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	Archive through November 13, 2017	25		11/16 11:25am

In light of the FC: Lost Empires development project, one could in principle do Middle Years Ship Cards for the Carnivons and Paravians, based on the appropriate rules and SSDs in Star Fleet Battles Module C6. Which, in turn, might make doing Middle Years ships for the Inter-Stellar Concordium - such as the "CA-" shown in the 2016 revision to SFB Module C2 - more viable, as the various "Paravian timelines" in C6 draw the ISC into conflict with the Paravians and Romulans.

Plus, the likes of the Vudar have a handful of "unrefitted" hulls which would have been in service in this time period.


Outside of the Alpha Octant, most of the current crop of Omega SSDs in SFB are more or less equivalent to "Middle Years" hull types; it's not yet clear how the concept of "warp refits" lays out in the Omega Octant, though there are a couple of sample SSDs to that effect in Captain's Log #52. While SFB Module C5 offers a range of Middle Years-equivalent ships for use out in the LMC. (For that matter, the empires of the Triangulum Galaxy have something of a hybrid Early Years/Middle Years dynamic, prior to the installation of their respective refits.)

But then, if either the FC Omega or LMC projects were to progress any farther, or if M33 were to ever be gotten around to in FC terms, I suspect that the onus would be on getting their respective "Main Era" equivalents (or those which are to be found in the Air Force data tapes) up and running first - not least since that would make it easier to use the Andromedans as a common denominator.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 09:36 am: Edit

Gary,

When we did Briefing #2 the ISC "minus" ships were discussed, but since they didn't face anyone they were not included. (Also, even in their reduced state, the ISC ships are still very powerful for the era.)

The Vudar couldn't be included, as they had not been added to FC yet. That said, with only two ships (the DD and FF, I believe), it is open to how much they would add, anyway.

However, if taken together, doing some Carnivon, Paravian, ISC, and Vudar (adding some extra conjecturals to give them most of a fleet) Middle Years ships could be a cool "Alternative Paths" type offering.

Unfortunately, while such an effort would be "cool" to you and me, I am not sure how much appeal it would have overall, being completely devoid of any "main" empires. I don't know how sales break down, but I would not be optimistic about its chances.

Art,

Were you thinking similar to Gary, or did you have other ships you were interested in?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 11:44 pm: Edit

I don't recall if the Vudar had access to their CL during this time period also - but if they did, that might help them somewhat.

Perhaps the four empires listed above could be joined with a handful of as-yet-unpublished Middle Years hulls for other Alpha Octant empires, such as the Klingon LD5. Or, perhaps, some of the "unrefitted" scouts, police flagships, and/or survey ships which served in that era?

(For that matter, a revised version of the Middle Years Fed GSC, with its special sensors restored, would be welcome also.)

Plus, the Middle Years Orions would presumably gain access to disruptor cannons and/or quantum wave torpedoes in any "lost empires" timelines - though according to the rules in Module C6, both heel nippers and death bolts would remain exclusive to the Carnivons themselves.

By Dal Downing (Rambler) on Thursday, November 16, 2017 - 11:11 am: Edit

Guys if this project gets done could it be Captain's Log foodar? If it proves popular we could as for epacks?

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Thursday, November 16, 2017 - 11:25 am: Edit

Which project? Early Years or Middle Years?

Taking each in turn:

Early Years had a straight-up challenge: Get 20 people online to commit to buying the pack and it would get done. It didn't happen. Given that not even 20 people were willing to buy the pack, I am guessing that Early Years is pretty much done in Federation Commander. I would not expect to even see anything in Captain's Log again.

Middle Years has already had all of the ships the vast majority of people are interested in done. The major portion of any subsequent Middle Years project would either focus on empires most people have never heard of (Carnivon, Paravians, Vudar) or on support ships (scouts, transports, troops, minor one-offs). Given that the base Middle Years product, which, again, already contains virtually all of the ships most people care about, apparently didn't do so well, I don't see much hope for a follow-on product.

Unlike Early Years, however, if something really interesting came a long, I could see either a ship or small set of ships done in Captain's Log, but I still wouldn't count on that, when there are still lots of possibilities for the main era still left. (Or, *shudder*, the X-era.)

By Dal Downing (Rambler) on Thursday, November 16, 2017 - 07:51 pm: Edit

I was looking more at Middle Years. Finish out Carnivons Paravian and Vuldar.

Then maybe look at Early Years.

And I was figuring only 2 to 4 ships per issue.

Side note would Borak and the Dolphin/Raccoon race be MY?

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Friday, November 17, 2017 - 09:51 am: Edit

It would take a long time to finish out the Carnivons and Paravians using Captain's Log. The Vudar can be done in one shot for historical ships.

I have already pitched the Borak for the main timeline, and the first set of Peladine (the Dolphins/Raccoons) has already been done in the main timeline. Both are completely valid Middle Years candidates, but I figure the main era has to be done first.

So, all of those are possible for Captain's Log. But, with a standard of four FC ships per issue, as long as there are still more main era ships available, it will be hard to get any Middle Years ships done.