I am a river to my people.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 12:48 pm: Edit

Thank you kindly!


I recently saw a thread over on a Franchise-related web forum where people were being asked to choose which Franchise ship and crew they would consider their ideal mix.

So, I thought it would be interesting to ask here: which Star Fleet Battles ship and crew would you wish to command?

Of course, the "trivideo" ship and crew are off-limits. But you can choose from any area and time period presently covered in SFB. If you have a preferred hull type but aren't fussy about which particular ship of that class you'd want, well and good.

If there is an officer or crewbeing who has been named in an SFU scenario, R-section entry, and/or fiction work (such as Star Fleet Captain Phillip Kosnett or Chlorophon Captain Rutilusferox), perhaps you might wish to have that person aboard your ship. Or not.

Also, you can select a "backup" option, in case your first choice happens to be unavailable.

-----

For my part, of the various hull types presently in print, I'd choose a Federation GSX. I like survey ships which retain some ability to fight their way into, or out of, trouble; as it stands, the GSX presently holds the gold standard in that regard. (Well, one might argue that the GVX's F-111s make it even more capable in action, but the "standard" GSX is enough for me.)

As a backup, a Federation HDWX would make for what a non-Franchise science fiction property might refer to as a good "mid-level exploratory" vessel - particularly if configured for a survey mission. Plus there is the ability to swap in other mission modules as the situation warrants.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 02:26 pm: Edit

I'd go for a Lyran SR with all the refits. Or maybe a combat tug with a survey pallet.

Either way, those things rock.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 02:50 pm: Edit

Oh To Easy the Romulan WB, WE, upgraded to KE and even the KEX.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 05:45 pm: Edit

Small Exploration Freighter. Exploration and discovery are things I've long enjoyed.

On the other hand, the job I've had that I enjoyed the most was when I was a long-haul trucker. APT? I think that ship comes much closer to the long haul work that I used to do; I hauled for an employer who negotiated my services (I could never be a "Merchant" running a FT) and while the loads were important to OUR customers, as a "Solo" driver, I didn't have to do the 24/7 rush that's most comparable to the Federation Express...

As far as "My Crew" goes, whomever works with me is going to be in close quarters pretty much all the time. I can imagine working as a part of a music group (and since I have a fondness of brass quintets, mostly courtesy of my high school days as a Tuba player, I think that'd be a cool option) OR perhaps a real "Family" ship, where various officers aboard are married and there might be (home schooled) children aboard.

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 07:08 pm: Edit

I-CCX of course.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, April 24, 2020 - 08:56 pm: Edit

For me, the Fed POL is my go to design.

Fast (when not overloading its one and only photon!) and nimble. Minimalist design (lean) in that it doesn’t have a lot of extra stuff.

In BPV terms in a number of scenarios, you might qualify for three POLs where you otherwise might have a heavy cruiser or a command cruiser. Three ships could be in three places where a CA or a CC in one.

When fighting something big, (planet crusher/creature that ate Sheboygan III) the damage that will kill a CA or CC is massive overkill on a POL. Killing one POL per attack still leaves rounds two and three for three more POL alpha strikes (two in the second round, one in the third.)

And the six hex myopic zone of the pc/ctas means all three POL ships can stand off at range and shoot the target. Plus, three ships using labs, probes and admin shuttles on Science missions compares favorably With what a single CA can do in the same situation.

Three POL hulls have 6 admin shuttles compared to just 4 on a CA or CC.

The use of commanders options is an advantage, because some items are limited to a set number per ship (transporter bombs, boarding parties for examples.)

Plus, POL has two cargo boxes. Three POLs have a total of six. Means more flexibility for missions. Between the commanders options points and the Cargo boxes, three POL ships could carry most of a reinforced battalion with trans artillery, trucks or (not necessarily all at the same time) APC or even a tank. (Might have trouble deploying a tank in a combat situation, but a crated tank should be able to be landed between scenarios in a campaign.)

Lots of flexibility!

By Randy Green (Hollywood750) on Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 08:42 am: Edit

Is that equivalent BPV, Jeff? I don't have my books handy.

But nothing beats the romance of flying a Fed CA.

Except maybe a D7.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 09:29 am: Edit

Randy, different strokes, different folks, I guess!

Yes, there are missions where nothing else will do. But if I can complete a mission in a POL that is balanced for a CA... and the planet killer scenario is one of those.

Granted, I had the advantage of hindsight. Knowing that research conducted with labs beyond the range that the Monster would fire its weapon, using probes to augment the labs, etc.

But normally, you are correct. Going into an unknown scenario I very well would consider using a CA. But if it’s a straight up combat situation three POLs provide a few tactical options that a single CA might not.

Granted 3 photons vs 4, but 3 POLs would have (if the Plus refits are present in all cases) 6 phaser 3s vs 2 phaser 3s. 3 drone racks vs 1. Only 6 labs vs 8.

It is a trade off. Some things. Better, others not so good.

Y.M.M.V.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 02:40 pm: Edit

Jeff Wile:

If you are carrying a tank (or tanks) in your cargo boxes, just use Commander's Option Points to exchange the two admin shuttles of one police ship for an HTS (or HAS) shuttle to land the tanks (even if at a rate of one tank landed per round trip by the HTS/HAS).

As to your plan to fight the (SM1.0) monster, you had better re-read the rules. Under (SM1.46) your police ships cannot fire at the monster unless they are within six hexes of it, and under (SM1.49) the monster fires at the first ship that is within six hexes of it. Under (SM1.492) if there is only one ship, the monster can fire a maximum of two times a turn (once at the planet, if it is in range, and once at the ship). If there is more than one ship it can fire a maximum of 1+X, one being the planet and X being the number of ships (it can only fire at each ship once per turn). So if your three Police Cutters want to fire at the monster in a given turn, all must come into Range 6, and the monster will fire one shot at each ship doing somewhere between 35 and 10 points of damage to each one. 10 points of damage will not penetrate any of your forward three shields, will drop your #3 and #5 shields, and will score one point of internal damage through your #4 shield (assuming no reinforcement). 35 points of damage will definitely cripple a ship through the #3, #4, or #5 shields (barring significant reinforcement), has a good chance of crippling the ship through the #2 or #6 shields (again, dependent on reinforcement, but that is questionable as the number of internals are not likely to leave many weapons or power) and against the #1 shield will pretty much mission kill the ship even though it would not technically be crippled.

On the plus side, once you have resolved the monster's damage on your ships, they can race in to Range 1 or Zero before firing whatever weapons remain.

There is no question that all three of your ships would survive the first pass (so would one heavy cruiser, but it would be in much better condition even if it was hit by 35 points of damage on a full strength shield), but it is possible that on the first pass all three of your police cutters will have the monster roll "1" and score 35 points of damage on each ship, leaving you in less than good condition to try to make another pass. (Of course the monster might also roll three "6"s leaving your ships in very good condition for a second pass).

Compared to an unrefitted heavy cruiser, three police cutters have one less photon torpedo but three more phaser-1s. But again as the monster will fire at all three of your ships, and your shields are much weaker, you are likely to lose firepower a lot faster than the heavy cruiser. Fully refitted (CAR+a versus 3xPol+a) you only have one more phaser-1, but you do have four extra phaser-3s and two extra drone racks, but again those comparatively weak shields, fewer internals overall, tends to favor the monster wearing your ships down faster than it would the heavy cruiser.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 04:52 pm: Edit

Maybe I misunderstood the idea; it was my understanding that, Gary, you asked us which ship we'd like to be in the Captain's Chair, as in, doing the paperwork, passing the orders, dealing with StarFleet Command, and all that other stuff.

I mean, Greg? I agree with you that the SFB version of the WB/WE/KE/KEX is an awesome, fun ship for SFB (Plasma-R, anyone? ). On the other hand, literature has always described the bridge as a tight, cramped space, and the way it was shown in the TOS episode "Balance of Terror" is the sort of thing that "I" would find stifling after a couple days.

(Am I misreading things?)

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 04:59 pm: Edit

For a long time my favorite warship was the Tholian CCW, the Archeo-Tholian Command Cruiser with webcaster refit. Obviously the Tholian X-cruisers and dreadnoughts were more powerful in absolute terms. But there was something about the CCW that I... really liked. I just thought it was a very fun ship.

Then Module X1R was released... and I had new favorite; the NLX. This is the X-tech version of the Neo-Tholian NCL. Again, the CCX and NCX (to compare like-against-like; disruptor and webcaster-armed X-ships) are more powerful in an absolute sense. But somehow I find the NLX more... fun.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Sunday, April 26, 2020 - 03:53 pm: Edit

Ah yes tight quarters. A real warship. Not a federation luxury liner at all. That is why I liked it on the old show

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Sunday, April 26, 2020 - 04:17 pm: Edit

I think there's an advanced tech medium raider, very cool ship if I recall correctly.

The old advanced technology Warrior (from waaaaay back) was pretty cool.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Sunday, April 26, 2020 - 04:58 pm: Edit

Fair enough, Vandar

Different people like different things. I mean, for goodness sake, I was talking about having a... A... a GARAGE BAND for my crew!!


(BIIIG Grin...)


Somewhat less silly has been a recent thought on, well, SURVIVING with a ship. I mean, for goodness sake, if I'm out there, all by myself (ship wise) with that APT, pretty much anyone who comes across me is going to blow me into 1,234,567,890 microparticles (after looting my cargo hold, and probably also stealing the brass instruments I mentioned as the likely type of garage band).

Still, I'm no warrior (as my win/loss record CLEARLY shows... ), so I have thought (?) over the past couple days about possibly flying an armed freighter.

Even THAT thought has had follow-ons. One question is, do the Gorn Armed Freighters that're armed with Plasma-F Torpedoes have Carronade? I can't see why not, BUT since neither the Romulan nor ISC Plasma-F torpedoes have the Carronade option, I can't guarantee the Gorn having them.

Another question is probably something I can find in errata (but haven't had the mad desire to do so), namely the question of T-bombs. The copy of the Advanced Missions SSD Book that's on my desk (horribly battered, but still much loved) has the ships utilizing T-bombs, BUT the fact that they're never armed with Phaser-1s causes me to knee-jerk believe they're civilian units, and civilian units aren't allowed to use them.

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 - 09:07 am: Edit

I've been thinking about really early years recently (going through the playtest/proposed stuff for module Q).

Let's take Y1 as the point in time (as in the year, not the module), who would be fighting who across the various settings?

In the Tholian Home Galaxy the answer seems pretty obvious, it'd be the Seltorians vs home galaxy pirates or rebels.

But how about elsewhere?

What battles would be happening in the Alpha octant? The Omega? The LMC? The Triangulum galaxy?


Considering it's the year of first contact between Earth and Vulcan, I doubt Earth would be involved in fighting, but that doesn't preclude the Kzinti and their future subjects, or the Romulans and their immediate neighbours, or civil conflicts, or police actions etc.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 - 01:23 pm: Edit

In the Alpha Octant, most of the (non-Jindarian) species had yet to develop any kind of faster-than-light travel. The Vulcans, Rigellians, and Andorians were star-faring powers; relations between the Vulcans and Andorians were often tense, though had not quite reached the point of open warfare by the time the Terrans and Vulcans made First Contact. Meanwhile, the Klingons were still working on reaching the derelict Old King starships left in orbit of Klinshai. The Romulans were consolidating the Romulan and Reman systems as their twin capitals, while refining their non-tactical warp drive from the ancient standard used during the Exodus to the "regular" impulse drives seen elsewhere in known space. While over in the far reaches of the Alpha Sector, five species which in later years would unite to form the Inter-Stellar Concordium were still locked in the Resource Wars, and remained trapped by their collective failure to develop more reliable impulse drives.

In the Omega Octant, most of the (non-Jindarian) species had yet to develop any kind of faster-than-light travel, so far as we know at this point. The ancient Loriyill were at this time keeping to themselves among the Home Stars. The Chlorophon home world was just beginning to re-invest in star travel, under the influence of Rutilusferox, who in Y1 was captain of the recently-commissioned White Pine frigate Nadir. The Probr were approaching the last years of their two-century-long feudal clashes, as they struggled through what amounted to a "crash course" in running a star-faring civilization. The Hivers may have already been in space at this point, though their slow pace of innovation kept them from expanding too far outward. While the pre-Cataclysm Zosmans were methodically continuing their pace of colonization, establishing one new planet at a time before working on the next.

In the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, several of the (non-Jindarian) species had yet to develop any kind of faster-than-light travel. The Chomak, who had possessed some sort of star-faring capacity for several thousand years at this point, occupied the northern provinces of the "main" region of the LMC. Further south, the Jumokians had just developed speed-10 tactical warp and had begun founding the Jumokian League. The survivors of the first Maghadim civil war were only just beginning to re-establish their species across the Core region.

In the Triangulum Galaxy, the Imperium and the Frigian Kingdom were perhaps the greatest off rivals in this galaxy as of Y1, with both empires squabbling over the ruins of the Old Empire, of which their respective species had once belonged as subjects. (Think of how the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France once contested the legacy of the Western Roman Empire on pre-spaceflight Earth.) Meanwhile, the Helgardians - who themselves had been displaced to "this" universe at around the same time as the Annihilation War which brought down the Old Empire - were signing the first of what would become several "Warp Pacts", in the hope that this would lead to a buffer zone of friendly star-faring realms in the vast unoccupied zone between the Helgardian Stronghold on the one side, and the Imperium and Frigians on the other. Alas, the Helgardians somehow failed to double-check just who they were dealing with, as this first Warp Pact would unleash the ferocious Mallaran Empire upon M33.

Also, the Andromedans were busy establishing an Intergalactic Trunk Line towards the Lesser Magellanic Cloud - and possibly running ITL routes towards other galaxies as well. Or so the current speculation goes; we don't know if the Andros were targeting some other satellite galaxy, which would them act as a "nexus zone" from which the invasion of the LMC was them launched. Actually, I've been wondering if whatever prevented the Andros from going to the Milky Way directly might also cause trouble for them in Andromeda itself; as in, perhaps the "starting point" for the ITL had to be in one (or more) of M31's own satellite galaxies. But anyway...

And to look over at M81, it does appear that some of the Tribunal expeditions to other galaxies were running into their own problems. For example, the Fire in the Deep fiction and scenario in Captain's Log #41 speculates on the fate of the Hive Ship Star of Redemption, by suggesting that it was running into forces being launched towards M81 itself by the Juggernaut Empire. So, perhaps the Seltorin Suzerainty back in the home galaxy has a number of extra-galactic threats of its own to consider, along with the various Nebuline and High Pirate Band forces at large across M81 itself?

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Monday, May 04, 2020 - 02:38 pm: Edit

Anybody know what the story is for the invention of shields?

In Module Y1 the Gorns appear to have invented (discovered, reverse-engineered, whatever) shields in Y50. There's some ambiguity since the line is actually "All of these [ships] received the new shield technology about Y50." I've taken this to mean that prior to Y50 the Gorn had no shields, and after Y50 the Gorn had shields, but it could equally be interpreted as "the Gorn possessed primitive shields before Y50, but after Y50 adopted the new, modern shields."

The Paravians on the other hand have this said of them in the same module: "Paravians apparently always had shields and never used armor." Implying that they were operating in Y1 (the year) with sublight shielded ships.

The rest of the factions don't have anything specifying one way or the other as to when their shields became available (unless I missed it). My understanding is that the armour-clad ships operated by the Federation and others were armour-clad because they lacked shields, but I don't think this is actually stated anywhere.

The reason I find this puzzling is that J14.226 reads "The large size of bombers meant that they could not fit inside the warp field of a ship, and lacking shields of their own (unlike interceptors or PFs) would be destroyed if held on a mechlink by a ship going faster than speed 32. Normal shuttles are small enough to fit inside a ship's warp field, making shuttle mechlinks possible." and seems to imply that in order to travel at high warp, a vessel needs to have shields.

So, I'm confused.

When the first human translight craft met up with the Vulcans in year Y1 was the meeting between unshielded craft or not? If so, can ships travel at high warp without shields or not?

And, just out of curiousity, do we have dates for the different factions' adoption of shields?

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, May 04, 2020 - 03:34 pm: Edit

I tend to work from the theory that shielding of some sort happens soon after the introduction of warp drive for most folks, inasmuch as something is needed to keep small bits of debris from punching rather unfortunate holes through the vessel when it hits them at transluminal speeds (because no matter how good your armor is, it's going to have an issue with much of anything hitting it that fast).

Once basic navigational shielding such as described above is operational, advancing to tactical shielding probably happens not long after first hostile contact with Something Else...because military conflicts have a way of driving innovation. Some crafty engineer decides to funnel warp power through a jury-rigged nav-shield generator, it works (more or less), and the R&D folks back home build upon it.

By Joe Carlson (Jrc) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 02:50 pm: Edit

SVC,

Do you think sometime this year we could have the fast battleships and fast battleship-SCS SSDs and Shapeways minis?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Maybe. I need to talk with Petrick and Jean about where to print them. Perhaps another R module. That gets into the die cut counter problem I am trying to solve.

By Joe Carlson (Jrc) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 06:00 pm: Edit

Thanks. Fist I and many others what to see you have a successful surgery.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 08:32 pm: Edit

That depends on when they reopen the surgical centers. Given no further spikes maybe 1 or 8 June.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, May 21, 2020 - 02:13 pm: Edit

I'm looking for a peice of artwork called Daughters of Franz Joseph. Anyone know where that's posted??? Thanks!!


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, May 25, 2020 - 03:19 pm: Edit

I recall seeing a list of historical scenario but can't find it. Was that posted on-line? I know someone (Ryan Opel ??) made a searchable spreadsheet and was able to extract information for me.

I'm curious to see if there any historical scenarios set in Y154-Y155 during the Second Federation-Romulan War, and also in Y156 during the Second Federation-Klingon War.


Garth L. Getgen