Star Trek: Armada III begins with the first stirrings of the Dominion War and allows players to take command of five unique factions, the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Cardassian Union/Dominion Alliance, and the Borg Collective. Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before.
When the plans for the Galaxy-class were first laid out, Starfleet was in fact laying out the plans for a whole new generation of starships. With the Galaxy-class set to be Starfleet's newest flagship serving on the very verge of the frontier, it was planned to be an immense starship capable of carrying out any task and facing any challenge. To compliment this grandiose design, Starfleet wanted a second advanced starship with a modular design to fill a mission-specific role. To fill this need, the Nebula-class was born. Developed and launched alongside the Galaxy-class, discussions between the designers of both regarding the pros and cons of both designs still often dissolve into lengthy debates.
The Nebula is a highly modular starship that can be easily reconfigured while in space dock, re-focusing its design to perfectly suit the mission at hand. The entire upper module can be detached and replaced with a specialised piece of equipment specifically designed to fill the Nebula's needs. This sublime functionality has made the Nebula one of Starfleet's most successful heavy starships.
Its standard configuration sees the Nebula fitted with a vaguely triangular multi-purpose pod, containing special sensor systems, additional photon torpedo launchers, and other exotic energy-focusing matrices. These systems often give the standard Nebula a decisive advantage in combat situations, making this configuration a favourite during wartime.
The modular nature of the Nebula-class means that this starship is often used as a test bed for experimental technology. To this end, new mission-pods are always being developed. This ensures that the Nebula will continue to serve many roles in the fleet for a very long time.
Pretty good fanwank explanation for what was originally an ad hoc kitbash model.
Considering the cost of detailed models and the budget of late-80s/early-90s sci-fi TV shows, I think they did an amazing job.
It's not super far fetched since the ideas of old TOS ships fit into the idea that Starfleet liked to make their ships similar in design. Especially if you look up the released technical manuals.
And of course, if you don't like it or you're not interested, then don't read it.
Dayum, dat aft is thicc.
it is not dat aft it is DAT AFT
It'd be nice if there was a game centered around the Nebula class. Begin briefing, get your assignments, and choose module and equipment for your ship. I can think of all kinds of ideas for new pods that would be useful for this ship. Also, needless to say, DAT AFT.
Phoenix should be scanning ship, not ambassador. It should go well with rest of its supporting abilities.
Ambassador could use Phoenix surgical strike instead of scanning, though. Or whatever ability Phoenix had besides shield, repair and warp core potential.
My opinion.