3788 Scale Kzinti Medium Cruiser (CM) SRZ

The Kzintis are a species of eight-foot-tall felines; the Klingons call them "tigermen." They are adjacent to the Federation (and have fought two major wars with them, losing both) and the Klingons (and have fought several wars with them, winning a few and losing a few). Kzinti ships are armed with disruptors, phasers, and drones. They have more drones on their standard warships than any other empire, and forests of phaser-3s, because their ships are designed to fight each other. (They have had more civil wars than foreign wars.) They are enemies of the Klingons and Lyrans and allies of convenience with the Hydrans and Federation.

As the General War loomed, the western empires began production of new cruiser classes designed for fast production. These were designed to have 84% of the firepower of a heavy cruiser but cost only 62% as much (and to take half as many months) to build. The Lyrans and Klingons called theirs "war cruisers," the Federation called theirs "new light cruisers," and the Kzintis called theirs "medium cruisers," but all fill the same role. The plan was for them to fill the role of heavy cruisers and strengthen the fleet with rapid production (at the sacrifice of crew comfort and long-term serviceability).

The Kzinti medium cruiser quickly replaced the light cruiser and destroyer on the production schedule. It features a powerful weapons suite, but considered its disruptors secondary to its powerful drone armament. It was well suited to the standard Kzinti dueling strategy of approaching the enemy at high speed (by leaving the disruptors unarmed) behind a wall of drones, then arming the disruptors only when at point-blank range.

The ship is available in a variety of materials. Ships are unpainted, use standard flight stands available from many sources, and, while designed for gaming, make fine display pieces.