Modular Design Program

Alternate timeline
(covers information from Cryptic universe)

"A captain can choose new components for his or her ship and our work crews can have them installed and ready to go in less than half the time of conventional ship construction. A damaged ship can get replacement parts from another Starfleet vessel, and the engineers don't have to worry about them not fitting or not working. This system means our crews can do more, stay in the field longer and have the ships they need to do their jobs." - Marie Durant

The Modular Design Program was a principle of starship design implemented by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers in the 2390s of the Cryptic universe. The program called for the development of modular starship designs, where various components could easily be swapped or replaced between starship types and classes. This led the Advanced Starship Design Bureau to draft many new subclasses of successful starships already in service and coincided with the Fleet Modernization Program initiated by Starfleet in in the early 25th century.

History

This concept had been a part of Starfleet's designs for decades, but was greatly expanded upon after the Dominion War. The heavy losses sustained in remote sectors of space made it abundantely clear that the traditional methods of returning to a starbase or shipyard for repairs or upgrades was not a feasible idea during times of conflict or deep space exploration missions. Thus, a modular design would allow the crew to make repairs in the field, or even salvage components that could be reused for other vessels. A further benefit of modular construction was that the starship could be modified for specific mission profiles or to better accommodate the needs of the crew.

The program became official policy in the 2390s and remained in heavy use into the 25th century.

Starship types

The following are the starship class types that were adapted to or created as part of the Modular Design Program.

Adapted classes

• Heavy escort series: Akira, Oslo, and Zephyr classes
• Ambassador line (support cruisers)
• Cheyenne line (heavy cruisers)
• Defiant line (tactical escorts)
• Dervish line (patrol escorts)
• Destiny line (deep space science vessel)
• Excelsior line (advanced heavy cruisers)
• Galaxy line (exploration cruisers)
• Intrepid line (long range science vessels)
• Miranda line (light cruisers)
• Nebula line (advanced research vessels)
• Nova line (scout science vessels)
• Olympic line (research science vessels)
• Prometheus line (advanced escorts)
• Saber line (explorer escorts)
• Sovereign line (assault cruisers)
• Vesta line (multi-mission explorers)

New classes

• Avenger line (battlecruisers)
• Chimera line (heavy destroyers)
• Emissary line (star cruisers)
• Excalibur line (light cruisers)
• Geneva line (command battlecruisers)
• Intel series: Eclipse, Phantom, and Scryer classes
• Mercury line (pilot escorts)
• Odyssey line (star cruisers)
• Solanae line (Dyson science destroyers)