Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place, or format, by which such comments or feedback should be posted.

In the wake of the printing of the playtest Altered Alliances scenario in Captain's Log #38, the "regular" Four Powers War scenario it was derived from was itself revised considerably in the 2016 update to Federation and Empire: Fighter Operations.

Meanwhile, the "placeholder" data for the Lyran Democratic Republic of this era has itself been superseded by the formal publication of F&E Minor Empires.

Beyond this, in light of more recent "lost empire"-related posts on the BBS, such as this proposed "Five Powers War" scenario, I was minded to look back at the data in CL38, to see if there were factors I ought to have more closely considered at that time.

So, on the off chance that a future F&E publication were to consider adding the CL38 scenario for formal publication, I hoped to collect a few of my thoughts - such as they are - on what a revisited version of this setup might entail.

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As a note for those who might not have a copy of CL38 in your collection just yet: Altered Alliances offers a version of the Four Powers War, in which the Klingon Empire forms a Coalition with the Kzinti Hegemony, rather than with the Lyran Star Empire. Among many other changes, this leads to the formation of an Alliance between the Lyrans and the Hydran Kingdom.

Given how dramatic a change this would have been - or, in light of the various "lost empire" and/or "Shadow of the Eagle" timelines presented over in Star Fleet Battles in Module C6 and Module R4J, might be found over in an alternate reality - a number of rules are offered which aim to account for this.

For example, the Lyrans deploy a Foremost Fleet on the Klingon border, rather than an Enemy's Blood Fleet facing the Hydrans. While the relative strength of the Kzinti Duke's Fleet is reduced, as the Marquis is called upon to maintain a stronger border fleet towards the Federation.

All well and good. But, why post this thread now?

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Well, in the case of the Lyrans at least, I wonder if I ought to have been more careful, in terms of what the change from Enemy's Blood to Foremost might have meant.

To put it another way: in the historical timeline, the Lyran Home Fleet is a combination of the ships of the Foremost Duchy and those mustered by the King-Emperor in the capital province. Hence, the historical OOB has the Home Fleet set up in hex 0408 (the capital hex) and 0608 (where the Foremost starbase is located). Further, since Foremost has all five of its provinces present and accounted for historically - unlike Enemy's Blood, which is "missing" a province, due to the emergence of the Lyran Democratic Republic - the Home Fleet is at "full" strength, whereas the Enemy's Blood Fleet is short the "line" ships (1 CA, 1 CL, 1 DD, and 1 FF) which are staying in LDR space.

However, in the event that the Lyrans are faced with war against the Klingons, rather than the Hydrans, things would be quite different. On the one hand, with an active Foremost fleet, the Home Fleet would instead be mustered from both Homeworld province and the Enemy's Blood Duchy. Indeed, since Enemy's Blood would still be "short" one province (courtesy of the LDR), Foremost Fleet should, in fact, be comparatively stronger as a result - while Home Fleet should be comparatively weaker.

And, as noted, the formatting of the OOB itself might need to be updated, to keep it in line with the 2016 Fighter Ops revision.

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So, what does this mean in terms of adjusting the Y157 Order of Battle?

It might mean changing both the Home and Foremost entries from this (old formatting):

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Quote:

Home Fleet (deploy in hexes 0408 and 0608):
2xCC, 4xCA, 6xCL, 6xDD, 6xFF, 2xSC, TGP, MB, 2xFRD, RESV.
FO: DNE.
CO: DDG, FTL, 2x FTS.
AO: SC.
SO: PTR, FHL, 3xFFT.

Foremost Fleet (deploy in provinces 0608 and 0810; up to six
units may deploy on the starbase at 0411):
CC, 3xCA, 4xCL, 4xDD, 4xFF, SC, TGC, MB, RESV.
FO: DNE.
CO: DDG.
AO: DD.
SO: APT, FHL.

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Quote:

HOME FLEET: Deploy in hexes 0408 and 0411.
Line Ships: DNE, BCE, CC, 3xCA, 5xCL, 5xDD, 5xFF.
Support Ships: 3xSC, TGP, CLG.
Auxiliaries: FTL, FHL.
Resources: PTR, FRD, MB, RESV.

FOREMOST FLEET: Deploy in provinces 0608 and 0810.
Line Ships: BCE, CC, 4xCA, 5xCL, 6xDD, 5xFF.
Support Ships: SC, TGC, DDG.
Auxiliaries: FHL, SAS, FTS.
Resources: APT, MB, RESV.

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