| By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Tuesday, August 18, 2026 - 08:45 pm: Edit |
Jack - the Vulcans have Phaser-1's while other empires only use Phaser-2's and they have special sensors for ships and not just bases.
| By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, August 18, 2026 - 09:31 pm: Edit |
Yeah, I am just suggesting that the Vulcans would be the coolest offshoot of "the Federation". I don't know what canon says about the Federation. I know it supposed to be a bunch of systems (like many) so it doesn't seem inconceivable that the Federation nation planets would have their own ships and probably weapons. Maybe canon says that the Federation all use the same handful of ships and weapons because they all decided to that on a vote or something?
| By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Tuesday, August 18, 2026 - 09:52 pm: Edit |
I mean, that's literally what Module Y1/Y2/Y3 give you - the SFU equivalent of basically the 'Star Trek: Enterprise' time period (well - a bit after that, sort of, more or less...obviously nothing lines up exactly)
If you haven't tried them, I'd definitely STRONGLY RECOMMEND checking them out. The Early Years are great fun - no advanced drone rules or PFs(gunboats) to worry about, very little ECM (special sensors pretty much just on bases and Vulcan ships), almost nobody runs fighters (just the Romulans with their terrible sublight fighters), no weapon overloads or most special weapon functions, etc.
Then you get Vulcan ships, Andorian, Rigellian, Terran, etc - warp-refitted from old sublight designs, in many cases, still carrying the old armor they needed before the primitive shields...working in the later periods when proper General War-era-looking ships came along...
It's a fun period to explore!
| By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 - 12:16 am: Edit |
Unlike in the post-1979 Franchise, it's worth noting that the "saucer-and-nacelle" ships of the Star Fleet are "unified" designs: intended from the keel up to draw from the best of what each member planet had to offer.
Although, in saying that, it nonetheless took until the Y120s for the Vulcan side of the equation to be fully factored into a new generation of these ship types.
And, "unified" ship designs aside, there were still a lot of those Terran light cruisers flying around, even then...
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On a side note: a similar process took place in the early Inter-Stellar Concordium.
The W-era "planetary" ships - and the various types of plasma weapons designed for them - were supplanted by a single, unified set of "two-prong" ships and weapon types for the Y-era ISC Navy and Police.
In the modern era, the ISC has developed various "three-prong" designs for front-line naval and policing service. Although, some of the "two-prong" ships of the Y-era fleet were given "L-series" refits and assigned to local defence roles, comparable to those undertaken by the Federation National Guards.
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There are threads on the BBS in which the concept of "modern" planetary fleets for the Federation - and, indeed, for the ISC - have been raised.
Here is one such example.
In the case of both empires, however, there are two main issues: one of tactics, and another of logistics.
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In tactical terms, even the Early Years Federation had relatively few planets with unique weapon systems. Vulcans (with their ship-mounted phaser-1s and special sensors) aside, the Andorians had a distinct type of drone, which even they discarded at a certain point. The others (such as the Alpha-Centaurians and the Rigellians) coalesced around phasers and photons at a relatively early stage.
There is perhaps more to go with for the ISC planetary fleets, as each of those had developed a different plasma-based weapon for their Early Years ships. In theory, these could have continued to evolve along their own design tracks.
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The biggest issue, however, is one of logistics.
Different fleets need different spare parts, different supply networks, and different economies of scale to function.
The problem is that the Terrans are far more powerful economically and logistically than the other Federation members.
Without a unified Star Fleet, and with no "saucer-and-nacelle" ships for it to operate, any Federation fleet effectively becomes a de facto Terran fleet, with the other planets having the choice of either keeping their own designs and being in a much weaker position relative to the Terrans, or phasing out their own ship designs in order to align with... the Terrans!
In fairness, neither outcome was something the Terrans themselves were interested in. They were, and are, committed to the Federation as being a joint enterprise (ahem) for each of its member worlds to engage (double ahem) in together.
Still, when faced with such a dilemma, it was only "logical" for the historical Vulcans to see taking part in a shared "saucer-and-nacelle" design program as being the optimal way forward.
This is less of an issue for the ISC, since the five planets were more or less evenly placed at the onset of the Concordium. Although the humanoid Veltressai do host the "federal" capital, which might speak to the relative prominence they end up holding in the unified ISC in later eras.
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In any case, I might recommend taking a look at the Federation Master Starship Book., which is available both in print form and on such sites as Warehouse 23.
It consolidates the R-section data for a vast range of Federation ships, to include the various "planetary" hulls from the three Early Years modules.
That said, this book does not include any SSDs - though it does specify which product has which SSD on file.
Although, if you want an even more in-depth look at the UFP's history and society, I would highly recommend getting the Federation sourcebook for the Prime Directive RPG. It is available in a number of different game formats, though I would personally lean towards the one written for GURPS 4th Edition.
| By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 11:20 am: Edit |
Question on the Y1/Y2/Y3 SSDs. I notice in the digital printing of the later Y-era books a "technology progression chart" that is fairly handy.
At least in the preview pages - I don't have these in digital format, yet. The preview pages do seem to be missing the transporter type, though? (Tractor Beam type is present, as well as shield adjustments over time, but not Transporters).
Do newer printings have the Transporter type added?
(YG4.0) LABS - this indicates a flat modifier to lab ability (basically +2 range) for the Early Years period. Is this...the ENTIRE Early Years? Just a flat modifier from...Y-what to Y-when? Or also something that should be scaled like the Tractors and Transporters through the various -S, -W, and -Y eras?
| By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 02:27 pm: Edit |
Certain technologies "plateau" for longer periods of time, compared to others.
Both tractor and transporter developmental paths have iterative steps with direct tactical applications in ways that, for most of the Early Years era, the use of lab facilities do not.
Not least since, in terms of seeking weapons, there simply aren't as many intricacies of drone construction to keep watch of. While there are a broader variety of actual drone-type weapons to keep tabs of, no one faction - save perhaps for the Jindarians, who already have "modern" labs in this time period - would be placed to encounter all of them.
So, I'd have no issue with the Early Years lab rules being what they are, for use on S-, W-, and Y-era hulls.
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So far as when Early Years lab rules stop being in effect:
In most cases, this would be part of the process of adopting "Middle Years" and "National Guard" hull types, rather than being a system-specific upgrade. As in, if your ship is not upgraded to a MY or G/L standard, its labs would still be of the Early Years type.
In the case of the Romulans, they are said to lift this and other Early Years restrictions in Y140. Although, since their fleet is upgraded to the final "pre-Smarba" status (with "modern" cloaking devices installed) starting in that same year, one could say that it's more a case of the fleet at large being upgraded to the new standard, rather than any one system being advanced over another.
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