Federation industrial capacity
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 7:30 am
Indications of Federation industrial capability are relatively few as I recall... in BobW it is indicated that loss of 39 starships can be made good in less than a year... so 6 months to 12 months, leading to construction capability of 40 - 80 starships per year on top of normal replacement rate. Assuming production capability was doubled for the purpose, and with starship lifespan of 80 - 120 years, you get a fleet of 3.200 - 9.600 ships.
Dominion war implies a fleet of no more than 10.000 or so... Klingons are said to be outnumbered 20:1 by Dominion, Breen and Cardassia while having 1500 ships ready by the next day. Thus the three hostile powers have a total of 30.000 ships. Assuming parity, and taking the fact that Klingons and Federation account for majority of the ships (Romulan warbirds are massive, so they may be outnumbered 4:1 to 5:1 or even more by rest of the Alliance, which combat scenes seem to confirm), Federation would have some 12.000 ships. Considering this is wartime, and time later than The Next Generation, this seems to fit. At any rate, considering combat losses and such, production capability was definitely significantly increased, several hundred per year for certain.
Then there is the matter of industrial replicators, several of which are said to be capable of repairing Cardassian economy. But if that is so, shouldn't Federation's production capability be even greater than shown above? So where is the bottleneck? Production of parts, actually putting parts together, or something else (crewing, logistical capability)?
Dominion war implies a fleet of no more than 10.000 or so... Klingons are said to be outnumbered 20:1 by Dominion, Breen and Cardassia while having 1500 ships ready by the next day. Thus the three hostile powers have a total of 30.000 ships. Assuming parity, and taking the fact that Klingons and Federation account for majority of the ships (Romulan warbirds are massive, so they may be outnumbered 4:1 to 5:1 or even more by rest of the Alliance, which combat scenes seem to confirm), Federation would have some 12.000 ships. Considering this is wartime, and time later than The Next Generation, this seems to fit. At any rate, considering combat losses and such, production capability was definitely significantly increased, several hundred per year for certain.
Then there is the matter of industrial replicators, several of which are said to be capable of repairing Cardassian economy. But if that is so, shouldn't Federation's production capability be even greater than shown above? So where is the bottleneck? Production of parts, actually putting parts together, or something else (crewing, logistical capability)?