There is some discussion in the Omega rulebook that at a certain point in the Omega universe.

Seed 31 capable Cruisers were developed.

It would be nice if SSD books were developed with cruisers on up for all of the Omega races that had those ships.

By Stacy Brian Bartley (Bartley) on Thursday, September 18, 2008 - 08:12 pm: Edit

Barry
I would imagine that's probably the next or one of the nest Omega products.
regards
Stacy

By james lee boyce II (Postalpanzer) on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 11:28 pm: Edit

you would imagine wrong since it is 3 years later and no 30 warp ships yet

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 01:08 am: Edit

Actually, there are a couple of sample speed-31 cruisers in Captain's Log #23; the Vari Command Cruiser and Wing Cruiser.

Interestingly enough, both classes have something in common; each are entirely new hull types. You cannot simply upgrade a CL to get a WC; you have to build a brand new ship.

In my mind, that is a dynamic which would help distinguish some empires' speed-30 cruisers from others. While certain empires might be able to give some of their pre-existing ships what is tantamount to a plus refit (like those seen in the Kzinti and Hydran fleets), others could be given some sort of technological barrier (mechanical limitation, warp field restriction, or soem other such technobabble) which would require them to build brand new ships.

Parsec-ages may vary, of course.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 01:22 am: Edit

That wasn't very nice.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 06:25 am: Edit

Have their been any Omega products since that post? I mean, Stacy didn't say what year...

By Charles Gray (Cgray45) on Saturday, July 12, 2025 - 06:11 am: Edit

You know, speaking... 14 years later, maybe an article in a CL letting you "refit" omega ships to galactic speeds as a stop-gap measure?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, July 12, 2025 - 01:03 pm: Edit

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, the current BBS discussion regarding Omega "campaign compatibility" options - to include which, if any, "warp refits" to apply to "Middle Years" Omega starship hulls - is over in this thread.

Right now, the initial focus is on the Mæsron Alliance; it might take some time to get around to other Omega empires, old or new.

For what it's worth, I would suggest that, for certain empires (such as the Bolosco) which have "unique" warp movement tricks, it might perhaps be necessary for them to pay something of a premium for such warp refits BPV-wise, compared to "metal-hull" empires with more "regular" tactical warp movement options. But, we'll see how things go...

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, July 13, 2025 - 08:43 pm: Edit

To slightly pivot somewhat from my prior post:

While I would still advise anyone looking to talk about "speed-30" warp refits as they apply to the Mæsrons to pop over to the thread linked to in my last post, it might be an option to use threads like this one as a "waiting room" of sorts for other Omega empires, as each one waits its turn in the "campaign compatibility" line.

So, with this in mind, I wanted to refer to the precedent set - in playtest, at least - from recent issues of Captain's Log.

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In Captain's Log #50 and Captain's Log #52, a range of six playtest SSDs are offered for the Zosman Marauders: the main "pirate" faction of Omega. Of these, five are for starships; all of which have warp refits available, starting in Y173.

Meanwhile, CL52 also has playtest command ship SSDs for the Koligahr and the Trobrin. Each of those includes a set of warp refits, as well as proposed years from which these are made available.

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In the latter instance, both empires use "regular" tactical warp movement. So, the current playtest SSDs each set a cost per added warp engine box ratio at 3 BPV.

By contrast, the Zosmans, in a manner akin to their hated Bolosco rivals, have "unique" warp movement issues to consider - in this case, the meed to maintain the ability to use the Stealth field. As a result, the warp refit cost ratio varies widely from one class of ship to the next; anything from 3+1/3 per box on the heavy cruiser to 7 BPV per box on the frigate!

Also, it's worth bearing in mind that the Zosmans, like most Bolosco ships, "start" at Speed 24; lower than the average for "Middle Years" Omega ships.

Also, the Qixa have to make sure their ships can move safely through the Qixavalor Cloud. So I'd guess they would have a BPV premium. Or perhaps a "split" BPV ratio per added warp engine box: one rate for the "out-of-Cloud" BPV, and another for use in the Cloud proper?

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In either instance, I would suggest that a given "Middle Years" Omega ship not get a warp refit to make it more powerful, warp engine-wise, than its nearest Middle Years Alpha Octant counterpart.

For example: an Iridani barque (light cruiser) currently has 6-box warp engines to port and starboard, and a 7-box centre warp engine.

I would propose that, were this ship to get a warp refit at some point, this would be no more than 1 added L warp box and 1 added R warp box: the resulting "Barque Plus" would thus be set at the same warp engine level (7+7+7 = 21) as the "lost empire" Paravian light cruiser in Module C6.

If the Iridani want a Move Cost 2/3 ship with a more powerful set of warp engines, they are free to try and design one later in the timeline. Although, for a faction so used to long-range Quests, "wartime construction" as a concept might not necessarily suit them all that well...

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Also, while it's one thing to bring cruisers - and smaller ships, such as destroyers - up to Speed 30 starting in the Y170s, it might be a different story for Size Class 2 ships.

In most cases, I would suggest that such refits take a decade or more after the introduction date for a given Omega empire's Size Class 3 warp refits to be developed, And further, I would not guarantee that said Size Class 2 refits would, in fact, bring the ship up to Speed 30 - save perhaps for the Federal Republic of Aurora, which already has a "head start" in terms of tactical warp speed capabilities.

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So, what might all of this mean?

For "standard" Omega empires - as in, those with "metal-hull" ships and without any "warp tricks" to account for - a baseline cost of 3 BPV per added warp engine box seems like a reasonable assumption for now.

The Bolosco, however, might have to pay the kind of "premium" paid by the Zosmans - but then, their ships are dangerous enough when they get you into tractor beam range as-is. So it's likely fair to be more cautious, in terms of making it even easier for one of their ships to get up close and personal with their opponents...

And, for the Qixa, maybe a "split" ratio is the way to go: say, to set it at the "default" 3 BPV per warp engine box ratio for scenarios set outside of the Cloud - but charge a more Bolosco- or Zosman-esuqe "premium" ratio to the "in-Cloud" BPV.

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"Metal-hull" ships aside, there is the question of how - or even if - it's possible for the "biological" empires to do this.

Both the Alunda and the Branthdons face significant challenges, in terms of pushing their respective living ships yet further beyond their "natural" limits.

At the very least, I would assume that these kind of things could not be applied to pre-existing Host ships or Dragonships; rather, I suspect they'd have to be "bred" from the outset to these more exacting tolerances.

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And then, there are certain factions for which such warp refits would not apply in any event.

The Ryn have no tactical warp drives to begin with, so would make do with what they have already.

And as for the Souldra... they are quite dangerous enough as they are, speed-wise.

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Once again, this is the kind of thing that, in my view, should wait to be "locked in" until each empire in question is being given the formal "campaign compatible" treatment.

But, as an interim measure, do any of the above ideas seem reasonable to consider?