Andromeda Class
The Andromeda-class explorer is a modern revision of the Galaxy-class explorer built to 25th century technological standards. Sharing clear visual and functional links back to the Galaxy, the Andromeda was developed to maintain an all-rounder explorer design at the 1,000 crew size, bridging the gap between the Odyssey and Constitution III. More than either of these other designs, the Andromeda is intended to serve equally well across exploratory, defensive, humanitarian, and diplomatic mission parameters, with an emphasis on performance that has few valleys. On that same token, it doesn’t have many peaks in its performance, either—though her sheer size contributes to her being second only to the Odyssey in diplomatic utility. It is a solid, well-balanced design that will serve as a capable capital starship for decades to come. Many Starfleet officers see the Andromeda as a symbol of an earlier and more hopeful time: the halcyon days of the mid-24th century.
Science and Exploration
The Andromeda retains all of the features of the Galaxy that made her predecessor class such a success: extremely long bands of lateral sensor arrays on both the saucer section and stardrive section that can be equipped with hundreds of sensor pallets for the ship’s primary, secondary, and tertiary scientific studies, a combination of discipline-specific, generalist, and mission-configurable labs, expansion space for secondary and tertiary mission equipment, and accommodations for hundreds of visiting science teams. These existing design features are coupled with state-of-the-art computer and communications systems to keep the ship’s science department connected to the broader scientific community. Compared to the Sutherland, with which the Andromeda shares in common many systems and the same basic hull design, the Andromeda sacrifices some lab space and the bleeding-edge computer equipment in the primary hull to handle a larger permanent crew.
Enhanced automation and refined systems operations protocols give the Andromeda excellent range, and she remains theoretically capable of the same indefinite exploratory missions the Galaxy was designed for. She is a compromise between the much higher crew of the Odyssey, the bleeding-edge technical innovation and speed of the Vesta, and the slimmed-down crew count of the Constitution III, which makes her suitable for exploratory missions that present enough unknowns to want wide-ranging capabilities while also not committing the most possible resources to a particular area. In practice, many Andromeda-class starships are expected to conduct wide-ranging missions in and around Federation space.
Diplomacy
Andromeda-class starships are well-equipped for diplomatic missions, equal in that respect to the Galaxy. With multiple conference rooms, guest suites, and a panoply of both holodecks and physical recreation facilities, these ships are suited to hosting conferences and conducting multi-party talks. They are also fully capable of performing first-contact missions without additional support from Starfleet Command. It is their large size that allows them not only to comfortably handle large amounts of diplomats and delegates, but to treat them to bespoke diplomatic facilities that simply don't fit aboard peer classes such as the Constitution III, which must rely more heavily on their holodecks.
In some respects, the Andromeda is another attempt by Starfleet Command to use a recognizable sillohuette as a symbol, following the Obena in the 2380s. The Federation's allies and enemies both remember the Galaxy's pivotal role in the Dominion War, after all. Andromeda captains remember this as well, and they are selected for their ability to represent Starfleet and the Federation well from the bridge of a large and impressive starship. As more Andromeda-class starships become available, they are slated to replace Odyssey-class starships for most mid-grade diplomatic assignments, freeing up their larger cousins for their primary role as deep space flagships and for complex humanitarian assignments.
While Starfleet interior designers still resist carpet in the 25th century, furnishings and décor aboard the Andromeda are more luxurious than contemporary designs, with more emphasis on Federation blue accents, Starfleet seals, and other reminders that the ship is an emissary of the Federation.
Engineering
Outwardly resembling the Galaxy, the Andromeda’s internal systems are all significantly upgraded from her parent design. With this design, the focus was on improving efficiency and reducing redundancy where possible. While retaining a substantial amount of volume for future expansion and mission-specific equipment, this is reduced proportionally from the Galaxy to handle enhanced crew support facilities and larger medical facilities.
The warp drive aboard the Andromeda is a fully optimized version of the original system installed aboard the Galaxy, now tuned to allow the ship to keep up with the rest of the modern fleet with a maximum sustainable speed of Warp 9.99. Like her sister design the Sutherland, however, her standard cruise speed is limited to Warp 7—an improvement over the Galaxy, but still more ponderous than the Vesta, or even the Odyssey. The impulse systems have been redesigned for improved maneuverability, with much larger units in the saucer that are used even when in integrated flight mode both for forward thrust and maneuvering.
The small craft and cargo facilities in the primary hull were reduced significantly, allowing bulky systems like cargo elevators to be removed from the saucer to provide additional habitable space. This was compensated for by enlarging the cargo holds in the undercut of the stern and expanding shuttle bays 2 and 3 in the neck section, ensuring that both hulls have roughly equal logistics facilities. Instead of the multiple cargo bay doors and twin elevators on the underside of the Galaxy’s saucer, the Andromeda has a single cargo hatch in the center, leading to a shaft that connects to several internal holds, as well as hangers for work bees, probes, and drones. These reductions allow the ship to remain capable of logistics and humanitarian missions, though not as well as designs dedicated to that purpose. One feature that was sacrificed in the name of reducing complexity was the hull-integrated captain's yacht. Such a craft can be carried as necessary at the captain's discretion in one of the standard shuttlebays. Unlike the Sutherland, the saucer section of the Andromeda is not warp capable on its own, as this was deemed unnecessary for the Andromeda's mission profile, in favor of retaining space within the saucer for additional crew quarters.
Tactical
The Andromeda shares very similar armament placement to the Galaxy, but the systems in use by the Andromeda are two generations newer. As the class was being redesigned, there was a conscious effort to keep armament systems simple, favoring fewer more powerful weapons over many redundant ones.
Eleven Type-XIV phaser arrays are spread around the ship to provide all-around phaser coverage, including the two extremely long arrays on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the saucer section that serve as the ship’s primary weapons. A twelfth phaser array is located in front of the battle bridge, unusable unless the ship is in separated flight mode. The forward torpedo launcher is the same model of burst-fire system developed for the Odyssey, capable of launching up to 15 warheads at a time, or a 50% improvement over the Galaxy, located in the same position in the base of the ship’s neck—the interconnecting dorsal. Compared to the Galaxy the main aft torpedo launcher on the Andromeda has been moved further up the hull and it is identical to the forward launcher. An additional four single-fire tubes, positioned in groups of two, are several decks above that. These additional launchers were added to the design to address a general concern with this hull design that it is particularly vulnerable from its rear-dorsal quarter. This concern also resulted in a rotary pulse phaser turret being installed directly aft of the main bridge.
Shield systems aboard the Andromeda have been borrowed directly from the Odyssey with the latest multiphasic upgrades. Along with significant hull reinforcement and structural systems redundancies compared to the Galaxy, the Andromeda is intended to be able to survive nearly any fight it gets involved in.
Remembering the key role that the Galaxy class played as Starfleet’s de facto battleship during the Dominion War, the Andromeda is meant to carry on that function in the modern fleet when necessary. Her large, powerful phaser arrays can carry out multiple simultaneous strikes, while launching torpedoes from long range. Their robust shields can also absorb the brunt of enemy assaults when operating in concert with smaller, more mobile classes.
In addition to her intended fleet role, the Andromeda is also more than capable of handling defensive missions on her own, though Starfleet will often prefer to send a leaner vessel when the nature of a threat is not understood. With her iconic silhouette, the Andromeda’s appearance on the scene is often enough to make raiders and less-determined threat vessels run.
Shipboard Life
Like the Odyssey, the Andromeda owes its design heritage to the Utopia Planitia school of starship design, which emphasizes larger crews with comfortable accommodations and a mix of communal and solidary recreation opportunities—a design school epitomized in the Galaxy herself. While perhaps not as outwardly luxurious as mid-24th century designs—with the sleeker, glossier interiors of the modern era—the Andromeda maintains the multi-room, apartment-like quarters found on those designs, similar to those aboard the Sovereign. Recreation facilities have been expanded significantly, with multiple large lounges on the underside of the saucer section with huge viewports looking out into space, including two aft-facing recreation decks that have gaming areas, multimedia projectors, and configurable equipment for all types of themed nights.
Medical facilities are substantial, with two standard sickbay units in the primary hull, along with a twenty-bed recovery ward, dedicated surgical suites, and a dozen private patient rooms for long-term care. An additional sickbay unit is found in the secondary hull.
These ships are comfortable, in-demand postings, particularly for members of Starfleet eager to return to a spirit of exploration. One aspect of their all-rounder design that is appealing is that they can theoretically be sent on any type of mission, so the variety these crews will experience should be substantial. Put another way, they’re rarely boring places to serve–even if they’re not being sent to the very furthest regions of space, they’re unlikely to be doing exactly the same thing day-in and day-out as on more specialized ships.
History
When the class was developed in the 2340s and 2350s, it was envisioned that the Galaxy-class explorer would remain in service for at least the following 100 years. Though marred by the premature losses of three of the six original members of the class (Yamato in 2365, Odyssey in 2370, and Enterprise in 2371), the class’s service record by the mid-2370s was on track to live up to that expectation of longevity. Indeed, the several Galaxy-class starships rushed into service as wartime battleships with incomplete interior systems were completed and poised to serve as the core of Starfleet’s long-range exploratory fleet by the end of that decade. Since her original design was finalized, however, Starfleet made many advances in propulsion and defensive systems.
In the late 2370s, the Ross-class explorer was developed as an offshoot of the Galaxy using improvements based on the Sovereign. These improvements included larger logistics facilities, a streamlined hull, and a warp-capable saucer, features that would lead to the much larger Odyssey-class explorer. While it was technically feasible to convert all Galaxy-class vessels to Ross-class specifications, the performance improvements granted by fully reconfiguring the hull were considered limited enough that fleet-wide Galaxy upgrades were limited to tactical systems and incremental propulsion upgrades. The Ross was given its own limited production run, but this class ended production once the Odyssey was in full-scale production by the late 2380s.
By the 2390s, the Galaxy was now considered an aging design. The Odyssey had surpassed it as the largest and most complex vessel in service, the Constitution III was on track to achieve similar performance with half the crew, and the Vesta was being built to push the limits of technological innovation and speed. Still, there were many at Starfleet Command who wanted to retain a modern starship in service right at the 1,000 crew size point—not to mention retaining a version of the Galaxy for symbolic reasons. The design brief was to create an updated version of the Galaxy for a new century that would serve as a generalist, all-rounder, equally capable of all of Starfleet’s core mission priorities. This project would proceed in parallel with the Sutherland-class project to develop a modern research cruiser from the Nebula.
Dubbed the Andromeda, for the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way, development proceeded smoothly to refine the strengths of the Galaxy while also simplifying production techniques and emphasizing reliability and durability. The first vessel of the class, a keel-up new build, was launched for shakedown operations in 2398, and the class entered service in 2399.
Upgrading a Galaxy-class starship to an Andromeda-class starship takes approximately half of the time of building one from scratch, but at this point Starfleet has not committed to fully upgrading the Galaxy-class fleet, as many of them are engaged in critical operations that can’t be interrupted, along with other sources of reluctance such as nostalgia. However, several critically damaged spaceframes have been upcycled as members of this class.
In-Play
- Like the Sutherland, the Andromeda is a modern version of an older design. Unlike the Sutherland, which is specifically a research vessel while the Nebula was a generalist, the Andromeda maintains the same mission niche as the Galaxy: a well-rounded capital ship suitable for all of Starfleet’s mission types. It’s not as lean as the Constitution III, fast as the Vesta, or as large and complex as the Odyssey (though, it’s not that much smaller than an Odyssey either), but fits nicely into a direct analog to the Enterprise-D, but with modern equipment.
- Compared to the Ross, the Andromeda is significantly better armed, but not as well-equipped for logistics missions. A Ross, however, has a smaller crew and could be an excellent choice for the deep-space independent missions that the Andromeda is capable of but might represent a greater committment of resources than Starfleet is willing to part with.
- While this is a 1:1 upgrade to the Galaxy, the Galaxy is still in service. Some captains (and members, for that matter) prefer her lines for nostalgic reasons. They also have received regular refits over the years to keep them relevant. An Andromeda is truly modern design, though.
- While a generalist, the area that the Andromeda is particularly well suited to is diplomacy. This is mainly because of its size: it can afford to have banquet halls, concert venues, and other large-scale facilities that simply won't fit in smaller vessels. It's able to accomplish this with 2/3 the crew of an Odyssey, as well.
Credits
- The Andromeda class (as the Andromeda-class exploratory cruiser) was designed and modeled for Star Trek: Online by Thomas Marrone. You can see more images of the ship, including a 360 3D view, at his ArtStation.