Manticore class

## SPACECRAFT CLASS

Class development project patch (Thomas Marrone).

The ***Manticore*-class** was a type of spacecraft developed by Starfleet in the early 25th century as a refit of the *Chimera*-class.

## History

After the launch of USS *Chimera* and her sister ships, engineers in the Advanced Starship Design Bureau continued to tinker with the design in order to improve its capabilities. Their efforts eventually led to the development of the *Manticore*-class, which was named for USS *Manticore*, the first *Chimera*-class starship to be refit to the new specifications. The cruiser was launched from the Antares Ship Yards in 2410 shortly after the Iconian War and was soon followed by the refitted USS *Epyon*.

The first new construction of the class was USS *Echidna*, launched in the latter part of 2410. Both USS *Chimera* and USS *Sphinx* were refit to *Manticore* specifications when they were due for their standard overhaul in the mid 2410s decade. This effectively brought about the end of the *Chimera*-class as all new construction went towards the new design.

## Technical specifications

### Physical arrangement

A key design change from the *Chimera*-class was the addition of a mission pod attached to the dorsal midline. Inspired by one of the units developed for the *Sutherland*-class, the disk-shaped pod allowed for a more versatile mission profile for *Manticore* vessels.

### Deck plan

The following was the standard internal layout of *Manticore*-class vessels. The four decks in the mission pod were labeled alphabetically, while the primary and secondary hull decks were numerical.

### Command systems

The main bridge of the class was located on Deck 1 in the center of the primary hull.

### Propulsion systems

The *Manticore*-class retained the variable-geometry pylons of the *Chimera*, which connected its four Shoshi *Phi*-class 7B *Sheath* Eco-Linear Warp Drive Units to the secondary hull.

In addition to its impulse engines and warp drive, the *Manticore*-class also included a Rigel Labs X06 Quantum Slipstream Field Projector. Like its parent design and the *Pathfinder*-class, the *Manticore* had its slipstream tunneling projector integrated into its deflector dish. The waveform attenuators were integrated into the nacelle pylons.

### Science and remote sensing systems

The initial equipment pod for the *Manticore*-class carried additional sensor systems that greatly expanded upon the scientific and tactical capabilities of the *Chimera* design.

### Tactical systems

#### Defenses

The hull of *Manticore* starships was a neutronium alloy with a duranium nanomesh coating reinforced with micro-ablative generators. Based upon technology brought back from the Delta Quadrant by USS *Voyager*, these generators helped to dissipate energy across the hull and to regenerate damaged portions of the ablative hull coating.

Three Yoyodyne 960-A unified deflector shield emitter arrays were standard on the class, projecting unimatrix shields with regenerative, multi-spectrum, covariant, and metaphasic properties around the vessels. Nexus Defense Screens, that protected the crew from the effects of the Nexus and similar phenomena, were also integrated into the shield systems.

#### Armaments

A key element of the *Manticore* design was its second generation Dynamic Tactical System (DTS), which was refined from the original system around which the *Chimera*-class was developed. The DTS allowed the vessels to alternate between regenerative and tactical modes, with the enhanced system on the *Manticores* providing better power usage and output.

While in its innate regenerative, or standard, mode, excess power was transferred to a vessel’s auxiliary and shield systems. This allowed the *Manticore*-class to fire a tachyon inversion beam to siphon shields from multiple targets. Activating tactical mode transferred additional power to the starship's weapon systems and provided access to a powerful multi-targeting Type-XIII phaser, known as a phaser lotus. The tachyon inversion beam and phaser lotus were only available in their associated modes due to their immense power requirements.

The class also mounted seven Annular Confinement Beam-jacketed Type-X phasers placed strategically around the outer hull. Four Type-XII phasers were located at the fore of the saucer, giving *Manticore* starships increased forward firepower. One fore and two aft variable-payload launch tubes rounded at the vessel's defensive arms.

Depending on its mission pod, each *Manticore* cruiser could mount additional armaments. The standard pod included one Type-IX phaser, two Type-X phasers, two forward-facing launch tubes, and four vertical launchers.

### Auxiliary craft systems

The *Manticore* spaceframe held a dedicated shuttlebay and a shuttlebay-cargo bay hybrid facility. The hybrid main shuttlebay sat behind the deflector array on the underslung section of the engineering hull while Shuttlebay 2 was located at the aft of the secondary hull, between the nacelle pylons. The standard complement of auxiliary craft for the class was twelve, split between four shuttlepods, four shuttlecraft, and four workpods. The shuttlebays could accommodate up to twenty, though that number would change depending on the craft types.

## Ships commissioned

It was standard practice to name new construction *Manticore*-class vessels after mythological and unique animals from Federation member worlds.

 USS *Epyon* | NCC-97413

## Appendices

### Connections

**Project groups:** **Union Station** (*Geneva* • *Concorde* • *Presidio*) • **Century Cruiser** (*Springfield* • *New Orleans* • *Challenger* • *Niagara* • *Freedom II* • *Galaxy* • *Nebula* • *Cheyenne*) • **Multi-Mission explorers** (*Brigid* • *Esquiline* • *Palatine*) • **Deep Shadow** (*Eclipse* • *Phantom* • *Scryer*) • **Miracle Worker** (*Scott* • *Daystrom* • *Tucker* • *Gagarin*) • **Aeronaut** (*Mercury* • *Ajax* • *Icarus* • *Shran*)

**Other named classes:** *Aegian* • *Aerie* • *Akula* • *Atlas* • *California* • *Centaur* • *Challenger* • *Cheyenne* • *Constellation* • *Constitution III* • *Crossfield* • *Curry* • *Daedalus* • *Dauntless* • *Excelsior II* • *Freedom II* • *Gemini* • *Glenn* • *Guardian* • *Inquiry* • *Iwo Jima* • *Jupiter* • *Lexington* • *Niagara* • *Obena* • *Okinawa* • *Parliament* • *Perseus* • *Pioneer* • *Ranger* • *Sagan* • *Solanae* • *Springfield* • *Turing* • *Ulysses*

**Auxiliary craft:** *Aero* • Class C • Class F • *Danube* • *Flyer* • *Gondola* • *Kodai* • *Mollard* • *Peregrine* • *Selenic* • Type 4 • Type 5 • Type 6 (Type 6A • Type 6S) • Type 7 • Type 8 • Type 9 (Type 9A) • Type 10 • Type 11 • Type 14 • Type 17 • Type 19 • *Valkyrie* • *Venture* • *Waverider* • *Yellowstone*

**Leadership:** Commander-in-chief • Joint Chiefs • Chief of Starfleet External Affairs • Chief of Starfleet Operations • Chief of Starfleet Research and Exploration • Chief of Starfleet Tactical

**Agencies:** Operations (Engineering • Judicial • Materiel Supply • Mission Operations • Personnel Management • Records Service • Shipyards Operations • Starbase Operations) • Research & Exploration (Science • Medical) • External Affairs • Tactical (Intelligence • Security • MACO)

**Notable units:** Ktarn Fleet • Task Force 77

**Facilities:** Deep Space K-7 • Deep Space K-13 • Deep Space 9 • Masamichi Array • Starbase 45-Keepsake • Starbase 82-Maat • Starbase 234-Beskerm • Starbase 247-Vershina

**Agencies:** Starfleet • Diplomatic Corps • Department of Temporal Investigations • Federation Security Agency

**Facilities:** 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards • Antares Ship Yards • Beta Antares Ship Yards • Copernicus Ship Yards • Laikan Starfleet Shipyards • McKinley Station • Memory Project • New Aberdeen Shipyards • Proxima Maintenance Yards • Salazaar Shipyards • San Francisco Fleet Yards • TL-9139 Starfleet Maintenance Yards • Tranquility Base • Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards

### Sources consulted

* Manticore class article at *Memory Beta*.
* Manticore Heavy Destroyer article at the *Star Trek Online Wiki*.
* Manticore Class Heavy Destroyer artwork by Thomas Morrone posted at ArtStation.
* Manticore class article at *Bravo Fleet*, a Star Trek RPG and Community.

### Footnotes

1. ↑ Derived from MSD created by Paul Mahler.