In Captain's Log #51, the playtest Winds Aloft scenario is provided for the "lost empire" Carnivons from Star Fleet Battles Module C6.

As part of this, an expanded "Mapsheet C1" is provided in CL51, which presents what would have been an "on-map" Carnivon Empire; to include showing worlds which were historically depopulated by the Lyrans and Kzintis. For comparison's sake, "Mapsheet C2" is set in a separate timeline in which a faction of Carnivons pre-empts the Kzinti Usurper in seizing control of the WYN Cluster; these "Cluster Carnivons" later burst out of the Cluster in order to establish an "open space" empire at the expense of their neighbours.

With a potential "Module C6R" in mind, I was thinking of other ways in which one could leverage "Mapsheet C1" in operational and strategic terms. With this in mind, one of the options I hoped to explore here would be a Five Powers War: one in which the Klingons form a Coalition not with the Lyrans, nor with the Kzintis (as seen in the Altered Alliances scenario from Captain's Log #38) - but, rather, with the Carnivon Empire.

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In this proposed setup, the Klingons establish a working relationship with the "Mapsheet C1" Carnivons.

While the Kzintis and Lyrans would each be threatened by this Coalition, they would by no means see themselves as allies. However, it might be possible for them to settle into a state of "uneasy co-belligerency", akin to the "uneasy coalition" rules previewed in CL51 under (6HW.23).

Meanwhile, faced with a common Klingon threat, the Lyrans of this setup would form an Alliance with the Hydran Kingdom. (Technically, the Hydrans could be allied to the Kzintis also - though they'd take care to keep their respective lines of communication far apart from one another!)

Further, should the Lyran Democratic Republic emerge from the Dark Star County as had happened historically, they might hew more closely to the Lyran Empire and to the Hydrans, for fear of Klingon domination. This would be akin to how the LDR is set up in the CL38 scenario.

In strategic terms, the main focus of the Five Powers War, and of the subsequent start to the General War, would be to take and hold the border provinces surrounding the WYN Cluster - akin to how "Mapsheet P", as previewed for F&E in Captain's Log #48, sets the neutral planet of Circle Trigon at the crossroads of four "eastern" Alpha Octant empires. While the Hydrans would seek to act as a spoiler, drawing as many Klingon ships as possible away from Lyran and Kzinti space.

In game terms, Turn #1 (both in the Five Powers War and in the General War) would see the Klingons and Carnivons attack both the Kzintis and the Lyrans; Turn #2 would then see the Hydrans attack the Klingons, which might include sending forces into Lyran space.

So, what kind of changes would this proposed "Five Powers War" setup entail?

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In the case of the Lyrans, the changes would be quite extensive.

With four fewer "on-map" provinces to go around, and with the "northern" starbase in Apex province (0306) rather than in Red Claw province (0404), this would trigger a series of changes to the Lyran feudal structure, as well as to the Lyran order of battle.

I would suggest that, in this setup, Foremost Duchy has provinces 0707, 0609, 0107, and 0109.

Enemy's Blood Duchy has provinces 0310, 0111, and 0312 (having "lost" province 0711 through the creation of the LDR).

The historical Red Claw Duchy instead becomes Apex Duchy, with provinces 0306, 0105, 0404, and 0604.

Far Stars would be reduced to the four "off-map" provinces.

While Homeworld province (and the capital hex in 0408) would remain unchanged.

Since the Lyran and LDR R-section data over in SFB make clear that each province contributes 1 CA, 1 CL, 1 DD, 1 FF, and a number of other units (such as police ships) to the overall Lyran fleet, this would see no fewer than twenty ships removed from the historical Lyran orders of battle; four from each "active" fleet.

Further, in the historical timeline, the Home Fleet is a combination of the Foremost and Homeworld forces. While Enemy's Blood Fleet is "short" four ships, due to the absence of the LDR fleet. Here, however, with the need to maintain an active Foremost Fleet on the Klingon border, the Home Fleet would be a combination of Homeworld and Enemy's Blood forces - but, still, Enemy's Blood is "missing" those ships which would have been provided by the old Dark Star County. Thus, the revised OOB would see a county's worth of ships (1 CA, 1 CL, 1 DD, and 1 FF) transferred from Home Fleet to Foremost Fleet.

Beyond this, there would be certain technical issues, each stemming from the absence of an coalition with the Klingons.

First would be a relatively simple one: with no Klingon-Lyran Coalition, the Lyrans of this timeline do not get maulers.

Second would be that the Lyrans and LDR never make use of Klingon-type pods. Would this oblige them to rely solely on Lyran pallet types, or might they develop a degree of interoperability with Hydran-type pods instead?

Third would be what to do in the absence of Klingon-type fighters. One option could be to give them fighters that are derived from the Peladine drone fighters (but not Peladine plasma fighters) drawn up by Ranel "engineers" for the Lyran simulators; stand-alone Peladine drone fighter squadron SSDs can be found in SFB Module E4. Since I would not want to see the Lyrans use Peladine plasma torpedoes, there would be no Lyran heavy fighters in this timeline; thus further pushing them towards the deployment of fast patrol ships.

Although, a side option could be to have the Lyrans import Borak fighter-destroyer schematics from their Hydran allies. This would make the use of heavy fighters (based on Borak designs, rather than Peladine ones) less objectionable. Stand-alone Borak fighter squadrons are provided in Module E3.

Either way, the specifics of which fighter design is less relevant in F&E terms. They would get the same size-1 fighter factors either way; and they'd either get "standard" heavy fighter factors (if they use Borak-type designs) or they don't (as I suggest for Peladine-type designs).

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The Kzintis need certain adjustments in turn, due to their being "short" two provinces relative to what they have historically.

In this case, however, things are somewhat looser, in terms of the balance of power between Pentarchal nobles, relative to how things are structured over in the Lyran Empire.

So, perhaps one could give the Kzintis two more "off-map" provinces, in order to make up the difference economically-speaking. But, as a consequence of this, three frigates from the Home Fleet are transferred to the Baron's Fleet, in order to reflect this shift in the balance of power within the Kzinti Hegemony.

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The Klingons would need to adjust things here, also.

With hostile borders on the Kzinti, Lyran, and Hydran fronts, there'd be a need for a new border fleet. Or rather, to split Western Fleet into "Northwestern Fleet" (on the Lyran border) and "Southwestern Fleet" (facing the Hydrans).

In order to find the ships needed to fill both border fleets, I would suggest starting by raiding the Imperial War Reserve, thus reducing the number of IWR squadrons from three to two; reaching into the Mothball Fleet after this; and then seeing how many "line" ships would need to be converted into the "mission variants" needed to round things out.

Which might seem like a good deal for the Klingons at first glance; they get to start a war with more ships. But, in the case of the General War at least, this "robbing Kieter to pay Kaul" approach might be more of an issue the longer the conflict drags on.

Speaking of the General War; instead of "leasing" territory from the Lyran Far Stars Duchy, the Klingons here would lease territory in the "off-map" Carnivon Remote Ranges.

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There'd be a few other changes here and there, also.

The Carnivons would likely get maulers, for one thing.

For another, with four adjacent empires rather than three, the WYNs would perhaps get an extra monitor (four in total) added to their Order of Battle in Y165. And maybe a few "WYN-Carnivon" hulls also?

Plus, in the case of the General War, there'd likely be no Hydran Expedition... to the Federation. Rather, they might concentrate those same ships as the Gold Fleet: with the aim of sending them towards the Lyran capital, in order to help defend it from the Klingons and the Carnivons.

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All told, I personally find this to be an interesting potential setup.

Not least since, unlike the "uneasy coalition" offered for the Lyrans and Carnivons in CL51 - something which even the Klingons might struggle to maintain across a lengthy shared border - I'd argue that there is more conceptual space for an "uneasy co-belligerency" to exist between the Lyrans and Kzintis. Not least if the Coalition start the war with the strategic initiative, in which case the Lyran and Kzinti fleets would spend much of the war simply fighting their way back to the pre-war borders, before there is a need to worry about what happens should they get too close to one another for comfort.

While it is true that this proposed setup weakens the Lyrans, their alliance with the Hydrans, their "uneasy co-belligerency" with the Kzintis, plus a more friendly relationship with the LDR, helps balance the scales on one side.

On the other side, the Klingons do get more ships, and a new border fleet, with which to start a war. And yet, since the Carnivons are comparatively weak, the Empire is obliged to do more of the heavy lifting than is the case in timelines where they can call upon Lyran or Kzinti help instead.

And while there would be room for a handful of new SSDs over in SFB (for would-be Carnivon maulers, for a Carnivon DNE, and/or for a few other units here or there), the pre-exsiting rules and SIT data should be largely enough to get by here.

But that is just my own view, such as it is. Does anyone here find this "Five Powers War" setup to be of potential interest?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, March 22, 2025 - 12:54 pm: Edit

In the opening post, I argued that the Lyrans would be short 20 "line" ships, due to the "missing" provinces relative to what they hold "on-map" historically.

What I should have said is that this would in fact be 16 "line" ships: 4 CAs, 4 CLs, 4 DDs, and 4 FFs.

I'm not entirely sure how I mixed that up the first time around...

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In any case, if one were to start with the Y157 Lyran OOB from the most recent Four Powers War scenario; adjust the "northern" deployment area, akin to what is done in the Winds Aloft scenario; move Enemy's Blood to Foremost, akin to what is done in the Altered Alliances scenario; subtract those 16 "line" ships as proposed above; and then transfer a county's worth of "line" ships from Home Fleet to Foremost Fleet, due to Foremost Duchy having one more province than Enemy's Blood Duchy (courtesy of the LDR); one might end up with this:

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PROPOSED LYRAN ORDER OF BATTLE (Y157)

HOME FLEET: Deploy in hexes 0408 and 0411.
Line Ships: DNE, BCE, CC, 2xCA, 4xCL, 4xDD, 4xFF.
Support Ships: 3xSC, TGP, CLG.
Auxiliaries: FTL, FHL.
Resources: PTR, FRD, MB, RESV.

APEX FLEET: Deploy in provinces 0105, 0404, and 0604, and hex 0306.
Line Ships: BCE, CC, 3xCA, 4xCL, 5xDD, 4xFF.
Support Ships: SC, TGC, DDG.
Auxiliaries: FHL, SAS, FTS.
Resources: APT, MB, RESV.

FOREMOST FLEET: Deploy in provinces 0707 and 0709.
Line Ships: BCE, CC, 3xCA, 4xCL, 5xDD, 4xFF.
Support Ships: SC, TGC, DDG.
Auxiliaries: FHL, SAS, FTS.
Resources: APT, MB, RESV.

FAR STARS FLEET: Deploy in off-map area.
Line Ships: CC, CA, 2xCL, 3xDD, 4xFF.
Support Ships: SC, TGP, DDG.
Resources: PTR, FRD.

Far Stars fleet is released if the Klingons and/or Carnivons enter the capital hex.

Each turn, roll one die during the Lyran Production Phase (2B1). If the result matches the number of a unit below which has not been previously released, then that unit is released and allowed to enter the map by operational movement.
#1: CA #2: CL #3: DD #4: FF #5: FF #6: Any Unit

GENERAL HQ: Deploy by applicable rules.
Pods: BP+, AP+.
Resources: ADM, 2xPOL, 2xMON.

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Note that, as is the case in the CL38 scenario, the assumption here is that the threat of Klingon domination pre-empted the outbreak of the historical Lyran civil war in this setup also.

Further, since there is no "on-map" Far Stars province in this setup, there would be more limited means by which they would be "activated" and brought onto the map, in the Y157-Y162 era at least. Unless Far Stars were to be permitted to "loan" a detachment to Black Claw County (province 0107), as part of an agreement between the Far Stars and Foremost Dukes?

In this time period, the historical Lyrans had yet to adopt Klingon-type pods as per Y157. However, once the need to adjust the Y168 and Y186 OOBs emerges, there'd be a need to either delete them from the orders of battle entirely, or to consider what (if anything) they ought to be swapped out for.

Any thoughts?

By Benjamin Lee Johnson (Jedipilot24) on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 12:45 pm: Edit

Historical note for the Klingon Border Fleet names:
During the times when the Klingons had to guard both the Lyran and Hydran borders, the Hydran Border fleet was called the Southern Fleet, while the Lyran Border Fleet is the Western Fleet. This is again the case in the Driving Winds scenario in ISC War: The Western Fleet is now on the Lyran Border, and the Southern Fleet is watching both the Hydrans and the Vudar.

CL16 has an article titled "Balancing Border Fleets in the Free Campaign" which suggests what alterations might need to be made to give the Klingons a Lyran border fleet.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 07:52 pm: Edit

Good catch on the Western and Southern Fleet designations.

Somehow, I saw that there was a "Southern Fleet" watching the Vudar on the Y186 OOB, but didn't register than this was also the fleet tasked with guarding (what was left of) the Hydran border...

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I'm not entirely sure about some of the suggestions offered in the CL16 article, in terms of whether or not they ought to apply here.

For one thing, that article is aiming to support a "free campaign", in which it's up to the players to decide which empires are aligned with others. Here, however, the belligerents would be "primed" for war against known enemies - albeit different ones to what is seen historically.

So, with a need to keep as much of Northern and Western Fleets intact as they can, I'd argue that the Klingons here might only consider transferring certain hulls and/or mission variants to Southern Fleet which can't otherwise be sourced from the IWR and/or the Mothball Fleet instead.

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On a side note, I also don't quite agree with the proposed Lyran setup in that article either.

In a "peacetime" setup, the various Dukes and Counts would keep their respective "feudal" ships closer to home, the occasional Civil War notwithstanding; the King-Emperor would have a comparatively smaller, though not insignificant, force under his direct control in the capital hex.

Hence the need to muster from which (if any) Duchies are on "quiet" borders, in the event of war faced by one or more of those Duchies along more "active" fronts.