Late EY scouts
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: New Product Development: Module Y4 (the new one): Late EY scouts
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Archive through August 13, 2019  25   08/13 07:16pm
By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 01:11 pm: Edit

Mike Dowd:

The Tholians arrived with phaser-1s, but not with special sensors. Their special sensors in the Early Years are under Early Years limitations (represents "lost technology," i.e., they had base mounted special sensors in their home galaxy, but not ship mounted special sensors, and apparently suffered the loss of their home galaxy technology when passing through the Energy Barrier, which destroyed any special sensors on the outside of the Dyson Sphere), and they do not get a "scout ship" until Y125, and the special sensors on it remain under Early Years restrictions until Y134, the same as virtually every other Alpha Octant empire.

Right now the only non-Vulcan exception is the Jindarians, who have scout ships (e.g., FFS) in Y1.

By Mike Dowd (Mike_Dowd) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 01:59 pm: Edit

Thanks for the correction, Steve. That just goes to reinforce the uniqueness of Vulcan sensors. (I'm excluding the Jindos, since they have been in space since about 5 seconds after the big bang, or so it seems!)

Again, my point here is that once we tech slosh, W/Y becomes nothing more than another GW era blandness, and it irks me when people try to get toys for their favourite Empire using bizarre and spurious logic to do end runs around arguments that they have already acknowledged they have lost...

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 02:31 pm: Edit

For the record, the Romulans are not my favorite empire (not even close). Nor am I in favor of giving everyone early scouts.

I was simply sharing that some of the ideas other have put forward reminded me of some aspects of Romulan Tech (bulky power hungry weapons) and then, as I considered their background (connection to the Vulcans, cloaking technology, etc.) it seemed plausible (to me) that the Romulans could have developed ship mounted special sensors prior to the Treaty of Smarba. Of course, with their power deficient ships, it would be a challenge for the Romulans to use them to their full potential.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 06:31 pm: Edit

Douglas Saldana:

Too late, we are going to hang that "Romulans are my favorite empire" sign on you from this point forward. (GRIN).

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 07:16 pm: Edit

NO, YOU CANNOT TAKE THAT SIGN FROM MY DOOR!

(I do kind of like that 'connection to Vulcans' angle, though. I mean, outside of the Jindarians, they basically set the record for the biggest semi-cross-galactic logistics effort, and held that record for millenia. And a sublight Falcon Mauler with the 'mauler' part replace with a special sensor is just...SO ridiculously funny an idea, it absolutely must see print, some day...)

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - 08:42 pm: Edit

Geez, make two Romulan proposals in the same week and everyone just assumes you’re a Romulan player.

Quote:

I do kind of like that 'connection to Vulcans' angle



I know that Prime Directive background doesn’t carry much weight in these discussions but don’t forget “The Legend of House Seluriac”. Some Romulan tech goes waaaay back to the Exodus from Vulcan.

Quote:

a sublight Falcon Mauler with the 'mauler' part replace with a special sensor is just...SO ridiculously funny



Yeah, that why the “cookie cutter” accusation stung a little. At least it's not an obvious variant.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 01:08 am: Edit

Quote:

Yeah, that why the “cookie cutter” accusation stung a little. At least it's not an obvious variant.



I've still been looking for a convincing argument for the existence of the Falcon hull, in the first place.

Advanced Missions suggests it was built from converted War Eagle or Battlehawk hulls, but the thing doesn't look remotely like either of them, so that explanation never really made sense. Some previous platform that had enormous energy demands, and fell out of use as tactical warp took hold (but the battery concentration, and "entirely built around one single device" design effect, remaining helpful for later projects)...well, that would be a perfect explanation.

Bonus points: it would still riff off the Romulans origination from the (first mainstream usage in standard platforms, of the major races) Vulcans having special sensors. AND hint at why the Romulans are unique among the entire setting in focusing on electronic warfare so devotedly (IE., inventing the masking device, THEN veiling device, THEN cloaking device - with nobody else ever doing ANY of them until the Orions stole/copied the cloak).

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 03:39 pm: Edit

I would have to say that the Romulans would be familiar enough with how special sensors operate and their demands on power that they would not seriously consider trying to build a scout that was almost totally dependent on stored energy.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 04:22 pm: Edit

Depends on the scout mode used. Lending ECM/ECCM would definitely be of quite limited use, although not none, even in that case - a fully charged Falcon could keep one channel running like that for 5 turns or so. Or given the constraints under YG24.28, you've got about 7 turns of self-lending.

However those are about the only functions BADLY limited by power, and when fighting against Gorn atomic missiles, G24.22 would probably be the more useful capability and isn't as demanding.

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 04:36 pm: Edit

Add me to the list of "Falcon Scout looks different and interesting" list. I like Xander's additional comments as well.

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