Shenzhou Class

The Shenzhou-class surveyor is a well-equipped, modern starship designed for exploring planets on the edge of known space. Sharing a lineage with the Walker, Georgiou, and Lancelot classes, this class is named for the starship Shenzhou, which was lost at the Battle of the Binary Stars. Larger than other surveyor classes, the Shenzhou is fully prepared to defend itself and has excellent range, while also maintaining the ability to routinely travel within planetary atmospheres. As with the Walker, the Shenzhou is unique in that its bridge is located on the underside of the primary hull to offer command crews the ability to directly observe planetary phenomena.

Science and Exploration

Shenzhou-class starships are first and foremost designed as planetary surveyors. Their primary mission is to seek out and study habitable planets both for colonization purposes and to make contact with new civilizations. As such, their sensors and labs are optimized for studying lifeforms, geological formations, ancient ruins, among other things relevant to the study of planets. The primary sensor dome is mounted directly under the bridge and is capable of mapping a planet's surface with extreme precision. The long-range sensor array is mounted surrounding the deflector on the top of the saucer section and it is tuned to locating habitable planets at far-off distances. 24 sensor pallets are located just above the lower phaser array on the underside of the saucer, positioned for optimal angles to study planets or other objects below the ship.

With twice as many labs as a Nova-class surveyor, a Shenzhou won't necessarily complete a planetary survey faster than its smaller counterpart, but it can bring twice as many scientific perspectives to bear to allow for a richer and more complete picture of a world. Additional misson-configurable lab space is available for secondary mission teams, though there is far less of this space than on dedicated research cruisers.

The Shenzhou has a set of eight vertical launch tubes identical to the system found aboard Gagarin-class heavy escorts. This system is used to launch probes and exploratory drones, which are often used in the first phase of studying a new planet. Ships of this class carry the equipment to manufacture new probes, as well as small observation facilities such as the so-called "duck blind" bunkers used to observe pre-warp civilizations.

Shenzhou-class starships can carry enough supplies to sustain three-year charting missions without support, a significant improvement over the Nova. This makes it an excellent candidate for independent exploration missions.

Diplomacy

Given their intended role on the periphery of explored space, Shenzhou-class vessels are equipped with sufficient diplomatic facilities to perform first contact missions when necessary. Their sophisticated suite of information-gathering equipment is a double-edged sword: they can collect massive amounts of data about a civilization to make first contact go more smoothly, but the presence of these systems can be seen as intrusive or even hostile by species concerned about their privacy. As these ships are designed to learn everything learnable about habitable worlds, they are better sent to planets without sapient life, or at least without warp-capable sapient life. A Shenzhou captain might even feel compelled to share the full readout of their ship's sensors with a planet's inhabitants for the sake of transparency.

Engineering

Using similar components as the Gagarin-class heavy escort, Shenzhou-class starships do not have a full secondary hull and instead contain nearly all mission-critical systems within the primary hull. There is a small underslung pod between the nacelles that contains the ship's forward torpedo launchers, as well as cargo holds. The warp core runs through the center of the ship, as on the Gagarin, and is tuned to balance simplified maintenance demands with performance for a solid, reliable design that's unlikely to win any sprinting contests. The impulse drive, however, is finely tuned for good performance within planetary systems, equipping the ship to explore asteroid belts and the moon systems of gas giants even in areas where there might be significant gravimetric distortions. There is a dedicated set of atmospheric thrusters on the ventral surface of the hull that allow the Shenzhou to routinely fly through planetary atmospheres to make low survey passes and bring her scientific instruments much closer than other starship types. Unlike the Nova, however, the Shenzhou is not capable of performing planetary landings.

The Shenzhou has a single shuttle bay on the stern, which is capable of supporting a good range of shuttles and runabouts that further enhance the ship's ability to conduct planetary surveys.

Tactical

While classified as a surveyor, the Shenzhou is built with the realities of the frontier in mind and is well-armed. While the Gagarin is an escort-type vessel that can also serve in exploratory roles, a Shenzhou-class vessel is a science vessel that can serve as an escort in a pinch. Thirteen Type-XII phaser arrays are positioned around the hull for comprehensive coverage, while four Type-XII phaser cannons enhance the ship's forward firepower. Two of these cannons are located in the saucer section and two are located near the warp nacelles. The ship's arsenal is rounded out by four forward and two aft torpedo launchers. This comprehensive tactical array allows a Shenzhou-class ship to fight its way out of most situations on its own.

Shipboard Life

Shenzhou Class History

Shenzhou Class In-Play