Klingon Starships and Bases

The Klingon military budget is unsurpassed throughout the galaxy. This is the result of a heavy focus on the accumulation of honor through battle. Despite a recent disaster at Praxis, a key economic facility, the Klingons have continued to allocate the maximum amount of energy possible into the construction of weaponry and starship technology. For more information about the Klingon Empire and its culture, visit their website: http://klingon.tos.net/.

Military Vessels

Scouts
	In a culture where the size of a ship determines the command strucutre in the field, Klingon ships small enough to be considered scouts more often than not tend to receive little public attention and substandard crews. Scouts are small and agile, however. These benefits, when added to the extreme range and fuel economy of these vessels, helps immensely. Sometimes, a Klingon with a feel for fast combat can wield one of these ships effectively enough to gain reuptation and honor beyond that of one in command of a cruiser.
Destroyers
	The Klingon destroyers are very similar in design to cruisers, except that they have much less defensive and offensive potential. Their secondary systems have been known to fail at inopprotune times thanks to inferior design strategies. This doesn't bother the Klingons, of course, who perform better when they can feel the stresses placed on their vessel. Indeed, the high-speed warp drive of these vessels causes the ship to resonate and shudder at high warp. One crew compared these "problems" to wielding a dagger with and without a glove. A ship that responds to every encounter when cruising or at battle is more effective, they said, than one whose operation is softened by expensive protective systems.
Cruisers
	The sleek ships of the cruiser category are ruthless in battle. They do not carry as much power or honor as the Klingon battleships, but they more than make up for that in the field of battle. A cruiser is more effective in deep-space battle situations than a battleship because of its higher maximum warp and tighter turning radius. In planned assaults on stationary targets, the cruiser still manages to perform efficiently as a support craft. Most Klingons find themselves assigned to a ship in the cruiser category because of issues relating to honor. However, there are fewer cruisers in the Klingon fleet than any other category. The large percentage of cruiser asssignments comes from the fact that smaller vessels have very tiny crew compliments, and larger vessels just take an extraordinary amount of resources to produce.
Battleships
	Battleships are the top of the Klingon social and technological hierarchy. These behemoths are strong and capable of destruction on a massive scale. They are not as large as similar Federation vessels, but they possess a much higher ratio of battle systems to support systems than even the toughest Federation warships. Serving on one of these vessels is a great honor. A uniquely Klingon determination to fight for its honor, coupled with the awesome power of the Empire's battleships has made the Empire what it is today.

Starbases

Klingon starbases are the foundation of the Empire's military efforts. They provide for the needs of the massive Klingon fleet in every conceivable manner. Even with the statistically higher rate of damage that the Klingon fleet suffers, its network of starbases can more than fill the need for starship repairs.

It is rare for a Klingon to stay on one starbase for an extended period of time. Those that do stay enjoy a social atmosphere that is much like that of their ships. Most Klingons, however, are transferred from one base to another and to various ships as their social status changes.

Outposts are as integral to the Klingon military as starbases. Their sizes do not differ as significantly as do the sizes of the outposts and starbases of other major governments. Outposts are smaller, however. They cannot support as many ships as starbases, and their defensive capabilities are much weaker.

The Klingon Empire has more starbases and outposts in service than any other major government. It has been estimated that they have constructed more orbital structures than every known race, combined. These facilities help to form the complex support network of the military. Without them, the fleet would be unable to wage as many successful campaigns.

Civilian Vessels

Although Klingon culture emphasizes the honor of the individual, the privately owned civilian vessels of the Empire are few and far between. All civilian ships are produced and sold by the lowest bidder. This means that the average ship in this broad category is small and inefficient. When one considers the corners that are cut in the construction of the military vessels, it should come as no surprise that the civilian vessels fare poorly. They have a much shorter operational lifespan than the ships of many other cultures. They are also dangerous. Minor malfunctions are common. Life support systems are often overloaded by the larger amounts of toxins in the water and air supplies. Somehow, however, the Klingon Empire has managed to maintain a prospering internal economy. Much is required to support an Empire that spans so much space and spends the kind of resources that they do on military might.

There is no known ban on civilian ships outfitted with military-grade weaponry in the Klingon Empire like there is in the other major governments. Klingon weapons use disruptor technology, however. This technology is an expensive one to power and maintain. Since ships are constructed by the lowest bidder, it is likely that the Klingon vessels large enough to generate that kind of power are more trouble than they are worth. Visitors should beware, as any Klingon weapons at all, no matter how small or undependable, are a potent threat.

Due to limitations in design variety in vessels with a mass exceeding 1,200 tons, it becomes possible to group large civilian vessels into two categories: transports and freighters. When examining Klingon technology, it is appropriate to consider maximum power generation in these comparisons. Transports generate enough power to press their vessels to a maximum speed similar to that of a destroyer. Freighters tend to be a category of cargo-carrying vessels, meaning that their power generation can only push them to speeds just under the maximum warp of a cruiser.

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