Federation Commander

[mattruh]

I am thinking of running a four person campaign based on the 3 Powers War model posted by storyelf. I have decided to use the following factions: Alliance (Fed, Kzin, Gorn, Hydran), Coalition (Klink, Lyran, Rom), Invader (Andro) and "Peacekeeper" (ISC). I had a few questions. WHere would the following races fall? Tholian, Seltorian, and Vudar. I assume that the Orions, LDR, and WYN would be neutral and not really involved in a "General War-ish" campaign. I am also thinking about adding the Frax in somewhere, either on the side of one faction or another, or perhaps as an optional replacement for the Invader or Peacekeeper factions. How does it sound?

[mjwest]

Well, simplistically, the Tholians would be part of the Alliance, and the Seltorians would be part of the Coalition. The Vudar can probably be thought of as one of the neutrals. (The are really a Klingon vassal, but they operate as a neutral.)

The Frax would also end up being one of the neutrals, enemies of both the Kzinti and the Klingons. (In fact, they would probably end up operating almost exactly like the Vudar.) Another way to run both the Vudar and Frax is to just make the Klingon vassals (and thus part of the Coalition), but reduce the Klingon fleet by an appropriate amount in order to keep things balanced. I do not think the Frax (in their pseudo-historical context) would have the power to replace either the Andromedans or the ISC. If they do replace the Andromedans or ISC, then you have to make a totally new background up for them.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[mattruh]

So, would this faction grouping work?

Alliance-Federation, Kzinti, Gorn, Hydran, Tholian
Coalition-Klingon, Romulan, Lyran, Seltorian, (Vudar)
Peacekeeper-ISC
Invader-Andromedan
Neutral-Orion, LDR, WYN, Frax, (Vudar)

The Vudar might go into either category, but most likely the neutral group.

[Bolo_MK_XL]

The Vudar as Klingon Vassal could be balanced by the FRAX,
The FRAX being in the Vudar region and they basically hold each other at bay ---

[mjwest]

Well, the Vudar are located along the galactic rim, in Klingon space, close to the Hydran border. When they "rise up", they cut the Klingon border with the Hydrans by about half.

The Frax are located* along the entire Klingon/Kzinti border. Basically, they "own" the set of Klingon border provinces. That is their historical position, and their use is as a Klingon vasal that rises up for independence. Like I said, it is likely you could use the same basic story of the Vudar with the Frax, if you really want to, and stay well within their historical position.

Once you move the Frax, all bets are off. At that point, you can do whatever you want, as they no longer have an historical position, and you are making it up from scratch. Quite frankly, the better position for them in this case is to add them to the Peacekeepers and make them an ISC ally. This helps the Peacekeepers by adding technology they would not otherwise have, and makes them a more interesting "side" as they then get a little more diversity in the combined fleet.

In fact, if you do that, you can leave them in their historical location and just say that they don't rise up for independence until the ISC comes along. They are quiescent until then. At least, that is what I would likely do.

The more I think about it, that is where I would put the Frax in your setup: with the ISC.

[*] The Frax, unlike the Vudar, are a "simulator" empire that doesn't exist within the "true" historical context of the SFU. That said, their simulation did give them a location and did define their political affiliations.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[mattruh]

I like that mjwest. I like that a lot.