I'm just wondering about Bases, including Ground Bases, for the Omega Octant (personally prefer Sector). Also Support Ships, such as Tugs, Minesweepers, Commando Ships, Survey Ships, Freighters (I know some Freighters have been in Captain's Log.)
Just I'm starting to look at several Omega Races - in the long term - for our next non-Historical Campaign. (Our current one has all players starting in Y165 and buying Years to improve technology and Ships. However the "Galaxy" is occupied by Seltorians, with Y184 Tech, plus Orions and there is a new arrival, who is likely to be Y184 Neo-Tholians. The Seltorians are having a hard time.)

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 07:44 am: Edit

John,

For your next campaign have you considered using Eric's mapping tool? The tool has some very nice features.

Also, your profile is blank so can not e-mail directly.

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 11:37 am: Edit

John,

The Maesron's made an armed tug/freighter that ended up getting used as the template by ... pretty much everyone. It's in CL ... (22?)

That plus some pods gives you pretty much most of the support options you would need.

Mike

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 12:47 pm: Edit

From the five published Omega modules, support units are in short supply (no pun intended). The Mæsrons, Souldra, and Ryn each have a survey ship, while several empires now have PFQs and other support boats. The Iridani can generate several support variants (survey, commando, etc) using the right modules. The Bolosco also have certain options provided by their various small and large pods, but don't quite have the same range of capabilities that the Iridani enjoy at present. Plus there are a number of ground bases (mainly for handling fighters and/or PFs) in the most recent module.

Captain's Log #20 has a set of four civilian hulls, which were first built by the Mæsrons and later adapted by seven other empires. Those are the small and large freighter, the passenger liner, and the express boat.

CL21 has a set of Mæsron-specific support units; a light and heavy tug, a set of light and heavy pods for those tugs, and a battle freighter (a version of the small freighter with its cargo pod replaced with a small battle pod).

Other support units might have to wait until one or more of the "more ships for 7 current empires" modules proposed in the August 2012 memo is published, unless we see further previews of such units in a future Captain's Log.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Here is a quick list of bases.

EmpireName	RuleComplete	UnitType	UnitName	SSD Page No
Maesron	OR2.B1	OB	Border Outpost	O1- 6
Koligahr	OR3.B1	RLB	Relocatable Logistics Base	O2- 16
Trobrin	OR4.B1	SS	Small Station	O2- 24
Vari	OR5.B1	LB	Livery Base	O2- 32
Probr	OR6.B1	LB	Logistics Base	O2- 40
Chlorophon	OR7.B1	RB	Resupply Base	O2- 46
Drex	OR8.B1	RB	Repair Base	O2- 54
Alunda	OR9.B1	GR	Guarder	O2- 60
Hiver	OR10.B1	LP	Landing Pad	O2- 68
Sigvirion	OR11.B1	LMB	Light Mobile Base	O2- 74
Loriyill	OR12.B1	DO	Defense Output	O2- 80
Souldra	OR13.B1	DC	Dark Energy Cache	O3- 12
Iridani	OR14.B1	SD	Supply Dock	O3- 22
Ymatrian	OR15.B1	SP	Supply Point	O3- 32
Worb	OR16.B1	WO	White Outpost	O3- 42
FRA	OR17.B1	PBT	Pocket Battlestation	O3- 53
Qixa	OR21.B1	TP	Trading Post	O4- 36

By John Christie (John46) on Saturday, March 23, 2013 - 09:16 pm: Edit

Thanks Gary, Ken and Mike. I currently have O1-3 and I think CL20/21. Current Campaign should last a while yet, even though there are strong rumours of Neo-Tholians arriving to discipline their former subjects. Hopefully they'll leave we Alpha Octants alone.

By John Christie (John46) on Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 08:00 am: Edit

As a matter of interest, are there any pictures out there of Omega Octant Races? I'm particulaly interested in the Trobrin, Probr, Maesron (yes, know there are 3 constituent Races) and Iridani.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - 08:55 am: Edit

Most of the known Omega Octant species have no published art for them right now, unfortunately.

Five of the member species of the Mæsron Alliance (including the "big three" founding members) are shown in this image. The Chkikk and Crell, as well as the other as-yet-un-named minor species said to have been incorporated into the Alliance at some point, have yet to be shown in art form.

Well, technically, there is art for some of the "latecomer" members who join, for one reason or another, later in the Omega timeline. The Nucians (some of whom fled to the New Alliance as exiles after the Vulpa Confederacy annexed their home cluster in Y210) are themselves ethnically Vulpa, while the Bolosco (whose survivors fled to Mæsron space after the fall of their home colonies to the Souldra in Y191) and the assorted FRA species (who signed up as autonomous members in Y209) are referred to below.

The four species introduced in Module Omega 4 (the Rynish, Bolosco, Qixa, and Branthodons) each have a representative picture in that module (and in the Omega Master Rulebook).

And of course, most (if not all) of the species which end up in the FRA have at least some art for them lying around here and there...

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Friday, June 07, 2013 - 10:16 pm: Edit

If there is anyone putting together or currently looking for additional players to join in a Omega themed campaign I would gladly like to join in and play along.

leppancp@gmail.com

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, June 07, 2013 - 11:20 pm: Edit

Pat, if I may ask, are you primarily focused on Omega for SFB, or would you be open to trying the Omega material currently in playtest for FC?

(To be clear, there is no FC Omega campaign going on at the moment; but it may be worth noting for future reference, if you were so interested.)

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Saturday, June 08, 2013 - 09:53 am: Edit

Gary,

I have the map definitions for Eric's tool for Omega. Let me know if you want a copy.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, June 08, 2013 - 09:33 pm: Edit

What kind of definitions are you referring to? Are there any (proposed) planets and provinces involved, or is it based only on the "official" data in print so far?

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Saturday, June 08, 2013 - 11:12 pm: Edit

Gary, I have not played anything other than SFB. So I would need to know what materials I might need to look for to work with "FC"-(Federation Commander?) I presume. I am open for most anything at the moment, though I have never played anything like SFBOL. Largely I have played SFB in person and a few occasions via a Skype like broadcast between friends.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, June 08, 2013 - 11:38 pm: Edit

Pat, before you make a decision on whether or not to give Federation Commander a try, I would recommend taking a look at the free First Missions PDF. It gives a basic introduction to the game system, and helps show how it differs from SFB.

(Also, there is a fair amount of free reference material available over in the Commander's Circle.)

I would advise making use of the free materials available for the game, before deciding whether or not it's worth investing in.


If you like the look of what you see there, one option is to go for the FC Reference Rulebook, which is available both in print and on e23. The RRB includes pretty much all you'd need to fly one of the currently-published Alpha Octant empires (to include the Andromedans, who also show up over in Omega) rules-wise.

(The Andromedans were originaly published for FC in the War and Peace module, but have a booster pack of colour laminated Ship Cards, as well as an online Ship Card pack on e23.)

For the time being, the playtest material available for the Omega Octant in FC is either in the FC Omega Playtest Rulebook on e23, or listed on ADB's Omega Octant information page.

And if you have any thoughts on how the playtest Omega material is looking so far, there is a feedback and discussion thread over on the FC corner of the BBS. (There should be a few errata notes in there, too.)


I'm hoping that one day there'll be more to come for Omega (and for other non-Alpha settings, such as the LMC) in FC; but in the meantime, I'd welcome any thoughts on how the current state of affairs works (or doesn't work) in making this setting find a potential "second home" in Federation Commander.

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Saturday, June 08, 2013 - 11:56 pm: Edit

Gary, I will be looking at the files you mentioned over the next day in detail. I will get back with you very shortly, but right now I would say I am interested certainly. (And that is after a swift review of what you have listed)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 12:13 am: Edit

Good to hear! Or, well, read.

Actually, I do like how the Andromedans have been made to work in FC. They still retain a lot of unique features, but handle things like PA Panels and Mothership operations well without being overly complicated in doing so.

(I don't know if you are interested in the Andromedans in the first place, but they would make for good historical opponents to test the current crop of Omega warships against.)

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 10:41 am: Edit

Gary,

I have only have the official data published so far. There are a few ways to do the sectors.

By using all the maps I have all the common hexes from each map. This gave me the basis for where the home world of each empire was. I need to refine it to use the frequency that each empire owned a hex. Many of the empires got pushed out of their home world though.

The early Beginnings campaign rules have a nice diagram of various ways to draw the provinces. This plus using the F&E map shows what province shape was the most common.

For and Omega campaign you might need some special rules that for partial EP if you own most of the provinces and the rest are neutral.

I was hoping to write some code that would make the map automatically but have not gotten around to it.

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 11:55 am: Edit

Gary, So in essence, what would you say I would need from FC to purchase to be able to play. Incidentally, I am finding no-one in the Metro Detroit area that has much interest in playing locally, and I have attempted contact or left contact information for those that have put up their info on the various SFB boards and related sites. So I am sort of looking to expand my range and try some Online connections at this point. I have owned the SFB system now since 1995 and currently have just about everything for SFB, just not the Federation/Empire and other larger scale stuff.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 12:29 pm: Edit

Ken:

I think the problem with overlaying the maps is most evident with the one for Y210. There seem to be a few incongruities with how certain territories (Vulpa, Paravian) are shown there, relative to what was on some of the original 4 maps. (The Paravians are said to cross through Trobrin space and back to hit the Probr in the Y210s; but they are shown on the map as sharing a common border, while the Trobrin and Probr do not. Also, the Vulpa Confederacy does not include any of the hexes which the earlier Vulpa Insurgency had held in Y183. So where is the Vulpa home world? And so forth.)

Plus there'd still be a few unorthodox issues to work out; where the various member planets are in Mæsron space (especially those for the Tazol and Wallimi), where the Vari and Hiver cells are located, and so on.


Pat:

If you don't need any of the accessories from one of the FC box sets (such as counters, laminated weapons sheets, or map panels), the RRB would be a good one-stop-shop for the rule mechanics needed to fly an Alpha Octant starship.

(Plus, many of the components found in either Klingon Border or Romulan Border can be ordered as spare parts on the ADB online store.)

That and the OPRB should be the minimum you'd need to get a handle on the mechanics of FC, as well as the current state of the playtest ruleset for Omega in that game system.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 01:30 pm: Edit

Pat, I'd say SFB Online is your best bet for an online game of SFB. There's almost always some tournament or other being run, and there are also campaigns. The Platinum Hat (the World SFB championships) start soon and are being run online AFAIK.

By Charles Shevlin (Chass22) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 08:31 pm: Edit

Gary

I would like to see a map with the location of the home worlds marked.

Charles

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, June 09, 2013 - 08:34 pm: Edit

Charles, so would I. The problem is that there'd need to be an official ruling on it, and that would likely only happen if part of a more in-depth project seeking to define the region in those terms. (Say, in Prime Directive or Federation and Empire.)

I'm not sure which needs to come first before the other can be handled.

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Monday, June 10, 2013 - 09:32 pm: Edit

I have come to the point where I am building a digital map and counter set up for Omega. I happen to have 4 children under the ages of 4 that makes setting up and leaving out a game next to impossible. Largely I use Adobe Photoshop CS6 for the creation of my files. Later I can export it as a jpeg file or some other PDF format. I thought I would try and share what I have done so far over the past week.

[URL=http://s711.photobucket.com/user/Viridovix_Aeduus/media/ScreenShot2013-06-10at91214PM_zpsc54167ff.jpg.html][IMG]http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww114/Viridovix_Aeduus/ScreenShot2013-06-10at91214PM_zpsc54167ff.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Monday, June 10, 2013 - 09:35 pm: Edit

What you cannot see in the image file is I have it set so I can change the counter number as needed if there are additional units, Also I can change out the background image of the space map as an added touch. At the moment the zoom is only at 25%, so the full detail is still not apparent. I created some additional planets as well as some counters for use by the Alunda, such as the ARF in either Attraction or Repulsion mode. Again the number in the corner can be changed to match that of the unit with an active ARF. Currently most all the Hiver and Alunda ships are represented.

By Pat Leppan (Pat_Leppan) on Monday, June 10, 2013 - 09:49 pm: Edit

With this set up I can conceivably save out each impulse as a separate file and run them together into an animated short, with all the additional "special effects" of other weapons fire included and damage upon the SSD's.