A few years ago, Star Fleet Battles Module R4J: Shadow of the Eagle introduced a range of "early warp" Romulan SSDs, along with data on a variety of alternate timelines in which one can use them.

Perhaps the most dramatically different of these is ALT3: the "Reflection Universe". This is quite different to the "Mirror" setting offered in the Franchise, which (I believe) is off-limits to ADB in any event. Either way, this timeline offers what could, potentially at least, make for an interesting scenario (or few) in Federation and Empire terms.

Before I go on, I should note that this thread is not expected to go anywhere anytime soon. As SVC noted in other scenario proposal threads here on the BBS, work on Civil Wars needs to be completed before reviews of such proposals can formally begin. Hopefully at least some of the data posted here might be of use at that later point in time.

-----

In the Reflection Universe, the key point of divergence from the "standard" timeline took place on ancient Vulcan, with the untimely death of Surak. In his absence, the Kya-yai (or "Logic") movement never reached the critical mass needed to re-shape Vulcan society. Yet while a more warlike "new normal" prevailed, there were enough of Surak's acolytes around to go on an Exodus to Romulus.

These Warlike-Vulcans did not start building a star empire right away. Perhaps they were mindful of the presence of the Old Kings at Zeta Reticuli, just as the historical Vulcans were obliged to be. Even so, they did eventually begin the process of moulding pre-warp society on Earth, Andor, and Rigel IV into a more warlike direction. However, the plan worked too well: a few years after making "First Contact" with Earth, the Terrans convinced their new neighbours to found the Federal Imperium - through which the various member worlds would share in the spoils of expansion and conquest.

Meanwhile, the Logic-Romulans settled on Romulus and Remus, beginning the process of establishing an independent Republic. First Contact with the Gorns was wary, yet peaceful; later contacts with the Federal Imperium were anything but.

Notably, the Orions in this timeline joined the Federal Imperium as "normal" members. The role of Octant-wide pirates was instead taken up by the Paravians, who managed to rescue enough civilians from their doomed home planet to establish a viable population base. These pirates did not develop the "lost empire" ships presented in SFB Module C6; instead, in a case of form following function, they adopted units that are functionally equivalent to Orion Pirate designs. However, each pirate operating zone retains the use of phaser-1s and quantum wave torpedoes as "home" technologies, alongside whichever local weapons and systems they have access to.

While the Four Powers War played out as "normal", things rapidly went in a different direction at the onset of the General War - when the Federal Imperium took advantage of the Lyran and Klingon invasions of Kzinti space to invade both the Kzintis and the Klingons!

This led to a complicated array of co-belligerents: the Logic-Romulans and (later) the Gorns joined the war on the side of the Klingons, while the Hydrans invaded the Klingons instead of the Lyrans. Meanwhile, both the Klingons and Kzintis withdrew to their pre-war boundaries, amounting to a de facto ceasefire - yet the Lyrans, still allied to the Klingons, remained at war against the Kzintis.

So there would be a Coalition, of sorts, comprised of the Lyrans, Klingons, Logic-Romulans, and Gorns - yet one in which the Klingons and Lyrans are fighting different wars in parallel to one another. (It's not clear if there is an equivalent of the historical Fire Squadron, by which Lyran ships are fighting in Klingon space against the Federal Imperium.)

But in place of an Alliance, there are the Hydrans (who, in the wake of the Kzinti-Klingon ceasefire, are not technically co-belligerents with the Kzintis anymore); the Kzintis (who are fighting the Lyrans on one flank, and the Federal Imperium on the other); and the Federal Imperium itself, at war with four of their neighbours at once!

-----

As you can imagine, the biggest challenge in this scenario might be in how to manage the complicated co-belligerents in a game system designed for somewhat "cleaner' delineations between friend and foe.

Although, one option could be to offer an "ALT3a" variant timeline, in which the "Altered Alliances" from the F&E scenario in Captain's Log #38 are in play. In other words, if the Klingons have formed the Coalition with the Kzintis instead of the Lyrans (which, given the persistent threat to both empires from the Federal Imperium, is not an unreasonable concept to entertain), this would place the Lyrans and Hydrans on the side of the "Alliance" - or, at least, makes it easier to treat them as co-belligerents with the Federal Imperium.

In terms of technological and doctrinal changes, one key difference is that the Federal Imperium - beyond having a larger and more aggressive fleet than the historical Federation - would have no qualms about making use of Interceptors and PFs. So these "Feds" never deploy the Third Way, and thus have no F-111s or SWAC shuttles.

These Gorns do not develop the Carronade prior to the onset of first-generation X-technology (which would have no impact here), but do gain access to mauler technology from the Logic-Romulans (should any of the mauler variants listed on the Gorn SIT be given counters someday). Further, these Gorns use imported Romulan fighter and bomber designs - perhaps with mercenary Logic-Romulan (and/or Gerlunian?) pilots to fly them.

The Logic-Romulans only gain the "initial" shipment of Klingon hulls, but do eventually develop the Hawk-series as "normal". Otherwise, they would make use of some of the SSDs provided in Module R4J - but could be said to have leaned more heavily into the Hawk series, in terms of creating a functional Order of Battle for them here. (Personally, I would like the opportunity to have the Logic-Romulans default to the DemonHawk, rather than the Condor, as their "standard' dreadnought...)

In terms of the Paravian pirates, perhaps the only real change here would be that they would likely refuse to serve as mercenaries for the Gorns - or, perhaps, for any other "demon" species (such as the Vudar). They would otherwise be treated as standard "Orions", in terms of rules and counters.

On a side note: since the Logic-Romulans have "full" Tactical Warp capabilities in this timeline, it would be possible for, say, a Middle Years scenario covering the Romulan-Imperium border war of Y154-Y155 to be waged using "modern" ships on both sides, should that be of interest to anyone.

-----

Once again, I would not expect this thread to go anywhere anytime soon.

Yet even so, once the Civil Wars rulebook is finished and committed to print, I wonder if there might then be a way of bringing the Reflection Universe timeline - and/or an "Altered Alliances" variant of it - to life in Federation and Empire terms.

Of course, whether or not anyone here agrees with this is another matter entirely...

By Sam Benner (Nucaranlaeg) on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 - 11:45 pm: Edit

You're going to have difficulty getting the Klingon player to invade the Kzinti - while they're not allied, per se, it's not going to be advantageous for them to take out any Kzinti bases or take any cripples of their own. Which means that the Feds have to invade at least the Kzinti before the Klingons get their second turn.

The Kzinti capital is going to be somewhat safe - neither of the Lyrans nor the Feds are going to want to commit to a capital assault - but there's no way the rest of Kzinti space is going to hold out for long.

The Klingons, on the other hand, are unlikely to be pressed hard at all. Only having two fronts open (even if one of them is quite long) means that they will have ships to spare. And why would the Lyrans be okay with them abandoning their side of the deal?

I think your other option is a more sensible idea. When the Klingons, faced with an imminent Federation attack, decide not to attack the Kzinti, the Lyrans declare war on the Klingons and leak plans that the Klingons had made to the Hydrans. The Klingons ally with the Kzinti (gaining their offmap there) and you end up with two cleaner alliances - Hydran/Lyran/Federation and Klingon/Kzinti/Romulan/Gorn.

(That's not to say that I don't like the idea of messy alliances - I'd love to play a game of F&E with messy alliances! Of course, that'd require better three+ player rules, which I've already suggested)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, May 30, 2024 - 11:14 am: Edit

In the historical timeline, the Coalition was meant to invade the Hydrans first; it was the death of the Lyran Emperor's son in a skirmish on the Kzinti border which led him to drag the Klingons into a "Kzintis first" scenario. So if anything, the Lyrans were the ones who had altered the deal already...

-----

The premise behind the Altered Alliances scenario in CL38 is that, rather than establishing cordial relations with the Lyrans as had happened historically, the Klingons instead built a partnership with the Kzintis - thus driving the Lyrans to reconcile with the Hydrans in turn. So by the time of the altered Four Powers War to be fought in said scenario, the Klingon-Kzinti "Coalition" is firmly aligned against a Lyran-Hydran "Alliance".

In game terms, this leads to a series of changes from the historical Four Powers War scenario printed in Fighter Operations: for example, instead of using the Enemy's Blood fleet against the Hydrans, these Lyrans use the Foremost Fleet against the Klingons. Similarly, since the Kzintis never reconciled with the Federation in that scenario, the relative strengths of the Duke's and Marquis' fleets are inverted.

My suggestion would be that this scenario, for the most part at least, would still play out as part of the backdrop to the proposed "ALT3a" scenario variant offered here.

There would be a few tweaks and changes one could make to the CL38 scenario itself, such as reducing the number of ships the Klingons need to send to the Logic-Romulans. (There were some border skirmishes between the Klingons and the Federal Imperium at this time, but the border fleets assigned to handle them are for the most part inactive in this scenario anyway - unless the Lyrans and Hydrans are somehow doing well enough to push that far "east" into Klingon space...)

So, by the time of the General War, one could have it that the Kzintis and Klingons were phasing in their respective attacks on the Lyrans, when the Federal Imperium decided to take advantage of the situation.

At least there would be less of an argument argument between the Klingons and Kzintis as to which "western" empire to attack first, since Kzinti ships would otherwise have to transit from one side of the Klingon Empire to the other in order to help invade Hydran space...

-----

There were a few other things I was thinking about, which might apply to either scenario variant:

-----

Firstly, it's noted that the Federal Imperium has a vast and aggressive fleet, but a lower standard of living compared to the historical Federation.

Perhaps one way to balance this in game terms would be to increase the number of units in the at-start Order of Battle - but at the same time, to reduce the number of turns they can spend prior to the onset of economic exhaustion from 20 turns down to the "standard" 15 turns imposed on other major Alpha empires.

Historically, the UFP has perhaps a smaller "peacetime" Star Fleet, but can lean into the strength of its civilian economy when forced to mobilize against foreign aggression. In this case, the Federal Imperium are using more of their resources "up front" - so, in my view, should not get the same depth of untapped economic potential to draw upon once they wage war.

-----

Secondly, in the case of the "Logic-Romulans": it would appear that, if going by the ships noted as having been sent by the Klingons in the ALT3 timeline, they were never provided with Klingon-type tugs. However, there are other types of resources which the Klingons would still provide as part of the Treaty of Smarba - which might well include blueprints for Klingon tug and pod technology.

So, it would seem... "logical" for these Romulans to adopt the campaign-conjectural SparrowHawk-T and FireHawk-T - and possibly a would-be "GryphonHawk-T" also? - along with the various Klingon-type pods offered for these units over in SFB Module R9.

-----

Speaking of Klingon-type pods: in ALT3a, if the Klingons and Lyrans never align with one another, the Lyrans might need to be given some alternate options in that regard.

They'd still have their home-built pallets, but not the Klingon-type pods they used historically.

For that matter, they'd have no access to Klingon fighter and bomber designs, either.

One option could be to look towards the Hydrans. As in, by offering a series of Hydran-type pallets for use by Lyran tugs and LTTs; while also considering the conjectural "Snapper" fighters offered to the LDR in Captain's Log #41 as a case study in what a range of "export" Stinger-based fighters might look like.

Or, if one simply must provide these Lyrans with drone-equipped fighters, there is another option: to have the Far Stars Duke order his Peladine subjects to take the simulator blueprints for the drone-armed fighters in Module E4 and to put them into series production. (Perhaps, should he learn about the Hydran relationship with the Borak over in the Old Colonies, the Duke might consider further inducing his Peladine subjects to do this, by offering to restore a degree of self-rule to their home world in exchange.)

Either way, it would be indeed true that the historical off-map access in the Far Stars Duchy would be off the table in ALT3a - thus leading the Klingons to sign an agreement with the Kzinti Baron instead.

-----

Another empire which might be affected in either timeline would be the Tholian Holdfast.

While the Klingons would remain hostile to their continued presence in what had been Klingon-claimed territory, the Federal Imperium (who might also wish to one day seize control of Holdfast space) might not be in a hurry to offer the kind of support which the Federation did historically.

Which might mean that these Tholians never get Federation-type pods, nor access to photon torpedoes.

But then, there is the case of the Logic-Romulans to consider. While they might consider a clear line of communication to the Klingon Empire to be an asset, at least post-Smarba, they would very much not wish to see the Tholians fall to the Federal Imperium.

So, I could see the Logic-Romulans providing the Holdfast with Klingon-type pods, over the objections of the Klingon Empire - at least so long as the primary threat to the Tholians is from the direction of the Federal Imperium. I would not go so far as to have the Logic-Romulans provide any kind of weapon technology, though.

Further, if the Klingons are the ones to attack the Tholians, the Logic-Romulans (and, by extension, the Gorns) might stay out of it. But if the Federal Imperium is the one to invade, perhaps the Logic-Romulans might permit Gorn forces to transit through their space, in order to help defend the Holdfast from that particular enemy?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, June 23, 2024 - 01:44 pm: Edit

While reading through some of the discussions in this thread, one of the details of note on the historical Federation and Empire map is how far the outermost ring of Federation starbases is from the core facilities closer to the Primary Member Zone - and how difficult this makes sending reinforcements from the capital to these bases once the Klingon and Romulan invasions begin in earnest.

In the historical timeline, many of these bases would be destroyed or captured during said invasions of the Federation, obliging Star Fleet to build new ones (not necessarily in the same hexes) as they strive to push the Coalition back to the pre-war border.

But in the case of the Federal Imperium, their broader strategic goals are not defensive in nature. rather, their aim is to use these bases as springboards for further waves of conquest.

Which, perhaps, means that the "default" network of bases seen on the historical map might not... Reflect that used by the Federal Imperium here.

-----

For example: would it make sense for the Federal Imperium to, say, place each of their outermost starbases one hex closer to the capital?

As in, to move the starbase in hex 2204 to hex 2305; to move the base in hex 2211 to hex 2311; and so on and so forth.

This would make it easier to deploy forces from the capital to these bases. However, if the starbase in hex 2901 is moved to hex 2902, might that make access to and from the Survey Area more awkward?

-----

Speaking of the Survey Area: since the Federal Imperium is hostile to both the Kzintis and the Gorns, there would presumably be no equivalent to the off-map transfers permitted in the "standard" timeline under (207.29).

Meanwhile, it's noted elsewhere that the "void" which separates the Alpha Octant and the Sargasso Storm Zone extends across the Delta Sector of the Milky Way Galaxy, separating the Lyran Far Stars from the Hydran Old Colonies. So even in a would-be "ALT3a" variant in which the Lyrans and Hydrans are allied, there would be no off-map transfers possible between those two empires either.