Professor Wayne King-Meiouf of the University of ProximaSo the future of the DDS Patrol Command is now clear, and will involve a lot more ships. The DDS of the mid-2120s looks like it will have a much bigger fleet than it does now. How can this be afforded though? The answer is the changing technology that means ships now last a lot longer...
The first and second generation DDS warships tended to have a planned life up to 10 years (though the Pulsar and now the Starsystem have lasted longer, albeit with extensive rebuilding). That meant of course that plans for the replacements had to be put in place more or less as the current generation were entering service.
The third generation of DDS warship (Quasar, Isometric and Velocity) were designed to last much longer. Thirty years is now the minimum service life and types like the Panther are planned to last for 40+. Indeed the current generation of warships may last much longer as the main reason for ship fatigue (the intense pressure of hyperspace travel) will become less in the age of worm drives.
So that means when the DDS build 20 heavy combat ships, war losses and updates aside, the capital investment has been already spent so the DDS' resources can be spent on other things... like 59 Corkscrews.
