Survey ship

A Survey Starship for nearly one hundred years was the Oberth Class. This ship was underpowered, under-armed, and barely shielded. She could reach a maximum of Warp 5; she had one phaser array, Type VII, and one torpedo tube, mainly used for launching probes.

The 24th Century Planetary Surveyor is the Nova Class Starship ; while she can only reach Warp 8, she is armed with 11 Type-Xb phaser arrays, two forward torpedo tubes, and higher-rated combat shields for ferrying VIPs. A refit Nova Class, like the USS Twilight, also has 14 science labs and 2 sickbays, 2 holodecks, and a number of shuttlecraft, including a specialized Waverider Shuttle for entering atmosphere. The vessel is also capable of planetfall, with retractable landing pads.