*The class immediately preceeding the Galaxy class, the Ambassador class is still in wide use in the Federation. Built as a replacement for the long-used Excelsior class, the Ambassador class reflects many improvements. With a crew capacity of approximately 700, the Ambassador class is capable of extended deep-space exploratory missions. As the Ambassador Class vessel was being developed, it was discovered that due to its increased mass over previous ship designs, a compact spacetime driver coil would be needed for the impulse engines in addition to the one used for the warp engines. The Ambassador class is still widely used throughout the Federation. *Source: Back of card