So I’ve been rewatching some Romulan themed episodes recently and thinking about the warbird systems. I’ve often wondered what the full armament would be, with various sources having different configurations.
According to Andrew Probert, the official weaponry is ten disruptors (one on each “cheek”, one on each side of the tail, one on each aft wing surface (four total, two dorsal and two ventral) and another pair at the dorsal apex. There’s also a torpedo tube on the “nape” of the forward section.
In addition to those locations, we saw the warbirds firing from the nose position (which Andrew mainly intended as a deflector), from a central hull disruptor in “Contagion,” and from a dorsal turret behind the command section in “Unification II.” (destroying the Vulcan invasion troops). Given that the Klingon Bird of Prey also has a combined deflector/torpedo mount (as described in some sources like the Haynes manual), I could see the warbird having such a design as well.
The Playmates warbird suggested that the twelve “notches” on the forward wing surfaces (flanking the neck boom, and behind the vents on the ventral wing) were additional disruptor banks, though I could also see them as torpedo launchers. FASA’s TNG Officer’s Manual has an A and a B model, with the later designation being canonically referenced in TNG. The art is a bit inaccurate as the FASA warbird lacks the tail fin and instead extends the wings back, but it’s possible this could be regarded as the A model, which FASA says is apparently being withdrawn from service and replaced/refitted with B types. It's tempting to speculate the A-type vessels could have been the ones fought by the Enterprise-C at Narendra III.
For weaponry, FASA has the following configurations:
A type warbird:
6x RPW-G plasma banks (2 forward, 4 port/starboard) and 4x RTA-C torpedo launchers (4 p/s)
200 troops
B type warbird:
10x RWW-H disruptors, 360 degree coverage and 6x RTA-E torpedo launchers (4p/s, 2 aft)
300 troops
It’s also well known that the Romulans used artificial quantum singularities as a power source in place of a conventional warp core, although it’s debatable whether this system is actually any better or more ideal than a standard system.
Troi comments in “Timescape” that the singularity can’t normally be shut down once it’s activated, which would seem like a safety flaw, and “Face of the Enemy” says that even a slight miscalculation in the emissions could show throw the cloak as a magnetic disturbance, with the risk of detection increasing if the warbird was traveling at higher speeds (warp 6+).
“Tin Man” establishes that the top speed of a warbird under optimal conditions is a bit slower than that of a Galaxy class. Indeed, the first of the two warbirds (the one destroyed by Tin Man) had to pump so much energy into its drive system that it suffered irreparable damage to the warp drive, making it difficult to return home, and the excess power also shone through the cloak periodically and let the Enterprise be aware of the Romulans to a degree.
According to Andrew Probert, the official weaponry is ten disruptors (one on each “cheek”, one on each side of the tail, one on each aft wing surface (four total, two dorsal and two ventral) and another pair at the dorsal apex. There’s also a torpedo tube on the “nape” of the forward section.
In addition to those locations, we saw the warbirds firing from the nose position (which Andrew mainly intended as a deflector), from a central hull disruptor in “Contagion,” and from a dorsal turret behind the command section in “Unification II.” (destroying the Vulcan invasion troops). Given that the Klingon Bird of Prey also has a combined deflector/torpedo mount (as described in some sources like the Haynes manual), I could see the warbird having such a design as well.
The Playmates warbird suggested that the twelve “notches” on the forward wing surfaces (flanking the neck boom, and behind the vents on the ventral wing) were additional disruptor banks, though I could also see them as torpedo launchers. FASA’s TNG Officer’s Manual has an A and a B model, with the later designation being canonically referenced in TNG. The art is a bit inaccurate as the FASA warbird lacks the tail fin and instead extends the wings back, but it’s possible this could be regarded as the A model, which FASA says is apparently being withdrawn from service and replaced/refitted with B types. It's tempting to speculate the A-type vessels could have been the ones fought by the Enterprise-C at Narendra III.
For weaponry, FASA has the following configurations:
A type warbird:
6x RPW-G plasma banks (2 forward, 4 port/starboard) and 4x RTA-C torpedo launchers (4 p/s)
200 troops
B type warbird:
10x RWW-H disruptors, 360 degree coverage and 6x RTA-E torpedo launchers (4p/s, 2 aft)
300 troops
It’s also well known that the Romulans used artificial quantum singularities as a power source in place of a conventional warp core, although it’s debatable whether this system is actually any better or more ideal than a standard system.
Troi comments in “Timescape” that the singularity can’t normally be shut down once it’s activated, which would seem like a safety flaw, and “Face of the Enemy” says that even a slight miscalculation in the emissions could show throw the cloak as a magnetic disturbance, with the risk of detection increasing if the warbird was traveling at higher speeds (warp 6+).
“Tin Man” establishes that the top speed of a warbird under optimal conditions is a bit slower than that of a Galaxy class. Indeed, the first of the two warbirds (the one destroyed by Tin Man) had to pump so much energy into its drive system that it suffered irreparable damage to the warp drive, making it difficult to return home, and the excess power also shone through the cloak periodically and let the Enterprise be aware of the Romulans to a degree.
But for me that sort of size works better for designs like the Dominion battleships.
