .Given that fighters play no part in the TV series, and that the Enterprise is primarily a research vessel often used for transporting high-value urgent cargoes, it is plausible that the basic Class IX Constitution Class has either 4 spare space, or the extra shields and one spare space. Considering the difficulty the Enterprise had with an Orion highly-manoeuverable small craft (fighter?) and the larger Tholian patrol craft (a small target), it is also more probable than not that the original class IX had no anti-fighter defences whatsoever. Yet her shields seem rather better even than the later NCC-1701A - they certainly are able to be raised faster than appears on "The Wrath of Khan". In the TV series she takes quite a lot of Disruptor fire with only minor damage. Given that two additional batches - the Mk IX a "BonHomme Richard" and Mk IX b "Achernar" appeared afterwards, I have interpreted them as differing mainly in the anti-fighter armament. Mk IX has Shield 2, and one spare space (used for research). Mk IX a has shield 2 and a PDAF. Mk IX b has Shield 1, a PDAF and an ADAF. These are probably not additional beams or missiles as such, but are additional fire control equipment and batteries to allow the unused phaser banks to fire low-energy pulses at small targets.Parenthetically, the ADB came up with remarkably similar reasoning and armament when it added the "+" refits (SFB R2.70) and Command Cruiser. Oh yes, and Enterprise may have received an upgrade to IX a standard during the TV series, when the uniforms changed, amongst other things. It is nearly universally the practice that current combat ships receieve a major rebuild called the "Mid life upgrade" about halfway through their career, and a number of significant alterations every few years in any event.SpeedThe Enterprise is renowned for its high speed. I originally gave it aspeed of 6, more in keeping with a Light Cruiser than a heavy one, but as the Destroyers and Scouts have an identical Warp Speed according to the Technical Manual, it's not unreasonable. However, I've been pursauded that 4 is more appropriate, at least for the rest of the class. After all, there's only one Scotty.Full Thrust Class IX Heavy CruiserRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200, FASA, Starline 2300, MicroModelsMass 362 A 3-arc Beams1 TorpedoSpeed 4Shield 2Cargo 1Cost 271Enterprise - add one DCP and Speed is 6, cost 317Full Thrust Class IXa Heavy CruiserRecommended Models : as aboveMass 362 A 3-arc Beams1 TorpedoSpeed 4Shield 2PDAFCost 274Full Thrust Class IXb Heavy CruiserRecommended Models : as aboveMass 362 A 3-arc Beams1 TorpedoSpeed 4Shield 1PDAFADAFCost 259RefitsAlthough not strictly TOS, the refit of the Enterprise in the first movie do provide a base for further adaptation to later eras. Various sources make a good argument for the Enterprise having received a refit to BonHomme Richard standard during the TV series - the Uniforms changed, for one thing. The major refit that ocurred though - corresponding exactly to the widespread practice of doing a rebuild of a ship called the "mid-life refit" , was to add an additional 6 individual phasers, and to lighten her by 15,000 tonnes. This can be best simulated by a variant of the Achenar - shrink her by mass 2, and replace the ADAF with a 3-arc B Beam. The PDAF and B-Beam represents the dual-role abilities of the additional single phasers rather than the co-ordinated specialised anti-ship punch of the phaser banks, according to PSB sources.Mk IX c "Constitution II" later changed to "Enterprise" ClassRecommended Models : FASA NCC1701A, MicroMachines Enterprise-AMass 342 A 3-arc Beams1 B 3-arc Beam1 TorpedoSpeed 6Shield 1PDAFCost 282Other Federation VesselsParagraph 2, Article 53 of the United Federation of Planets Articles of Federation, Stardate 09652. Expenditure is also granted under these articles of Federation for the procurement or construction of such lesser classes of space forces as shall be required to support Star Fleet operations and the Heavy Cruiser class of Starships. These may be, but not neccessarily limited to, types such as Scouts, Destroyers, Transports, Re-Supply, Shuttlecraft, and Survey Ships."Saladin" Class DestroyersNCC 500-519 of the Mk VIII Saladin class were authorised by the original Articles of Federation in 0965. Another batch, NCC 520-529 of the Mk VIIIa Siva class were authorised in 3030, and the final batch, NCC 530-555 of the Mk VIIIb Cochise class in 4699.There is a difficulty with Federation Destroyers. According to the SFTM, they have an identical armament to the Heavy Cruisers, differing only in their physical dimensions, and range (9 years instead of 18). How to deal with this?Firstly, we'll downgrade the A class beams to B class. Due to lack of power, or lesser Fire Control. Then we'll delete the shields. FT escorts rarely have shields in any event, and the power has to come from somewhere! In Star Trek, every ship, even merchants, have some minimal shielding. We'll just count this as "shield level zero", and leave our destroyer as a classic "eggshell armed with a hammer".Given the complete lack of anti-fighter armament of the original design, it would be reasonable to suppose that the later versions would remedy this. The Mk VIIIa deletes some of the phasers for a fighter self-defence capability, the Mk VIIIb the torpedos as well for an ADAF fit and beefed up screensThe result is:Full Thrust Mk VIII DestroyerRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 182 B 3-arc Beams1 TorpedoSpeed 6Cost 114Full Thrust Mk VIIIa DestroyerRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 181 A 3-arc Beam1 Torpedo1 PDAFSpeed 6Cost 112Full Thrust Mk VIIIb Destroyer (Escort)Recommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 181 A 3-arc Beam1 ADAFShield 1Speed 6Cost 129The ADB had a similar problem in SFB. Their solution resulted in a class of ship that was defensively good, but unable to make full use of the torpedos it carried. The ADB also formulated no less than three different anti-fighter-armed variants, the DE, DDL, and DDG. The intent of this article was to get away from the entirely SFB-based FT conversions, but the basic sources are the same, so the results will be similar. The VIIIb corresponds to a DE or DDG, and theVIIIa to a DDL, (sort of!)."Hermes" Class ScoutsNCC 588-600 of the Mk VII Hermes class were authorised under the original Articles of Federation in 0965. Batch II, NCC 601-616 of the Mk VIIa Monoceros class were authorised in 3669. The final batch, NCC 617-625 of the Mk VIIb Cygnus class differed from the others in being specially outfitted as command and diplomatic couriers.The armament of the lowly Scout is confined to a single double-bank of phasers, capable of firing only in the forward arc, a cut-down version of the very similar Destroyer. Add Supeior Sensors and an Area ECM fit, and it fits neatly.By cutting down the phasers (but improving the Fire Control) we can add a minimal fighter defence, and get an improved Mk VIIa class. Finally, with the courier version we can increase speed and add a Cloak, at the expense of adding some cargo space and deleting all of the EW equipment.Full Thrust Mk VII Scout.Recommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 172 B 1-arc Beams (Fwd)Superior SensorsArea ECMSpeed 6Cost 147Full Thrust Mk VIIa Scout.Recommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 171 A 1-arc Beams (Fwd)Superior SensorsArea ECMPDAFSpeed 6Cost 147Full Thrust Mk VIIb Courier.Recommended Models : Gamescience Scout, Gamescience Destroyer (Transparent plastic version), Starline 2200,Mass 172 B 1-arc Beams (Fwd)PDAFCloakCargo 2Speed 8Cost 132"Ptolemy" Class Tug/TransportsNCC 3801-3815 of the Mk VI Ptolemy Class Tug/Transports were authorised by the original Articles of Federation in 0965. In 3640, NCC 3816-3830 of the Mk VIa Keppler class were authorised. Finally, in a truly massive shipbuilding programme, NCC 3831-3933 of the Mk VIb Doppler class were authorised in 4990.These Tugs are used in conjunction with the Mk I NCC-1000 series Liquid, Mk II NCC-2000 series Dry Bulk, Mk III NCC 3000 series Refrigerated Goods, NCC 5000 series Mk V Products and NCC 4000 series Mk IV Starliner pods, the last self-propelled at sublight velocity in case of emergency. In passing, the standard ST Shuttlecraft is designated as Mk XIIb. Mk XI does not appear to be mentioned anywhere. The Mk VI also, by its "Tug/Transport" designation, appears to have some stand-alone cargo capacity. It is also designated as a "Class I Starship", so is to full military rather than commercial standards (ie it is not a merchant). The tug itself is 126,500 t. Mk I, II and V pods are each of 121,566 t, the Mk III is 100,000 t, and the Mk IV 80,000t deadweight, that is, empty. Cargo load of the bulk pods is about 100,000 t. This corresponds to a size of 61 when loaded with one pod, 100 with two pods, and 23 empty.Armament consists of a pair of phasers in the familiar chin position, and two other phaser pairs port and starboard. This corresponds to 2 beams, each with 2 arcs. Because the ship is nearly the size of a cruiser, and in the interests of making her a Fighting Ship rather than a pure Cargo lugger, A class beams seem appropriate. The later batches would first trade off a little of the 3 spare internal cargo space for some anti-fighter defence, then more.Thus we have:Full Thrust Mk VI Tug/TransportRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 232 A 2-arc BeamsShield 1Cargo 3Speed 6Cost 183Full Thrust Mk VIa Tug/TransportRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 232 A 2-arc BeamsShield 1PDAF 1Cargo 2Speed 6Cost 186Full Thrust Mk VIb Tug/TransportRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 232 A 2-arc BeamsShield 1PDAF 2Cargo 1Speed 6Cost 189+1 Pod, Mass 61, Speed 3, Cost +228+2 Pods, Mass 100, Speed 2, Cost + 362Note: only 2 Fire Control ChannelsNote that again, pace Star Fleet Battles, there is no eveidence for Double-sized Battle Pods, Carrier Pods, or any other armed Pod."Federation" Class DreadnoughtNCC 2100-2119 were all authorised in 6066.These have 10 phasers instead of Enterprise's 6, and a designed safe cruise of Warp Factor 8, Emergency speed of Warp Factor 10. However, things never turn out right, and the Mk X is "still under construction" according to the SFTM. The firing arcs of the phasers are difficult to model, too. However, 2 lots of 3-arc and 2 lots of 2-arc seem about right. By decreasing the 2-arc ones to B instead of A, or increasing tonnage slightly, room could be provided for anti-fighter defence without refit for the first time.Full Thrust Mk X Dreadnought as Originally DesignedRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 522 A 3-arc Beams2 A 2-arc Beams1 TorpedoSpeed 8Shield 3Cost 708Full Thrust Mk X Dreadnought (Conjectured Final Version)Recommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200Mass 582 A 3-arc Beams2 A 2-arc Beams1 TorpedoPDAF 3Speed 4Shield 3Cost 551Klingons - "Battlecruiser"The SFTM is silent about all the other races. The only primary source material are the Klingon Battlecruiser Blueprints, and the TV series. In the TV series, Klingon ships are described as firing "disruptors" rather than phasers. The Special Effects emission of a disruptor looks remarkably like that of a photon torpedo, though the effect is indistinguishable from a phaser. As for size, since the Klingon Battlecruiser is described as just that - a Battlecruiser - it would be nice if it were a Capital ship. Alas, it is not to be. The models of Klingon Battlecruisers are barely larger than Federation Destroyers, and are significantly smaller than the Enterprise. Worse, by making them "small Capitals" rather than Cruisers, they become very expensive indeed - too much so, in fact. No, I'll let the Klingon propagandists describe them as Battlecruisers, but they're actually Heavy Cruisers, and of average size for that class of vessel.As for the Blueprints - I don't remember the tonnage given on them ( 180,000? ) but three things stand out. Firstly, there are phasers absolutely everywhere, in every conceivable place. With spectacularly terrible firing arcs, unless one is firing backwards. There are no less than 12 if memory serves. Secondly, there is a gratuitous missile system, which has never been hinted at in the TV series, or for that matter, the movies. Finally, and most importantly, THERE WERE NO TOILETS. The old joke had it that this was the reason Klingons got REALLY mean after only a few months of a 5-year mission. "Where's the next pit stop, Koloth, my back fangs are swimming!" "Only a few more Light Years, Korax".OK, so we have 12 "Phasors". 4 lots of 3-arc beams seem about right. In the TV series, the disruptor effects always start at the head of the boom, so we'll make that lot a bit chunkier than the rest - A class rather than B. Considering the dire effects of the Enterprise's weaponry even from a single salvo, a level 1 screen seems about right. And let's say the Missiles in the blueprints are a PDAF and ADAF combination.Let's see... 1 3-Arc A-Beam, 3 3-Arc B Beams, Screen-1, PDAF, ADAF, this is starting to look awfully familiar.... Yes, we have just re-invented the Standard Heavy Cruiser, as appearing in Full Thrust.Klingon K- or D7- Class BattlecruiserRecommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200, Starline 2300, MicroMachinesMass 321 A 3-arc Beam3 B 2-arc BeamsADAFPDAFSpeed 4Shield 1Cost 238RomulansThe Romulans appear with two different ship technologies: Firstly, a small Sub-Light vessel with a Cloaking Device, and a spectacularly powerful "Plasma Torpedo". Secondly, and later on, with "Lend-Lease" Klingon ships. The Klingon ships never fire, but the Sub-Light vessel most certainly does, with awesome effect. So let's leave the Klingon ship nearly untouched - delete the PDAF and ADAF, and add a cloak.As for the Bird of Prey, again, the Primary sources consist only of the TV series, and a set of Blueprints.Basically, the Blue prints take a Ginormous great weapon, build a small section on top for the crew (of 12!), then bolt on a few warp drives on the side, and you have it. The Romulan Bird of Prey is a weapon with a ship built around it, rather than a ship with a weapon installed. It is of Escort size.at best. Alas, the presence of the Warp Drives directly contradicts the TV series, where the whole point about the Romulan was that it was Sub-Light. The fact that the story is basically the same as that of classic WW2 Submarine vs Destroyer battles is irrelevant.The Plasma Torpedo of the TV series is undoubtedly best modelled by the Spinal Mount Nova Cannon - aka the Futtock Gun. Alas again, this is only available for Capital ships, and the TV ship is definitely of escrort size.A final complication occurs in that there are three very different models available for the TOS Bird of Prey. The standard Starline 2200 one, the same size as a Frigate, the Starline 2300, consistent with the SFB WarEagle/WarBird, and a MUCH larger model, bigger than the Enterprise.Taking all of the above into account,. the best that I can come up with is to have three different "Birds of Prey". A small one, with a "Mini-Nova" or Wave Gun, a cruiser sized one, and a large (Capital class) one with a full-blown Nova Cannon. All fully comply with the rules, without modification, but none completely corresponds with the TV series, nor with the Blueprints. The Small one comes pretty close to the TV series though, and is extremely effective.Either have them as 3 different ship classes - System Defence Boat, Cruiser, Battleship - within the same fleet, or pick the one you like best.Full Thrust Bird of Prey (Small, Sub-Light)Recommended Models : Starline 2200Mass 16Wave GunCloakSpeed 2STLCost 102Full Thrust Bird of Prey ( Medium, FTL)Recommended Models : Starline 2300Mass 28Wave GunCloakSpeed 2FTLCost 198Full Thrust Bird of Prey (Large, FTL)Recommended Models : MicroMachinesMass 40Nova CannonCloakSpeed 2Cost 330Full Thrust Romulan Battlecruiser (Klingon Lend Lease)Recommended Models : Gamescience, Starline 2200,Starline 2300, MicroMachinesMass 321 A 3-arc Beam3 B 2-arc BeamsCloakSpeed 4Shield 1Cost 289TholiansThe only Tholian ship that appears in the original series is a "Patrol Craft". This is a small escort - probably smaller than even the Starline 2200 miniature is appropriate for. FT has no rules for Webs (which seem to be most effective against a ship already stationary) and they don't fire. They are easily crippled though.I have therefore gone out a bit on a limb here. To me, the most significant thing about a Tholian PC is that it can immobilise things if it gets to short range. Given the size of the only available miniatures, the best solution is to make a relatively fragile ship, with Needles. These are short range, and quite capable of taking out the manoeuvre drive of even a SuperDreadnought. It has to be an escort, and one of about size 12 to match the model. The resultant design is my "best guess" at a Tholian without changing rules, which is consistent with the miniature.Tholian Patrol CraftRecommended Models : Starline 2200, Starline 2300Mass 123 Needle Beams (Fwd)Speed 8OrionsAn Orion ship appears exactly once: as a very fast moving object, that attacks by "ramming" repeatedly. It's appearance is remarkably similar to the all-purpose Photon Torpedo effect, and when it fails, it spectacularly suicides. It's too fast to hit with normal phasers.How the HECK does one model this? The answer is quite simple. What in FT a) Cannot be hit with normal Beams 2) Moves fast, and is incredibly manoueuverable 3) Has a limited number of attacks 4) Has to get real close to the target.Obviously it's a fighter. When you have no PDAF or ADAF, and no C beams, you just gotta sit there and take your lumps.GornsThe final race hostile to the Federation that makes an appearance in TOS are the Gorns. Gorns appear (in the episode Arena ), but their ships don't. So the primary source just isn't enough.SummaryThat covers all of the primary source material - the TV series, the Technical manual, and the Blueprints. But there's a host of other ST models available, both for the Federation ( CL, CV, NCL, FF ) and other races. Not only the SFB-based ones, either. FASA also produced a host of new models for the Star Trek Role Playing Game (STRPG) and Star Trek Battle Simulator (STBS). These can be converted using similar techniqes, but that is best covered in another article.The ship designs that came out of this process are all quite reasonable. The Klingon Battlecruiser turning out to be a standard FT Heavy Cruiser is a piece of Serendipity, but the Federation stuff emphasises the Torpedo, but is otherwise quite conventional. And the Small Bird of Prey is an excellent Systems Defence Boat, while the large one is pretty much an archetypical minimalist Nova ship. None of the designs would appear out-of-place against the standard designs in FT and MT. So dust off those Starline 2200 miniatures, and go for it!CreditsAll technical characteristics of the Federation vessels quoted above are from the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph Designs.Star Fleet Battles is copyrighted by the Amarillo Design Bureau, and published by Task Force Games.Star Trek is coprighted by Paramount Television, a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures CorporationFull Thrust is copyrighted by J.M.Tuffley and Ground Zero Games --------------C1C18163111--