Returning to the SFU after a long hiatus. Please accept my apologies if I've posted in the wrong area but I've two questions and this looks like the place to get them both answered:
1. I've seen the SFU index, ship lists, the history of the General War, and various other downloads on the site. Is there a "continuity" person for this background? (Guessing it's Mr. Cole but looking for the voice of experience)

2. Which products should I buy to get the most of the universe's backstory? I've got a number of the first edition Prime Directive products (Prime Directive, Klingons, and the first module). What else should I go grab?

Thanks!
Andy P.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 04:11 pm: Edit

Andy P,

SVC is the primary contunity guy, but I'm the one putting the updated index together.

Hard to say what to get next. Are you primarly a RPG person or do you play SFB/F&E?

Ryan

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 09:09 pm: Edit

The more recent RPG books have the more official background than the PD1 books.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 10:31 pm: Edit

We do try to keep all versions consistent -- sometimes we find transcription errors and we try to note those.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 11:11 pm: Edit

If I'm not mistaken, there were several direction changes made from PD1 to the current PD.

Right?

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Monday, April 19, 2010 - 11:59 pm: Edit

Loren, you would have to be more specific. I've tried to keep the species and empires true to their SFU history.

By Andrew Lawrence Presby (Feld) on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - 10:06 am: Edit

Thanks for those answers!
Ryan - I'm playing F&E and FC, am interested in SFB and still play quite a lot of the old Taldren SFC 2-Orion Pirates with the mods to inject as much of the SFU ship types as possible.

Frankly, in any SF universe I play in I'm mostly there for the background - primarily the spacecraft. Hence I grabbed the RPG some years ago - to get background (and those great frigate deckplans).

I'm coming back after roughly a decade of hiatus and was thinking of seeing if I could work up some technology articles for SVC ... but of course I need to immerse myself in the continuity before I even try...

v/r
Andy P.

By Steven Weaver (Wanderer) on Friday, November 18, 2011 - 06:41 pm: Edit

An odd but relevant fiction question I have not been able to find an answer to regarding the Alpha and Omega Octant maps;

The map of the Milky Way Galaxy (CL27 p24) shows the area of both Octants to be essentially the same size. The F&E map of the Alpha Octant is 61x19. However, the maps of Omega (CL29 p42) are 64x31.

You see my question. I'm sure the answer is out there, I simply have been unable to find it.

Of particular interest to me are the areas "north" of the Alpha F&E map, those hexes reaching to the Storm Zone (as well as Delta and Epsilon Sectors). Knowing the exact size (number of hexes) of this area would be very helpful.

Bonus question regarding Delta and Epsilon; The Primer on Lyran Politics (CL19 p10-11) states:

"By the end of the General War, when the accessible territory was largely surveyed and new resources (at least those easy to gather) were becoming scarce..."

That sure seems like a lot of territory to survey and extract resources from by Y185, even over 65 years and with Klingon help, given the constant interruption of war, civil or otherwise, limited numbers of survey ships, etc, etc (not to mention the Hydran Lost Colonies were never found).

I can only conclude that the "accessible territory" was a relatively smaller area within Delta. Perhaps a geographic barrier precluded further expansion (not the Void, something before that, such as the "wasteland" area in Omega)?

Thanks for any answers.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, November 18, 2011 - 06:56 pm: Edit

Perhaps some (but not all) of the off-map Alpha hexes could be akin to the fringe hexes on the map of the Lesser Magellanic Cloud; with a far lower stellar density and/or a relatively sparse collection of viable resources?

(Personally, I would hope it is the galaxy map, not the Omega hex maps, which are out of scale; and that the latter don't need to be re-scaled to match the Alpha and LMC maps...)

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 12:36 am: Edit

Based on a large map project I've been working on, laying the F&E map onto the big color wheel leaves about 11 hexes between the top of the F&E map and the start of the orange zone. The red zone starts another 11 hexes beyond that. The galactic core is 54 hexes from the F&E map edge, giving the galaxy radius of ~78 hexes.

Omega actually fits into the ADB quadrant wheel pretty good as it is. With the Omega map tipped 60 degrees to the northeast of the ISC, the Ymatrian and Worb sit on the edge of the orange circle, with the red zone 8 hexes to the northwest. The southwest corner of the Sigvirion sits right up against the edge of the galaxy - it's a tight fit, but it does fit.

(SFB and Trek canon maps don't match - in scale or orientation - but that's a separate issue.)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 01:07 am: Edit

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Quote:

(SFB and Trek canon maps don't match - in scale or orientation - but that's a separate issue.)

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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 11:25 am: Edit

There have been at least three mutually contradictory "canon" maps so I don't really care any more. We juse the FJ map, which was the first official map.

By Steven Weaver (Wanderer) on Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 09:03 pm: Edit

Not wanting to have a canon vs non-canon dabate, just want to know why the Omega map seems to be out of scale with the Alpha map.

The Galaxy map shows the F&E map covers three full sectors (61x19), while showing the Omega map as only 2.5 sectors wide (in-scale with the F&E map would equal approx. 50x19).

SteveZ; I always applaud map makers, done a few myself. Been tinkering with Delta and Epsilon, which led to this discussion. I had thought at first that the Omega map must include those hexes up to the edge of the storm zone. But that is not what the Galaxy map shows. Of course, the Galaxy map could be incorrect. But that still does not answer why the Omega map is 64 hexes wide, when it should only cover 50. Bleed over into PHI sector?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 09:12 pm: Edit

To clarify the point I was getting at, I was referring to my hope that the area on the galaxy map marked off as representing the Omega hexmap is off; as Steve Zamboni says, I prefer it to extend as far coreward as the edge of the Storm Zone, and as far "east" as midway into the Phi segment.

(Might "segment" be a better term than "sector" for the 24 arc-slices? At the moment, it's a bit too easy to mistake the individial "sectors" with the larger "Sectors"/"Octants" they are a part of...)

By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 08:18 am: Edit

The answer is that the original omega author just made a map that looked good without trying to match things with the f&e map, and the full galaxy map did not exist at that time. So either the omega hexes are a different scale, or the omega map takes up more space than the f&e map. It was not a conscious design decision at the time, as far as I know.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, November 21, 2011 - 02:31 am: Edit

Yes, Nick, but look at how many other things we try to "make fit" after the fact. I'm sure someone will find a big enough hammer to force that square peg into the round hole.

By the way, Nick, I never got a reply to my e-mail sent early October regarding deck plans. I'm going to lose my web-page (ISP dropping that feature), so please download the GIFs before the end of the month. Thanks!


Garth L. Getgen

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, November 21, 2011 - 10:57 am: Edit

Seems to me that the galaxy probably isn't perfectly uniform and that the radiation zone may not extend out as far in the Omega sector and/or the galactic arms may stretch out a bit more (or rather the energy barrier).
Maybe thos last hexes have some terrain features not yet defined that suggest the beginning of the radiation zone?
Seems to me the peg fits the hole fine since the hole is pleanty big.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Monday, November 21, 2011 - 12:08 pm: Edit

Regarding pegs and holes, this is kind of what you get hammering Omega in next to F&E on the color wheel. It fits, but a couple of the Omega races probably have some amazing night skies.

googledocs pdf

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Monday, January 20, 2014 - 07:11 pm: Edit

Some questions about the 2nd Fed-Kzinti War:

1. Was Starbase 13 ever captured, destroyed, or even attacked by the Kzintis in the 2nd Fed-Kzinti War? [It's in F&E hex 2204.]

2. Which F&E hexes would the Kzintis have gotten into (same war)?

Thanks in advance!

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, January 20, 2014 - 08:32 pm: Edit

I haven't played the scenario, nor gone over it in detail.

My experience with the Four Powers War suggests that if the Kzinti (at least at start) heavily outnumber the Federation in ships, then they will destroy most (and eventually all) Federation bases within four hexes of the Kzinti border, except perhaps the Federation 4th Fleet Starbase. I would expect the Kzinti to (at least in early turns) control this area, and to capture some of it.

It should be possible for the Kzinti to reach farther using a convoy to extend supply. I don't know if mobile bases exist at the time of this war. If not, I don't know if the Kzinti can feasibly create an advance base in Federation space to help push deeper into enemy territory.

Beyond that, I cannot say without playing it out or at least examining the scenario in more detail.

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 12:44 am: Edit

I'm wondering about Klingon E5 and E7 ship names. I checked the online registry and neither show up in the ship classes of the Klingons (the file is dated 2007, so it is pretty old).

I know the E5 comes into being in Y172. I'm wondering how many were made and what kind of missions they would have. Any info would be appreciated.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 06:25 am: Edit

Mike,

CapLog 35 has the known names.

Ryan

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 09:53 am: Edit

Is that basically all it contains...the names?

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 10:00 am: Edit

Contains ship histories of the ships that we know names of as well. Page 33.

By Mike Bennett (Mike) on Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 11:25 pm: Edit

CL#35 is on its way to me. I'll read up on them when it arrives.