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Description
For NationStates; Modeled in DoGa with general and custom parts and a texture by the Doc himself.

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The Instrumentality-Class is a warship designed to meet an evolving need within the SDF. TRIPWIRE - a sector-wide real-time monitoring array - required the introduction of a class of starships that could then directly act on the information given in a surgical manner. Instead of meeting an opponent fleet-to-fleet, TRIPWIRE would allow much more precise targeting and interdiction than that possessed by potential opponents but also tremendous risks to the crew (and, to a certain extent, the ship itself. Ships are however replaceable while experienced crews are not) as these warships would be routinely performing deep-strike and decapitation operations. Thus the Instrumentality-Class is a re-introduction of an old concept - the drone warship. Unlike a drone, the Instrumentality is 'manned' by the imprinted engrams of several of the finest officers in the Defense Force. Thus these ships are capable of acting outside of the box where needed and in fact can simulate most normal starship activities through transfer and replication of these engrams across sub-platforms such as shuttlecraft and battlesuits. This aspect of the ship's design also, as one might guess, informed the Class appellation 'Instrumentality'.

An interesting side note; With the wide-spread introduction of the ExoCortex cybernetic implant across the Republic, much more serious consideration has been given to the idea of using warships built along the same lines for all day-to-day mundane tasks. Patrols, customs, and other similar dull activities would be handled by planet-side crews who could then have their personality and skill engram transferred to autonomous warships when there is a need. The concern is that, if given the chance to engage in rest-and-relaxation all the time, they would then lose their edge when suddenly thrust into that role. While partial back-transfer of 'learned' information is possible, it is still not in the realm of truly being there and both the real-time bandwidth and dual-personality issues of an individual remotely inhabiting a starship's sub-systems while simultaneously existing in the Real have yet to be fully resolved.

Description
For NationStates; Modeled in DoGa with general and custom parts and a texture by the Doc himself.

----

The Instrumentality-Class is a warship designed to meet an evolving need within the SDF. TRIPWIRE - a sector-wide real-time monitoring array - required the introduction of a class of starships that could then directly act on the information given in a surgical manner. Instead of meeting an opponent fleet-to-fleet, TRIPWIRE would allow much more precise targeting and interdiction than that possessed by potential opponents but also tremendous risks to the crew (and, to a certain extent, the ship itself. Ships are however replaceable while experienced crews are not) as these warships would be routinely performing deep-strike and decapitation operations. Thus the Instrumentality-Class is a re-introduction of an old concept - the drone warship. Unlike a drone, the Instrumentality is 'manned' by the imprinted engrams of several of the finest officers in the Defense Force. Thus these ships are capable of acting outside of the box where needed and in fact can simulate most normal starship activities through transfer and replication of these engrams across sub-platforms such as shuttlecraft and battlesuits. This aspect of the ship's design also, as one might guess, informed the Class appellation 'Instrumentality'.

An interesting side note; With the wide-spread introduction of the ExoCortex cybernetic implant across the Republic, much more serious consideration has been given to the idea of using warships built along the same lines for all day-to-day mundane tasks. Patrols, customs, and other similar dull activities would be handled by planet-side crews who could then have their personality and skill engram transferred to autonomous warships when there is a need. The concern is that, if given the chance to engage in rest-and-relaxation all the time, they would then lose their edge when suddenly thrust into that role. While partial back-transfer of 'learned' information is possible, it is still not in the realm of truly being there and both the real-time bandwidth and dual-personality issues of an individual remotely inhabiting a starship's sub-systems while simultaneously existing in the Real have yet to be fully resolved.