Mothma: The Nova Class Starship

This last week, I've had a chance to fly the new Star Fleet Nova Class Starship.

First, let's have a look at the outside, shall we?

It's... a Federation starship. A couple of warp nacelles, a sort of disk shaped thing on the front, and some decks holding the whole thing together. This is pretty much standard stuff. Obviously they told the engineers involved that they were getting "creative freedom" by stretching out the disk a little and adding a few awkward knobby bits, but they're not really messing with the design, are they?

I mean, the bloody Ferengi can make a nicer looking ship than this.

But let's have a look at the interior, shall we?

Oh my! It's beige and blue! Clearly those crazy Federation officers stayed up all night designing this one!

And of course, this being a Federation ship, there's all the extras you could expect: science bays, schools, a holodeck (not standard, but the regular version has an exercise room. So if you don't have the holodeck, you get to carry around extra weights!), and all that extra rubbish that Star Fleet swears it needs for its "missions."

But of course, all this extra weight has traditionally been a problem for Star Fleet ships. Sure, it's theoretically possible that in the vacuum of space, a single engine can push an enormous mass at ever increasing speed. But that's just not very fun. And besides, if it's ever in a combat situation it's all about acceleration.

Its like this: the engines only give you so much force, right? And Force = Mass x Acceleration. So the less mass you have, the more acceleration you get. And that's how the Klingons still manage to get such great speed out a dilithium sequencer. They've thrown every bloody thing out of the bird of prey but phasers and guns, and they've got the acceleration to show for it.

So with all the added Star Fleet bulk to it, just how fast is the Nova Class?

Under ideal conditions, it turns out the answer is: quite fast.

It's a maneuverable little ship, in spite of the unnecessary mass. It can run circles around a Galaxy Class starship, and it can do Warp 8 in a pinch.

It handles well, too, if you can get the bloody auto-navigation turned off. Let me tell you, that system is another great piece of Federation engineering, all "that turn is not within safe limits" and "more power required from the engines." It's rubbish! But turn it off, and it's actually not bad.

Though that's where the other problem with flying a Federation Starship comes in: the rules.

And by gods, the rules.