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Description
At the height of the building program for the refit Constitution class in the early 2280s, Starfleet experimented with a number of variant configurations built with more specific purposes. One of these was a survey cruiser that as designated the Cartier class after the famous French explorer Jacques Cartier. As a survey cruiser the class did not need the firepower of it's parent class but it's intended assignment meant that the ships would be operating on the fringes of Federation space for extended periods and would need a strong defense. The decision was made to tie the shields, rather than the phasers directly into the warp reactor. In addition, the torpedo systems were reduced to a single launcher that did double duty as a probe launcher. In addition, the warp nacelles were reconfigured to improve upon the already impressive reliability of the FWG series, though that improvement came at the cost of a maxiumum safe speed of Warp nine.

The ship's complement was reduced from 430 to 320. The space saved allowed for expanded cargo facilities and more crew amenities, both of which were essential for a class that could be expected to operate well away from any shore leave facilities for a two years or more.

The class prototype was launched in 2282, quickly followed by the Trieste, Heirdal, and Thael'as the following year. All performed well, though plans to expand the number of hulls were abandoned as relations with the Klingon Empire began to deteriorate following the Genesis Incident in late 2283.

Parts credit to: Adrasil for the basic ship (using parts from CaptShade and UtopiaPlanetia01's color pallate) and Marcus Starkiller for the deflector interior.

*EDIT* Made some mods with saucer parts created by Nichodo. Made some nacelle changes New lower sensor array by larry03052.

Description
At the height of the building program for the refit Constitution class in the early 2280s, Starfleet experimented with a number of variant configurations built with more specific purposes. One of these was a survey cruiser that as designated the Cartier class after the famous French explorer Jacques Cartier. As a survey cruiser the class did not need the firepower of it's parent class but it's intended assignment meant that the ships would be operating on the fringes of Federation space for extended periods and would need a strong defense. The decision was made to tie the shields, rather than the phasers directly into the warp reactor. In addition, the torpedo systems were reduced to a single launcher that did double duty as a probe launcher. In addition, the warp nacelles were reconfigured to improve upon the already impressive reliability of the FWG series, though that improvement came at the cost of a maxiumum safe speed of Warp nine.

The ship's complement was reduced from 430 to 320. The space saved allowed for expanded cargo facilities and more crew amenities, both of which were essential for a class that could be expected to operate well away from any shore leave facilities for a two years or more.

The class prototype was launched in 2282, quickly followed by the Trieste, Heirdal, and Thael'as the following year. All performed well, though plans to expand the number of hulls were abandoned as relations with the Klingon Empire began to deteriorate following the Genesis Incident in late 2283.

Parts credit to: Adrasil for the basic ship (using parts from CaptShade and UtopiaPlanetia01's color pallate) and Marcus Starkiller for the deflector interior.

*EDIT* Made some mods with saucer parts created by Nichodo. Made some nacelle changes New lower sensor array by larry03052.