Keep in mind that the ships published in O1-O4 are from eras concurrent with the W- Y- and early general wars eras. Omega ships should have no problem against Alpha ships from the same YIS, in fact they would generally be highly advantaged.

Personally, I like the differences. Having the smaller ships with a higher tactical speed than the larger ships actually gives the smaller ships unique mission capabilities. In the Alpha Quadrant, if you have a choice between two FFs or one CA at the same BPV, you would always take the CA, barring some other artificial constraint. In Omega, there is a reason to take the smaller ships.

At some point they might publish Omega ships from the later years, and I would like to see them (especially tournament ships that are balanced against the Alpha Quadrant TCs). But I would not want them to be too homogenized to Alpha Quadrant standards.

By David Schultz (Ikvavenger) on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 09:43 am: Edit

One of the things we've discovered, if they're going to be against Alpha ships, is that the phasers are going to have to be looked at rather hard as compared to Alpha phasers.

Close in the W1 can lag fairly close behind the Ph-1 until about R8 and then it's sucking wind. The W3 phaser is close enough at R1 to the Ph-3 to be workable.

The M1 & M3 are also pretty viable and the M3 is actually superior to a Ph-3 at R1. As this is generally the go-to range for killing drones and shooting plasma it is a guaranteed kill on a type I drone and max damage on the plasma.

The R1 actually isn't too bad at all but the R3 isn't going to get the job done at R1 against drones.

When you get to the P1 and P3 you'd better be rolling really lucky. Otherwise you're pretty much done. Even the particle stabilizer isn't going to help the P3 against seekers like drones.

The Q1 & Q3 are simply weak. At R1 you only have a 1 in 6 chance of a kill on a type I. I don't like your odds on this one.

A simpler option is to simply convert over to Alpha phasers.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 01:08 pm: Edit

The Vari Wing Cruiser and Command Cruiser previewed in Captain's Log #23 offer a glimpse what what is to come in terms of the next stage of Omega Octant starship design evolution - not least in how both hulls incorporate the use of the particle splitter torpedo.

(The PST offers close-range punch before it splits, and a greater range of seeking weapon defence options post-split - but only on hulls with sufficient power curves. It's no coincidence that the PST was considered a curiousity by the Vari when they tried it on their older ships, but made much greater use of it once they managed to build new cruisers capable of fighting at speed 31.)


One thing that is interesting to see is that, in the case of some weapons, there are improved models written into the rules which await the opportunity to be used on actual SSDs.

For example, the tachyon missile rules refer to various types of launchers which do not appear on the "middle years" Mæsron, Vulpa, FRA, and Bolosco ships we know of so far - but which could be drawn from if/when we get an opportunity to see more "late" hulls published for those empires still in a position to operate them.

But should the time come for more ships to be committed to print for the current crop of Omega factions, or indeed for some of the "lost futures" empires to be introduced to the setting, I would hope that the primary goal would be for each of them to emerge on their own terms, rather than be constrained by the need to account for ahistorical match-ups.


I think the gunboats in Module Omega 5 show promise in that regard. While each operating empire had a common denominator in terms of the "volatile warp" emgines used to power Omega gunboats (and a pair of common enemies to face in the Andromedans and Souldra), each empire went its own way in terms of how large each boat might be, how many boats would be in a flotilla, and what kind of support roles each mission variant would be well (or ill) suited for. (I'm glad that the "volatile warp" technology allowed for different-sized boats to be worked up, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all approach which "hot warp" PFs in the Alpha Octant were obliged to go with.)

Similarly, if/when the time comes to explore what first-(or second-)generation advanced technology looks like in an Omega context, I would hope that, once we see what the Mæsron X-template is comprised of, that each empire which adapts it for their own use will be able to work with it in their own fashion...

...and that's before one sits down and tries to figure out just what the equivalent Alunda "Sig-Tech" might look like.

By David Schultz (Ikvavenger) on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 03:34 pm: Edit

The PST would make a decent seeking weapon defense option. In a duel situation it is a pretty horrible weapon. It would be better, in that respect, to split but still be targeted on the original ship. One element strikes the facing shield and the other element(s) strike non-facing shields of the target ships choice. Then it would be a viable weapon for duels i.e a semi-enveloper.

As far as updated Omega ships and/or X-tech for Omega...will it ever happen? Is there enough interest in Omega to justify it?

By Stephen Parrish (Steveparrish) on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 10:09 pm: Edit

I don't really disagree with anything said here. I hope that there are more additions to Omega, and that they are done "historically" and on their own terms.

However, IIRC, the last Omega module was published in 2007. I am not in the loop, but is there much chance of another one any time soon?

For there to be more Omega modules, it would seem that there must be more Omega players. Which means getting players interested in Omega. Which might mean making it easier to match Omega ships with Alpha in ahistorical battles.

Maybe mine was a bad idea, but I thought it might be a fairly simple way to introduce more players to Omega.

By Charles E. Leiserson, Jr. (Locutus) on Friday, February 27, 2015 - 04:37 pm: Edit

A few questions about Kraknora, the Klingon penal colony transported to the Omega octant in Y171:

Are Klingon penal colonies similar to penal ships, in that the residents are working off a past dishonour and are fully expected to rejoin Klingon society eventually, or are they prison planets similar to Rura Penthe?

What was the racial makeup of Kraknora?

Was the task force transported along with the planet DSF or ISF?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, February 27, 2015 - 05:11 pm: Edit

There is little in-print data at the moment for Kraknora, beyond what is in the Federal Republic OR-section from the 2011 OMRB.

While the colony had a population of around 1 million at the time of transfer, its ethnic composition is as yet unknown. Nor is it spelled out exactly what the colonists were doing (presumably under coercion) prior to the revolt - and how things changed for those which survived to become Auroran citizens.

As far as the five Klingon ships go, four of them are listed as a D7, a D6, an F5C, and an F5 respectively - all DSF ship classes. All we know about the fifth ship is that it was a frigate of some sort, and was lost prior to the wayward squadron's return to FRA space in Y172.

I once attempted to submit an SFB scenario in which all five ships would be listed by name and class, but that entry ran afoul of the review process. Still, while the scenario itself proved non-viable, I'd hope to see a future file in which those names (or other ones, if the five I picked out proved ineligible for some reason or other) could be officially assigned someday.

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, February 27, 2015 - 10:45 pm: Edit

"A frigate of some sort."

Logically this would be an E4 then...

By Charles E. Leiserson, Jr. (Locutus) on Friday, February 27, 2015 - 10:53 pm: Edit

Thanks. That actually does help. I'd forgotten that the ISF had its own class designations (time to browse the R-modules again).

By John Christie (John46) on Sunday, May 17, 2015 - 04:19 am: Edit

Gary, just saw your comments about the PST and it covers a question I was going to ask. obviously it hasn't yet been made "Official", along with the Maesron Tugs from CL#21 and the Freighters from CL20 and 21. With the Zosman's now introduced, they might make a starting point for a new Module, to give many of the Races the extra basic Ships they need - CL/CW, DD/DW, Tug where applicable. Seems that efforts are being made to resolve the great Hard Drive Crash problems, although, and I'm not trying to be critical here, how come the material on the Hard Drive wasn't also backed up on disc/USB?

By John Christie (John46) on Monday, May 18, 2015 - 04:42 am: Edit

I Basically don't have CL#24-26 and 27-43. Was there any significant Omega Material in any of these? Thanks.

By Guillaume Williams (Uioor1) on Monday, May 18, 2015 - 10:15 am: Edit

No, not really. But in CL#24 there is the Iridani B variation ships.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, May 18, 2015 - 05:30 pm: Edit

I will guess the crash predated Flash Drives, might have even been before CD burners. Maybe Bruce didn't have a zip drive and the data wouldn't fit on a 1.4mb 3.5" floppy?

By Dennis Surdu (Aegis) on Saturday, December 12, 2015 - 04:34 pm: Edit

Can anyone comment on whether they think the Trobrin are OP for their BPV?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 06:31 pm: Edit

NCC-1821 USS Sakharov: Voyages of Discovery from Captain's Log #51 takes a look at exactly what this particular GSX got up to during its time in the Omega Octant - as well as building upon the revised take offered in CL41's class history article on exactly how the ship got there.

On that note, while there may not be a chance to revise either SFB Module Omega 5 or the 2011 Omega Master Rulebook any time soon, a renewed look at either might be a welcome opportunity to edit the relevant entries concerning the Sakharov, so as to account for the "new" version of events.


Actually, if the main reason for this "revision of the data tapes" is due to a desire to remove any "wormhole" references, it may be worth deleting the other non-Sakharov-related wormhole data points on the Seventh Cycle timeline.

According to Bruce Graw's article in CL36, the "wormhole" thing was intended to be a side-effect of the Scon attempts at manifesting themselves in "normal" space. But if the "wormhole" data as presented were to go on the chopping block, that need not get in the way of some other series of anomalies which could mark the Scon attempt to bridge the gap from their native subspace realm.

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, June 24, 2016 - 12:51 pm: Edit

Vortex. Explained in a great story... ahem.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, January 26, 2017 - 10:52 am: Edit

I posted this over in a different thread, but thought it better to re-post it in a more Omega-specific setting:

I could see the Iridani creating purpose-built PFNs - and INT-Ns, for that matter - as a further extension of the Gig (OR14.S1) concept.

Certain Iridani ships may purchase a Gig (or captain's launch), which replaces one of the ship's administrative shuttles; the largest Iridani Quest ships may trade in two admin shuttles for a size-2 Admiral's Gig (OR14.S2).

Most Iridani PFs are modular, though their survey PF (OR14.PF10) is an exception (as it is purpose-built for its particular mission). In theory, the Iridani could design a "command" module for their standard PF, though I would sooner envision them creating a purpose-built (i.e. non-modular) variant for such a role.

And since the Iridani are noted as being one of the few Omega factions to bother with constructing Interceptors, perhaps an INT-N would be used by nobles with less power or prestige, but which still wish to make an impression. That said, we don't yet know what Iridani Interceptors look like - not least whether they are modular or not - so there would probably need to be a better sense of what the "baseline" INT looks like before any mission variants could be cooked up.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, November 18, 2017 - 03:05 am: Edit

Question for Gary / SVC: Is there anything in the background data that says whether the descendants of Aurora ever made contact with the Federation / Alpha Sector, and if so, when and how?


Garth L. Getgen

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, November 18, 2017 - 01:19 pm: Edit

In order to explain the "current" answer to that question, and why it differs from the "original" answer, I might need to explain part of the broader context in which each answer was/is set.


The "original" answer was listed in the timeline for the Seventh Cycle of Omega Octant history, first published in the 2007 edition of the SFB Omega Master Rulebook and re-printed in Module Omega 5 and in the 2011 update to the OMRB proper.

In that version of events, a wormhole emerged close to the Ryn Nebula in Y214, bringing the Mæsron Alliance (and, by extension, the Federal Republic of Aurora, since the FRA had been an autonomous member of the Alliance since Y209) into contact with the United Federation of Planets. The wormhole lasted about a month before collapsing, but not before NCC-1821 USS Sakharov was sent through (with an all-volunteer crew) to explore the region. After a "five-year mission" including an excursion to the extra-galactic Iridani Cluster, the Sakharov returned home in Y219.

The problem with this version of events stemmed from the wormhole itself. According to Bruce Graw's Omega's Lost Futures article in Captain's Log #36, these wormholes, of which there were several reported to emerge across Omega in the Y210s, were the unexpected side-effect of efforts by the Scon, a species native to subspace, to "manifest" in the physical universe. The aim was to have the Scon emerge in force during the as-yet-unpublished Eighth Cycle. (There is a thread looking at the Scon, as well as two other "lost futures" empires, over here.)

However, a few years back, SVC nixed the concept of wormholes outright - though, as mentioned a few posts above, perhaps there could be some alternate set of anomalies, such as the Vortices from Michael Grafton's Doomward and the Vortex story from Captain's Log #38, to account for the "side-effects" of the Scon manifestation attempts.


In any case, by the time Nick Samaras' class history article on Federation survey cruisers was published in Captain's Log #41, the outline of Sakharov's journey had been changed.

In this version of events, the Sakharov set out from the LMC in Y212, following one of the dormant Andromedan RTN routes leading over to Omega. The ship arrived in Y214 and returned home in Y219, at which point it was able to pass on the wealth of information it had gathered regarding the Omega Octant and the Iridani Cluster.

More recently, I attempted to more thoroughly investigate this new sequence of events via the Voyages of Discovery article in Captain's Log #51. I leave it to others to decide how well, or poorly, I succeeded in doing so.


In short, barring a further round of revisions based on further investigations of the Air Force data tapes, the "current" course of events has the Sakharov establish contact with the FRA during its extended sojourn in the Omega Octant, which would be reported back to Star Fleet upon that ship's return in Y219.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, November 18, 2017 - 04:02 pm: Edit

Thanks, Gary. See my PM on the FedCmdr board to you.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, November 18, 2017 - 11:19 pm: Edit

I am flexible on a few key wormholes but not on zillions of them popping up Willy nilly which prompted my negative stance.

By Jay gustafson (Jay13) on Monday, December 17, 2018 - 04:27 pm: Edit

I made up some federal republic of aurora ship names for a mega sector is there an email address to send them to

By Jay gustafson (Jay13) on Monday, December 17, 2018 - 04:29 pm: Edit

I was told by Steve cole mr Carney you were the person to talk to that you handled omega stuff

By Jay gustafson (Jay13) on Monday, December 17, 2018 - 10:26 pm: Edit

I’m going to start posting names for the FRA just thing up the top of my head

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, December 17, 2018 - 11:56 pm: Edit

IIRC, I actually have a pretty detailed explanation of the "pseudo science" behind Vortexes in my story.

I see no reason (SVC & SPP may have different opinion, and they gets the deciding vote) that there wouldn't be some other kind of event that is like a wormhole.

The problem with one that is 2 way, relatively long lived, and stationary is that they become massive invasion pipelines. Which is why my idea isn't any of those. More "scary random threat" than "opportunity for conquest" in nature. Which I think also is in my story.