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.
Introduced in the 2370s as one of Starfleet's newest frigates, the Steamrunner-class represents a new philosophy in Federation starship design, and arguably represents the greatest departure yet from traditional Starfleet design principles. Like all newer Federation starships, the Steamrunner offers increased emphasis on tactical prowess compared to older designs. Its unusual appearance aside, however, the spirit behind the Steamrunner remains true to Starfleet's founding ideals - those of exploration, diplomacy, humanitarian support and security.
Designed primarily for the study of interstellar phenomena, the Steamrunner carries some of the Federation's latest sensors and scientific equipment. That said, it's overall shape was designed with tactical engagements in mind - The Steamrunner has a very low profile, offering a minimal targetable silhouette from the fore, aft and sides. Combined with solid shields, well-armoured warp nacelles and powerful impulse engines, the Steamrunner became invaluable after the Klingon Empire withdrew from the Khitomer Accords during the Klingon-Cardassian War. The Steamrunner became instrumental in delivering supplies, reinforcements and humanitarian aid to planets besieged by Klingon attackers, earning it the nickname, the 'Blockade Runner'.
With the Dominion threat looming, however, Starfleet felt that the Steamrunner lacked the manoeuvrability to effectively combat the Dominion's Scarab attack ships. Therefore, the Steamrunner has been recently equipped with long-range tricobalt torpedoes in order to provide Starfleet forces with long-range fire support during fleet engagements.
the most underappreciated federation ship.
I love it, but you should see the original concept design. A thing of true beauty I wish we could see fleshed out - Vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net
Wasn't that concept one of the original ideas for the DS9 USS Defiant? I could be remembering wrong.
Nope. Definitely the Steamrunner. Back then it was called the 'Streamrunner'. Named after a song, I believe.
Maybe it's just the sketch style throwing off my sense of scale, but that concept drawing almost looks like it would fit a dreadnaught-scale ship
In the original armada, these were really devastating ships. I feel they have somewhat lost their punch in armada 3 unless you have a serious number of them.