Ambassador

The newest capital ship design in the Federation arsenal and intended from the earliest stages to meet the needs of the Explorer Corps, the Ambassador has replaced the Excelsior-A in production as the Federation's front-line explorer. It is notably the first ship to actually fill the 3mt construction berths the Federation uses for heavy ships. As the first two ships arguably saved all of time and space within hours of being launched, the class' future looks bright.

The Ambassador is far and away the largest ship Starfleet has ever developed, with a solid 600kt to the nearest competitor, and three times the weight of anything else in the fleet. That size is matched by a tremendous capability, though some critics complain that the ship is almost already in need of a refit with coming of phaser arrays and isolinear computer cores. More seasoned observers of the ship design and construction process note the pre-existing array grooves and isolinear-compatible core housing on the prototypes demonstrate the Ambassador spaceframe was conceived and designed as a platform for these revolutionary 2320s technologies from the very beginning.

Developed by the Utopia Planitia Design Group, which has developed a reputation as the preeminent starship architects in Federation space, the Ambassador project drew heavily on their work on the Renaissance project. The Renaissance, a response to Cardassian destroyer designs such as the Jaldun and Kaldar, was a ground-breaking design that paved the way for the much more ambitious next-generation heavy explorer.

Warp Core
The Block-I Ambassador Powerplant produces an unprecedented amount of power, eclipsing the Excelsior-A design by 50%. At the heart of the system is the ONA-III-H Experimental warp core, a bleeding edge next-generation design whose use was the subject of much controversy. This vertical-mount Warp Core is installed into the 'neck' of the starship, where the saucer and stardrive hulls meet. The antimatter flow is managed by heavy duty Mark IX Sublimator-Compressors. Both of these components are produced by a new production line at the Venus Warp Core Assembly Plant. Coolant is provided by Yoyodyne's Mark VIII Mod H coolant system, a very heavy duty class of coolant system utilising their SDB (Straight-flow, Dual-heat-shunt, Bioactive-agent) system. This is expected to become the standard coolant type for Starfleet vessels for decades to come.

Altogether the system weighs in at approximately 240,000 ton and requires a staff of a hundred officers and crew to operate.

Impulse
For sublight propulsion, the Ambassador is curiously carrying only a single dual-framed SDB-09 High-Power impulse system. While a cutting edge design when the Ambassador was designed, it is still considered by crew to be grossly underpowered at sublight. In tactical situations, the Ambassador is force to rely exclusively on passive defenses, as she possesses effectively no capacity to evade.

Sensors
Long Range and Navigational sensors are combined into a Standard Heavy Sensor Package, which the Ambassador shares with the much smaller Kepler. Two Long-Range and two Navigational detectors, both Mark-VII-Heavy, are attached dorsal fore and ventral aft to provide the best clarity with least interference from the warp drive cochrane-field. The sensor packages themselves weigh in at 80,000 ton, and provide a capacity nearly four times in excess of its predecessor, the Excelsior-A. These sensors are produced by the Stellar Tomographics team at Kadann.

Deflectors
Ranford Shield Systems is a collective of Andorian scientists, production experts, and ex-spacers who work together to produce an the strongest deflector system in Federation space. The Mark-V-SH, or Super-Heavy, is Starfleet's deflector of choice for explorer-grade vessels. The Ambassador features more than double the number of emitter systems tasked together than the Excelsior-A.

Tactical Sensors & Targeting
The Ambassador carries over the same Tactical Sensor and Targeting package used by the Excelsior-A. Four Mark-VI-Heavy Lateral Sensors feed a DI-4 Predictive Targeting Array. The Sensors are built at Blue Nova Order, a plant based in Selindra, and delivered to Saturn where they are tasked to the TCU and then shipped to the shipyard. This system provides not just fantastic multi-targeting capacity, but also amazing resolution for short-range scientific scans.

Phasers
The Ambassador's principal defensive armament consists of a dozen Type-IV phaser banks in dual mounts, positioned to provide effective coverage during tactical manoeuvres. These phaser banks are assembled by the Saturn Tactical Manufacturing Plant, which is the first plant to transfer from the venerable Model 83 phaser bank.

Torpedoes
With four launchers forward and two aft, the Ambassador can pack a mighty punch and engage targets attempting to evade her phaser coverage. Launchers are constructed at the Tellar Prime Tactical Plant. The Ambassador uses the same Type-III Auto Launcher System that the Excelsior-A uses to good effect, providing a flexible but reliable platform.