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SINCE THE D-4 IS SUPPOSEDLY THE
ANCESTOR OF THE D-7,
one of the things that always vexed me was the high level of TMP-era detailing
given to the original D-4 graphics.
Thus, for this re-draw, I omitted the hull etching and reduced the D-4 to a
cleaner, simpler version of itself; with necessary corrections made for
misaligned warp nacelles and size match-up problems; between the impulse deck in
the port-on view, and the dorsal view. Much is borrowed from the D-7, including
command pod and warp nacelles. In many ways the simplified version of the
D-4 looks very much like a "D-7 in progress"; which is what I had hoped to
achieve.
As with the D-9, It's too bad the game designers never gave the D-4 any torpedo
technology. Armed with even a few torpedoes, the D-4 would be a nice little game piece. As
it is, the D-4 is at its best when faced off against much older-style Federation and Romulan ships, like the Starfleet Anton Class or the Romulan
V-4 cruiser. When competing
with torpedo-armed ships of similar mass, the D-4 just can't cut the mustard. Its shields
collapse too quickly and its superstructure is easily diminished. Only when operating in pairs or
trios do the D-4s have an advantage over a
Constitution Class ship or a
Romulan V-27.
If
you want to simulate a good combat situation set in the time of Christopher Pike—prior to
Kirk's command of the Enterprise—I suggest setting a trio of D-4s up against a single
Constitution Mark 2 hull, and seeing which player can get the better of the other. It may
seem like the Klingons have numerical advantage, but the Constitution has more power,
better weapons, and more superstructure.
One last thing, I've always been intrigued by the
suggestion made in this ship's history that the Klingons faced an 'unknown threat' on a
border opposite the Federation. The various Trek TV series never really spend much time
showing us any details regarding what lies on the other sides of the Romulan and Klingon
Empires. Certainly there are other civilizations and governments out there, so why don't
we see or read more about them? The Cardassians, The Breen, and the Dominion, they all
might count among these 'mysterious' enemies. But we're never sure.
— BRT
Additional
comments on the 'unknown threat' by Russell
Downey - October 2002
Greetings! I was looking over your site tonight....just a quick look you understand...and after 2 hours of reading I came across your Klingon D-4 write up. The D-4 mentions an unknown enemy that the Klingons faced to their core-ward boarder, and you mentioned that there was no info on who or what that was (at least that you knew at time of writing). I came across info on that particular critter in the FASA "Klingons" sourcebook for the Role Playing Game. It mentions a race called the
K'inshaya (not sure on spelling) which is supposed to be Klingon for "demons".
I no longer have that book on hand, or I would scan the info for you and send it.
Anyway, the K'inshaya looked like a winged Wookie/Swamp thing cross that was so tough it could withstand up to 45 minutes in hard vacuum, revive, and kick the crap out of an entire ship of Klingon warriors (well, almost, a few did survive to tell the tale :-) ).
They also had stats for their ships in STSTCS stats. They were not very impressive in looks (winged balls?) but would have been able to kick the crap out of a D-4 or D-7A. A bit of useless trivia for your reading enjoyment.
GREAT site, by the way, and I surely agree with many of your opinions of the ships in the FASA and Paramout Star Trek universes...keep up the good work!
--- Russell D.
Additional
comments on the 'unknown threat' by Jerry
Kuch - December 2003
The ST:RPG supplement, "The Klingons,"
which was written by John M. Ford, who wrote the novel "The Final
Reflection," which presented perhaps the deepest and most interesting (and
of course totally non-canon and frequently later invalidated) view of Klingon
culture that any author even attempted, addresses this a bit further and implicates
another race, the Kinshaya. There are sketches of them in the
Klingons supplement, in which they're shown to be big, burly, clawed, bat-winged
creatures, and their prevailing motif of ship design appears to be big, scary
black spheres with nacelles on them. I seem to remember a discussion of a
couple of major wars between them and the Klingons fought to stalemates.
From the FASA Star Trek KLINGON SHIP RECOGNITION MANUAL, circa 1985
D-4 (Predator) Class VII Cruiser
Known Sphere Of Operation: Interior of the Klingon Empire
Data Reliability: A
Major Data Source: Models A and E are in Star Fleet possession.
The D-4, predecessor to the famed D-7 class,
pioneered the command pod forward design that has become the standard for most modern
Klingon warships. The class was introduced on Stardate 1/8407 with the commissioning of
eight ships, which had been produced at the alarming rate of one per month at facilities
operating as if under wartime production orders. This was a clear signal that the Klingons
were either preparing for a war with either Romulan or Federation forces or were involved
in a conflict along an unknown border. Only recently, because of intelligence gained from
Operation Dixie, has it come to light that the Klingons were in fact being attacked by an
unknown enemy along their coreward border. During this conflic the D-4 saw extensive
action and went through several different modifications, many of which were never brought
into production. This conflict ended somewhere around Stardate 1/8610, slowing further
development.
On Stardate 1/9108, the D-4E was tested and
proclaimed successful. Production was converted over to this newer model, and, by Stardate
1/9203, the first vessels were commissioned. By 1/9501, the D-4A was no longer being
produced, and most of the D-4As in service were being converted to D- 4Es,
which mounted a more powerful impulse drive system.
The major improvement was the replacement of the KD-2
by the KD-3, with a range of 120,000 km, extending the offensive capability of the D-4 by
20,000 km. The shielding system was also upgraded, with the new KSE system giving the ship
65% more protection from incoming fire. The superstructure was strengthened to handle the
uprated equipment. Even though the D-4 proved to be valuable in combat, witnessed by its
class name of "Predator" from the Klingon "d'ama", its days were
numbered. The D-7, with its higher firepower and more powerful engines, would replace it
by Stardate 2/0806.
Of the 814 D-4s built, 277 are in reserve
fleets (48 As and 229 Es), 462 were destroyed, 14 have been captured (3
As and 6 Es by Star Fleet and 2 As and 3 Es by the Romulans), 6
reported as missing, 16 were scrapped, 11 sold to the Orions (4 As and 7 Es),
and 28 sold to prominent families of the Empire (10 As and 18 Es).
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