Shawn, Gurps Federation, Romulan, and Klingon are all very good sources and will give you a ton of ideas. Read Garth's link to the timeline above. Great source. The Federation established its border (the big circle) to the disagreement of its neighbors about Y102, IIRC. The Federation did not have enough intel in the Early Years on the Romulan form of government (or even what they looked like!). I am unable to definitively answer your question on the Type-R plasmas, except perhaps to say, maybe the Federation encountered the Type-R earlier (courtesy of the Vulture dreadnought class), but the affected ship(s) did not survive to report the experience. Other than a character or two, I don't remember any Tellarite-focused fiction. Updated Old-style CLs were in service to some point in the General War, with at least one story in an early Captain's Log with the type defending the Federation against Romulans. And lastly, if possible, you might want to get your story up to at least the Middle Years (150-160ish?) to have a greater chance of publication. IMO. Of course, if the story idea absolutely has to be set in the Early Years, make it a darn good one!

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, August 07, 2022 - 10:10 am: Edit

I's worth noting that, as mentioned in GURPS Federation, there is a significant difference between "open" societies such as the United Federation of Planets and the Confederation of the Gorns, and "closed" societies like the Klingon and Romulan empires, in terms of how the sort of information provided in the various Prime Directive sourcebooks is, or is not, presented in-universe.

Much of the information which the UFP freely provides about itself would be considered state secrets by the Klingons or Romulans. For example, while a Federation citizen (or a foreign visitor in Federation space) can go to a bookstore and buy an atlas of the UFP fresh off the shelf, the Feds were convinced for years - if not decades - that the Klingon colony planet of Klegarine (in F&E hex 1611) was the Klingon home world!

Not only were the Klingons less forthcoming about the Empire itself; they weren't in a hurry to share info about third parties, either. The Klingons knew much more about the Tholians, and of the area of space covered by the Holdfast (which of course had been Imperial territory prior to the Tholians' arrival), than they let on to the Federation. Plus, they could at any time have chosen to inform the Federation what they knew about the Romulans; for their own reasons, they refrained from doing so. (They did provide a degree of actionable intelligence during the First Federation-Kzinti War, yet this was no doubt due to their seeing an political and/or military advantage in this instance that did not apply elsewhere.)

While some of these knowledge gaps might be filled courtesy of the Federation's various foreign intelligence services, the Klingons' Empire Security Service has a formidable enough counter-intelligence capacity to make this a difficult proposition.

-----

As for the Second Federation-Romulan War, the cover story in Captain's Log #43 features a Star Fleet old heavy cruiser which found itself encountering plasma-armed Romulans at about the same time as the more famous incident dramatized for tri-video elsewhere along the border.

Prior to this, it's worth bearing in mind that while Star Fleet and the Federation government had little to no real knowledge as to who and what the Romulans were, or what kind of technology they had developed in the century and more since the end of the First Fed-Romulan War, the Orion pirates had much more... shall we say "first-hand" knowledge about what was going on over on the far side of the Neutral Zone.

How much of this knowledge was passed on to the government of the Orion Enclave remains an open topic of debate - but since sharing such data with the Federation at large would have raised some awkward questions for the Orion government to answer, it's little wonder that they chose to keep whatever data they had on the Romulans to themselves.

-----

Also, I would agree with the recommendation to get the Federation Master Starship Book. It, among other things, covers the various iterative steps and technological leaps which brought the old Terran light cruiser through the Early and Middle Years, up to the standard seen in the Alpha Octant by the onset of the General War.

Although, if you happened to wonder how the old Terran designs (CL and POL) found themselves branching off along new design directions elsewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy, I might suggest reading the 2011 edition of the Omega Master Rulebook, as well as the "update" file for SFB in Captain's Log #53...

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Sunday, August 07, 2022 - 05:27 pm: Edit

I'm curious as to what the Federation knew about the Lyrans, Hydrans and WYN given that they had no common borders nor did they share borders with any allied or neutral powers (prior to the signing of the Articles of Agreement).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, August 07, 2022 - 05:58 pm: Edit

There would be enough trade and diplomatic contact to know as much as any of you know about, say, Poland or Turkey.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 10:29 am: Edit

What's the Federation equivalent of Google?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 02:12 pm: Edit

Froogle?

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 04:35 pm: Edit

That sounds more like a search engine for saving money.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 05:40 pm: Edit

Bing.

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 05:47 pm: Edit

Froogle should be the search engine for the Gorn legislature given their reputation.

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 06:51 pm: Edit

Don't the Feds run Starfleet Boondoggle?

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 07:00 pm: Edit

Why didn't the Orions tell the Federation the Romulans were ex-Vulcans (for a price, of course)?

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 07:57 pm: Edit

Perhaps they did? I could see such information being restricted to the highest levels of government as it would be a political bombshell. No way to know how the public might respond or how it would affect bilateral relations between the Vulcans and other Federation member states. Also, if the source of the information became known, it might give credence to Romulan claims that the Orion presence in Romulan space was sanctioned by the Federation to gather intelligence or destabilize the Romulan state (and perhaps there was some truth to that).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 10:25 pm: Edit

Shhhh, Doug, you're too close to the truth. Now, you must be eliminated. So sad, you had shown so much promise...

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, August 09, 2022 - 09:31 am: Edit

That would be a waste.

May be the Klingons could find a place for Douglas in one of their prison worlds (you know the ones, they often refer to them as “Worker Paradise Facilities!”)

By Douglas Saldana (Dsal) on Tuesday, August 09, 2022 - 12:27 pm: Edit

I have arranged for the classified files to be sent to the Beta Omicron Observer and the New New York Times is the event of my disappearance.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, August 09, 2022 - 01:15 pm: Edit

What!?!

They can disappear you every day with the publication of the daily New York Times!?!

Talk about making things easy!

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, August 09, 2022 - 06:14 pm: Edit

Nobody reads the Beta Omicron Observer, and nobody believes the New New York Times. In other words, nice knowing you.....


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Guthridge (Jeff_Guthridge) on Saturday, September 17, 2022 - 05:56 pm: Edit

When is the earliest (and which race was first?) could shuttle/fighter Warp Booster packs could have been on the drawing board/on a scanner darkly?

Specifically, when the R&D boys were playing with the concept, not when they could be potentially found in field tests.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Saturday, September 17, 2022 - 09:42 pm: Edit

That's one of those things, Jeff, that could have been in the works in one form or another for decades before finally finding a stable, workable solution. The slow speed of shuttlecraft was a longstanding problem, one that the Hydrans certainly wrangled with from the days of the Stinger-0, and the Kzinti from the earliest AS prototypes.

By Jeff Guthridge (Jeff_Guthridge) on Saturday, September 17, 2022 - 10:40 pm: Edit

Hmmmm, well, infantile excrement contingencies…..

Ive got a story/weekender scenario hook and I’m trying to date it…. Originally I was thinking turn of middle to modern era (Y160 +-) through to when a special logistical operation could delivery around a thousand Type-IM drones for a special operation. (But pre general war refits)

I was considering pushing it back to Y140 but that produces more trouble than it solves with Desron Lolipop being the retreat force while the OpFor has to overhaul them fighting a retrograde withdrawal.

I guess what I looking for is when feels right for a date when it’s plausible for speed 20 drones to be obtainable, and be too early for WBPs

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, September 18, 2022 - 09:44 am: Edit

Jeff,

While not a specific answer to your question from the first paragraph of (J5.0) Warp Booster Packs (WBPs) were available for fighters from about Y180 and were used by most fighters and shuttles.

If you use the information from the year in service explanation, "one or more prototypes may have existed 1-2 years previously."

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Sunday, September 18, 2022 - 06:53 pm: Edit

Jeff,

Speed 20 drones (FD10.65) are limited (FD10.63) in Y165 (perhaps some sp20 may be available from Y163).

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Tuesday, March 07, 2023 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Have the heavy weapons used by Wasp People of Vereb IV ever been described?

Do we know if they use some specific heavy weapon on their ships such as photons or disruptors, or something unique to them, or is that not something that has ever been fleshed out?

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Tuesday, March 07, 2023 - 07:59 pm: Edit

Shawn,

Never been fleshed out as far as I know.

Ryan

By Randy Green (Hollywood750) on Wednesday, March 08, 2023 - 05:19 pm: Edit

Rumor has it that they pack a real sting, though.