BRAD'S COMMENTS:  The Decker class is one of the first ship designs in the old TNG Officers Manual from FASA that exhibits the "TNG Look" as I like to call it.  Borrowing warp nacelles straight from the Enterprise-D, the Decker has semi-organic lines that defy much of the industrialism of the TMP-era ships, and that seem far removed from the boxy slab-faced look of TOS-era vessels.  Even though the Decker is not part of official canon, I have always had an easy time picturing it as part of the 24th century Starfleet.  Sleek, spindly, a design aesthetic taken to the extreme.  If the Decker class were a dog it would probably look like a whippet!
       The Decker class 'destroyer' is also a good lesson in how far ship design has advanced since Kirk's time.  The Mk. I Decker is roughly of the same mass as, and has more potency than, a Mk. I Reliant (Miranda) class cruiser.  But as the name suggests this is a destroyer; among the smallest of the capital ships in the time of Picard.  If a vessel as capable as the USS Reliant is now demoted to the role of destroyer, what does that say about the frigates, cruisers, and battleships of the Picard-era, and beyond?!
        Game play depends on era of placement.  The blurb from the manual states that this destroyer was developed as a companion to the Excelsior class, so it is just believable that this ship might have seen its trial runs about the same time as the launching of the Excelsior Refit NCC-1701-B, which means it could be included in scenarios with Kirk-era Klingon or Romulan ships.  If so, then the little 'destroyer' can be played just like a Kirk-era heavy cruiser, and its strong superstructure, power, and weapons make it a tough nut to crack without the benefit of updated Klingon or Romulan weaponry.  The only bad thing about this class is the shielding.  It looks as if the FASA designers wanted to give the Decker at least one flaw, and the wimpy shield strength and bad energizing ratio are a potential Achilles Heel for any game player.
        In a TNG or DS9 setting, pitted advanced Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, or Dominion ships, the Decker assumes its given role as a support craft for the larger capital ships like the Galaxy class or the Excelsior Refit.  Incapable of standing on its own against, say, a D'Daridex warbird, the Decker is best used as a swift strike vessel that can draw enemy fire away from bigger ships and inflict secondary damage during battle.
        As with most of the TNG ships from the TNG Officers Manual I have not included the text blurb that accompanied this design in print.  The assumptions being made at the time of printing are so far distant from the actual evolution of TNG, and later DS9 and VOY, that the paragraph is rendered almost incoherent.  There is no transwarp drive, no ultradrive, and none of the history that was devised to surround these failed plot mechanisms in the manual.

* Denotes completely hypothetical model number and stats, devised by Brad R. Torgersen.

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