For several years, we have been updating all of the SFB products with all known corrections and updates. Steve Petrick has been doing this and was steadily churning out an updated module every 2-4 months, just depending on how tough each one was to do. But now, Steve is reduced to a nursing home and to doing things on a clipboard or the phone. A number of people (myself, Mike West, and Albert Beddow) are updating the rest of the manuals. I'm going to set up a master list of these projects here so that we can assemble from various sources the information that Steve Petrick had in his head.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:09 pm: Edit

Here is a list of all 12 books that need an update.

EASY KILLS

SILVER ANNIVERSARY RULEBOOK: It's possible that there are no updates for this, and if there are any I doubt it's a full page, but if anyone knows of one there will be a topic for you to tell us where to find it.

MODULE TR: So far as I know, Albert can just copy and paste the relevant rules from SILVER and this update can go to the PDF store.

MODULE R5: This one is ships only, so Albert could just copy the ship descriptions out of the MSSBs and we're done. Well, not quite, WYN MSSB and some of the higher number very minor empires are not done yet, so those would have to be done by SVC separately.

MODULE R7: This one is ships only, so Albert could just copy the ship descriptions out of the MSSBs and we're done. Well, not quite, WYN MSSB and some of the higher number very minor empires are not done yet, so those would have to be done by SVC separately.

MODULE R8: This one is ships only, so Albert could just copy the ship descriptions out of the MSSBs and we're done. Well, not quite, WYN MSSB and some of the higher number very minor empires are not done yet, so those would have to be done by SVC separately.

MODULE R10: This one mostly ships, so Albert could just copy the ship descriptions out of the MSSBs. WYN MSSB and some of the higher number very minor empires are not done yet, so those would have to be done by SVC separately. There are a very few rules that Albert could copy out of SILVER.

MODULE J2: This one mostly ships, so Albert could just copy the ship descriptions out of the MSSBs. WYN MSSB and some of the higher number very minor empires are not done yet, so those would have to be done by SVC separately. There are a very few rules that Albert could copy out of SILVER.

MODULE A+: I am not aware of any updates needed here but I'll open a topic for you to show me I missed something.

FULL-BORE MAJOR PROJECTS

MODULE K: Full-bore update of a major rules-ships-scenarios-SSDs project. Steve Petrick was working for this when his health took a dive.

MODULE Y1: Full-bore update of a major rules-ships-scenarios-SSDs project.

MODULE X1: Full-bore update of a major rules-ships-scenarios-SSDs project.

MODULE C4: Full-bore update of a major rules-ships-scenarios-SSDs project.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:13 pm: Edit

How to update a module

RULEBOOK
Transfer stuff from the SILVER anniversary rulebook.
Transfer stuff from the MSSBs. Update the few non-MSSB ships.
Check all caplogs for updates.
Scan BBS for updates.
Replace the scenario art. There probably aren't five scenario corrections in the entire rulebase.
Annexes: Check G3/G4, Caplog, and BBS.

SSD BOOK
General updates like advanced shuttles, Crawford boxes.
Specific corrections listed in CapLog and BBS.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:13 pm: Edit

If anyone has anything to add to the above, thinks I missed something, or whatever else, speak up.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:23 pm: Edit

I should comment that contributors to the project will get campaign ribbons, significant contributors will get free copies, and the very highest contributors might get medals or even a staff position.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:26 pm: Edit

Even the easy kills will take time. Albert has more jobs than just these things. Don't expect that all of the easy kills will be on the PDF store next month. Maybe by the end of the year we'll get some of them.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 11:19 pm: Edit

SFB Module F1 Jindarians, Module F2 Vudar, Module S1 Scenarios, Module S2 Scenarios, and the five Omega SSD Books have also not been updated but are probably lower priority.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 12:01 am: Edit

I don't know that there would be any updates for S1 and S2 other than art, and nobody would buy them. The Omega SSD books have a problem in that Bruce Graw had the only electronic copies and they were accidentally destroyed. So the only way to update those would be to do them over from blank paper. Omega doesn't have the kind of updates Alpha does, and very little errata, so I don't know that updates would ever be needed.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 02:15 am: Edit

Jessica, drop me an email to discuss having you update some SSDs for us.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 02:18 am: Edit

Mike West, drop me an email to discuss having you update some SSDs for us.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 07:06 am: Edit

I should note that when Module C5 was uploaded to Warehouse 23, it had its extensive errata list attached to the rulebook and SSD book PDFs; yet the actual rulebook and SSD book were not directly updated to incorporate said line items.

At the time, the Lesser Magellanic Cloud was deemed to be a lower priority update-wise, compared to modules for Alpha Octant empires.

Even so, on the off chance that anyone reading this is interested in taking on this module update-wise, a more properly integrated edition of it would be more than welcome!

-----

As for the Omega modules: MOVED TO OMEGA TOPIC

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 04:11 pm: Edit

I’d be up for taking a crack at integrating the C5 errata.

Gary, on your idea for the two-empire-at-time Omega reboot, I’d suggest moving the FRA out of the first one for one of the Maesrons’ enemies. Making these empires campaign capable means modules approaching the size of C6, and having them be paired enemies, at least at first, I think would be a better approach.

Also I think a look needs to be taken at the current “everyone has their own bespoke bases and other generic units” approach of Omega. As a fan of Omega since it dropped, it’s an idea that I certainly like, but ultimately is impractical in terms of design and playability - especially if the goal is campaign capability. Some empires will need their own bases and other units because their technology is just that different, but by and large I believe having Omega empires use the existing array of units would be the better approach. It will require some extra notes on handling all the flavors of phasers, how to adjust fighter and PF carrying units to suit the various squadron/flotilla sizes in use, and so on - but that’s a far smaller ask then designing a whole suite of bases, monitors, etc for every empire.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 04:19 pm: Edit

C5 isn't on the list, but I will make a spot for it. You don't need to integrate the errata, just find it all and put it in the topic. Moving those complex text documents from one computer to another almost always causes chaos.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 04:27 pm: Edit

Rodger that! And I know it’s not on the list and thus def a lower priority, just was following up on Gary’s mention of it.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 05:38 pm: Edit

SVC- I am in contact with Al and Jean.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 05:39 pm: Edit

I know that. They don't talk with anyone without my knowing.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 08:31 pm: Edit

Module R9 isn’t on the update list, is that intentional?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 09:16 pm: Edit

I couldn't tell you. It wasn't on the list of modules that the marketing and warehouse teams gave the design shop. I assumed that must mean it was updated already, but as it's not on W23, that might not be the case. Email Jean and ask HER if it should be on the list.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 09:38 pm: Edit

Will do!

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, June 26, 2025 - 09:09 am: Edit

I know that R9, which dropped in 2004 (a year after R10, interestingly enough), was one of the first products to include the Crawford Box. In that respect, it's possible that it was already considered to be "updated".

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Thursday, June 26, 2025 - 10:24 am: Edit

R9 has not been updated. The SSDs don't have the Advanced Admin Shuttle track boxes. Regular Admin Shuttles take 6 damage, Advanced Shuttles take 8 damage.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 26, 2025 - 03:54 pm: Edit

UPDATING AN SSD BOOK

I had a conversation with Steve Petrick just now. He's struggling with dialysis which is affecting his ability to speak. Here is what I got for "how to update an SSD book."

1. Add a Crawford Box.
2. Change to the advanced shuttle table.
3. Give carriers the most advanced fighter ignoring any weird types that only half a half dozen prototypes.
4. List all refits include those created by rules publish after the SSD and include a date for each refit. Ignore special cases where one or two ships got a refit early and just list the standard refit date for that refit.

Does anyone else know anything else Steve Petrick updates on one of these things?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 26, 2025 - 04:39 pm: Edit

UPDATE ON THE PROJECT

I checked with the warehouse manager (Mike Sparks) who said that R9 was not on the list because he was focusing on converting the books that are still hard copies from Dallas Offset that we printed 20 years ago. He then mentioned that D3 was another thing that needed updating.

I have spoken a bit with Mike West about getting started on the first SSD book update, but we need to get a bit farther on the "create a list of what to update" before he starts.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, June 26, 2025 - 05:23 pm: Edit

Steve, my apologies, I didn't see your tag of me above until Al was kind enough to give me a call and let me know; I'm talking with him now. I'm currently up to my eyeballs in stuff, and can't wedge in the time to do what you wanted, but I appreciate you thinking of me.

By Joe Carlson (Jrc) on Thursday, June 26, 2025 - 05:42 pm: Edit

SVC,

There may be point value adjustments like the Fed CVA going from 150 to the current 222.

The advanced shuttle track includes specialty shuttles like MRS, SWAC, HTS, GAS etc.