Class and Type: Nova-class Scout
Commissioning Date: 2365
Lead Engineer: Owen E. Oulton

Hull Characteristics
Size: 3 (135 meters long, 7 decks)
Resistance: 2
Structural Points: 60
Operational Characteristics
Crew/Passengers: 80/125
   [5 pwr/round]
Computers: 4
   [4 pwr/round]
Transporters: 2 personnel/2 cargo
   [2 pwr/round]
Tractor Beams: 1 ad/1 fv
   [2/rating used]
Propulsion & Power Characteristics
Warp System: 5.0/6.0/8.0 (12 hours)
   [2/warp factor]
Impulse System: .5c/.75c
   [5/7 pwr/round]
Power: 115
Sensor Systems
Long-range Sensors: +1/15 light-years
   [6 pwr/round]
Lateral Sensors: +1/1 light-year
   [4 pwr/round]
Navigational Sensors: +1
   [5 pwr/round]
Sensors Skill: 4
Weapons Systems
Type VI Phaser:
   Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
   Arc: All (720 degrees)
   Accuracy: 5/6/8/11
   Damage: 12
   Power: [12]
Type II Photon Torpedoes
   Number: 25
   Launchers: 1 fv
   Spread: 4
   Arc: Forward, but are self-guided
   Range: 15/300,000/1,000,000/3,500,000
   Accuracy: 4/5/7/10
   Damage: 20
   Power: 5
Weapons Skill: 4
Defensive Systems
Starfleet Deflector Shield:
   Protection: 36/50
   Power: [36]

Description and Notes
Fleet data: The Nova-class Scout is a small, lightly armed science vessel designed for short-duration planetary survey missions. It is intended to eventually replace the aging Oberth-class scouts, which are no longer in production. It is 135 meters long, 81 meters wide, and 29 meters high, with 7 decks. It has a crew of 80. The class name, Nova, was originally considered for the Sovereign-class Explorer.

Noteworthy vessels / service records / encounters: U.S.S. Nova, prototype; U.S.S. Equinox, disappeared in 2370, fate unknown; U.S.S. Valiant, used as test bed for propulsion and weapons systems for the Defiant-class. Retired from service due to structural damage incurred during test program. The name was later reused for one of the first Defiant-class ships built.

Design Notes
This vessel appeared in the cliffhanger season 5 finale of Star Trek: Voyager, and will presumably reappear in the season 6 opener. Surprisingly, quite a lot of information was given about the vessel in the episode, and that info was used to design this game version, with some filling in of blanks with data from the Oberth-class, which is similar in size, crew and mission. The information on the Valiant is based on an illustration of the Defiant pathfinder test vehicle in the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, which is virtually identical in appearance - the Nova-class has sensor pallets where the test vehicle has pulse phasers and photon torpedoes. I chose the name Valiant because that's what the Defiant was originally called on early design drawings. I'm assuming that the Equinox disappeared very shortly before Voyager, since the crew wears the new style comm badges introduced in season 3 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, only a few months before Star Trek: Voyager premiered.

Based on the episode Equinox, Part II, the Nova-class does indeed have photorps, but based on the statement that it is "minimally armed," I have given it only one launcher and a severely restricted supply of torps. The launchers would normally be used for launching probes. In its role of Planetary Survey Scout, it carries a large number of class III planetary probes and class VII remote cultural survey probes, as well as smaller numbers of other probe types.

Editor's Notes
For the record, this was waiting in my mailbox the very next day after the show in which it premiered!  Another interpretation is available; check out Erik's version.

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