If you mean the master starship books, yes, we always planned to do them all. We had an interruption in that the guy doing them got sicker and sicker all last fall until he had a stroke New Years Eve and wont be back to work until 1 June.

By Steve Stewart (Stevestewart) on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 - 09:36 am: Edit

I'd buy Master Scenario books (I bought the Fed Cdr scenrio books too). I like the idea of "volumes" too.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 - 06:11 pm: Edit

Love the Master StarShip Books and do look forward to the rest of them

But do think of the saying, "Nothing makes food taste better than hunger and anticipation."

SPP doing them when HE feels better will make them all the more enjoyable.

(Okay, I hope to have the full collection before 2050, but that's just me...)

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Thursday, March 31, 2022 - 06:43 pm: Edit

I don't see a "game announcement" section so I'll put this here. We're having our monthly game on either the 9th or 10th here in Frisco, Texas. We're still hammering down the day. It's been every second Sunday for a while but we might start alternating to give people a chance to make it when they couldn't otherwise do Sundays.

If you're near the area, let me know. We're always looking for more folks. :-)

By Charles Gray (Cgray45) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 04:00 am: Edit

You know, I just found the most terrifying cargo ships in the game. We ran a little game with the Andromedan cargo ships from C3A. They may not hav emuch in the way of firepower, but they're tough, and most importantly the displacement device makes it easy to disrupt convoy raids.

then there's the fact that you don't know until you get close if they're just carrying cargo pods, or if they have MWPs, satellite ships,or if you're using the other conjectoral units, a Plasma R pod just waiting for your attacking ship to get close...

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Friday, April 29, 2022 - 10:02 am: Edit

Is there a rule that states heavy fighters have 6 control channels? I looked through J10 but could not find anything on control channels for heavy fighters.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, April 29, 2022 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Ken, you're looking for (J10.44), which does specifically note that heavy fighters can control up to six seeking weapons (and accept transfers from other units).

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Saturday, April 30, 2022 - 09:45 am: Edit

Thank you, don't see how I missed that.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Saturday, April 30, 2022 - 10:04 am: Edit

Follow up question on Bombers. In "(J14.233) Bombers use the same rules as heavy fighters (J10.4) for launching seeking weapons or firing direct-fire weapons ..."

I would assume that the reference to (J10.4) would also imply that (J10.44) would apply to the number of seeking weapons a bomber can control. The reason I ask is that (J14.233) is specific for launching seeking weapons versus launching and controlling seeking weapons.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Saturday, April 30, 2022 - 12:03 pm: Edit

Correct. As a note, the provisions for fighter pods (J14.231) can give bombers a leg up in this department.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, May 01, 2022 - 10:34 am: Edit

An interesting effect of (J10.44), is that there are a number of heavy fighters and bombers that have more than six seeking weapons, but they are limited to only being able to control up to six.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Sunday, May 01, 2022 - 12:13 pm: Edit

True. That said, they're not necessarily about launching everything they have as fast as possible. Remember, as bombers are ground-based only, there's considerably time spent climbing up from a planet's surface (and then returning back down) per sortie; the longer they can productively loiter per sortie, the better. Carefully timed seeking weapon waves allow them to do exactly this, keeping a steady hail of drones (or plasma) flying across the map.

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Sunday, May 01, 2022 - 05:26 pm: Edit

Hmmm, the question should hve been 'Can they launch more than six??'

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 - 02:15 pm: Edit

Captain's Log #32 has SSDs for Vudar medium/heavy bombers and bomber bases, and it has an "R section" entry for both bombers (R17.B1, and R17.B2).

The bombers aren't listed in G3, and nowhere in the Captain's log is there a data summary of their speed, BPV, etc.

The lack of stats isn't a problem since they have summary boxes on the SSDs, but I'm left with a question. What is the official abbreviated name of these bombers?

Normally the stat summary settles the question (the ISC bomber and heavy bomber are BMR and HBMR, the Kzinti bombers are BMR, ABMR, VBMR, and HBMR, other nations have more unique names like the Tholian S-H, or the Hydran SK-1, SK-2, etc).

Are the Vudar bombers just called "medium bomber" and "heavy bomber?" If so, would their abbreviated names just be BMR and HBMR?

Were they given cool particle-themed names in some other product?

By Caleb Wynn (Sidewynnder) on Friday, May 13, 2022 - 01:45 pm: Edit

Are there any ongoing games in the Denver, CO area? I'd like to find local opponents, if possible. I have been playing online, which is fun, but not the same as face to face.

Also, is module D2 still worth picking up, or is it mostly a collector's item a this point?

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Saturday, May 14, 2022 - 12:40 pm: Edit

Above & Beyond East [ABE] and Above and Beyond West [ABW] has a vacancy in each campaign.
ABE needs a Romulan Admiral and ABW needs a Lyran Admiral.

ABE is currently fighting out battles for T12 [Roms have 4 battles to resolve] and ABW just finished T11 and about to submit T12 orders.

Please note AB is a play test campaign. With input from the Admirals and onlookers, the rules are shaping up to be quite nice !!

Once AB has run its course [hoping to get 25-30 turns in !], I will launch the Time Wars campaign applying the AB final rules set.

Both campaigns[ABE and ABW] were started back in Nov of 2020.

Be prepared for a lot of battles as the rules do not allow for an easy escape.
We do have a stable of captains for hire should RL happen.

If interested, please ping me at my email.

Thanks.
Frank

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, May 15, 2022 - 11:09 am: Edit

Caleb,

I think it has some good information in it, especially if you have not used or have not played against a particular ship. I think the tactics are known by most people and you will see variations of those tactics.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Sunday, May 15, 2022 - 02:31 pm: Edit

We have found 2 Admirals.
Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Thursday, May 26, 2022 - 02:25 pm: Edit

Anybody know where I can read about Andomedan occupation?

I'm looking to learn what is canon about what happens to the occupied populations.

I'm looking to answer these kinds of questions: Are they exterminated? Are their populations decimated, and their infrastructure destroyed, but without the goal of total extermination? Are they enslaved? What do Andros use the planets for? Are there primary resource-extraction operations set up? Are there manufacturing facilities set up? Etc.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, May 26, 2022 - 03:54 pm: Edit

I'm fairly certain that this very question was answered in one of the Q&A entries in a recent issue of Captain's Log.

The only species in known space which the Andromedans made a point of exterminating on sight were the Uthiki of the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, as formally published in Star Fleet Battles Module C5. Although no-one who isn't an Andromedan knows exactly what it was that led the Andros to single the Uthiki out in particular.

That said, it is also noted that most of the former Eneen subject species - who had been corralled into reservations by the Eneen themselves prior to the Andromedan conquest - had become virtually exterminated by the time of Operation Unity. In this case, it seems more a case of malign neglect rather than outright xenocide, in that their population collapse was more a by-product of the Andros' actions as opposed to being a goal in and of itself.

It's noted in the R-section writeups for several of the Andromedan small ground bases in SFB Module C3 the sheer extent to which the Andros can extract resources from occupied planets, and/or transfer seemingly unrelated items from one planet to another.

But then, for those unfortunates in the Omega Octant faced with the prospect of having your home world be occupied by the Andromedans or be drained of life by the Souldra (either incrementally or all at once), it might be the lesser of two evils, if only due to the odds being somewhat higher of there being enough of your planet and its people left to be liberated were the tide to be eventually turned against these invaders.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Thursday, May 26, 2022 - 05:14 pm: Edit

There was also a reference, I believe it was in the description of Andromedan Small Ground Agro Stations, to Andromedan agricultural practices rendering huge swaths of land into dust bowls. This would suggest gross ignorance of biological, botanical, and ecological sciences, or a callous disregard for them.

Would local sentient beings be collateral casualties to this? I would suspect that would be an all-too-common occurance.

Where things might get REALLY bad is in how the Andromedans felt about the people being hurt. Would they treat them with an emotionless ruthlessness and actively work to exterminate them (so partisan resistance doesn't interfere with their operations) or would they be sadistic about it and slowly hunt the locals to near extinction for sport while letting starvation do its damage as well.

By Randy Green (Hollywood750) on Thursday, May 26, 2022 - 09:26 pm: Edit

I would think active destruction until all resistance collapses. Then ruthless exploitation of resources... until it's time to move on to the next target.

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Monday, May 30, 2022 - 03:17 pm: Edit

I have another question for the experts.

I have a vague sense of the Xorkaelian invasion occurring in Y210, but I can't find any published support for this being the case.

After looking through the printed timelines such as this one, I looked at the Memory Alpha wiki page for the Star Fleet Universe. The Y210 reference wasn't there (but I could have sworn that it was at one point!).

Turning to Google, I came upon this weird web page which appears to be an automatically scraped version of the Memory Alpha page from years ago. And there it is! The reference I remember!

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Past that point, there has not been much information published in any SFU game, though there are references to a second generation of X-Technology and Trade Wars in Y205,[18] and an invasion of the Alpha Octant by the Xorkaelians in Y210.

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While the Xorkaelian assault will no doubt take centre stage in Y210 (which the GSX Feynman has a role in uncovering, according to Captain's Log #41), there is a note in Prime Directive Federation about a case of serious diplomatic bungling by Chairman Tinian Bock which almost led to a new war with the Klingons, some time between Y210 and Y215. (Perhaps this "incident" could be a good opportunity to get some squadron-sized X2-ship encounters written up.)

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NCC-1824 Feynman (GSX)
Built in Y202, this was the ship that first alerted Star Fleet Command of the impending Xorkaelian invasion. The ship survived the encounter and later fought in action against the Xorkaelians. It is not clear if this was the last ship of the class, or if future vessels were built.

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By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, May 30, 2022 - 03:40 pm: Edit

I wouldn't be in a hurry to consider anything posted to Memory Alpha regarding the Star Fleet Universe as being a reliable source in and if itself.

I don't have my copy of Captain's Log #27 to hand, but there is an article in that issue which outlined the SFU Milky Way Galaxy map. I don't recall if the Y210 date was first listed there or not.

For what it's worth, the Y210 date is also marked in Captain's Log #49's A Brief History of the Andromedan War, as well as in the Voyages of Discovery article in Captain's Log #51. In both cases, however, I was going by a data point posted beforehand... somewhere or other.

Although, the Xorkaelians are also noted (briefly) in the "revision two" version of the A Call to Arms: Star Fleet core rulebook, though the exact date at which their invasion of the Alpha Octant is set to kick off is not stated. (That is the first book to formally refer to their empire as the "Xorkaelian Tyranny", however.)

Also, so far as the "future history" of the Alpha Octant post-Y205 is concerned: while there are a few hints here and there currently in print, it likely won't be until Module X2 - and/or a subsequent Xorkaelian module, should they be split off into one - is (or are) published before that era of Alpha Octant history is outlined in more detail. Or where we might get "official" word on how the logistics behind the invasion itself are going to work.

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - 12:10 pm: Edit

Thank you for the citations Gary!

Reading through these references gives some insight as to the coming Xorkaelian invasion in the timeline and confirms the Y210 date.

CL#27 has a map of the galaxy in Y214 and has this passage:

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The Xorkaelians are the ultimate in Evil Enemy Empires. They enslave six entire sectors, and the sentient races there could only wish for the kinder, gentler, life of the Klingon Subject Races. The Xorkaelians are ruthless and just plain mean; they consider war and combat to be the first and only choice upon meeting another race. They never negotiate, never deal, never make treaties. Xorkaelian raiders were fairly rare until Y210 when they began appearing in large numbers. They may have developed their new technologies to fight Andromedans and then launched a xenophobic war of aggression after the Alpha Octant ended the Andromedan Invasion.

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"You've all read the Feynman's reports. The Xorkaelian Tyranny - an empire based on the far side of the Milky Way - has decided to make war upon our homes in the Alpha Octant. But while many of you may wish to rush home to fight the new invaders, we cannot abandon our efforts against the Andromedans here in the Cloud. Indeed we must expand our survey operations both here and beyond, lest we remain ignorant of what lies behind the curtain of unexplored space."

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All of that [the muted effect of X2 technology on the LMC] changed when reports of the Xorkaelian assault of Y210 first crossed the distance between the Milky Way and the LMC. The prospect of an invading force capable of launching long-range strikes from the opposite side of the galaxy greatly unsettled matters in a region only gradually catching its breath in the wake of the Andromedan occupation.

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To a person, the Sakharov's officers and crew eagerly volunteered to go, enticed by the prospect of uncovering a new galactic octant for the first time. While the risks of sending a lone ship unsupported across such a vast distance led to concerns among the admiralty, the more cautious senior officers were swayed by the need to ensure that neither the Andromedans nor the Xorkaelians were using this region to further their own machinations. No other empire wanted to risk their ships on what most saw as a foolhardy suicide mission.

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The crossing of the galactic energy barrier was another concern. While the barrier itself was deemed to be navigable (or at least as a comparable trial to the crossings into and out of the Alpha Octant), the real question was what surprises lay in store once the ship made the crossing. Would there be a fully armed Andromedan battle station (with a monitor and an attendant brood of mobile weapon platforms in support) waiting to ambush them? Or, for that matter, might a Xorkaelian task force have gotten there first looking to expand their Tyranny to this distant region of space? And if neither was the case, might there be a third (or fourth, or fifth) party lying in wait to expel any unwanted outsiders?

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• The invasion begins in Y210. A maximalist interpretation of the invasion references would mean that the capital X capital I Xorkaelian Invasion occured in Y210, and was akin to the Y190 Andromedan Invasion. A minimalist interpretation would be that a Xorkaelian invasion occured in Y210, and that it was serious enough for the commanding officers of the Star Fleet forces stationed in the LMC to want to return to the Alpha Octant to defend their homes. The minimalist interpretation could peg this Y210 as the only invasion, or the first of a series of invasions (from CL27: "Xorkaelian raiders were fairly rare until Y210 when they began appearing in large numbers." ie: they started appearing in large numbers in Y210, and then continued appearing in large numbers afterwards), or the opening moves of a Xorkaelian War. The minimalist interpretation would read Y210 as being more like Y184 when the Andromedans escalated their activity by bringing Dominators to Alpha.
• As of Y212 the Xorkaelians were still threatening enough for the Sakharov's crew to reasonably fear ambush by a Xorkaelian task force.
• As of Y214 there has been no exchange of territory, meaning that the Alpha Octant fought off the Xorkaelians by this date or that the war was still ongoing, or that territorial conquest was not the goal of the war.
• The Xorkaelian invasion of Y210 and subsequent war with the Xorkaelians had no meaningful effect on the history of the Omega Octant. One could take this to mean that the Xorkaelians saw Alpha as uniquely threatening (or vulnerable, or delicious, or whatever) and made war on them and them alone.
• The Xorkaelians have the ability to launch strikes across the galaxy using some unknown method (crossing the core? wormholes? teleportation? magic?).
• The Xorkaelian invasion of Y210 spurred X2 tech to have an effect on the LMC. This may indicate Xorkaelian interference in The Cloud, or it could simply indicate the potential for Xorkaelian influence in The Cloud.