User:Teylasramar/Sandbox/Valdore class
The Valdore-class warbird was the pinnacle of the Romulan Star Empire from its deployment in the 2370s until the fall of Romulus in 2387. Developed for war, the Valdore was rushed into production to try and reinforce Romulan forces during the Dominion War. Falling short, the Valdore was deployed shortly after the war's end and became the crowning achievement of the Romulan fleet for the next decade meant to replace the aging D'deridex-class warbirds.
Exploration and Science
The Valdore is equipped with what was a state-of-the-art sensor suite from the time of its design that is still serviceable with minor upgrades over the years. The Valdore is a multi-purpose warbird which means that exploration was one of the duties that would be required of it. Whereas the Klingon Empire is more concerned with science as a means for its war machine, the Romulan philosophy of exploration is more in line with the United Federation of Planets curiosity. The Valdore was considered a premier warbird for exploration duties at the time of its design and even still any Valdore remaining in service would be able to match the average modern platform.
Diplomacy
Originally built as the warbird of the future, the Valdore boasts an impressive ambassadorial suite and diplomatic abilities. The Valdore has multiple conference rooms for hosting dignitaries of both allies and enemies, multiple living quarters at the level of comfort that a diplomat would expect, and advanced holoprojectors to allow for any unique configurations required.
Engineering
Much like the preceding D'deridex, the Valdore has an aggressive, raptor-like appearance but at only about half the size. The Valdore is much sleeker, with a cowled head and a much more angular and predatory look. Where the Valdore really sets itself apart from the D'deridex is its engineering improvements over the much older design. The Valdore is faster at both sublight and warp speeds, is far more maneuverable, and boasts an entirely new warp system design based on the same artificial singularity concept.
The Valdore design was conceived to correct the sins of the D'deridex and one of the largest sins was the way the D'deridex operated at warp under cloak. While at speeds above warp 6, D'deridex would have issues with the engines producing a slight subspace variance which could reveal the ship's position. To solve this issue, Romulan engineers developed a two-tiered warp system where the Valdore had two sets of nacelles. The primary, much larger nacelles, could alone power the ship at faster speeds than the D'deridex under normal operations. The secondary, much smaller nacelles, are located adjacent to the primary nacelles and work in conjunction with the primary nacelles to allow the ship to operate at warp speeds under cloak without being detected up to the Valdore's maximum rated speed of warp 9.5. Emergency speeds above that have had varied results in both testing and field applications.
The underbelly of the Valdore is swooped with a significantly sized hangar bay which allows the ship to carry a complement of Tiercel-class shuttles and a squadron of Scorpion-class fighters.
Tactical
The Valdore is a heavily armed warbird boasting two forward heavy disruptors mounted near the head of the ship which could be configured to fire in beams or pulses. These were complemented by disruptor cannons placed along the wings which gave the Valdore a full arc range until it could maneuver its primary weapons to bear on an enemy vessel.
Like most Romulan ships, the Valdore's primary tactic is to use its cloaking device to allow the ship's commander to assess a situation. Once the decision to attack is made, the Valdore would bring itself into position to make a decisive first strike against an enemy vessel by putting it directly in the line of fire of the ship's main disruptors.
In 2401, the Valdore is still a dangerous ship in combat. While it is becoming a bit dated versus more advanced, modern ships throughout the galaxy, the Valdore should be treated with extreme care. It comes from an era of excellence in the Romulan Star Empire and in the right hands is a dangerous enemy.
Shipboard Life
The Valdore has a fairly standard rate of living for a Romulan ship, comparable to Federation counterparts. The lower ranked crew are generally bunked together in shared rooms of both barrack and dorm style. The middle-ranked officers receive their own rooms with standard amenities. More senior officers are allowed multi-room suites which give them more freedom. Throughout the ship are multiple advanced holodecks, ship-wide holoprojectors, multiple lounges, fitness facilities, and other communal recreation spaces. Additionally, the ship has redundant medical facilities. The average crew for a Valdore is approximately 700 but can be as many as 1,000 with some of the ship's recreational facilities reconfigured into living quarters.
Class History
The Valdore was developed in the early hours of the Dominion cold war when it became apparent to the Romulan Senate that the Empire would not be able to avoid war — either with the Dominion itself or the Federation-Klingon Alliance. The Valdore design mandate was multi-faceted: a ship that could eventually replace the aging D'deridex-class while maintaining its versatility, lowering production costs, and incorporating the newest Romulan technology which had been, up to that point, largely incompatible or unable to incorporate with with the existing D'deridex. However, as most things on Romulus, the Valdore was debated for so long that by the time the first one was commissioned it was in the months after the conclusion of the Dominion War.
It did, however, present an opportunity for the Romulans to continue producing the Valdore without the pressures of an ongoing war. While peace was at the forefront of everyone's mind the Senate felt that it was unlikely for the Federation or Klingons to press Romulan territory with the recent allied victory. The Federation was high on peace and the Klingons were too busy licking their wounds for the foreseeable future. This allowed the Empire to focus on rebuilding its fleet which included the new Valdore. Over the next five years, the Atlai'fehill Stelai Complex was able to produce several dozen Valdore-class warbird.
The Valdore began to appear more and more on the Romulan frontier and become known to the Federation and Klingons. While not as massive as the intimidating D'deridex, the Valdore earned her keep in skirmishes and showed that the Romulans had a new class of warbird that would be able to stand against aggressive moves on Romulan territory. By the time of the Romulan supernova, there were over a hundred Valdores throughout the Romulan fleets.
In the aftermath of the supernova, the fate of the Valdore has become fractured by 2401. Within the direct successor to the Romulan Star Empire, the Star Empire of Rator, the Valdore continued to be a mainstay of their fleet into the 25th century. However, in 2400, as the Star Empire of Rator collapsed into a disparate, irrelevant shell of its former self the Valdore, too, wanted as the Star Empire of Rator struggled to support its rapidly declining fleet. In what later became the Romulan Republic, roughly a dozen Valdore-class warbirds served the first few years as defenders of their territory while the much larger and more resource-intensive D'deridex-class warbirds in their control were broken down for raw materials to begin building colonies. Eventually, those Valdores were also broken down for raw materials as newer Romulan Republic classes came to fruition. A few Valdore-class warbirds have also found their way into the hands of either pirates, warlords, or the otherwise many other Independent Romulan Factions throughout Romulan space.
In Play
- If you encounter a Valdore you are dealing with a serious threat. Treat it like you would a D'deridex and act accordingly.
- The Valdore is still an impressive ship, but not very common other than interacting with the Star Empire of Rator. Even then, given the status of the Star Empire of Rator, still fairly rare.
- The Romulan Republic doesn't use these ships as they have their own designs. The Romulan Free State never did use the Valdore, and has also since created their own unique designs.