This thread doesn't necessarily have to be restricted to Trek examples, but I'm interested to know what others think the ideal "build" for an organization like Starfleet would be. I personally tend to like the "big fleet" concept that seems more prevalent in some of the FASA and fan-produced technical sources, rather than going solely by canon. I tend to view Starfleet as primarily being the Federation's military force, with both a small number of dedicated warships and a much larger segment of vessels that can be multipurpose or geared for exploration.
If we go towards the UFP as being more analogous to the UN rather than the U.S., then I think perhaps it's plausible that member worlds like Vulcan and Tellar might retain their own smaller local fleets, while also lending some or even a majority to Starfleet. FASA had mentioned elements like the "Blue Fleet" that were crewed mainly by Andorian personnel, but I'll have to check and see if they make any reference to localized fleets that weren't necessarily the same thing as Starfleet.
One question I'm interested in has to do with refits and/or decommissionings. In reading over Jackill's work, there are several TMP-era refits of the FJ fleet which were in turn succeeded by Excelsior family vessels, which I infer to have been produced probably around the turn of the 24th century and perhaps in the first decade or two at least. I tend to assume that Starfleet would probably mothball a portion of the older vessels for use as a reserve, and some perhaps could have been converted to civilian use with sensitive equipment removed (an idea supported by FASA and which seems to be the case with vessels like the Vico from "Hero Worship"). Given the political improvements that were developing with the Klingons in this era, is it plausible that they might eventually have acquired or been given some older hulls?
If we go towards the UFP as being more analogous to the UN rather than the U.S., then I think perhaps it's plausible that member worlds like Vulcan and Tellar might retain their own smaller local fleets, while also lending some or even a majority to Starfleet. FASA had mentioned elements like the "Blue Fleet" that were crewed mainly by Andorian personnel, but I'll have to check and see if they make any reference to localized fleets that weren't necessarily the same thing as Starfleet.
One question I'm interested in has to do with refits and/or decommissionings. In reading over Jackill's work, there are several TMP-era refits of the FJ fleet which were in turn succeeded by Excelsior family vessels, which I infer to have been produced probably around the turn of the 24th century and perhaps in the first decade or two at least. I tend to assume that Starfleet would probably mothball a portion of the older vessels for use as a reserve, and some perhaps could have been converted to civilian use with sensitive equipment removed (an idea supported by FASA and which seems to be the case with vessels like the Vico from "Hero Worship"). Given the political improvements that were developing with the Klingons in this era, is it plausible that they might eventually have acquired or been given some older hulls?
) to conflate some sources so they don't necessarily have to be at odds with each other. For example, FASA had the Reliant design being a TMP-era evolution of their Anton class cruisers, while Mastercom's SotSF had the Avenger build being an evolution of the Surya/Coventry class frigates that had been active in the Four Years War. What if both origins could be considered correct and Starfleet built some hulls as a cruiser base (Reliant, more exploratory) and some as a frigate base (Avenger, more tactical)? This would have the benefits in my view of reducing costs while also potentially confusing an enemy, as they not be able to tell the full capabilities of the design. They could think they're ambushing a cruiser and wind up fighting a more heavily armed frigate. It would also enable an easier conversion if one class were to prove more viable than the other and they decided to refit the existing vessels into that class.
I was mainly thinking in terms of Starfleet, the scale of how many ships might be built in a typical class. I can see some ships having between, say, 30 and 100 vessels assuming most of them were built, and it would depend on the mission role and whether the class is simply an uprated version of an older class. For example, I think Jackill's uprated scout and destroyer vessels included all of the FJ subclasses as a single modernized group. The Kentwood is an example of a highly specialized class with a small build order since it's not a multi-mission design.
