Thanks, all! I smell W in my future.

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Monday, December 19, 2022 - 11:19 am: Edit

What's your favorite starting hexes for duels? We've always played the opposite corners defined in SG1 (4203 and 0730) but I've started leaning towards preferring the middle of the map like in the tournament setup (1701 and 2530). You're still far enough to dance but close enough to get to knife fighting range if both players want it. You're even far enough to start dancing with proxy photons if that's your plan.

With SG1's setup you start much, much farther apart and spend the first chunk of the first turn just moving straight towards each other. That's true even if you want to get to range 30. It takes 14 impulses to get to range 15 if both players are going speed 31.

I'm not talking about tournament rules, just starting hexes.

By John M. Williams (Jay) on Monday, December 19, 2022 - 12:15 pm: Edit

I prefer 2101 and 2130. You're close enough to engage T1 if you want to, but also far enough away to dance if you have multi-turn weapons that need charging. I agree with you that starting in the corners typically means the first turn isn't going to be that interesting as both sides typically have too many weapons to charge to get within reasonable firing range.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Monday, December 19, 2022 - 01:22 pm: Edit

For a one off patrol scenario I'm all for getting to the action in a hurry.
In a campaign I prefer the distance to weigh options.

By Randy Green (Hollywood750) on Monday, December 19, 2022 - 06:11 pm: Edit

I prefer shorter, bloodthirstier,games. 1701 and 2530 for single ships. 4203 and 0730 do work fine for fleets. Almost always, a fixed map. WS-3 in all cases... I've got other stuff to do, and I don't want to waste a turn charging weapons on approach. A 2-3 hour game is about as long as I can spare time for. Normally.

Just my thoughts.

By Geoffrey Clark (Spartan) on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 - 10:05 am: Edit

Hello Guys,

I'm looking for a Fleet Battle Tournament set of rules, that I think appeared in a Captain's Log years ago. It was a fixed map the size of four standard maps in a rectangle ... so 84 x 60. I think it was Y175, but I don't remember the rules on EW, drones, fighters, mines, etc.

I'm thinking to rekindle this SFB Fleet Tournament with Y180 fast drones, warp-booster-packs, plasma sabot, plasma carronade fleets, but I want to reference these older rules to build upon those rules.

Does anyone know where they were published? Thanks!

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 - 06:37 pm: Edit

Look at Captain's Log #15, pg 45, Star Fleet 500-BPV Tournament

By Geoffrey Clark (Spartan) on Wednesday, December 21, 2022 - 02:18 am: Edit

Yes, that's it, thanks a lot!

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Wednesday, December 21, 2022 - 07:53 pm: Edit

Is there a timeframe for the ISC Master Starship book?

By Jonathan Jones (Jej1997) on Wednesday, December 28, 2022 - 07:28 pm: Edit

Hi, I'm new to SFB and currently playing through the PDF version of the Cadet Training Manual. (I bought the dead-tree version but can't wait for it to arrive in the mail!)

Is there a list of known errata for the various books? I have found several errors and would be happy to contribute them to such a list.

By Dal Downing (Rambler) on Wednesday, December 28, 2022 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Jonathan Jones l

See the topic below.

Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: After Action Reports (Finished Products)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, December 28, 2022 - 11:01 pm: Edit

Also, there is a set of errata PDFs listed here. Although I'm not sure how long it's been since those files were themselves updated to account for more recent errata notes.

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Thursday, December 29, 2022 - 01:11 pm: Edit

The one tip I wish I had before starting SFB:
Buy the C modules before you buy the R modules.
I didn't know what "new worlds" meant, but I knew what battleships and cruisers were.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Thursday, December 29, 2022 - 03:12 pm: Edit

To expand on Shawn's tip a bit:

The SFB product line is large and modular, and there's no one single "right way" to explore it, but there is definitely a good path to on-board if you do decide this is the game for you.

The Basic Set is the core of the game which everything else builds from. It features the empires seen on screen in TOS or TAS (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Kzinti, Gorn, Tholian, Orion pirates) and a basic selection of ships for each.

Advanced Missions is the next stop, extending the rules from the Basic Set into more advanced and unusual cases, and adding a BUNCH more ships for those empires.

From there, I recommend Modules C1 (New Worlds I) and C2 (New Worlds II) which add the Hyrdrans, Lyrans, and WYN (C1) and the Andromedans, the ISC, and a new flavor of Tholian ships. These two modules give you the rules and core fleets for the significant SFB-specific empires.

After that, next stop is Modules R2, R3, and R4, which are all just more ships for four of the various empires from above.

BS+AM, C1, C2, and R2-4 together gives you a very solid breadth and depth of rules, empires, and ships that from there you can just start expanding in any direction you feel like pretty comfortably.

One final note: there are several Master series books of various topics - these are compilations of material from across many modules and intended for the convenience of veteran players, not as alternatives to the various modules (e.g. the Master Starship books are just descriptions, with no SSDs). With that said, getting the Master Rulebook is something to consider earlier on: it's *super* handy to have such as a single consolidated PDF, and rules for material that you can't use yet because you don't have the module(s) in question you can just view as previews

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, December 31, 2022 - 05:58 pm: Edit

There is the question as to which aspect of the Star Fleet Universe is more appealing to you: the presence of the "TV empires" (as different as each of those are to their post-1979 Franchise counterparts); or the prospect of new species, new frontiers, and new dynamics which are native to ADB's ever-evolving creation.

For example, I had played the first Starfleet Command PC game from Taldren - but it was not until I encountered the Inter-Stellar Concordium in the second game before I was motivated to jump into the SFU. Although, it took a while at first for me to "un-learn" some of the Taldren-isms which had been baked into the SFC games that were not a part of the "regular" SFU, such as the Meskeen species Taldren invented for their take on the ISC.

So, if you find yourself looking to see what the broader SFU has to offer, you can go in a number of different directions: "forward" (to first-generation X-ships), "back" (to the Early Years era), "in parallel" (to the "what-ifs" of Module C6 and Module R4J), and/or "outwards" (to Omega, the LMC, M81, Triangulum, or elsewhere).

Indeed, SFB itself has a number of "sibling" game systems on offer, not least of which being Federation Commander. The Venn diagram of SFB players to FC players only partially overlaps, but there is a "First Missions" PDF which might enable you to see some of the differences (and commonalities) for yourself.

By Jamey Johnston (Totino) on Saturday, December 31, 2022 - 06:28 pm: Edit

I (and my gaming group) _vastly_ favor what I will call "core" SFB. That is to say, the 12 (Federation, Gorn, Hydran, ISC, Klingon, Kiznti, LDR, Lyran, Romulan, Tholian, Orion, Wyn) powers/enclaves of our octant fighting in the Y170-Y185 range (give or take). I would say fully 80% (maybe more) of our games are either Y175 or Y180, specifically. Maybe 15% are set elsewhen in Y170-Y185 range, and the remaining 5% or less is "anything else" including years outside those ranges and/or other empires outside those 12.

The recent talk about Federation as a coalition has made me interested in perhaps poking around in the early years a bit more, but my excitement was curtailed a bit when I went to DriveThruRPG and could only find Y2 and Y3 available, and I don't want dead tree. So what I said above is unlikely to change until Y1 is in PDF, so I'll be keeping an eye out for that.

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Saturday, December 31, 2022 - 10:03 pm: Edit

There has been talk recently about the Federation as a coalition?
What did you mean by this Jamey?

By Jamey Johnston (Totino) on Saturday, December 31, 2022 - 10:30 pm: Edit

Look over in:
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board: STRANGE PLACES: Federation as an Alliance

Basic idea is, "What if the Federation never nationalized its fleet, and instead had member species ships, like Andorian, Terran, Vulcan, etc."

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Sunday, January 01, 2023 - 12:09 am: Edit

Nice, I'll check it out. I'd love the national fleets made modern.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Sunday, January 01, 2023 - 11:03 am: Edit

Back in the day my group was very particular. Each had their favs and simply wouldn't deviate. Fed, Gorn, Andro, Hydran, and Lyrans were about it. I loved the Kzinti, but they hated drones; I learned to rock with klingons (and Speed 8 drones).
These days there are 3 of us. Sometimes only 2. Hydran/Lyran is still one guy's go to option. Guy 2 likes Romulans and is interested in all the alternative stuff and open to trying anything new.
I still dig the Klingons, Kzinti, and Federation. But I'm obsessed with the Frax, the Borak, Nicozians, NPR (Hey, they got great ships. 360 photon. Need I say more?)
Also, I haven't yet but plan to get the LMC and all the Omega stuff. I'm all in. Just can't get enough.
I love the Y150 to Y165 stuff. It feels like playing TOS. I also want to name my children after PFs and run a X-ship Admirals Game (ambitious, I know).
I guess there are only 2 things I really want:
I want it all.
I want it now.
Happy new year!

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Sunday, January 01, 2023 - 11:51 am: Edit

For the most part we stick to the standard Alpha races. I've been playing so long that those can sometimes get old and I'd love a change. I don't do plasma much so ISC is my next race to try out. Never played 'em but interested in something different.

I'd love to get my group to play more Omega stuff. We played one game of Trobrin (him) vs. Loriyill (me) and I really enjoyed it. I love the idea of the completely new and novel systems there.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, January 01, 2023 - 04:13 pm: Edit

My understanding is that Module Y1 (and, for that matter, Module X1) would need a fair amount of ADB "design time" to be brought up to the current standards required for Alpha Octant SFB modules to be uploaded to Warehouse 23, DriveThruRPG, or Wargame Vault: not least in terms of adding in the infamous "Crawford Boxes" to each of the SSDs from those volumes.

Although, it's worth noting that the actual game rules needed to fly the W-, Y-, or X1-era ships from those volumes is covered in the 2012 SFB Master Rulebook, while the various Master Starship Books published to date have each empire's Early Years and X1-ship entries included in their respective volumes.

So, for example, if you have a PDF of the Module Y2 SD book from W23 (or DTRPG, or WV) and if you want to try, say, the early Federation ships in that volume, the rules and R-section notes required are in the MRB and the Federation Master Starship Book respectively.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, January 01, 2023 - 04:23 pm: Edit

In terms of considering something new: it might be worth reviewing what "new" features you as a player (or group) might find of interest, so as to decide upon which (if any) of them might fit the bill.

So, would notes like the ones below help any?

-----

Early Years: Three SFB Y-modules are set between the onset of tactical warp drive and the emergence of "modern" ships like the Federation CA or Klingon D6.

W-era ships typically have warp engines capable of fighting at Speed 16, whereas Y-era ships have Speed 24 warp engines. The Romulans are stuck with non-tactical warp (impulse) drive, whereas the Tholians arrive in this galaxy with "modern" ships.

Both the Federation and ISC have W-era hulls from their respective member planets, and Y-era hulls from "unified" navies.

Plus, there are two new species, the bird-like Paravians and the wolf-like Carnivons, which fought in this time period, yet which historically went extinct in the Alpha Octant prior to the "modern" era.

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Lost Empires: Want to know what the Paravian and Carnivon fleets would look like in the "modern" era?

Module C6 offers a range of Middle Years and General War-era units for both "lost empires", as well as F&E-scale hex maps showing how differently the Alpha Octant would look in such alternate timelines. (There is a free preview PDF for C6 on W23, DTRPG, and WV.)

As an adjunct to this, Module R4J offers a series of early warp Romulan hulls. One could well combine the "Mapsheet P" material from C6 and the "Shadow of the Eagle" data from R4J to give the Gorns and ISC plenty of trouble.

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Omega: In the Star Fleet Universe, the Alpha Octant is but one of five areas of the Milky Way in which "life as we know it" can thrive. Another of those regions, the vast and volatile Omega Octant, is home to a wide variety of new species, new empires, and new technologies, unlike those you'd find back in Alpha.

Well, not entirely. Want a "home away from home" to help you settle in? There's a series of displaced colony systems from various Alpha Octant empires which banded together to form the Federal Republic of Aurora. How about a "lost" Alpha faction which escaped to re-emerge as a deadly threat? There are the Paravians of Omega, as first previewed in Captain's Log #54. And if you are an Andromedan player, there is a full-scale invasion of Omega to wage - if a rival onslaught launched from the depths of the Alpha/Omega Void doesn't beat you to the punch.

But what about the local empires? Most of those use "metal-hull" ships built in the "traditional" manner, with a wide array of new phasers, new direct-fire and seeking weapons, plus new support systems to consider. Beyond those, there are two empires which use living ships, plus a number of "exotic" species with ship systems no "mundane" species can comprehend.

There are five SFB Omega modules currently in print, but the 2011 Omega Master Rulebook would be particularly recommended or anyone looking to delve beyond the Void into this wild area of space. Plus, there is some Omega playtest material in various issues of Captain's Log, to include the local "pirate" faction (the Zosman Marauders).

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LMC: Before they invaded the Alpha and Omega Octants, the Andromedans conquered the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. Yet before the conquest, this island galaxy was a unique and compelling setting in its own right - as outlined for SFB n Module C5.

In contrast to Omega, the LMC is a smaller and more streamlined setting. The Magellanic empires mainly use warp-tuned lasers in place of phasers; have two layers of shields instead of one; and (due to their smaller economies) lean more heavily on the use of Size Class 4 hulls.

There are five factions represented in C5: three Magellanic Powers (the Baduvai, Eneen, and Maghadim), one smaller power (the ill-fated Uthiki), and a local "pirate" faction (the Jumokians).

Operation Unity opens the door to sustained contact with the Alpha Octant; a later expedition n the Y210s leads to contact between the LMC and Omega.

-----

X-Ships: First-generation X-ships emerged in the Alpha Octant at the tail end of the General War. Yet while certain X1-ships would make a name for themselves in the subsequent ISC Pacification Campaign, it would not be until the Andromedan invasion before these new-technology hulls truly came into their own.

Module X1 introduces a variety of X1-ships for several Alpha Octant empires, though it has yet to be revised in order to factor in the quite substantial errata needed to fly these ships nowadays. Module X1R delves into things further, not least by providing the "X-Raiders" (X-carriers and X-PFTs) which led the charge against the Andromedan Rapid Transit Network.

As part of this, the Star Fleet advanced Galactic Survey Cruiser NCC-1821 USS Sakharov would enter the history books: sent to the LMC as part of Operation Unity, it would be assigned a ten-year sojourn in the LMC, before embarking upon an historic "five-year mission" to and from the Omega Octant in the Y210s.

But before any of this could happen, a squadron of Star Fleet X-ships had to put themselves on the line in order to avert a "dark future" of total Andromedan victory...

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Shapeways: while not strictly required to play Star Fleet Battles (or its sibling game Federation Commander) on the tabletop, it's worth noting the explosion of ships, bases, and other unit types which have been added to ADB's Shapeways storefront.

3788 scale minis match the "classic" Starline 2400 range; 3125 is the "Mongoose" scale used in Starline 2500; 7000 is the smaller "Elite" scale; 2500 (not to be confused with Starline 2500) is a larger "Prestige" scale; 285 is for larger shuttle and fighter minis; while Omni covers things which don't quite fit in other scales (such as starbases or space monsters).

Plus, as shown in this example, each ship entry has a free 3D viewer that can be used to get a closer look at the ship in question.

And on a side note: the Smooth Fine Detail Plastic material option is semi-translucent, which means you could leave it unpainted if you want it to represent a cloaked ship!

-----

There are yet further areas to explore (such as the M81 and Triangulum galaxies) plus the prospect of new technologies (X2-ships) and new threats (Xorkaelians) to be added in future. Just on the off chance you've seen the above list, and still want more to look forward to...

By Jeff Guthridge (Jeff_Guthridge) on Monday, January 02, 2023 - 02:44 pm: Edit

Just a note to make sure Gary was not clear. The Master Rule Book...

DOES NOT

...include anything past R0.8.

For the rules and references for ships and empires, one needs the dead-tree version of the Module or the Rulebook PDF and the SSD PDF which is a separate purchase (not all of the modules are available digitally yet).

The Master Starship books are currently limited to nine of the more popular empires. And there may be a few ships that have been released since the last revision of those Master Starship books too.

Sidebar: Not for the first time I've wished for a consolidated resource similar to how the Jeppensen approach plate subscription model worked before the digital revolution changed general aviation. Would you pay around $99/year (or more) for online access to every Ship in the ADB database, complete with the ability to 'check out' a limited number of files for use to print or use offline? (Yeah, I'm fairly sure I know what SVC will think about this idea.) I still wonder how many of the long time players would enjoy having access to such a resource so that they could just reference one place to find any given obscure ship and its associated description and details.

However, when you think about how many sets, modules, and supplements there are to a mature game engine that has around thirty years in its current edition is it any wonder that the newest players want to know what they absolutely need, what they can put off? Especially when the older and wiser players tend to have their own unique choices and preferences that are not frequently found in Basic or Advanced Missions.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, January 02, 2023 - 03:21 pm: Edit

While the above is true for the Alpha Octant "Master" books, its worth noting that the 2011 version of the Omega Master Rulebook includes all of the rules, OR-section entries, scenarios, tactical notes, and SIT entries - but not the SSDs - from the five currently-published SFB Omega modules, as well as from the Omega-related items printed in various issues of Captain's Log through to CL41.

Which, of course, means that any Omega-related material from more recent issues of Captain's Log is not included either.

-----

On a side note: for anyone who wants to focus on the Early Years setting in particular, there is a Module YG3 file available on W23, DTRPG, and WV; this consolidates the annexes from the three SFB Y-modules, and provides a combined Master Ship Chart for the various Early Years factions from said modules.