The Sim

In the 22nd Century...

Our NX-03 Challenger sim is set in 2156, around two years after the Star Trek Enterprise conclusion. The Xindi arc has concluded with (most of) the Xindi retreating to places unknown. The Delphic Expanse has greatly diminished but still poses some issue for travel rimward.

The Coalition of Planets- including Earth, Mars, Alpha Centauri, Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar Prime, Denobula, Coridan and the Rigel system- have agreed to oppose further Romulan destabilization and expansion in to local space.

Coalition Characters

These worlds have agreed to work together to oppose Romulan expansion, to coordinate intelligence and when reasonable, to exchange liaison officers to learn more about each other. On our sim, one or two non-Human characters will be allowed, though they should come from one of these Coalition worlds. Humans regardless of their home world can be played.

Earth Colonies

By 2156 we can assume that most of the pre-Federation "Earth Colonies" are underway. The most well-established colonies are Mars, Titan, the three Alpha Centauri colonies of Toliman, Rigil Kentaurus and Proxima, and Luna (the Moon). Vega IX, Deneva, and Alpha III and Alpha V are all possible Human origins for characters with nearly blank slates. It is possible Human characters could have been from a UESPA outpost on Ganymede or Europa as well.

Docs on Loan

In this era, Earth Starfleet doesn't have its own dedicated Medical Academy. While it trains a few field medics, nurses and doctors are contracted from civilian practices, from Doctors Without Borders or the Interspecies Medical Exchange. These medical personnel might be supported through their medical residency but in return they owe Starfleet a couple of years of service.

Earth-Romulan War

The Earth-Romulan War officially began when United Earth Intelligence, the V'Shar and the Andorian Am Tal all verified that Romulan ships have begun targeting Coalition ships for at least a month. It may have been as early as three months ago as there are a small handful of craft that have gone missing in some sectors of suspected Romulan activity.

The Coalition theorizes that the Romulans won't stop there- their modus operandi likely includes assassination, orchestrating uprisings, sabotage, implanting operatives, and seizing Coalition assets.

The Challenger is not going to focus on war story after war story. While the war will occasionally touch on our plots, the sim itself is focusing on exploration. The reason for our exploration has somewhat shifted- try and find new allies and new resources. And... if necessary... scout a "Beta Site" as a fallback in case the war goes very badly.

Uneasy Allies: MACOs On UESPA Vessels

Earth Starfleet is not a military- though it has been put on a war footing. That means more weapons, more torpedoes, and more medical supplies. All UESPA ships have reactivated a policy from the Xindi Crisis mandating that each ship will carry a contingent of MACOs aboard. These military personnel are outfitted with their own weapons and their own training facilities aboard and are expected to work with and intermingle among Starfleet personnel.

Cutting Edge

The NX platform continues to be an experimental bed for new technology, but at great cost. The Challenger NX-03 has several new systems that are either homegrown Earth innovations, studied alien technology or borrowed technology from Coalition allies. Some of them are prototypes that Challenger is intended to field test for their efficacy.

Alert Status

Piloted on the NX-01, Earth Starfleet has adopted a series of automated subroutines that will be brought online in certain situations. The Earth's militaries have had similar systems in place for more than a century.

"Condition Red" is the overarching command for previous statuses like Intruder Alert or Tactical Alert. This means that the ship and its crew are under immediate and dire threat of destruction or seizure. The ship will automatically polarize the ablative armor and personnel should report to their stations for combat readiness. Security and Medical teams go on active readiness to expect casualties, boarding and possibly the need to facilitate evacuation. Individual decks may be placed on lockdown with blast doors.

"Condition Yellow" means the ship and crew are in a state of heightened readiness. The ship is potentially in danger. The ablative armor polarizes and science projects not deemed essential are ended, with sensors turned over to the Bridge and monitoring stations.

"Condition Blue" is a new status being piloted by the NX Project. It comes with a redesign of some of the ship's ventral systems and features which include landing struts. Condition Blue indicates that the ship is about to attempt a landing- either on land or water. Hull plating is polarized to protect the ship from atmospheric turbulence and heat. Inertial dampeners and structural integrity fields are increased to maximum on the lower decks and forward sections. Non-essential personnel evacuate F- and G-Decks.

Andorian Deflector Grid

A trade of torpedo technology for deflector field technology was done with the Andorian Imperial Guard. This deflector shield system has its limitations- it can't be activated in an atmosphere, in a nebula or in presences of certain kind of radiation. But it does reduce damage from beam weapons and to a lesser degree, explosions or impacts. The shield's most practical advantages thus far is it can reduce radiation exposure, providing crews critical time to move away from dangerous sources.

Tellarite Warp Field Geometry

Tellarite and Earth engineers have been working to create variable warp field geometries to increase the time a ship can be at higher warp velocities. So far they have been able to increase that time by more than two hours.

Revamped Computer Interface Technology

As seen from Coridanite and Denobulan civilian interfaces, Earth Starfleet is testing a pilot program for computer interface and data recall using voice and kinesics-activated requests. Basic commands and requests can now be issued by personnel and the computer will fulfill the function to within its parameters. Such commands include opening or locking doors, locking out or activating consoles, turning off, on, or altering lighting, downloading data to work consoles from the archives, etc. It is activated by the word, "Computer..."

Phase Cannons

Phase Cannons have replaced the older ship beam weapons, their numbers increased from three to eight.

Life Deck

A portion of the central-forward sections of D-Deck have been redesigned with reinforced bulkheads, a backup battery, a disaster beacon and emergency food, oxygen and medical supplies. This new "Life Deck" is intended for a disaster in which the crew cannot completely abandon ship or else must "secure in place." It is well-shielded for radiation and plasma disturbances and is designed to ideally withstand structural collapse around it. The hope is that survivors unable to reach life boats can gather here and wait for rescue.