Perdix Class Surveyor (aka: my TMP-era Daedalus)

Space is vast and it would highly impractical to try and visit *every* star out there. I imagine the Perdix-class being employed, not to visit any particular planet or system, but to go out into deep space far from any star and collect wide-band astrometric data of the entire sky. Anomalies, techno-signatures, and points of scientific interest are then forwarded back to Starfleet so proper cruisers can engage in more close up investigation.